AN: Beta-ing (and lots of squee-ing) by grumpyjenn and Snowy Ashes. Last chapter, folks, enjoy!

Opening the door with a fair amount of force, River nearly hit the Doctor's legs where he'd been sitting against the wall since he put her in bed and deposited the note, alternately twiddling his fingers, tapping his feet, and running his hands through his floppy hair. He jerked away from her as though expecting her to have been swinging the door at him intentionally, and the smile vanished from her face.

Leaning down slightly, she gently offered him her hand. When he realized that he was not in immediate danger, he slowly cracked one eye open. Spotting her hand extended out to him, he grinned enormously wide in his relief and snatched it quickly with his own. Smiling back at him softly, River said, "Come here, you," and gave his hand a quick pull. As he jumped up and took her into an extremely tight hug, she added, "Oh, it's alright."

Still hugging her, he stammered into her hair, "Oh but River, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. I just, River, oh don't leave, please don't leave. I'm sorry, I should've just told you…"

As he continued to ramble, River stroked his back gently, repeating, "Hush my love, hush."

Finally, she pushed him away a bit so that he would look at her, and said, "I'm not going anywhere, alright? You get that through your floppy-haired head, now, hmmm? Yes, you did make a bit of a mess of this, but my quick temper didn't help any either."

He nodded hesitantly.

"Plus, we're masters of all's-well-that-ends-well, you and I, aren't we?" she finished conspiratorially.

Up until this point, the Doctor had been fairly worried-looking, but not actually crying, so when tears welled up in his eyes at this statement, River was quite surprised. Of course she couldn't understand just how much he felt this statement did not, in fact, apply to the two of them. Oh, so very, very far from it. Assuming he was just generally upset about the situation, River pulled him back into her embrace, reaching a hand up to run through his hair while he cried softly against her shoulder.

The Doctor was relieved that River didn't pry about why he was crying. After giving himself a few moments to cry into her shoulder about her own ending, the guilt he felt about being comforted by her over it was too much, and he stopped himself short. Now he was the one to pull away and straighten up, forcing himself to focus on the fact that she was currently right here in front of him and had just forgiven him. He smiled softly.

Wiping the last tear off his cheek, she smiled back and asked, "Are we okay now, love?"

He nodded vigorously, "Oh River, we're so much more than okay."

Wriggling out of his arms, she walked back into the room, calling back to him brightly, "Well in that case, why don't you show me what all of this fuss was about?"

He didn't skip in after her, exactly, but he did sort of hop, and yes alright maybe if you squinted a bit while it happened you might have thought it was a skip.

Coming up next to her where she stood inside the room, he slipped his left arm around her waist and gestured broadly with his right.

"Well, as you can see, it's a spacious room, and the walls are painted this lovely shade of pale green because...well mostly because I was trying to think of a color other than TARDIS blue that you would like and you don't really seem like much of a pink kind of a girl..." he glanced down appreciatively at her curves, "...err, woman."

Moving closer to the wall to examine the color, River nodded her encouragement.

"Right, good then, so the room has three sections. Let's start with the bed-end first." He walked over to the bed and sat on it, bouncing once for emphasis. "This bed is, I will have you know, precisely the same height and dimensions as your bed in Stormcage, only with a much cushier mattress and comfier - really River, they're so soft - sheets and things. I thought you'd feel more comfortable in it that way, if it was familiar to you, but not all gray and dreary."

By now River had joined him by the bed, and her eyes teared up slightly as she fingered the fabric of the comforter and nodded, again, her appreciation. He beamed, and took her hand from the fabric, swinging it gently back and forth as he stood and dragged her over to a nook located about halfway across the room's back wall.

"This is the nook! I knew from the beginning that I wanted there to be a nook. Everyone loves nooks. Especially smart people, smart people just love nooks. Not to mention it's just a fabulous word - nook!"

River chuckled and patted him fondly on the arm, "Oh yes, love a good nook, me."

"Exactly! And here in the nook we have this comfy chair. Go on, River, try it out."

River obediently sat in the chair, and was, admittedly, pleased with how comfortable it was - really a perfect reading chair.

"And in arm's reach of the lovely comfy chair - notice, I didn't use my arms as a scale for that, since they're so extra-dangly - I measured to make sure it was the length of your arms. In arm's reach of the chair is a bookshelf full of books. Well yes alright of course it's full of books, it's a bookshelf - but not just any books, archaeology books! Some of them are even all dusty and old the way you like, and I made sure to pick ones that have that really good book smell because sometimes I see you reading and when you think I'm not looking you inhale really deep and smile and I thought I'd like for you to be able to do that when you're in here, having your River alone-time."

As they paused a moment to simply grin at each other, it was worth noting how impressively different their expressions were from the scowls and grimaces each had worn mere hours ago.

"Also in the nook is this electric tea kettle and mug and some tea, because every reading nook should have tea." Both River and the Doctor nodded solemnly.

"Ok, River, now, don't get too excited, but personally I think this is the best part." He reached out his hand, took hold of hers, pulled her unceremoniously out of the chair, and dragged her to the other side of the room.

"This is the really important part of the room for when you're angry at me, I expect." He stepped gingerly around the equipment he was about to describe, and she smiled at how different they were in some ways, while being so similar in others.

"Here's this punching bag, for you to, well, I expect you'll punch it, and I suppose you could kick it too. And over here," he gestured excitedly again, "over here is this dummy for you to spar with - I even gave him a little bow tie to make it easier for you to imagine him being me...Anyway, moving on. Could you close your eyes please? I only have one thing left, but I bet you'll really like it!"

River obediently closed her eyes, and felt herself being turned around to face the front wall, to the left of the door if you were facing it from the inside. He backed her up several paces, and stretched her right arm out in front of her, gingerly opening her palm and dragging his fingers across it in a gentle caress that made her sigh. As her hand closed around what he lowered into her palm, the sigh turned into an unabashed squeal of glee and her eyes flew open. She looked down at the modified blaster, then up at the Doctor, only to find him grinning nearly as impossibly widely as she was. And of course, then it happened, she couldn't have stopped it if she wanted to - her nose crinkled as she smiled at him. He came in closer and poked her nose, and they both started laughing like children on Christmas morning who'd just gotten every present they wished for.

When they recovered sufficiently from their mutual giddiness, the Doctor pointed at the target hung on the far wall and explained, "It's modified so it only shoots mild energy pulses, and I've checked and it seems like the TARDIS doesn't have any objections to you shooting her on board...though I'd probably keep it to in here, just to be safe. She's still a bit touchy about that time you actually shot her, you know. In any case, the paint I used on that bulls-eye should light up and stay that way for about a minute wherever it gets hit by the energy pulse, so you can practice your aim." Looking back at River, he noticed that she wasn't looking where he was pointing anymore - instead she was staring down at the blaster he'd just given her, where she had it cradled in her arms.

"Hey River, you do like it don't you? Are the energy pulses not enough, do you think?"

She shook her head but didn't look up. He caught a glimpse of something shiny trailing down her cheek.

"Oh hey," he said softly as he put a finger under her chin and, not meeting any resistance, turned her head up so that he could look at her, "shh, it's ok. I told you I didn't mean what I said about your guns. They're a part of you, I know that now, and I love you." She brought the blaster up against her chest and leaned into him as he pulled her into his embrace. "Nod if I should stop rambling." A watery chuckle and a soft nod. He harumphed, earning a second sob/chuckle, and wrapped his arms around her firmly, settling for reassuring her with his actions instead of his words that, indeed, she was safe and could once again trust in his love for her. Always and completely. Being without that feeling for several hours and then seeing the thoughtfulness he'd put into modifying this blaster for her had really driven home how important it was for her that he treasured her rather than simply tolerating her. And so, secure in his arms and his love once again, she cried silently with relief.

Eventually the Doctor could tell that she had stopped crying, but she made no move to pull away from his chest. After leaving her there for a few extra minutes, he poked her gently in the back and asked, "Um, River, are you planning on staying there all day?"

The muffled reply of "Mmmayyyyyybe" caused them both to snort with laughter. She pulled away from him slightly and smiled mischievously up at him, still holding the blaster tightly.

Waving one arm excitedly at the target and backing up a bit, he asked, "Well, don't you want to try it out?"

"Alright, sweetie, if you insist. But are you sure you won't be scared?" she asked with a wink, though she was partly serious. He responded with an energetic nod.

Immediately assessing that this target would be far, far too easy (such close range!) in full light from head-on, River closed her eyes and turned herself around to face the back wall before raising the blaster with her left hand (not her dominant hand) and firing, still with her eyes closed. Though its fire was decidedly non-dangerous (she estimated it might tingle a bit, but nothing more), the blaster made a satisfying sound as it fired the energy-pulse. Turning around, River frowned. The glowing point left by the pulse on the target was ever so slightly off-center. Single-focused, she walked up to the target and examined the magnitude of her error. She approximated it to be about two centimeters. In some species, that was the difference between a very minor wound and a seriously debilitating injury that could actually buy them some time. I'm really out of practice, she thought, only to hear her thoughts spoken aloud.

"Seems like you're out of practice a bit," the Doctor drawled from where he leaned against the door frame.

"Oh! Hey, I'd watch what you say, Doctor dearest, as I recall you're treading on thin ice," River replied, placing her hands on her hips as she turned to face him, but both their eyes were glinting with took a slow step towards him, pulling up to her full height, though it was somewhat in vain as she was still shorter than him.

He bolted out the door and down the corridor.

"Hey! Get back here!" she shouted as she followed in hot pursuit.

By the time she caught him, they were both breathless with laughter. She had caught up to him only a few feet from their bedroom, and they subsequently stumbled into their room, breathless for very different reasons. An hour or so later, after practicing something else entirely than what River had been concerned about, they lay dozing lightly together, limbs entangled. Both had found immense relief in the pleasure of being together after such a trying day. For him it was the pleasure of being wholly forgiven, and for her, of being wholly accepted.

Stirring slightly, River suddenly remembered something and rolled over to face the Doctor, rubbing his shoulder to rouse him. At first a soft groan was the only response she got, but after she shoved him gently, he managed "Mmmm?"

"Sweetie, I just realized, we never bought that tea."

Still resisting being properly awakened, the Doctor muttered, "What?"

"The tea that we came to this planet for in the first place, remember?"

Opening his eyes lazily, he answered, "Oh, right. Tea. Well," he tapped her on the nose, "you know, we are on a time machine, and she's even parked properly. We can stay as long as we like." Sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her closer, he nuzzled her shoulder, adding "Right now I'm thinking that could be a long time." He went for the kiss, but by the time his lips reached where hers had just been, she was out of bed and pulling on her clothes. Flopping his head back against the pillow he sighed in resignation.

"Oh fine, but I'm collecting that kiss later!"

"Mmm," River agreed absentmindedly while rummaging around next to the bed.

"What is it?" the Doctor, now out of bed, asked as he pulled on his trousers.

"Where'd I put my blaster?"

"I think you left it in your room, didn't you?"

"Oh, oh that's right I did, didn't I, I left it in my room. Well then, I'll go collect my blaster from my room," she replied, obviously delighted at this revelation.

By the time River returned, the Doctor was fully dressed and already in the console room, waiting. As she walked out, strapping the gun into its holster at her hip, he was reminded vividly of the exact same image from earlier in the day. Making an infinitely wiser choice this time, he settled for "You look beautiful." Raising an eyebrow at him from beneath hair which had, at this point, been tussled by a minor street brawl, a fit of rage, an intrepid hallway chase, lovemaking, and sleep, River gave the bemused answer, "While I thank you, I think you may be trying a bit too hard, love."

He started stammering again, "No, I meant it! You look amazing that way." He continued, "all River-y and ummmmmMMMmmmmmm," the last syllable extending into a surprised and then satisfied moan as she cut off his stammering with his promised kiss.

Breaking the kiss, she stated, "Right then, let's go get that tea we came here for."

Taking his hand in hers so as not to lose him in the crowd when he inevitably got distracted by several hundred items in the giant marketplace, River strode out into the street for the second time that day. This time, it was just the way she always liked it - a gun at one hip, and the Doctor at the other.