Alright... wow! I guess this is it, the end. Thank you, everybody who's read and reviewed and everything else. You guys are the best. I don't own Doctor Who or any of the characters within~
In the lobby, a man in a tuxedo leaned against a blue box. His top hat was askew and his scarf hung lazily around his neck. River Song smiled to herself, hiding it by turning to close the door behind her. Neatly composed, she rotated to face him, curving her neck flirtatiously as she walked down the steps. "All dressed up and no place to go," she sighed, swirling in her skirts. With a wink, she shrugged. "You don't look too bad either."
He cracked an ironic grin at her, huge and bright, managing to look both handsome and like a bouncy nine-year-old at once. "So where are we?"
"Jim the Fish? Have we done Jim the Fish yet?"
"He's doing well, last I checked." The Doctor bent back, propped against the TARDIS, the sweep of brown hair from under his hat falling in front of his eyes. For an instant, it surprised her, and everything about him was unexpected; his face, his clothes, his voice. For an instant, it was the sense of remembering something that had never happened. She shook her head, shirking the feeling. Odd…why would she expect him to be someone else? She tucked a stray curl behind her ear, pressing her lips together. Concern crossed the Doctor's face. He stood upright, shoulders pushing back.
"Fine… I'm fine," she replied to the question he was opening his mouth to ask. "I don't know what came over me." She smiled at him to prove it and he relaxed back, missing the side of the TARDIS completely and sprawling all over the floor. River laughed, adjusting her dress to stoop down and pick him up. "Where are we going?"
"Oh, you know. Around." He shrugged, trying to look cool and nonchalant, like he hadn't just fallen onto his face.
River lifted an eyebrow as he brushed off his sleeves. "You left me a dress for around?"
"Oh, don't ruin the surprise!"
"I've had enough of surprises from you for a lifetime, Doctor."
He nodded without looking at her. "Mutual." The Doctor cocked his head and pushed open the TARDIS door. Her eyebrows furrowed, but River followed him in. Like she'd always seen it, the glass floors shined and walls shimmered, bright copper rimming the chaos that formed the console. She grinned as he rushed past her to pilot before she had a chance to correct the settings or, heaven forbid, touch the brake.
"I hope you can get me back on time, this trip…after last time." She flicked up one of the stabilizers while he wasn't looking, rolling her eyes. "I've got a meeting first thing in the morning for some last minute preparations for an expedition. Mr. Lux does hate it when I'm late." The TARDIS hummed contentedly, the brake a comforting noise over the dematerialization.
The Doctor leaned sideways from the other side of the controls, hat tipping precariously as he glanced at her. Something flashed across his eyes, something melancholy, tragic and unbearable. But just as quickly, the look was gone. River wasn't even sure she'd actually seen it. He pressed his lips together bravely. "I'll have you back on time." He spun around, flipping random levers. "Tell you what… we'll make a night of it. Out to dinner with Julia Child…. Or gelato on that moon in that one system…. Do you remember that? Star-flavored ice cream, wasn't that something? Amazing stuff. I love stuff." The TARDIS swayed gently, and the Doctor's top hat tumbled to the ground.
River's eyes widened in surprise. "Did you get a haircut?"
"What?! I… uh… no, of course not. I like my hair. My hair is cool." He frantically shoved the hat back on.
River tilted her head. "Alright, then," she replied, absolutely not believing it. He seemed so nervous. Why was that? "I like it, though." She shrugged and twisted a knob.
"Do you? I thought it was a bit daring." He licked his fingers and smoothed some of it to the side under his hat.
"No, no. It's very nice. As long as you don't go shaving it all off." She blinked and frowned, sniffing as he laughed. For a fraction of a second, she had the wrong picture in her head when she thought of the Doctor, but it faded, cleanly, unable to call it back.
They both fell silent, resting in the quiet of the TARDIS' movement. It should have been comfortable between the two of them. Instead, there was unease, trepidation that radiated from the Doctor, unspoken pains and joys filling the still.
"Are you alright?" she asked quietly.
"I'm always alright." His lips twisted up, how she always knew he was lying. She waited for him to continue; there was nothing she could do to hurry him, and the hush seemed too delicate to break. A few minutes later, he managed a little noise and reached into his suit. "River, I have something to give you. And you have to keep it with you. Always." Her face softened. The Doctor edged his way around the TARDIS to her. "First, close your eyes."
She let her eyelids shut.
"Now, hold out your hands."
Into her hands dropped a thing long and pen-like, something she might have held a thousand times before. She opened her mouth to say, "A sonic s—"
But the Doctor kissed her on the lips, softly. She opened an eye halfway, but gave up on it, clutching the old sonic screwdriver in one hand and wrapping her arms around him. Her Doctor. His hands swept around her, one cupping her neck, and one's fingers etching into the small of her back. She kissed him, really kissed him, deeply and truly, all the things she'd never been able to tell him...and he held her like he needed it with all his soul. Maybe seconds, maybe hours slipped around her, and the Doctor pulled away, resting his forehead against hers.
"Have you ever been to the Singing Towers, River?" he whispered, so quietly that apart from him, she would have never heard it. She cast her eyes down, watching his lips move.
"They're on Darillium, aren't they?"
He paused for a brief moment and gave an imperceptible nod. "That's where we're going."
"It'll be beautiful," she replied, pressing her free hand against the back of his head. She glimpsed the screwdriver in her hand, considering it. It wasn't the one he used—this one was stockier, and blue, not green. Why? she wondered again. She pecked his lips with one last kiss and slipped out of his hold. "Let's go, then. You can't prevent the future."
River held out her hand, and he eyed it with the same reluctance as someone she vaguely remembered meeting… perhaps ages ago. That other man who she'd brought home, whose hand she'd taken, short hair…northern accent…and they jumped off of cliffs, learning to fly without falling. But it was just that dream, she told herself. It wasn't real. Yet part of her liked her liked the idea, and her mouth tugged up into a tender smile. "Come on, Doctor. You and me."
He wrapped his fingers around hers, and he held on the rest of the night.
