A/N: I deemed it appropriate to post this before Valentine's Day. Fingers crossed that I stayed in character and my storytelling skills aren't complete rubbish. And, you know, if you want to leave a review, that's cool too. :)

Water and Snow

River Song didn't plan on running into the Doctor. For once in her life, she had stumbled across him completely by accident. She was headed to an archaeological expedition on the planet Insolitus, expecting an exciting break from teaching; the planet's inhabitants were an odd, salamander-like bunch who had always sported art and cultural practices that were drastically different from anything ever documented, as well as engineering techniques that seemed to defy all previously established laws of physics due to the planet's strange gravitational properties. What River didn't count on was the planet suddenly phasing in and out of existence, which, of course, piqued the Doctor's interest.

It had turned out to be a coven of antimatter-based life forms called Nihils who had decided to attempt to take over the universe. They were drawn to Insolitus's high electromagnetic field, which, when combined with antimatter, would not only destroy the planet, but fuse the creatures' consciousness with gamma photons, turning them into, for lack of a better term, Nihils on steroids. If the Nihils were able to harness the power-up potential of these gamma photons, they would be nearly impossible to stop. Fortunately, they were very weak, both mentally and physically, so they couldn't phase out the planet completely (though they did succeed in neutralizing several sizeable chunks of its landscape). The Doctor had taken advantage of this and managed to lure them away from the planet into an uninhabited corner of space and promptly disintegrated them with a makeshift anti-antimatter ray (because "matter ray" didn't sound nearly as cool) made from old batteries, a couple of indigenous rocks, and a fishbowl.

River Song arrived and had gotten the full story from a bystander just as the Doctor was finishing up a conversation with the Insolitarian President about how to best start the reconstruction process. Pleasantly surprised to see her husband, River began to walk toward him with an uncharacteristic bounce in her step.

But what she saw made her stop cold.

"YOU were absolutely brilliant!" exclaimed the voice she knew all too well. And then she noticed that he had a new companion-a young girl with dark hair with a dazzling smile and a beautiful, well, everything. She had been so happy to see the Doctor that she hadn't even noticed his gorgeous, youthful assistant.

The girl uttered a replay that elicited a chuckle from the Doctor. He pulled the girl in for a hug, and looked at her with a tender glint in his eyes that River had never seen him display before. He held onto the girl's arm a little longer than was necessary, and River could swore she saw both of them blushing when they finally broke apart.

They stood there talking for a long time, just outside the doors to the TARDIS, oblivious to the world around them. He leaned down to whisper in the girl's ear, and she shot him a wide grin and some sort of clever remark, which prompted a little quirk of his non-existent eyebrows.

River noticed he really could not stop touching her. And vice versa. The girl was obviously flirting with him, and, from what she could tell, he seemed to be flirting back. He had that adorably mischievous expression on his face and was obviously enjoying the attention this girl was giving him. River should know; she had seen that look on his face often enough during his adventures with her.

Not wanting to witness anymore nauseating behavior, River steeled herself, bit back the jealousy that was threatening to usurp her power of rational thought, plastered a smile on her face, and called out, "Hello, Sweetie."

The Doctor turned around and threw her a wide, toothy grin. But not before a nearly imperceptible sheepish, rather shamefaced expression flashed briefly on his face. Well, obviously their behavior isn't so innocent if he feels guilty about it, River thought.

"And who's this?" She gestured to the girl at his side.

"Ah, yes, right. River, meet Clara. Clara, River."

"Nice to meet you," Clara said with a small smile.

"And you," River replied with far more pleasantry and sincerity than she actually felt.

"You will never believe what just happened, River. I have to tell you all about it. But first, why are you here?"

"An archaeological expedition. Though, judging from the state of things, I think it's fairly safe to say that it's cancelled, now…"

"Well, you're welcome to join us." River gleefully noted that Clara's eyes flashed with indignation for a brief moment when he said that.

Should she? It was obvious that she was caught in the middle of an extremely awkward situation, and she really did not feel like dealing with that right now. But

with his eyes full of childlike excitement and a carefree smile forming at the corner of his lips, how could she ever say no to him?

"I would love to."

"Wonderful! Now," he says with an emphatic clap, "into the TARDIS, both of you. Places to go, creatures to see, worlds to save…" River smiles at his antics in spite of herself and curses her inability to stay mad at him.

"Doctor, you aren't supposed to use the green button!"

"I've been using it for years!"

"That doesn't mean it's right!"

"So what should I use then, o powerful and all-knowing River?"

"You pull the orange lever over on the left."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, you do."

"It's my ship, I'd think after 1200 years I'd know how to fly her."

"Fine, if we all crash and die or end up in an inescapable dimension, it's not my fault."

The Doctor paused for a moment and then pressed the green button anyway.

River rolled her eyes. Some things never change. "You are the single most infuriating creature in the entire universe."

"Why, thank you."

At that particular moment, Clara had walked back in the room, her hair damp from a recent shower. "She's right, you know. You are pretty infuriating."

"You love it." There's that smile again.

"You wish." Great, now that smile's rubbing off on her, too.

"You wish I wished."

"Really. That's the best you could come up with?"

"I…"

"Doctor," River interjected with a sigh, "just admit defeat on this one." They had been acting like this all day and it was getting on her last nerve.

The Doctor opened his mouth as if to say something, looked back and forth between the two women in the console room, and reluctantly closed it again. Clara smirked at him, an expression he returned by sticking out his tongue and ducking down under the floor to fiddle with some of the TARDIS's machinery.

Knowing there was no way to get through to him when he was absorbed in his beloved ship's mechanics, River pulled a book out of the bag she had brought with her, sat down on the console floor, and began to read.

After awhile, she was roused from her concentration by a soft giggle. She looked down and saw Clara on the swing next to the Doctor, her head resting on his shoulder, laughing at something the Doctor said that more than likely really wasn't that funny. The Doctor looked very pleased with himself and briefly stroked a few fingers absentmindedly through Clara's hair.

River had to get away from these two. She had never really thought of herself as a jealous person. But this was ridiculous. Was he really that oblivious? Did he think that little of her?

"Well," River said, rather tersely, "I'm going to go change out of these clothes and take a shower-and maybe a nap."

"Okay," The Doctor called back. "Just go down the-"

"Sweetie, I know."

And as the Doctor gave her his trademark sheepish grin, River once again silently raged against the universe for sticking her with the most impossible man who ever existed.

River lay in her bed, not able to get to sleep. Suddenly, she felt a slight jerk. Then another. Then a third after a few minutes had passed. Not any type of turbulence, but enough to make her wonder whether something was wrong. Clara had, no doubt, long since dozed off, and the Doctor was more than likely still holed up in the library, fully engrossed in the same Encyclopedia of Funny Hats he had been reading five hours ago. It was unlikely that either of them was in a state to notice the TARDIS's odd behavior. River, figuring that sleep was more than likely not going to find her anyway, pulled herself out of bed and headed to the console room to see if anything was wrong.

As always, he had pressed the wrong buttons and forgotten to pull various levers. But the TARDIS still shouldn't be acting like this. Well, she had to start somewhere, right? As River set about correcting his mistakes, she felt a sense of calm wash over her. She loved flying the TARDIS. It was one of the few things that could make her truly happy, even after all this time.

She began inspecting the whole of the console room to see if anything was remarkably out-of-place. She had combed about half the room when she heard footsteps.

"And what are you doing up at this hour, Professor Song?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"You still haven't answered me. What are you doing?"

River looked at him and then turned back to her inspection without saying a word.

"I have a telepathic connection to the TARDIS, you know. She lets me know when someone's roaming about."

"I felt some minor lurching and decided to give her a check up. It's not like you would have done anything," she replied icily. She turned back to her task.

"River, what's wrong?"

She noticed a panel had become unscrewed-likely the source of the TARDIS's uncharacteristic jerking. "Nothing. I'm perfectly fine."

"No, you aren't. You've been acting irritable all day. What happened?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She felt around on the floor and found a loose screw. After pulling a screwdriver out of a nearby toolbox, she re-screwed the panel, all the while being careful to avoid making eye contact.

"You seem tense around me. And whenever Clara's within twenty feet of you, you get that look on your face like you're staring at one of my hats."

"No I don't."

"I'm not stupid, River."

"I wouldn't have married you if you were."

"You're angry. And it has something to do with Clara."

"I'm not angry, and even if I was, it wouldn't be because of Clara. She's…very nice."

"Why won't you admit that this bothers you?"

"Because someone has to be the strong one!"

There was an awkward pause. "What?"

"I can't ask you to carry your burdens and mine. Especially when you've been through so much and hate yourself as much as you do because of it."

"River…"

"You deserve to be with someone as strong as you are. I'm never going to be what you need if I keep acting weak and pathetic."

"River, having feelings and problems doesn't make you pathetic."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"Just talk to me!"

"Don't pretend you care, Doctor."

"How can you say that?!"

"Go ask Clara. After all, she's the one who's so brilliant."

"Why do you have such a problem with her?!"

"Because she's young, and strong, and clever, and beautiful, and everything I'M not!"

The Doctor looked stunned.

"Look at me, Doctor. I am a psychotic mess. I'm one of the most messed up people I've ever met, and that's saying something…I see the way she looks at you. And I see the way you look at her back. It's easy to tell how happy she makes you. Any idiot can take one look at the pair of you and see how much she needs you. And I don't think it's unreasonable to say that you need her, too. I couldn't blame you at all if you wanted to be with her. And I can't even hate you for it because I love you so much that I don't care!"

The Doctor had a puzzled look on his face as he still tried to process her words. Eventually, his expression shifted to one of realization.

"Yes," he spoke hesitantly, "You're right. I need her." Her heart drops.

"But not the way I need you."

It was River's turn to be surprised. He reached a hand out to gently grab her arm as she looked down to the floor in despondent bewilderment.

"River, I don't want to…be…with her." He gestured wildly with his other arm in an effort to make her understand his words. "Clara and I are just…different. That's just how we are. But it's not…we're not…You are one of the most brilliant, amazing people in the entire universe. You are the one who makes me feel…things. Attachment-type…things I was afraid of ever feeling again. You're the person who calls me out and tells me to stop when I go too far. You show me that it's possible for people to change, and that maybe I'm not completely useless. And I thoroughly enjoy the time we spend together."

River mumbled something that sounded a lot like "Sometimes I wonder…"

"River…why do you think I married you?"

"To shut me up and save the universe."

"Come on. Give me a little more credit than that."

"But that is why."

The Doctor took a deep breath as he mulled over his next words. "There were a thousand ways I could have gotten you to do what I wanted. I didn't even have to…to kiss you. I married you because I…well, I…I wanted to. And that was the first time I've done something I wanted to do in a long time."

River tentatively reached the hand not attached to the arm he was holding to cup his cheek and gently brush a stray hair off of his face before letting it rest over one of his hearts. She still didn't say anything, not quite daring to believe him.

"A long time ago, I told your mother" his eyes darkened and he visibly winced at the mention of his best friend, "that I was running to her and Rory before I…lost them. But I'm running to you, too. I've…always been running to you. Even when I didn't want to. When I wanted to kick you out of my life and prevent…whatever we were from happening, I still couldn't run anywhere else."

"I never had any hope of running away from you either."

The Doctor's hand shifted from her arm to her face, and they both leaned in.

"Wait," River said, before they could kiss. "Utah…our first…"

"River," he responded, seeming to know exactly what she was referring to, "we aren't completely anti-linear."

"But it might…our timelines…"

"Forget the timelines." And they both leaned in again, actually achieving their goal this time. River Song had always been one for breaking rules. But she couldn't help thinking that breaking this one, hands down, beat all the other times she decided to defy any sort of regulation.

And as she takes his hand and leads him out of the console room once they break apart, she sends a silent thank you to the universe for sticking her with the most impossible man who ever existed.