Never Fade From Me (The Life & Times of River Song & The Doctor)

Never Fade From Me

A/N

I would like to thank everyone who has read, voted and commented so far. Special mention goes to:-

Ponds-Little-River, RiverSongsEcho, doctorDestinysong, RiverQueeny and riversong4ever

For being such dedicated readers and for your support and enthusiasm.

I wasn't sure where I was going with this chapter, I just carried on writing and went where my inspiration took me, so the following scenes between River and the Doctor are of an intimate nature but I believe it holds true to their love story. I hope you enjoy.

Gemma

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The sun was beginning to set across the seascape land which had formed itself around River Song's memories, the wind had died down and now the sky and the sea were bathed in an amber glow but the scene before her would always be a faded imitation and never as beautiful as the real world she went to with the Doctor. This one memory she had tried to keep away because it would hurt too much but she knew it was waiting, it would never fade from her even though she had thought of everything else in a futile attempt to evade it but her mind was too exhausted and now she gladly plunged into that memory and it was fitting that this would be the final one before she went on her way... River braced herself as she felt a surge straight into the far away past, along the way she paused to reflect on the first night of her confinement at the Stormcage, on the very same day she had "married" and then "killed" the Doctor... It was the first time she had escaped from her prison, the first of many but on that first night the Doctor had broken River out of her prison and once safely on board the TARDIS after a slightly distracted spell and even more eccentric behaviour from the Doctor, River finally got to go on that first date even if she didn't get to wear that gorgeous gold figure hugging dress as the Doctor swept her away to the exhilarating heights of Calderon Beta, just the two of them on top of a four hundred foot tall tree, watching the stars light up a night sky and seeing more stars in that moment than in any other point in history as first dates go, it was pretty darn special and so began the epic early days of River Song and the Doctor. Every time she went away with the Doctor River Song never wanted that time to end and hoped it would last forever, living the ultimate double life while she spent her days as a prisoner and her nights roaming through all of time and space with the Doctor. Sometimes he took her to so many places in one night, on one particular memorable night there was Poosh, Alfava Metraxis in its glory days before the Angels came, an early Beatles gig in the sweat dripping walls of the Cavern Club and afterwards their final gig on that infamous rooftop. Of course River knew how he did it but the delirious state it left her in, She wondered how she ever left him, sometimes it took the most staggering will power to return to her cell. And she knew the Doctor felt it too, that need to be with each other all the time, it would always be a strange relationship and pretty messed up but in the first few days of River's incarceration they were dancing around the edges of their desire and River believed that until they succumbed they would always be incomplete and living a lie.

So on the eleventh night after a fairly uneventful time at a space fairground something wonderful happened which changed their relationship forever. And this was the place that River had unknowingly recreated from her memory as she closed her eyes and remembered...

The planet was Castrella Nova in the Artrios System, Nampara Bay was a calm place at sunset but during the day it was known to be stormy and wild, on some days the entire ocean and its waves which sometimes soared up to hundreds of feet high could suddenly freeze in an instant but near sunset it was a different place. The Doctor and River walked along the deserted beach, the tide was starting to creep in as a freak snow storm lasting barely a minute rained down on them but they did not feel cold, the sun in all its diminishing glory still illuminated the beach in a fiery glow, the clifftops shone and the waves looked like they had been sprinkled with diamonds. River was bare foot, the sand still warm between her toes, her simple sunflower print dress billowing out with the wind and then clinging to her legs, the Doctor was the same as always, except his teal bow tie was slightly skewwhiff and he was carelessly dragging his tweed jacket behind him, leaving a trail in the sands. It felt like they were lost in a dream as they walked languidly beside each other but the electric space between them grew torturous, with each passing moment they wanted to hold hands and touch, anticipation, excitement and nerves all jangled in the air. River Song wondered if the Doctor had planned this all along, that Castrella Nova would be the place and the moment where everything would change between them as her heart suddenly began to race at the thought of what he might do, outwardly she appeared calm, the song "Never Let Me Go" by Florence + the Machine kept going around in her head on a constant loop, conjured up by the images before her, Florence was a particular favourite of the Doctor and they had once spent an entire evening dancing back to back to her first three albums in the TARDIS control room. River wanted to speak but could not find the words to begin, her mouth was dry as she licked her lips and still tasted the butterscotch candy floss, certain some of it had got caught in her hair. So River Song did the only thing she could think of as she suddenly stopped, unable anymore to contain the torrent of feelings rising up inside her, she gazed skywards to release some of the tension while she waited for a response from the Doctor. Realizing River was no longer beside him the Doctor abruptly stopped and walked awkwardly back to where she was standing, he smiled hesitantly, woefully out of his depth for the last time he had done this kind of romantic beach stroll thing he had just been a boy, hundreds of years ago walking along the shoreline of Gallifrey with the girl who would one day be his wife... And now it was River as he found himself faltering under the weight of this moment, his gaze unable to meet hers as he looked away, his hand shielding his inscrutable eyes while he surveyed the magnificent and imposing cliffs that exuded an eerie glow. It was up to River to make the first move as she sighed and shook her head with good natured exasperation.