The Doctor could hear her screaming from the other side of the door, begging him to let her back into the TARDIS, but he held his screwdriver up and pointed it at the console. He repeated to himself it was the best thing to do time and time again as her voice faded and he disappeared from Stormcage, but he wasn't sure he believed one word of his declarations.
He had sat there for weeks, frozen and unable to get back to his wife while a woman he didn't know treated him as her own, and all he'd been able to do was think about how it could be permanent. If not then, then some other time and he knew he had to do something about it. River might not be the person Danni wanted to see at the moment, and he didn't know why she'd given up her daughter so he couldn't really blame Danni for her anger, but even he could admit that she was the one who would be the most useful should something happen and Danni never know about it. River travelled whenever and wherever she wanted with very little regard to timelines if she could help it, and Jack was just too serious. If the worst should happen, River would come back for his Danni-Girl no matter where or when she was, and with that knowledge he'd be able to spend the rest of eternity trapped knowing that she was okay.
But he knew Danni wouldn't have understood that, she was still so full of anger at the other woman that he would never have gotten her to agree to contact River, even after his death. He'd tried time and time again to get her to even talk about her biological mother, and each time she'd shoot the conversation down before he could start it. He just wanted her to be okay. That was all he'd ever wanted.
He slid down the door, sitting on the cold metal that the TARDIS hadn't warmed up for him. It was probably the time machine's protest at what he'd just done, and he didn't blame her for one second. Every fibre of his being screamed for him to go back and grovel at Danni's feet, to beg for forgiveness for leaving her so abruptly, but she needed this. She just didn't know that she needed this.
He hung his head, his brown hair falling down to cover his eyes. Maybe he'll believe that soon. Then, maybe, he'd be able to convince her as well.
~0~0~0~
The sound of River's voice did nothing to calm Danni down, in fact she was so shocked by the complete and utter abandonment by the Doctor that she didn't even turn around to face her. Why had he done this? Why had he just dropped her off her without any warning? Had he- had he truly abandoned her? Was this his plan all along? After all these years, and she was sure they were nearer 20 rather than 10 these days, had he finally had enough of her?
"Danni, sweetie," she felt a hand on her shoulder and she spun around to see River smiling at her like her whole world had just become a little brighter, "What's the idiot done now?" She asked and Danni's eyes narrowed angrily at her.
"He's left me with the bitch who didn't tell me she was my mother." She snarled, "Don't insult my husband, Melody." Of course, she had a few choice words for him herself, but she'd deal with that when she got back to him. She was going to wring his scrawny little neck with his own bowtie, but that was all when she managed to get back. Because she would. There was no way she was letting him get away with leaving her behind if he never came back.
But right now all her anger was aimed at the woman with bushy hair stood in front of her who looked very surprised at her outburst, "Look, I can explain-"
"No!" Danni exclaimed, letting her anger out with a flail of her arms, making a crossing motion, "No, I am sick and tired of everyone 'explaining' things to me! I am and sick and tired of being left out of the loop while the whole universe gets a kick out of it!" She pointed at River, "You abandoned me to another universe! There is nothing left to explain!" River rolled her eyes.
"Oh, stop with the dramatic, Danielle." She snapped, much to Danni's indignation.
"The dramatics? Says the woman who broke time!" She screeched back, "You can't tell me off for being upset!" What angered Danni the most was the lack of remorse River seemed to be showing. Jack had immediately tried to defend himself, to make her not be angry at him. River was just dismissing her anger and hurt. She didn't get to do that, she was supposed to listen! S
"I'm not." River retorted, "But you're just going to work yourself up. If you just calm down-"
"I'm not going to calm down!" Danni interrupted, "Do you have any idea what you did to me?!"
"Am I supposed to apologise for leaving you with great parents?" River scoffed, "Because you're always going on and on about how fantastic they were." She sighed like it was annoying and Danni's mouth actually fell open in shock, "On and on and on. Honestly, it became slightly annoying after a while."
"Yes, they were fantastic!" Danni agreed vehemently, "And then I lost them! You gave me a great life, with fantastic parents where I was loved and safe, knowing that I was going to be torn away!" Before River could reply, an alarm began sounding, flashing red light through the hall, "What the hell is that?!" She shouted, frustrated at the interruption of her rant. Now that she'd started, she felt like she needed to get it all out and now.
"That is my alarm." River replied almost boastfully, "We'd better get back in my cell."
Danni snorted in derision, "No thanks." She snapped, "I need to get back to my husband and give him hell. I know you have his number, call him for me." River shrugged, obviously having no intention calling the Doctor, instead heading back inside her daytime home.
"Your choice, but they will cart you off if they see you." She pointed out, "Your precious husband won't find you for a while." Danni glanced behind her, hoping that he'd appear straight away, telling her he'd meant to follow her out and that the TARDIS had flown away, however he never showed. After waiting a couple of agonising moments she growled in frustration, hating the fact that she was going to have to do what River suggested, and darted into the cell. She didn't want to be with River, but being carted away wasn't going to be any better, in the grand scheme of things.
River smirked and she closed the barred door, "Better hide under the bed until they've checked on me." She told the angry blonde. Danni narrowed her eyes, she seemed amused by her anger which was incredibly infuriating, but she did as she was told. There was barely any room, but then the sound of footsteps reached her ears. She pressed herself further under and the running came to a halt right outside River's cell, three pairs of feet in black boots appearing in her vision.
"Sorry to scare you, boys." River started in a cheeky tone, flirting like she always did, "Just stretching my legs."
"You know you're not allowed out of your cell, Miss Song." One of the guards told her.
"That's Dr Song, I'll think you'll find." She replied sassily and Danni rolled her eyes. Of course she would antagonise the guards, what else did she expect?
"You know you're not allowed out of your cell, Dr Song." The guard corrected sarcastically and River sighed.
"So you keep telling me." She murmured, "Well, as you can see, I'm in my cell, so unless you want to play, you can be on your way." Danni watched as the feet, after a small pause, turned and walked off. Honestly, it was like she never wanted to get out, "Alright, you can come out now." River told her and she crawled out, dusting herself down.
"You need a better maid service." She murmured, not looking at River at all. How many times had the woman had to lie to the guards? How many of her days did she actually spend in the prison until they let her go?
"It's hard to get good help around here." River replied and they fell into an uncomfortable silence.
"I don't know if I ever thanked you for what you did for the Doctor," Danni started slowly, trying to find the words in her head. The initial anger she had felt at seeing River again after so long was still there, but she didn't want to shout and yell anymore. It was all just so... tiring, "You gave up your freedom for him, sometimes I forget that."
River shrugged, "I didn't do it for him, I did it for you." She pointed out.
"I'm never going to forgive you." Danni replied firmly, but apologetically, "I've tried, but I can't. I don't care about your reasons, you gave me up and I'll never forgive you." River looked surprised, maybe it was the lack of anger behind her conviction, but she actually believed her and it actually worried the elder Pond.
"Why?" Was her one word answer.
Danni sighed with a slight sense of defeat, thinking over all the reasons that had been going around and around in her head at night when she spent too long thinking about it, "Because you were taken from yours. Because you had to watch your parents grow up next to you with them never knowing you were there. Of all the people I have ever known, I would never have thought you'd do that to someone else."
"I had to keep you safe." River insisted, "You know how you're already spread across time, I was trying to save you from that." Danni shook her head.
"It's not enough." She whispered sadly, "You act all tough and individual, but I saw you with Amy and Rory when I lived with them. You missed them, you always were so happy with them, much more than when we were on our own. The fact you did that to me just tells me you didn't care."
River stepped forward, suddenly looking livid, "That's not true at all!" She exclaimed, "I loved you from the moment I met you, and when I held you in my arms I knew I'd never love anything more."
"That's just not true." Danni corrected, trying not to show how close she was to crying, because the rejection she was feeling was breaking her hearts more than she'd admit, "Because you knew what you were doing. I lost my parents, my friends, everything. I don't know if they're waiting for me or not. They might die never knowing what happened to me, and you did that. I have to live with that, and you did it knowingly."
"I'm not apologising for that." River reiterated, "And I'd do it again." Danni smiled softly.
"I know." She breathed, "That's why I'll never forgive you."
~0~0~0~
The Doctor paced for an age, back and forth in front of the console as he tried to not go straight back. It didn't matter, after all he could just land as late as he wanted, but it felt wrong to do that. He wanted to wait as long as he thought she would be there for, which wasn't very long at all. He needed to suffer through it, after all he had essentially made her do the same.
When he did land, however, he was expecting there to be loud shouting and possibly some fighting going on. He could see himself having to pull Danni off River, telling her to calm down before she turned around and gave him a choice slap for his actions. However, what he found was Danni and River sat on either end of the bed, River looking through her journal like she had nothing better to do and Danni looking into the nothingness of the wall in front of her.
"Took your time, didn't you?" River called without looking up from her TARDIS shaped book, "Kudos on abandoning your wife, it was almost as good as killing her."
"River." Danni replied in warning, pushing herself off the bed, "He didn't kill me, get over yourself."
"He pushed you out of the TARDIS, I'd say that was killing you." The Doctor watched his wife close her eyes, taking a slow breath to try and calm her frustration. He was quite surprised that she was denying it, after all that was what he did. He hadn't meant to hurt her, but he had pushed her out of the TARDIS and she'd died because of it. That was why he wasn't correcting River, he couldn't bring himself to because her words were true.
"He didn't-" She started before shaking her head, "You know what? Doesn't matter. Let's go." She headed to the caged door, pushing it open. The Doctor had expected it to be locked, but then again with River he should have known better. He grabbed Danni by the arm, stopping her in her tracks.
He ducked his head so he could whisper in her ear, "Are you okay?" He asked and she shook her head.
"We'll talk in the TARDIS." She replied calmly, taking her arm back, "River, a pleasure, as always." The bushy haired woman nodded, again not looking up.
"See you soon, Danni-Girl."
"I doubt it." The Doctor watched her walk away, pushing the door to the TARDIS open gently and stepping inside. Behind him, River turned a page, still pretending that she was actually reading about their adventures rather than the little note her Danni-Girl had left for her.
"Sometimes I wish I had actually killed you." She called over, "She would have been a lot happier without you." His face twisted into an angry sneer as he turned to face her.
"I'm guessing it went well?" He asked sarcastically.
"She'll come around, I know she will." River replied, holding up her diary as proof, "You, however, are going to break her hearts a lot more. And when she's not got it in her to forgive you, she'll come to me."
His back straightened, "I'm not going to hurt her again." He insisted and she chuckled like she knew some big joke he wasn't privy to.
"No, you won't." She agreed, "You'll destroy her." She finally looked up, smirking proudly, "When the clock strikes twelve, Doctor, that's when she'll leave you, and it'll be completely her choice." He'd heard a prediction like that from River before, back when he was first travelling with Amy, 'You'll see me again quite soon. When the Pandorica opens.' It was just cryptic enough that it had held his interest at the time, and yet she had said it in the same knowing tone. And she had been right, and everything had ended.
"She won't leave me." He declared before turning, leaving her to watch him panic with a smug sense of pride. He slammed the door shut and saw Danni stood by the console, waiting for him. He held up his finger, then dashed over, flying them as far away from River as he possibly could. Dropping her off at River's had been an awful idea, he needed to make this right before she really did run off to River, leaving him behind.
"I'm sorry." He told her honestly, turning around to face her, trying to show every bit of regret her could to her in his expression, "I was just-"
"You're worried I'm going to be on my own when you die and don't regenerate." She finished for him, "I know, you've said, but you can't keep doing this to me, Theta. It's not fair!"
"I know, I'm sorry." He reiterated. And he was. He couldn't live without her in his life, she was his everything. She was beautiful, inside and out and even now he could see that wonderful tolerance for him shining through. He just wanted to hold her close and never let her go. Together until the end of time.
"You can't keep trying to make decisions for me!" She exclaimed and he nodded in agreement, "It's my life, and it's going to be a long one now! This isn't going to work if you think that I can't do this." His eyes widened, River's words hitting him hard in the chest again. He took a step closer, hands up in front of him in defeat.
"I know, I'm terrible for it." He agreed, "I just thought if you saw River, if you got a chance to talk to her, that maybe the thought of being their daughter wouldn't hurt you so much, and you'd have someone to turn to. I was wrong, I know I was."
She took a shaky breath. She didn't want to fight with him, but he made it so difficult sometimes, "I know I'm younger than you, but I'm not a kid. You can't tell me that this is my home, and give me a companion only to take every bit of control from me. I'm better than that." He nodded eagerly.
"You deserve better than that." He replied, "I promise, I will never do it again." He crossed over his hearts, "I swear, I'll never make another decision concerning you without talking to you first." He reached out and stroked a hand down her cheek, his whole being lighting up as she leant into it, a small smile appearing on her face, "You're my Danni-Girl, I'm supposed to protect you. I just don't do a good job of it."
"Maybe you should take a step back, after all you're the old man." She retorted with a cheeky grin and he gasped in offence, "Maybe you need someone to protect you."
"Oh, and that's you, is it?" He asked, "Honestly, kids these days." She giggled and he pulled her in for a hug, glad that her forgiveness seemed to be neverending, "Don't leave me, okay, Danni-Girl?" He whispered into her hair and she shook her head.
"Never willingly." She promised, hugging him back just as tightly. Weirdly, she did feel slightly better for confronting River, although she didn't think she'd let him know that just yet. Maybe after a nice trip to somewhere amazing, like a safari planet. Or that place with the lovely pastries in the 32nd century.