Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC and the show creators they employ. I'm not one of them, clearly.

I'll teach you how to drive me wild.

From his position sitting on the jump seat the Doctor watched with a fond smile while River slowly circled the console, eyes darting all over the room as she took in their surroundings with awe.

How he'd missed this, the wonder of someone seeing the TARDIS for the first time. Sure this wasn't in technicality her first time in the TARDIS but it was one up from what was. Not even a gun in sight today.

When she turned back to him her smile was wide, but it was the eyes that struck him, so young, carefree and undamaged. He quite liked them like that. The knowledge that he would be the one to cause that spark to disappear and the walls to go up made his gut turn.

"This is the first time you've been in the TARDIS isn't it? Since Berlin?" River nodded as he swung off the seat and approached her. "I guess now is as good a time as any."

"For what?"

He smiled down at her, crooked and teasing, standing beside her and fingering the controls. "To teach you how to fly her."

The delighted expression that formed on her face left him grinning in response.

"Really?"

The Doctor nodded. "First get a feel for what controls there are."

That was all the permission River needed to flit around the console hungrily taking in the sights that bestowed her. As she fiddled with an obscurely shaped knob, inquisitive eyes sought his. "What's this one do?"

"Try it."

She did. Her brows rose when a disco ball dropped from the ceiling and technicolour lights began flashing on every surface.

"Host many disco parties, do you?" She turned the knob again, relieved when the kaleidoscopic assault on her vision ceased. She danced around to another section of the console, examining the controls found there. Hand hovering over a lever she looked to the Doctor, who had followed after her and was standing rather close behind her shoulder. "And this one?"

He reached around her to flick the lever down, his chest brushed against her shoulder causing a sharp intake of breath on her part. He murmured in her ear as the lights around them instantly faded. "Dims the lights."

She bit her lower lip, hands gripping the edge of the panel, anchoring her from spinning around and placing them on him. While she had no qualms about it, she didn't fancy being rejected by him again, for fault of being 'too young' apparently.

Really, it's not like she could help it though. She wasn't going to wake up one morning and magically be old.

As least she hoped not.

She wondered if he knew exactly what he was doing, and was simply bent on torturing her. Although it probably shouldn't have, that thought just made him even more attractive in her eyes.

"Possibly one of the most important controls, then."

He laughed, breath warm against her neck sending shivers down her spine. Her grip on the panel tightened until her knuckles were white. He leant back around her to turn the lights on. "We'll see about that."

One day, when she was no longer 'too young' she would punish him severely for this.

To distract herself from the urge to manoeuvre him between her and the console and pin him there for as long as she pleased (it would only take her 0.3 of a second), River turned her attention to a barometer, the pointers spinning sporadically over the numbers. "What does this read?"

"Absolutely nothing, no purpose whatsoever, purely decorative."

"Like your eyebrows."

"Oi."

River moved around the console idly fiddling with toggles, handles, buttons, plungers and whatever else she caught sight of, asking the Doctor about the purposes of each. Each time she took a step the Doctor followed until he was pressed against her side once more. This only caused River to take another step away from him. It was in that manner they circled the console a whole three times before he caught on to her discomfort.

Eventually he stopped shadowing her and settled on watching her through the glass of the time rotor while she continued her exploration, giving short explanations when she called for them.

Curiously, she didn't ask about any of the controls that were used to make flight.

River picked up the phone, turning it over in her hands.

"That I'm afraid is just a phone, no special powers."

"You mean it actually works?" she asked, disbelieving gaze meeting his.

"Of course, what's the point of a telephone that doesn't work?"

"Decoration?"

The Doctor strolled around the console, approaching her from the side. He kept his distance this time.

"If you ever need help with your thesis, you can just give me a ring."

River arched a brow, replacing the phone in its holder and facing him, hip jutted against the metal panel. "On what? The TARDIS hotline? 1800-shag-box?"

The Doctor convulsed. "No! That is not the number!"

"Then what is?"

He pulled his diary and a pen from his coat pocket, scribbling something on an empty page before tearing it from the binding and handing it to her. His gaze followed the movement of her hand as River slipped the note down her top without so much as glancing at it.

"Minor problem, you don't answer your phone."

"Oh?" he donned an ignorant expression.

"Before Berlin, Amy called you 102 times. The phone bill was ludicrous. You never answered."

The Doctor hung his head. When he spoke his voice was faint and stricken. "That's because I couldn't give her the answer she wanted to hear."

River swallowed the lump in her throat, having formed at the thought that maybe the answer the Doctor couldn't give Amy was one he wanted to give – one he still wanted to give, despite knowing she was Melody. The possibility that he might want her to be Melody Pond and not River Song left her feeling nauseous.

Rather than delving into the damning territory of emotions and insecurities, River decided to keep the mood as light-hearted as possible. "Oh so you do answer your phone when you feel like it?"

The Doctor peered up at her through his hair, silently considering. River shifted uncomfortably at the knowing scrutiny of his gaze, like he knew exactly what she was trying to do.

"Occasionally," he murmured slowly, folding his arms over his chest as he continued to regard her.

"Particularly when you feel like hearing the sound of your own voice?" She smiled at him in a teasing manner that he knew she was using to try and bait him. She slowly approached him until they were standing side by side.

His lips twitched into a smirk. "I do have a nice voice."

"Well put that nice voice of yours to good use."

The Doctor's brows arched, he glanced down at her. River gestured to the console in front of them. "There's something you wanted to teach me, right?"

"Bossy," he muttered, though his tone was far too fond to be seen as scolding. His arms unfolded and he reached out, grasping the lever in front of him. "Pay attention."

Her smile was positively predatory and she sidled up closer to him, whispering in his ear, "To you sweetie, always."

He smirked, both delighted and amused by her blatantly suggestive overtones, having grown quite accustomed to River's often ill-timed innuendo. He'd be lying if he said he didn't find it flattering.

Seeing her do it even when she was this young, well, he was glad to know some things would never change.

"You'll have a lot of fun with this." His smirk grew into a lopsided grin. "When I was younger, it drove me up the wall. You, flying my TARDIS."

"It's not like I'm the only other person who's ever been able to fly the TARDIS," River scoffed, instantly pausing when she noticed his deliberate avoidance of her gaze. She swallowed, unable to understand why her mouth was suddenly dry. "I'm not… am I?"

The Doctor was being unnecessarily attentive to a spot of dirt on the star-shaped dial by his left hand, lifting his thumb to lick before swiping it over the mark to remove it. He was hoping – unrealistically – that River would grow bored with the silence and move on.

After a moment he came to his senses and just decided to answer, knowing there was no chance of her dropping the subject without one.

"Nearly any Gallifreyan could manage take off with the right education," he glibly attempted to evade her question, naturally, she didn't allow it.

"I wasn't talking about Time Lords."

The Doctor stole a small glance in her direction and sighed. "I've taught people how to use select controls," he admitted quietly, "never enough to singlehandedly helm the ship for an entire flight. No one's ever been able to grasp it well enough."

"But I can," River concluded, eyes widening a fraction at the realisation, "or will."

"Well, there is a bit of Gallifreyan in you." His lips lifted into a fond smile.

River regarded him for a moment, brows furrowed in silent scrutiny. She had never thought her being able to fly the TARDIS would be that big of a deal, always assuming he taught most – if not all – his travelling companions. Apparently not.

"Tell me, why would someone ensure the possibility of something that made their blood boil? There's only one answer really. You secretly enjoyed it. You got off on it didn't you? Is it some twisted form of a Time Lord aphrodisiac? Seeing someone else drive your wheels."

The Doctor cleared his throat, once again shirking her gaze, and reached up to swing the monitor around in front of him. "I'll just run you through the steps first, no actual flying yet."

River nodded, smirking at his blatant evasion of the topic, but she didn't call him out on it. She listened attentively as he began his instructions, which she thought was a damn feat in itself since she found his voice so entrancing.

"First we input our coordinates, and pay attention because you're going to need these coordinates in the future. Then, we just decide what year and date we want to travel to and insert that data too."

"When are we going to?" River asked as he was typing his commands into the keyboard. He paused, sending her a sideways grin.

"That is a surprise, dear." He bopped her on the nose before angling the monitor away from her prying eyes. The action was unnecessary since she wasn't paying the slightest attention to the date he was entering.

"Why do you always call me dear?"

"You don't like it?" the Doctor asked sharply. River could hear the tinge of horror as the implications of it dawned on him. He was rethinking every time he'd ever said it to her older self.

"No, I was just wondering." With all the things she had done, she didn't think she deserved the term. Not too long ago, she'd even killed him, and ever since she had never been able to understand how or even why he was able to shirk it off so easily, as though dying at her hands didn't even matter to him.

"So you're allowed to call me sweetie but I'm not allowed to call you dear?" the Doctor demanded lightly, lip jutted. "That's not fair."

"Why's it a surprise? Does it really matter?" River asked, trying to catch a peek of the screen as he turned it even further away from her. For further measure the Doctor situated himself in front of her, arms folded and leaning to block her way if she decided to try and reach past him to grab it.

"My ship, my rules. I can have surprises if I want."

"You just like taunting that you know something I don't. Don't you know it's rude to gloat?"

He shrugged. "I'm a rude old man. Too late to change me now."

"You don't hear me complaining," she murmured, voice low like a purr. She raked her eyes over his figure, before meeting his gaze with a sultry smile. "That's how I've always liked my men, insolent and mature."

His lips quirked, suppressing a smirk.

"It always used to greatly disturb Amy," River added.

"Still does," the Doctor teased, he didn't get the chuckle or eye roll he expected, hell he'd have settled for a smile. Instead she stared vacantly at the control panel, eyes downcast, clearly mulling something over.

"How come…" she finally murmured after a long consideration. As soon as she'd said it she shook her head, dispelling the thoughts.

"What?" he asked, brows furrowed and subconsciously taking a step toward her.

River sighed, resignation painted on her features.

"You know where to find me," she spoke faintly, refusing to catch his gaze. "I know you do. Why did you never go there? You could have stopped it all from happening, let them raise me as their daughter. Why haven't you?"

"It wasn't my choice to make."

She read the subtext: it was yours.

"Thank you."

Her eyes widened when she thought of her mother and she turned to stare at him as she fully processed this. He was now avoiding her gaze, staring at the time rotor with an unreadable expression.

River knew that given the option, Amy never would have chosen their current path. She and Rory would have rewritten their whole lives (and hers) just to have their baby back. That meant he went against what they wanted.

"You chose me over Amy," she whispered, hating the surprise that so clearly coated her words.

She really wished he'd stop being so damn magnificent and making her fall even more in love with him.

The Doctor glanced down at her, their gazes meeting fleetingly before he diverted his attention to the screen, reaching up to quickly tap a few commands, satisfied when the monitor turned black. Now even if River manoeuvred herself to catch a peek at it she wouldn't be able to discover the surprise date he'd entered.

"What are the coordinates for your parents' house?"

River answered correctly without skipping a beat, grateful for the shift in topic, and he smiled.

"Good." He clapped his hands together, brimming with excitement at the anticipation of finally teaching her how to fly the TARDIS. "After we've chosen where we want to go, we can start the flight."

"What did you just do?" River demanded after the Doctor altered a few of the controls causing the TARDIS to erupt in noise around them before abruptly falling silent. She had a strong inkling of what he was trying to achieve and she found it insulting.

"Shut down the controls, well the flight controls anyway – not all the controls – no matter what we mess with—"

"Nothing will happen," River finished, face blank.

"Precisely."

"You worried I'm gonna blow us up?" she asked archly, one hand on her hip.

"Of course not." The look he received from River was disbelieving and a tiny bit accusing. He scratched his cheek sheepishly, shuffling on the spot. "In my defence things do have a habit of exploding when you're around."

She frowned, gnawing at her bottom lip adorably. The Doctor had to bite his to try and dispel the sudden and unwelcome thought that he would rather be the one doing that to her lip. Too damn young, he reminded himself.

"To the best of my knowledge I have not caused anything to detonate in your presence."

"Ahh…" he neurotically scratched his cheek again, "spoilers. Sorry."

"Never mind," she sighed, "are we going to do this or not?"

"Yes!" He spun to face the controls, rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms. River's brow arched in response, doubtful of the necessity of the preparation. "First you pull the zigzag plotter." After demonstrating he moved on. "Now, space-time throttle to adjust your speed depending on how quick you want to get there."

"You can travel through time and space at more than one speed?"

"Of course. But before you use that you have to make sure the atom accelerator is powered up." He continued handling the controls, pausing between each step to allow River time to copy his movements. "Release the handbrake, pull this lever, turn the dampers on – these stop us from being thrown around everywhere."

"What about the stabilisers?"

"What about the?" the Doctor stared at her in horror. "No. River. Seriously? Second time? You've only been in the TARDIS once and you're already on about the pointless stabilisers?" He poked the offending blue button as he spoke, a curled lip conveyed his distaste. "We don't need the stabilisers. We have the dampers."

River held his gaze evenly. "This is a topic that is going to pop up more than once isn't it?"

"This is a hypothetical situation," he growled in annoyance, "we're not actually flying, you know. So why would we need the stabilisers?"

The look she gave him was one he was all too familiar with, one that he had long ago dubbed her 'don't you even think about sassing me' glare.

"But we're running through the exact steps needed to properly control a flight. That's one of the steps isn't it?"

"No," he cried, ignoring the warning in her gaze. He would win this argument yet. "As I said, we have the dampers. We don't need the stabilisers. They're superfluous."

"But they clearly do different things." River's frustrated voice rose to match his as she gestured between the two controls. "The mechanism is completely different."

"How would you know that?"

She exhaled loudly, throwing her hands up in the air. "This is ridiculous. Okay. Fine. We'll move on. I'm not going to argue about this with you. Just show me the rest of the sequence."

He was not appeased by her failure to come about to his way of thinking. While he wanted to make her understand how boring and useless the stabilisers were, he had really had enough of the silly little blue button of boringness.

He let the argument slide this once.

They returned to the comfortable routine in which they had developed earlier, the Doctor instructing her on a control to manoeuvre, demonstrating, and then allowing her time to imitate. All the while standing right behind her and reaching past to grasp hold of the controls, even as they circled the console.

River wasn't paying all that much attention to the order in which he was teaching her, distracted by the feel of his chest brushing against her back and him occasionally guiding her hand with his. If she was she would have surely pointed out it was wrong.

At one point he unknowingly laid his left hand over her hip to steady himself as he leant around her, leaving River biting back a satisfied grin, worried he might see her smile and realise what he was doing.

"And then as we prepare to land—"

"Are you going to take the brakes off?" River drawled drily, looking back at him over her shoulder. "You know, hypothetically."

The Doctor's hand instantly recoiled from the control panel and he stepped back. River found she missed the warmth of his body behind her.

"The brakes! You know what? Since you already know perfectly what you're doing. You can just fly her yourself. You obviously don't need my tutelage!" He dropped into the pilot's seat and folded his arms over his chest, blowing a clump of stray hair out of his face.

River watched him with disbelief. This was the man that she was falling – had fallen, but she still wasn't ready to admit that – in love with.

"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered, continuing to stare at him for a moment before spinning on her heel to face the controls. She flexed her fingers a couple of times and rubbed her palms together as she surveyed the console.

Convinced that the Doctor was going to continue his childish moping, River decided to go ahead and fly them to Amy and Rory herself, lest they would never get there.

First she set about reverting the Doctor's command for the TARDIS not to respond to the flight controls. Without putting too much thought into it, she piloted them into the time vortex and on their way to see her parents.

The Doctor watched her every move with a frown. She was spinning around the console operating controls with a familiarity he always saw in her older self. While he certainly hadn't expected to see it in her this young he didn't find it as perplexing as he should have since he was too preoccupied noticing every deviation between her technique and his teaching. Each unexplained manipulation of the controls brought his brow closer and closer to his eyes.

Eventually they landed, without the magnificent noise created by the brakes being left on.

River turned to see the Doctor staring at her in a calculative gaze that made her satisfied smile instantly slip from her lips.

"I'm a quick learner," she said self-consciously, feeling the need to explain herself. She fidgeted under his silent scrutiny.

"And a bad student," he murmured, eyes boring into her with increasing intensity that every second made it harder and harder for River to breathe.

"Sorry?"

"That wasn't what I taught you."

River blinked in shock, inwardly cursing herself. "Oh."

The Doctor slowly arose from the seat and walked to the console.

"You and I are going to have a fallout soon," he muttered to the time rotor before spinning to face River, eyes wild. "When you told your parents the TARDIS showed you how to fly her, you properly meant she showed you. Not that she piloted herself and just used you to press a few buttons."

River nodded, not trusting her mouth to form coherent words if she spoke.

"She actually showed you," the Doctor repeated, pivoting on his heel as he muttered irritably to himself, his long coat whipping behind him. He stopped mere inches from River's face. "She's never done that for me. Every time she alters the interior, only ever gives me a ruddy manual to follow."

"Okay," River swallowed, regaining her composure at having his face – and importantly, lips – so close to hers, "where's the manual?"

He mumbled a reply that River couldn't discern.

"Where?" she repeated.

"I threw it in a supernova!" he cried, gesturing manically and stepping away from her.

"You what! Why would you do that?" River demanded, folding her arms over her chest, brows arched.

"Because I didn't agree with it!"

Her eyes turned heavenward. "No wonder she doesn't bother teaching you. You're too stubborn to listen. Don't you think she knows best how she should be piloted?"

"I'm perfectly capable of flying my own ship."

"Yes," River started slowly and deliberately, emphasising her exasperation with him, "what you do manages to get the job done. But that still doesn't mean it's the correct way of doing things."

He turned on her, frowning in annoyance. "Where did you get all this attitude from?"

"My mother is Amy Pond."

"But your father is Rory! Good, nice, patient Rory. I'm going to have a word with those two. They will back me up. I fly the TARDIS amazingly." He began stomping towards the door, gesturing fervently as he finished speaking.

River's smug voice stopped him in his tracks, "Environmental checks?"

"We are at the Pond's house." On the doorstep the Doctor spun around to face her, glaring. "Why do we have to do environment checks?"

"You don't know we're at the Pond's house."

With brows raised he opened the door and took a pointed look outside before closing it and turning back to her. "Pond residence. It was the coordinates I input."

"Oh, so you've never ended up somewhere you weren't supposed to before?" River leant back against the console, arms crossed over her chest, smiling smugly.

"Never."

She laughed throatily, throwing her head back. The Doctor swallowed. He was having the sudden impulse to run his hands through her hair and kiss the line of her jaw. The unsettling thing was, despite how young she was, he knew she wouldn't try and stop him if he did.

"You're a big fat liar."

"It's one of the many things I'm excellent at. I thought you'd have worked that out by now." He smiled crookedly, leaning against the wall by the door as he settled content to just watch her enjoyment. He crossed his arms too, not in an attempt to match her pose, but to try and stop the involuntary twitching of his fingers, still itching to touch her glorious hair.

"Oh I know, and as I've just worked out you're also excellent at being incapable of flying your own TARDIS. Did you skip out on TARDIS Flying 101 at school or something?"

He gawked. "Why would you ask that?"

"You did!" River laughed raucously, eyes wide from surprise and jaw slack. "I was just teasing. God, have you always been this cocky and self-assured? If even back then you thought you knew all."

"It wasn't that I didn't see the value in the lessons," he defended in an attempt to keep some semblance of his pride, 'I just… had other things to do." Like chase after the woman who would go on to mother his children.

"Oh Doctor," River bit back another bout of laughter, the spark in her eyes giving her amusement away, "don't tell me you were one of those boys who ditched school to charm a girl."

The Doctor frowned. It was irritating that she could so easily guess the truth. She was so young and yet she still seemed to know everything about him.

Gratefully, the Doctor didn't have to reply as within a moment the door had opened, revealing Amy with a hand covering her eyes.

"Yoohoo!" she cried, "Is it safe to open my eyes?"

"Of course, Pond."

"Oh." Amy instantly removed her hand, turning to stare at the Doctor, shocked to find him by the door and not the console where she'd expected him to be. "You were taking so long we thought you must have been getting down and dirty on the console. Rory was too scared to look in case he was forever scarred."

River's brows rose at the rather enlightening revelation of her future interactions with the Time Lord. She had no complaints, of course.

The Doctor coughed loudly, face flushed. He hazarded a wary glance in River's direction and groaned.

"So what were you doing if you weren't fondling?"

"Amelia," the Doctor scolded loudly, face turning a brighter shade of red. "Disagreeing over the minor points of flying."

"Again?" she demanded in her high-pitched, exasperated Scottish tone.

Rory's voice cut into the staring contest that had developed between Amy and the Doctor. All three turned to see Mr Pond cautiously step into the entrance, "So you're positive everyone is one hundred percent dressed?"

"Yes, okay. And as you can see," the Doctor jerkily gestured back and forth between himself and the direction of River, "opposite ends of the room. Can we move on now?"

"River!' Amy turned to address her daughter for the first time since entering, a wide smile on her lips. "Hello. You've been awfully quiet over there."

"Hi," was River's only response. She shot her mother a tight lipped smile. Neither Amy nor Rory noticed her discomfort as they shared a glance before beaming in unison.

"Happy birthday!"

River's smile turned even more uncharacteristically meek spurring both her parents to don concerned expressions. Amy interpreted her unease for confusion.

"Doctor," she rounded on her friend, hands on hips and eyes blazing threateningly, "please tell me you brought her because it's her birthday."

He was in for a hell of a scolding if it weren't with the mass of preparations she'd made, including decorations, food and gifts, all so that she could host her daughter a low-key unforgettable birthday celebration of epic proportions.

"I—yes! It is." The Doctor raised his hands defensively, shooting a few hasty glances between parents and daughter. "She's—I picked her up from university. This is her first—you know—since Berlin… first time in the TARDIS." He paused, voice softening. "First time seeing you."

"Oh," Amy murmured, understanding filling her eyes.

River's smile finally lightened, her unease allayed by Amy and Rory's matching reassuring expressions. Her face lit up to form a wide grin, cheeky and delighted, as she glanced fleetingly at the Doctor.

"I've just learnt that he doesn't know how to fly his own TARDIS."

The Doctor didn't think the shared laughter that ensued by all but him was entirely necessary.

"This is truly the start of something beautiful," Amy said, hand over her heart and a proud and reminiscent smile on her lips.