He sent the message to his younger self immediately. That must have been what happened. She didn't mess up when sending it, and the TARDIS didn't mess up. He'd sent it. 

The pain was re-surfaced as soon as he saw the note and the handwriting he'd recognize anywhere. He broke down, not being able to help it anymore. This was his wife, and she was gone. He'd had faith that she'd get herself out when he couldn't. Well, apparently he'd overestimated her. 

He didn't know how long he sat in the control room, in the jump seat and rocking back and forth as tears flowed from his eyes. It could have been years. It could have been minutes. He couldn't find it in himself to care. Not after this. He knew he had to be strong. He knew he had a daughter, and that there was no way that he'd leave her. Even if he had to do it by himself. 

So he wiped his eyes and got ready to leave and go to that terrible place. 

Instead, the TARDIS turned the picture on the monitor to his bathroom-their bathroom. He looked down and realized that several of his shirt buttons and jacket was missing, and that he looked terrible. So he got the hint and took a shower first. Not in their shower. He couldn't bring himself to walk back through their room yet. No, he took one in a random bedroom the TARDIS brought up. 

Then he got dressed and piloted the coordinates for the Library. 

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

"Dammit!" River yelled, and flung the book across the room, running a hand over her face. "I can't find anything!" 

Anita sighed as the older women pulled her hair into a ponytail and set her jaw once more. "Look, why do you have to go? I understand he's important to you, but this place is everything anyone could hope for. I'm sure Charlotte could even-" 

"No." Her voice came out low. "You don't understand. Yes, he was being a-a-" River glanced at Charlotte, who was sitting at another table reading, "an idiot, and didn't tell me, but he's my husband. Not to mention Brooke." 

"Brooke?" Anita questioned softly. Professor Song had never talked much about her personal life. She'd only just found out that the Doctor was her husband, a week or so ago. When she read through her file, it just read that she graduated from Luna, then taught at Luna, all the while going on archeology expeditions that had some great outcomes. There was no personal information. 

"My daughter." River said quietly. "She's our daughter, and I refuse to leave her out there. I can't. He's an amazing father, but sometimes he needs someone to put him in place. Bless." 

Well, that certainly changed things. A child always seemed to do that. 

"Oh." 

"Yeah." River said, glancing up at her. "She's still a baby. A few months old." 

"I'm sorry." Anita murmured, about to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but didn't after she thought it through. The Professor certainly didn't like people touching her.

The Library mainframe was a great place, it really was. They could go into any book, and have any adventure, and learn about everything. Charlotte could even make the people in the books. Everyone loved it there. 

Except River. 

She stayed up day and night (well, the virtual kind, anyway) looking through for information about time streams. She'd tried to explain it to her team, she had. It was something to do with back-to-front lives, and how she always ended up a certain way because of how her DNA was constructed. It was confusing, and Anita didn't understand any of it. She just sort of enjoyed what was there. She'd even taken a liking to Other Dave, and Miss Evangelista and Proper Dave hit it off really well, too. They were pairing off. 

Anita was sure that Proper Dave would have happily paired with River in the very beginning, before he realized how much he liked Miss Evangelista. But there was no way she would. She was always working and reading. Not to mention the fact that she was so obviously married to another man. 

She'd explained to them a little about herself, as well. How she was part Time-Lord, and was married to the last full one there was. How her DNA was different from a humans, with something called Artron energy. How she could regenerate. It was all complicated, but once she started talking about all the science behind it, it made sense. Even if they didn't really get it. 

Other Dave walked into the room quietly, hands in his pockets. "Hey, Professor Song." 

"Dave." She murmured, obviously distracted by whatever book she had in front of her. 

"Still at it, I see." 

"Yeah." She murmured again. 

"Okay then. Anita, wanna go to Narnia?" 

"Couldn't think of anything better." She smiled up at him, then looked over to the little girl reading quietly. "Charlotte? Want to come?" 

"No thanks." 

"Okay. Bye, guys." 

Anita and Dave left them to work. 

After a few minutes, River felt a small hand on her shoulder. 

"What?" 

"You need to talk." CAL said softly. 

"I don't, I'm fine. Thanks though, dear." 

"I know what it's like." The girl replied, sliding into a chair beside the older woman. "When all my memories came back, and my dad was gone. I liked my dad. Even if I made another one, he wouldn't be real. He'd just be part of my imagination. I lost him." She looked down at her hands, fiddling them.

River glanced over. "I'm sorry, dear. It's just. . . complicated. Really complicated." 

Charlotte raised her eyes to meet River's. "I'm a good listener. And you need to talk." 

River bit her lip, considering it. What harm could it really do?

"It's just hard. And frustrating. My whole life, I've been the smartest in everything, and I didn't even have to try. I understand every type of physics, every type of practically every science. And it's really frustrating, because this is something that's hard to understand. I've got to work into it. And there are little pieces that I can't figure out. I mean, how am I supposed to try to change my DNA if I don't even understand it? He left me a message, trying to explain all that. But even he couldn't tell me everything about my DNA. So now I've got to figure it out. And I've got to do it all, knowing that my family's out there, waiting on me. Maybe even not-actually, no. Not them. They don't really need me as much as I'd like to think. I'm the one that needs them," She paused, "and it's hard. I want my husband, and I want my little girl." She finished in a small voice. 

Small hands wrapped around her shoulders in a hug. "Riv," Charlotte said, "I think I found something." 

The woman raised an eyebrow. "What'd you find?"

The younger girl bit her lip and pointed to a small tablet that had materialized on the table. "That. There's a book on there, and I think it's about you. Demon's Run, right?" 

River picked it up and nodded. "Thanks." 

"Yeah." She patted River's shoulder and disappeared. 

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

 March 3, 2013. Anthony and Georgia's house. 9:00 AM

"What's she doing?" Anthony asked his wife, who was standing beside him with an equal look of awe on her face. 

"She's hunting, I think." 

"But how can she shoot straight? I can't even shoot straight on the Wii!" 

"I don't know! Maybe you should asked her mother! She's the one that has that amazing 12 gauge." 

"Look! She shot three deer! And..." Anthony paused, watching the screen. "a squirrel? Are you kidding? I didn't even know there was a squirrel!!" 

Brooke babbled something, and aimed the miniature play pistol that her mom had custom made again. 

"She gets the need to show off from her dad, though." Georgia said, smirking. 

"Yeah. And that mini-screwdriver, which, by the way, is missing from her crib." 

"What's the worst she could've done with it? Made the game have a squirrel to shoot?" 

"Well, Mum said that he could start fires with his! You think he put that on Brooke's?" 

"Oh no. Brooke, don't do-" Georgia yelled, running to the child, who had just managed to make the small pistol fire lasers at a potted plant, "-that." She finished lamely. She turned to her husband. "You didn't tell me about the screwdriver until now, so you get to clean it up. I'm going to give her a bath." 

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

 The Library. September 31, 5078. 11:25 AM

The Doctor walked slowly around the crowd, making sure he wouldn't run into his younger self. He was pretty sure a paradox blowing the place up would not be a good plan. 

He wasn't entirely sure why he was there. He was still clinging to the hope that his wife would get out, he supposed. Because she couldn't count on him when it really mattered. Like now. 

The people swarmed in front of him, black blending into black, until his eyes were blurry and he couldn't tell them apart. A bout of dizziness overtook him, so he found a chair at the edge of the room and sat. 

He wasn't sure how long he sat there until it happened. It might have been a minute, may have been an hour. In any case, someone tripped over his foot. 

His eyes shot open and he reached down to help the person up, babbling apologies, but when the woman looked up, he had to bite back a gasp. 

Donna Noble was the one shaking her head and telling him she was fine.

----------

 I've got no idea what the date is. Or the time. Or anything. 

That's what it's like living in the Library. For the first time in my life, I don't know the time. You would know why that bugs me. No one else in here does. 

This isn't even a real diary that I'm writing in. This is just some book Charlotte made for me. It looks the same, yes, but's it's not worn, and I can't feel the same texture, and it's certainly not bigger on the inside.

I wanted you to know that I'm mad at you right now. You could've told me, we could've made plans in case I didn't get out. But you, the idiot you are, decided to keep it from me, and now Brooke is going to have to wait longer to get her mother back and you're going to be on your own with her for a little while. 

Actually, knowing you, you probably don't even have Brooke. She's probably still with Anthony and Georgia while you mope around, probably hurting yourself by doing it. Don't pity yourself, my love. Don't blame the universe. Do you really need to go through what happened after Mum and Dad again? The answer's no. So stop being stupid, and go get your daughter. I can't be there for her, so you're going to have to. 

Charlotte found me something today. A book on what they did to me as a child. I'm not going to say it's easy to read. But the information's useful. I think I'll figure out how to change my physical signature by tomorrow and see how the teleport works. Heck, I don't know why I even said that, since there's no time in this place. It's a nightmare. 

I think- and don't get your hopes up, because I don't even think it's got a high possiblility of working- I think I can change my physical signature so that I'll have more Artron energy inside me. A little more time inside my DNA. There's a possibility I can regain the ability to regenerate. A small one, but it's there. 

You know how it works. I'm a string of numbers in here. My physical signature's a string of numbers. A long one, of course, and I have to figure out what exactly I need to change, but I think I've got it. I can certainly hope so, anyway. 

One more thing. 

I think Charlotte is scared of me leaving. I love her to pieces, she knows that, but she was reluctant to give me that book I was talking about. I think she had it for a while, but she didn't give it to me. She's a sweet girl. I'll have to make sure Anita and Other Dave take good care of her if this works. 

All my love. 

[A/N. So, super long chapter! You're welcome! This is what I've been doing the past half hour instead of studying. Mostly because it's probably going to be a while before you get another update. Sorry, guys. Going camping this weekend, and I've got big tests next week. Lots of stuff in this chapter. Loaded it down! You get to see Donna-Doctor reaction in the next one. It's going to be interesting. Also- you may get to see River getting out next chapter. Not sure yet, have to think on how to organize it. 

Now, for some shameless self-advertising: Do me a favor and go check out my 'An Arranged Marriage to a Country Girl'. It's the original that I will probably spend the most time working on. I'd really appreciate some more reads/votes/reviews on that one. Thanks so much!

Trying out a new word I saw someone else use (yes, not my word) please do it!-

VOMMENT!]