'It's very hot outside." The Doctor muttered, checking his watch for the umpteenth time in the last twenty minutes. He sighed impatiently. He hated waiting. It was unbearably slow.
'Yes, it is, isn't it?'
The Doctor glanced up to where River had materialized in front of him.
'You're late.'
River fiddled with the vortex manipulator on her wrist and flicked a piece of curly hair behind her.
'Yes, well I was in the middle of something very important.' she remarked.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow.
'What would that be?' he asked.
River smiled mischievously.
'Babysitting.'
She came and took a seat on the bench next to him.
'Beautiful view, isn't it?' River said.
They sat on the top of a lush emerald hill facing a snowy range of mountains. They seemed to reach out for the sky, the tips of them disappearing in the clouds. The sky was filled with billions of stars, shining in a chroma of colours, even though it was the middle of the day.
'The planet Ictha. Uninhabited for a millennia, since it's native species were all killed in an attack by the Sontarans. Nicknamed the "Planet of a Thousand Sighs" because its vast beauty is second to none. Is that why you chose to meet here?' The Doctor asked.
River was silent for a moment.
'Doctor, have you put much thought into our timelines?' she asked.
The Doctor shrugged and glanced at the horizon.
'No, I suppose not. It's always great fun figuring out where we are relative to each other,' he paused and looked over at her 'but I suppose that's it.'
River nodded.
'I have something to tell you.' she said quietly.
Silence enveloped them, and the world seemed to stand still. The Doctor waited quietly with worry flooding his bones. Just when he thought he couldn't take it any longer, River spoke again.
'I've seen your past and your future. I've seen so many parts of you. I've seen you at your strongest, and at your weakest. I've seen you whole and happy, and I've seen you broken and filled with grief. I've seen this face, and the face before.' she looked at him with tears in her eyes. 'But I have not seen the face after this one. And that scares me.'
The Doctor took her hands in his and kissed them.
'That does not mean anything. Maybe you've just not seen it yet.' Though he said this to convince himself just as much as her.
River slipped a hand from his and grabbed her notebook from behind her.
'I've been doing some research,' she said, stroking its royal blue cover and flipping through the pages 'What is the current date? Earth time.'
The Doctor looked at his watch.
'December 27th, 2014.'
River smiled sadly and closed the book, stroking the cover again. A single teardrop fell onto the leather.
'This is as far as I can go.' she whispered.
'What do you mean?' the Doctor asked quietly.
River sighed and looked down.
'Our timelines are jumbled, and we've never met in a chronological order. We skip through each others' lives in a haphazard sequence, never knowing how old or young the other is. I've been through so many points of your life but," she paused here, taking a steadying breath "in all my adventures, I've never been any farther than this date. It's like this day... it's almost as if time stops for me. It's a bit strange but after all... I am the child of the TARDIS."
River stared down with a solemn expression, refusing to meet the Doctor's eyes.
"What are you saying?" he said quietly.
She finally looked up, tears flooding her eyes, and touched his hand gently.
"This is the last time you will ever see me."
Silence filled their ears as if they were rejecting what both of them had just heard. And feared to admit.
'Not necessarily.' the Doctor protested, with tears streaming down his cheeks. River just nodded and put a hand on his face.
'I've done the research, love. It's all here. Look through my journal and tell me one thing that hasn't happened to you.'
The Doctor looked at the book, but didn't bother reaching out. He knew. When you're 1300 years old you learn to recognize intuition.
Then the Doctor hunched forward and laid his head on River's shoulder. Tears streamed down his face and onto her blue jacket. She reached out a hand and began to stroke his hair.
"Please don't leave me." he sobbed.
River said nothing.
After an immeasurable amount of time, the Doctor sat up, wiped his eyes, and stared back at River again.
"I'm sorry. Sometimes I'm an emotional old man." he muttered.
"No need to apologize," River shook her head, wiping her own eyes "you've earned the right to hate endings."
The Doctor smiled sadly.
"I do hate endings."
River Song took his hand and he looked up. He noticed the vortex manipulator whirring on her wrist. She had been ready.
"Then this isn't an ending." she said, squeezing his hand "this is a new beginning."
With a slight flick of the wrist, River pressed the warp button on the vortex manipulator. But as she faded away, she blew him a kiss.
"Hello, Sweetie."
The silence grew for a few moments as the event set in. It was a few minutes later that the last tear slipped from the Doctor's eyes. He muttered one last thing before moving to the TARDIS.
"I don't like beginnings, either."