Every time.

He had been there for her, although she didn't know this yet, why wouldn't she be there for him?
It was his 13th body, they both knew it was coming, sooner rather than later.
But this was even sooner than they had wanted.
They had been hoping he could just age this body out naturally.
They should have known better. Neither of them were fated to die a natural death.
~*~*~*
He was always there when she needed him, every time she called he was there, sometimes even if she didn't, and this was no exception.
It was an ancient tomb, and it was locked, how was she supposed to resist?
It happened so fast. The tomb was dark and something grabbed her as it opened.
Brakes in desperate need of fixing grated and light spilled into the tomb.
"And what sort of time do you call this?" she dropped the usual flirty line.
She used the distraction to break free, and then the fighting started.
Shots fired bodies fell.
Then River was backed into a corner, no way out. No way to avoid the gun pointed at her.
So this was how it ended.
It made sense.
She resigned herself to it.
She looked for the Doctor, he was the last thing she wanted to see.
Their eyes locked on each others, he was a few dozen feet away. She smiled sadly at him and mouthed "I'm sorry", his look shifted to terror as his eyes noted the gun pointed at her.
She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
The gun went off.
But she didn't feel the bullet rip her flesh. All she felt was a warm splash across her face.
Her eyes flew open in shock, and she saw the Doctor wobbling in front of her, a red spot blooming like some kind of sick rose across his chest.
She shot the creature holding the gun. and then dealt with all the rest of them as he began to fall to the ground and then dropped down to catch him.
Tears were racing down her face as she grabbed his shoulders.
"How dare you!" she cried.
"I couldn't let you die." he said calmly if a little weakly.
"How can you think it's fair to die for me?" she demanded.
"Because you don't die here, you can't die here. If you die here I never meet you for that first time."
"It's not your decision. And time can be rewritten!"
"Not those times, not a chance."
"How you can you force me to hold you as you die?" she was begging now, pleading like a child, she hated him for reducing her to it.
But mostly she hated herself, she knew that she couldn't stop this now, and neither could he, yet she still begged, she also knew deep down that he was telling the truth, and it had to happen this way. That didn't make it hurt any less.
The blood from the shot was staining her hands and clothes but all she could see was the Doctor's, her Doctor's, face. The laugh lines she had slowly watched carve themselves, the sorrow and wonder still left in his eyes even after thousands of years, his mouth. So many times had the most hilarious, or insightful things passed between his lips. And in a few more minutes nothing would ever pass between them again, not even the slightest puff of air.
That thought made her heart feel like it was being shredded.
"I'm not making you do anything." A tremor passed through his body as the bullet shifted slightly closer to his left heart.
It was the truth, he wasn't making her do it. But yet she couldn't not. The Doctor always knew he would die alone, but River would be damned if she let him be right about that.
"I know."
She leaned down and kissed him, using the kiss to show him what she couldn't say, that he was not alone, and he would never be alone. She kissed him, wishing with everything in her that she had even one regeneration left for him. Knowing she didn't.
This kiss wasn't one for the history books, it was far too personal, far too emotional, it was the kind of thing referenced in a storybook ending, or a fairy tale, but never named. Because to name it would be to steal it. It belonged to them, and no one else.
She pulled her head back a bit her face still close enough that her hair brushed his sharp cheekbones. She looked into his eyes and he looked back for the last time.
"Hello Sweetie." She said, not wanting to say goodbye.
he smiled at her another tremor racking his skinny frame,
"I love you." His eyes fluttered closed.
"I love you too." She kissed him, one last time.