A/N: Wow, this one gave me some grief! The chapter in general wasn't the problem, it was where to have them go! I hope it's okay! This takes place directly after chapter 6, Recipient. It's that night. I got the idea for this chapter from Wholockedanglophile, who suggested that I do a continuation of chapter 6. Enjoy! : )

8: Journey- A traveling from one place to another, usually taking a long time; a trip; a period of travel

"Hi, honey, I'm home," the Doctor exclaimed as he stepped out of the Tardis and into wife's prison cell.

"And what sort of time do you call this?" came the familiar response.

The Doctor stared as River stepped forward, a smile on her face. He had better style skills than everyone thought. She was wearing the dress he'd sent her, and she looked absolutely stunning. More so than usual, that is.

"It is 7:00, isn't it? Just like I wrote in the note?"

"You overshot your target again, sweetie. It's 7:30."

Well that's not too bad! I could have shown up next week." He walked toward River. "So how has my lovely wife been?"

"Oh, you know, like usual. I broke out yesterday to go shopping. Found some really wonderful shoes, actually. Thank you for the gift, by the way," she said, placing her arms around his neck.

"You're very welcome. Anything for you, dear! You look beautiful."

"I do like color. Red brings out my hair. Which reminds me, I have a bow tie for you."

She walked over to her bedside table and retrieved the blue makeshift ribbon from her package.

"Oh, that's right! I'd nearly forgotten I'd given you that."

River walked back over and slowly replaced his bow tie with the blue one, prolonging the action; she knew she was driving him crazy in that dress. "Wouldn't it have made more sense to send me a red bowtie? It would have matched my outfit better."

"Matching isn't cool." She muttered something back about how he has never been cool either, but he was too busy staring down at her to notice.

"There we are," she said, leaning back and straightening his bow tie. "Ready to go."

"Can't I have a kiss?" he flirted.

"You don't have to ask, sweetie, but of course."

"So what do you think?" the Doctor asked quietly as they walked toward the Eiffel Tower. He had taken her to a fancy high class restaurant in Paris right near the famous monument. They'd quietly talked and flirted all throughout dinner, and so far it all had seemed very romantic, which was exactly what he'd aimed for.

"I think this is wonderful," River replied.

He smiled and reached for her hand. "So I did a good job?"

"You always do," she said as she straightened his bowtie.

They stopped when they reached the second floor of the Tower, the Doctor leading the way to the railing. The couple looked out at the blue night sky, the river, and the buildings lit up like stars.

"You've never taken me here before. I've never been," River said in awe. "It's gorgeous."

"You're gorgeous," he whispered in her ear, placing his arm around her waist. She kissed him suddenly, and they stood together looking off the Eiffel Tower for hours.

When they decided it was getting late, they made their way back down to the Tardis. Once they reached their location, however, they discovered a problem.

"Sweetie… Where is the Tardis?" River asked, turning to face him.

"We parked her right here, she… she should be here."

"Well, she's not."

"She was when we left!"

"Yes, I know that, I was there for that bit! She must have moved."

"I don't see why. And, where?" the Doctor said as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and soniced the area where the ship had been. "There's still time energy here. I should be able to use that to track where she is. This shouldn't take long."

River sat down on a step, chin resting on her hand, and looked at her husband. Sure enough, a few minutes later she heard his exclamation of "Aha!" and saw him reading the results.

"Let's see here… Oh." She could tell by his tone that it wasn't good. "We may have a slight predicament."

"Please tell me we're not stranded here."

"Um… The Tardis is in Alaska."

"That is more than a slight predicament! Are you sure you read the data right? You should have had me do it. Let me see." He handed her the screwdriver and she read the results, confirming what he had said. "Great."

"You wouldn't happen to have you vortex manipulator, would you, dear?" He tried to be careful with his wording. This could go one of two ways: she would either be really angry with him or she would laugh.

"I left it in the Tardis." So it was somewhere in between the two.

"Well then, I suppose we'll have to do this the long way. We'll stay in a hotel tonight and take a flight to North America the day after tomorrow."

"And then trek across Alaska to find the Tardis."

"Yep! It'll be fun, almost like a vacation. Now, let's get to a hotel. We have a long journey ahead of us."

Hand in hand, they walked to the nearest hotel, glad to have the extra time together and even more glad that the Tardis hadn't moved to another time period.