He found he couldn't deny the little girl anything she asked for for the remainder of the day, and instead he devoted himself to seeing her laugh and smile as much as possible, soaking in every moment he got to be in her life before she, too, left his. The storm clouds that clouded his mind abated slightly as he watched his little daughter, falling hopelessly in love with her spunk and wonder, her light- heartedness and laughter, and her eagerness to share her world with him, and to share in his world as well.
He also got to see a side of River that he was finding hard to resist. So often when they'd met they'd been so caught up in running he couldn't fathom a what a carefree day would be like with her. But today, with the silly discussions she would have with her daughter in gibberish the way children loved to do, or the nonsense ideas she tried to include him in, or the way she would laugh with her whole being truly began to endear her to the wary Time Lord. Her flirting never subsided, although he noticed she was only slightly more careful with her wording when Bella was around. He also found he liked that about her. She was who she always was, no façades or shame in simply being River Song. She didn't try to impress him, like humans inevitably did, (though the fact she had been able to conceive his child meant there was definitely more of a story to that) and that fact didn't even bother him as he expected it to. She had always seemed so capable to him, her intelligence and compassion ample enough that he actually allowed her to jab at him playfully, not as haughty as he was wont to be among inferior minds.
Many times he would catch her flinching as the day progressed, so slight he doubted anyone but him would notice, until he noted she would immediately after reach for Bella, grabbing her hand tightly or stroking her hair, or occasionally picking her up and holding her close. It wasn't until the middle of the afternoon, when they were walking through the silver forest together that he realized her flinching was in fact her way of stopping short of reaching for him. His brilliant mind went over each time he could think she'd done it that day, and each time he recognized was when it would have been easy and perhaps even natural to hold a partner's hand, or to place an arm around a shoulder, or to embrace the waist of one's…lover? Was that what they were? Was that all they were?
He couldn't believe River Song was one to settle for having just a part of anything. No, he concluded. Against all odds. Against all instinct, he knew. Knew it as surely as he knew he would fight it. River was not only his one of his closest friends, or the mother of his daughter, or a lover he sometimes saw, or a girlfriend, or another companion. She was his wife. Would be anyway. Every particle of his being told him so. She would be his best friend, the mother of any more children he had, the only lover he took, his proclaimed girlfriend, and lifelong (for her, anyway) companion. She was different. And that both thrilled and terrified him.
Oh, what would he do to her? To make her look at him with such longing and yet such pain? To physically have to hold herself back from him, yet want to reach for him at all? Would he ever not hurt her?
His countenance darkened briefly with guilt that she had to restrain herself from doing something so natural simply because he couldn't bring himself to trust her yet, or to care for her the way she wanted. The way she deserved. The balm to his hearts was the same as hers. When she found herself unable to touch or connect with him, she always had his daughter to anchor her, to assure her of what they would have and had had one day, which is exactly what Bella seemed to do. And he couldn't be more grateful for that little girl if he'd wished her into existence.