"Do people really do this?"

"Of course they do. Don't be silly."

"But I've never done it before!"

"What does that matter? There's a first time for everything."

"But I feel like I'm just not very good at this whole "flirting thing..."

The Doctor stared at the tiny purpleish-blue flower in his hands as he argued back and forth with himself in his mind. The blossom was so small, so seemingly insignificant, and yet... it had reminded him of River. It was growing nearly strangled by some viciously-thorned weeds in a dark part of the Gamma Forests. Of course there was also the fact that River was given her current name by the brave soldier girl of the forest... it seemed proper that the little purple flower represented River.

He'd seen humans on Earth giving each other flowers before, but he'd never done it for anyone himself. However, he decided that he was proud of his little purpleblue flower, and he was definitely going to give it to River.

River, meanwhile, was sitting under some trees by the river that was her namesake. She had been content to allow the Doctor to go off exploring on his own while she relaxed to the sound of the babbling, rushing water. When the Doctor approached, she was leaning over the bank and allowing the cool liquid to rush through her fingers. She looked up and smiled when he stopped next to her.

"Hello, Sweetie," she quipped sweetly, without much of her usual suggestiveness.

Suddenly, the Doctor was more nervous than he would have been if she had pounced on him right then and there. He felt his face turn a bright, tomato red. The single tiny bloom he held behind his back felt so, well, tiny!... like it wasn't enough for his River.

When she noticed that the Doctor was obviously hiding something behind his back, River craned her neck to see what it was, but he took a step back and then looked at the ground.

"Oh, look at that... I'm shuffling my feet. I don't do that often. Oh, this was a terrible idea! I feel like such a fool..."

By this point, River had stood up and was now looking at him with an amused smile. "What's the matter, Sweetie? Cat got your tongue? What have you got there?" she asked as she tried to see again what the Doctor hid.

He stammered out, "Well, I... uhh... well, you see... I thought..." he turned an even brighter shade of red as he looked over his own shoulder at the flower.

He took a deep breath as he pulled the flower from behind his back and gingerly held it out to River. Meanwhile, he attempted to stammer out some sort of explanation.

She looked at the blossom with surprise at first and then smiled as she took it from him. The Doctor was still attempting to explain, but the words died on his lips as he watched River smile, close her eyes, and inhale the flower's scent. He was left just blushing and smiling as he clasped his hands behind his back and bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. She looked back up at him once she'd breathed the scent back out.

"It's lovely, my Love, and it smells nice too!" she said as she held it out for him to smell too. He obeyed the unspoken request and smelled it himself.

"It really does! I hadn't noticed that before! I just thought it was pretty and it reminded me of you! Because, well, you're pretty too, and you do smell nice, and it just-"

He stopped abruptly as River kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Sweetie."

The Doctor turned pink again and grinned like an idiot as he took the flower back from her and placed it in her wild mass of soft curls. It looked much happier there than it had among the weeds and thorns.

Just like River was happier when she was with him.