"River, imagine it! Stars of every single colour spread out across the night sky like never ending 20th century Earth disco lights! Every star in the cosmos' glow changed by the atmosphere of Carymlon IV to become a spectacle of colours, every colour found and ever colour yet to be discovered and all of them in the night sky for your eyes to take in!"
The Doctor was moving around the TARDIS console, flipping switches and turning knobs, twirling as he glided awkwardly around its edges, looking like a drunken baby giraffe learning to walk.
"You see, River, the high amount of Neon gas in the atmosphere reacts with tetranylic chemicals that are exhaled from the trees to create a sort of light prism and then it expels light in every hue of every colour, making a big mish mosh of colourful beauty!"
River watched from one of the jump chairs as her whimsical husband's level of excitement rose to the point where she was sure he'd be bouncing off the walls if it weren't for the TARDIS' gravity setting.
"I'm sure it's wonderful, sweetie, but what's the big occasion? There must be a reason for such excitement over silly little stars." She said, crossing one leg over the other.
"Silly? Little? River, this is an astronomical phenomenon! There is nothing silly or little about an astronomical phenomenon!"
"Call it whatever you like, love, I'll call it what it is after I've seen it myself" she replied "But you still haven't answered the other half of my question. What's the big occasion?"
"What, I can't attempt to woo my wife with stars, just because I feel like it?"
Just then, the Doctor's movements were swiftly interrupted as River darted up towards the console and pulled a lever.
"Hey! I thought we had a deal, Doctor Song!" he exclaimed as he turned to face her "You pilot whenever there's rescuing needed and the rest of the time, it's my turn."
"This is true, but there was a rescue needed; hers." She said, clad with a smug look on her face, pointing at the TARDIS' time router.
"She was fine and most definitely not in need of rescue, River."
"I beg to differ, sweetie. You left the brakes on again. If you keep riding her with the brakes on, she will give out on you one of these days."
"But that means no noise and you know how much I love that noise!" The Doctor pouted like a pre-tantrum toddler and folded his arms across his chest.
"Sweetie, that noise is her telling you that you're doing something wrong" She walked up to him and placed a hand on his jaw, cupping lightly and began stroking her thumb against his cheek "I know how much you like it, but it's not something you want to hear."
The Doctor, still being rather childish about the fact that he didn't get to hear his noise, looked away from her and pouted even harder. River rolled her eyes and placed her hand on her hip.
"Now you were saying something about multicolor stars?" she said, trying to get him to snap back into his adventurous self.
The Doctor turned back around to face her and his pout faded into a smile. He bopped her on the nose, rose off the console and grabbed her by the hand.
"How about I just show you instead?" He said, grinning as he walked towards the TARDIS door, hand in hand with River, twirling her around once or twice along the way.
He opened the door and gestured for her to exit.
"Ladies first, as they always say."
"Oh, and what makes you think I'm a lady?" she replied with an eyebrow raise and a smirk
Her smug expression quickly changed to one of awe as soon as her eyes were set on Carymlon IV's night sky.
The Doctor chuckled lightly as he walked up right behind her and placed his hands around her waist.
"See? Astronomical phenomenon. Told you so." He whispered as she intertwined her arms with his.
"Oh, shut up." She leaned her head back against his shoulder and smiled.
They stood together, wrapped in each other's arms, for what seemed like hours. Not long after the Doctor had placed his arms around her had they started swaying to the romantic ballad that the TARDIS played to accompany the moment.
"It's beautiful." River silently said, lifting her head to see his face.
He hummed in agreement.
"Thank you, sweetie." She added, kissing him lightly on the cheek "Much better than Stormcage."
He simply smiled back. Words weren't needed at moments like these
They swayed together for much longer, neither of them making a sound. Serenity, pure and sweet, was something they rarely go to experience together, so when moments like this happened, they made sure nothing ruined them
And I want to wake up with the rain
Falling on a tin roof
While I'm safe there in your arms
So all I ask is for you
To come away with me in the night
Come away with me
The rest of the night passed by in a haze and all of it was illuminated by the multicolor sky of Carymlon IV. Things didn't get more peaceful, or perfect, than this.
They walked back to the TARDIS, hand in hand, fingers lightly interlaced. Their arms swung back and forth, the way that high school sweethearts' did.
Once inside, they walked straight for their bedroom. Most, if not all, of their nights ended this way, except tonight they weren't headed there for that reason.
They sat down next to each other on the edge of the bed, kicked off their boots and snuggled up on top of the blue satin duvet.
River laid down in her favorite spot; her head was on his chest, so she could hear the soothing combined rhythm of his two hearts, and her arms were around him. One was draped over his middle so her fingers could dance around as they pleased (or get to work if she was feeling particularly cheeky) and the other was tucked under his body, her hand lightly rubbing his side.
The Doctor was doing nearly the same. One arm was wrapped under her with his hand right at her waist, one of the many places it fit perfectly. The other was strewn just under his slowly rising and falling chest, his hand waiting for River's to refrain from its little dance and join it.
They laid there, romantically intertwined, for hours, continuing their sweet silence. The Doctor's hand eventually joined River's in its own innocent choreography, tracing sweet nothings in Gallifreyan along her side, it wasn't until both of their limbs had tired that someone finally spoke.
"You know, this bed does have other uses and this right here is one of them. I quite like this one, as a matter of fact." The Doctor threw in, his voice so low and hushed that it was nearly inaudible.
"Are you saying you don't like the other one? Because if you are, sweetie, I'll have to tell you to just put up with it." Said River, once again clad with a smug look on her face "A woman, no matter what kind and especially one locked up in prison, does have needs and those needs have to be fulfilled."
"No, no, of course not" he replied, chuckling lightly. "Between you and me, that one is my favorite. I was just saying that this use of our bed is one that I enjoy very much."
"Well, in that case," she paused her nearly silent words to look at him and then added, smiling "I completely agree."
He looked down at her beaming face and decided to join her with his own look of glee. He really did love seeing her this way. Her eyes gained a twinkle that not even the brightest star could match (he'd seen that very star, as a matter of fact, and it wasn't even close) and her lips curled upwards just shy of looking as though she was faking emotion, but enough to let anyone who saw her know that she was truly happy.
Before he knew it, those very lips were on his, pressing an innocent kiss to them. No dueling tongues or teasing bites, which were par for the course on their bed, but a chaste and romantic kiss with their lips just lightly grazing each other.
After a few more, River propped herself up on her elbow, keeping her other hand joined with his on top of his stomach.
"You know what's funny, sweetie? This is the one time you can ride something with the brakes on and not have it be something bad." She said, smirking.
"Good observation, Doctor Song. On the downside though, I still don't get my noise."
"Oh, so you've decided to be cheeky now, have you?" she added as her fingers began walking their way up his torso.
"And so what if I have, wife?"
"Oh, shut up." She flicked his red bow-tie at his smug response and sat up. "Now, I am in the mood for some tea and I intend to go make some. You may join me if you like, but if I were you and in a rather cheeky mood, I'd stay there so that I could deal with you properly afterwards. Fine with you?"
"River, I have all of time and space at my fingertips, and you expect me to stay in one place for more than five minutes?"
"Don't worry, love, there won't be much sitting once I get back."
She hung around the door a little longer after closing it to see if he was actually serious. When she didn't hear anything after a minute of waiting, she began walking towards the kitchen.
"Can't say I didn't warn him" she mumbled to herself, lightly chuckling.
The floors of the TARDIS corridors were cold beneath her feet as she paced through them. As she hung her first right (to get to the kitchen, it took two more of those, a left, another right, then two more lefts), she was met immediately with the kitchen door.
"So that makes two of you that are cheeky tonight, eh?" River said, raising an eyebrow as she opened the door.
Just as she entered the kitchen, she heard a loud, electrical noise. She thought nothing of it, telling herself that the Doctor could handle it later, and began gathering things for tea.
She filled up the kettle, placed it on the stove and pulled down the tea box to pick her flavor. Raspberry, Orange Pekoe, Mint, Chamomile, Earl Grey, Passion fruit, Green tea – she browsed through many flavors, falling on a few odd ones that she and the Doctor had picked up on their trips to various planets, then finally decided on some berry flavored one that came from a mix that Amy had gotten her last Christmas.
As she began pouring the hot water into her mug, another noise came from outside. It was closer this time, and more of a loud bang than an electric shock, so River decided to go see what was going on.
Still barefoot, she raced through the TARDIS corridors once again, this time with her plasma gun in hand.
As she reached the console room, she saw tall figure rise of the landing on the staircase. When she looked closer, she saw that it was a girl, a teenage girl, with rather familiar looking hair, but her face wasn't one she had seen before.
Not wanting to take a risk, she took matter into her own gun-wielding hands.
"Who's there? Don't you dare move or I'll shoot!"