A/N: This was supposed to be a short one-shot, but it got a little out of control. The second half is well on its way to being complete, so I hope not to keep you gorgeous readers waiting too long. ;-)

Set after The Angels Take Manhattan (Spoilers, sweetie), but before The Snowmen. Featuring an extra-broody Eleven, a meddling, good-intentioned River Song, and Rose, being Rose.

Enjoy.

O.A.

In retrospect it made perfect sense that she was there. It was obviously the Doctor's favorite chip shop in London for a reason. But at the time, River was so shocked, she could barely speak.

She had been sitting alone at a table, physically and emotionally drained in the wake of their ill-fated trip to Manhattan and the heartbreaking loss of her parents, lost in thoughts and memories and fears. They had spent more than a month in the TARDIS together since then, sequestered from all of time and space, each finding what comfort they could in the other's arms, taking solace in their shared anguish. River drafted the novel she had to write, and the Doctor and the TARDIS began to remodel.

Now that they had emerged, River was pondering the wonderful gift of the fact that it seemed like they had almost been in sync, for once, and how blissful it had been to love and live together with almost no secrets, no "spoilers," for a brief time. She had been seeing younger and younger versions of him more frequently of late, and she worried that their time together must be growing shorter.
As she sat lost in her thoughts, the Doctor was at the counter purchasing them some much-needed comfort food, and so she was startled out of her daydreams by the sound of a female voice.

"Are you using that vinegar, there?" the voice had asked, and River shook her head as she passed the bottle, glancing up to smile at the stranger as she did so. And then she'd almost dropped the bottle on the floor as she found herself staring into the open, earnest face of Rose Tyler.

"Y'allright?" Rose asked, and River realized she'd been staring, slack jawed, for at least ten seconds. The question jump started her brain, and River reached behind her, grabbing her bag as she stood.

"Quite. Only I was just leaving. If you'll excuse me."

And with that, she turned on her heel and walked as quickly as she could towards the counter where the Doctor had been completing his purchase. Not quickly enough. He was walking towards her.

"Out." she snapped at him, praying he wouldn't see.

"River, whats wrong?" he asked with concern on his face, continuing to approach. "What happened?"

"You great, bloody idiot," she snapped. "Did you even think to check the Time Zones when we landed?" She pushed him towards the door, and slapped him on the chest for good measure.

"Oi! Stop it, River. Of course I did! What are you going on about? It's a balmy night in London, May, Two-Thousand-Twel-" And he stopped abruptly, a strangled noise catching in the back of his throat. He'd seen her.

"Two-thousand-six." River hissed, gesturing towards the yellowed calendar on the wall behind the counter. "I swear. It's like you enjoy ripping time and space apart with paradoxes."

But the Doctor didn't answer, because Rose, who had heard River's last remark, was walking towards him, with a look of curiosity on her face.

"You... you're..." she looked unsure as she looked up into this unfamiliar face, but River was certain that deep down, Rose knew exactly whose eyes she was gazing into. She would always know, just like River would.

The Doctor nodded, swallowing thickly. She stepped closer.

"You're different... again," she stated softly, reaching a curious hand towards his face.

He stepped back suddenly, alarmed, and shook his head as though trying to shake off a bad dream. He looked up at River, running a nervous hand through his hair, and the conflict and panic in his eyes nearly broke her heart.

"Shouldn't. Crossing my own time line. Never a good plan. Gets so messy. Can't risk a paradox," he rambled, and then fled the shop, leaving the chips behind.

Rose looked bewildered and upset. She turned to River, and asked "Why? Why would he run from me? What just happened?"

River sighed, searching her mind for an answer, any truthful answer she would be allowed to give, that wouldn't give Rose a taste of the tragedy in her future.

"It's been 200 years, for him, since he last saw you, Rose," she finally replied. It was enough.

Rose, of all people, understood. The Doctor would outlive them all, in the end. And the heartbreak she felt for his loneliness was plain on her face. The tears that welled up in the young woman's eyes caused River's own to start stinging.

"You should follow him," Rose whispered roughly as she looked at the floor.

River nodded. "Yes."

Rose nodded too, a little too vigorously. She wiped at her eyes with the heel of her hand, then turned to look at the door he'd just run through.

"Go on, then," she whispered, in a broken voice. "He shouldn't be alone."

And River took a breath, and made a choice. To hell with paradox. They'd handled worse.

"You're right. He shouldn't. Let's go."

"What?" Rose looked up at her sharply. "But he said- He'd be furious. He'll go bonkers. I know how this works. We can't, can we?"

River laughed aloud as she watched Rose go through the motions of attempting to behave and follow the Doctor's rules. The words she was saying were right, but the tone was all wrong, and the hope in her eyes gave her intentions away.

River grinned recklessly and extended her hand. "I heard a rumor once that the universe hasn't come up with a paradox yet, nasty enough to keep Rose Tyler from the Doctor."

The two women shared a complicit smile.

"Who are you?" Rose asked, laughing at River's cavalier demeanor as she took River's hand and shook it. "You seem to know an awful lot about me."

"River. River Song."

"Nice to meet you, River Song."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he snapped, from the top of the staircase in the console room. He glowered at River as she ushered a wide-eyed Rose into a console room she'd never seen. One day, River's meddling was going to get someone killed.

River looked him over, unimpressed, and put her hands on her hips as she replied, "I do as I damn well please, Doctor, I should think you'd be accustomed to that by now. You should stop sulking and apologize to Ms. Tyler. You've upset her."

"She shouldn't be here."

"Oh, shouldn't I?" Rose interrupted, raising an eyebrow. River smirked and the Doctor felt the urge to break something. He clenched his fists.

"No, Rose, you shouldn't," he said to Rose herself, hating himself even as he spoke for the way the hurt showed in her eyes.

"Who says?" she lifted her chin, defiantly.

"Well, for starters, it never happened-" he began.

"Who says?" Rose repeated. "You wouldn't know, would you? Because I just decided I'm never going to tell you."

The Doctor stared at her with his mouth open, and River smiled in delight.

He sighed. These women...

"I said 2012," he hissed, eyes closed, addressing the TARDIS scornfully, kicking the railing. The lights flickered disapprovingly.

The Doctor turned back to Rose.

"When are we?" he asked her quietly. "And where am I?"

"We... just left... the planet, with the black hole. Those Ood things. It was... rough."

Nodding, he sighed. Rough didn't even begin to describe it.

"You're angry," she said. "The proper- I mean the other you. You brought me home, and told us you'd come pick me up after the weekend. You- you're so sad, though. And you won't tell me what's wrong. I'm sort of worried you won't come back."

He nodded silently, remembering the misery he'd been in back then, the paranoia and panic he'd felt after that beast had told him Rose was going to die. He hadn't wanted to ask her to shoulder more of his pain, and he hadn't wanted to scare her. But he also hadn't been able to look at her without thinking that she was just a frail human, and that he would never be able to protect her... and now his stomach clenched with the knowledge of how right he'd been about that.

"You... are you coming back?" Rose asked with a desperate tremor in her voice.

The Doctor looked at the anxiety and fear in her big, brown eyes, and felt the last of his resolve crumble. He flew down the stairs and caught Rose in his arms, burying his face in her hair as tears welled up in his own eyes.

"Rose Tyler, I could never stand to stay away," he whispered, breathing in the scent of her, which he never thought he'd smell again.

"Quite right," River agreed steadily as she walked towards them. And then she leaned close to the Doctor's ear and murmured softly in Gallifreyan, "And tonight, you shouldn't."

The Doctor let Rose go as he turned slowly to face River.

"What exactly are you insinuating?" he asked warningly in the same language.

"I should think that's quite obvious."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"She wants this."

"River. Stop."

"You want it too."

"River Song I swear to you-"

"And I want it for you, my love."

To that, he had no reply. He just stared at her, fuming, until Rose stepped between them.

"I don't understand you when you're talking," she observed with curiosity.

"The TARDIS doesn't translate Gallifreyan," the Doctor explained testily.

"You speak Gallifreyan?" Rose looked at River with raised eyebrows. "Who, exactly, are you?"

River smiled, "Depends on who you ask."

"It doesn't matter anyway because Doctor Song was just-"

"Just explaining that he should act like he possesses even half of the wit and wisdom he claims, and take you to bed."

Rose flushed as red as her namesake and her eyes flew open wide.

"What? I- Doctor... What?"

The Doctor's eyes went dark, and he grabbed River by the wrist.

"Enough." he spat, pulling the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and holding it against her vortex manipulator. "I'll deal with you later."

River met his eyes briefly in a silent challenge before turning to Rose.

"Rule one. The Doctor lies. He needs this as much as y-"

And with that, she was gone.

Rose and the Doctor stood in awkward silence for a long moment, him fidgeting and fiddling with his tie, and she as still as a frightened mouse. They made eye contact almost by accident and the Doctor felt a jolt in the pit of his stomach at the sight of those gorgeous eyes that he'd lost so many years ago. He looked away again, quickly, so he felt, rather than watched, her approach.

"Don't wander off," she whispered, conspiratorially.

"What?" he asked, raising his eyes again to find her smiling up at him.

"Rule one. You told me, 'rule one: don't wander off.' At least that was rule one when I met you."

He gave her a fond half smile, and the tension broke.

"Yes, well," he replied, trying and failing to look stern, "It's a pity to have a rule one that no one ever pays attention to, isn't it? If you ever learned that rule it wasn't on my watch, Rose Tyler. And you, the most jeopardy-friendly creature in the universe."

He managed to hold her gaze for a full eight seconds before they both dissolved into hysterical peels of laughter and sank to their knees in the console room.

"Rose..." he groaned, when they recovered, gathering her into his arms. She curled up against his chest instantly, and he marveled at how small she felt against this newer, taller body, and yet how she still had the flavor of "home" abut her.

She turned her face up and smiled that smile, and snaked her hand into his hair as she began to draw his face down towards hers.

When he resisted, sadness pierced the warm glow of her gaze.

She dropped her arm and shifted to put some space between them.

"I'm sorry. River made it seem like... I'm sorry." she whispered.

So sincere, so devoted. He shook his head, closing his eyes, because the sight of her was too painful.

"Doctor... please. What's wrong?"

He pulled her head down to his shoulder so he wouldn't have to see her eyes, and clung to her so tight he felt certain he must be hurting her.

"It's really been two hundred years?" she breathed.

"Yeah..." he breathed into her hair. "It has. It's been more, really. I'm an old man, Rose."

"You're hurting," she said. It wasn't a question. "Tell me why?"

"Oh, don't you worry about me. I'm fine," he mumbled.

"The Doctor lies..." she rebutted.

He glared at her and started to pull away. She grabbed his face between her palms and said fiercely, "Oi. Don't wander off."

Then she dropped her hands and just looked at him, waiting.

And a dam inside him broke, It all came flooding out- Amy, the girl who waited, Rory the Roman, Weeping Angels and New York City... the agonizing loss of his beloved Ponds.

And she listened to it all, her soulful eyes glassy with tears as he explained those last few, agonizing moments.

"...because, in the end she had already made her choice. And it would have been wrong to keep her from him. But... how am I supposed to go on again? I know I will. I always do, I suppose. But, Rose... I'm just... so... tired."

She was sitting cross legged and leaned forward to brush an errant lock of hair from his forehead. This time he didn't push her away.

"Doctor, look at me," she whispered.

He slowly, reluctantly raised his eyes to hers.

She opened her mouth as though to speak, as though to offer words of benediction or comfort. But no words came, and she closed it again. There were no magic words to make it better, no real way to fix the things that were wrong.

And so they sat there for a moment, frozen in place, with her hand along the edge of his hairline, staring into each other's eyes.

"Rose..." he whispered, in agony. Her presence stirred up an ocean of regret, sadness, and longing.

"Doctor... please... Whatever you want. whatever you need."

"Rose, what I want right now is impossible. I can't keep you with me. I can't steal you from myself. If I had come back for you, back then, and you'd been gone..." he trailed off ominously.

"You won't be looking for me tonight," she said in a voice so soft he could barely hear her. But then her voice grew stronger. "You're off hurting somewhere, alone. And you're daft if you think I'm going to let two of you in one day leave me behind, worried, just so you can have a good sulk. Doctor. Let me help you."

She laid her other hand on his arm, moved just a few inches closer. He could smell the scent of her skin, feel her warmth begging to thaw his heart, longing to fill the emptiness inside him. He simply didn't have the strength to push her away. And so, he kissed her.

I know, I know. That's an evil place to cut it. But Moffat gives you agonizing cliffhangers all the time, and you keep coming back for more. So I know you're masochists, every one of you.

Reviews make me smile! 3

See you soon.