Spoilers

Past and Future

The Doctor turned and started back towards the Tardis.

"See you next time. Call me," he suggested.

River watched him, an amused frown on her face.

"What? That's it?" she laughed. "What's the matter with you?"

He turned and came back towards her, his hands held out in mock confusion. "Have I forgotten something?"

A smile spread across her face. Playing hard to get, are we?

"Oh, shut up," she grinned.

Quickly catching his head in her hand, she pulled him into a kiss. She felt one of his hands resting on her shoulder. Her own hand moved from his neck to slip under his arm and rest on his back, pulling him closer. Her other hand released its grip on the bar of her cell to rest against his chest. A moment later, she realized his hand had left her arm entirely. Something felt off but she couldn't quite bring herself to break the kiss yet.

When she finally pulled away the look on his face was enough to tell her that something was definitely not right. Her one hand made its way back to grip the cell bar as a means of supporting herself.

"Right. Okay," he said. A flash of lightning lit up his confused expression. "Interesting." He scratched his cheek awkwardly.

"What's wrong?" she asked though she was dreading the answer. "You're acting like we've never done that before."

"We haven't," he replied quickly before scratching his head uncomfortably.

River felt her heart sink; a feeling of dread settling into the pit of her stomach. "We haven't?" she repeated, unconsciously taking a step back.

The Doctor quickly looked at his watch. "Oh, look at the time. Must be off," he rambled. "Um, but it was . . . very nice. It was-- It was good. It was, ah, unexpected."

He clapped his hands together before pointing at her and spinning around. Quickly making for the Tardis. She stared after him, slowly realizing just what this meant for her. He had reached his ship and was fumbling to get the door open. When he had managed, he turned to look at her once more.

"You know what they say," he grinned, looking pleased with himself. "There's a first time for everything."

He raised two fingers to his lips before pointing at her. Then he vanished into the Tardis. River let her hand slid further down the bar, unable to find the strength to keep it up where it had been.

"And a last time," she replied, realizing that this was the start of the end.

She watched numbly as the Tardis began to dematerialize, the familiar sound offering no comfort for the first time in her life. She didn't want to think about the fact that it was over but it was the only thing on her mind. The feeling of his lips still lingered on hers but it wasn't the same. He hadn't returned the kiss and she wished she had realized that sooner. She wished she had known it would be the last. If she had, she would have prolonged the kiss; held him until he returned it, until she had come to terms with the end.

But I'd have never let him go, she admitted to herself. I don't think I'll ever be ready to let him go.

She felt tears pricking the corners of her eyes but she refused to let them fall. She had always known this would happen, though she had never let herself think about it. Now she had to face it and she there was no point in crying about it. But the tears were still there, waiting to fall.

River reached up to wipe her eyes, trying to be angry with herself. She let out a heavy sigh. Letting go of the bar, she had just begun to turn back to her cell when the wheezing sound of the Tardis returned to her ears. She spun back around quickly, her eyes widening when she saw the blue box materialize right where it had been a few seconds before.