She was like a cat toying with a mouse.

Never was there a more nervous mouse.

The Doctor squirmed as the newly regenerated River wiggled in his lap. This was not a good time. Regenerations were always full of exploding hormones. The process was carefully regulated on Gallifrey. He'd never had to worry about his human Companions because, well, they were human, and Romana had been polite enough to confine herself to another room.

But River, a warm, wiggly, lapful of River, at that precise moment, with her parents looking on, and her brainwashing still intact...

Well, it was enough to give any mouse a heart attack.

Okay, he admitted it, playing cat and mouse with River turned him on. Watching her stalk toward him with that bright, predatory gleam in her eye was enough to bring him up on his toes and rivet all his attention.

It had been a long time since he had a worthy sparring partner. That it should come at a time when he was already intrigued by the woman, and hotwired with regeneration hormones, was just icing on the cake.

He wondered if it was some sort of weird, atavistic Time Lord mating ritual. They'd always said he was a throwback. And River was a sort of proto-Time Lord.

Although it was probably just that they were both adrenaline junkies.

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