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She's different, new and exciting but oh so very frustrating. She knows everything, and won't tell him anything, and it's something he's never experienced before. She's something he's never experienced before.
It's that, the constant questions she leaves unanswered, that draws him to her. He can't get enough and while he knows how her story will end, he can't bring himself to close her book. He doesn't want to skip over pages or read chapters ahead. He wants to enjoy the content, before he gets to the epilogue. If he even gets there. Endings – He doesn’t like them. He doesn’t read them, the last page, it doesn’t exist for him. Books. How appropriate a comparison.
River Song, however, is one book that he has to read as it's written. And she's the only one who knows what happens next.
He leans against the console, watching her as she flicks through that damned blue book, looking up to smirk at him as her eyes scan his face, drinking in this new sight. He already knows she's never met him before, this him, with this face. This is new for her too, but not as new as it is for him.
Meeting her was an accident. Both times were but this one had more guilt to it than regret. And he did regret his first meeting. But now all he could see when he looked at her was hair piled atop her head; wires hanging around her and a glow that burst forward, blinding him to her tear-filled eyes, eyes he'll never forget, of that he's sure. He looks away, unable to watch her as she continues to ramble off adventures and dates and locations and running. So much running.
'You watch us run'
He can't stop her voice, strained and so so in love, as she whispers her goodbye.
‘Spoilers’
He hates that word, and he fears he’s the one who taught her it. Not that he’d know. Because he doesn’t know anything, or barely anything. He knows she’ll die, and he knows it’ll be his fault.
“Doctor?”
He paused, closing his eyes momentarily before turning to the woman watching him quietly. Forcing a toothy grin, The Doctor swung around the console, pulling on levers and twirling buttons. “Where to Professor Song? How about a picnic?”