[A/N. Okay, I think I'm changing the title to 'Fluffiness and Angst in Time in Space', because this is chock full of angst. Seriously. Like, big time. Big update, though, so yay! Enjoy!]

The man paced the intuders, two of whom he could recognize anywhere. 

"Well, well, well," He said, a grin coming across his face, "it seems that the Doctor's family will be having dinner with us." 

Rory groaned and glanced over to the Time Lord. "Doctor, he doesn't mean us actually getting to eat, does he?" 

"Um, no," the Doctor said, "I don't think he does." 

River let out a string of colorful Galifreyan words as she tugged at her handcuffs. The Doctor seemed to be nodding in agreement, until she kicked his shin and glared at him.

The two had an argument in the alien language while Rory and Amy just watched. "It's so weird when they do that!" 

Amy frowned. "And annoying. Oi, you two!" The pair glanced over and shut up a moment. "Care to share what you're talking about?" 

"Sorry, mum," River replied, giving her husband the stink eye once more, "but it's his fault. I mean, seriously! What possessed you to go through her wardrobe?" 

"I told you, there was a squeak! If I had known it was really the prince trying to lure us in, I wouldn't have done it, now would I?" 

Then a furious River reverted back to Galifreyan and Rory and Amy were excluded from the rest of the conversation. 

"Interesting." The alien that had them handcuffed said. "I knew you were married to her. I would've assumed you had some more respect for her parents." 

"That's what I said!" Rory frowned. "He just doesn't listen." 

"Rory, don't agree with the alien that wants us for supper!" The Doctor said, face flushed. 

"Well, he's got some view points that are better than yours!" Rory frowned. "Except the eating us part." 

"Indeed." The man chuckled. "So, the two Doctors." He walked closer to the Doctor, so their noses were almost touching. "The two who killed my father." 

Neither the Doctor or River did anything, but stood silently as the man got close to their faces. 

Amy raised an eyebrow at Rory. Killed his father?

He shook his head, obviously not knowing anything about it. 

"Your deaths will be much more excrutiating than your family's. I've been considering boiling you both several times, just to watch you regenerate in agony." 

Again, the two held steely gazes and expressions didn't waver. 

"Next time you'll think twice about who you don't save." Before anyone could grasp what was happening, the man whipped his hand back and slapped River across the face. 

Her head only slightly went to the side, and she maintained the bored look, not even flinching. Amy bit her lip while the two men literally growled. The Doctor finally spoke. "Lay hands on her again, and I swear that your remaining life will not be pleasant." It wasn't a loud yell, but a soft warning with layers of anger beneath it, and Amy visibly shuddered. 

"Well, well," the man taunted, turning back to him, "the Oncoming Storm finally going to show himself to the in-laws?" 

And then, in true Pond fashion, River brought her foot up in a swift kick to his groin from the side. 

Rory would've laughed if River's face didn't have a mark on the side and they weren't all handcuffed and on the way to their deaths. 

The Emperor bent over his middle, taking deep breaths for a moment before yelling for their feet to be secured as well. 

It was about that point when Amy started to actually worry about them getting out. Before, she'd known that River could get out of handcuffs with nothing but her bare hands. Hands and feet? That'd be a bit more complicated. 

Once they'd all been secured and Amy had stepped on the guard's hand, he stood up and walked back to them, to the Doctor. "Well, I can't blame you for liking her. Very bold. Not that she won't pay for it, of course," he smirked over at the curly haired blond, "but maybe that'll be after I'm finished with her." 

"You're sick." The Doctor spit in his face. "Especially if you think you'll ever get to even touch her." 

"Maybe I am sick, but nowhere near as leaving the Emperor of Geytal and his family for dead!" 

Rory inhaled sharply and wished his hands were free. He needed something to hold on to. 

"There was no space on the ship," River finally said, "and we didn't even know they were alive. We thought they'd died in the fire." 

He gave something like a snort. "Well, they didn't. I remember that much. I was 12 years old then, and my family was sending me to help the kingdom. I was 12, and they stuffed me into an escape pod, when they knew they'd die." 

Amy knew her daughter and son-in-law had dark sides. She knew it. After all, River had been trained as an assasin her whole life, and the Doctor had lost everything. He'd always had a side that she was scared of. But she wasn't sure she'd seen it yet. River's she'd only witnessed in passing, when they were on adventure and she'd shot down all their pursuers without blinking. One of them was young, probably just started the job, and River had killed him to stop him from capturing them. 

But if there was one thing she knew, it was that neither the Doctor or River would ever purposely hurt a child. She'd seen the pair run through a blazing battlefield once just to get a 9 year old alien they didn't even know.

Before she knew it, the words were leaving her mouth. "They didn't." 

His head jerked to the side. "What?" 

She swallowed and glanced to Rory for reassurance. "They wouldn't leave a child. So they didn't do it." 

The Emperor shook his head and turned on his heel, ordering for them to be thrown in cells. 

----------

The pair was silent in the cell. 

Not Amy and Rory, River and the Doctor. 

Amy had been trying to talk to at least one of them, asking how they were going to get out and what the plan was. They'd both just shrugged and exchanged meaningful glances to each other. Sad meaningful glances, Rory noted. 

The Doctor didn't speak until the middle of the night, when he told them the idea he had to get out. 

-----------

Amy held her breath and looked around the corner again to make sure her eyes weren't lying. 

They weren't. 

River was still sitting in the Doctor's lap on the jump seat by the console, and tears were still streaming down her cheeks. 

She turned to get Rory.

----------

He looked around the corner quietly and carefully. Mother of-

He leaned back and looked to his own wife, who was worrying her lip between her teeth. 

"Is she-" He whispered, pointing. Amy nodded, her own eyes starting to get watery.

That was her daughter. And she'd never seen her daughter cry, not even as Mels on the multiple occasions she'd broken a bone. 

Even at her and the Doctor's wedding, her eyes had only gotten a little wet. What was going on? 

---------

They decided, after they'd gone back to their room a moment to talk about it, to ask what was wrong. This was their daughter, dammit, and they needed to know what happened to upset her. 

So they walked as quietly as possible to the console room, and Rory cleared his throat. 

River's head immediately shot up, and she scooted to stand away from the Doctor, hands flying to her face and brushing anything that was there away. "Mum, dad! Hi. Thought you were in bed." 

The Doctor avoided both of their gazes and fiddled with his hands. 

Eyes still on the Time Lord, Rory shook his head. "Well, we were going to bed, but Amy, um..." 

"Oh, it's nothing." River said, adding a tight-lipped smile and turning to mess with the TARDIS scanner. Which, Amy noticed, was something the Doctor did when he wanted to avoid a conversation. 

Rory was ready to leave. After all, some things were better left alone. His wife wasn't. 

"River, I want to know what's wrong, and I want to know now. I don't care how old you are, you're my daughter, and sometimes I do want to take care of you." 

 It was only a few words, but when it came to Amy, a few words could hold a lot more meaning than it seemed. 

The blond swallowed and suddenly found her nails very interesting. 

A gruff, low voice came up. "It was my fault." 

Amy and Rory looked in surprise to the Doctor. "What?" 

"It wasn't." River said. 

"It was, and you know it was, so just stop, River." 

"I'm the one who didn't check the scans." 

"And I'm the one who noticed something and didn't say a word." 

"You couldn't have known they were people, you were distracted,-" 

"I'm going to bed." He smiled softly at them, though it didn't meet his eyes, and left the control room through a small corridor. 

River glanced up at her parents after a moment. "Mum, dad, you should go get some sleep." 

Rory thought that was fair. He didn't know how deep this subject was, but he had a feeling it was more than what he and Amy had learned. He grabbed Amy's elbow. "Come on, why don't we-" 

"Melody Pond." Amy said, furrowing her eyebrows, "I want to know, now." River may have had a different face from her childhood friend, but she could still tell when she needed to talk, whether she wanted to or not. 

"There was a war." The woman said. "It was bad, and it was complicated. There weren't really good guys or bad guys, but Geytal was losing in any case. We were trying to get everyone out of this-" she cleared her throat, "this fire. There was one ship left, and we thought we'd gotten everybody. The Doctor told me to check the scans, but  I didn't, I got distracted, and then we were leaving and I didn't even think about it until today." She paused, fiddling with a control.

"It turns out we left the Emperor and his family. And it wasn't just that man we met today. He was 12. The emperor had a family of 6. Him, his wife, and four kids. One was 17, one was 15, he was 12, and they had a little girl that was 7." She began typing something into the scanner, "And all of them died except for that man we met today, who," River laughed humorously, "is not actually the bad guy. He's a good guy that had his family taken away from him at a young age, and now he's just bitter. Then again, who could blame him?" 

Amy walked over to the older woman and pulled her away from the console and into a hug. They were both crying silently by that point, raw emotion getting the better of them. 

"I killed her, mum." River murmured into her neck, sounding a lot more like a small child than the centuries old woman she was. "I killed a little girl." 

"Shh, no you didn't." Amy rubbed her back soothingly. "You didn't know, just like the Doctor didn't know. It's not your fault, and it's not his fault."

River pulled away and nodded. "I've got to- he's going to need me." 

Amy nodded. "Okay." 

River sighed and straightened her shirt. "Thanks, mum." 

"Yeah." 

Rory walked up awkwardly beside them and put a hand on River's shoulder. "Sorry I couldn't help, I- I mean, you're a good girl, and and sometimes I just don't know how to-" River cut him off and pulled him into a hug. "It's okay, Dad. You're going to get better at this." 

"Spoilers?" Rory asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Spoilers." River affirmed. 

----------

River crawled into the bed quietly so she wouldn't wake him up and pulled the sheets back over herself. 

She was getting ready to drift off when a hand found hers in the dark and squeezed. "Goodnight, dear." 

"Goodnight, sweetie." She turned over and curled into him, holding him tightly, and silently wishing she wouldn't have to let go. 

---------

(When you run with the Doctor, sometimes it's hard to be sure if you've even helped at all. There's so much destruction, so much pain, and it's everywhere. And even if sometimes the good things don't cancel the bad things, the good things are still important. Sometimes it matters, and sometimes you did do something good for the universe, even if you don't know it.)

[A/N. So, what did you think? I was trying to go for a little bit more emotional with this one. Not fluffy, more angsty. 

I love votes and comments, so please help me out here! :) ]