"But not for long, one psychopath per TARDIS", River said making the Doctor smile as she kept fiddling with the dials at the control panel plotting the course to some new destination for their next adventure. The Doctor looked at her, his face full of love before jumping up and helping her trying to keep his mind off the Pond's, their parting still to fresh for him to bear.
They spent a few minutes fiddling with dials before the Doctor announced he was going to do some fine tuning and ran down the steps to work underneath the control panel, leaving River alone. She smiled at where the Doctor had stood moments before, sighing to herself, the faint smile that she had put on her face to cheer up the Doctor, falling. She smoothed her dress, taking a deep breath before deciding to go for a wander, taking a moment for herself. She walked up the steps before turning onto the nearest corridor.
The Doctor had been working with the cables for about half an hour he figured when he looked at his watch and he hadn't heard any complaints from River which seemed odd so he jumped off his swing to see why he wasn't getting criticised. The Doctor made his way up the steps and when he saw the area was empty he decided River must have gone for a walk and thought he might as well go and find him before climbing the steps and turning down the nearest corridor.
The Doctor had been weaving his way through the endless corridors and had almost given up all hope of finding her this millennium before he rounded a corner and faltered. There, further down the corridor was River. But this was River as the Doctor had never seen her before. She was broken.
River was pacing the corridor in a circle and slowed as her emotions slowly took hold. With one hand on her hip, her other hand came up to her forehead as she her breathing quickened and her eyes brimmed with tears. As sobs racked her body her tears escaped in an uncontrollable flow and she leaned her head against the wall as her mind flashed with images of her parents as they had disappeared, never to be seen again. She turned from the wall and put her back against it and began to slide to the floor as she relinquished the very strong hold she had had on her emotions for the past hour. She sat on the ground, back against the wall, hands splayed out by her side as she cried. She thought she would never stop when a shadow came over her and the Doctor sat beside her, taking her in his strong arms and holding her in silence as her sobs echoed around the corridor. Her sobs eventually died down but her tears persisted and the Doctor held her in the silence as she grasped onto his shirt trying to fill the hole that had only gotten bigger with the events that had just taken place in Manhattan.
The Doctor sat with River as she cried into his shoulder and held on for dear life letting a few silent tears of his own escape as he kissed her head and protected her from the horrors of the events of the day. A day that would haunt him more than any other, the day he lost the Ponds. His hold only tightened on River as he himself tried to get used to the loneliness as it once again came down on him like a ton of bricks. But he held onto the small light of hope that River. A hope he knew wouldn't leave him for a while, a hope that he grasped onto and held onto, a hope that kept him together. And then he realised just how much River meant to him as she sat in his arms and they experienced the greatest loss he had felt so far, River was what held him together. She was the hope that kept him going. He hadn't realised just how important she was to him until he realised that he would never see Amy or Rory again. She was now all he had and she was so important. But then he hated himself for loving her so much. He was a Time Lord, he had lost thousands on friends and loved ones over the years but none were nearly as important as the woman in his arms.
It was at that exact moment River looked up and saw a desperation she had never seen before in his kind old eyes. River loved his eyes because no matter how many times he regenerated and how often they changed colour or shape they would still remain piercing but kind and seeing them this lost concerned her. She hated seeing the man she loved in so much pain. She put one hand on his soft, damp cheek and pressed her lips against his. He kissed her back with a fierce intensity never wanting to stop and leave her for a second. River finally broke the kiss and looked into his eyes once more as her thumb wiped away a remaining tear on his cheek whispering, "Thankyou" before giving him another two small pecks and helping him up. Once they were both up River kissed him again before lacing her finger through his and they started back down the hallway.
Once they got back to the door of River's room the Doctor took her other hand and stared into her eyes,
"I have to return to Stormcage in the morning, I know I said I would travel with you so I just need to go back quickly and then we can leave again" River said looking away from his helpless eyes knowing that if she didn't she would never be able to leave him ever again. The Doctor still looked at her eyes and waited for her to look at him again. She met his eyes briefly and as soon as did the Doctor took her face in both hands and wiped away the traces of tears before trapping her in a deep passionate kiss. The intensity of the kiss scared River, he was never this quiet, but she kissed him back none the less. After a while the Doctor finally broke the kiss but continued to kiss her jaw as River caught her breath. River closed her eyes as she felt his warm, soft lips trace her jaw but when he stopped she opened her eyes,
"I love you" he said, his gaze holding hers,
"I love you too sweetie" River said a faint smile touching her mouth,
"No River," he said firmly, "I love you, more than you think I do. And I want you to know that. I want you to know that I love you and you mean so much to me" he said in a very serious and final tone. And then he was kissing her again before she could respond. River walked back against her door as one of her hands twisted in the Doctor's hair and the other held onto his back. The Doctor had one hand on her neck and the other at the small of her back, holding her close. Once River thought she was never going to breathe again the Doctor left her mouth and began kissing her jaw again. As he did so River's hand left his hair and found the door knob before twisting it and letting both of them into her room. Once inside he took off his jacket and she began undoing his ridiculous bowtie. She then unbuttoned his shirt and he began to unzip her dress. Before they began kissing furiously again and River was pushed up against the door, closing it.