Fic: A Night Away From Home
Title: A Night Away From Home
Pairings: The Doctor/River Song
Rating: PG
Summary: The Doctor and River end up stranded in Africa, but are happily given a 'tent' to stay in for the night... With some interesting conversations.
(This is actually an extract of a crossover I wrote, but it was about 4,500 words & I know many people on livejournal would just read it for the Doctor Who part, and this was the only main Doctor Who part so I thought I'd post just this)
It seemed that the Doctor had not thought of the sleeping arrangements until they had decided to go to bed once The Doctor had got over the delight of meeting Hamley the Giraffe. (He'd insisted to River that he spoke Giraffe, but she knew better than that). Now, he stood on the opposite side of the bed, staring at her with wide eyes and pointing to the bed as if she was supposed to understand what he meant. Ah, they weren't that far then, she thought with a wry smile. Still, she was River Song- always a tease.
"I don't understand you, Doctor." She said innocently, the corners of her lips twitching slightly as she tried not to smile.
He swallowed nervously, "We... Uh... One bed. I don't- Why would they...?" He scratched his cheek awkwardly as he always did when he was nervous, "I mean... I could stay awake, I don't-"
"Doctor, I know you sleep." She said sternly, oh no, she was not going to let him wriggle out of this one! How fun it was to mess with him. He'd had enough fun teasing her when she'd first started getting to know him (though she guessed he'd only done that because she had, when she had only done that because he had... Oh, paradoxes, their relationship was full of them!)
The Doctor stared at her for a while, and then nodded wordlessly, which was a first. There wasn't even one mutter. None at all. He turned his back and shrugged his tweed jacket from his body, and draped it over the nearby chair. Then he snapped his braces nervously, stopping to wonder for a moment, and then decided to take them off. He untucked his shirt and leant down and took his shoes and socks off (which did result in a lot of hopping around). After all of this, he was left in just his shirt and trousers, and turned to River.
He froze on the spot. River was just draping her jeans on the edge of the bed, wearing nothing but her shirt and underwear, and the first few buttons of her shirt were undone to reveal a rather large amount of flesh- that was to say, cleavage. He tried not to stare, he really shouldn't, that was rude, but his gaze lingered there for a lot longer than it should've. Then his eyes trailed the rest of her gorgeous body, eyes resting on the small amount of her flat stomach that was revealed through her shirt rucking up as she stretched her arms upwards (was she doing that on purpose?), and then down those long, long legs. He swallowed. Had they always been so long?
"Like what you see, Sweetie?" River's voice broke through his reverie, and he was startled.
"I-uh, you've..." He pointed a finger towards her state of undress, "A lot of your... clothes... are not... On you." He finished lamely.
River smirked, "You look a bit flushed, sweetie, are you sure you don't want to take your shirt off?"
The Doctor scowled at her and she laughed happily. He found himself less angry for a moment at the sound of her laughter, she had never laughed so freely in front of him before. He stared at her curiously, hoping that her laugh would go on forever, but eventually it just became a grin. That grin- she had never grinned like that before, so freely and happily and so, so dazzling.
River slipped into her side of the bed (just the bed, he told himself, no different from any other bed with a gorgeous and tempting woman beside you that puts you one edge every time you see her and have kissed multiple times and has the most glorious hair and-oh, stop it) and beneath the covers, shielding the view of her body from him. He settled himself on the bed next to her, laying above the covers and flat on his back, afraid to move. River chuckled to herself, The Doctor never stopped moving, this must be very nervewracking for him.
"Sure you don't want to get under the covers, sweetie?" River asked, and he tilted his head slightly to the left to see her laid out on her side, head propped up by her elbow, that fantastic hair of hers frizzing out.
"Very sure." He replied, staring at her.
The little amount of moonlight there was shone lazily on her face, illuminating her features with it's greyish-whiteish glow. Her eyes, currently that grey colour it hardly ever turned to, bore directly into his as he watched her. There was a light breeze in Africa, as there mostly always was, and her blonde curls swayed gently in that breeze. Oh, how he yearned to reach out and touch it and never let go. To bury his fingers deep inside her hair and grow lost in it and never know any different than how wonderful it was. But then that would lead to other things. Then he would want to kiss her. She didn't mind it when he did kiss her, and he very much enjoyed kissing River. But then they were on a bed, and that would lead to to other things. Mature adult things that people usually do on their wedding night and oh it wasn't like he didn't want to but he was just so...
River had a child.
So how could he?
"What you said to Alice..." He found himself saying.
"Yes, sweetie?"
He cleared his throat, "You've had a child."
River was silent, and he continued to stare at her, watching the flickers of emotions in her eyes, most of which he caught. Fear, pain, love, and what looked oddly like dissappointment. But he was used to that last one, of course he was. It was strange because he was jealous of himself, he didn't want to dissappoint River- he wanted to be her Doctor and know everything about her and make her happy. But he wasn't. He wasn't done yet. And he hated that, being jealous of his future self, and the look in River's eyes. It was completely understandable, but sometimes he just wondered why she couldn't be happy with him.
"Yes, I have." River eventually whispered into the ever growing darkness as the moonlight filtered into the tent. She sounded afraid.
He knew that she was afraid he would ask questions. He knew that would dissapoint her, too, because then she'd know that she was losing him even more. He barely knew anything about her, while she knew everything about him; and, honestly, he knew that it must hurt her, and he owed her everything for putting up with this him. So he didn't want to cause her any more pain, didn't want to disappoint her- just left her be.
"Spoilers, right?" He asked, and she smiled and nodded. "Goodnight, River."
River smiled, laying back down on her pillow, "Goodnight, sweetie."
She fell asleep a few minutes later, but he did not. He did not need as much sleep as her, and knew he had time to waste. Mind you, he didn't even think about wasting time. He was so captivated by her enchating beauty. Her face was plain when she slept, no hint of pain or disappointment as there usually was. Looking at her then, he never even would have guessed she was born and raised to be a weapon because she looked so innocent. Every emotion she held was always in her eyes, which were closed, flickering ever so slighty every few minutes as she slept. Her fantastic hair was spread out on the pillow like a halo, which made him grin. Would he call River an angel? Well, no, he wouldn't.
She was far better than that, he thought to himself as he lay down properly and watched her until his eyes grew heavy and he fell asleep to dream of her. Only her.