Box Of Desire

Amy picked up the small green box that was vibrating on the floor. She twisted it around in her hand and scrutinized it. It had strange circles and patterns on the sides. She frowned as it didn't reveal anything.
"Doctor?" Amy called over her shoulder.
"Yes?" he called back, his head appearing from underneath the stairs.
"What's this box?" she asked.
"Oh, that's nothing. It's just a box." he replied, not even looking at the mysterious box Amy was holding in her hand.
"Just a box? And it's moving? I think you're lying to me, Doctor. Just look at it?" she called.
The Doctor's head popped up and his blank expression changed to shock.
"Amy! Drop that box now!" he shouted.
Amy dropped the box and took a step away from it, looking quite scared.
"What is it?" Amy asked, her voice quivering with fear.
"I don't know." the Doctor admitted, smiling.
"You don't...Doctor!" Amy said.
"Sorry. Let me look." he called.
The Doctor came running up the stairs. He hurried over to Amy and picked up the strange box, which was still vibrating.
"Hmm...Gallifreyan origin. So it's mine. But what is it..." he muttered to himself.
"Sorry, Galli-what?" Amy asked.
"Gallifrey. My home planet." the Doctor explained as he examined the strange box.
"Oh, yeah. So, any ideas as to what it is?" Amy asked.
"Well...no. Just put it back where you found it." the Doctor said.
"Okay." Amy said.
She took the box off him and dropped it on the floor.
"Where I found it." Amy said.
"Just put it in the wardrobe." he said.
Amy nodded and wandered off up the stairs. She went through the door and left the Doctor alone. He sighed, and went back to his work underneath the main part of the Tardis.

"Doctor...how many of those bowties do you have?" Amy asked him, her arms full of different coloured bowties.
"Oh, I don't know, quite a lot." the Doctor replied, his comment followed by a loud clanging noise.
"What are you doing down there?" Amy shouted over the noise.
"Trying to fix the Chameleon Circuit!" he shouted back.
"What's that?" Amy asked.
"It's the thing that determines the exterior of the Tardis!" he replied.
"I thought it was just a police box?" she shouted.
"Nope! It's supposed to fit with the current surroundings!" he yelled.
The loud clanging ceased, and the Doctor sighed.
"Unfixable..." he muttered.
"I like the police box...disguise?" Amy said slowly.
"Good, because I do as well." the Doctor admitted.
"Then why try to fix it?" she asked.
"I don't know..." he replied.
"I'll go put the bowties back." Amy said.
She walked up the stairs and into the wardrobe. She dumped the bowties in the box where she'd found them. Just as she was turning to leave, she noticed a picture hung up on the wall. It was a picture of a man in a blue suit. He had dark brown floppy hair and warm, brown eyes. He was wearing a tie. The man was stood next to a woman with slightly curly blond hair and blue-grey eyes. The woman was wearing a belt, with a gun and leather holder attached to it. Amy didn't recognise the woman, or the man, so she took it off the wall, and walked back to the Doctor to ask him.
"Doctor?" Amy asked.
"Yes Amy?" the Doctor sighed.
"Who's this?" she asked him, showing him the picture.
"Oh, that's me." he replied.
"You? But you don't look like that. At all." Amy said, confused.
"That was my last regeneration." the Doctor said, continuing when Amy just stared blankly at him."When a Timelord gets near to death, he kinda cheats death, in a way. His face changes and he's alive again."
"So this was you...last time?" Amy asked.
"Yes." he said simply.
"And the woman is?" she asked.
"That's River Song. She's my, um, friend." the Doctor said, his cheeks going pink.
"Friend? Are you sure?" Amy laughed.
"Yes!" he said loudly.
Amy just kept on laughing.

"So, Doctor, can we meet this River Song." Amy asked as she laced up her trainers.
"I suppose we could. But, she's in Stormcage at the moment." the Doctor replied.
"Stormcage? What is that?" she asked.
"It's the most top-security prison in the universe." he explained.
"What did she do?" Amy asked as she stood up.
"She killed someone." the Doctor said slowly.
"Who?" she asked.
"She won't tell me." he said glumly.
Amy laughed and zipped up her jacket.
"Don't you have central heating in here?" she asked.
"Oh, yeah, but it's broken." he admitted, unbashed.
Amy sighed and sat on one of the chairs.
"Hey...how come you've met River, but she's in prison?" Amy said.
"She breaks out now and then." he said slowly.
"Breaks out? Of the most top-security prison in the universe?" Amy laughed.
"Not really breaks out. She more...walks out." the Doctor laughed along with Amy.
"I wanna meet this woman!" Amy chortled.
"I bet you do, Amy!" the Doctor laughed.
"Can we go meet her then?" she asked, suddenly serious.
"I don't know..." he said.
"Oh, please!" Amy begged.
"Oh, alright." he said, a small smile forming on his lips.
The Doctor walked over to the Tardis console. He flipped up a small silver switch, typed in something on the black typwriter and then pulled down a gold-coloured handle with green flashing lights on it. The heart of the Tardis began to move up and down, and Amy and the Doctor grabbed onto the handle circling the control panel, smiling, as the floor started to vibrate and shake under their feet.

River Song was lying on her bed inside her cell in Stormcage. She was staring up at the ceiling, her eyes glazed over. She was wondering where she had lost her diary. She'd been going for a walk outside of Stormcage, what with the weather being nice for once, when a small boy in the nearby town had bumped into her, and her diary had flown out of her hand, and she didn't see where it had gone. She sighed and rolled over onto her side. She looked over at the bookcase against the wall. She'd read most of the books, but there were a few she hadn't. She sat up on the bed, stood up and walked over to the books. She pulled one of the books that she hadn't read off the top shelf, sat back down on her bed and looked at the book properly. Wuthering Heights. Ah, a romance tragedy. Ironic, the fact it fit exactly with her life. River sighed, opened it and began to read. She'd never really liked long books, and this one didn't make her any more fond of them. She got to about four pages in and gave up. She placed it at the end of her bed and just sat there, twiddling her thumbs. She hated not having her diary to read. River counted her breaths as she sat there, staring at the blank wall opposite her. One, two, three, four. She kept counting, her eyelids slowly drooping. She flexed her neck from left to right, stretched up her arms, lay back down on her bed and closed her eyes, intending to sleep. Shortly afterwards, her eyes snapped open at a loud sound that she knew very, very well. A grin spread across her face, and she sat up, looking for the source of the sound. She saw the blue police box slowly materializing in the empty corner of her cell. She watched as the door opened, and a man in a brown jacket and a navy bowtie walked out, smiling. He was followed by a girl wearing a red scarf, with flaming red hair. She was smiling too, but only a bit.
"Doctor Song. It's been too long!" the Doctor exclaimed.
"I'm Doctor Song now? I was only a professor, last time I checked, sweetie." River replied, the grin on her face widening.
"Oh, shut up." he replied.
"Not a chance. Anyway, who's your friend?" she asked.
"River, this is Amy Pond. Amy, this is River Song." he answered, gesturing from one to the other.
River stood up and walked over to the girl called Amy. She shook her hand and smiled.
"Oh, they keeping getting younger, don't they?" River laughed.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and frowned at River.
"I'm only joking." she apologized.
"Right..." he muttered.
River grinned at him, then turned her attention back to Amy.
"How long have you been with him?" she asked, gesturing the the Doctor.
"Not long. He met me when I was a kid. Then he came back for me." Amy replied. "How do you know him?"
"Long story, not ready to be told." she said seriously.
"She's from my future. She knows everything that's going to happen to me." the Doctor explained.
"I did know. I lost my diary." River said sadly.
"Oh. We could go look for it?" he offered.
"Sounds good." she said, grinning at him again. "Oh, can you get me out? They put alarms around my door."
The Doctor laughed and gestured to the Tardis.
"After you, ladies." he said.

"Oh, it's changed!" River exclaimed as she walked in.
"Since the first time you came in the Tardis, yes." the Doctor replied.
"So have you." River said.
"Yeah..." he said.
"Bowtie, braces, what next?" she laughed.
Amy sat down on one of the chairs, and watched River and the Doctor catch up.
"How's Stormcage?" he asked.
"Good. How's the universe?" she countered.
"Fine and dandy." he laughed.
"Are you two going out or something?" Amy asked suddenly.
The two of them looked round at Amy. River was grinning, the Doctor's cheeks were bright red.
"Spoilers." River laughed.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and turned around to face the Tardis console. He raised his hand above the typewriter, then he faltered.
"Where did you lose it?" he asked.
"Just outside the town of Cembera. About two miles North of here." she replied.
"If you know, why didn't you...oh right. Prison." Amy commented.
"Yes. Don't forget that. Although I break out a lot, I'm really supposed to be imprisoned." River laughed.
The Doctor rolled his eyes again and typed in the co-ordinates. He was about to pull down the flashing lever, when River waggled her finger, flipped up two switches and pushed down another.
"Now you can." she said, smiling.
The Doctor muttered something to himself, and pulled down the lever.
Amy watched the scene with interest, she stood up and walked over to River.
"Why can you fly the Tardis?" she whispered in her ear.
"Spoilers." she whispered back.
Amy wondered briefly why the Tardis wasn't crashing about like it usually did, when River answered her inner question for her.
"I pressed the stabilizers. He always forgets." she whispered, with extra emphasis on 'always'.
The Doctor grimaced at River and plopped himself down on a chair with his arms crossed.
River looked up at the monitor and smiled.
"And we've landed." she said.
The Doctor frowned and strode towards the door.
"Let's find your stupid diary..." he muttered.
River laughed and followed him out, Amy close behind her.

The first thing that came into Amy's mind when they stepped out of the Tardis, was how beautiful the town was. There were tall, ancient-looking wood buildings, with small, plant-filled gardens in front of them. There were a few people wandering around, wearing quite old-fashioned clothes. River was glancing around, obviously looking for her diary. The Doctor was stood there, tapping his foot, obviously still annoyed with River.
"I don't know where it is." River said sadly. "This was where I dropped it. Or near here at least."
"Amy, you go ask around the houses, and River and I will look around the streets." the Doctor said.
"Okay..." Amy muttered glumly.
She wandered off to the nearest house and knocked on the door.
River crouched down near a puddle of mud. She grimaced slightly, then plunged her hand into the mud. The mud reached to halfway up to her elbow. She felt around in the mud until her hand came upon something solid. She pulled it out, and frowned. It was just a book-shaped rock. She dropped it back into the mud and wiped the mud off her arm, recoiling at the smell. She turned around and continued searching the muddy street.
The Doctor, meanwhile, was using his sonic screwdriver to scan for the diary. River looked at him, grinned, and kept exploring, ignoring the showing-off Doctor. She came across a large, green bush, which she proceeded to search underneath. Nothing. She sighed and stood up.
"Doctor! River! I've found it!" Amy shouted, running towards them, waving a blue diary above her head.
"Amy?" River said, bewildered.
"I've got it!" she yelled, skidding to a halt in front of River, before handing it over.
"Oh, thank you!" she laughed, throwing her arms around Amy.
"My pleasure." she said, edging out of River's arms.
The Doctor wandered over, looked at the diary and frowned.
"Um, River, it's soaked." he pointed out.
"Oh no..." River said, just noticing.
River opened the blue diary and whimpered quietly as she saw all the ink had run.
"I've memorized everything, but I'll need a new one." she said quietly.
"We'll find you one, River. I promise." the Doctor said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
River put her hand on top of the Doctor's and lowered it down.
"Where?" she asked.
"I'll ask the Tardis. She'll make you a new one, I'm sure." he said gently.
"Good..." she sighed.
The Doctor clicked his fingers, and the Tardis door opened. He led River inside, and Amy followed them, wondering why the little blue diary was so important to River.

When they were inside, Amy plopped herself down on one of the chairs and watched the Doctor typing things in on the typewriter. River was hovering anxiously by his shoulder, watching his progress with nervous comments here and there.
"River..." Amy started.
"Yes?" River asked, without looking around.
"Why is this diary so important to you? I mean, we came all the way out here, and you seem really stressed because it's ruined. It's just a diary, right?" she said slowly.
"Just a diary? Just a diary?" she said frantically, turning to face her and with emphasis on 'just' the second time she said it. "This is the diary of my past, and the Doctor's future. It is unbelievably important!"
"Okay! I was just asking!" Amy said, using her hands to make simmer-down motions.
River wrung her hands together and went back to watching the Doctor fiddle with the console.
After a few moments, the Doctor whooped and clapped his hands together.
"What?" River asked.
"She accepts it! A duplicate is on its way!" he laughed.
"She?" Amy asked.
"The Tardis." River and the Doctor answered together.
Amy just stared blankly at them and crossed her legs. There was a strange buzzing noise, and the Doctor opened a small compartment on the console. He put his hand into it, and pulled out a blue book, exactly the same as River's, only not drenched and ruined. The book was way too big to have been able to fit into that compartment, Amy thought. But then she remembered what she was sat inside. She sighed and threw her head back, staring at the Tardis ceiling. She heard River laugh, and she looked at her. She had opened the diary, and all the writing was in it already.
"That saves me some time!" she laughed.
The Doctor was smiling, even if it was just a little, and he had his hand on River's shoulder as she examined the diary. Amy noticed he wasn't looking at the diary, his attention focused at the top of the stairs. Amy followed his gaze and saw the small, green box she'd found earlier, hovering just above the first step on the stairs. Amy stood up, still staring at the box, walked over to the stairs and started to walk up them.

"Amy...I don't know what that is! It could be dangerous!" the Doctor said loudly.
River had paused her examination of the diary, and she was watching Amy ascend the stairs. Amy reached out for the box. With a whirring noise, the box flew past her and zoomed down towards the Doctor and River. It hit River in the chest and she was knocked backwards a few steps. She handed her diary to the Doctor as the box whizzed around her head, buzzing continuously. She grabbed at the box, and her fingers closed around it. As soon as she touched it, the box made a clanking noise. One, two, three times. River stared at the box curiously. The box started to transform, the sides folding out into a strange shape. It looked like a person, with curly hair just like River's. Next to the strange, metal River, was a man with a bowtie. The Doctor, then. They were holding hands and she was leaning on his shoulder. River blushed and gave the strange figurines to the Doctor. As soon as he touched it, the box transformed again. In his hand, he was holding a figure of himself, with a woman next to him. Only, the woman was beautiful. She was holding a miniscule Tardis-shaped item in her hand. Amy presumed the woman was the Tardis, or had something to do with it, somehow. She looked at the Doctor. He was smiling at the woman in his hand and mouthed something that looked like 'Idris' to himself. River had sorrow in her face, and Amy thought she could see jealousy flashing across her face. The Doctor threw the box to Amy, and she caught it by the tips of her fingers. Once again, the box transformed in her hands. It became a figurine of herself, with a baby in her arms. Stood next to her was Rory, a grin plastered on his metal face. Amy smiled and placed the figures next to her on the chair. It became a box again, almost instantly.
"What was that?" Amy was thinking it, but River was the one who said it.
"It was a box of desires." the Doctor said.
Amy and River stared at him blankly.
"It shows your desires. Hopes, dreams and so on. I should've recognised it." he explained.
"Wow." River and Amy said together.
"Yeah. They are incredibly rare." he said.
He picked it up and handed it to River.
"You can keep it. It flew to you, so it's yours now." he said to her.
River's hands closed around it and she smiled at the Doctor, her eyes shining.
"Thank you." she said.
"No problem. Now, back to prison for you!" he said.
"I'm going to miss you, River." Amy sighed.
"I'll miss you too." she admitted.
The girls walked towards each other and hugged. The Doctor just stood there, one eyebrow raised.
"You know, I'll never understand humans." he said.
River started to say something, then stopped herself and smiled.
"You don't have to." she laughed, stepping out of Amy's arms.
The Doctor wandered to the console, but River beat him there. She pushed down two switches, typed in the co-ordinates and pulled down the lever.
"You could let me fly it once in a while!" the Doctor scowled.
River laughed, glanced up at the monitor and walked to the door.
"Bye! See you next time!" she called.
"Catch! And bye!" the Doctor called back as he threw her the little blue diary and the metal box.
"Bye!" Amy said, and waved.
River waved back and walked out of the door, shutting it behind her.
"Okay, Amy, where next?" the Docto r asked.
Amy laughed.
"Anywhere!" she said.
The Doctor grinned and pulled down the lever, setting off on a new adventure.