AU memes - 3 fics
A/N: So I'm doing an AU meme thing over at Tumblr, and writing a ficlet and making a graphic for each. (Graphics here if you are interested after.) But I thought I'd post them here too, because hey - not everyone has a Tumblr. (WHY? WHY NOT? IT IS NARNIA. FUCKING MAGICAL.)
Title: if your hands are bloodied than so shall mine be
Characters/AU setting: River/Doctor, Shakespeare ( I chose Macbeth)
Wordcount: 430
Rating: K
“I don’t know if I can do this, River.”
She watched her husband pace the floor, wringing his hands and flinching at the slightest noise. She remained still, watching him patiently, knowing that to attempt to comfort him now would only agitate him further. “It was foretold, my love.”
“Death? Murder? Betraying our Lord President? How is any of that written in the stars?” He stopped, staring at her intently and she moved closer, taking his hand in hers.
“This war has been going on far too long, Doctor. You know it and I know it. Raissilon would see the entire galaxy destroyed before he is through. All of time and all of space. Doctor… what else can we do? He must be stopped. You heard the soothsayers words - destruction will be brought upon us all if he should succeed.” She lifted her hand to his face, stroking it gently and wiping away the tears she found there.
“This isn’t who I am, River. I’m the Doctor. I don’t take lives. I save them.”
“Doctor means many things in many languages, my love. Healer, wise man, warrior. Protector. And what are you if not that? Our race must be protected, and it must be protected from him.” She spoke in a low voice and he leaned into her touch, his eyes pleading with hers.
“Is there not any other way?”
“We cannot overthrow him - the High Council would refuse. You know this to be true. Death is our only option.” She swallowed, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him.
“And if we’re found out? What then River? I’m incarcerated for murder and you’re left alone.” His whisper stirred the curls in her hair and she shook her head fiercely in denial.
“After all this time - all these lives lived together, you think I’d let you do this alone? No my love, if your hands are bloodied than so shall mine be. I will not leave you to do this on your own. And if - if we are caught…”
He looked down at her, leaning forward to press a kiss to her mouth, swift and biting, like he wanted to punish her for her convictions, and maybe a small part of him did. His lips softened over hers and she moaned, her hands clutching at him in desperation. He pulled back, his breathing heavy. “And if we’re caught?”
“Then we’ve saved them all from a fate worse than death. And I’ll gladly pay the price, so long as I’m with you, my love.”
Title: boy genius
Characters/AU setting: River/Doctor, modern day crime drama
Wordcount: 1252
Rating: K+
1.
“I don’t need a partner.”
“Your last five partners have left-“
“Not my fault, by the way. I can’t help it if they can’t keep up. The last bloke couldn’t even make it past the crime scene.”
“You need someone to keep you in check, Doctor. Brilliant though you may be, you’re rubbish with the victims and I’ve found someone who-“
“I do the best thing possible for the victims! I find them justice. Now if that means I don’t have time to hold their hands or-“
“Your job Doctor is to provide security and protection. First and foremost - even while working homicide. Now I’ve found someone who I think can handle you.”
xx
“I don’t understand, sir.”
“Transfer, Song. Effective immediately so you can drop those files off and pack your things. You’re going over to Homicide.”
“Homicide, sir?”
“I know you’ve been gunning for it, Song.”
“But I don’t have the time in-“
“Your solve rate is excellent, and your work with the victim’s unit has been exemplary.”
“I’ve been begging for this posting for months and kept getting turned away. Why now?”
“Keeping this job depends entirely on you, River. Your partner is… well, he’s notoriously difficult, to be frank. Best solve rate in the entire city - but he’s short-tempered and doesn’t play well with others.”
“Sounds like a dream,”
“Well, you never know. Maybe he just needs someone who won’t take his shit. Can you be that someone?”
“I absolutely can. Who will I be working with?”
“The Doctor.”
2.
He was sat behind his desk, typing furiously and stopping occasionally to scribble on the notepad next to him. She glanced around his office - cluttered and messy - books everywhere and several crime scene shots pinned erratically around the walls. It looked a bit chaotic, but she smoothed her blouse and knocked on the door frame before entering.
He didn’t even look up. She walked in anyway - a little rudeness wasn’t going to stop her. “You must be the Doctor.”
He still didn’t respond. She narrowed her eyes at him, but he seemed completely engrossed in whatever was on his screen. She propped a hand on her hip and cleared her throat, loudly. Still nothing.
She waited a moment, before deciding he was just being plain childish, so she lifted her foot and kicked him under his desk. Hard. He glared up at her. “Oy! I am working here. Who the hell are you?”
“Well, if you’d responded when I knocked, or came in, then you wouldn’t be in this predicament would you?” She bit back, but inwardly she was cataloguing him - from his floppy brown hair to his square glasses to his loosened tie. He was actually quite good-looking in a floppy sort of way, she decided.
“Who’s being rude now? I asked who you were.” He pointed out, and she felt him glance over her just as thoroughly as she had him. She’d heard so much about him - brilliant mind, but anti-social.
“I’m your new partner.” He laughed out loud at that, and shook his head.
“No. No you’re not.”
“Why not?” He arched a brow and looked her over again.
“Look at you. I can’t have a partner with the-” he waved a hand over his hair and she glared at him in response. “You’re in a skirt.”
“I don’t dress like this for cases-“
“Oh so that bit’s just for me then?” He grinned and she flushed, her glare intensifying.
“Oh, I hate you already.”
“They all do.”
3.
“There’s no common thread - nothing at all that ties the victims together!” He had papers spread all around them and a frown on his face.
“There has to be something.”
“Yes, well, as mightily helpful as that is, Song - unless you happen to magically know where our killer would be selecting his victim’s from - I really can’t see how that would-” She kicked him sharply under the table and glared at him. He looked shocked, and she felt shocked too - but something about him drove her mad. And to physical violence apparently.
“I hate you.” She glared and he shook his head with a sigh.
“I know.”
4.
“Did you stay here all night?” She stood in the doorway, looking at him sprawled across the couch in his office. He rubbed his eyes and blinked wearily.
“Can’t go home. Too much to do.”
“You told me to go home, you daft man!” She walked further into the room, placing his coffee cup on the table as she shoved at his slim hip until he edged over enough that she could sit on the couch beside him. “You need sleep too you know. Proper sleep.”
“Six weeks ago you’d have kicked me in the shins and told me to get the hell up.” He pointed out, looking up at her with a slight grin.
“I’m still thinking about it.” She spoke dryly and he laughed.
“No, you aren’t.” He spoke with confidence and she hated him - because she knew he was right. Six weeks and three cases later and they were finally finding their groove. He was absurdly charming when he wanted to be, but also so seriously intent about his work that he came off as aloof. And he was brilliant. Really, genuinely so - she’d never seen anyone make the leaps and bounds his mind did.
“Drink your coffee, and shut up.” She spoke indulgently and he grinned, reaching his hand out and brushing it against her hip as he grabbed his cup and sat up. She closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them and watching him take a sip. “You need to take better care of yourself, Doctor.”
“Isn’t that what I have you for, Song?”
“Oh, I hate you.” She ground out, shoving him in the ribs and he grinned.
“I know.”
5.
They always spun theories as they sat in his office, surrounded by photos of evidence and witness reports. Sometimes he would shoot hers down unceremoniously. Sometimes she caught him unawares - with a sheer moment of insight. Sometimes she shot his down in flames.
He was terrible at the small day-to-day details. He saw the larger picture, saw the crime and the players like little game pieces on a chess board - but he often lost sight of the people. She never did.
He was grinning, bursting at the seams with his latest insight of sheer brilliance and she was staring ahead, mulling his idea over in shock. It all made perfect sense.
“You’ve got that face on again, Song.” He grinned over at her and she stared at him warily.
“What face?”
“The he’s hot when he’s clever face.” He looked incredibly smug and she looked over at him, leaning in a bit.
“It’s my normal face.” She breathed the words out, and he glanced down at her, his gaze flickering from her eyes to her mouth.
“Yeah it is.”
“Oh I hate you.” She said it regularly enough, and his response was always the same. He knew. This time though, he leaned in even closer, looking her in the eye.
“No. You really don’t.”
She swallowed harshly in surprise. The room stilled around them, and he came closer and closer, until she could feel his breath on her cheek. She smiled suddenly and he frowned. She pulled him toward her with a laugh.
“Well, it’s about time you figured that out, boy genius.”
Title: legends
Characters/AU setting: River/Doctor, 1920's bank robbers a la Bonnie and Clyde
Wordcount: 1211
Rating: K+
They are legends.
Everyone knows the stories of the Doctor and his Song - bank robberies and petty theft - con jobs and murders. Everyone has heard about the charming man who could rob an old lady blind, and his gun-slinging moll who always had his back.
The only two people who know the actual story though - are them. And they will tell you it’s not a story about murder or robbery or mayhem.
This is a love story.
Plain and simple.
xx
She met him at her parents’ of all places. One thing you need to know about River Song is that she was a good girl. Well, certainly not the best girl, but she’d kept out of trouble for the most part. But the Doctor arrived one blustery cold day in December, strolling through her parent’s back garden like he owned every inch of the ground he stepped on. She was standing at the kitchen sink, washing the mugs from tea while her mother nattered on about a visitor - someone her Dad had known in ‘the old days’. Which of course, always meant the war - but they never called it that.
She looked up through the window, and saw her father embracing the young man in their garden. He had floppy hair and a rakish sort of charm about him. Something in his smile spoke to her of secrets and shadows and she felt a thrill go through her.
He looked past her father and met her eyes through the window.
And just like that, River Song was in love.
xx
It’s not as though they’d intended to become criminals.
They hadn’t. But the Depression was hard, and she’d left home just to be with him, against her parents’ wishes. She didn’t regret a thing. She kept a small leather bound book that she wrote everything down in - stories of how they tramped around - all across the country and beyond. They never settled - the Doctor was amazing. Amazing. But he had a darkness in him that she recognized - and he could never stay too long in any one place. ‘That’s when the memories catch up with you River.’
He tried to send her home a thousand different times. Told her he was no good, and she deserved so, so much better. But what could possibly be better than him? Nothing, her heart whispered fiercely. ‘You deserve to stand in one place for more than three days, River. This isn’t a life for someone like you. You - you’re amazing. Precious.’
‘Only to you, my love. And I’d run anywhere - as long as it’s with you.’ He found odd jobs when he could. She’d wait tables when she could find places looking for help. But the money ran out long before their feet got tired and she refused to ask her parents for help.
She found an old gun by a dumpster - didn’t even work. But his eyes had gleamed and they stopped at the next gas station and made away with one free tank of gas, eighteen dollars and a lifetime’s worth of exhilaration.
Every journey starts with one small step.
xx
They crossed the country - knocking over convenience stores and gas stations. The thrill was exciting, set their hearts pounding and he’d laugh and press kisses against her skin, swear that he’d only ever love her as he worshipped her body afterward. She knew he meant every word he said - saw it in his eyes, felt it in the way he touched her skin - he handled her like she was the most precious thing in his life.
Eventually they got bored. Restless, and his eyes lit up when she suggested a con this time, not a robbery. ‘Money without guns? A challenge. I like it, River.’ They’d spent a while working those - laughing mercilessly about how he had a face you could trust, and she had talents of her own, though he hated when she used her body to sway strange men. ‘You’re mine.’ he would whisper against her lips and throat and shoulders and breasts later.
She never disagreed.
xx
They got married in Vegas, signed the register and kissed the bride, and robbed the chapel blind.
xx
He was itching for more though, and she could see it in his eyes so the next town, she sat them at a sidewalk cafe, drinking coffee while he read the newspaper and commented about the absolute shit of a world they lived in. She nodded demurely, sipped her coffee and watched the bank across the street.
They drove away three days later with adrenaline singing through their blood and four thousand dollars in the boot of their car.
xx
He’d never meant to hurt anyone, she knew.
It was never part of their plan. They liked fooling everyone. They liked the thrill and the cash didn’t hurt either. But the police had been so close this time, and they’d opened fire. She was driving, and her hat got shot off of her head, and the Doctor - well, nobody hurt her without consequence. He’d opened fire on the three cars behind them, his anger raining down in a hail of bullets and gun smoke.
Three officers died.
He’d cried into her neck that night, as she held him close and pressed kisses all over every inch of his face she could reach. He’d whispered ‘I’m sorry.’ into her skin and she smoothed her hands across his back and gave him the only absolution he’d ever sought - hers.
xx
They were wanted after that. Never stayed more than a day in any one place, and the police tried, so hard to trap them. Corner them, catch them. But she’d push the pedal to the floor and he’d smile at her from the passenger seat, a machine gun in his hands and she nodded in agreement. ‘There’s always a way out.’ He whispered the words before opening fire and the police would stare as they barrelled through impossible odds, wheels squealing and guns blazing.
There was no accepting defeat for River and the Doctor.
xx
It’s a story no one talks about. And nobody tells this story as a romantic tale but the two of them. They ran and ran until the pavement burned their feet, but the saddest thing about every story is that they have to end.
There was always a way out for them - but eventually their escape routes ran out. It was a flat tire, and then another shot out as their car squealed into a tailspin on an abandoned route. She’d swallowed, and looked at him with fear in her eyes, but he’d kissed her and told her - they weren’t going to go to prison. Not them.
They’d kicked out the back window and gunned down five men before one of the policemen shot at the gas tank.
When their bodies were discovered, they’d been wrapped up together - mounds of burning cash and clothes in the trunk, and one small leather book that told the only love story they’d ever known or cared about, pages curling with flame and turning to ash alongside them.
xx
They were legends.
Title: if your hands are bloodied than so shall mine be
Characters/AU setting: River/Doctor, Shakespeare ( I chose Macbeth)
Wordcount: 430
Rating: K
“I don’t know if I can do this, River.”
She watched her husband pace the floor, wringing his hands and flinching at the slightest noise. She remained still, watching him patiently, knowing that to attempt to comfort him now would only agitate him further. “It was foretold, my love.”
“Death? Murder? Betraying our Lord President? How is any of that written in the stars?” He stopped, staring at her intently and she moved closer, taking his hand in hers.
“This war has been going on far too long, Doctor. You know it and I know it. Raissilon would see the entire galaxy destroyed before he is through. All of time and all of space. Doctor… what else can we do? He must be stopped. You heard the soothsayers words - destruction will be brought upon us all if he should succeed.” She lifted her hand to his face, stroking it gently and wiping away the tears she found there.
“This isn’t who I am, River. I’m the Doctor. I don’t take lives. I save them.”
“Doctor means many things in many languages, my love. Healer, wise man, warrior. Protector. And what are you if not that? Our race must be protected, and it must be protected from him.” She spoke in a low voice and he leaned into her touch, his eyes pleading with hers.
“Is there not any other way?”
“We cannot overthrow him - the High Council would refuse. You know this to be true. Death is our only option.” She swallowed, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him.
“And if we’re found out? What then River? I’m incarcerated for murder and you’re left alone.” His whisper stirred the curls in her hair and she shook her head fiercely in denial.
“After all this time - all these lives lived together, you think I’d let you do this alone? No my love, if your hands are bloodied than so shall mine be. I will not leave you to do this on your own. And if - if we are caught…”
He looked down at her, leaning forward to press a kiss to her mouth, swift and biting, like he wanted to punish her for her convictions, and maybe a small part of him did. His lips softened over hers and she moaned, her hands clutching at him in desperation. He pulled back, his breathing heavy. “And if we’re caught?”
“Then we’ve saved them all from a fate worse than death. And I’ll gladly pay the price, so long as I’m with you, my love.”
Title: boy genius
Characters/AU setting: River/Doctor, modern day crime drama
Wordcount: 1252
Rating: K+
1.
“I don’t need a partner.”
“Your last five partners have left-“
“Not my fault, by the way. I can’t help it if they can’t keep up. The last bloke couldn’t even make it past the crime scene.”
“You need someone to keep you in check, Doctor. Brilliant though you may be, you’re rubbish with the victims and I’ve found someone who-“
“I do the best thing possible for the victims! I find them justice. Now if that means I don’t have time to hold their hands or-“
“Your job Doctor is to provide security and protection. First and foremost - even while working homicide. Now I’ve found someone who I think can handle you.”
xx
“I don’t understand, sir.”
“Transfer, Song. Effective immediately so you can drop those files off and pack your things. You’re going over to Homicide.”
“Homicide, sir?”
“I know you’ve been gunning for it, Song.”
“But I don’t have the time in-“
“Your solve rate is excellent, and your work with the victim’s unit has been exemplary.”
“I’ve been begging for this posting for months and kept getting turned away. Why now?”
“Keeping this job depends entirely on you, River. Your partner is… well, he’s notoriously difficult, to be frank. Best solve rate in the entire city - but he’s short-tempered and doesn’t play well with others.”
“Sounds like a dream,”
“Well, you never know. Maybe he just needs someone who won’t take his shit. Can you be that someone?”
“I absolutely can. Who will I be working with?”
“The Doctor.”
2.
He was sat behind his desk, typing furiously and stopping occasionally to scribble on the notepad next to him. She glanced around his office - cluttered and messy - books everywhere and several crime scene shots pinned erratically around the walls. It looked a bit chaotic, but she smoothed her blouse and knocked on the door frame before entering.
He didn’t even look up. She walked in anyway - a little rudeness wasn’t going to stop her. “You must be the Doctor.”
He still didn’t respond. She narrowed her eyes at him, but he seemed completely engrossed in whatever was on his screen. She propped a hand on her hip and cleared her throat, loudly. Still nothing.
She waited a moment, before deciding he was just being plain childish, so she lifted her foot and kicked him under his desk. Hard. He glared up at her. “Oy! I am working here. Who the hell are you?”
“Well, if you’d responded when I knocked, or came in, then you wouldn’t be in this predicament would you?” She bit back, but inwardly she was cataloguing him - from his floppy brown hair to his square glasses to his loosened tie. He was actually quite good-looking in a floppy sort of way, she decided.
“Who’s being rude now? I asked who you were.” He pointed out, and she felt him glance over her just as thoroughly as she had him. She’d heard so much about him - brilliant mind, but anti-social.
“I’m your new partner.” He laughed out loud at that, and shook his head.
“No. No you’re not.”
“Why not?” He arched a brow and looked her over again.
“Look at you. I can’t have a partner with the-” he waved a hand over his hair and she glared at him in response. “You’re in a skirt.”
“I don’t dress like this for cases-“
“Oh so that bit’s just for me then?” He grinned and she flushed, her glare intensifying.
“Oh, I hate you already.”
“They all do.”
3.
“There’s no common thread - nothing at all that ties the victims together!” He had papers spread all around them and a frown on his face.
“There has to be something.”
“Yes, well, as mightily helpful as that is, Song - unless you happen to magically know where our killer would be selecting his victim’s from - I really can’t see how that would-” She kicked him sharply under the table and glared at him. He looked shocked, and she felt shocked too - but something about him drove her mad. And to physical violence apparently.
“I hate you.” She glared and he shook his head with a sigh.
“I know.”
4.
“Did you stay here all night?” She stood in the doorway, looking at him sprawled across the couch in his office. He rubbed his eyes and blinked wearily.
“Can’t go home. Too much to do.”
“You told me to go home, you daft man!” She walked further into the room, placing his coffee cup on the table as she shoved at his slim hip until he edged over enough that she could sit on the couch beside him. “You need sleep too you know. Proper sleep.”
“Six weeks ago you’d have kicked me in the shins and told me to get the hell up.” He pointed out, looking up at her with a slight grin.
“I’m still thinking about it.” She spoke dryly and he laughed.
“No, you aren’t.” He spoke with confidence and she hated him - because she knew he was right. Six weeks and three cases later and they were finally finding their groove. He was absurdly charming when he wanted to be, but also so seriously intent about his work that he came off as aloof. And he was brilliant. Really, genuinely so - she’d never seen anyone make the leaps and bounds his mind did.
“Drink your coffee, and shut up.” She spoke indulgently and he grinned, reaching his hand out and brushing it against her hip as he grabbed his cup and sat up. She closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them and watching him take a sip. “You need to take better care of yourself, Doctor.”
“Isn’t that what I have you for, Song?”
“Oh, I hate you.” She ground out, shoving him in the ribs and he grinned.
“I know.”
5.
They always spun theories as they sat in his office, surrounded by photos of evidence and witness reports. Sometimes he would shoot hers down unceremoniously. Sometimes she caught him unawares - with a sheer moment of insight. Sometimes she shot his down in flames.
He was terrible at the small day-to-day details. He saw the larger picture, saw the crime and the players like little game pieces on a chess board - but he often lost sight of the people. She never did.
He was grinning, bursting at the seams with his latest insight of sheer brilliance and she was staring ahead, mulling his idea over in shock. It all made perfect sense.
“You’ve got that face on again, Song.” He grinned over at her and she stared at him warily.
“What face?”
“The he’s hot when he’s clever face.” He looked incredibly smug and she looked over at him, leaning in a bit.
“It’s my normal face.” She breathed the words out, and he glanced down at her, his gaze flickering from her eyes to her mouth.
“Yeah it is.”
“Oh I hate you.” She said it regularly enough, and his response was always the same. He knew. This time though, he leaned in even closer, looking her in the eye.
“No. You really don’t.”
She swallowed harshly in surprise. The room stilled around them, and he came closer and closer, until she could feel his breath on her cheek. She smiled suddenly and he frowned. She pulled him toward her with a laugh.
“Well, it’s about time you figured that out, boy genius.”
Title: legends
Characters/AU setting: River/Doctor, 1920's bank robbers a la Bonnie and Clyde
Wordcount: 1211
Rating: K+
They are legends.
Everyone knows the stories of the Doctor and his Song - bank robberies and petty theft - con jobs and murders. Everyone has heard about the charming man who could rob an old lady blind, and his gun-slinging moll who always had his back.
The only two people who know the actual story though - are them. And they will tell you it’s not a story about murder or robbery or mayhem.
This is a love story.
Plain and simple.
xx
She met him at her parents’ of all places. One thing you need to know about River Song is that she was a good girl. Well, certainly not the best girl, but she’d kept out of trouble for the most part. But the Doctor arrived one blustery cold day in December, strolling through her parent’s back garden like he owned every inch of the ground he stepped on. She was standing at the kitchen sink, washing the mugs from tea while her mother nattered on about a visitor - someone her Dad had known in ‘the old days’. Which of course, always meant the war - but they never called it that.
She looked up through the window, and saw her father embracing the young man in their garden. He had floppy hair and a rakish sort of charm about him. Something in his smile spoke to her of secrets and shadows and she felt a thrill go through her.
He looked past her father and met her eyes through the window.
And just like that, River Song was in love.
xx
It’s not as though they’d intended to become criminals.
They hadn’t. But the Depression was hard, and she’d left home just to be with him, against her parents’ wishes. She didn’t regret a thing. She kept a small leather bound book that she wrote everything down in - stories of how they tramped around - all across the country and beyond. They never settled - the Doctor was amazing. Amazing. But he had a darkness in him that she recognized - and he could never stay too long in any one place. ‘That’s when the memories catch up with you River.’
He tried to send her home a thousand different times. Told her he was no good, and she deserved so, so much better. But what could possibly be better than him? Nothing, her heart whispered fiercely. ‘You deserve to stand in one place for more than three days, River. This isn’t a life for someone like you. You - you’re amazing. Precious.’
‘Only to you, my love. And I’d run anywhere - as long as it’s with you.’ He found odd jobs when he could. She’d wait tables when she could find places looking for help. But the money ran out long before their feet got tired and she refused to ask her parents for help.
She found an old gun by a dumpster - didn’t even work. But his eyes had gleamed and they stopped at the next gas station and made away with one free tank of gas, eighteen dollars and a lifetime’s worth of exhilaration.
Every journey starts with one small step.
xx
They crossed the country - knocking over convenience stores and gas stations. The thrill was exciting, set their hearts pounding and he’d laugh and press kisses against her skin, swear that he’d only ever love her as he worshipped her body afterward. She knew he meant every word he said - saw it in his eyes, felt it in the way he touched her skin - he handled her like she was the most precious thing in his life.
Eventually they got bored. Restless, and his eyes lit up when she suggested a con this time, not a robbery. ‘Money without guns? A challenge. I like it, River.’ They’d spent a while working those - laughing mercilessly about how he had a face you could trust, and she had talents of her own, though he hated when she used her body to sway strange men. ‘You’re mine.’ he would whisper against her lips and throat and shoulders and breasts later.
She never disagreed.
xx
They got married in Vegas, signed the register and kissed the bride, and robbed the chapel blind.
xx
He was itching for more though, and she could see it in his eyes so the next town, she sat them at a sidewalk cafe, drinking coffee while he read the newspaper and commented about the absolute shit of a world they lived in. She nodded demurely, sipped her coffee and watched the bank across the street.
They drove away three days later with adrenaline singing through their blood and four thousand dollars in the boot of their car.
xx
He’d never meant to hurt anyone, she knew.
It was never part of their plan. They liked fooling everyone. They liked the thrill and the cash didn’t hurt either. But the police had been so close this time, and they’d opened fire. She was driving, and her hat got shot off of her head, and the Doctor - well, nobody hurt her without consequence. He’d opened fire on the three cars behind them, his anger raining down in a hail of bullets and gun smoke.
Three officers died.
He’d cried into her neck that night, as she held him close and pressed kisses all over every inch of his face she could reach. He’d whispered ‘I’m sorry.’ into her skin and she smoothed her hands across his back and gave him the only absolution he’d ever sought - hers.
xx
They were wanted after that. Never stayed more than a day in any one place, and the police tried, so hard to trap them. Corner them, catch them. But she’d push the pedal to the floor and he’d smile at her from the passenger seat, a machine gun in his hands and she nodded in agreement. ‘There’s always a way out.’ He whispered the words before opening fire and the police would stare as they barrelled through impossible odds, wheels squealing and guns blazing.
There was no accepting defeat for River and the Doctor.
xx
It’s a story no one talks about. And nobody tells this story as a romantic tale but the two of them. They ran and ran until the pavement burned their feet, but the saddest thing about every story is that they have to end.
There was always a way out for them - but eventually their escape routes ran out. It was a flat tire, and then another shot out as their car squealed into a tailspin on an abandoned route. She’d swallowed, and looked at him with fear in her eyes, but he’d kissed her and told her - they weren’t going to go to prison. Not them.
They’d kicked out the back window and gunned down five men before one of the policemen shot at the gas tank.
When their bodies were discovered, they’d been wrapped up together - mounds of burning cash and clothes in the trunk, and one small leather book that told the only love story they’d ever known or cared about, pages curling with flame and turning to ash alongside them.
xx
They were legends.