Disclaimer: Doctor Who is obviously not mine.
AN: This is an insert for "The Wedding of River Song." I always thought that there was a great build up to The Doctor accepting his death and deciding to go to Lake Silencio and then it was kinda blown out of the water when he immediately had a plan as to how to not die. So, I decided that it wasn't immediate and for a while he thought that he was going to die. This happens right after The Doctor leaves the teselecta in the beginning and before he sticks his head back in during the reveal at the end. Sure, that time period was only a few seconds, but…
A lot can happen in a couple of seconds…. Especially when you're a time traveler.
"Is there nothing else we can do?" He didn't say anything, as there was nothing to say, and walked out of the door away from the teselecta. The TARDIS was waiting for him in the hall and as he walked through her doors and closed them behind him, a melancholy acceptance came over him. He'd decided to stop running from his fate. He knew he was going to die and that River was going to kill him. There wasn't much left to do.
"So old girl," he whispered morosely running his hands along the console. She vibrated under his hand soothingly and a ghost of a smile flickered over his lips, "I guess there's only one more place to go." He pulled a lever and pushed a few buttons without his usual flourish and without worrying that he'd end up some place other than his destination. The TARDIS would make sure he got where he was going.
She landed with the comfortingly familiar sound of gears grinding because he left the brakes on. He took a moment to ready himself, setting his hat on the console (it wasn't safe where he was going) and fixing his hair.
"Be right back," he told the TARDIS and stepped out her doors. He had only been to the two-story, off-white house situated just off the campus of Luna University a few times and he'd never come alone; always he'd been dropping off River (well, she'd been dropping herself off as she didn't "want to be two weeks late for my morning class, thank you very much"). He noted idly that he'd landed the TARDIS on a patch of tulips he hoped Professor Song didn't care too much about. Straitening his bowtie, he walked up the sidewalk and onto her porch. He dithered in front of her door, suddenly unsure about his welcome as he'd never taken the initiative to come to her house without express invitation. He contemplated the advantages of knocking verses using the doorbell for a moment.
"Sweetie?" a voice questioned from behind him. He jumped and spun around managing to knock over one of her plants.
"River!" She was peering at him with exasperated amusement over a large stack of papers and books. Her hair was pulled back into a bun, but a few curls had managed to escape and were dancing around her head. There was a bright blue bag over her shoulder with even more papers stuffed in it.
"Final papers," she explained adjusting the weight in her arms slightly. She made a huffing noise as the papers slid dangerously in her grip. "Would you mind unlocking the door for me?
"Ah, sure, where's the key?" he asked.
She shifted again holding the papers for dear life and cocked her hip a bit. "Right, back pocket."
"Er, right," he approached her calculating the best way to get his hand in her jean pocket with the bag and stack of papers in the way. When he got near enough he gulped and slipped his hand under the bag onto her hip. He blushed slightly as he slid his hand into her pocket trying hard not to notice where he was touching. After digging around for a few seconds, he drew back to look at her.
"Your keys aren't in there," he stated suspiciously.
"Oh, they're not?" her eyes danced in a very River sort of way. "Perhaps you should check the other pocket."
"River!" his blush deepened as the corners of her lips tilted up into a cat-like smile.
"Front pocket in my bag," she replied still grinning. He glared at her a moment and she winked at him.
He grumbled to himself about "conniving women" as he dug through her purse to her great amusement. His hands closed around the keys and he stomped to the door still mumbling under his breath. When he'd opened the door, he let her go first. With a groan, she dumped her load on a table in the foyer and started rifling through her bag. He peered around the hallway interested. Though he'd already seen it a few times, River Song living in a cozy house with peach walls and soft couches never ceased to amaze him. He guessed he would never have much of a chance to get used to the idea.
River gave a victorious sound as she drew a battered blue book from her bag and unceremoniously dropped everything else to the floor. She strutted down the hall without a glance at the papers she had just left. Curious, he trotted after her into her living room. She'd moved over to her little personal bar and was pouring herself a glass of white wine.
"River it's not even," he admonished glancing at the digital clock on her wall, "3 o'clock, yet."
"Yes, but if I'm going to have to grade all of those papers by when grades are due, I'm going to need quite a few drinks."
"Hmmm, well, would you get me one too?" he asked. She turned to him and raised an eyebrow speculatively. "What?" She rolled her eyes, but took another glass out anyway. However, she only filled his a little less than halfway. She crossed to her couch with both drinks in her hand; when she had set them down on the table and settled on the couch, she began flipping through her diary. Figuring that was enough of an invitation, he strode over to the couch and plopped down next to her. She glanced up at him and took a sip of her wine.
"So where are we?" she inquired.
"Far enough," he replied evasively picking up his own glass of wine. Her eyebrows hit her hairline as he took a sip; she wasn't surprised when he spit it out.
"Have you done Byzantium, yet?" she hedged a little cautiously.
"Yes, yes," he assured staring at the wine glass in offence and setting it down on the table. "Ages ago," he was surprise when she visibly relaxed.
She mumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like "I didn't need another one that early." He pretended not to hear but did wonder what he'd done to her in his past that, at the time, he hadn't even realized would affect her. "So then," she spoke to him this time, "exactly how far from the Byzantium?"
"We've done Easter Island and the Malta Verica waterfall," he offered.
She set her wine glass down, "So you're past Demon's Run then."
"Yes."
"Excellent." He wasn't quite sure how it happened, but before he realized what was going on, River had shoved him to his back on the couch.
"Mmmph!" he exclaimed as she fastened her mouth over his. She shifted so her body pressed against him in all the right places. He was proud that he wasn't flailing around, though that might have been due to the fact that his arms were trapped between her and the couch. The loose strands of her hair tickled his chin and the scent of her surrounded him, intoxicating him in sensation. This part of their relationship was still relatively new to him, but he had quickly adjusted to the way they fit together and now he found himself getting lost in the familiar feel of her.
No, wait, this wasn't why he'd come here.
He drew back a bit, "River…"
"Sweetie," her eyes burned dangerously, "it has been a very long day, I haven't seen you in two weeks, and the last time I saw you, you still had your previous face. So, do me a favor and shut up."
He hesitated for a moment seeing for a few seconds the hurt that she always kept so well hidden and then he remembered that he was about to die and she was probably getting close to the library. He wiggled his hand out from under her and cupped her face. "Professor, River Song. What am I going to do with you?"
Her eyes lit up with a wicked gleam, "I have a few ideas."
All The Doctor could think was it was a good thing she hadn't put her papers on the coffee table with their wine because her students would have probably wondered what the deep red stains on their papers were. He didn't remember them falling to the floor and toppling the table over, but the evidence of them doing so was currently strewn around them. He was sitting up with a half-dressed River pressed against his side so he could feel her chest move as she caught her breath. After a few moments she uncurled herself from him and sat up with her back against the couch. She surveyed the damage.
"Not bad, Sweetie," she commented stretching her arms over her head making her unbuttoned, slightly ripped blouse part enough to give him a fairly good view of her chest. She chuckled when she saw the blush creep up his neck. "Goodness, you're still fairly young though, aren't you? His face must have betrayed him because her eyebrows drew together in concern. "Is something wrong, Sweetie?"
He smoothed out his expression and flashed her a grin, "Of course not." She eyed him knowingly.
"No there's something wrong, what is it?" she demanded. He glanced away. "Doctor."
He jumped to his feet so quickly that he almost toppled back over. "So, what about a quick trip," he suggested grabbing his trousers and yanking them on before searching for his shirt. "Plenty of places to go. Anywhere in the universe," his words were running together in a mixture of his usual excitement for an adventure and his suffocating anxiety because it would be the second to last one. "I know," his voice squeaked a little, "how about we go to the Singing Tow-"
"Sweetie," her harsh voice cut off his spiel, but he didn't turn to her, "what has gotten into you." His hands clenched.
"Nothing," he insisted, but he refused to look at her. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as she slowly got to her feet and moved toward him. She reached for his clenched fist and rubbed it gently until it released. His hand laced with hers unconsciously as she reached up and pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek. He gave a shaky exhale and looked at her face scrunched up in concern.
"Tell me, Doctor," she commanded.
"You're my last stop," he blurted unable to keep it all in anymore.
"Your last stop until what, Doctor?"
He glanced away from her, "Lake Silencio."
"Ah, I see," she was calm almost thoughtful, "Doctor will you look at me for a second?" He turned to her and she gazed intently into his eyes as though trying to look through him. "You said I'm your last stop?"
"Yes."
"As in, you are going straight to Utah after you leave here?" there was just the slightest waver of panic in her voice now.
"I've made my rounds, did everything I was supposed to. The teselecta is going to send letters to Amy, Rory, Canton, and a younger version of you."
"Doctor, you can't go to Lake Silencio," River insisted.
"I have to River. I've been running long enough."
"Doctor you can't. You'll die."
"I have to die, River," he stressed. "It's a fixed point. I thought by now you'd know that. You've been there twice." Her eyes flashed suddenly making him draw away from her and swallow nervously. What had he done?
"You invited me to Utah thinking you were making me watch you die again?" righteous anger poured from her at the realization.
"I am going to die, River," he snapped angry at himself and The Silence and the whole bloody universe for twisting their relationship up this way.
"I'd never let you, you space idiot!"
"You don't have a choice. It's already happened."
"You can change it."
"You can't change a fixed point!"
"But you can alter one."
His mouth opened in closed. "What?"
"Think about it Doctor. Is your death really the fixed point?" He stared at her and she could almost see the gears in his mind whirling faster than the speed of light. "The fixed point is what everyone could see. Melody Pond in a spacesuit shooting the Doctor on a beach. But what didn't they see? What can you alter about what really happened on that beach without anyone seeing it?" He stared at her for a moment.
"Okay" he said, "say it was possible to change my fate, but how River? How?"
"You have friends all over the universe and you can't think of one who would help you now?
He blinked and then a smile spread across his face. "Of course! River Song you're a genius." He picked her up and spun her around smashing his lips against hers.
"Oh, I know." He put her back on her feet and kissed her nose.
"I'll come back afterwards," he promised bounding away from her.
"You better," she told him as he headed for the door, "Oh and Sweetie,"
"Yes?" he spun back to her.
"Shirt."
The Doctor watched himself disappear into the TARDIS and then quickly jumped toward the door grinning. He stuck his head back into the room he'd left only seconds before. He looked at the teselecta, "actually, thinking about it…"