A/N: Yes, I'm alive! :D Sorry for the long absence, school has been really busy and I haven't had as much time to write. I've been writing a lot of snippets of things without ever actually finishing them. Whoops.
Anyway, I LOVED the Christmas special and Twelve x River is my new OTP. I just LOVE them. So naturally, I had to write this. Enjoy!
"How long is a night on Darillium?" River's heart beat faster as two seconds of silence ticked by. She held her breath. Never could she ever accept the thought of only spending one last night with the man she loved more than anything in the universe. How could she ever leave him after this?
Then the Doctor smiled. And although his face was new, River knew that smile. It was his smug, saving the day smile. He swiveled his head away from her to hide it, but it was too late. Hope had already blossomed inside of River.
"Twenty-four years," the Doctor said, turning his head the slightest bit toward her. Mirth shone in his eyes as he watched her, waiting.
It took a moment for the words to lodge themselves in River's brain. Twenty-four years. Twenty-four years with her Doctor. Twenty. Four. Years.
She could have sworn her heart stopped beating. Yet, she laughed in disbelief. He had done it again, like she had known he would. And all this time he had let her think that they only had one night. Stupid, stupid man.
Tears stung at her eyes. "I hate you," she forced out past her swollen throat. Contrary to her words, she took a step closer to him, her shoulder touching his.
A small smile broke out on the Doctor's face and he leaned toward her to quietly state, "No you don't." His eyes met hers and River couldn't quite believe that this was the Doctor. He—or anyone else, for that matter—had never looked at her quite like this, like…like he loved her. Like he was falling in love with her again at this very moment.
The intensity of his gaze forced her to tear her eyes away and look down at his shoulder. She took a deep breath and realised that her heart was pounding away at what felt like an impossibly fast rate. No doubt the Doctor could hear it. Right on cue, his fingers brushed against the palm of her hand, asking a silent question, Are you okay? . River took his hand and squeezed it. Cool metal pressed lightly into her skin and for a moment River allowed herself to be distracted by the thought that he wore a wedding band. A question for later, she decided, and stored it carefully in the back of her mind.
With a deliberate swallow, River looked back up at the Doctor and once again found herself breathless at the look in his eyes. His lips stretched into a small smile and he gently compressed her hand. River wasn't sure she had stopped smiling since he had told her how long this night was going to last.
The Doctor's gaze flicked down to her lips and his chin tilted toward her. River stretched closer to him, raising her free hand to rest it on the back of his neck. And then nothing could stop the inevitable. The Doctor was the sun, his smile so bright it could light up a thousand worlds, his gravity no match for someone as small as her. Yet in all his glory, his eyes remained soft, and River could almost believe that in that moment he was just a man in love, nothing more.
River's thoughts came to a screeching halt as the Doctor closed the remaining distance between them. Their lips met in a tentative kiss, touching gently and then separating again after only a moment. River wasn't sure how, or when, the tables had been turned, but she had never expected to feel shy in the presence of the Doctor, and certainly she had never expected to kiss him like that. Somehow, he made her feel like a girl on her first date. As soon as River felt heat rise up to her cheeks she looked down, still so close to the Doctor that she couldn't tilt her head very far without her forehead touching his.
The Doctor's body vibrated with a quiet chuckle. River glanced up at him to see that he now wore a huge smile, his teeth gleaming in the golden light. His laughter seemed to be contagious, because River found herself joining in.
"What's so funny?" Absently, her fingertips began to stroke the soft curls on his neck.
Still grinning, the Doctor released her hand and turned his body to face her. "The universe," he said, his eyebrows raising in time with his voice.
River shook her head, finding a bit of her usual self again as she wondered, "Should I even ask why?"
"I didn't think I would ever see you again! And especially not like…" He gestured to his face. "This. And how we ended up here, of all places."
"For twenty-four years," River added in a whisper, reminding herself of the beautiful impossibility of it all. And yet, as she looked into his eyes, she remembered who he really was. All this tenderness, all this romance, it wasn't really him. This was the Doctor, the man who couldn't stand staying in the same place for thirty seconds unless there was some sort of mystery to solve. What in the universe could keep him here for twenty-four years?
River's hand fell from his neck and swung back to her side. The Doctor's smile vanished and his eyes grew wide. "River?"
She stared at the ground. She couldn't meet those eyes that had just moments ago been full of love for her. It couldn't have been real. Her vision blurred as the tears returned. "How long are you going to stay?"
Silence. Even the singing towers seemed to have paused for a breath. The night was still, and the Doctor was silent.
"You were wrong, you know."
River raised her head to meet his eyes, so earnest and piercing. Before she could berate him for changing the subject, he continued.
"Back on the ship, what you said about the sunset and the stars…you were wrong."
A wet trail made its way down River's cheek. "No, I was right." She blinked, and more tears escaped. "We both know you don't get emotional."
"But love isn't an emotion." He took her hand and guided it to rest on his chest, leaving his hand on top of hers. Twin heartbeats pulsed underneath her fingertips. "It's a promise."
Thump thump thump thump. His heartbeats remained steady, while River could hear her own heart picking up speed and drumming in her ears.
The Doctor's eyes softened and he pressed her hand closer to his chest. "And River, I promise to stay with you all night. No running, just you and me." He paused for a moment, adding weight to the next words that he said so carefully, as if they would break when he uttered them. "Twenty-four years."
Thump thump thump thump. His hearts never faltered once as he spoke. River bit her lip as a sob rose in her throat. She swallowed it back down and found she could only stare at the Doctor as tears trailed silently down her cheeks. For once in her life, she had no idea what to say.
The Doctor's lips twitched into a warm smile. "Gotcha."
Using her hand's position on his chest to her advantage, River wrapped her fingers around his tie and tugged his head down to hers. She grinned for a moment at his expression, frozen in shock, and then she kissed him, shifting her hand to his shoulder. The Doctor came to life at the touch of her lips, pulling her into his arms as he kissed her without a trace of the hesitance there had been last time.
River pulled away first, a bit breathless and unable to keep from smiling. She placed her hand on the Doctor's cheek and looked right into his eyes. "Thank you," she said, knowing he didn't need an explanation.
The Doctor smiled like he didn't have a care in the world. River thought she had never seen him so unburdened, so happy. He looked at her like she was the only thing that mattered to him. And for once, she could believe it.
"Always, River." He leaned forward and touched his forehead to hers, closing his eyes. River let her eyelids drift closed. The wind picked up and the song of the singing towers swelled to a crescendo, its music so beautiful that River felt tears stinging at her eyes once more. But even more beautiful was the rumbling sound of the Doctor's voice, barely audible, repeating his promise.
"Always."
