He isn't surprised when he finds her leaning against the console of the TARDIS. He supposes that he should be. After all, he hadn't even heard her enter, but he's began to grow accustomed to her coming and going as she pleases.
"River!"
"Surprised to see me, Sweetie?" She asked, batting her eyes at him flirtatiously.
Despite himself, he can feel the blush spreading across his cheeks. Oh how that woman has an effect on him.
"How do you manage to sneak aboard without my knowing?" He asks her, desperately trying to get his blushing under control as he does.
She winks at him, "Spoilers. Shall we do diaries?"
The blue book in question is already in her hand, her red painted nails fiddling gently with the pages as she slowly flips through, "Don't want to reveal anything before it's time, do we?"
There's something to her tone that makes him nervous. She was always three steps ahead of him, and it made him nervous. He wasn't used to having someone around who knew his next move before he did.
"Yes- uh, right. Diaries. Of course." He stuttered, scrambling around the console trying to find where he last left his. It hadn't been that long since he did an entry; two weeks tops. That River had been older for sure, one of the oldest he's encountered in a while.
She settles on a page just as he manages to find his, which had been placed neatly between two levers. The blue-boringers, as he remembers calling them, even though River insisted they were stabilizers.
"Demons run?" He asks tentatively. He hadn't ran into a River who hadn't yet done so in a while, but he could never be sure.
"Done." She says with a hint of a smile.
"Where were you last?" He asked. It was hard to figure out where they were without giving to much away to one another. They had to stick to vague clues and locations most times, lest they risk spoiling something for the other.
"Felspoon."
He blinks. Surely he hadn't heard her correct.
"Felspoon?" he emphisizes, "With the swaying mountains? River, did we run from the Judoon while we were there?"
He can tell that she's thrown a bit by his tone. Rightly so, he can't recall the last time he had become so pushy for answers with her.
"Yes." She says, raising a questionable eyebrow at him, "Everything okay sweetie?"
"And that was the last place we went together? You're sure?"
"Of course I'm sure," she replies, tone suddenly crisp and slightly annoyed, "What's gotten into you?"
In an instant, the skeptical look he had been wearing is replaced with a full blown grin. He drops the diary carelessly onto the TARDIS floor before scooping her up into his arms, twirling her around with an excited laugh.
"River!" He exclaims again, holding her tightly at the waist as he sets her back on her feet.
"Sweetie," she says with a laugh, "What on earth has gotten into you?"
He nuzzles her nose with his own, eliciting another giggle from her.
"Because! The last thing you did was also the last thing I did. Do you know what that means?" He asks her, petting her hair lovingly as he does.
He could see it in her eyes: the moment that she understood exactly what was happening.
"We're in sync." She mumbles, voice barely above a whisper, a stark contrast to his excited shouts. She looks at him in disbelief, and he can't blame her. They're never in sync.
He nods enthusiastically, "We're in sync!"
The disbelief among her features is all but washed away as her lips blossom into a smile, "Hello Sweetie."
He presses a kiss to her forehead, muttering against her skin, "Hello my darling wife."
There hadn't been a time - yet, anyway - that they were at the same point in their respective journeys. His first were always her lasts, and while he had hoped that they would run into a point where they were both in the center of their timeline together, he hadn't truly been sure he would get to see it.
"Let's go somewhere!" He suggests, his voice never loosing its boyish excitement, "Anywhere you want. We'll make it our first in-sync date ever."
She too is still grinning like a school girl, a look that he seldom gets to see these days. Most of their run ins recently, save for a select few, were more serious than they were fun. But not this time. This time he was determined to make every moment with his wife as blissful as he could.
The backs of her fingers brush delicately against his cheek, "Hmm, I don't know. Somewhere where we wont get chased down or nearly killed."
He lets her go abruptly, spinning around on his heel and frantically fiddling with the controls of the console. For once, he notes, she doesn't try and take over and instead lets him drive. A rare feat for sure, and he makes a mental note to write it down in his diary for the next time she tries to pilot.
A sense of warmth washes over him when he feels her lean against his back, her arms looping around his torso as she presses a chaste kiss to the patch of exposed skin behind his ear.
"In sync," she muses, burying her face in the crook of his neck, "Who could have imagined?"
In one fluid motion, he shoves another level forward and spins back around, "And I am going to take you to the most beautiful planet I can think of-" he cuts himself off just long enough to spin himself around once again, "And speaking of beauty, Dr. Song, have I told you how stunning you are today?"
He can count on one hand how many times he's heard River truly giggle. So when the sound passes through her lips, something inside him bubbles with happiness and he cannot believe just how lucky he is to be at the same point in their timeline. For all the wibbly wobbly faults in their streams, he couldn't imagine life without her.
"So you've told me before." She quips with a smirk, "Now, should I be worried about where you're leading us?"
"I would never take you somewhere dangerous during our first in-sync date," he says, before frowning slightly, "Unless...unless you wanted too? I could, uh. I could take us somewhere dangerous, I know how much you like adventure and-"
His words are cut off abruptly when she presses her lips to his, and he can feel the mischievous grin she's wearing widening against him.
"For once, my love, I could do without the thrill of almost getting killed. I just want to spend as much time as I have to give right now with you."
He kisses her again, because she's there and she's his wife and for once they are aligned together and it's all he had been waiting for.
"You, River Song - Melody Pond - are by far the best thing I have ever came across among all of time and space." He tells her, cupping her cheeks gently with his hands.
She grins once again, "You're just trying to lure me into bed, aren't you?"
"River!" He sputters, "No, no, I- that's not what this is."
She erupts in another fit of giggles over the blush that he once again feels rising in his cheeks, "It's so easy to get you flustered, you know that don't you sweetie?"
He frowns at her, "You're going to be the death of me."
She arches an eyebrow at him, "Been there, done that. Honestly dear, lets come up with something new."
Just as he goes to speak, a familiar vibration rumbles throughout the TARDIS and he knows they've made it to their destination.
"Ever hear of Florana, River?" He questions, "The entire planet is full of flowers. The seas are warm and the sand is the softest you've ever felt. Its one of the most beautiful things in the universe - aside from you - that I've ever seen."
He lets her go long enough to throw on the brakes, and then immediately grabs her hand and attempts to drag her to the door of the TARDIS.
"Wait." She says, tugging lightly on the hand he has wrapped around hers.
He gives her a confused look, "What's wrong?"
She shakes her head and gives him a loving smile, one that warms him from his head to his toes and all he can think about is dragging her out the door and showing her all the world they're chosen has to offer.
"Let's not rush, Sweetie." She tells him, slowly beginning to make her way towards the door, "I want this to last for as long as it can."
He gives her another dopey grin and raises her hand to his lips to brush a kiss against her knuckles. "Right you are. Lead the way, Dr. Song."
"Lets start off this first in-sync date right, then." She says before yanking on him just enough to pull him close.
When she presses her lips to his again, he can only muster one thought:
Best first in-sync date ever.
A/n: Long time fanfic writer, first time doing Doctor Who, but I absolutely love these two and wanted to give them some semblance of happy in their wibbly wobbly timeline. Hope you all enjoy.
- Ali