"River." The Doctor whispered urgently into her ear. "I can't keep this up forever."
River held her breath and shook with suppressed laughter while an inappropriate smile crept across her lips upon hearing his words because they could so easily be taken out of context but the Doctor was right, they couldn't keep dancing forever. And after all this was no laughing matter but quite simply a matter of life and death...
The Doctor had received an invite via psychic paper, courtesy of River who had been using this method of contact more frequently, which was kind of the Doctor's fault, seeing as though he never answered his phone. And this is how the Doctor came to be on board the SS Supernova, a luxury starliner cruising through the Milky Way, famed for its vintage ballroom dancing competitions. And although he had previous form as a dancer it wasn't usually his sort of thing but the Doctor could never resist a summons from River, any time spent with her was precious. River meanwhile had her heart set on dancing "properly" with the Doctor. And perhaps winning the whole competition.
However before the competition officially started there was an impromptu "warm up" ball, the Doctor had promised to make an effort and was now dressed in his best white top hat and tails. River Song wore the most exquisite cascading midnight blue ball gown which secured many admiring glances along with her feisty chat up lines, the Doctor meanwhile created a ripple of laughter across the floor while he displayed his drunk giraffe dance, River smiled indulgently, knowing all the time that the Doctor was playing the fool sublimely, lulling his dance rivals into a false sense of security because if the Doctor cared to, he really could dance. They had started off at different ends of the dancefloor, playing an old seduction favourite as they teasingly glanced in each others direction and pretended to be strangers who had never met before. River could feel her heart pounding beneath her bodice with anticipation but she knew she could play this game all night long as sure enough the Doctor cracked first and came to claim the first dance, which was a waltz, to a sultry version of Moon River. River straightened back the Doctor's shoulders and slightly lifted his long chin, all the time beaming with delight as she counted them in and then they glided across the dancefloor, their feet barely touching the ground as they moved as one magical, dreamy entity, in perfect synchronicity. Creating a stir in a glittering room of beautiful and weird creatures was something River Song loved to do. But River only had eyes for her Doctor, nothing else existed in that room, however she was vaguely aware of the other gobsmacked dancers parting like waves to let them through with stunned exclamations of "It's like they've been dancing together for years!"
"If only they knew sweetie..." River sighed ecstatically into the Doctor's ears.
In that moment they had all the time in the world, somewhere in the 41st century on board a luxury starliner, cruising at light speeds across the Milky Way about to win one of the greatest dance competitions this side of the galaxy. In fact everyone was having a lovely time... That was until an ex-time terrorist who also happened to be an embittered ex-ballroom dancer with an army of killer robots and a lifelong vendetta against the Doctor turned up...
No one could be too sure what was going on at first but when the robots started randomly firing stun rays into the crowds everyone agreed that the ball was over. River Song and the Doctor ducked under a canapé table and then sighed wearily with a familiar resignation that another romantic evening had been resoundingly gate crashed but as their eyes met under the table there was a quickening in their chests despite themselves as they quickly pulled themselves together, scrambled to their feet and searched for the nearest exit but in the panic and confusion they quickly became blocked right in the middle of what seemed like hundreds of screaming dancers.
The music suddenly stopped, along with the indiscriminate firing into the crowds as the 20th century vintage microphone screeched to life, it had the desired effect as silence reigned and everyone stared up at the head judge table where a mature but nevertheless rather stunning, scarlet cat suited woman with cropped silver hair stood on top, dangling a diamante ray gun from her wrist.
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Never Fade From Me (The Life & Times of River Song & The Doctor)
Fanfic"Never Fade From Me" is the unseen story of the life and times of River Song and the Doctor. Ever wondered what happened to River Song after she faded from the Doctor on Trenzalore? Though River died long ago and became an "echo" could such a brave...
