His former regenerations hadn't been very interested in what humans often euphemistically referred to as loving, when they meant reproduction or even recreational sex. Oh, he'd been capable, and he'd always needed to be touched - that's what all the hugging was about, really - but the actual act of sexual intercourse had always been more for the benefit of the human involved than for himself. Even his tenth regeneration, who had been much in demand because of his 'pretty boy' status, hadn't been all that interested for his own sake.

Until River.

River was different, and her very existence made his knees go all wibbly in a way he'd never felt in almost a thousand years of life. And now... now he knew who she was, and the knowledge made him giddy, because it meant she was perfect. Perfect for him, because she was part Time Lady. One of his own kind. Bespoke psychopath or not - and he didn't believe it for a minute, psychopathy didn't work like that even in humans - the first sane one of his own kind he'd met in centuries.

And oh! he wanted her. So much.

River looked up from her desk in Stormcage. Was that the TARDIS she heard? She stood gracefully and tucked her diary into the extra-dimensional pocket he'd made her, ready for whatever he might have planned for them today. Or so she thought. She was a bit startled when he opened the door of the TARDIS, flicked his sonic at the security camera, and just... stood there staring at her as though he'd never seen her before. Well, she thought, maybe it's been months for him since the last time he saw me. She felt her breath catch slightly at the expression of naked need on his face, cleared her throat, and half-whispered the usual greeting, "Hello, Sweetie." The words seemed to snap him out of the whatever-it-was he was thinking, and he strode toward her cell, unlocking the door with his sonic as he walked. He opened the door, stepped to her, and just wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides, burying his face in her hair and breathing in the scent of her. She smelt of prison soap and her own heady pheromones and of Time... like a Time Lady, like one of his own, and he trembled as he held her. "What is it, my love?" she asked, concerned, and then he was kissing her. She let out a muffled squeak of surprise - usually he was diffident to the point of shyness about initiating intimacy - and then she relaxed into the kiss, parting her lips and allowing him to explore. She could feel his hearts pounding against her breasts as he whispered her name into her mouth - River, oh my lovely River Song - and she sighed into his.

He broke away to look into her face. "Will you come with me?" he asked, almost hesitantly, jerking his head toward the blue box in the corner, "Please?" She just nodded, and he led her by the hand into the TARDIS, closing the door behind them and turning to look into her face. "River..." he began, and stopped helplessly as she looked at him with a bemused expression and interrupted him.

"Hush now," she said, and noticed his wince at the words, so she rushed on and contradicted herself. "Tell me what brought all this on. If you can... I know there may be spoilers." She tried a smile and was rewarded by his face lighting up as he had an idea. He pulled a blue book out of his inside jacket pocket - bigger on the inside - and took her hand again, leading her to a sofa upholstered in TARDIS blue velvet off to one side of the console. He sat down and drew her down to sit next to him. She pulled her book out and leafed through it. "Have you done the Pandorica?"

He nodded. "I've just come from Berlin, and..." he faltered as her face fell. "What is it, River?"

"You must hate me."

"What? No, no of course not!"

"I killed you!"

"Well... I got better. And that was you too." She didn't look convinced. "River, I... I've wanted you for so long, but I didn't think I could... I was afraid..." He took a deep breath and tilted her face up to his with one long forefinger under her chin so he could look into her eyes. He kissed her very gently on the lips. "River, I... I've wanted you. That's not usual, not for me, not in that way, and I was going to try to ignore it," he was babbling now, "because I thought you were human and I couldn't bear to... to love a human and have her live such a short time... not again." There were tears in his eyes, River noticed, and she was sure they matched her own. My poor lonely Time Lord. She reached up and brushed his hair back from his face. "River, I need... let me make love to you... please?"

She looked at him for a long moment, then shook her head. "No," she said, and his face closed up into its usual everything's-brilliant fake smile. She cupped the back of his neck and kissed him. "No," she said again, into his mouth, "because I'm going to make love to you." He groaned and buried his hands in her hair as they deepened the kiss, and she pushed him back onto the sofa, sucking and nibbling on his lips. "Lie still, my love," she murmured, and ran her hand down his jaw line to attack his bow tie. He shivered and she pulled her lips off his to nibble down his chin and take one end of the bow in her teeth, untying it. When her teeth grazed the skin of his throat, his breath hitched and he moaned her name, arching his back.

"Please, River... please let me touch you," he said, voice hoarse, his hands dropping helplessly out of her curls onto the sofa on either side of him. "I need..." he moaned as she began to suck lightly on his neck and her hands pushed the tweed jacket and the braces off his shoulders, and began to work on his shirt buttons. Her fingers grazed his nipples as she unbuttoned the shirt and he whimpered. "River..."

"Shh, my love," River murmured between licks at his skin, "you forget that I know you. And you always take care of me. Let me love you first this time, please?" She flicked the nipple with her tongue deliberately, eliciting a gasp, and then she settled lower to suck and lick at his torso while he writhed under her, whimpering and clutching at the empty air with both hands. "Let go, my love." She dipped her tongue into his navel and unfastened his trousers. "Please, Sweetie, let go..." And as she took him into her mouth, he moaned her name long and low, and arched up to meet her, and his hands clutched the sofa cushions as he tried to... to control...

...but he couldn't, it had been so long since anyone had loved him for him and her lips and her hair and her tongue and her scent and... "River..." he gasped her name and time stood still...

...and he collapsed back onto the sofa, dragging River up his body until she lay fully on top of him and he could bury his face in the wild halo of her hair again. He lay there, just holding her, until his breathing evened and his hearts' pounding under her ear was reduced to manageable levels.

And then River felt his hand, with those long and sensitive fingers, inching up under the back of her shirt and tracing circles and arcs over the skin on the small of her back. His lips started to nibble her ear under her hair and she brought her face up to capture his lips with her own. The whimpers of need were mutual this time and he sat up so she straddled his lap. She pulled her shirt off over her head in one smooth motion and guided his mouth to her breast, squirming deeper into his lap as he nuzzled at her breasts. She arched into his touch and moaned as his hands joined his mouth on her body, stroking her skin and finally dipping carefully into her knickers, where he caressed and rubbed her sensitive flesh until she came undone under his touch.

River was still quivering with release when the Doctor lifted her by her hips and settled her body on and around him, and they both began to move. He watched her face, inches from his, lips swollen and eyes heavy, as she built to another peak and another, moaning and whimpering his name. And on the final peak, he came apart with her around him, and they slowly subsided into sleepy little murmured endearments as they came to rest.

And just as he fell asleep with River snuggled trustingly in his arms, the Doctor realised that he finally understood why so many humans called this loving.