I know this has been done to death since 'A Good Man Goes to war', but I needed this out of my head.
And... SPOILERS, Sweetie! You have been warned.
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Disclaimer – not mine.
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On her eleventh birthday he took her to the end of the rainbow.
She had once watched the Wizard of Oz with Amy and her imagination was captivated. Now, billions of light years from home, in a strange world, she drenched herself in a spectrum of vibrant colour like nothing she'd ever seen on Earth, and she knew that he would do whatever it took to make her dreams reality. Always.
...
On her twelfth birthday she visited Ancient Rome.
He recounted his tales of Roman life and she was captivated. Her mother's love of the past and the way he brought it to life inspired her to join the school archaeology club soon after. This would be her (other) passion.
A few years later she would tell the Doctor she'd been offered a place at Cambridge to study Archaeology.
"I'm a time traveler, he would go on to tell her, dismissively. "I point and laugh at archaeologists. She wouldn't yet notice the sadness in his eyes when he added, "I'll say that again to you one day."
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On her thirteenth birthday they travelled to the beginning of time and she saw the oldest rock face in the history of the universe.
"So that's how it's supposed to look," her mother quipped sarcastically, with a glint in her eye.
"Why? What's going to happen to it?" she asked.
The Doctor smiled knowingly. "One day, somebody will come along and write graffiti all over it." He turned and ushered them back to the Tardis. "Just because they can."
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On her fourteenth birthday they visited Camelot.
He pulled an ancient sword from a stone and taught her how to fight with it. He knew she'd need to know one day. But he prayed that day was far in her future.
The Doctor meanwhile was mistaken for Merlin. An easy mistake to make she thought later as the implications of their visit danced inside her mind. A legend that might not otherwise exist. Just like the sword; was her life already set in stone? She didn't believe in destiny.
"I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They always turn out to be him."
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On her fifteenth birthday he gave her a diary that looked a lot like the Tardis and told the Doctor to take them to a shopper's paradise.
After all, what else do fifteen year old girls really want.
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On her sixteenth birthday they fought daleks.
She wore full evening dress. The actual plan had been to visit the opera in the 26th century. 'Unlucky' her father had described the situation later. Her diary entry described it as 'the most exhilarating night of her life'.
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On her seventeenth birthday the Tardis was already waiting outside when she woke. Her mother sat bolt upright at the sound of them leaving without her, running towards the sound, too late to make a difference. Her father lay still in his bed. Their little girl was growing up. He'd known this day was coming. But Rory Williams had hoped for a little more time.
This was the day the Doctor taught her to fly the Tardis; and the day she realised he always left the breaks on. From here on in her parents would no longer know how often she travelled with the doctor as they came and went silently. Mostly he would get her home again before anyone realised she was gone. Mostly. The times he didn't her mother was frantic with worry that they had come back. That she had been taken once again as a weapon in the Great War against the Doctor.
He knew better. He'd spent too long preparing her for the life ahead.
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"Doctor?"
"Yes Rory."
"You need to make me a promise."
The Doctor looked doubtful. Promises, in his long experience, were usually impossibly difficult to keep.
"The day my daughter was born was not a celebration. You have spent every year helping me make up for that fact. And for that I thank you. But I won't be around forever, and I want you to promise me that, no matter what happens, you'll make her every single birthday as special as the last."
The Doctor avoided his expectant gaze, choosing instead to fiddle with the array of knobs and levers on the console. "Rory, Rory, Rory. Sometimes I truly believe you might just outlive the lot of us."
"When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it will never end. But however hard you try, you can't run for ever. Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark, if he ever, for one moment accepts it."
Rory Williams had opened his mind to the possibilities. To over 2000 years of memories. And to the Tardis herself.
So when they finally found the tumour it was too late.
...
River Song had spent a lifetime filled with aliens and monsters and creatures from beyond the realms of humanity.
On her 48th birthday she saw her first ghost.
'Doctor Song. It's Rory. Sorry, have we met yet? Time streams, I'm not quite sure where we are.'
'Yes we've met. Hello Rory.'
'What's wrong?'
'It's my birthday. The Doctor took me ice-skating on the Thames in 1814, the last of the great frost fairs. He got Stevie Wonder to sing for me on London Bridge."
"Stevie Wonder sang in 1814?"
"Yes, he did. But you must never tell him,"
She sobbed when he left. For her parents her life was only just beginning. Was this the day the Doctor would forget who she was?
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On her 49th Birthday time itself gave her the greatest gift. Another chance.
The Doctor turned up on her doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit. He took her to Darillium to see the singing towers. Oh, what a night that was! The towers sang, and they both cried.
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The year the Doctor couldn't find River he knew.
He knew that the only place left to look was the library. A stark reminder that their first rendezvous had been their last. And for the first time he felt River's frustration at the cruel hand of time herself.
...