Contains a slight AU of the minisodes First Night and Light Night. Enjoy!

Aliya had to use every ounce of her self-control to prevent her mouth falling open in surprise or an excited squeak coming out of her mouth. From what she had heard about Donna, it would not go well.

The Doctor had mentioned Donna several times, of course, but Aliya did not know much about the woman apart from her terrible fate, the very reason that the Doctor didn't like to talk about her. But the Doctor had always made Donna sound so special, so completely individual even amongst all of his shining companions, that Aliya had been feeling a longing to meet her. Knowing of the impossibility, she had quickly shoved the thought out of her mind until this moment. And how brilliant that it was entirely the Doctor's fault, and not her own? She got to spend time with Donna Noble.

Realising that if she didn't answer soon she would seem a little abnormal, she blinked and thought about what Donna had actually said.

"I'm Ali, Ali…" Aliya trailed off, realising that she needed a last name. One popped into her head and it came out of her mouth before she could think about it. "Parker."

The moment she realised what she had said, she internally groaned. Jennifer Parker. It was those Back to the Future movies…she cursed the Doctor, though realised that it could have been a lot worse. She could have said 'McFly'. It would seem that her subconscious was not that stupid, something that came as a relief. And Ali was a lot safer than Aliya, in case Donna ended up relaying the information back to the Doctor.

"So, Ali Parker, are you from 'round here?" Donna asked, and Aliya shook her head.

"No, I just got a friend to drop me off…he and his, well, girlfriend of sorts needed some alone time – my words, not theirs." She lay back, her head turned where it rested on the back of her chair so that she could keep her eyes on Donna. "What about you?"

Donna shrugged. "I'm here with my friend, but he ran off to check out some sapphire waterfall or something, so here I am."

"A sapphire waterfall, really?" Aliya exclaimed, enraptured by the thought before noticing Donna's raised eyebrow and looking down, embarrassed. "Sorry, I'm just really…I don't know, exactly. Why didn't you go?"

Donna smiled. "Four hours there and back? Why bother when there are people here supplying my every need? I don't get much pampering back home, and with all the running I've been doing lately, I think I deserve it."

"Well, when you put it that way," Aliya conceded with a chuckle, "Though if it were me, I probably still would have gone…but only because I live for sights like that."

"Traveller?"

"Oh yes."

"Same here…only I don't plan on stopping, ever."

"Who said that I planned on stopping either?"

The two women shared a look of complete, total understanding. There was silence for a few moments, until Aliya asked a question that she simply couldn't hold in.

"So, your friend, your travelling companion I'm assuming, what's he like?" She couldn't help it, really, as the Doctor who had travelled with Donna had touched so many lives, yet she knew nothing about him.

"Skinny." The fact that 'skinny' was the first thing to come to Donna's mind made Aliya laugh, "And clever. And I don't mean 'little bit smart' clever, I mean, real, science-y, advanced recreation mathematics sort of clever. Just don't tell him I said that, his ego really doesn't need to be fed any more than it already is, thanks." Donna was serious by this last point, and Aliya smirked. "But, superiority complex aside, he's brilliant. And I just tell him off whenever he gets too stuffy, anyway."

"Good for you, it sounds like someone needs to," Aliya said with a grin, and Donna looked pleased, as though she hadn't thought about it like that.

"Thanks. Nice to be appreciated once in a while," she said with a satisfied smile. "What's your friend like, then?"

Aliya considered her words carefully before replying, "He's a similar age to me but acts like he's still an absolute child. He moves like an uncoordinated baby giraffe and is utterly mad. He's just as clever and arrogant as your friend, though."

"Definitely sounds interesting," Donna remarked, seeming amused, "Better you than me on the babysitting a baby giraffe man child though."

Aliya laughed heartily and found herself definitely understanding how the Doctor had loved Donna so much. Her amusement briefly clouded her caution at the wrong moment. "Yes, well, his superiority complex doesn't work on me, because all I have to do is remind him that I know just as much about TARDISes as he does-"

"What?"

Aliya immediately realised her mistake and swore loudly in Gallifreyan. "One job," she muttered to herself, "One job, and you couldn't even do that, you let yourself get distracted like a child-"

"You said, 'TARDIS'," Donna said, narrowing her eyes, "You know the Doctor, don't you? Do you know him in the past, or the future?"

Technically, both were true, but only one was relevant to the conversation.

"The future."

"Hold on…do you know that River Song woman?"

"Yes, actually," Aliya replied, smiling, "Though with her, she and the Doctor just meet in the wrong order constantly, whereas I'm more or less like you, just further along in his timestream."

"Is she, that River woman, the sort of girlfriend you mentioned?" Donna's voice was almost wary, and Aliya laughed.

"Yes," she said with a large smile, "She gives him a run for his money, that's for sure."

"Frankly I think I was too busy being somewhere between confused and jealous when I met her to notice…but I s'pose she did get him rather tongue-tied!" Donna admitted, chuckling a little as she recalled it. "I mean, his face when she was saying almost anything to him, it was priceless."

"Oh, she gives him hell," Aliya agreed, laughing, "And so do I. Between me and her, I actually almost feel sorry for him sometimes! But she's the only other good friend I have these days, so I could never want her to be far off."

"So…" Donna drew out the syllable, a newly thoughtful and almost sly expression on her face, "What's he like, in the future? How are you even here, anyway? I would have thought there would be some kind of rule against that."

"There is," Aliya said flatly, sighing as she thought about the potential danger to the timelines, "But it was just a mistake, he dropped me off at a time that happened to be when you were here. Doesn't really make it any better, though."

"Well, it's like Back to the Future, isn't it? You could accidentally change something by talking to me and rewrite history by accident," Donna considered, and Aliya grinned, feeling proud that she understood the reference.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure about history, but something could be altered, yes. So if you see him coming, let me know, would you?" Aliya said unsurely as she eyed the room they were in with suspicion.

"Is he not allowed to see you, or something?" Donna had again impressed Aliya by her ability to guess the basic laws of time travel, and the blonde nodded.

"Time could probably hold it, it wouldn't be too risky, but in a case like this, it's best to play on the safe side," Aliya said solemnly, stretching out on the chair.

Donna eyed her curiously. "How do you know so much about all this? And you said you know how the TARDIS worked, just as much as the Doctor."

"It's amazing what you can learn if you pay attention," the blonde said offhandedly, in one of her typical lies of omission.

"I suppose so," Donna said, appearing to accept the explanation, "But you didn't answer the big question question. What's he like in the future?"

"Well, like I said, he's like a giant child a lot of the time, and arrogant and showing off most of the rest of it," Aliya replied, shrugging, "But there's something quieter too. Sometimes it's like rage, only it's, I don't know-"

"Cold," Donna answered, and Aliya blinked at her with surprise at how she could know, "Yeah. He's like that with me too. Sometimes I catch him staring, and he's so far away, you know?"

"Like you're not sure he's ever going to come back to you," Aliya murmured, her eyes moving to the sparkling pool in front of them. She could feel the other woman's eyes on her.

"Yeah," Donna said simply.

"I know that I know him better than almost anyone, but it's those moments when I wonder if any of us ever will."

"I bet we all think we know him best, when we're with him," the human mused, sounding somehow bitter and amused at the same time.

Aliya laughed a little, but not as genuinely as before. "That might be true."

"Has he mentioned me? You didn't recognise me, so you must have arrived after I left, but you seem to know that I travelled with him. River Song, she'd heard of me too."

Aliya regarded the other woman carefully. "Of course he's mentioned you," she said, smiling, "He said you were his best friend, that you were brilliant. The most important woman in the whole of creation."

"Even for the Doctor, that seems to be stretching it a bit," she said flatly, "I'm a temp, from Chiswick."

"Your job doesn't define you," the Time Lady told her seriously, "I was a mechanic, but that was just a job, it's not who I am in the slightest, just something that I would do. Travelling, especially with him, show who you are really."

"Maybe," the other woman said, not looking entirely convinced.

"But it sounds like the two of you got along famously, the way he talks about you."

Donna snorted. "Yeah, but I'm yelling at him half the time. Not sure if that's ideal in a friendship."

Aliya chuckled. "I don't know, I'm more or less the same, so that actually makes me feel better, I'd been worrying there was something wrong with us."

"Maybe he likes it," Donna wondered, making a face.

"Maybe." Aliya's amused smile faded a little as she thought back on some of the fights she had had with the Doctor. "Is he...ever cross with you? I mean, does he ever yell back?"

Donna shook her head, chuckling fondly. "No, god no. He'd never do that, he's a marshmallow at heart, you know that."

"Oh," the blonde murmured, her shoulders sinking a little, "That, uh, that must be nice."

A hand came to land on her shoulder and when she glanced back up, Donna's face held concern. "He yells at you?"

"Well, we fight a lot," Aliya admitted, sighing heavily, "And half the time it's about something so stupid. He's so impossible and pigheaded and-" She went quiet, her cheeks flushing. "I really can't be talking about this to you. I shouldn't even be talking to you at all."

"You said that Professor Song was your friend, maybe when you get back with them you can talk to her about it," Donna suggested sympathetically.

"Maybe. It's all just...very complicated." She allowed herself one more sigh, one more moment of feeling sorry for herself, before pushing it aside and focusing on getting to enjoy these stolen moments with one of the Doctor's closest friends. "On a happier note, we should have some fun with this while we can. How much as he told you about his past?"

"Not much," Donna said, shrugging and looking pleased with the cheerier change in subject, "He was with that woman Rose and then he lost her. Then he travelled with Martha and she fancied him and I think she got hurt somehow. And now me."

"Martha fancied him? Really?" She made a face. "That bit I didn't know."

"She's moved on," Donna added, sounding relieved, "How anyone could fancy that skinny boy I'll never know. I mean, I'm sure that River Song's great, but there's no accounting for her taste."

Aliya laughed. "Oh, I like you, Donna Noble."

Donna grinned. "Yeah? Thanks, you're not too bad yourself."

"But you'd like me more if I told you a few things I know about his past that you could use to completely embarrass him, right?" Aliya asked impishly, and Donna's eyes lit up.

"Seriously? You can tell me stuff that will take the skinny git down a few pegs?"

Aliya grinned. "Oh, Donna Noble, it would be my absolute pleasure. I live to give him hell."

Donna leaned over the arm of her recliner. "What are you waiting for, then? Get on with it."

The Time Lady just chuckled and leaned in a little closer too. "He once kidnapped two teachers, and because he was so inept at the flying the TARDIS back then, they didn't get home for two years," she half-whispered, making Donna's eyes bug out.

"You're kidding," she said, and when Aliya just shook her head, added, "You know, I thought he'd kidnapped me when we first met, he ever tell you that?"

"No, but I imagine there's a great story there," the blonde said, laughing, "I'll make a point to ask him."

"Do, do, it's a good one," Donna told her, laughing as well, "Did he ever wear anything embarrassing? Because anyone who thinks pinstripes, trench coats and converse are a good combination is bound to have made some of questionable fashion choices."

Aliya slapped her forehead. "Why didn't I think of that first?" She exclaimed. "The coat!"

"The coat?"

"The rainbow striped one that is physically painfully on the eyes. Bring that one into conversation, I can guarantee some kind of reaction which will indicate that he wants no one in the universe to ever find out about it."

Donna tilted her head a little, disbelieving but hopeful. "It was that bad?"

"It was that bad."

The two of them burst into hysterical laughter before launching into a lengthy discussion about the Doctor and his antics which lasted over an hour. Between them, there was enough material so that they were both crying with laughter. It was interrupted, however, when one of the workers of the palace brought Donna a ringing phone on a platter. They forced themselves to calm down as Donna took a deep breath and answered the phone.

"Hello?" She said curiously, "Hi, Spaceman." Aliya noticed how Donna's entire face would light up just through talking with him. "Yeah, I'm fine, what trouble have you been getting into? Waterfall shiny enough for you?" There was a pause and Donna's snarky confidence gave way into something much softer. "Oh. I'm sorry. Well, you can tell me about it when you get back. Yeah. See you then."

Under Aliya's questioning eyebrow, Donna explained what had transpired of the conversation. "As expected of the intergalactic trouble magnet, their bus was attacked, and they had to have a rescue team deployed. They're on their way back now, but he doesn't sound too good."

"Is he hurt?" Aliya asked worriedly, panicking for half a moment until Donna shook her head.

"Nah, but he sounded pretty shaken up. Wonder what happened," the redhead said, "Still, I can ask him when he gets here."

Aliya looked slightly glum at Donna's words. "If he's going to be here then I'll have to leave soon…it's a shame, I would have liked to have known you better."

"There isn't that much to know," Donna said, "I'm just the ginger temp from Chiswick who travels around with a Time Lord in a box."

It saddened Aliya to see just how much she believed that. So she shook her head adamantly at the human. "Donna Noble, you are so much more than that," she said, seeming to surprise Donna with her conviction, "And I am so glad to have been able to meet you."

"Yeah, it's been nice," Donna agreed, "I hope you sort out the fighting."

Aliya chuckled. "Yeah, me too."

"So can I tell him about this, or is that not allowed?" Donna asked, frowning as she no doubt considered what she knew of the rules of time and whether it would break them.

"Well, you're going to need a source for all the juicy tidbits I've given you," Aliya said, grinning, "Just tell him you met a friend of his, who says she'll see him when he's a bit older."

"Sounds good to me," Donna said, grinning back, "Thanks again for those tidbits, I'm gonna have lots of funwith those."

"You are so very welcome," Aliya laughed before getting up and preparing to leave. "Goodbye, Donna. It was wonderful to meet you."

"You too."

Aliya waited around the Leisure Palace, as the Doctor and River had not yet returned, and against all her baser instincts, upon getting bored crept closer and closer to where she could hear Donna and her Doctor talking. It was simply too rare and wonderful an opportunity to pass up; Donna's Doctor was loved by so many, she had to see what he was like.

Hiding behind a pillar, she peered around and saw the back of Donna's head, talking to an incredibly attractive man with spiky brown hair. Aliya couldn't help but watch him with a strange wistfulness and fascination, and it mixed with fondness as she saw aspects of older Doctors in him, particularly from the young blonde Doctor she had been so fond of.

The Doctor and Donna had been discussing the terrible events of the Midnight bus, but Aliya stiffened as the conversation turned to herself.

"So, what have you been up to, then?" The Doctor asked as food was served to them, "Ooh, chips, I love chips." He grinned while Donna just rolled her eyes. Aliya felt her hearts swell a little at the childish antics that were the reason she cared for the Doctor so much, the reason why despite everything, he was her best friend in the universe.

"I made a friend…one who says she knows you," Donna said wryly, and the words made the Doctor throw the chip into his mouth before frowning.

"Really? Who?" He asked curiously, and Donna shrugged.

"She said that she was from your future; she knew that River Song woman, or claimed to, anyway," the ginger said conversationally, and the Doctor's interest perked considerably as he sat up in his chair and leaned forward.

"She knew Professor Song?" Donna nodded while he sat there with his eyebrows raised in surprise. "Funny that…it seems that my future self has no qualms whatsoever about letting the females in his life run rampant over my timeline, if River Song and this-" He stopped briefly. "- sorry, what was her name?"

"Ali Parker," Donna replied helpfully before eating a chip, and the Doctor nodded gratefully before continuing on his tangent of words.

"Right, so if this 'Ali Parker' and River Song both are able or allowed to pop back and see me at any time they like, either I've gone old, stupid, soft, or some combination of the three." The Doctor finished his sentence before frowning again as he thought about the name he had just been given. "Hold on - I know an Ali Parker….blonde, short hair, eyes slightly different colours?"

Donna nodded again. "That's the one, Time Boy. You met her already or something?"

"Yeah, long while ago, back before I ran into you again, back before Martha…" His hand went to the back of his head and through his hair as he thought about it, "After I lost Rose, I think. Goodness, that was a while ago, I'm having trouble remembering."

"But she said she was from your future," Donna pointed out, frowning as well.

He nodded. "And she must be, if she knows River Song, but it doesn't change the fact that I've met her once before. It must have been some sort of anomaly, like this time."

Donna opened her mouth to say something, but his face had shifted again, to something akin to horror.

"What? Doctor? What is it?"

"It was me," he breathed, "The one who - no. It couldn't have been. I wouldn't."

"Wouldn't what?" Donna asked, staring at him with confusion.

It had all taken a bizarre turn, and Aliya had to run off in the opposite direction as quickly as she could, lest she hear something that really would damage the timelines. She had been incredibly reckless as it was, so reckless that one of her previous selves or teachers would have admonished her severely for her behaviour.

Because of the well timed exit she made, she never heard what was said next before they moved to other topics.

"Ali Parker," the Doctor said with nostalgic thoughtfulness, "The crying woman in the rain. How did she end up here?"

After getting another spa treatment, Aliya waited in the palace's entrance hall for her ride to pick her up. Just when she was getting truly bored, papers in the lobby began to rustle as the wheezing noise filled the room and the big blue box appeared. The Doctor – her Doctor, clad in the wonderfully familiar bowtie and tweed – sauntered out with his usual swagger and waggled his near non-existent eyebrows.

"Is there a Miss Lundar here awaiting pick up?" He asked cheekily, and grinned at Aliya before hugging her energetically.

When they were done, River was alongside them, and Aliya wasted no time in pulling River into a hug as well, which the other woman gladly returned. By the time they pulled away, the Doctor and River were exchanging very large and totally enamoured grins.

Aliya looked between them suspiciously. "Alright you two," she said, smirking, "What is it, what have you two done?"

River bit her lip excitedly before holding up her hand to show the gleaming object on her fourth finger while the Doctor looked weirdly pleased with himself.

"We're getting married," he announced, and Aliya felt her jaw drop in surprise before a grin began to infect her face. The three of them ended up in a massive three-way hug, with congratulations being enthusiastically lavished on the happy couple by their best friend.

Four months earlier, for the Doctor:

Having dropped Aliya off and been handed the pleasant surprise of proper privacy, a new and slightly more intimate idea for an excursion began to form in the Doctor's head as he watched River. He grinned at her while a new form of mischief danced in her eyes.

"Well," River said slowly, with that look in her eyes that made the Doctor feel as though she was undressing him in her mind, the look that just made him want to squirm with embarrassment, "This is an interesting turn of events. I have you all to myself."

In an attempt to discourage her obvious intent, he steered the subject to a much safer region.

"How's Stormcage?" He asked casually, and she shrugged as she stepped onto the console platform.

"I'm on the 503rd night of four hundred consecutive life sentences…same as ever, I simply nip out when I get bored." River talked of leaving prison as though she were referring to a house she lived in, a quality the Doctor always found terribly amusing even though he knew he probably shouldn't.

"Four hundred, just for attempting to kill me?" He wasn't sure whether to find it disturbing or amusing how important the universe seemed to render him. "What would be given out if someone actually managed it?"

"Well, most of those are actually for the murders I committed before I tried to kill you, sweetie," she replied, and he frowned upon remembering that she had been brainwashed by people who for some reason wanted him dead. He hated how in some ways, he was responsible for a lot of the less pleasant parts of her life. "But I believe that they said somewhere between ten and fifteen thousand for anyone who actually did manage to kill you, though it was only a brief mention and I wasn't paying much attention anyway."

"Well, they should all mind their own business," he muttered, before brightening again, "Aren't you going to ask where we're going?"

"Alright then, where are we going?" She offered him placidly, and felt her heart warm when that spark of childlike excitement filled him as he began to launch into his long spiel about their destination.

"Calderon Beta, boring planet of the chip shops," the Doctor said, and the words didn't match the spark in his eyes until he continued, "But there's a four hundred foot tree growing out of a cliff-top on the North side of a mountain, in the middle of a sea, and if you take the lift to the top, and if you look up, at exactly twelve minutes past midnight on the 21st of September, 2360, you can see more stars in one sky than at any moment in the history of the universe. It's like daylight, only magic." He grinned before adding, "You could read a book by it."

River watched him avidly before replying suggestively, "Is it okay if I don't?"

He ignored her statement apart from his smirk. "We have ten minutes to get dressed."

"Oh, that's so close to the perfect sentence," interjected River as she grinned at him.

"Just run along to the wardrobe if you don't like the dress I picked out, you know where it is," he retorted, and she merely rolled her eyes before doing as he suggested.

"Of course I do," she said in a sing-song voice as she went, "Just past the helter-skelter!"

He watched her go, only to hear gunfire outside the doors and dash towards them. A second River squeezed through the gap, looking thoroughly drowsy and holding her favourite blaster.

"I knew you'd come back here, you nostalgic idiot," she murmured, "Hold me!" With that overly dramatic exclamation, she lost consciousness in his arms. Resisting the urge to go into a teenager-like panic, he scooped her up and laid her on the floor of the console platform before leaning over her and trying to find the source of the problem.

"River? Are you okay, talk to me," he murmured urgently, as his hands travelled with no idea what to do, "Okay, um, um, okay, breathe, breathe, come on, got to keep breathing, uh-" He checked her airways but couldn't feel anything coming out, and lowered his lips until they were a hair's breadth from hers, and was about to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation when he realised that she wasn't unconscious. "River…" He pursed his lips exasperatedly, "You're holding your breath."

Her eyes flicked open so quickly that he jumped up in surprise. She simply stayed on the floor, stretching her body as she shot him one of the most sultry looks he had ever seen.

"You're a fine one to talk about holding," she purred, "How many hands have you got?"

He paid her no attention, trying to ignore the blush creeping up his neck. "Get up! What are you doing?" He demanded as he flicked switches on the console, facing away from her, "Who's shooting at you?"

"Oh, just a couple of Sontarans chasing me halfway across the galaxy," she replied with irritable off-handedness, "I probably shouldn't have asked them whether they were on a hen night."

Her admission made his blood boil with what could only be anger but felt strangely different. "River, you can't do things like that!"

"What? You've already had me banged up in jail for five years, what else are you going to do? Spank me?" She gave him that undressing look again before turning on her heel to walk around the console, hips swaying as she went. But that was when she spotted the dress hanging up. "Doctor? Have you brought someone else here? Does anyone agree to wear that dress? Where is she?" She set off up the stairs determinedly, and he winced.

"River, think it through! And what makes you think that the dress isn't for Aliya, anyway?" He said rationally and she turned to face him, eyes stern.

"That dress is not her size in the slightest, she doesn't have the hips for it, so it must be for someone else. This happened another time I was here," River accused, "You brought someone else."

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did, I heard you talking to her!"

"It's the same night!"

It was too late, she was gone off and away down the corridors, but peace of mind would never be his because the first River has chosen that moment to show up again, a dress over her arm.

"Doctor? Were you talking to someone?" She asked curiously.

"No, no, just me," he said weakly, and she turned to go, though not without a second suspicious glance at him. Less than a second later, the second River appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Were you talking to someone?" The echo of her voice compared to her younger self was somewhat eerie for the Doctor to hear, but he replied with an almost identical answer.

"No, no dear, just me."

She warily turned and disappeared out of his sight again. He let himself breathe for a second, but he heard the exterior door open and spun to see a third River come through the doors, wearing the gold dress hanging up. He tried not to get distracted by the sight of her in it, as it hugged her hips and curves in all the right – wrong places, he corrected himself.

As someone who generally identified as demisexual, it was very rare for him to experience any sort of physical attraction at all, and it had been long enough for him since the last instance of it that the feelings that were standing to crop up when River was around felt bizarre because they were a completely new area for his current self.

This River had the confidence of a lioness stalking her prey as she advanced on him, an appropriately feline grin on her face as she did so. "You nostalgic idiot, you just can't keep away, can you?" He fumbled around and found his eyes desperately scanning the console room for a solution, but River, like her two selves before her, laid eyes on the dress hanging up. "Doctor? Why have you bought another one of these? Who else is here?"

The Doctor approached her, no words in his mouth but with the intent of finding some to speak regardless. Then, a distraction popped into his head, one that may give him another time to rectify the problem.

"River, could you check the light on top? I think the bulb needs changing," he said seriously, and her expression turned to one of puzzlement.

"The bulb?" She repeated, and he just nodded, an encouraging noise in his throat. She eyed him weirdly before slowly retreating outside, just in time to miss the second River coming down the stairs.

"Who are you talking to?" She asked hotly for what seemed like the millionth time for the Doctor.

"You, I'm talking to you," he said, not bothering to elaborate, "Back to Stormcage, Doctor Song." He fiddled with his sonic as he pointed it at her vortex manipulator.

"Oh, at least give me a lift," River begged, "You know what this thing does to my hair."

"It's always like that."

She sighed and disappeared in a flash and the Doctor had just enough time to smile with satisfaction before the third River came through the doors again.

"The bulb's fine, I don't know what you're talking about-" Her confused statement was cut off by his own voice, oddly enough. Another version of himself came through the doors, dressed in a tuxedo and the top hat.

"No, River, wrong TARDIS, I'm parked around the back…younger version." He smirked at his younger self, who was oddly pleased and amused by the situation.

River looked between the two of them with wide eyes. "Two of you…the mind races, does it not?" The Doctor found himself chuckling ever so slightly. That was his River Song alright…virtuous as ever.

"Come on, we'll be late," her Doctor chided her, and River was easily appeased.

"He's taking me to the Singing Towers of Darillium, he's been promising for ages. After all, if Aliya gets to spend so much time with that handsome Captain, I have to get something." She said as she left, and the Doctor frowned and shot a questioning look at his older self, mouthing 'Aliya and the handsome Captain?', to which his older self simply shrugged. Then the far more important part of River's sentence hit the younger Doctor and melancholy washed through him like a crashing tidal wave.

"When we first met her in the Library, when she…"

"Died, yes," the other Doctor put in, vaguely.

"She told us that the last time she saw us was at Darillium. Is that now?" His tentative words were met by a forced brave smile.

"Spoilers," the older Doctor said with a hint of irony, "Good luck tonight."

"You too."

"Yeah." The Doctor in the top hat gave another half smile before walking out without saying another word.

The Doctor turned to see the youngest River – his River – coming up the stairs, now wearing a somewhat practical and attractive red 50's dress. She spotted the second Doctor leaving and gasped with unrestrained excitement.

"There's two of you! The mind races…" She breathed, and her Doctor smirked.

"You and your incorrigible brain, River," he said with strange fondness, and she winked at him.

"Most people in the universe dream of a woman with a brain like mine, Doctor," she said loftily as she approached him, "Sometimes I feel wasted on you."

"And the other times?" Their faces were very close by that point, River's eyes glinting with mischief.

"Other times I'm reminded just how boring most people are," she murmured, her eyes locked with his as she spoke, and she fought the urge to laugh as he backed up against the console somewhat nervously, only for her to follow, "You are many things, Doctor, but boring isn't one of them."

He was trapped now, her hands planted on the edge of the console on either side of him, a smile on her lips as she delighted in his discomfort. Stuck, and with a brain full of completely nonsensical impulse, the Doctor settled on the only thing in his brain that made sense.

He grabbed her face and kissed her before she could kiss him. This resulted in her letting out a hearty laugh before enthusiastically joining in, her arms looping around his neck with lazy foolhardiness.

Some minutes later, when their clothing was slightly askew and the Doctor's face had more lipstick than River's did, they pulled away. River, naturally, looked pleased with herself, and the Doctor's expression would lead any onlooker to believe that he had just steered clear of a major crisis. Being River, this didn't bother or offend her in the slightest.

A while later, they lay on the platform at the top of tree on the top of the mountain in the middle of a sea, and watched the sky.

The specks of darkness in between the stars were so small and few that most of them appeared to be tricks of the light, and every star was like a diamond, twinkling with a priceless beauty that only the Doctor could ever afford, in a sea of space and sky and night and midnight all at once and forever in that one minute.

River's wide eyes roamed the endless heavens above her as wonder filled her heart. She found it hard to believe sometimes that with the entirety of space and time to choose from, the Doctor, the most incredible man in the universe, would fall in love with her. It didn't make any sense, really, and this Doctor didn't even know that he did yet. Or if he did, he certainly wasn't sure about it. She didn't mind, because she knew that in time it would come, because she had already experienced it. But this…not everyone would see the meaning behind the gesture he had made by bringing her here tonight, but she could.

This moment, this minute of celestial beauty that had no comparison or duplicate, was singular in time. The Doctor could only visit it once in all of his lives, or else he would run into himself. And he had chosen to share this one minute with her, an archaeologist who had tried to kill him when they first met. Her, and no one else in the whole universe. Not that Rose Tyler girl, not the wonderful Donna Noble, or the infallible Amy Pond, or any of the countless others he had loved and lost that he hadn't told her about, not even Aliya.

No, he had given this moment to her and her alone. To her, that said a lot more than any petty words or physical touches or suggestive glances ever could. She wasn't sure if either of them deserved the other, given that both of them had such bloodsoaked histories, but in a way that was why they worked. They were more similar than anyone would think at first glance. And they were kindred spirits in the end. River knew that whether she deserved him or not, she loved him more than anything and he loved her back - or would - and that was the most important thing.

The Doctor, meanwhile, wound his hand through River's, stealing glances over at her in between his long stints of taking in the breath-taking sight above him that he would only be able to see once. Her eyes were fixated on the stars, though at one point she tore her gaze away to meet his eyes for a brief second, and he could see the stars dancing in her eyes as they exchanged a contented smile.

Of all the people in the universe, he wasn't sure why it was her that had such a hold over him. After all, she was so many things he shouldn't like: violent, impulsive, reckless, stubborn as all hell, just a little bit mad, too brilliant for her own good, and a thousand other things.

Though, actually, now that he thought about it, when he thought back on the people he had loved before her, most of them aligned with at least most of those traits.

Dear god. Did he have a type? Looking back on them again, he wasn't so sure. They were all so different and singular in his eyes.

He had fallen in love a number of times over the centuries. There was Aliya, the one who had for centuries been 'the one who got away'. There was Jo, the sweet Earthgirl with just that tiny spark of bravery and fight in her that he had loved, the girl who had always been out of his reach, always too young and innocent for an old man like him (though his love for her hadn't been romantic, exactly, it was something that and friendship that he still couldn't pinpoint to this day). Romana, the vibrant young Time Lady who had thought she was smarter than him and been right, but he had delighted in teaching all the things the Time Lords never could have, and opening her eyes to the universe. Rose had been the gentle one, the one who cared and fought for her family, his light in the darkness.

The Master, or Koschei as he had been when the two of them had met, well. That one was infinitely complicated, and easier to just not think about where possible.

But then there was River. Her affinity with guns, rather than repelling him like they should have, simply filled him with a strange, adrenaline fuelled heat. Her knowing smirk whenever she knew something from his future teased him in a way he both hated and relished. The teasing, thrilling 'spoilers' that would roll off her tongue, offering promises of more adventures and mischief to come, promises of a timey wimey future. Hair unmatched by any in the universe, eyes so alive at any given time, her soul tainted by the magic of time-travel, her own brilliance, and her confidence in herself. The way she was actually incredibly compassionate and soft despite keeping that part of herself much closer to her chest.

There was no questioning it; River Song was born to be amazing, a traveller and adventurer who knew the universe was hers for the taking. He knew that even though her presence in his life would be temporary, he was lucky just to have someone who shone so bright fall into his orbit for a while.

When the minute passed and the sky dimmed slightly, River rolled onto her side to stare at him.

"That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen," she breathed softly, her hand tracing the lines of his cheekbones as she gazed at him with surprising tenderness.

"I know," he said with a smile, and while it sounded arrogant, they both knew that it wasn't really, simply an obvious fact. He swallowed thickly, but reached down inside himself for some bravery. "River…it's been centuries since I've said what I'm about to say to anyone, but here goes: River, I…I love you." The words were wobbly and unsure but she obviously didn't care because she was kissing him, for joy, for passion, for relief, he wasn't sure, he simply held her tighter because with River Song that was all you could do.

Finally, she pulled away, hair frizzier than usual and eyes brighter than he had ever seen them.

"I love you too, Sweetie, though I believe I've made it rather obvious."

"Just a bit," he agreed before kissing her again.