My first 11/River fic since The Wedding of River Song! Set after that and also after Day of the Moon. I own nothing! Please read and review!
He landed outside her prison door, and stepped out with smug grin on his face. "Hello Sweetie."
"Stop it." She glared at him from behind the bars, and then sighed. "Sorry. Just—When are you?"
"You broke time." He smirked, "You naughty, naughty girl. What made you think you could break time?"
"You break time all the time." She rolled her eyes, "But. Spoilers."
He leaned against the wall across from her cell, and she made no move to get off her bed. "Must be a time lord thing." He commented when she didn't say anything else.
"Must be." Her voice was even, but her eyes flashed.
He regarded her carefully; River was not in a playful, flirty mood, and he was certain he had never dealt with a mood like this before. "When are you?"
"You just dropped me off after 1969. I thought I would be able to mourn in peace, but here you are, running back in and disturbing me without—" She broke off, "Like I said. Sorry."
The Doctor stood up straight and crossed the space to the prison bars that separated them.
"Mourning? Why are you in mourning? You know I'm alive."
"I don't only mourn you, Doctor. Although I have plenty of reasons to, and you know full well why."
"Well, although you did try to kill me twice, I'm still alive. Who?" She rolled her eyes, so he changed the question, "What?"
"I'm mourning your first kiss. I trust I don't have to spell it out for you?" She stood up and walked up to the bars, just out of reach.
"First time for everything." He replied, quoting. "I didn't mourn your first kiss."
"You knew you didn't have to." She spat back. "You knew that in your future there would be plenty more."
"And there won't be more in yours?"
"I didn't—and don't—think so." She took a half step back.
"Time can be re-written."
"Not those times. I know. Not those times."
"Liar. You just broke time. Maybe I should go to the Byzantine, hmm? Or another time. Track you down to where ever you decide to disappear to."
"Shut up. Don't tease me like that. It hurts, god damn you." She whispered, and while her words where angry, her tone wasn't. He sonic'd the door open, and stepped through, taking her face into his hands.
"I'm not teasing you."
"That was the first time you kissed me. For you. We both know what that means." She met his eyes for a second before glancing away.
"It doesn't mean it was your last kiss." He whispered.
"Yes. It does."
"Liar."
"I am not. What's the use of you kissing me now? Or later? It just puts off the inevitable. Pain now or pain later. It's always pain. It always will be." She broke her face away and took a few steps backwards.
"River." He sighed, "You broke time. Our first kiss, you tried to kill me. Mixed signals by the way, glad I got you figured out ages ago."
"Now who's the liar?" She smiled softly at him, the almost-banter a fading mockery of their usual behavior.
"Still you." He grinned fecklessly at her, then turned serious, "River, I know pain. I know it, and spoilers, but you know that I do—that I will—because of our timey whimey relationship. It doesn't block out the sun. Don't mourn something that's not gone."
"What poet did you steal that one from?" She asked, sitting down on the edge of her bed. It seemed to him—and it may have seemed such to the entire world—that she was hanging on to his every word, afraid that it might be the last she ever heard from him. There was a noticeable vulnerability hanging about her, and it broke his hearts.
"River Song, you know I didn't steal that."
"Yes. I do."
"Because, at some point, I promise to read all the best poets to you. I don't know how long it will take me, but we will sit in the TARDIS library, reading through them all." He sat down next to her on the bed, and took her hands in his for a second, before she pulled them away.
"You're such a romantic sometimes. Makes a girl wonder why."
"Perhaps I recognize that there is a point to the hopelessly romantic stuff. Only with you, though." He tapped her on the nose, and she repressed a giggle.
"Perhaps you have something to make up for." She teased, but he became serious.
"We all have something to make up for, River. Everything I do—"
She grabbed his hand suddenly, and then let it drop. "You don't ever have to make up for anything. Not with me. It wouldn't make a difference in how I feel about you. It never has."
"Just because I don't have to doesn't mean I don't want to. Or don't need to. I need you to know." She opened her mouth to respond, but he held up a hand, "I know that you do—you have to. But I need to—want to—show you how I feel. How much I feel." He cradled her cheek in his hand. "Remember what I said, the first time you met me?"
She smiled softly, and twisted her head to kiss his palm. "I know."
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Didn't say it properly."
"Almost did."
"Maybe I should?"
She laughed at him softly, "Don't spoil me."
"I don't think I could spoil you."
She grinned, "Not in that way. Other ways, though…"
"What ways?"
"You always take me where I want to go. Bit spoiled on that front." She winked at him, a wink that only she could do.
He grinned, "Where do you want to go?"
"You know that one by now, Sweetie, " She smiled back.
He pulled her up as the alarms finally started to go off, and spun her around in a mock dance to the TARDIS. "Right then, River Song, next stop?"
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him softly. As she pulled away, she whispered, "Anywhere."
Thanks for reading! Please drop a review! Much Love!