Secrets are Best Shared

"Well, that went well." The Doctor said after long minutes, his eyes still closed.

"Yeah." Rory replied "as far as stopping escaped Egyptian goddesses on the Orient Express in space goes that had to be in the top fifty attempts at least."

"Hell of a honeymoon" Amy threw in as she started to crawl across the glass floor to Rory.

"Honeymoon..." The Doctor muttered, his eyes opening wide as he realised what rather important part of the marriage process had been overlooked.

"Never mind." Rory interrupted while simultaneously appreciating the crawling Amy and making a mental note of just how good she looked on all fours "let's get some rest and pick up that thought when we've all got working brains to pick it up with yeah?"

The Doctor nodded, somewhat grateful as he had to admit he could use a hot bath, a mug of tea and some actual rest himself. Amy reached her husband and together they helped each other up and stumbled towards their bedroom, the Doctor making one last check of the controls before heading off to his own room. Within five minutes all three were soundly asleep.

Amy awoke with a start, her hands shaking as just for one horrible minute she thought she saw a weeping angel standing before her, fangs bared, hands like talons reaching for her throat. The dreams came less often these days and the Doctor had told her they would fade in time but she couldn't help but fear them. That nagging doubt in her mind, something the Doctor had said back then about another Angel "there's a difference between dormant and patient" and the horrible feeling she hadn't seen the last of them.

Unable to go back to sleep and not wanting to wake Rory she slid soundlessly out of bed and pulled her dressing gown on before heading for the control room. She absentmindedly stroked a hand gently over the console as she walked round it and headed for the door, a habit she'd gotten into without really knowing why, knowing only that she felt it was the right thing to do somehow. Carefully she opened the door and sat down on the edge, her legs dangling in space as the cosmos opened up before her. It was a view she'd never get tired of, just the infinite majesty of the universe on display before her, the gentle thrum of the TARDIS surrounding her, protecting her from the cold and painful death that should by all rights rush through the doors. It never seemed to matter when she came here and looked out, the view was always different and never less than spectacular. If she didn't know better she'd swear the ship was showing off. She shifted slightly and felt something dig into her thigh. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a book she had almost managed to forget was there.

It would be so easy, she knew, just to accidentally drop it now. Send it soaring through the universe and never say anything more about it. She'd tried to do it once before, the very first night the Doctor had taken her away from Leadworth. Lingering at this same door, waiting to be sure he couldn't see her before casually dropping the book into infinity. She'd had her hand in her pocket when, for some reason that she'd never quite figured out, the TARDIS door had swung closed and she'd found herself holding on to the outside of the ship for dear life with both hands, any thoughts of something as silly as throwing away a book blown out of her head by the far more pressing need to stay alive. She glanced up and around at the TARDIS and fancied, just on the edge of hearing, there was the faintest creak from the old wooden doors. She reached over and stroked the wood, feeling very very silly but at the same time fairly sure she was right.

"Okay, you've made your point. And thank you"

No she couldn't throw it away, besides it would hardly solve the problem and she knew now that she was far better, far stronger, when she shared her thoughts with Rory. It was just that, in this particular case, she wished that she had someone else to talk it through with beforehand. She briefly thought about asking the Doctor for his advice but it didn't take much imagination to see that would be a somewhat awkward conversation. Besides, she didn't want to give him the wrong idea and some of what Rory had written might shock even a 907 year old Time Lord. Or, at the very least, give him ideas that were probably best kept out of his head. But who did that leave, the TARDIS? She laughed quietly at the thought of talking to the console about her relationship issues, even if it would probably result in more sensible advice than she'd get from the Doctor, but no, that wasn't the answer. Actually the fact she even considered that a realistic alternative probably meant she should head back to bed and get a bit more sleep.

Amy hadn't made it three steps from the door when they slammed shut behind her and the TARDIS started to shake, clearly heading off somewhere with a purpose. The clack of the console typewriter could just about be heard over the groaning of the engines as the Doctor came running into the control room.

"Did you press anything?"

"No! It just started going all on its own!"

The Doctor checked the controls and glanced at the monitor. "Well, it doesn't look like we're heading anywhere immediately dangerous, in fact we seem to be heading for Earth. Might as well see what's waiting for us there."

"What is it, what's going on!" Rory called as he stumbled into the room with a dressing gown quickly knotted around his waist and hair sticking up at odd angles.

"The TARDIS seems to want to go to Earth... and the Doctor never argues with the TARDIS so guess where we're going?" Amy replied, walking over and giving him a hug while smoothing out the worst of the sleep-induced style disaster. "Might as well go get dressed I suppose."

14:00 May 30th, 2015

Five minutes later all three time travellers were staring out of the TARDIS doors trying to work out why it had brought them here. They'd half expected to see bombed out buildings, devastated streets or shambling monsters. Instead they had landed in a lush green valley, mountains reaching up on all sides and a fresh water stream racing and dancing its way along the valley floor.

"So where are we exactly?" Amy asked, slipping her leather jacket from her shoulders as the sun beat down upon them.

"Earth, looks like Wales, early afternoon and, amazingly, not raining." The Doctor replied. "And to answer your next question no, I have no idea what we're doing here but if the TARDIS wanted to come then I'm sure there'll be something... interesting."

"Well it doesn't look too dangerous" Rory said, looking around for any signs of trouble "We might as well have a look around while we're here"

"Good idea, let's split up, cover more ground." The Doctor replied with a cheerful grin. Rory and Amy shared an exasperated look and opened their mouths to protest as the Doctor wandered out of sight round the back of the TARDIS.

The newlyweds sighed and had taken maybe two steps in the other direction when the Doctor's voice called out to them. "On the other hand, that might not be necessary..."

Puzzled Amy and Rory walked around the TARDIS and stopped dead. There, spread out neatly on the ground and weighed down with a few small white stones, was a large checked cloth, a huge wicker picnic basket in the middle and, oddly, the smell of fresh bread wafting towards them. Various plates and glasses were laid out making it very clear this was a meal for four and a small metal bucket sat on a stand quietly steaming as the ice evaporated around the neck of what looked suspiciously like a champagne bottle.

"Hello sweetie, I thought for a moment there you were going to be late!" River Song laughed, walking towards them and giving first the Doctor then Amy and finally Rory a hug.

"River? What..." The Doctor tailed off, seemingly at a loss for words, gesturing at the picnic spread out before them.

"Well you did manage to save the entire universe AFTER it had been destroyed. Even by your standards I thought that was worth a bit of a celebration. Besides, I never got to congratulate the happy couple! Come on, the Champagne's getting warm." River gestured to the cloth and, after a half second pause, the Doctor shrugged and sat down, Amy and Rory following suit. River pulled the bottle from its ice bath and popped the cork, pouring the fizzing liquid into four glasses and passing them round. Amy happened to be last and as she took the glass she felt something underneath her fingers she wasn't expecting. Looking down she saw a scrap of paper against the glass. Carefully she unrolled it and saw:

"Need to speak to you, Amy" and a list of co-ordinates she could only assume related to this time and place. She looked over at River and caught a knowing wink followed by a silent 'later'. Her curiosity burning Amy pocketed the paper and decided answers could wait, preferring for now to enjoy the sunshine and the company.

It was, all things considered, close to a perfect afternoon. Even the Doctor's usual manic energy seemed to take some time off and the four sat and talked until the shadows lengthened and the air started to turn cool. Rory in particular seemed fascinated with River and proved surprisingly good at wrapping his head around the twisting turning timelines that seemed to bind her to the Doctor. Reluctantly they started to pack away the remains of the picnic and the Doctor turned to River.

"So, can we drop you off somewhere?"

River laughed, reaching into a small handbag and pulling a familiar vortex manipulator from its depths. "It's okay, I'm covered. But thanks for the offer. One thing I would like though is a few minutes alone with Amy."

The Doctor looked at her sharply, the request had been a little too innocent, a tone he was both learning to recognise and associating with impending trouble.

"Why?"

"It's been a while since I had a chance for some proper girl talk, not much company in Stormcage after all." She teased. "Besides, how do you expect us to gossip about you if you're standing right there?"

Still he hesitated, knowing he was probably being a bit over-protective of his companion especially as this was River that was asking. She'd saved his life more than once now, fought besides them and yet... there was always that unknown with her.

"Alright, just... stay where I can see you."

"You never could let go of that 'no wandering off' rule could you?" River laughed as she stepped away and called for Amy to join her. They walked in silence for a few minutes, heading in a more-or-less straight line from the TARDIS until they reached the bank of the small stream. River sat down on the grass, idly trailing a finger in the cool water as she turned her gaze on Amy.

"I've got to admit, I'm impressed. How'd you get a message to me without the Doctor knowing about it?"

"I didn't!" Amy protested "I swear I didn't send you anything, and I certainly wouldn't have known how to work out the co-ordinates for where to meet."

River laughed. "Oh Amy, Amy Amy... you've traveled with the Doctor long enough now, why do you think sending a message requires you to physically send it?"

"You've lost me"

"Just tell me this much, what were you doing right before coming here?"

"Uh, well, " Amy stalled trying to mentally edit her thoughts in the safety of the TARDIS down to something she'd feel comfortable admitting.

"Amy, I've travelled a long long way to be here and we've been through a lot together, don't lie to me now."

Amy sighed and glared at River, knowing that whatever she said now she'd end up telling this odd, mysterious woman everything sooner or later anyway. "I was sitting in the control room and thinking it'd be nice to have someone to talk to about, uh... about something that's been in my head for a while. Next thing I knew we were here."

River laughed and shook her head. "See, you did send me a message. The TARDIS is more than just a ship you know, it's alive and more than a little telepathic. She must like you, well, I suppose you did save her from never existing at all, that's gotta count for something."

Amy smiled and, not for the first time, found herself wondering exactly who River was to know so much about the Doctor and everything in his life. She couldn't help but think about that old, battered, slightly charred blue book that River used as her Diary and what was written there, not least about her and Rory. Oh well, time enough for that later, there was no avoiding this conversation now so might as well get it over with.

"The thing is River... the night before my wedding I found this notebook in my room. I thought it was one of mine or I'd never have even thought of reading it but by the time I realised it was Rory's I'd already read too much of it and couldn't stop."

"Okay... so what was it, a diary?"

"Not exactly" Amy's voice trailed off, the usual carefree image dropping as she looked very much younger than 21, her eyes downcast, her hair falling over her face as if she was trying to hide away from what she was about to say. River kept quiet but didn't take her eyes of the young woman in front of her.

"It was, umm, well it was a diary I suppose. It, uh, it went back for a few years, just about when we started going out I guess. It was, well, quite uh... explicit."

"Amy Pond, you never struck me as the sort to blush that easily!"

"I'm not, it's just a little different when it's about you!"

"Oh come on, you're seriously telling me you've never thought guys are having fantasies about you?"

"Well..."

"You're gorgeous, certainly know how to dress for effect and, if a certain little bird that whispered in my ear one day is to be believed, used to be a kissogram. And you're blushing over a little porn?"

"It's a shock when you see it written down! Especially when it's your boyfriend, no, fiancee doing the writing!"

"Why? Surely that's the one person who SHOULD be thinking about you like that?"

"Well... yeah... I suppose." Amy's voice faltered again, knowing she was so close to having to tell River the whole truth but not quite ready to do just yet. A few more seconds she though, just a little longer to get ready.

"It's just, he's always been so sweet and kind and considerate, I never saw that side of him before."

"That side? Ohhh, do I take it this smut was a little more adventurous than you were expecting?"

Amy winced, wishing she could take back her previous words, knowing she'd given the game away. Oh well, if she had to say it she might as well get it over with.

"Yeah, it was... oh the hell with it... it was like a fetish encyclopedia River! I never knew, didn't even suspect he had that side. And I was marrying him in the morning!"

River stared at Amy for a long, drawn-out moment. "So you're saying that's why you ran away with the Doctor? Because you found out you didn't know Rory as well as you thought you did?"

Amy opened her mouth to say yes, glad of the chance to give a plausible explanation rather than the truth. And was shocked to hear a whispered "no" escape her lips. She looked away from River, her eyes fixed firmly on the grass at her feet.

"No... I was afraid I wouldn't live up to his fantasies. Afraid I would disappoint him, afraid that he'd leave, that he'd see I wasn't what he thought I was." She paused for breath and it came out as a sob, her eyes squeezed closed trying to hold back tears. "I couldn't... couldn't go through that again. He's too good a man for me, he, he, he's always been there for me River and yet I never dared even tell him how much I loved him and then" words failed her and she burst into tears held back for far too long, River immediately wrapped her arms around her and held her tight, letting the tears flow.

Eventually the tears stopped, as all tears must, and Amy pulled back, wiping her eyes clear and giving River a shaky smile. "I ran River. I ran from the best thing that ever happened to me and it took him dying for me to even start to work out what an idiot I was being."

"But you did work it out...."

"Yeah, having someone wait 2,000 years for you will do that" and this time the smile was edging back towards the more familiar, confident one River was used to seeing on Amy's face. "and I love him more than I ever thought possible. He makes me fly River, every time he's around me I'm... I'm a better person."

"But?" River prompted.

"But... I know I can't let this drop River. No more secrets between us, not after everything that's happened. I know I shouldn't have read it but I did and now... I've got to at least talk to him about it but how on earth do I even bring something like this up? And what if he wants to do any of it, what if I really can't live up to what he expects?"

"That's quite a question. Actually that's three really big questions rolled up into one, but I'll have a go at answering them." River paused, wanting to be very clear in her phrasing. "Firstly, trust me on this one, you'll live up to them. You've faced down Cybermen and Angels and Daleks, well, a Dalek anyway, something tells me you'll know one end of a crop from the other." Amy blushed furiously and looked away but that did nothing to stop River's advice. "The other part of living up to his dreams is how well you know him and from what I've seen you've got nothing to worry about there whatsoever. You two work together, you know you do, he knows you do... if something doesn't go as well as it could he won't forgive you because he won't NEED to. You just try again and get a little better every time."

Amy still couldn't bring herself to look at River directly, mainly because she had the suspicion that River wasn't really telling her anything she hadn't already know and just needed to hear someone say it.

"As for how to tell him and what to do if it develops... don't tell him anything."

"What?" Amy said, her head snapping round to look at River in shock. That was certainly not the advice she'd expected to hear.

"Don't tell him... show him" River finished with a wicked gleam in her eye. "Nothing quite like confronting your fears to add a bit of spice to your love life."

"So what, walk into the bedroom wearing leather and carrying a whip?" Amy asked, sarcasm fairly dripping from every word.

"Well that's one option certainly and I doubt he'd object but I was thinking of something a little more, uh, special." River replied. "There's this little place I know that would be perfect for you two". She lent in and whispered the details to Amy as if she was afraid of being overheard. When she'd finished a minute later Amy's eyes were wide and she was trying to fight down the mental images that were queuing up for her consideration.

"One more thing." River said "You're in a bit of an odd position in that you know all his fantasies but he doesn't know yours. Share some of them with him. If you think you can manage it pick something that both turns you on and scares you, show him you trust him just like he trusts you."

Amy thought for a moment then a genuine smile burst across her face like the morning sun. "I know just the thing River... it's a bit silly though."

"Tell me." Now it was Amy's turn to whisper in River's ear and after a good two minutes lent back to find River staring into space with a mix of surprise, amusement and, yes, lust on her face.

"My my my Amy Pond... you HAVE got an active imagination." River laughed as she shook away several thoughts she really shouldn't be having about the young married woman sitting alongside her. "I really don't think you've got much to worry about when it comes to being the object of someone's fantasies."

They both laughed and Amy lunged forward to hug River tightly. "Thank you so much" she whispered "I can't tell you how much it means to..."

River interrupted her "Hey, any time. My pleasure. Now you go and have a good long talk with Rory, I'll have a quick chat with the Doctor and make sure he takes you where you need to go. Oh, and that he leaves you in peace for a while when you're there."