Hello! I trust you all had a rather fantastic Christmas.
This takes place immediately after the end of The Husbands of River Song (Side note: how perfect was that?! I could go into it, but we'd be here at least twenty-four years. Simply wonderful.).
Naturally I had to write this, because we all know it was going to happen in some variation. Happy New Year, and I hope you enjoy it.
Title taken, upon several recommendations, from Adele's "All I Ask". (Sorry for the feelings.)

The Doctor felt a burst of flutters in his stomach the moment River's lips brushed his, slow and soft enough to soothe all the wounds ever inflicted on him. She'd always had a knack for making the rest of the Universe melt away with a single touch; he needed to tell her that. He needed to tell her a lot of things.

Shivers bloomed under his skin as her hesitant hands settled on him, tracing a lazy exploration down his chest, and he found himself smiling into their kiss despite himself. This body may have seemed outwardly more serene, less prone to wriggling and bouncing around like a giddy puppy whenever River was in his vicinity, but in truth he was just better at tucking it all away under furious eyebrows. He could feel even those letting him down from the moment she'd pulled back that ridiculous Santa hood and threatened to disembowel him. He didn't even want to fight it; she was real, not an echo but warm and solid under his hands for the first time in a millennium. To waste even a moment of this being pointlessly reserved would be a crime.

River broke away sooner than he'd have liked, pulling back just enough to search his eyes. He admired the tiny flecks of gold in hers, like a galaxy in miniature. He'd always adored that, on the rare occasions time had stilled enough to allow him to admire it.

"I've waited all day to do that," he whispered, cupping her jaw in his hand.

River bit her lip, leaning into his touch with ill-concealed relief and eyes crinkling at the corners. "This new body likes all of that, then?"

It didn't matter; it never would, not with River. What he felt for River didn't just transcend each body's tastes, it rewrote him at his core. He'd never believed himself capable of staying still without force, but with his wife next to him those twenty-four years seemed like the easiest thing in the world. Intimacy wasn't something he'd ever been big on, but she'd responded to his first hesitant touches with such fervour that he didn't ever want to stop. "Not generally," he said softly, fingertips skimming up her sides. "But it likes you."

"It does?"

"Very much." He kissed the tip of her nose with a bashful grin. "Sweetie."

River gasped indignantly, shoving at his chest. "You think you're so hot just because you got to say it this time."

"Don't you?"

"Oh, yes." He had the delight of making her giggle again just before she pulled him back to her. Feather-light kisses took the place of the usual vigour she reserved for moments such as these; it was sweetly refreshing to take things slow. Each brush of her lips was followed by a gaze so tender it made him ache. Twenty-four years wasn't nearly long enough to even begin to tire of this.

"I missed you," he whispered against her, sounding all too desperate but far past caring.

River's fingers brushed against his cheek, eyes darting between his. "How long?"

"Too long," he managed, slipping just enough to let his forehead come to rest in the curve of her nose. "It's always too long."

Her hands cradled his head, fingers smoothing back his hair with a tenderness he'd almost forgotten. "Doctor?"

"River?"

She leaned into him until their lips brushed, breathing the words against his mouth. "Twenty-four years."

This time they didn't pull back, River's capable hands winding through the curls at the nape of his neck to draw him closer. His found her hips out of old instinct and all at once it was like those thousand years without her, closing himself off, letting ice slip into his hearts, melted away into nothing at all. His mouth opened to hers, letting her tongue run along the roof of his mouth in that deliciously familiar way that made his toes curl in his shoes. Her fingernails bit into his skin, a moan lost against his mouth, and he knew then why they'd been waiting to touch each other; they weren't going to stop.

"Sir? Ma'am? Are you ready to order?"

The Doctor reluctantly broke apart from his wife, rolling his eyes at Ramone's voice. River laughed breathlessly, brushing her nose against his to soothe his frustration before pulling back to grin at her husband-come-robot-come-waiter. "Ah – we're not quite decided yet, darling. Would you mind getting back to us in a few minutes? Or perhaps twenty?"

A body ago, it would have left him blushing; now, as she shifted ever so slightly to press herself against him with that devilish smirk of hers, he felt a thrill fizzing low in his stomach.

Ramone nodded at River's overt wink. "Gotcha."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, leaning in to whisper against her hair as they were once again left alone. "Bit rude."

She shrugged, eyes dancing in the last embers of the sunset and her voice a low purr. "Not hungry."

Her lips mouthed a lazy trail down his jaw, nimble fingers pulling at his tie until he caught them in his with a chuckle. "Here? Really?"

She winged an eyebrow, smoothing her hands over his shoulders. "Is that a problem?"

"No, just…" He glanced over his shoulder, listening to the busy hum of the restaurant. "Bit risqué, isn't it?"

"Hardly. No-one can see us."

"No, but from what I recall – and believe me, I recall every minute – you tend to make a lot of noise," he murmured, dipping his head to nip at her thumping pulse point. "Don't want to get us chucked out of here a grand total of ten minutes into our twenty-four years."

"It would be a new personal best." Her chuckle tailed off into a moan as his tongue dipped into the hollow above her collarbone, trailing up to soothe the bites along her throat.

"What if someone comes onto the balcony?" he asked, already knowing that he was going to follow her into this as readily as he did everything else. Her skin was sweet and warm from the last heat of the sun, making his eyes sting with its familiar scent of something that he could never quite pinpoint; something rich and exotic and timeless.

"Well, then they'll find the view even better than they expected." River slipped the tie from his neck, winding the soft fabric around her fingers with a fond smile.

"Spectacular," he agreed softly, hands sweeping up her back to bring her closer.

"Still a dreadful flirt, then."

"Worked on you." He grinned against her shoulder, tugging her shawl off to discard it somewhere at their feet.

"Oh, always." Her fingers slid under his chin to draw him into a fervent kiss, her teeth sinking into his bottom lip. The Doctor's hands faltered as they skimmed over her crimson dress, fighting the urge propelled by the heat spiralling low in his belly to rip it off her. He could have sworn the bloody thing was damn well glued to her.

"My, someone's impatient," River murmured, and it was only by her smirking against his mouth that he realised in his half-daze that he'd been grumbling out loud.

"Well, it's been a while. And I'm Scottish; it's in the job description."

He practically whined when her wandering hands shoved him away, frowning after her like a kicked puppy until she retrieved her magic little perfume bottle from the table.

"Stand back. Don't want you to end up dressed in what I have in mind." She grinned, eyes roaming down his suit. "Or maybe I do." With a spritz of the perfume the sparkly red dress disappeared before his eyes, in its place a silky slip in a familiar shade of blue. "Better?"

He hummed, crowding back into her space to finger the delicate lace trim that fell halfway down her thighs. Much to his ill-concealed delight, she'd kept the heels on. "Nice colour."

River rolled her eyes fondly. "Trust you."

"Aren't you cold?"

"Well, I'm planning to be thoroughly warmed up in the next few minutes. Now, let's even things up a bit."

His crisp new jacket was a crumpled heap on the balcony floor before he could protest, and he watched River's hands rake down his torso to tug his shirt free of his trousers until he was splendidly dishevelled. "Now, that's better," she declared in a throaty rasp that left the rest of his blood swiftly pooling south, nails scratching over his chest as she popped the buttons open one by one.

Her hair had come loose from its up-do with the spray, and he wasted no time in tangling his fingers through her curls. "How does that spray even work?"

"You want to hear a scientific explanation now?"

"Fair enough." He drew his bottom lip between his teeth, gazing at his wife with something close to wonder. People would ask in the future, people who knew him well, how the lonely wanderer managed twenty-four linear years on one tiny, unimportant little planet. Then he'd tell them about this woman, and it would all make as much sense to them as it did to him now. Staying still was impossible, but staying still with his wife by his side was easy. Oh, he'd tell them; if the whole Universe didn't already know about River Song, he'd make sure that it did. But for tonight, she was his to adore.

The straps slid easily off her shoulders, letting the silk pool at her waist. His eyes darted up at her little gasp, as if seeking permission there. He supposed he was; it had been so long since he'd touched her, felt the heat of her skin – of anyone's – against his own. He'd forgotten how it felt to be looked at the way his River looked at him; the feeling of being entrusted completely with a body and soul he cherished more than all the Universe's treasures.

He settled his trembling hands on her ribs, focussing on their fall and swell to bring himself back from nostalgia. Too much of that, and he'd waste precious time on this last night of theirs; she deserved him to be here with her. The tips of his fingers gingerly traced the swell of her breasts, and when even that made River's breath catch in anticipation he let himself grow bolder. He remembered his piqued curiosity when she'd teased him about being a screamer, his fascination when he'd first put his hands on her and discovered that every word of it was true. That hadn't faded with time any more than everything else she made him feel.

She arched into his touch as his thumbs swept over her nipples, pinching and squeezing and oh, he remembered this too. No stretch of time or change of body could undo her from his memory. He'd invested years in learning her inch by inch, mapping out the places that made her gasp and writhe beneath him like she couldn't stand it. He'd learned to pour all the words he could never say into the press of his fingertips. His pleasure lay in the way she clung to him, the little keening noises she made even as he dipped his head to leave a trail of open-mouthed kisses between her breasts. His tongue laved over her in place of his clever fingers as they meandered down her stomach until they could slip under her nightie.

"Out of curiosity," he murmured against her skin, teeth closing over her soft flesh just hard enough to draw a gasp from her, "Are you aware that knickers exist?"

"They'd just slow me down."

His fingers hovered at the crease of her thigh, a last moment of hesitation that was soon dispelled by River gripping his wrist to tug him pointedly into place. He hid a smirk against her chest, teasing her between kisses. "Always so impatient, Professor." He almost heard the reply she'd no doubt been planning to sass him with catch in her throat as he pushed two fingers inside her, receiving a strangled curse in its place. And there it was; only she could humble him while making him feel smug.

"Sweetie." The word spilled from her time and time again, caught up in a harsh moan or trailing into a gasp as he sucked her nipples into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the bud in time to the gentle yet unrelenting pressure of his fingers. She panted against his neck, fingers scrambling for desperate purchase on his shoulders as his hand worked between her legs. His fingers remembered how to curl inside her, to find the spot that left her digging her nails into his scalp and moaning loud enough to turn heads on the next planet.

"Shhh."

The sharp pain of her teeth sinking into his neck a second later made him gasp, pressing himself closer to her with his hand trapped between them. Her stuttering pulse against his chest had his own hearts swelling in unison, a warmth he'd all but forgotten. He needed to give her more in return, this woman who'd saved him in more ways than he'd known he needed saving.

The Doctor dropped to his knees before her, hands splaying across her hips to taking a moment just to look at her, flushed and golden in the sunset. If she was beautiful in every other moment, she was a goddess in ones like these. He felt the flutter of her muscles as his nose trailed down her stomach, hands slipping between her thighs to spread them apart, and cherished her for it. The woman beneath the diamond exterior, the vulnerability that was only uncovered in times like this – her fingers shaking as they curled into his hair and his teeth nipped along her inner thigh, the fluttering of her pulse as he buried his mouth in the slick heat of her. River threw her head back, a ragged whimper tearing its way from her throat as his tongue dragged across delicate flesh.

His fingers dug into the back of her thighs, pressing her into the balcony railings with each frantic thrust of her hips against his mouth. He slid a hand down her leg to hook it over his shoulder, tongue dipping inside her and swirling Gallifreyan over her most sensitive point until her thigh trembled against his cheek. "Doctor. Doctor," she whinged, tugging on his hair. "Please." Her chest heaved, almost shimmering in the dusk and peppered with flushed marks from his mouth.

He slid her leg from shoulder to hip as he rose to his feet, holding her up till she had both legs wrapped tightly around his waist. She slid her hands between them to tug with shaking fingers at the buttons on his trousers. Between them they managed to push down the material down his thighs – the whole thing, he realised with a laugh against her lips, was gloriously unceremonious. They had twenty-four years to savour each other; he didn't doubt there'd be many times where they'd indulge in this for hours, but now wasn't one of them. They'd been too long starved of each other, until the ache had become background noise in their lives, then thrown back together time-worn and heavy with unsaid words. River lifted her hips over his, sinking onto him with a pained gasp that he swallowed down with sweet kisses. They stilled for just a moment, bodies shuddering in sync, adjusting to the feel of being wrapped up in one another. The heat where they were joined simmered into wildfire as she rocked her hips, eyes locked into his with her hands gripping his shoulders, lips parted in a soundless moan. Their movements grew sharper as he bent them back over the railing, framed by the silhouette of the Singing Towers.

The song of the Towers swelled around them, mingling with their gasps and moans until it all blended into one symphony. Oh, they'd done this enough times – in this position alone, against the console after a fight – but somehow, it was never like this. They'd torn the clothes off each other on many nights but on none had they been laid this bare, their gasps woven between sobs, kisses salty from tears. Neither of them had to ask why. He only held her tighter as her hips rocked over his, gripping her hard enough to bruise as her nails raked down his back. His kisses were messy against her neck, teeth sinking into her slick skin with the effort of not coming undone. Her heels dug into his arse, releasing her grip on him with one hand to grip the balcony railing for leverage, and the new angle was enough to leave them teetering on the edge of release. One last clever twist of his hips and River was clenching around him with a desperate scream, clutching him to her as he followed her over the edge, burying his hoarse shout against her neck. He stayed there for a little while, whispering her name like a soft chorus into her shoulder, eyes tightly shut as they came back to themselves.

River sagged against him gasping for breath, hips still stuttering weakly as she clung to the last ebbs of her high. He brushed her nose with his, smiling at her eyelashes tickling his cheek, and risked releasing his hold on her hips to cup her tear-streaked face. "Ok?"

She laughed out loud, gripping the collars of his open – frankly, ruined – shirt to kiss him. "Wonderful." There was a tremble in her voice, and he supposed she felt it too – vulnerable, raw from the magnitude of this last night. They wore twin sets of irrepressible smiles, though; they'd always been best at fashioning happiness out of heartbreak.

He had just strength enough to stagger backwards until he could sink into one of the dining chairs with her in his arms. A deliciously smug grin spread across his wife's face as she lifted herself off him, swivelling to curl up in his lap. "Now, that's the way to start an evening."

The Doctor shushed her playfully, plucking his discarded jacket off the floor to drape it over her shoulders. The sun had all but disappeared on the horizon, leaving them bathed only in the warm glow of the restaurant. "I take it the new body has your seal of approval, then?"

"Oh, most definitely," his wife purred, walking two fingers down his chest with a happy little grin. He pulled her down to press whispery kisses along her flushed cheeks, suddenly overcome with a tender heartache for his warrior who looked so tiny in nothing but his jacket.

River giggled, wrinkling her nose fondly and watching him in faint fascination as he traced the tiny laughter creases at the corner of her eye.

"You're staring at me," she whispered.

The Doctor hummed. "Who'd have thought it?" He pulled her as close to him as she could be, resolving to keep her there for as long as time would grant them. "Looks like the sunset admires you back after all."

Thank you for reading :) Please let me know what you thought!