A/N: I would just like to apologise for the length of my previous chapter, I forgot to post this A/N- oops! It was going to be linked up with the chapter before it but I decided to break the chapters up...

A/N2: Okay, now on to this chapter: I wanted this one to be really dramatic and emotional at the same time. It was tough to write and I hope you still like it...

How was this possible? How could someone else be here, alive?

River pondered for a moment, this person knew her name.

The figure stepped forwards; he looked so young yet so old. His features were so defined and his eyes hold so much mystery and so many secrets.

"How did you get here, and more importantly... how on Earth do you know my name?" River quizzed him stepping closer to the figure. She glared and her eyes never left him; she studied his face trying to place him in her life.

"I'm a time traveller and I've come to save you River..." He explained. His eyes locked onto to hers and the fiery passion burned deeply, igniting his true feelings for her.

The man stepped further into the light and looked deeply into River's eyes. She was so beautiful; he had missed seeing her for so long. He couldn't if he wiped her memory clean of his existence, it just wouldn't be right.

Now he knows what it feels like to be with someone who you love passionately but, they don't even you who you are. He could feel the pain she had once felt in a different time...

"Yes I understand that, but why me?" she interrupted before he could say anymore. Her patience was growing thinner...

"You, Professor River Song, are no ordinary human." He began. "No, you are something even more brilliant... You, my dear, are a human/time-lord metacrisis and yet you survived it- the first ever metacrisis with a time-lord and you survive." He smiled at her. His arms extended in congratulations but, she just stood confused.

"What? Me, a metacrisis with a time-lord..." she stuttered in disbelief.

"Yes, and I'm the Doctor. I'm a time-lord, the last of the time-lords and I have come to save you." He explained further as he looked at the machine and stepped closer to it.

"You know me?" River realised. She followed him closer to the machine, not letting him leave her sight and she still wanted a detailed explanation.

"Yes and no... Well, either way I can't let you die here! Just remembering it is painful enough, let alone sitting back letting it happen." He mumbled the last part with a tear forming in his eye.

"But, why don't I know you?" River was growing concerned and her eyes started to water as well.

"It's complicated..." he replied. "And besides, time travellers point and laugh at archaeologists, not become them!" he joked.

River laughed, it was the most harmonic and beautiful sound the Doctor had ever heard. "Thanks." She sarcastically replied through her smile.

"Oh, and seeing as you are the only other time-lord well time-lady, you get my TARDIS when I'm gone. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space, and it's a time machine all for you." He tossed her the keys across the room. "I knew this was coming so there are notes left around to help you fly her and explain the basics, you know rules and stuff..." The Doctor grinned almost as if he knew she would say yes.

River raised a curious eyebrow at him as she fiddled with the keys.

"I threw the manual into a Supernova..." he admitted before she even asked.

"I didn't say anything." River said in her defence.

"Yes, but I knew you were going to." His eyes wondered to the floor.

"Doctor..." his name slid off of her tongue, he obviously knew her well- almost too well. She began to feel sick in her stomach, this enigmatic man just showing up and meaning so much to her in many inexplicable ways.

River's grip tightened on the keys. She didn't know what to say; after all it's not every day that a stranger gives you a time machine. Every possibility of who this mysterious man is was flowing through River's mind but, none of them seemed to fit.

River stepped towards the Doctor holding the keys tightly and now she was standing just mere inches away from him. Their height difference was quite noticeable, she was as tall as his shoulders and she looked up to his face as he looked down at her. She faintly smiled at him and the smile said 'thank you.'

The Doctor looked at her and his hearts began to ache. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her tenderly but, he knew he couldn't. She didn't know him and it wouldn't feel right, and it would make her feel hurt if she figured out who he actually was. This good bye was painful enough he didn't want to make it hurt anymore than it already did.

'Core Self-Destruct in 1:00 minute.' The computerised voice broke the moment of silence as they stared at each other for too long now.

The Doctor and River lost eye contact for a moment as the voice startled them. The gaze was soon restored as the voice drowned out and the passion was resurrected.

"...Let me do this River, please." The Doctor's voice was barely a whisper. He placed his hands on River's arms and pulled her slightly closer to him.

"I...I don't know..." she breathed as a tear finally escaped her eye. She leaned into his hold and inched closer until her body was gently pressed against his. She could feel his hearts beating gently through the layers of material they were both wearing.

The Doctor stroked River's hair comfortingly and he placed one hand on her face as she pulled her head away and looked up at him again. "... Treat the TARDIS well, and more importantly stay safe. Promise me that River?" the Doctor said as he began to lean down closer to her face.

"...I promise..." she whispered a shaky reply.

"...Good." he responded awkwardly. He sighed and started to pull away from River- resisting the urge to kiss her passionately for the last few moments of his existence.

He glanced over at the computer by the machine and the core it read 'Self-Destruct in 00:30.' And it was still counting down.

"Nearly time..." he tenderly spoke into River's ear and he pulled away and wired himself to the machine. All that was left was to connect the last two wires and the circuit would be complete. He sat down by the machine and held a wire in each hand as he waited for the last few seconds to count down.

River stood cemented to the floor, she didn't know what else to do. She watched the stranger wire himself up to his doom, replacing her.

A tear rolled down her cheek and splashed against the floor. This man, this impossible man must've meant so much to her somehow otherwise she wouldn't feel this hurt. As she tried and tried to place him in her life, the end was drawing closer and closer...

10...

9...

"But, Doctor..."

8...

7...

"Yes..." he replied flatly.

6...

5...

"There's one more thing I want to know..."

4...

3...

"Who are you really?"

2...

1...

"...Spoilers..."

He breathed just as she did the first time. But, this time was much different she was alive, not sacrificing her fragile and precious life- and that's all he wanted.

He connected the wires and a blinding white light surrounded the whole room. River shielded her eyes from the intensity and she turned her head away. She couldn't bring herself to watch another death, especially one so selfless by a complete stranger enabling her to live a longer life. He was a hero, her guardian time-lord.

And within seconds, it was done... he had done it; he had sacrificed himself to save her- the love of his life. But, he was just a dead mystery in hers...