Work Text:
Anita’s key turns in the lock, unthinking. The room doesn’t have a do not disturb placard, so she carries the fresh towels on her hip as she turns the door handle. Only to freeze as she sees a figure sitting on the bed. Her back is to the door, so Anita turns, about to leave, when she speaks.
“You can come in.”
“I’m, um, sorry to interrupt your stay, miss. I figured the room was vacant.”
The inhabitant, a brilliantly beautiful woman with some of the most spectacular curls Antia has ever seen in her life (but she’s getting ahead of herself–) turns to look at her. “It might as well be.”
There’s a sadness to it that Anita recognizes in a moment. She saw it in the mirror on her own face when the Doctor left. “Stood up?”
“It seems.” She’s holding a robe tight to her chest, despondent.
“Well, if it helps to take your mind off things, there are many amenities in the Time Hotel you could indulge in?”
“Thank you, but you don’t need to sell anything to me. Or, rather, it won’t work. My husband paid for the room.”
Husband? “I see. Perhaps something that won’t charge, then?”
“Like what?”
“Well, miss…?”
“River,” the woman names herself.
“Well, Miss River, all meals in the Time Hotel are included in the price of a room. And we happen to have a very talented singer performing in one of our lounges.”
“Hm, that does sound nice. But it would be better if I had…” River’s eyes crawl up Anita in a way that makes her shiver. “Company?”
“O-oh, I. Well, I’m working right now, Miss River. But I do have a shift change in, um. Thirty minutes?”
“I can sulk for another thirty minutes if it offers me a night of companionship. A good companion is hard to come by these days, you know.”
It is not technically against the rules for Anita to sleep with a guest. Needs as needs must, after all, and guests often try to solicit sex from the workers. If a worker is amiable and off the clock… but when she worked previously, it would have been unthought of. Absolutely unheard of.
She stares at River. She considers saying no.
“I’ll come back then, Miss River.”
“Oh, please. Just River. Unless it’s a little kinky.”
Anita flushes red and hurries out of the room. It’s not until she’s shut the door that she realizes she left the towels in there.
She speeds through the rest of her shift. If there’s any motivator to have everything done, it’s a beautiful woman waiting for you. She cleans as best she can, directs others, solves a few guests’ problems, and then finally her employee’s watch dings.
She’s free. Free to do whatever she pleases.
She darts into a bathroom, straightening her uniform and her hair. She grabs a breath mint and pops it into her mouth, considering going down to the small store in the lobby to buy deodorant and properly freshen up. She pushes the thought out of her mind. River surely won’t mind.
She returns to the room, knocking gently on the door this time.
“Come in!”
Anita unlocks the door and steps inside, closing it behind her before she fully takes in the room. And takes in River. River, who is lying on the bed, the robe that had been so tightly clutched before falling open around her, revealing sage green lace.
“Hello,” Antia’s voice softens, even beyond what she had intended. She fumbles with one of her shirt buttons. River watches her struggle with magnificent eyes, standing and going to help her undress in a motion as fluid as her name. It’s like she’s a goddess, or something above. “Your husband really doesn’t know what he’s missing,” she breathes.
River looks at her, a pierce to her enchanting gaze. “Oh, that Doctor of mine is always missing something. He just never knows it.”
A flush burns up Anita’s cheeks, only made worse with the passion of a kiss. Traced down the line of her front, buttons slipping open in River’s wake. Of course the Doctor married a woman like this. And, just like him, she’s very good at lingering when she choses to stay.