There's a new person here. A new student. I'm just going to sit here writing this and trying to make it look important. It's intimidation tactics. By making her wait, I establish myself as being in control, and show her that I have more important things to do. It was in a book I read.
"I can read upside down," said the new person.
Shit! Benny looked up guiltily, slowly closing her well-worn diary.
"It's extremely poor form to read someone else's diary, you know." Also probably poor form to write nonsense in order to seem intimidating, but she wasn't going to bring that up.
"Oh, I know. I keep a diary myself, actually."
Benny looked her up and down, critically. She decided that this person's diary would make for very poor reading. It had the possibility of being more entertaining then Benny's.
"I'm River Song."
"That's a nice name. Did you make it up yourself?"
River stopped in surprise, then started laughing. "How could you tell it was fake?"
"River Song? It's too cool. Plus both the names are actual words. Where did you get it?"
River smiled to herself. "A friend gave it to me."
Benny waited, but no new information was forthcoming. She raised her eyebrows. "What, as a birthday present?"
"First tell me what your name is."
"Bernice Summerfield."
"Is that one fake?"
Benny smiled. "If only. Look, if I got to pick a fake name it'd be much better then this."
River nodded. "Well, introductions, guess I can tick that off the bucket list. Can you show me where to set up the tent?"
Benny shoved her diary in her bag, still slightly embarrassed about the earlier incident. She pulled open the tent flap and walked out before River, trying to look superior. Unfortunately, she was so focused on her appearance that she didn't see the pile of equipment until she had fallen straight over it and onto her face.
"Are you alright?" River asked in alarm.
Benny lay still for a minute. Stupid, stupid, by the goddess Benny…
"Benny?" River crouched down and put her hands hesitantly on Benny's shoulders.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Benny said, voice muffled. Groaning, she rolled onto her back and sat up. River snorted
"What!" Benny demanded indignantly.
"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. It's just… you're covered in dirt."
Benny jumped to her feet, mortified. She had to go now. "Ask Felix where to set up, I've got to leave."
She turned around and tried not to sprint back to the tent. So much for making a good first impression.
Upon entering the tent, Benny collapsed in her faded chair in front of her microcomputer. She sat back and took a long drink. No matter how much she'd humiliated herself, she could admit that River was a very interesting student. Her habit of keeping a diary particularly endeared her to Benny. She half-wondered if River would enjoy a drink, or the local bar. She'd find out.
The team was staying in a scattered group of tents sitting in the base of a dusty dirt bowl. The dust seemed to have a strange ability to get into everything, so all the floors and the food and the people were constantly covered in a very fine layer of it. The nearest town was a tiny place with very few residents. The only good thing about it was the pub, and even that was crap.
That was where Benny was now, a few days after she'd first met River. She was sitting at the bar, just starting on her next drink in goddess knows how many, when the door opened with a bang. Tinny music played through the speakers. Benny didn't look up.
"What is this?" River asked. "I come to the only worthwhile place in any town to be alone, only to find someone's beaten me to it. I didn't expect to find you here, Benny"
"Only worthwhile place in town," Benny said. "I'll drink to that." She shifted over, allowing space for River to sit down.
The bartender was nowhere in sight, so River went behind the bar and grabbed a bottle herself. Tipping the amber liquid into a cup, River took the seat Benny had cleared for her. The air stirred slightly, but mostly sat still.
"What are you doing here?" River asked
"I'm always here. You've seen the beer in my tent, I'm not exactly a sober person."
The music screeched a short burst of static. River shot the speaker a black look.
"That thing's probably busted," Benny noted. "Everything here is. The dust just gets everywhere. Also, I think it's slightly acidic, which might be something worth looking into."
"I'll analyse it if you let me at the machines when we get back to camp."
"Sure. As long as it doesn't interfere with our real work."
River pinched a bit of dust between her thumb and forefinger. "Don't worry. It won't."
Benny could think of nothing to say to that, so she let the conversation lapse into silence. River pulled out a thick notebook. The cover was whitened with a thin layer of dust, but it was clear it was a deep shade of blue. Benny tapped it with a pen.
"Nice book. What's it for?"
"It's the diary I was telling you about. I'm just going to do some writing."
Weird. River's diary must have been the exact same shade as the TARDIS . Benny wondered absently if she knew the Doctor. It was possible, with the way he got around.
Benny watched River over the rim of her glass. She'd never noticed it before, but other woman really was very pretty. A light wind stirred her hair around her shoulders. Her gun clanged lightly against the metallic chair. Benny drank more and yanked out her microcomputer to have something to distract her. She pulled up a delicate hologram picture of a thin slice of artefact and sat back to study it.
"Should you be working in that condition?" River asked.
"I always think better when I'm drunk. Clears my head. Besides, I thought I was meant to be the boring one. I am the teacher."
River looked insulted. "I'm not boring! I am in no way boring. Just look at my diary! Besides," she muttered mutinously, "we're practically the same age."
Benny examined the proffered journal. "I think you may be missing the point. A diary? It's meant to be private."
River rolled her eyes. "Just read it. I'll tell you what parts to avoid if you stumble across them."
Benny flipped through the pages. They were covered in hastily scribbled writing and doodled pictures. She spotted a thin guy in a tweed suit and a bow tie. Coming across an interesting bit, she started to read.
Today the Doctor came to college. I took him to a few places, but he didn't seem very interested. Of course not. He's got the universe, and I've got a silly space university. I don't think he really gets my ambition to get a job as an archaeologist. Some of us have to live in the real world.
"You know the Doctor?" Benny asked.
"We're friends, I guess. He seems to know far more about me then I do about him. We're travelling in different time directions. It's very confusing."
"This is just like him," Benny said. "He never understood the way I want to keep being an archaeologist. Neither does Brax. Time Lords, right?"
"Who's Brax?"
"If you don’t know then never mind." She didn't feel like opening that can of worms. "I'll take you to meet him sometime, after we get out of this dig."
Fortunately River let it go. "Hopefully by that time I'll be an archaeologist. I won't be hanging around here anymore."
"Depends on whether I'm feeling nice."
River laughed. Benny turned back to the diary. It was hard to read with the heat and the poor-quality music, but River's life proved to be interesting.
Jim the Fish is staying in my dormitory until the King of New New Spain comes to collect him. The Doctor says it's very useful to have a base off the TARDIS where he can put stuff. I think he can use Amy and Rory's house instead of my dorm, but he says if he goes there he has to pick up an ood they don't want. Who doesn't want an ood? If they don't want it I'll take it happily.
"Did you ever get the ood?" Benny asked.
"Nah. The Ponds still have it. Shame, actually."
"Where do they live? Maybe we can go and pick it up." Benny allowed herself a few moments to daydream about all the good an ood could do the camp.
"21st century Earth. We couldn't pick it up unless we had a time machine."
"Damn shame." Benny finished her drink and ordered another one.
"So," River said, "have you ever been to Earth? Do you travel much at all?"
"Of course," Benny spread her hands wide. "Have you seen my job? I used to travel for fun, but in some ways travelling for work is better. You feel more like a part of whatever planet you're one when you have a job."
River sat back an admired the dusty, empty bar. "Yep, I think I'm going to like this job."
The two woman sat there in silence for a while. River wrote, while Benny worked and tried to act like she wasn't reading over River's shoulder.
Everything is falling into place here. I thought it was going to be so hard, but it isn't. I feel like Benny understands me a lot more now, since we're in a bar together. I always open up when I'm drunk.
Benny couldn't help but feel a warm glow spreading through her at the compliment. She had no reason to want to be friends with River, but somehow she really did.
Going home that night was fun as. Both of them were drunk enough to feel happy while not enough to be throwing up. They sang loudly as they danced down the street, getting more then a few annoyed glares from passers-by.
"We should do this again," River smiled.
"Definitely," Benny agreed. "As much as we can."
A few days later, Benny was regretting that choice. Her head pounded with a massive migraine. Yesterday, she and River had gotten to their biggest party yet. Right now she was feeling the consequences.
"You have to come out!" Felix insisted from her doorway. "Without a leader, we won't get away work done. We still have use the ancient combination buried in hidden locations around the camp to unlock the mysterious and hidden door of wonders. We're so close now!"
"No," Benny groaned. "You can be in charge."
"I can't. Last time you put me in charge, Candy and Regina took off and robbed a bank, Tony and Miranda spent the whole day playing tag around the door of wonders and I had to go pick up River from gaol the next morning."
That caught Benny's attention. "What did she do?"
"Got into a fight. Someone insulted her dress sense or something. It was silly, really."
Benny mumbled something and turned back around. Felix sighed, settling his glasses further up on his nose. Just then, a sound from outside caught his attention. Leaving his boss for a moment, he stepped out. Squinting into the sun, he could just make out a large rectangular object standing near River's tent.
"Red alert, Benny. You really have to come out now. River's up to something."
Benny reluctantly made her way to the door. She shoved past Felix and stared into the haze of dust that seemed to be everywhere here. The sight didn't mean anything to Felix, but Benny looked shocked. She had completely forgotten about her headache.
"No way! Not possible," she breathed. Then, much to Felix's astonishment, she took off running. Felix started to follow her, but he was a much slower runner. By the time he got anywhere near she had already disappeared into River's tent.
River was drinking tea out of a chipped tin can when Benny burst through the door.
"Hey," she said brightly. "How's your headache?"
"Killing me," Benny replied briefly. "Is that the TARDIS outside? Did you bring it here? Is the Doctor here? Why? How?"
River waited patiently until she had run out of words, hands fumbling in the air. Then she set her tea down and stood up.
"I was having trouble with the headache as well, and then I remembered the brilliant headache medicine the Doctor has. It was a matter of moments to steal Felix's microcomputer and transmit a signal to the TARDIS at what I hoped was the right time. Fortunately, it was. He's in the TARDIS right now, but after that he's agreed to take me to a party! Come with us?"
"Huh? You can't just quit work and go to a party! Neither can I, for that matter."
River rolled her eyes. "Time machine, remember? Besides, I've been desperate to go somewhere for ages. That pub's rubbish really. We should go have some fun."
Benny glanced reluctantly at the TARDIS. She could hardly believe it was actually here. She shouldn't go. It would only distract her, and there was all sorts of complications with seeing the Doctor again- though it wasn't like Brax cared about his timeline and it seemed to work out for him. Still, going would be a bad idea. She had work to do.
Still, as River had said, time machine…
"Let's go," she told River. "I can't wait."
River grinned. Grabbing Benny's hand, she swanned out of the tent. Before they reached the TARDIS, Benny pulled River to a halt.
"Quick question- what incarnation is he in? He might not have met me yet."
River frowned. "Good point. I think he's on his eleventh by now? He doesn't look it though."
Benny smiled and released River's hand to pull open the TARDIS doors.
Inside, a skinny man wearing a tweed jacket and what looked like a bow tie was spinning around the console. He threw his hand in the air in an exaggerated fashion as he flipped a switch, apparently just for the hell of it. His TARDIS was a crazy mess of dials and decorations. Benny couldn't seem to focus her attention, there was so much to see.
"Ah, River!" The man- the Doctor, Benny guessed- exclaimed. "I'm just making preparations to-"
He stopped dead when he saw Benny standing there, gobsmacked. She took a step towards him; he took a step back, almost sheltering behind the console. It occurred to her something that she should have guessed already. He would know about her future. He could give anything away.
"Benny?" His voice was quiet, shocked. "What are you doing here?"
She thought rapidly about what to say. "Doctor! Sorry, River invited me to come. I've just met Brax a couple of months back, so don't tell me about my future if you know it." Standard time travel procedure, but it was the only thing that came into her mind just then.
The Doctor still looked stunned. "You're here? You met Brax? He's ali… no. No, sorry. Spoilers."
Benny walked cautiously to the console, avoiding one of the piles of alien equipment the Doctor seemed to have scattered randomly around the TARDIS. The Doctor skittered back around behind the console. They watched each other through the glass cylinder in the middle of the room.
"Well, you could cut the tension in this room with a knife! Have I walked in on something?" River exclaimed as she let the door bang shut behind her.
The Doctor raced for the door. "River! How many times do I have to tell you, close the door. Don't slam it!"
"Sorry Doctor, but you looked like she was pointing a maximum-strength dalek gun at you! I'm sure I've invited friends to come with us before. I though you would be happy to see Benny again."
"Yes. You're right, of course."
River looked smug. "Thank you."
The Doctor straighten his bow tie and walked towards Benny. He held out his hand. "Benny. Nice to see you again. How have you been getting on?"
Benny fought back a smile as she shook his hand. "Doctor. Very well, thank you. I've become a good enough archaeologist to get a trainee. Oh, and I met your brother. He's a bastard."
"You have a brother?" River asked.
The Doctor looked at her sadly. "You can’t meet him."
"You probably wouldn't like him either," Benny added more optimistically. "He's very into rules and order. He and the Doctor are like chalk and cheese."
The Doctor released Benny's hand and continued his mad spin around the console. His mood looked much improved, probably because he was now used to Benny's presence. "How do you two know each other?"
"Benny's training me! The professors back at the academy said that she was the only one who was even likely to put up with me long enough to give me my degree. We're working in some dust bowl, I was desperate to get out."
"So you two get along?" The Doctor looked awkward. He'd always been terrible at small talk.
"We share a taste for enormous amounts of drinking and debauchery." Benny said dryly as she plopped down in one of the seats that sat around the console. She would have liked to go exploring, but River wanted her to go to this party. She didn't want to let her down.
River stepped expertly in behind the Doctor, lightly making changes as he stepped around the central column. He fixed her with a hard stare when he noticed her twisting one small dial, but didn't question it. Benny wondered where she'd learnt to fly a TARDIS. Maybe she'd been to Gallifrey.
With a flourish, the Doctor flicked one final lever and stepped back to admire his work. "We're here!" he announced triumphantly.
River flipped the lever back. "Yes dear."
The sound of the TARDIS arriving at its destination made Benny smile. It had been a long time since she'd been in here, and she hadn't realised how much she missed it.
River flung the door open dramatically to reveal a party in full swing. Electric strobe lighting cut through the air, with music beating in a perfect dancing rhythm. It was just crowded enough to be fun, but empty enough that you weren't pressed up against people and everyone could get a drink. Despite that, Benny kept one hand on the TARDIS out of fear of disappearing into the masses.
"Welcome to one of the biggest parties in the universe!" The Doctor shouted over the noise.
River grabbed Benny's hand and pointed upwards. "Look! It's incredible!"
Squinting into the hazy air, Benny would have to agree with her. The party consisted of a series of circular discs connected by thin rope ladders. These platforms looked to have no end, going as far as the eye could see in every direction. Even peering over the edge of their disc Benny saw only the same endless repetition.
"That's not all!" The Doctor called. The he jumped over the disc.
Benny and River lunged with one movement after him. River was faster, nearly pulling Benny over trying to save the Doctor. However, when they stood on the edge they could see that he was unharmed. In fact, he was sitting perfectly intact in the middle of the air.
"How are you doing that?" Benny asked, waving her hand in front of her face. Predictably, the air didn't stop it.
The Doctor laughed, pleased to be able to impress them. "There's a net! An invisible net!" He spun around.
River reached down to grab him, smiling. The Doctor seemed to realise that his plan had not been the best idea as the two of him hauled him painfully over the edge. Once he was back on land, though, he straightened his bow tie in an effort to look cool.
"Doctor, I'm going to show Benny some of the sights," River decided.
The Doctor looked put out. "But you've never been here before!"
"I know," River grinned. "That's part of the fun."
Over the course of the next two hours, River and Benny did their best to have the time of their life. River took great delight in drinking as many alien and slightly impossible alcoholic drinks as possible. Benny drank some of the ones River said absolutely could not be missed, but overall felt a bit uncomfortable being here. Thanks to her job, she was far more comfortable drinking alone or with only a few people in some dingy bar then at this crowded party.
She felt better when River decided that this place was so huge it would be a crime not to find all the hidden spots it had to offer. This meant a lot of crawling into narrow spaces with a drunken River, which was seeming like a better idea the more Benny did it. Besides, they found some wonderful places. There was a garden sparkling with tiny jewelled flowers, with a replica of the throne room of Patagua III tucked away behind the bar on the very same disc. There was a tiny door that lead to an enormous room containing a scale model of a dragon hidden below a low tablecloth. Even behind the TARDIS they found a small egg-shaped jewel that River thought was worth millions. Benny reserved judgement until further testing.
They were on the invisible net when River found the next door. "Hey Benny!" she called. "Look at this."
Benny hushed her. "The drones will find us!"
As if on cue, a pair of ruby-red drones appeared next to the disc. Green light shot out from a hatch in the side of one of them, causing a spray of rubble to fall from the side of the platform. Both women shrank back. Silently so as not to attract attention, River pointed up.
Above them was a small hatch planted into the base of the disc. It would be a perfect escape from the drones, so Benny didn’t waste time in pulling it open. Crawling through proved to be easier then she was expecting, as the drones didn't notice their escape into the hatch.
"Woah," River breathed, and Benny stood up to check it out.
The two of them were standing in a fairly large room which was illuminated completely purple. The room was warm to the point of being uncomfortable, which was probably why the centre of the room was taken up with a enormous swimming pool. The water was as purple as the rest of the room, and looked warm and inviting. River's eyes were lit up.
Without a word, she grabbed Benny and jumped into the pool. Benny could only shout wordlessly as they both sank into the depths of the water. As Benny had thought it was warm, and rather pleasant. River was laughing when they both emerged for air.
"Thank God! Water! I've been dying for a swim on that dust-bowl you call an archaeological site."
Benny had to agree with her, but didn't want to admit it. "If you don't like dust you won't make for much of an archaeologist. Maybe I should rethink that diploma…"
River pushed her under, but pulled her up again almost immediately. "That means you were going to give it to me!"
"Well, yeah," Benny admitted. "You were ready to get it. I wanted to wait for the right moment, though."
"Will this do?" River asked, eyes dancing.
"Well it'd better, considering you know about it now."
"This calls for some sort of celebration!"
"Would one of the biggest parties in the world do?" Benny mirrored sarcastically.
"Only with drinks," River walked away and lifted a ladder that Benny hadn't seen before. It was obvious from its position that it lead up to the surface of the disc. "Coming?"
The rest of the night was a bit of a blur to Benny. She remembered buying an awful lot of drinks and taking them down to the pool. The two of them dove in and out of the water while getting smashed drunk. In the end, it got so late that they were both almost too exhausted to move. River sat in a corner of the pool, holding a pink cocktail floating with flowers. Her curly hair tumbled over her shoulders and rested on her wet clothes. Her eyes were nearly closed, but she still smiled sleepily as Benny walked over to her.
In Benny's mind the moment was perfect. She'd wanted to do this for a long time, and she couldn't think of any better way. In the back of her mind, she knew she would regret this, but right now she just didn’t give a shit. Leaning in, she kissed River.
River kissed her back, of course. In fact River deepened the kiss, drawing Benny in. Her mouth tasted like strawberries and a little of wine. River's lipstick had all but been washed off, but what was left was staining Benny's mouth. Benny put her hands in River's hair, tangling them in her luxurious curls. River sighed into her mouth.
It was uncomfortable kissing like this, kneeling over River while she was in the pool, so Benny slid in with her. River dropped her drink to place her hands around Benny's waist. The pink liquid floated on the surface, making the whole thing feel like silk and strawberries.
Benny broke away just in time to say "is this the sort of celebration you were thinking of?"
"No," River replied, eyes gleaming, "but I like it."
They resumed kissing, until River gasped suddenly and pushed her away. Falling back with a splash, Benny looked up in time to see a red light as the drone attached to it bore down on her.
She woke up in her thin camp bed back at the site. For a moment she simply lay still, breathing hard as all the memories from last night threatened to overwhelm her. For a moment she thought it had to have been a dream, until she tried to sit up.
"Fuck!" She swore, collapsing back. Her head felt as if it had just exploded. Judging from the hangover, not a dream.
"Really, Bernice? Two days in a row now? Is this going to become a routine thing?" Felix was looking in at her with a smug expression. Normally she didn't mind him, but right now she was ready to pound the little jerk into a red stain on the carpet.
"Shut up and piss off," she muttered, throwing one of her boots at him.
"She's in pretty bad shape," she heard him tell someone outside as he scampered away.
"I figured that," the person replied. "Just let me in." River! Benny struggled to sit again, cradling her aching head in her hands. She barely heard the dull thump of the tent flap closing.
"I got the Doctor's headache medicine for you!" River announced in strident tones. She laughed as Benny groaned at her purposefully loud voice.
Trying to make minimal contact, Benny took the tablets from River's outstretched hand. She avoided meeting her eyes as she gulped them dry, not bothering to take the water bottle River was holding. Once finished, River sat on the end of the bed and watched the medicine work.
Benny rubbed her temple. "Do you remember last night?"
"Some of it. I remember us kissing, which is presumably what you want to know."
"Oh Goddess." Benny was so screwed. "Did we… take it further?"
"Not from what I can recall," River reassured. "Soon after we started the drones found us. Turns out the disc we were hiding under was the very same one the TARDIS was parked on." She paused. "Uh, you were passed out. I'll have to tell the Doctor you're not dead the next time I see him."
Benny stared fixatedly at her hands. "I'm so sorry, River. I shouldn't have kissed you. I don't know what came over m-"
River shut her up by pressing their mouths together gently. It was just a light kiss, but long enough for Benny to deepen it. She had no idea what she was doing, but this felt good. River's hair must have been made for Benny to bury her hands in, they felt so perfect there. It was just starting to get intense when River pulled softly away.
"Don't worry about it," she said.
"Right…" For a moment, Benny was completely lost in her eyes. It took a lot of effort to pull herself back to reality. "Wait, you mean… you want to do this? Like… go out?"
"Well sure. You're an excellent kisser, by the way."
Benny considered it. A relationship with River sounded pretty good actually. "Sounds like a plan."
River smiled, then took Benny's hand and pulled her to her feet. As the two of them stepped out into the sun, Benny felt amazing. Smiling at River felt like her life was clicking into place, or maybe into a new order. She didn't want to say anything sappy like love, but she had a good feeling about this one.