Title: time to grieve
Fandom: Doctor Who
Pairing: The Doctor/River Song; implied The Doctor/Reinette, implied The Doctor/Rose Tyler
Rating: T
Spoilers: 02.04 "The Girl in the Fireplace", 06.13 "The Wedding of River Song"
Summary: She hated that time goes on even when they're apart.
She found the letter in an abandoned room, the parchment gathering dust on a mahogany armoire (18th-century, neoclassic). The archaeologist in her couldn't resist; neither could the wife.
My dear Doctor, it read. River hated that flash of irrational disdain.
Even now, she always felt so young when confronted with relics of his past lovers, proof that while she remained fixed in time, he was ever constantly moving. It had nothing to do with betrayal and everything to do with jealousy.
(Betrayal was more her cup of tea anyway.)
The Doctor who found her standing there (nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine, awkward and unsure) flashed her a semblance of his usual smile.
"We're almost at Aractus," he said, leaving the room.
She was his wife—it should have been enough. Instead, River envied every other River Song who had him when she could not.
Just because River would never ask him didn't mean that he didn't know.
He saw the questions behind every teasing smile, every coy glance. What was she—and he saw every other Girl-Who-Waited, who waited like River waited (waits, will wait).
And he didn't have the answers for her.
(Rose, he whispered, fist clenched between his two hearts, oh Rose.)