Okay. Now I can stop this. I have way too many River feels.

I re-watched Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead today.

I cried everywhere. Damnit.

Also, I think the Doctor might be the only character in the history of forever that I legitimately ship with two different people. I mean, I adore Rose/Ten, but I also love River/Eleven. I know that Ten and Eleven are technically the same person, but they're so different I just can't ship them with the same woman.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything associated with it. All rights to Doctor Who and affiliated products belong to the BBC and the other proper entities.

Summary: The Doctor said it himself—if something can be remembered, it can be brought back. "But that's impossible! You died. I saw it happen. You were electrocuted, you burned, and you died." "Yes. I did. And you Saved me."

Rating: K+

Genre: Romance

Pairing: Eleventh Doctor/River

Warnings: One slight, very veiled reference, nothing to really get upset about.

Run

"Hello, sweetie."

Her voice haunts him the night he picks her up for Darillium, the words bouncing around his skull. It's one of the rare times they meet in the right order, one of the few nights without murmurs of spoilers in the air.

It's only ever happened two or three times.

They listen to the Towers sing, and he can't help but shed a few tears. He's only cried a few times since Gallifrey fell. When he lost Rose. When the Master died in his arms, in the alternate timeline. When Jenny died. When he walked to his (supposed) death in Wilfred's place, shortly before his last regeneration.

He gives her his screwdriver. Says it's a gift.

It's only the knowledge that his past self will realise that he's Saved her that lets him take her back to her cell and leave her there.

And he locks himself in the TARDIS and sheds a few more tears.

He's careful to avoid her when he travels again. Sometimes he passes through time zones he's visited before when flying through the Vortex, and gets her messages on the psychic paper—ones he's answered before. He treats them like an echo, a Ghosting, like the communicators that she and her team had in The Library. He stays away.

One time, he accidentally lands on the day she dies. He sees the message, exactly the same as it was all those years ago.

He has to leave, or else he'll do something stupid. He doesn't want a repeat of Bowie Base One. Her death is a fixed point in his personal history.

As he fires up the engines and enters the Vortex again, he feels bad that she has to die with his past self. He was basically a stranger to her at that point.

"Hello, sweetie." He freezes at the voice, coming from behind him.

This isn't possible. He's been scrupulously careful.

"River?" He turns. And there she is. Eyes full of amusement, eyebrow raised. Hair all over the place, mouth lifted into a devilish grin.

"So, where are we?" She leans against the doorframe, blocking the only exit to the room. "Done Demon's Run yet?"

"Yes." He breathes. He wasn't—isn't—prepared for this. It's like she's ambushed him.

"Lake Silencio?"

"Yes."

"New York, nineteen sixty-nine?"

"Done that."

He can see it the moment she realises that he's beyond shocked to see her. "Just how far are you?" She asks cautiously. "I'm afraid I can't compare notes. I… left my diary somewhere."

"Darillium." He almost chokes out. "Last time I saw you was at Darillium."

"Brilliant!" She stands straighter. "We're completely synced. The last time I saw you was The Library. You were all… baby-faced."

It's almost like back when she was Mels. The faces are different, but he can read the expression. Penny in the air…

He stares. And stares.

…and the penny drops.

"But that's impossible!" He blurts out, before he can think. "You died. I saw it happen. You were electrocuted, you burned, and you died."

"Yes. I did. And you Saved me."

"It took almost three thousand years for the Vashta Nerada to die out—at least, that's what they told me." She almost shrugs off the topic of her own death as they sit on the patio of some rich Argolin's private villa. "When it was safe, the Lux family came back to restore the data core and found us inside it."

"Us?"

"Me, Proper Dave and Other Dave, Anita, Miss Evangelista. CAL Saved them to keep me company after you downloaded me into the computer." She huffs a breath. Not an exasperated sound, though. More like she was just tired. "Their consciousnesses were turned into programs to help run The Library. I was the only one they could find a DNA sample for, to clone a body from."

"They… cloned you a body…?"

"And downloaded my consciousness into it." She confirms, rolling her neck around her shoulders. Her hair spills everywhere, and he can't help but reach out to touch it. It's a little drier than he remembers. But then, cloning is a tricky process. "This body is a little younger than the one I had when I last saw you, but what woman is going to complain about getting younger?" She winks at him.

He clears his throat. "And where did they get a DNA sample from?" He demands. "Three thousand years? That's a long time for someone to keep a hair."

"Stormcage. They keep viable DNA samples for five thousand years before destroying them, even for humans." This time, she is exasperated. "And you're supposed to be the clever one."

"Then why aren't you in Stormcage now?" Surely, he thinks, they would have thrown her back into prison to serve the rest of her sentence.

"They seemed to think I'd done my time. Apparently, dying to save four-thousand people was good enough for a pardon."

"I've been back for about three months." She says as they walk through the gardens. The Doctor hasn't had a quiet moment like this for a long time. It's almost like the Universe has stopped, just for this one night. No cries for help. No invasions.

He doesn't know what to think. He almost wishes a crisis would pop up, so that he wouldn't have to think about the enormous ramifications this would have on their relationship.

He went into it knowing she was going to die.

He just nods, doesn't answer with words. He feels her eyes on him.

"I've lost my Vortex Manipulator." She mentions casually, when he says goodbye to their hosts.

"Good." It's the first time he sounds like himself all morning. "Cheap and nasty time travel, that is. You should give it up, it's bad for you."

"And you're just going to leave me here?" She accuses.

"Don't be ridiculous." He scoffs. He makes his decision, right then and there. He shoves the TARDIS door open. "Welcome back to the TARDIS, Professor Song."

She yanks his face down by the collar to kiss him.

This woman is his wife. She knows his name.

He loves her.

Always and completely.

They operate the console together. It's been a long time since he's had anyone on board with him. He enjoys the company.

(In more ways than one, but there's a time and a place for everything—and he needs to keep his focus when they're in the Vortex, so he shakes that thought from his head.)

The TARDIS gives a violent shudder and they catch each other's eyes across the control panels.

He grins.

They land on Sol 10, and it doesn't take long to notice that they've dropped into the middle of a crisis.

"Something here doesn't make sense." He squints at the village in the distance.

"There are people over there." She points to the Lake off to the right, with people huddled on a small island in the middle. "What in the world could have made them all huddle together like that?"

"Erm—I think it might be that thing." The Doctor points out the large alien. Ten feet tall, made of molten rock. It picks up a tree and flings it, burning, at them. They duck.

He offers her his hand. She takes it. They race through the burning woods, hands held fast. And, he thinks, he was right in what he said to Amy at Stonehenge.

After all, the Doctor said it himself—if something can be remembered, it can be brought back.

And he remembers some of the last words she said to him in the library. The ones he thought would be among the last words she ever spoke.

You watch us run.

Yeah I'm pretty sure I butchered their characters. Give me a break, it's the first time I've ever written either of them.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Review are love.

Sparkly Faerie