FIC: every new verse (Doctor Who; River/Doctor, PG)

[tellitslant]

Title: every new verse
Author: tellitslant
Fandom: Doctor Who
Pairing: River/Doctor
Rating: PG
Word count: 1000
Disclaimer: BBC. Transformative work. Etc.
Warnings: none
Notes: So beccatoria made me a lovely River/Doctor vidlet to Captain Tractor's "1000 Goodbyes" and I said I'd write a ficlet in return. This plays with themes of the song and the vid, so I suggest watching the vid first and then reading this! :)
Summary: For every hello, there's a thousand goodbyes.


for worse

"And what's a nice boy like you doing at the partnership ceremony of an intergalactic mobster?"

The Doctor spun around, shocked. "River!" he exclaimed, taking her in from the top of her elaborate and precarious updo to the tips of her glittering silver pumps and trying not to linger too long in between. How had he not realized she'd be here?

"You appear to have me at a disadvantage." She smiled, all charm and dimples. "I didn't get your name last time. In fact, I didn't know you'd gotten mine."

"Ah. Yes. Well. I asked around. After... last time." The Doctor swallowed, feeling thoroughly wrong-footed. Would River always get the best of him, even when the timeline was in his favour? "But, ah, you can call me the Doctor. Hello. Again." He stuck his hand out idiotically; she took it in hers before he could pull back.

"Well, the Doctor," she said, not letting go. "You never answered my question."

"Question? I – oh. Why am I here." The Doctor paused for a fraction of a second. He couldn’t tell her the truth: no one was supposed to know about the spacefaring Aztec civilization that had colonized the planet millennia before, much less what they'd left behind. "I'm – just here for the dancing."

River's eyes sparkled. "I love dancing."

Moments later the Doctor found himself on the dance floor. The band struck up a traditional tune; with only two feet, it was rather challenging to keep time. River, he noticed, had no such difficulty.

The next number was more sedate and the Doctor thought he did quite a good job of steering River around the floor. She seemed content to enjoy the dance, but he could only take so much silence before his thoughts tumbled out. "So what brings you here?" he eventually asked, admiring the way her skirts twirled as they turned.

"Tezcatlipoca," she replied.

He stopped dead, almost knocking into the crown princess. Grabbing River's hand, he led her off the dance floor and into a secluded alcove. "What do you mean, Tezcatlipoca?" he demanded.

River leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms. "Oh, you know. Ancient Mayan deity, god of discord, master of deception. Alien. I'm doing a little on-the-ground research tomorrow."

"River, no," the Doctor protested, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Whatever you think you know, you cannot go out there tomorrow, it's not safe!"

She wrenched out of his grasp. "Listen, Doctor," she hissed. "A couple of dances don't give you the right to try and protect me. I have a job to do and I don't need you interfering. Goodbye." She ducked under his outstretched arm.

"Wait," he protested, "you don't understand – "

"I said goodbye," she said, and stalked off. He watched her go, despairing.

That night he went back a few centuries and methodically disabled all the potentially fatal traps in the hidden temples, just in case. (He left the merely dangerous ones, however. After those, maybe she'd listen to his warnings the next time.)

*

for better

"Where did you learn to dance like that?"

"Oh, hello," the Doctor said, depositing Amy, breathless from a vigorous schottische, back in Rory's arms and turning to River. "Decided to join us for the rest of the evening, did you?"

"I always cry at weddings," River said demurely. "And I had to take care of something during the ceremony."

The Doctor thought better of asking. She wouldn't do anything too illegal while he was there. Probably. Instead he held out a hand and led her onto the floor.

"How many weddings have we attended, River?" he asked, drawing her closer than the strict protocol of the era dictated. She went willingly, nestling her head against his shoulder.

"Spoilers," she whispered into his jacket.

"Really? Just the number?" They swayed in increasingly smaller circles. The Doctor could see Amy watching them from near the buffet table, her mouth open as she called over her shoulder to Rory.

"Oh, it's never just a number with you," River said, recapturing his attention. "First it's how many, then it's what about this one, and next we're wrapped up in a paradox and losing some of the best nights of our lives." She glanced up at him wickedly. "Hypothetically speaking."

The Doctor hummed in acquiescence and they danced in silence for a moment. "We do attend a disproportionate amount, though," he said. "Or is it just me? Maybe you spend loads of time at weddings and I only see the tip of the iceberg. Or I just haven't spent enough time with you to put it in proportion. Or maybe – "

River laughed. "Yes, Doctor, we do seem to be attracted to weddings," she conceded. "Are you getting ideas?"

"Would they be the wrong ones?" he asked, suddenly serious.

River stumbled, and he used the movement to steer them through the balcony door and out into the gardens. The house twinkled behind them as the Doctor took River by the shoulders. "I'm getting tired of not knowing," he told her.

"You can't," River said, breathless. "The timestream – "

"I don't answer to the timestream. The timestream answers to me." He stopped her laughter with a kiss. She slid her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

Later, they walked back to the house, the Doctor's jacket draped over River's shoulders to keep her warm. They stopped just out of sight of the ballroom and River drew him down for another kiss. When she stepped back and shrugged off the jacket, though, the Doctor had a horrible premonition. "River – " he protested.

She only smiled at him. "Not yet, my love," she said, cupping his cheek tenderly. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." She pressed the jacket into his arms; he took it resignedly, watching as she rummaged in her evening bag and pulled out her vortex manipulator.

"Goodbye, sweetie," she said, and disappeared.

He pulled the jacket on, inhaling the spicy scent she'd been wearing. "Until we meet again," he murmured, and turned back towards the light.

Comments

[evilawyer]

Very nice!

[boubabe.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do love this!

[tellitslant]

Yay! I'm glad! :D

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

OH I LOVE IT. LOVE IIIIIT. It's so brilliant and them. The dialogue is perfect as is the amazing way you decide that they are attracted to weddings. The way he goes back in time to save her life (because he doesn't yet know he probably either doesn't need to or she told him because even this early she knew he would, and definitely because assuming River doesn't know your secret is always a bad tactic); how she gets the better of him even when she has a timeline advantage - and afterwards just...I want to highlight ALL the dialogue. I always cry at weddings - so dry, so teasing, so River, and the idea about getting ideas and would they be wrong. And then we get to the Doctor trying to assert his authority over his own timeline, which to my surprise, may very well be my favourite bit of the fic.

I think because I'm just so in love with the notion of the Doctor falling in love with River because he thinks he one day will: like the idea that if he were stubborner or less interested, he'd find out that she has some unromantic but important attachment to him too, but he loves her because he thought that's where he was headed, and it is where he was always headed but only because he thought so. It's like...he tricks himself out of his own "Space Gandalf" act because he thinks his future self has given him permission, when really it was just...a perception to make his current self be honest about his interest. Which is complicated, but the upshot is, I love when the Doctor starts...initiating that relationship. It's obvious he's no longer terrified of it, and is even looking forward to it a bit, but he's still got the passive excuse, and I can't wait until - like here - he decides he's tired of passive and tries to snog her. ;)

IN SUM: AWESOME. OMGS I DO NOT KNOW WHY I SHIP THEM AS HARD AS I DO. ♥

[tellitslant]

YAY. I'm so glad you like it! :DDD

I wanted to do something wedding-y, but their wedding would have been too easy, almost. So I figured they had to have some sort of past with weddings that the Doctor danced at!

the Doctor trying to assert his authority over his own timeline, which to my surprise, may very well be my favourite bit of the fic.
I'm so pleased that worked! I love the idea - like you - of the Doctor going from "Time is not the boss of me and I won't associate with River" to "I am a Lord of Time and don't have to WAIT to find out about my own future" - which I think River just finds hilarious, too. It's always his own impatience that gets the best of him and yet that's always going to be the way it has to be, because it's the way it already was! I really do just adore the tension between his desire not to get caught up and his knowledge that he will, and I really, really want to see him negotiate the transition from worrying about what's going to happen to wanting it to happen, both because then he'll know and because he wants her.

But, yes, they are just SO DELIGHTFUL, aren't they? :D I just want more of them, always.

[cinderbella333.livejournal.com]

From the very first line, I knew this would be fabulous. You did not disappoint. This had a lot of really moving moments. The bit about the Doctor going back in time, just to make the ruins safe (enough) for River. How easily the Doctor fell into dancing with River. I like the little detail of Amy watching from the sidelines. I love the physicality of the last dance. Him pulling her closer, her comfortable resting against him. For two really independent and powerful people, that type of easy intimacy is a big deal. I like the theme of weddings. I like that you have little moments of both River and the Doctor's hubris. Examples being River's foolhardiness about the Mayan temples and the Doctor saying timelines don't govern him, he governs them. I like that in each of those instances, it was the other one of them that stepped in to contain the damage. The Doctor making the temples safer. River laughing at his presumptuous statements and still refusing to give him those spoilers. This was fantastic, just like the video. Great piece.

[tellitslant]

Thank you so much for the lovely comment! I'm really glad you enjoyed the fic. That you were able to point out so many specific moments that you like really makes me smile. Thanks again!

[honeynoir.livejournal.com]

Love! Utterly fabulous and equally lovely. Also: yay paradoxes!

That night he went back a few centuries and methodically disabled all the potentially fatal traps in the hidden temples, just in case. (He left the merely dangerous ones, however. After those, maybe she'd listen to his warnings the next time.) <3

"We do attend a disproportionate amount, though," he said. "Or is it just me? Maybe you spend loads of time at weddings and I only see the tip of the iceberg. Or I just haven't spent enough time with you to put it in proportion. Or maybe – " <3 <3

"I don't answer to the timestream. The timestream answers to me." <3 <3 <3

[tellitslant]

Heee, glad you enjoyed! Thanks so much! :D

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed this tremendously!!!

[tellitslant]

Yay! Thank you very much!

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

*wanders by from Friends-of-Friends* Lovely!

[tellitslant]

Thank you! :)

[chaila.livejournal.com]

This is lovely. The dialogue, always important with them, is perfect and I love the shift to him being actively impatient to find out the nature of their relationship, thereby altering it (er, sort of. Time!).

"I don't answer to the timestream. The timestream answers to me."

The only way that I love the Doctor saying this, and I do love it here, is when it's followed by River laughing at him and making all less Time Lord-y. You get all the right details! :)

[tellitslant]

Heeeee, I'm so glad River making fun of the Doctor and his "time is not the boss of me" stance came across clearly! I can't help but think that she finds him hilarious when he gets like that. Glad you enjoyed!

[promethia_tenk]

Ah, I have missed your writing for these two. The second half in particular has me all verklempt.

And I have to cheer any fic that has the Doctor kissing River for the first time because he wants to. It's how it must be, really . . .

[tellitslant]

Aw, it's so lovely to hear that I've been missed, hee! Darn life getting in the way of my fic writing. ;) I'm glad you enjoyed this one, though - and I do love the Doctor finally giving in to (what he thinks is) the inevitable and getting things started with River! ;)

[owlboy]

This is so lovely<3 I think it captures their relationship very well.

[tellitslant]

Aw, thanks so much! I'm glad you liked it!

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

*makes incoherent noises of glee and awesomeness*

THAT WAS FABULOUS!

I had only JUST managed to get that song out of my head, and now of course it's back, but it's WORTH IT, because that fic was amazing. I love it when it goes both ways with them, and I love how OFTEN it does!

[tellitslant]

Eeee, thank you! Ha, yeah, the song has been with me perpetually for a while, sorry for refreshing the earworm. ;) But I'm really glad you enjoyed this, even if you will be singing the song for ages. ;)

[grav-ity.livejournal.com]

Coincidentally, I have just moved to Edmonton, so when I absently sing the song at work, people actually know it.

(I had heard of the group before I came here...my brother bought me an early album as a joke because I liked Great Big Sea and he HATES them, so I laughed pretty hard when I realized what song the vid was!)

[colej55.livejournal.com]

This is SO wonderful! Perfect characterizations and exactly what was missing from the show. Thank you for sharing this with us! Brilliant!

[tellitslant]

Whoops, belated reply, but thank you so much!

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

Oh, your River is PERFECT! And "I don't answer to the timestream. The timestream answers to me." is so very the Doctor. This is a wonderful companion to Becka's vidlet. :D

[tellitslant]

Whoops, super-belated feedback reply, but thank you very much! I'm really glad you enjoyed.

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

really enjoyed this
his confusion and her feeling of superiority... just wonderful

[tellitslant]

Yay, thank you very much!

[ddagent.livejournal.com]

This was fantastic! I love their meeting at the mobster's wedding and how he goes back and disables the traps. I just adore their dancing and his jacket around her shoulders. Beautiful! : )