FIC: Sunstruck (Doctor Who; River/Amy, R)
Dec. 31st, 2010 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tellitslantTitle: Sunstruck
Author:tellitslant
Fandom: Doctor Who
Pairing: River/Amy
Rating: R
Word count: 3500
Notes: Written for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
spoiler_song holiday ficathon for the prompt "River/Amy or River/Eleven, mature." Thanks to zulu for beta and spockette for Britpick.
Summary: "Stay in the TARDIS" works on dogs and children under seven. It does not work on Amy Pond.
Amy drummed her fingers against the top of the console. She checked her watch, wandered over and dropped down in a chair, then changed her mind and sprawled across the sofa where River was sitting. She kicked her feet in the air, looked under the cushion for loose change, and fidgeted as obviously as she could. After a moment, she darted a glance at River, but the other woman was absorbed in a dog-eared, slightly waterstained novel she'd dug out of the library.
"Oh, come on," Amy burst out finally, making River blink and look up. "The biggest bazaar this side of the Orion nebula, he said. He can't actually expect us to just sit here and wait for him when we could be out getting the greatest bargains in the galaxy! Does he?" she said petulantly.
River laughed. "I'm very sure he expects us to do exactly that," she said, tossing the book on the end table. "Something of a failure of imagination, wouldn't you say?"
"He really doesn't know us very well," Amy agreed, bounding up from the couch excitedly. "I'll get Rory." She darted down the TARDIS hallway, spun through the doorway to her and Rory's bedroom, and threw herself across the bed where Rory was reading. "Hello, Mister Pond," she said, grinning up at him.
"Amy," Rory said, sounding a little wary as he took in her mischievous smile.
She sat up and tugged the book out of his hands. "You and River, all this reading, so dull," she said. "C'mon, I'm dragging you both out!"
"But the Doctor said – "
"The Doctor said, the Doctor said," Amy echoed. "If I always did what the Doctor said, my life would be a lot less interesting, you know. Besides, we're just going shopping. What could go wrong?"
"Shopping?" Rory said, catching the important part of Amy's diatribe. "Nope, not happening, sorry." He grabbed his book back. "I'm not going to follow you through alien Primark holding your bags. You and River go. I'll stay here and wait for the Doctor."
"Are you sure?" Amy said, fluttering her eyelashes. Rory nodded firmly. "Fine, then, your loss." She leaned across and gave him a light kiss. Grabbing her bag from the floor, she darted out of the room.
River raised an eyebrow when Amy came into the console room alone. "No Rory?" she asked.
Amy shook her head. "Not interested, the lazybones."
"I heard that," Rory called down the hallway.
"Prove me wrong!" Amy shouted back.
"Nah, can't be bothered. Have fun!"
***
The marketplace was exactly like Amy had imagined and yet, simultaneously, completely alien. It sprawled out from the edge of a forest, nearly organic itself with booths and vehicles and tents crowding next to each other. A buzz of unintelligible voices rose above it all as various humanoid and non-humanoid creatures picked through clothes and electronics and other things Amy didn't recognize. She squealed in excitement, grabbed River's hand, and dove in.
Two blue suns shone down on them as she darted from booth to booth. River trailed in her wake, occasionally stopping to examine merchandise Amy probably didn't want to know too much about. Glancing behind her, she saw River sorting through a box of what looked like electrical parts, but none Amy had ever seen before: the wires writhed in River's hand, glowing with a soft red light, and Amy looked away, disturbed.
Keeping one eye on River, Amy stepped across the way to a booth selling clothing and started fingering through the racks. She looked up periodically to check on River – still at the booth, settling into a serious round of haggling with the blue-skinned alien running it – but quickly got distracted, first by the improbable shapes of some of the garments and then by the beauty of one in particular.
She tugged the interesting piece off the rack and held it up. A dark green dress in a perfectly humanoid style, it looked just like any sheath she might pick up at H&M or Topshop except for the fabric. Amy rubbed it between her fingers, admiring the way it caught the light as if it had been spun out of holographic crystals.
"Found something?" River popped up next to her, flushed with the effort of haggling but smirking in a way that suggested the booth owner didn't know what had hit him. Tugging the dress away, she held it against Amy's body, studying her thoroughly. "You definitely ought to try it on," she said, giving Amy a push towards the tent that served as a changing room.
The fabric clung in all the right places, hitting her just above the knee, and Amy brushed her hair back from her face, wishing there was a mirror. The strappy dress looked okay against her pale skin, but she felt unaccustomed nerves churning in the pit of her stomach at the idea of modeling it for River. She suddenly remembered going to wedding dress fittings with her mother, the weight of expectation that seemed to rest on her shoulders with every new dress – but that was ridiculous, and anyway, it hadn't even happened, had it?
Come on, Pond,, she thought, you're Leadworth's top kiss-o-gram. What's one little dress? One little dress in front of River, though, River who'd defined elegance in combat boots and pearls or impersonated queens while Amy worried at the frayed patches on her jumper or picked holes in the unraveling wool of her scarves. Wearing this dress felt almost like putting on a new, adult persona, one she wasn't sure belonged to her. Amy bit her lip, then took a deep breath and stepped through the tent flap.
River looked up from the clothes racks and immediately crossed to Amy, circling her with pursed lips. "Very nice," she said, stopping in front of her and continuing the open appraisal.
Amy plucked at the skirt, setting the fabric to shimmering as the suns' light danced across it. "You like it, then?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Yes, I do," River said. "And I imagine Rory will as well."
Amy shivered, closing her eyes and imagining Rory's hands smoothing the soft fabric over her skin. She was practically tingling just thinking about it.
"I thought so!" River said suddenly.
Amy's eyes flew open. "What?" she gasped, spinning around, sure something was wrong. As she turned, the dress flared out around her. She caught a flash of red in her peripheral vision and looked down, startled; the dress had changed colour. She stared at it dumbly.
"I haven't seen this fabric in years," River said running her fingers across Amy's ribcage. Amy squeaked and ducked away, ticklish, then watched in fascination as a line of purple appeared where River had touched. "And this seems particularly sensitive," River added. "How interesting." Turning back to the racks, she began pulling out dresses, holding them against herself and judging the fit.
"But what is it?" Amy asked, her dress shading from red to purple to blue.
"It's – mood fabric, I suppose is the best way to put it. It reacts to the emotional state of the wearer. See?"
Amy felt herself flush as she remembered the thoughts that had first caused the dress to shift colour; looking down, she found the dress too had turned pink. River disappeared into the changing room with a smile and Amy hid her face in her hands. "Isn't this a little dangerous?" she called through her fingers. "I mean, I don't want everyone to know how I feel just from looking at me all the time!"
"Oh, it's possible to control the fabric. Takes some work, mind, but eventually..." River stepped out of the tent and twirled in front of Amy. Her dress was longer, ankle-length, but slit up to mid-thigh and with a deeply plunging neckline. She'd coerced or manipulated it into a shimmering champagne colour only a shade different from her skin; at first glance it almost looked as though she wasn't wearing anything.
Amy fought the unexpected rush of heat that swept through her, knowing it would show on her dress. She ended up wearing what looked like a failed tie-dye experiment from the 60s; it faded to a slightly embarrassed pale orange as she concentrated.
"There," River said, "you just need some practice." A sliver of red arced over her hip; she frowned and it disappeared.
"Come on, let's see what else they've got for sale on this rock." Amy was eager to get out of the dress before it gave anything else away. And for River to get back into clothes that aren't so – so sexy. She forced the image of River in that dress firmly out of her head. Where had that reaction come from anyways? Not that it matters; you're a married woman now, Amy reminded herself. And so is River, probably. No drooling over the Doctor's wife!
***
As they went further into the market, the dynamic shifted until it was River who was hopping from booth to booth while Amy followed behind. After the dress, she was a little worried about touching anything else, but River had no such problems.
"This is amazing," she said, hurrying back to Amy with another purchase in her hands. Amy caught a glimpse of something yellow and gelatinous before River slipped it into her bag. "Almost everything here is designed to operate with a low level telepathic or empathic field. No wonder he didn't want me out here. What I couldn't do with these..." Pulling out a small black book, she opened it to what looked like a list and ran a finger across the page.
"Wait a minute. You mean that... thing... you just put in your bag could read our minds? It looked like yellow jelly!" Amy grimaced.
"Well, not quite. More like – here." Tucking the book away, River grabbed Amy's arm and pulled her into a large tent nearby that turned out to be a pub. River sat Amy down at a booth and dropped their bags beside her. "Let me get us a couple pints of the local brew and I'll explain," she said.
Amy eyed River's bags with suspicion. "Nothing had better be snooping in my head," she said to them, then immediately tried to empty her mind of all thoughts.
River dropped two glasses of reassuringly beer-coloured liquid on the table and laughed at the concentration on Amy's face. "I told you, nothing here can actually read your mind," she said, sliding into the booth across from Amy. She took a sip of her drink and smiled. "Not bad for an offworld ale; try it."
Amy took a sip, then a larger gulp. Although it was a pale colour, it reminded her of Guinness, which had always been one of her favourites. She'd gotten Rory sick on it after their A-levels and he'd banned it from their nights out, so she hadn't had it recently. Probably shouldn't get pissed on an alien world, though. Setting the glass down, she frowned at River. "So what's a 'low-level telepathic field' if it isn't mind-reading, then?"
"It's like the dresses," River said. Amy checked quickly to be sure hers was safe in its bag and not touching her somehow, ready to give her emotions away. "The fabric doesn’t read your mind. It senses your emotions. That's the empathic field. But you can impose the power of your own thoughts on it through telepathy. It's not really thoughts so much as intent that matters."
"What about the wires? Or that jelly stuff?" Amy objected. "You're not trying to change the colour of those."
River took another drink before replying. "Those are... also a matter of intent. If, purely hypothetically, I replaced the wires in a computer network with ones I had imposed my will on, I could, oh, alter the data passing through them." She flashed Amy a wicked smile. "Theoretically speaking, of course."
Amy snickered helplessly into her beer. "Can anyone do it?" she asked when she got her breath back. "Tap into these telepathic fields?"
"It depends." River shrugged off Amy's glare. "It does! Practice helps, but the natural ability has to be there first. I've had to work quite hard to get as good as I am. The Doctor, of course, could do it as easy as breathing. You, now." River studied Amy closely; Amy met her gaze steadily, heart suddenly pounding. "I don't know for sure, but as quickly as that dress reacted to you, I'd say you definitely have potential."
Amy grinned and downed her drink. "Another?" she asked.
River nodded. "Why not?"
When Amy brought back the second round, she slid in on River's side of the table. "So tell me what you're going to do with all this telepathic stuff," she said before River could object. "What is that jelly thing, anyway?"
***
When they left the pub, both suns were high, the light blazing down on them. Amy staggered sideways, bumping into River; they danced awkwardly for a moment, each trying to hold the other up, before linking arms and steadying themselves. An alien with several eyes on purple eyestalks turned to watch them, each eye tracking a different movement, and Amy giggled uncontrollably. River gave her a severe look. "Gods, if I take you back to the TARDIS in this state, he'll never let me forget it," she muttered. "Come on, lightweight, let's walk it off."
"I'm not drunk," Amy said indignantly as they left the bazaar and wandered into the neighbouring woods. "I'm just easily amused." She dragged River further into the trees, kicking at clumps of fallen leaves and laughing as they spun through the shafts of blue sunlight that spilled through the tree branches.
They came into a clearing and dropped their bags. Amy took a deep breath, revelling in the heat of the suns on her skin. "This is the greatest sunshine ever," she said to River. "Even better than that time Rory and I went to Greece. 'Course, we didn't spend much time on the beach. Spent most of the trip in the hotel. But this is even better than that. Except..." She frowned.
"Except what?" River asked.
Amy grinned at the effect the suns' light had on River's hair, making it sparkle with bright blues and greens. It was beautiful, she thought, staring until River's frown reminded her that she hadn't answered the question.
"Oh! Except I have too many clothes on," she said, and tugged her top off over her head.
"Amy!" River laughed. "How many pints did you have?"
"Two," Amy replied with as much dignity as she could muster while standing on one foot and unknotting the laces of her other trainer. She wobbled, lost her balance, and turned her fall into a controlled descent. Sprawling in the grass, she spread her arms, letting the sun beat down on her. She almost thought she could feel it, not just on her skin, but spreading warmth and joy through her bloodstream.
"All right, enough," River said. She had her arms folded as if in annoyance, but Amy could tell she was trying not to laugh. "Put your clothes on and let's get back to the TARDIS. Maybe I can sneak you in." She reached down to help Amy to her feet, but Amy grabbed her hand and pulled instead, bringing River tumbling down in the grass as well.
"So there!" Amy said, pinning River's shoulders to the ground. There was a moment of silence and then they both burst out laughing.
River threw her arms up over her head in surrender. "Fine, you've got me where you want me. Now what will you do with me?"
Amy bent her head and kissed River.
She hadn't planned it, hadn't even thought about doing it until she did it, but kissing River made the warmth inside her flare until she could hardly feel the suns on her skin. And River was kissing her back, her hands moving on Amy's waist until Amy was sure they would leave marks just like they had on the dress, blazing imprints of lust.
Amy drew back and looked down at River, who was speechless for the first and only time in Amy's memory. "Thanks for taking me out today," she whispered, brushing her lips over River's again.
"You're welcome," River said, her eyes searching Amy's.
"Thanks for teaching me so much," Amy continued, moving down River's body and pushing her top up to kiss the bare skin of her stomach. "Like how to manipulate that fabric. I know that's going to come in handy." Amy shivered, remembering how River had looked in that dress; River gasped as if she knew exactly what Amy was thinking. "How can I ever say thank you enough?"
River took a breath to reply, but Amy reached up and laid a hand over her lips before she could speak. River's eyes gleamed. Parting her lips slightly, she bit Amy's fingers, running her tongue over the tips to soothe the small hurt. She smirked as they slipped from her mouth, and Amy swallowed hard.
Tearing her gaze away from River's lips, Amy shoved River's top up further, revealing a plain black bra that was somehow the sexiest piece of lingerie ever. She lowered her head and scraped her teeth across the top of River's breasts, teasing. River wove her hand into Amy's hair and tugged; Amy pushed the bra aside and bit down gently on River's nipple.
River groaned and Amy pulled back, loving the sight of such a powerful woman totally at her mercy. "Did I tell you how much I love those dresses?" she said, picking up the thread of their earlier conversation. "I never knew anything like that existed. If I were wearing one right now, what colour would it be? What colour would tell you how much I want you?" She reached down and popped open the button on River's trousers.
River grabbed Amy by the back of the neck and pulled her upwards. "Do you ever stop talking?" she demanded.
"Nope," Amy answered cheekily. "I'm very good at multitasking." She slid her hand, fingers still damp, under the waistband of River's pants.
"So I see," River murmured, and kissed her.
Amy's world dissolved into heat: the sun on her back, River's slick warmth under her fingers, the hot press of River's thigh between her legs. She buried her face in River's neck, mouthing at the skin there, feeling both their pulses pick up speed. Amy moved faster, pressing into River, thumb moving in rapid circles until she felt River shudder beneath her.
River whimpered as she relaxed bonelessly into the grass and the sound tipped Amy over the edge; she flung her head back, letting the suns' light burst behind her eyelids and flare inside her.
She rolled onto her back beside River, letting her breathing slow. After a moment she felt a light touch on her lips; opening her eyes, she found River tracing the tip of one finger across her smile.
"Amy! River! Where are you?" the Doctor yelled from somewhere nearby.
"Oh, hell," Amy said fervently and dove for her jumper.
When the Doctor burst into the clearing they were both dressed, sitting a decent distance away from each other, faces turned up to the sun. He swooped down on them frantically. "No, no, no, out of the light, out of the light!" He shooed them into the shade and handed them each a giant golf umbrella. "Well, open them," he urged.
Amy popped hers open. White with coloured lines all over it, it was apparently a map of the Tube circa 2365. River's was bright red and said "Merde, il pleut" on one panel. "Um, what's with the fashion statement?" Amy asked, twirling the brolly on her shoulder Scarlett O'Hara-style.
The Doctor sighed. "Why don't you ever listen to me when I say to stay in the TARDIS?" he asked rhetorically. "Don't answer that. It just so happens that the sunlight on this planet can have an, ah, interesting effect on humans, especially one – like you, Amy – without any telepathic training. I'm trying to keep you both out of it as much as possible while I get you back inside. Where you should have stayed," he said pointedly.
"Oh." Amy swallowed. "Um, what kind of effect?" she asked, pretty sure she already knew the answer.
"Aphrodisiac," River answered. "Isn't that right, sweetie?"
"You should have known better," he accused her. "You're the one who showed – ah, told, told me about it in the first place!"
"Maybe I'm just finding out about it now," she pointed out.
"Are you?" the Doctor asked.
River smirked. "Spoilers." Hoisting her umbrella with one hand, she gathered her bags with the other and strode off.
The Doctor rushed after her. Amy heard snippets of their conversation as he demanded to know what was in the bags and what they were for. She stood in the clearing a moment longer, tipping her brolly back to feel the sun on her face.
A distant shout of "Pond!" broke the spell. Grabbing for her own bag, she darted after the Doctor. The dress bounced against her thigh with every step, and a shiver of anticipation ran through her as she contemplated explaining to Rory just how she'd spent the afternoon.
Author:
tellitslantFandom: Doctor Who
Pairing: River/Amy
Rating: R
Word count: 3500
Notes: Written for the
spoiler_song holiday ficathon for the prompt "River/Amy or River/Eleven, mature." Thanks to zulu for beta and spockette for Britpick.Summary: "Stay in the TARDIS" works on dogs and children under seven. It does not work on Amy Pond.
Amy drummed her fingers against the top of the console. She checked her watch, wandered over and dropped down in a chair, then changed her mind and sprawled across the sofa where River was sitting. She kicked her feet in the air, looked under the cushion for loose change, and fidgeted as obviously as she could. After a moment, she darted a glance at River, but the other woman was absorbed in a dog-eared, slightly waterstained novel she'd dug out of the library.
"Oh, come on," Amy burst out finally, making River blink and look up. "The biggest bazaar this side of the Orion nebula, he said. He can't actually expect us to just sit here and wait for him when we could be out getting the greatest bargains in the galaxy! Does he?" she said petulantly.
River laughed. "I'm very sure he expects us to do exactly that," she said, tossing the book on the end table. "Something of a failure of imagination, wouldn't you say?"
"He really doesn't know us very well," Amy agreed, bounding up from the couch excitedly. "I'll get Rory." She darted down the TARDIS hallway, spun through the doorway to her and Rory's bedroom, and threw herself across the bed where Rory was reading. "Hello, Mister Pond," she said, grinning up at him.
"Amy," Rory said, sounding a little wary as he took in her mischievous smile.
She sat up and tugged the book out of his hands. "You and River, all this reading, so dull," she said. "C'mon, I'm dragging you both out!"
"But the Doctor said – "
"The Doctor said, the Doctor said," Amy echoed. "If I always did what the Doctor said, my life would be a lot less interesting, you know. Besides, we're just going shopping. What could go wrong?"
"Shopping?" Rory said, catching the important part of Amy's diatribe. "Nope, not happening, sorry." He grabbed his book back. "I'm not going to follow you through alien Primark holding your bags. You and River go. I'll stay here and wait for the Doctor."
"Are you sure?" Amy said, fluttering her eyelashes. Rory nodded firmly. "Fine, then, your loss." She leaned across and gave him a light kiss. Grabbing her bag from the floor, she darted out of the room.
River raised an eyebrow when Amy came into the console room alone. "No Rory?" she asked.
Amy shook her head. "Not interested, the lazybones."
"I heard that," Rory called down the hallway.
"Prove me wrong!" Amy shouted back.
"Nah, can't be bothered. Have fun!"
***
The marketplace was exactly like Amy had imagined and yet, simultaneously, completely alien. It sprawled out from the edge of a forest, nearly organic itself with booths and vehicles and tents crowding next to each other. A buzz of unintelligible voices rose above it all as various humanoid and non-humanoid creatures picked through clothes and electronics and other things Amy didn't recognize. She squealed in excitement, grabbed River's hand, and dove in.
Two blue suns shone down on them as she darted from booth to booth. River trailed in her wake, occasionally stopping to examine merchandise Amy probably didn't want to know too much about. Glancing behind her, she saw River sorting through a box of what looked like electrical parts, but none Amy had ever seen before: the wires writhed in River's hand, glowing with a soft red light, and Amy looked away, disturbed.
Keeping one eye on River, Amy stepped across the way to a booth selling clothing and started fingering through the racks. She looked up periodically to check on River – still at the booth, settling into a serious round of haggling with the blue-skinned alien running it – but quickly got distracted, first by the improbable shapes of some of the garments and then by the beauty of one in particular.
She tugged the interesting piece off the rack and held it up. A dark green dress in a perfectly humanoid style, it looked just like any sheath she might pick up at H&M or Topshop except for the fabric. Amy rubbed it between her fingers, admiring the way it caught the light as if it had been spun out of holographic crystals.
"Found something?" River popped up next to her, flushed with the effort of haggling but smirking in a way that suggested the booth owner didn't know what had hit him. Tugging the dress away, she held it against Amy's body, studying her thoroughly. "You definitely ought to try it on," she said, giving Amy a push towards the tent that served as a changing room.
The fabric clung in all the right places, hitting her just above the knee, and Amy brushed her hair back from her face, wishing there was a mirror. The strappy dress looked okay against her pale skin, but she felt unaccustomed nerves churning in the pit of her stomach at the idea of modeling it for River. She suddenly remembered going to wedding dress fittings with her mother, the weight of expectation that seemed to rest on her shoulders with every new dress – but that was ridiculous, and anyway, it hadn't even happened, had it?
Come on, Pond,, she thought, you're Leadworth's top kiss-o-gram. What's one little dress? One little dress in front of River, though, River who'd defined elegance in combat boots and pearls or impersonated queens while Amy worried at the frayed patches on her jumper or picked holes in the unraveling wool of her scarves. Wearing this dress felt almost like putting on a new, adult persona, one she wasn't sure belonged to her. Amy bit her lip, then took a deep breath and stepped through the tent flap.
River looked up from the clothes racks and immediately crossed to Amy, circling her with pursed lips. "Very nice," she said, stopping in front of her and continuing the open appraisal.
Amy plucked at the skirt, setting the fabric to shimmering as the suns' light danced across it. "You like it, then?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Yes, I do," River said. "And I imagine Rory will as well."
Amy shivered, closing her eyes and imagining Rory's hands smoothing the soft fabric over her skin. She was practically tingling just thinking about it.
"I thought so!" River said suddenly.
Amy's eyes flew open. "What?" she gasped, spinning around, sure something was wrong. As she turned, the dress flared out around her. She caught a flash of red in her peripheral vision and looked down, startled; the dress had changed colour. She stared at it dumbly.
"I haven't seen this fabric in years," River said running her fingers across Amy's ribcage. Amy squeaked and ducked away, ticklish, then watched in fascination as a line of purple appeared where River had touched. "And this seems particularly sensitive," River added. "How interesting." Turning back to the racks, she began pulling out dresses, holding them against herself and judging the fit.
"But what is it?" Amy asked, her dress shading from red to purple to blue.
"It's – mood fabric, I suppose is the best way to put it. It reacts to the emotional state of the wearer. See?"
Amy felt herself flush as she remembered the thoughts that had first caused the dress to shift colour; looking down, she found the dress too had turned pink. River disappeared into the changing room with a smile and Amy hid her face in her hands. "Isn't this a little dangerous?" she called through her fingers. "I mean, I don't want everyone to know how I feel just from looking at me all the time!"
"Oh, it's possible to control the fabric. Takes some work, mind, but eventually..." River stepped out of the tent and twirled in front of Amy. Her dress was longer, ankle-length, but slit up to mid-thigh and with a deeply plunging neckline. She'd coerced or manipulated it into a shimmering champagne colour only a shade different from her skin; at first glance it almost looked as though she wasn't wearing anything.
Amy fought the unexpected rush of heat that swept through her, knowing it would show on her dress. She ended up wearing what looked like a failed tie-dye experiment from the 60s; it faded to a slightly embarrassed pale orange as she concentrated.
"There," River said, "you just need some practice." A sliver of red arced over her hip; she frowned and it disappeared.
"Come on, let's see what else they've got for sale on this rock." Amy was eager to get out of the dress before it gave anything else away. And for River to get back into clothes that aren't so – so sexy. She forced the image of River in that dress firmly out of her head. Where had that reaction come from anyways? Not that it matters; you're a married woman now, Amy reminded herself. And so is River, probably. No drooling over the Doctor's wife!
***
As they went further into the market, the dynamic shifted until it was River who was hopping from booth to booth while Amy followed behind. After the dress, she was a little worried about touching anything else, but River had no such problems.
"This is amazing," she said, hurrying back to Amy with another purchase in her hands. Amy caught a glimpse of something yellow and gelatinous before River slipped it into her bag. "Almost everything here is designed to operate with a low level telepathic or empathic field. No wonder he didn't want me out here. What I couldn't do with these..." Pulling out a small black book, she opened it to what looked like a list and ran a finger across the page.
"Wait a minute. You mean that... thing... you just put in your bag could read our minds? It looked like yellow jelly!" Amy grimaced.
"Well, not quite. More like – here." Tucking the book away, River grabbed Amy's arm and pulled her into a large tent nearby that turned out to be a pub. River sat Amy down at a booth and dropped their bags beside her. "Let me get us a couple pints of the local brew and I'll explain," she said.
Amy eyed River's bags with suspicion. "Nothing had better be snooping in my head," she said to them, then immediately tried to empty her mind of all thoughts.
River dropped two glasses of reassuringly beer-coloured liquid on the table and laughed at the concentration on Amy's face. "I told you, nothing here can actually read your mind," she said, sliding into the booth across from Amy. She took a sip of her drink and smiled. "Not bad for an offworld ale; try it."
Amy took a sip, then a larger gulp. Although it was a pale colour, it reminded her of Guinness, which had always been one of her favourites. She'd gotten Rory sick on it after their A-levels and he'd banned it from their nights out, so she hadn't had it recently. Probably shouldn't get pissed on an alien world, though. Setting the glass down, she frowned at River. "So what's a 'low-level telepathic field' if it isn't mind-reading, then?"
"It's like the dresses," River said. Amy checked quickly to be sure hers was safe in its bag and not touching her somehow, ready to give her emotions away. "The fabric doesn’t read your mind. It senses your emotions. That's the empathic field. But you can impose the power of your own thoughts on it through telepathy. It's not really thoughts so much as intent that matters."
"What about the wires? Or that jelly stuff?" Amy objected. "You're not trying to change the colour of those."
River took another drink before replying. "Those are... also a matter of intent. If, purely hypothetically, I replaced the wires in a computer network with ones I had imposed my will on, I could, oh, alter the data passing through them." She flashed Amy a wicked smile. "Theoretically speaking, of course."
Amy snickered helplessly into her beer. "Can anyone do it?" she asked when she got her breath back. "Tap into these telepathic fields?"
"It depends." River shrugged off Amy's glare. "It does! Practice helps, but the natural ability has to be there first. I've had to work quite hard to get as good as I am. The Doctor, of course, could do it as easy as breathing. You, now." River studied Amy closely; Amy met her gaze steadily, heart suddenly pounding. "I don't know for sure, but as quickly as that dress reacted to you, I'd say you definitely have potential."
Amy grinned and downed her drink. "Another?" she asked.
River nodded. "Why not?"
When Amy brought back the second round, she slid in on River's side of the table. "So tell me what you're going to do with all this telepathic stuff," she said before River could object. "What is that jelly thing, anyway?"
***
When they left the pub, both suns were high, the light blazing down on them. Amy staggered sideways, bumping into River; they danced awkwardly for a moment, each trying to hold the other up, before linking arms and steadying themselves. An alien with several eyes on purple eyestalks turned to watch them, each eye tracking a different movement, and Amy giggled uncontrollably. River gave her a severe look. "Gods, if I take you back to the TARDIS in this state, he'll never let me forget it," she muttered. "Come on, lightweight, let's walk it off."
"I'm not drunk," Amy said indignantly as they left the bazaar and wandered into the neighbouring woods. "I'm just easily amused." She dragged River further into the trees, kicking at clumps of fallen leaves and laughing as they spun through the shafts of blue sunlight that spilled through the tree branches.
They came into a clearing and dropped their bags. Amy took a deep breath, revelling in the heat of the suns on her skin. "This is the greatest sunshine ever," she said to River. "Even better than that time Rory and I went to Greece. 'Course, we didn't spend much time on the beach. Spent most of the trip in the hotel. But this is even better than that. Except..." She frowned.
"Except what?" River asked.
Amy grinned at the effect the suns' light had on River's hair, making it sparkle with bright blues and greens. It was beautiful, she thought, staring until River's frown reminded her that she hadn't answered the question.
"Oh! Except I have too many clothes on," she said, and tugged her top off over her head.
"Amy!" River laughed. "How many pints did you have?"
"Two," Amy replied with as much dignity as she could muster while standing on one foot and unknotting the laces of her other trainer. She wobbled, lost her balance, and turned her fall into a controlled descent. Sprawling in the grass, she spread her arms, letting the sun beat down on her. She almost thought she could feel it, not just on her skin, but spreading warmth and joy through her bloodstream.
"All right, enough," River said. She had her arms folded as if in annoyance, but Amy could tell she was trying not to laugh. "Put your clothes on and let's get back to the TARDIS. Maybe I can sneak you in." She reached down to help Amy to her feet, but Amy grabbed her hand and pulled instead, bringing River tumbling down in the grass as well.
"So there!" Amy said, pinning River's shoulders to the ground. There was a moment of silence and then they both burst out laughing.
River threw her arms up over her head in surrender. "Fine, you've got me where you want me. Now what will you do with me?"
Amy bent her head and kissed River.
She hadn't planned it, hadn't even thought about doing it until she did it, but kissing River made the warmth inside her flare until she could hardly feel the suns on her skin. And River was kissing her back, her hands moving on Amy's waist until Amy was sure they would leave marks just like they had on the dress, blazing imprints of lust.
Amy drew back and looked down at River, who was speechless for the first and only time in Amy's memory. "Thanks for taking me out today," she whispered, brushing her lips over River's again.
"You're welcome," River said, her eyes searching Amy's.
"Thanks for teaching me so much," Amy continued, moving down River's body and pushing her top up to kiss the bare skin of her stomach. "Like how to manipulate that fabric. I know that's going to come in handy." Amy shivered, remembering how River had looked in that dress; River gasped as if she knew exactly what Amy was thinking. "How can I ever say thank you enough?"
River took a breath to reply, but Amy reached up and laid a hand over her lips before she could speak. River's eyes gleamed. Parting her lips slightly, she bit Amy's fingers, running her tongue over the tips to soothe the small hurt. She smirked as they slipped from her mouth, and Amy swallowed hard.
Tearing her gaze away from River's lips, Amy shoved River's top up further, revealing a plain black bra that was somehow the sexiest piece of lingerie ever. She lowered her head and scraped her teeth across the top of River's breasts, teasing. River wove her hand into Amy's hair and tugged; Amy pushed the bra aside and bit down gently on River's nipple.
River groaned and Amy pulled back, loving the sight of such a powerful woman totally at her mercy. "Did I tell you how much I love those dresses?" she said, picking up the thread of their earlier conversation. "I never knew anything like that existed. If I were wearing one right now, what colour would it be? What colour would tell you how much I want you?" She reached down and popped open the button on River's trousers.
River grabbed Amy by the back of the neck and pulled her upwards. "Do you ever stop talking?" she demanded.
"Nope," Amy answered cheekily. "I'm very good at multitasking." She slid her hand, fingers still damp, under the waistband of River's pants.
"So I see," River murmured, and kissed her.
Amy's world dissolved into heat: the sun on her back, River's slick warmth under her fingers, the hot press of River's thigh between her legs. She buried her face in River's neck, mouthing at the skin there, feeling both their pulses pick up speed. Amy moved faster, pressing into River, thumb moving in rapid circles until she felt River shudder beneath her.
River whimpered as she relaxed bonelessly into the grass and the sound tipped Amy over the edge; she flung her head back, letting the suns' light burst behind her eyelids and flare inside her.
She rolled onto her back beside River, letting her breathing slow. After a moment she felt a light touch on her lips; opening her eyes, she found River tracing the tip of one finger across her smile.
"Amy! River! Where are you?" the Doctor yelled from somewhere nearby.
"Oh, hell," Amy said fervently and dove for her jumper.
When the Doctor burst into the clearing they were both dressed, sitting a decent distance away from each other, faces turned up to the sun. He swooped down on them frantically. "No, no, no, out of the light, out of the light!" He shooed them into the shade and handed them each a giant golf umbrella. "Well, open them," he urged.
Amy popped hers open. White with coloured lines all over it, it was apparently a map of the Tube circa 2365. River's was bright red and said "Merde, il pleut" on one panel. "Um, what's with the fashion statement?" Amy asked, twirling the brolly on her shoulder Scarlett O'Hara-style.
The Doctor sighed. "Why don't you ever listen to me when I say to stay in the TARDIS?" he asked rhetorically. "Don't answer that. It just so happens that the sunlight on this planet can have an, ah, interesting effect on humans, especially one – like you, Amy – without any telepathic training. I'm trying to keep you both out of it as much as possible while I get you back inside. Where you should have stayed," he said pointedly.
"Oh." Amy swallowed. "Um, what kind of effect?" she asked, pretty sure she already knew the answer.
"Aphrodisiac," River answered. "Isn't that right, sweetie?"
"You should have known better," he accused her. "You're the one who showed – ah, told, told me about it in the first place!"
"Maybe I'm just finding out about it now," she pointed out.
"Are you?" the Doctor asked.
River smirked. "Spoilers." Hoisting her umbrella with one hand, she gathered her bags with the other and strode off.
The Doctor rushed after her. Amy heard snippets of their conversation as he demanded to know what was in the bags and what they were for. She stood in the clearing a moment longer, tipping her brolly back to feel the sun on her face.
A distant shout of "Pond!" broke the spell. Grabbing for her own bag, she darted after the Doctor. The dress bounced against her thigh with every step, and a shiver of anticipation ran through her as she contemplated explaining to Rory just how she'd spent the afternoon.
