Thievery and Fizz
Dedication: For JDPhoenix, who has been speculating the heck out of this show with me for the past two weeks. May our drinks always be fizzy and our straws slightly bitten.
With the Silence defeated and Canton dropped off in Washington DC, the Doctor had apparently decided that they could all relax for a moment or three. Rory and Amy had taken the time to be stupidly in love, conversing quietly in a corner of the console room about something that happened when they were children. Rory seemed to be miming something to do with a hand puppet, which caused Amy to blush and smack him on the arm. River smiled to see Rory and the Doctor exchange glances that weren't awkward or hostile at all.
She wondered how long it would be for the three of them before Rory wouldn't allow herself and the Doctor alone in a room together. She wondered how long it would be for the three of them before they found out at all. The little girl and the pictures… they'd been a shock, a reminder of what was to come. She—
Hoooooooonk.
River started and whirled to find the source of the noise. One hand went to her holster, always ready, and her eyes scanned the console room, but there was nothing there. Nothing that she could see anyway. The tension in her body started to recede, though she still kept a hand on her gun. Maybe it was just a function on the TARDIS he'd never told her about. He was always keeping secrets back, so—
Hoooooooonk.
She snapped her head around to glare at the Doctor, who had his "special straw" in his mouth. Apparently, he had discovered that blowing through the flattened end made a honking noise. She rolled her eyes but took her hand away from her holster, relaxing now that she knew they weren't about to be attacked by some great… honking… thing. (Okay, admittedly, it was rather silly to be afraid of a creature that made a honking sound, but you could never be too careful! Weeping angels look innocent—if creepy—until they're transporting you to a different time and eating up your present potential.)
Hooonk-hooooooooooonk-hooonk. Hooonk. HOOOOONK. Honk-honk-—
"Okay, that's quite enough," River snapped. She marched up to the Doctor and held out her hand expectantly. He stared at her for a moment before, reluctantly, he put his straw in her hand. She nodded, went to the doors, opened them, and threw the straw into the Vortex. When River turned back, his mouth was hanging open.
"What'd you do that for?" he demanded. She merely fixed him with a look. He closed his mouth and nodded. "Right, then. Shall we be getting you back?"
She sent a glance at Rory and Amy, who had stopped their conversation to watch them. She groaned inwardly when she saw their confusion and, underneath, the instinctual upset at the potential fight brewing between River and the Doctor. She rolled her eyes and put on a smirk.
"Yes, yes," she said, walking up to the console to help him steer. When he complained once again, she cut him off. "We don't want to upset Mummy and Daddy by landing ourselves in fifteenth century France instead of my prison ship, do we?" she said, jerking her head in Amy and Rory's direction.
The Doctor stared at her for a moment, apparently bewildered. Then understanding seemed to flare in his eyes. They rode in relative silence for a few more minutes, working around each other with the ease she'd come to enjoy. A bit of sadness washed through her when she realized that the Doctor was smiling with surprise at the efficiency. This would be one of the last times for her, then.
Hoooooooonk.
River turned and saw that the Doctor had another straw in his mouth, and he was smiling as he flipped the gravity switches in a seemingly random sequence to prepare them for landing on the prison ship.
She did the only thing she could do in that moment: threw her head back and laughed.