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"Where to this time, dear?" the Doctor asked, poised over the TARDIS console. River paused, a deviant grin tickling the edges of her mouth.
"I know that look," the Doctor said, almost darkly. He knew the crazy ideas she could come up with, sometimes they were almost worse than his.
"Why don't we swap?" River said.
"Swap?"
"You pick a place. I'll drive," River said.
"Oh, no you don't. I can pick the place and drive!" the Doctor insisted.
"Maybe, but who says we'd actually end up in the place you pick? Besides...how often do you get to be the companion?" River tipped his nose with her finger, edged with sparkly red nail polish.
The Doctor didn't respond, still dubious of River's idea.
"Come on, sweetie! Don't you remember Berlin? I saved Amy and Rory, and you weren't even in the TARDIS," River reminded. The Doctor's scowl faded; he was giving in. "Fine. Let's go to Fip," he said.
"...Fip? Really?" River said. The Doctor raised his eyebrow (well, his eyebrow ridge) at her. She knew what he was playing at; she drives, he picks the most unimpressive yet still habitable planet he can think of.
"Come on, sweetie. I'm trying to have fun. Pick somewhere you really want to go," she urged.
"I don't see how it's fun for me," the Doctor grumbled, dropping himself into the chair by the railing.
"You never get to sit back and relax! Just let me take you somewhere. Please."
River gave him a sweet, pleading look, and he couldn't help breaking a smile.
"Okay. Let's go to Quillux," he said.
"Ooh, is that the one with the star trees?"
The Doctor looked at her dubiously again.
"I know where it is," River assured, tapping in coordinates. The Doctor watched her flit about the console. He could feel the TARDIS' response to every control command River put in, and it almost seemed like the TARDIS preferred River's driving. He scowled at the thought. After all this time, the TARDIS just-
The Doctor lifted his head. He was on the floor. How had he been thrust that far in that little time?
"River! What's happening?!" he demanded, pushing himself to his feet. He saw her clinging to the railing.
"I don't know," she replied, going back to the console.
"See, this is what happens when I let you-"
The TARDIS heaved and thrust them both to the other side of the console room. The Doctor realized that he was now body-to-body with River up against the railing, their faces but inches apart. He scrambled backwards, bumping into the console. River would've laughed, but the TARDIS had another mini-seizure and she clung to the railing while the Doctor attempted to shove himself off the console, though gravity protested.
"Doctor, when was the last time you went to Cardiff and refueled the engines?" River yelled over the rumbling TARDIS.
The Doctor only looked at her despairingly, answering her question.
"And you blamed me for this!" she shouted, frustrated with him. Oh, how he drove her insane at times.
"Land her before she runs out!" the Doctor shrieked, finally having reached the railing and clinging to it for his life. River carefully made her way to the console and starting slapping away at buttons and levers. The TARDIS choked, hiccuped, and finally, settled with its usual grinding noise. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief and let go of the railing. He checked the scanner to see they were in Cardiff. Suddenly, the scanner crackled and went black, as well as all the lights and probably anything else that used power in the TARDIS.
"Just enough," River breathed. She felt her way around the console, trying to get to the door.
"Ow!" the Doctor hissed as she grabbed his face.
"Oops! Sorry, sweetie. I can't see a thing," River apologized. The Doctor grabbed her hand and led her out the best he could without stumbling over everything, for once. Ironic that the one time he wasn't clumsy all over the place was the time when he couldn't see anything.
The light struck his eyes as he cracked open the door. He shielded his face with one hand and led River outside, still holding her hand with his other one.
"Now what?" River growled. "This isn't much of a date."
The Doctor let go of her hand and said nothing. They stood there for a few minutes, the Doctor watching the TARDIS as if it were a sleeping baby, and River standing there in her usual Stormcage clothes. She hadn't even had a chance to change into her date clothes yet.
"We need to wait a few hours for the TARDIS to soak up energy. Normally it would only take a few minutes, but she's bled dry," the Doctor said, giving the TARDIS a pat on the door.
"And whose fault is that?" River laughed.
"Hmm," the Doctor groaned in response.
River watched him scuff the ground with his foot, probably annoyed or bored. Probably both.
"Thank you," she said, seemingly out of nowhere.
"What? For what?" The Doctor turned and gave her a confused look.
"The TARDIS was crashing, and you let me drive her to safety," River said. The Doctor smiled. "Well, just cause we're stuck here in boring old Cardiff doesn't mean we can't still go out," he said.
"What are we going to do in Cardiff for- how many hours did you say it would take?"
"At least...well, to make a rough, er, estimation...maybe, I don't know, a little under...uh..."
"Doctor?" River prompted, tired of his hesitation to tell her.
"At least 12 hours."
"At least?!" River exploded. "And at most?"
The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. "Erm...48...ish."
"So we could be stuck in Cardiff for 2 days?" River said. "What are we going to do for that long?"
"I have an idea. I've never really done it before, but I've heard it can be fun."
"What?"
"Road trip!"