A/N: Rated M, though that's not the point of the thing. I just couldn't tell the story properly any other way. You've been warned... If under 17, please skip.
Companion piece to my 'To Sleep, Perchance to Dream'.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

He hadn't realized... Forgotten? Never known...? It would be like this. Could be like this. Her nails in his shoulder, clutching a handful of hair in her grasp, she arched beneath him, pulling him close. Opening beneath him in silent invitation. And he accepted, pushing slowly into her, drawing the movement out and pausing only briefly as she gasped in pain – and he should have known, if he'd even thought about it, because Nestenes and androids weren't ever attempts to truly deceive.

Then she sighed in his arms, pain returned to pleasure. A whisper of joy against his neck. Control shattered. Pressing forward, in one fluid movement, he filled her completely.

Completely.

Mind, body, and soul.

A total joining. A total surrender.

A perfect union.

No longer sure even where he ended and she began... where his pleasure ended and hers began... he moved. Carrying her (Him? Them? Was there ever a difference and did it even matter?) higher and higher until they flew over the brink together.

The world shattered around them; they clung to each other, alone in a universe all their own.

And when, still joined with her in every way that mattered, awareness returned, he could feel the slow steady beating of her heart as though it were one of his, the gentle current of her thoughts, dim and blurred within his own.

He chuckled despite himself. She'd fallen asleep. Which, as a critique, left quite a lot to be desired. Maybe they needed more practice. This really wasn't the worst idea he'd ever had, though.

But then, as she slept, she dreamed...

He stopped laughing.

Because, connected as they still were, he could see with her. Feel with her. A lake in Utah. And a beach. And his hearts began to race with the quickening of hers as he recognized the nightmare.

Sinking still deeper into her thoughts... Into her dream...

Without even deciding to do so...

He went to save her.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Careful not to wake her now that she finally slept, he slowly withdrew from her until just the barest tendril of his awareness remained entwined with hers, guarding against any sign of recurring nightmare, ready to soothe and comfort should it become necessary. Then, shifting his hold, he pulled her to his side, tucking her against his chest. Her heart beat, slow and steady, her thoughts a gentle murmur, submerged in deepest sleep.

He smiled into her hair.

That night, and for many, many, many nights to follow, safe from nightmares, River slept in his arms. But the Doctor...

The Doctor didn't.

Which was more than okay with him.

She had given him all her days; now she would have his nights.

Besides, he did have a time machine, after all.