Chapter Text
The TARDIS crashes into a clearing.
"That, was deliberate" the Doctor announced, pointing triumphantly at absolutely nothing
River didn't even look up from her diary "Mhm"
the doctor looked at her "I heard mocking from that 'Mhm'"
"well you heard correctly."
The Doctor wandered around the console, fiddling with levers that didn't need fiddling.
"Honestly, River. After all these years, you'd think you'd trust me."
She smiled without looking at him "I trust you, but.."
"I don't trust your parking"she singsonged
He looked offended "The TARDIS has a character, it's not my driving, and i drive fine enough thank you!"
River closed her diary, finally looking up just to see him struggles in the console "She has collisions, and no its not your driving yes! but it has to do with you not reading the tardis manual"
"Where's the fun in reading a boring manual"
" Whatever you say Sweetie "
The Doctor just rolls his eye's and ignores her while he checks the scanner, for that he actually ends up finding something
"Oh." he knits his eyebrows
River smirks "That 'oh' is never good."
"No, it's a little good...?"
"oh , It's definitely not!" her smirk turned into a giggle
He grins "Ok fine , but it's just minor temporal hiccup."
River sighs dramatically "Translation?"
"Someone's accidentally invented tomorrow before today, wait actually it might not have been accidental , eh.. who knows let's do an adventure " he announced
"...Again?"
"yep! Again amazing right new adventure with me" he says excitedly
river laughed at his respose
then silence
The Doctor clears his throat and looks at river then the console. "Right."
River raises an eyebrow "Right?"
"Dinner?" he asked
She blinks.
He remembered.
He actually remembered.
River smiles. " What your just gonna ignore what happened ,the amazing thing? the adventure?"
he frowned playfully " i made a promise...to..you , and besides it's not that bad i can fix it later"
"I was beginning to think I'd imagined that promise."
"River Song. how cruel of you" He puts a hand over both hearts. "Have I ever broken a promise?"
River just stares at him, then she raised her eyebrows
He thinks for a second.
"Wait...dont answer that"
She laughed again
But then.
A distress signal.
The Doctor looks at River, looks back at the monitor
River already knows what he's thinking. She smiles but not quite reaching her eyes "Go." she says
He hesitates. "Dinner?"
"i can wait, but just be quick"
"yes i can be quick."
River laughs. "Sweetie... i was joking you're never quick."
He still grins. "Wait for me?"
River rolls her eyes. "I usually do."
----☆ミ
The Doctor dropped off river to a restaurant,
then the Doctor disappeared into the TARDIS,
and River watches the blue box vanish. Still smiling. Still sad,
then she checks her watch, just waiting for him,
a minute has passed, she checked her watch again, even tho she doesn't need to, she,s a timelady time is in her mind
but then fifteen minutes has passed
and thirty minutes
she checked again, now disappointment rising in her heart, he has a timemachine for gosh sake, she thinks
an hour had passed, by then a waiter approached but she just said she is still waiting for someone before ordering , she changed tables when the time made it in two hours without him still arriving , and now River is sitting outside the restaurant, reading.
Now it had been four hours, the same waiter comes over to her again"Would you like anything else you been waiting for a while now, Professor?"
River smiles politely. "No, thank you." Then She checks her watch.
She,s doesn't look annoyed, she actually looks amused, yes! weirdly amused
"He's late. he is always like that"
The waiter nods agreeing to her foolishness for waiting on someone who might not even remember her birthday
"Should we... keep your reservation seat inside?" The waiter ask
River laughs"It's the Doctor" she says suddenly
The waiter looks confused at her antic's "...Should I know who that is?"
"No" She smiles to herself "Honestly, neither should he"
Six Hours passed, she completely gives up , she orders food, then a drink then another drink.
After that she starts reading again distracting her self from the thought he forgot her , and didn't even use the TARDIS to come to her on time
She sighed 'she isn't angry, this isn't unusual, she's used to this' she tells herself
Meanwhile...
The Doctor is absolutely drowning in chaos, an alien market, a collapsing moon, a Sontaran yelling, the Doctor running through explosions.
It feels like a completely normal Tuesday
He finally checks his psychic paper. Tucked inside...A note..Dinner, River.
He freezes. "...Oh. uhm.."
Without hesitation he races back, completely forgetting to set the time coordination to where river only waited one minutes
So when he arrived the restaurant is almost empty.
'no no no ' he thinks ' this is bolocks '
The workers are stacking chairs.
But River is still there, still reading, how???
The Doctor bursts through the doors, hair ridiculous, bow tie crooked, and out of breath
"River!" He shouted
She looks up, then smiles "Hello, Sweetie, missed me probably not."
The Doctor exhales "I am so, so sorry"
She closes the book "Oh you remembered"
"Eventually." he says it like its not important and River,s expression did not change so he laughs nervously.
She stands. "Well..." She picks up her coat. "Good night, Doctor." She starts walking.
The Doctor blinks caught of guard "...River?"
She stops and turns, while still smiling she said "Yes?"
Her calm voice seems really scary
"Aren't... aren't we having dinner?" he ask safely while scratching his chin
River tilts her head "We were" then she walks away
The Doctor catches up, not panicking
Well not yet, actually he doesn't panic, wait does he?
He genuinely thinks she's joking
"River" he shouted
"Doctor" she responds still smiling its just, it looks and sounds scary like it would kill you
"Come on lets have dinner" the doctor offers
"I am" she rejects
"No, you're walking away."
"Very observant, but didn't observed the time, and the fact that you have a time machine to begin with" she said still calmly
"River..." He says defeatedly
"You forgot..." So much disappointment in her tone
But it's not accusing...Just...True.
she walks into the night, leaving the Doctor standing alone
she hate it when the doctor is younger, it's that the Doctor doesn't yet understand why this promise mattered so much
---☆ミ
The Doctor catches up with River outside the restaurant
She's walking through the city, she's not storming off, just... walking, so there's so much chance for him to do something
He falls into step beside her "You're really cross, arent you?"
River doesn't look at him. "Am I?"
"Tiny bit." he scrached his chin
"Sooooo! observant! " she says tone sarcastic while rolling her eyes
He grins. "See? There you are."
River glances at him. "Where?"
"That. Sarcasm. Means you're nearly over it."
She stops walking.
The Doctor almost keeps going before realizing she's no longer beside him.
He turns.
River folds her arms."You think I'm nearly over it?"
"...Well..."
She sighs "Sweetie" So many sighs today..
His smile grows
River sighs. "You really don't know anything huh"
The Doctor frowns."...Know what?"
know that? Really what question is that..
River isn't trying to win the argument
She's trying to understand him
she sighs "Did you forget?"
The Doctor answers honestly. "...Yes."
No excuses.tly.
From husband
...to the Doctor.
And River notices, she always does
And she felt just with a that tiny flicker of disappointment that says, There he goes again, Saving the universe completely forgetting me.
Except this time...He has to.
And neither of them knows that before the next sunrise, one of them will lose something they can never remember having lost.
and The Cloister Bells don't ring
They scream.
The Doctor freezes."No..."
River's expression became worried "What's wrong?"
The Doctor is already running for the TARDIS. "Stay here"
River raises an eyebrow "Absolutely not"
She follows him inside.
The TARDIS is behaving strangely, the lights flicker, the Time Rotor isn't moving properly, the Cloister Bells won't stop, and the scanner is full of static.
The Doctor works frantically, he looks so worried
River watches and it worries her too so she shouted "Doctor!"
But no answer
"Doctor!!"
Still nothing.
So she just grabs his wrist, it worked he finally looks at her.
She has never seen him look afraid like this "Talk."
"...Something's rewriting history."
River blinks.
"...Can it? Do that?"
"Yes but it shouldn't."
The scanner clears for a second, but then a Gallifreyan symbol flashes across the screen, then disappears
The Doctor's face falls "...No."
River notices"You know what that means?"
He lies."No."
She immediately knows he's lying.
The TARDIS shakes violently, books fall from the shelves, the console sparks.
And suddenly the Cloister Bells stop
Everything goes quiet, too quiet
The Doctor checks every monitor.
Nothing, no paradox, no explosion, no damaged timeline, everything...Looks normal, but he didn't sighed in relief
River exhales "So...?"
The Doctor doesn't answer, he keeps staring at the screen.
Because...Whatever happened...
Already happened.
He forces a smile.
"False alarm."
River doesn't believe him "Doctor." She warned
"We're fine." He protest
"You're lying again."
He looks at her, expression forced "Only a little."
She sighs. "You really should stop doing that."
He raised both his arms "I've tried, but then again apologies"
Everything seems normal.
River casually slips her hand into his.
The Doctor relaxes into her hand.
And they walk away.
And without either of them noticing...
River lets go first.
Just...A tiny, unconscious movement, barely noticeable unless your monitoring her
The Doctor doesn't notice of course , but i hope he will.
---☆ミ
hours had passed and now River is writing in her diary.
(The Doctor was late.)
She pauses.
Normally she'd write something witty.
Instead...Nothing comes. She frowns, that's odd, she thinks
She writes anyway.
(We argued. We made up.)
She stares at the page. "...Did we?" She shakes her head, then closes the diary.
Moves on.
Meanwhile...
The Doctor is making tea in the TARDIS. He's humming. He's relieved.
The fight is over, everything is okay.
River walks in the tardis kichen "Doctor."
He light's up "Morning!"
She greets him with the same enthusiasm "Morning!"
He waits.
...
Nothing.
He blinks."...That's it?"
River looks confused "What?"
He laughs "Nothing."
This is the first time...She doesn't call him Sweetie... or kiss him in the cheek....whats wrong is it? Because...
"No!" He shakes her head
He didn't any think of it.
"Doctor what's wrong!? You suddenly shouted 'no!' out of nowhere, but knowing you its probably nothing" she says grinning
"Yeah...no!, your right! it's nothing just forgot something, hehe, but its probably fine.....to—forget it again " he gestures no with his hands and smiles afterward
---☆ミ
A day has passed they go on another adventure.
A fun one, there's some banter, and honestly River is still River,
Confident.
Brilliant.
Sarcastic.
but something is wrong
She just...Doesn't flirt, not even once...
The Doctor starts talking very quickly about some alien ruins.
River interrupts "You're adorable when you're explaining things." While fixing his bowtie
The Doctor laughs "Adorable?"
She tilts her head."...Is that strange?"
"...You usually call me impossible or—or sentimental"
"...Do I?"
He frowned
Then she laughs."Perhaps I'm getting softer with age."
The Doctor laughs too. He doesn't think anything of it.
---☆ミ
Later...
The Doctor gets injured.
Just a cut on his hand.
River immediately grabs it, Bandages it.
Professional.
Efficient.
Gentle.
But...
Different..?!
Whats different? He cannot seem to find what's wrong
The Doctor watches her."...You're very good at that."
She smiles."I've had practice."
And she finishes, then let's go.
let's go! she let go , she just, was finished
Weird, she's not like that, is she?
Normally...She would've kissed his hand. Or teased him. Or made a joke.
Instead...She just walks away.
And The Doctor just watches her go.
For the first time...Something doesn't feel right.He can't explain it.
Well not yet.
---☆ミ
when they got back to the tardis The Doctor opens the TARDIS doors.
"Ladies first." he says smirking
River smiles politely. "Thank you." then she walks in
The Doctor stands there...Frowning.
what was that ' he thinks
And very quietly, he whispered to himself: "...She didn't call me Sweetie..."