"Are you sure?" Anita asked River quietly. "I mean, I don't know what happened between you two or what the issues are, but this woman doesn't sound like someone you really want to talk to."

"You're right." River responded with a tight-lipped smile. "I don't want to talk to her. In all honesty, I'd rather murder her than talk to her."

Proper Dave lifted an eyebrow, and he exchanged glances with Other Dave. They knew Professor Song was violent, but they'd never wanted to see her use it. She was their friend, to some extent, and they were a little scared to witness her darker side they knew was buried.

"Will you tell us anything about what happened with her? Who she is, at least?" Anita tried.

The human plus took a deep breath and stopped scribbling in her notebook. "Her name's Kovarian. She made my mum and dad-" River sighed and closed her eyes, "she made my mum and dad's life very difficult. And she's working to kill someone I care about. I don't want that to happen."

Charlotte suddenly spoke up from her quiet place in the corner. "Ready?"

River bit her lip, but nodded determinedly. "Yes. If you'd excuse us," She motioned to the door. Her colleagues left wordlessly, with Anita squeezing her hand gently on the way out.

Charlotte walked over and shut the door. "Do you have the book?" Her voice was quiet, timid, and River picked it up off the table. "Yes."

"Alright. Give it here." CAL held her hand out, and River gave it to her. "Now?" The young girl asked.

"Now." River agreed, taking her hand in her own. She needed at least some stability when facing the woman who haunted her dreams.

Charlotte closed her eyes and focused, one hand on the book. There was a small noise, almost a squeak, and River opened her eyes.

----------

March 4, 2013. Anthony and Georgia's house. 4:45 AM

Something was hitting his face.

He swatted at it sleepily. He'd stayed up until 1 that morning to put Brooke to sleep, and he wasn't in the mood for being slapped.

There was a whimper-Brooke's whimper, he idly recognized-and his eyes shot open.

Oh yes. The little Time Lady was definitely the one waking him up.

"Go back to sleep." He murmured, pushing her hands down. She was only a few months own, but apparently Galifreyans have some amazing muscular skills. She wasn't sitting up all the way, but she was leaning up and batting away at him with no problem.

She whined again and yanked his hair. "Ow!"

Georgia groaned from her side of the bed and rolled over. "Shut up, Anthony!"

"Please tell me you moved her and she didn't walk in here by herself!"

Eyes still closed, Georgia shook her head. "No, I carried her. She wanted to come lay by you."

"What?"

Brooke giggled and grabbed his nose.

"Oi!"

-----------------

The smile on that face was the exact replica of what haunted her dreams. Repressing a shudder, River stood up to look at her eye-to-eye.

"Good job, girl. Never be on lower ground than the enemy." Kovarian spoke, eyes lighting up at the scowl that was on River's features.

"Charlotte, dear, would you mind stepping outside for a moment?" River asked, not taking her eyes off the woman in the eyepatch. Sensing the tension in the atmosphere, the girl nodded and scurried out of the room.

They watched each other for a moment, opponent eyeing the other and looking for chinks in the other's armor, any weakness that could be found.

"I'm going to ask you once, and I'll punch you if you don't give me the answer I want." River stated calmly. "How did you make my time stream go in the opposite direction?"

Kovarian smirked. "Opposite direction of what, my dear?"

River whipped her arm back and brought her fist swiftly back up to the other woman's jaw, smiling when Kovarian's expression faltered slightly. "You know what I'm talking about. What did you change to make our time streams go in opposite directions?!"

Kovarian brought her hand up and rubbed her soon-to-be bruised jaw. "You know about Trenzalore, correct?"

River's expression hardened, and she once again prepared to punch.

Kovarian caught her fist securely in her own hand, even as River yanked it out of her hold.

"Now, now dear. Calm down, we can't have a proper discussion if my mouth is busted, can we?"

The blond pressed her lips together. "I suppose not. Although, your mouth won't be busted if you'll provide me with the simple answer I want."

"I wish you were there." Kovarian ignored her threat. "To see him dying. Impressive sight, really. He just got older and older and older, and generations died with him watching. Come to think of it, children died while he was watching. He was bitter, Melody," She chuckled, "and the man he truly was got a lot harder to hide. It was quite comical. The mighty Oncoming Storm, reduced to watching years tick by and generations pass by a simple truth field and a few enemy ships."

River aimed for her eye that time.

Staggering back up, Kovarian pressed a hand to her eye. "Punch has gotten much better since you were 10, I'll give you that."

"Tell me what I want to know, Kovarian." River gritted out. "I'm trying to be more humane than you ever were with me. I want information, and I want it now."

She simply smiled and arched an eyebrow behind her eyepatch. "I suppose it doesn't matter. He's going to die anyway. But you know that, don't you?"

River clenched her jaw. "What I know is that you took me away from my mother, and made me comfort her when she didn't even know who I was. I know that you took away her ability to have children, as if I wasn't enough when it came to her problems. I know that you tested hundreds of children before me with Artron energy, and I know that your ultimate goal is to kill the Doctor before Trenzalore. I'm desperate right now, and there's nothing I'd rather do than tear your virtual throat out. That being said," She inched closer, glaring holes into Kovarian's face. "you better start talking."

"There should be a book on the research for what we did with your DNA titled 'Time Streams and their Uses' by the pen name Liculd Snow. Find it, and maybe you'll find a way to get to your precious Doctor."

River nodded and turned away, before the cold voice stopped her once more. "And for the record, I'm not a monster. I'm someone who didn't want the universe destroyed and realized that there had to be sacrifices. And if that included shooting your lover with a 67th century plasma laser gun so he wouldn't be able to walk again, it was simply a benefit. It was nice, though. Watching from above." Kovarian took a step closer, "Watching the lines on his face grow, watch him become old and weak, alone the whole time. It must have been torture for the man."

A low, guttural sound escaped River's lips, and then she was on her.

Kovarian may have been virtual and nothing more than a ghost from a book, but she was programmed to have a system like nerves.

When Anita and the rest of her colleagues came through the door, River had her pinned down on the floor and had her hands around her neck.

Kovarian didn't look well, to say the least. There were bruises already forming all over her face and her hair was tangled, Anita guessed from River pulling it.

"Professor!" Proper Dave shouted, not quite willing to get between the predator and her prey.

However, it seemed to snap her back to reality, and River banged the woman's head against the floor one more time before getting off of her.

"Charlotte." Miss Evangelista whispered, motioning to the virtually passed out Kovarian on the floor. The little girl closed her eyes, and a second later there was nothing there.

After a quiet moment, save for River's exerted breathing, Anita approached her.

"Professor?"

She shook her head and didn't look up. She was sitting at the table, hands on her face and taking deep breaths.

"Professor Song?" She tried again.

Nothing.

Inhaling, Anita turned around to address the others. "Um, maybe you should go home. Charlotte, you can go to you and Joshua and Ella's room, alright?"

The girl nodded, taking another worried glance at River, but leaving with the rest- grabbing the book that had Kovarian and quickly tucking it into her pocket before she left.

"She was talking, something about the Doctor dying." Anita got straight to the point. "But you know that's not true, you said it yourself. He'll regenerate, or figure another way out. He always does, isn't that what you said?"

"No." It came out sounding more like a croak, and River cleared her throat before repeating herself. "No. There are various accounts, some where he dies and some where he doesn't. He's used all his regenerations, so unless he does something, then..." Her voice trailed off weakly. Anita raised an eyebrow. Weakly? Professor Song was many things, but weak was not among them.

"He'll find a way. He did before, right? Something about that Tesser- tesser-something?"

River took a deep breath and turned to the younger woman. Anita decided not to comment on what looked like tear streaks running down her face. "Tesselecta, yes. I shot an exact replica of him the day we got married."

"What?"

"Oh, it was one of those time travel projects the government was doing. It could replicate and look like any recorded person. Somehow, he made it look like he was regenerating, too. He never told me how he did that."

"No, not that bit." Anita replied, eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "You shot him the day you got married?"

River chuckled gently. "Technically, I shot a replica of him after we got married, but yes, you could put it that way."

"Right." Anita decided not to comment any further on the strange things she said. If there was one thing she learned around her friend, it was that some things about her would never make sense. "You get anything out of the lady?"

"Yeah." River reached up and rubbed her eyes."Some book. If it's useful. It may just be one of those books on me that won't be worth my time at all. Guess I'll find out."

"Wh-" Anita began to ask, but stopped, reminding herself that she shouldn't ask unless she really wanted to know. "Okay, that's good."

"Yeah. I should probably get back to work." River sighed, probably already running information around in her head.

"No."

"Sorry?" River raised an eyebrow at the younger woman, who flushed under her look.

"Come with us first. We're going to the beach, and you look like you need a break."

"Well-"

Anita smiled and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet. "Not a question. Go get dressed."

[A/N. I uploaded! Yes, you're welcome! XD No, you deserve it. I haven't uploaded in a week. What did y'all think about Kovarian? Did I do the whole sinister-psycho thing correctly? Well, I tried. This is slightly shorter than my other chapters, but you'll survive. I'll try to upload a super awesome one next time to make up for it. Will I tell you what it's going to be about? Well... no. Sorry. Spoilers!

What did you think? If you comment, then I'll send you virtual bacon!!! :D ]