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River leant against Rose's kitchen counter as she attempted to bake some sort of strange alien desert. They'd formed a sort of rocky relationship in the beginning, which had developed into something so full of love. And when River had realised how she was to die, she knew Rose would find a way to save her so she did not mind. Now all they needed to do was figure out how to reunite with the Doctor.
Rose sighed as she pulled the baking tray out of the oven, attempt clearly failed.
"Baking isn't helping you think," River said.
"Clearly not," Rose agreed, dropping the tray on-top of the oven and sighing.
"We need to do something to surprise them," she said. Rose sighed again.
"Just send out a message to the psychic paper for them to meet us somewhere," she said. River hummed.
"Make it a surprise," River muttered mostly to herself. "We should have a picnic!"
"We're buying the food though," Rose said, staring at the cook book. "I'm not attempting anything else." River laughed, and Rose smiled at her.
"Now then?" she asked, pushing of the counter and walking to stand in front of her. Rose nodded.
"If we don't I'll chicken out," she said. River hummed. She knew that Rose had gotten nervous about reuniting with their lover, but she didn't realise how bad it could be. Not really.
"You two will always love each other," River told her. "He'd tell me about you sometimes, talk about this brilliant woman that he'd fallen in love with and then he'd get all sad. The Doctor is always going to love you." Rose nodded faintly. River forced her to sit on the counter as she prepared the picnic for the three of them. There was no real way to know what to get the Doctor, they didn't know what regeneration they'd find.
Eventually the two ventured out, picnic basket and blanket in hand, to find a spot. They had River's vortex manipulator, and Rose's latent Bad Wolf abilities, so plenty of ways to find somewhere nice to set up.
They landed on a nice looking flower field atop a cliff. Three suns hung in the sky, in different stages, as did three moons. Together Rose and River set out their picnic. once the blanket was laid out, and the food set out on the extra plates, Rose settled down and admired the view. River grinned at her and stepped back slightly.
"Any ideas on what I should send?" River asked.
"Something normal?" Rose said shrugging slightly. River snorted and thought a little.
The Doctor sighed as she looked around the empty console room. Yaz was at home, taking a brief break, but she didn't know the exact date she wanted to return yet so the Doctor was left waiting for a phone call. She felt the psychic paper heat up in her pocket and pulled it out. It'd give her something to do.
'Come and find me sweetie xx'
Well, that was unexpected. For a moment the Doctor considered ignoring it. River hadn't known she could regenerate further when she had seen her last. The time she would see her for the last time before she went to the library. She couldn't though. It was hard to ignore.
The Doctor had fallen deeply in love with two people. Just two. She had loved before sure, but not quite as she had loved River and Rose. Sure she had argued with River most of the time, and lied to her time and again, but she loved her deeply. She really couldn't say no to that. Not really.
She traced the message back, the Tardis very willing to help her along. It didn't take long, and he ride wasn't as bumpy as she'd expected it to be. The Doctor wasn't sure what to expect though. She stood in front of the doors for a moment, preparing herself. Deep breath in, she rested her hands on the doors. Deep breath out, she pulled them open.
"Hello sweetie," River greeted. She was lounging back on a picnic blanket in a flower field. There were plates set out, and food on most of them.
"Hi," the Doctor said, stepping out. River raised a glass to her and the Doctor relaxed.
"I'd recommend you never destroy your entire body and briefly become a computer memory," she said.
"How is that possible?" she asked.
"Many things are possible if you're me," Rose said. The Doctor stared at her, frozen in shock. Rose came from around the Tardis, she must have been hiding behind it. Or perhaps she had just been sat at the cliff's edge. Rose had always loved doing that despite the dangers. She looked just the same as she had when the Doctor had left her on the beach in the other universe. Except for her eyes. Her eyes looked older, looked ancient.
"Not what you expected?" River asked.
"No," the Doctor admitted. "This is better though." Rose grinned at her, and River watched them with a smile. She knew what it was like to love Rose, an all encompassing feeling that you could never escape. Around Rose it was like she was the most important thing ever to exist. Besides that, there had always been the slimmest of chances the Doctor would see her again, Rose was the true impossibility. Not to mention it had been longer since the Doctor had seen Rose. River didn't mind, she'd always wished she could witness Rose and the Doctor interact.