Spoilers

Christmas Kisses

They spent the rest of the evening laughing and swapping stories. After dinner, they had moved to the sitting room where they stayed until nearly midnight. Amy and Rory eventually decided it was time to go to bed and offered River and the Doctor a room. However, River was quick to decline, saying that she should get back to prison, though the look she was giving her husband implied otherwise.

Amy just laughed and pulled her daughter into a hug.

"Well, then, Happy Christmas you two," she said before hugging the Doctor.

"Happy Christmas," he and River replied in unison.

They both hugged Rory before saying their goodbyes and making their way back to the Tardis. River quickly pressed a few buttons before the Doctor pushed her away from the console.

"I'll drive. Where would you like to go?"

River watched in amusement as he began rattling off names of many different places, some beautiful, some not so beautiful.

"You haven't been married to me long," she said, interrupting his rambling.

"Well, no," he admitted, a bit startled.

"I can tell," she grinned. "It's Christmas. You get to the room. I'll park us someplace safe and join you momentarily."

"W-what room?" he stammered.

She just winked at him and went back to flying the Tardis. He stood off to one side, frozen. She nudged him out of the way as she passed and he finally managed to start towards the staircase leading into the ship. When he reached the top of it, he turned to glare at his wife and opened his mouth to say something. Then he closed his mouth and frowned before quickly going down the stairs and making his way through the maze of corridors.

A few minutes later, River appeared in the doorway to her room. As she expected, she found the Doctor hovering over her dresser, looking uncomfortable. Making her way up to him, she slipped her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his lips. He returned the kiss a little more eagerly than he had intended to but everything about her made it difficult to control himself.

When she pulled away, she buried her face in his shoulder, hugging him close. He looked down at her in surprise.

"River, is something wrong?" he asked, pushing her back so he could see her face.

She gave him a curious glance. "Of course not. Why should something be wrong?"

But he could see she was lying. Something about the look in her eyes wasn't sincere. "River, I haven't been married to you long but I've spent enough time with you since then to know that you don't hug me we the way you are now. And--"

She interrupted him with another kiss.

"And that's another thing," he said when she had pulled away. "You kiss me a lot, but never this much when we're not . . ." He trailed off, blushing slightly. "Anyway."

River shrugged. Stepping out of his arms, she caught his hand and began pulling him towards the bed.

"You were too young to kiss me last time I saw you, now I've got to make up for it," she replied. Her tone was joking but her words brought back an image in his mind. The image of her standing in the entrance to her cell, one hand clinging to a bar, her look of surprise quickly turning to one of worry. And the words he was never meant to hear: And a last time.

"River," he breathed. He tugged her back into his arms. "I'm sorry."

She raised her eyebrows. "For what?"

He ignored her and pressed his lips to hers. His one hand slipped into her curls, pulling her closer. He felt her lips pull into a smile against his. One of her arms slipped around his neck as the other moved down his back, her fingers trailing down his spine. The Doctor let the hand that wasn't in her hair settle on her waist.