Yowzah Oneshot Collection (3)

127(G)

                         Dancing

                  AstraPerAspera

She looked exactly as he remembered her that night. Pearls cascading around her neck, peeking out from beneath a full length cloth coat, dressed for a wedding she'd managed to not attend twice. As she closed the TARDIS door behind her he saw her slip the well-worn diary into one of the coat's generous pockets. Her past. His too, now. Its contents no longer concealing the mysterious future that had loomed before him for so long. He'd been to the beginning of the book and back again. Whatever the remaining empty pages would hold, from now on they would write it together, side by side. And even if he did know that the Byzantium and the Library were still on her horizon, there was still so much more in-between. Too much living to mourn just yet. And if nothing else, the past two hundred years had taught him that if time couldn't be rewritten then it could, at the very least, be cheated. And so he would.

But that was far far away. And this was tonight and she was stunningly beautiful and oddly melancholy as she removed her coat and tossed it over the railing, climbing the stairs to join him at the console.

"How did it go?" He tried to make it casual, tossing the question her way as he fiddled with some meaningless knob in feigned distraction.

"You know as well as I." Her voice was quiet. Subdued. Weary. And why not. She'd just been through an entire reboot of the universe. But he knew that wasn't only it.

"As I recall, you were quite cryptic." He looked her way and smiled. "And you managed to get me to propose. A bit early, if I remember correctly, but still." He pointed a finger at her. "You did say 'yes'."

Something more like her real smile pulled at her lips. "I did spin you about a bit, didn't I."

"Like a top." He edged his way near her, flipping levers. "But then you always do, dear." He beamed at her.

"Oh shut up." The smile broke full upon her face. A sun emerging from behind the clouds. And yet there was still a hint of shadow. An undercurrent of reserve. Something…amiss. Turning from him she played absently with the controls. He watched her.

"River…are you all right?" He already knew the answer, but he asked anyway. The quick glance that refused to meet his eye and the now-contrived smile were all the reply he needed. Was he just as transparent to her? Probably. Yes.

"Of course I'm all right. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

There was nothing furtive about the look of exasperation she shot his way. He'd finally worked his way over to standing beside her, and he leaned back against the console, arms crossed, waiting.

For a moment she looked as if she were about to speak, but then, with a slight shake of her head she started to step away, her hand already reaching for a lever as an excuse to escape. But he caught her arm before she slipped out of reach.

"River…."

She tensed slightly beneath his touch, as if to pull away, but then she stopped resisting and allowed herself to meet his gaze with glistening eyes. He released his grip, his hand slipping down her arm until it held hers, so warm and familiar in his grasp.

"Tell me."

The half-smile was sad.

"It's nothing." He was about to contradict her, when she continued. "Except…there are times…when I'm with him…I find myself getting lost in the story. And knowing everything that still lies ahead for him—everything he's going to have to go through…it's difficult to watch. And more difficult to be a part of, knowing I'm not able to change any of it."