This ending was a loooong time coming! Hope you enjoy! Review please!

"...you knew… you took me to Darillium to see the singing towers... and they sang and you cried." -River Song

Doctor Who, "Forest of the Dead"

Chapter 3

"Do you realize, sweetie, that our diaries are perfectly synced this time? That's never happened before."

"Well, THAT'S a relief. Now we can talk freely." The Doctor smiled his most winning smile. "Shall we?" He held out his arm for her to take, and she did. Right where she belonged. He was in his favorite tuxedo and top hat. She, in the dress he had given her ages ago on their first night together. She had not worn it then, but it had appealed to her tonight for some reason. He had almost forgotten it was still on the TARDIS.

"Yes," she said to him, smiling her smile that said she was ready for fun and adventure. The Doctor led her out of the TARDIS and onto a platform. Spaceships flew overhead and into a beautiful sunset. Clouds hovered just under and around the platform, so fluffy River felt as if she could just step out and walk on them to the towers. The spaceport hummed and a wind hit their faces as they walked to the silver stairway. The Doctor had insisted they take the stairs, an unusual request from someone who didn't like waiting for anything.

They climbed and climbed. The TARDIS below them looked small as a button. A blue speck on the sleek metal platform. Their shoes rang softly on the metal stairs. The air was cold, causing River to pull her coat around her thin dress.

"I read that before the platform was built," she said, "visitors arriving to listen to the towers would lean out the doors of their ships wearing an oxygen tank and full body suit. Why not just listen through the coms of their ship? Why risk the fall?"

The Doctor frowned as he climbed, "Legend has it that the singing is so beautiful that anyone who is within distance wants to listen to them naturally. The urge to get as close as possible is so pronounced that people risked their lives just to hear them sing. Many accidentally died, of course, which is why they built the platform."

"Similar to the Sirens of Greek mythology."

"Yes. But the towers are not malicious. Just...exquisite." He glanced at River who was two steps ahead of him.

"So you HAVE been here before?" she turned and asked.

"No. I was waiting to bring you."

"I'm glad we're here now," she beamed at him. "I've always wanted to visit."

They reached the topmost observation landing, their breaths forming ice crystals in the air around them. Enormous rocky towers jutted out of the clouds, looking like tall, skinny volcanos without fire. River thought they looked a little like an enormous pipe organ, the sky their church. The Doctor took River's hand.

"Let go," she said unexpectedly, pulling her hand away from his.

"What's the matter?" He asked, concern drawing a frown on his face again as he looked around protectively.

"I want to record this. Give me a moment." River pulled a small flat device out of her coat pocket and turned it on. It glowed green for a second and then died. River pursed her lips and shook it, then tried the switch again. "It can't be dead, I just checked it before we left!"

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the recorder. Then he hit the switch again. Still nothing.

"That's odd," she said. "Do you think something out here is interfering with it?"

"Maybe," he said. The Doctor fiddled with his sonic, mindful that the towers could begin singing any minute. Then he pointed it at the recorder once more, and the green light lit up so fantastically that it illuminated a closely entangled couple standing several feet away. They protested loudly. River scrambled to help The Doctor turn it off.

"Sorry!" he called over to them, an awkward smirk playing across his lips. "Just checking that nothing FUNNY is going on over there!" The man muttered something in their direction as The Doctor tried to turn down the green light. It was on for good now, though, so he guiltily stuffed it into his pocket to hide it. He looked back to the couple, "Don't worry! Everything looks OKAY!" And he waved.

River shushed him. The air around them trembled as they turned toward the towers.

The towers sang, but the Doctor did not hear them. He only heard River's heart beating as she listened to the discordant notes, then the hitch of her breath as the towers burst out in a haunting melody. Melody Pond. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her as he watched her.

River never did anything halfway. Her eyes half-closed, her cheek resting on his coat, she allowed the music to wrap itself around her. For a moment, the Doctor was jealous of the music weaving itself around her heart. If he could find a way to become a part of her, too, he would never have to leave.

Let go, the voice inside his head whispered.

"How?" he answered.

River turned to him. "Hmm?"

The Doctor cleared his throat, whispered "Nothing," and smiled at his beautiful wife.

She turned back to the towers, and at last the Doctor heard them singing. One tower broke from the others, its aria shimmering through the last of the sun's rays as they disappeared beneath the clouds. The song pierced both the Doctor's hearts, breaking them into a million pieces. He stopped breathing, his chest twisting painfully as he hugged River. Tears ran down his face and into her hair, the salt mingling with her scent-the scent of golden sunshine. He committed each tear to memory as it fell.

"Doctor?" River twisted in his arms, a tight frown marring her forehead. "What is it, my love?"

The Doctor released River to wipe his tears with his hands. "I never thought it would be so beautiful," he said.

The other towers re-joined the song, and the music crescendoed as they sang their final notes. The Doctor put his hands on River's cheeks, looking into her eyes, his tears gone but not forgotten. Like River. He would never forget her.

"River Song," he whispered. The song hit one long stabbing note. "Each time our timelines meet, each time some future or past versions of ourselves find us staring into the face of death, you will have a choice. Will you always say yes?"

She smiled sweetly, "Always." River leaned forward and kissed a tear from his cheek. The song faded, the air still resonating with its final note. They stood in darkness. The planet had two moons, but both were dark tonight. As if to show respect for the Doctor's grief.

The couple nearby moved further into the shadows of the platform.

"Will you always ask me?" River asked.

The Doctor smiled his crooked smile, "Always."

By the time the Doctor dropped her off, he had managed enough composure to kiss her and say, "See you later." He watched River walk into her house. She turned at the door and blew him a goodbye kiss, like she always did. He smirked then stepped into the TARDIS.

He sniffed and dug around in his pockets for a handkerchief while he set coordinates for somewhere far away. His fingers hit the recorder he had stuffed in his pocket. He pulled it out, the green light still glaring at him like a one-eyed monster. He sonic'd it quiet and sank onto the bottom stair near the console as the ship screeched and hummed him to a new place.

The recorder blinked a red light. It had recorded something. Without pausing to consider, the Doctor pressed the button. The towers' song filled the TARDIS, echoing his grief throughout the ship. He listened to the entire song now, interspersed with his conversation with River. When it finished, the Doctor sought the button that would erase it. His thumb ran over it a few minutes without pressing.

"Time can be rewritten!"

"Don't you dare! Not those times . . ."

The Doctor placed it back in his coat pocket. No, not those times.