Hurry

When River Song and Captain Jack are in a hurry, nothing stands in their way...


Jack did a backflip off the stairway wall, landed on his feet and took off, dress shoes scuffing on the wet pavement.

River leaped over the barrier wall into the parking lot, stiff-arming herself over the brick edifice without pause.

Jack leaped over after her, bounding up with both feet tucked like a rabbit, his vintage WWII coat fluttering out behind him.

They dodged through the cars, rebounding off bumpers and boots, rolling across bonnets and leapfrogging the occasional mini's cab.

The air was hazy, cool, heavy with moisture, a dense not-quite fog. It was thick in their lungs, but they were both accustomed to strange atmospheric conditions. Different times, different worlds, always the running. River could feel the moisture kinking up her hair, tingling her scalp.

Jack pointed, he didn't waste breath on words. She nodded. They leaped and rolled over the last cars in the line and sprinted across the dew-slick grass.

Jack braced himself and skidded as the ground fell away into a gully, skating down the wet grass in his flat shoes. River lengthened her stride and ran straight down the incline. She splashed through the rivulet at the bottom and shot up the far bank. Jack gathered, leaped the stream and landed on all fours, sprinting up the bank from a bare knuckle start.

They sailed up over the lip of the ravine like a pair of Greek gods in flight. They landed and ran. The Tardis's lamp, murky blue in the grey light, shone halfway across the field. Cows scattered in surprise at the oncoming predators.

Jack leapfrogged a bull, hands on its warm back, grinning madly as it twisted its horned head to stare at him in surprise.

They splashed through the wet grass, turning slides into forward momentum. River flipped over an abandoned log, curly hair streaming behind her.

Mud splashed, water sheeted away from their footfalls, and they both dove, synchronized as a ballet team, over the rim of the dug out crater the Tardis had landed in.

River curled a hand around the lamp as she soared by, swinging herself around the perimeter of the tall box, killing her momentum. Jack skidded the heels of his hands along the sloping roof, bringing his heels forward and dumped himself down to a standing stop beside the doors. River landed lightly beside him.

They grinned and high-fived, water slapping off their hands. They shook their heads and water sprayed in all directions.

"And to think," River said, as she opened the door. "Today's humans think they invented Parkour."

Jack threw back his head and laughed.