They spent the rest of the evening laughing and swapping stories. After dinner, they had moved to the sitting room where they stayed until nearly midnight. Amy and Rory eventually decided it was time to go to bed and offered River and the Doctor a room. However, River was quick to decline, saying that she should get back to prison, though the look she was giving her husband implied otherwise.
Amy just laughed and pulled her daughter into a hug.
"Well, then, Happy Christmas you two," she said before hugging the Doctor.
"Happy Christmas," he and River replied in unison.
They both hugged Rory before saying their goodbyes and making their way back to the Tardis. River quickly pressed a few buttons before the Doctor pushed her away from the console.
"I'll drive. Where would you like to go?"
River watched in amusement as he began rattling off names of many different places, some beautiful, some not so beautiful.
"You haven't been married to me long," she said, interrupting his rambling.
"Well, no," he admitted, a bit startled.
"I can tell," she grinned. "It's Christmas. You get to the room. I'll park us someplace safe and join you momentarily."
"W-what room?" he stammered.
She just winked at him and went back to flying the Tardis. He stood off to one side, frozen. She nudged him out of the way as she passed and he finally managed to start towards the staircase leading into the ship. When he reached the top of it, he turned to glare at his wife and opened his mouth to say something. Then he closed his mouth and frowned before quickly going down the stairs and making his way through the maze of corridors.
A few minutes later, River appeared in the doorway to her room. As she expected, she found the Doctor hovering over her dresser, looking uncomfortable. Making her way up to him, she slipped her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his lips. He returned the kiss a little more eagerly than he had intended to but everything about her made it difficult to control himself.
When she pulled away, she buried her face in his shoulder, hugging him close. He looked down at her in surprise.
"River, is something wrong?" he asked, pushing her back so he could see her face.
She gave him a curious glance. "Of course not. Why should something be wrong?"
But he could see she was lying. Something about the look in her eyes wasn't sincere. "River, I haven't been married to you long but I've spent enough time with you since then to know that you don't hug me we the way you are now. And--"
She interrupted him with another kiss.
"And that's another thing," he said when she had pulled away. "You kiss me a lot, but never this much when we're not . . ." He trailed off, blushing slightly. "Anyway."
River shrugged. Stepping out of his arms, she caught his hand and began pulling him towards the bed.
"You were too young to kiss me last time I saw you, now I've got to make up for it," she replied. Her tone was joking but her words brought back an image in his mind. The image of her standing in the entrance to her cell, one hand clinging to a bar, her look of surprise quickly turning to one of worry. And the words he was never meant to hear: And a last time.
"River," he breathed. He tugged her back into his arms. "I'm sorry."
She raised her eyebrows. "For what?"
He ignored her and pressed his lips to hers. His one hand slipped into her curls, pulling her closer. He felt her lips pull into a smile against his. One of her arms slipped around his neck as the other moved down his back, her fingers trailing down his spine. The Doctor let the hand that wasn't in her hair settle on her waist.
River pulled back long enough to mumble something that sounded suspiciously like "bed" before connecting their lips once more and leading him towards the item of furniture in question. They collapsed in a heap on the blankets and she managed to pull his bow tie loose but the Doctor pushed her off of him.
"You need to talk to me, honey," he said.
"About what?" she huffed.
"I want you to tell me what's wrong."
"There's nothing wrong," she insisted.
"I've got a pretty good guess as to what it is," he informed her.
"And what would that be?"
"Like you said, last time you saw me, I wasn't married to you. You couldn't even kiss me."
River's expression suggested she was about to deny it but then her eyebrows knitted into a frown and she sighed in defeat. "I never know when the last time I see you will be. You're getting younger every time I see you and when I do come across a version of you who is old enough to kiss me goodbye, I'm always afraid that that kiss could be the last."
"River, I don't want you to worry about that," he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers.
"I can't help worrying," she admitted. "I--"
He cut her off with a gentle kiss.
"I think we'll both know when it's our last kiss," he said. His mind went what she had told him before sacrificing herself. She had said the last time she had seen him was at Darillium and since he hadn't been there yet he knew he would be able to kiss her then and that would be her last kiss. Whether she'd know that or not, he wasn't sure. I suppose I'm the one who won't actually know when our last kiss will be, he realized with a start.
"I suppose you've already lived through mine," she replied dryly.
"No," he assured her. "This is the oldest version of you I've kissed so far, but I'm sure I'll see you again."
"How can you know?" she demanded.
"Spoilers," he whispered.
"But if you haven't kissed an older version of me, how can you know you will?"
"Just please trust me and don't worry any more. Okay?"
She nodded slowly, still not convinced. If the Doctor had expected her to continue the conversation, he was very wrong. Instead, in typical River fashion, she grinned at him as if they hadn't been talking at all and the next moment he found himself unable to think of anything but his wife.
The Doctor tugged River closer, burying his face in her hair. It hadn't been very long since had last seen her, but the last time they had been together they had spent the whole time running for their lives. It had been a little while since they had been able to lie in bed together.
They had fallen asleep about an hour before and the Doctor had just woken up. River was still sound asleep in his arms. Reaching up, he gently pulled her tangled hair out of her face, trying to tuck it behind her ear. However, the curls made this impossible.
"Happy Christmas, River," he whispered.
She stirred, moving closer to him. A moment later, she had rolled over, burying her face in his chest. He laughed softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. But before he could free himself from her grasp to get up and find something to do, she pulled away and her eyes fluttered, not quite opening.
"Sweetie?" she mumbled.
"Go back to sleep, you silly woman," he breathed. "You need more sleep than I do."
She pulled him closer, pressing her cheek to his chest once more. He sighed, knowing he wasn't going to be leaving the bed any time soon. However, he was glad that River was facing him now. He carefully pushed her hair away so he could see her face. It always amused him how peaceful she looked while she was asleep. Her features were relaxed, her lips pulled into a soft smile.
As he watched her, her brows formed a small frown. She began to mutter something unintelligible so he pressed a kiss to the lines between her eyebrows. Her forehead relaxed under his lips and she fell silent, her breath steadying.
The Doctor's mind went back to the first time he had been kissed by her. The look on her face when she realized he had never kissed her before was still vivid in his mind, even more than two hundred years later.
How long was it before she got to kiss me again? he wondered. I should ask her when she wakes up.
Now it was his turn to frown. No. I shouldn't. I don't want to ask her and find out that she had to wait several years, thinking she'd never get to kiss me again. Besides, she'd probably just say "spoilers". Also, if I don't know, I can still do something about it.
Suddenly, a plan had formed in his mind. A small smile tugged at his lips and he pulled his wife closer. "Oh, River," he murmured. "There's nothing to worry about." He laughed softly and kissed her head again. Nothing to worry about at all.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please vote and comment.
This chapter was okay, I guess.
Have a good day!
Bye!
Written August 29, 2019.