Dec. 7th, 2011 10:57 pm
A Merry Chase (6/8)
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savvyliterateTitle: A Merry Chase
Author:savvyliterate
Fandom/Characters: Doctor Who, Eleven/River
Rating: T for now, but will eventually be M
Word Count (chapter): 5,130
Note: I am happy to say that "Night and the Doctor" has rendered this story into an AR. Doesn't mean I won't finish it though!
Summary: When the Doctor arrives to spirit River away from the Stormcage for the first time, he discovers she's already saved herself -- and is bent on driving him insane. She leads him on a madcap chase across time and space as she seeks to discover herself and he accepts what she really means to him.
Chapter 5: Leadworth Again, or What the Cracks Actually Fixed
When River had sought Amy out in the alternate timeline, they hadn’t just been mother and daughter, but comrades in arms trying to figure out a way to avert the events of Lake Silencio and keep the Doctor alive.
Now, as they went through the massive TARDIS wardrobe, it was like the friends they had been growing up. Mels and Amy, tearing through the shops as Amy tried on one outfit after another.
“Just without the shoplifting,” Amy said, pulling a full-skirted evening gown off a rack, frowning and putting it back.
“Practice,” River said as she rifled through some clothes as well, tugging aside some for later and wondering what adjustments she’d need to do in her Stormcage cell to enlarge the wardrobe. It was entirely too small. “I had to hone my skills somewhere.”
“Great. Do you realize how much money you owe me and Rory for all the times we bailed you out?”
River swooped by with a green parachute-skirted dress and a leather utility belt in hand, greatly favoring the belt. She had a feeling it would be quite useful. She kissed Amy’s cheek. “Love you, Mummy dearest.”
“Now, you’re just being cheeky,” Amy pulled out a pleated dress she admired on a previous trip through the TARDIS wardrobe. She held it up in front of her. “This one?”
“That one. You’ll look lovely for the party.”
Amy grumbled under her breath and started changing. “It was suppose to be a surprise.”
“The Doctor didn’t close the door that fast. I saw the decorations.” River rummaged through a small box and held up thin, beaten gold earrings in the shape of a pyramid. “Try these.” She held them against Amy’s ear as the women admired the look in the mirror.
“Perfect. Do up the back?” Amy turned and hooked in the earrings while River buttoned the dress.
“It still feels weird.” Amy swept her hair back and accepted a pair of strappy sandals River held out to her. She tilted her head to the side. “You’re not questioning the fact that we know the Doctor’s alive.”
“Oh, I saw. Upstairs window. Lovely room. Mind if I come for a stay?”
“It’s yours. Of course! I thought someone had been there. You … well, older you … she stayed the night. We heard her talking to someone, thought it was the Doctor, but she was alone.”
“He was there too. We were having a little marital discussion.”
“That’s between you and him.” Amy picked up a brush, pulled it through her hair a few times and shuddered. “I still can’t quite believe I’m his mother-in-law. I mean, yeah, rooted for you two before we had any idea who you were because you’ve always been,” she wildly gesticulated with her hands, then dropped the brush on a table, “Mrs. Doctor. You called and he’d come running even if he didn’t want to, and …”
“Spoilers,” River cautioned, and Amy bit her lip. “Sorry,” Amy murmured. She yanked out an iPhone and launched an app.
“Texting?”
“Recording. You and the Doctor can do paper, I’ll do digital.”
River laughed, and they hooked arms, walking out of the wardrobe together to see the Doctor dressed in the tuxedo he’d worn to Amy and Rory’s wedding.
“Well, well, look at you.” River’s gaze slowly raked the Doctor’s frame, and he blushed, quickly shifting behind console. “He’s good enough to eat.”
“Don’t ask him to dance. He’s just rubbish.”
“Amelia Pond!” he exclaimed with a half-laugh.
“Well, you are!” Amy pulled away from River, walking over to him. She straightened his lapels and fixed his bowtie, pinning him with a knowing look. “You slammed the door in my face, Raggedy Man.”
“Had to make sure it was you. You know, a you that knew, not a you prior to that.”
“Doesn’t give you an excuse to slam the door in your best friend’s face, yeah?”
“Fat lot of good that did, you big ginge. You and your daughter have taken over the TARDIS. Might as well sign her over to you.”
“You know what they say about in-laws.” With a half-laugh, half-sob, Amy threw her arms around the Doctor’s neck. “I’ve missed you so much.”
He made shushing noises, rocking her back and forth. “I’m fine, my brave Amelia. Look at you, all grown up. And selling perfume!”
“Selling?” Amy pulled back, an eyebrow arched high. River snickered behind her hand.
“Oh no.” The Doctor looked from Amy to River then back again. “What have you been doing? I saw the ads! Petrichor! Brilliant name, Petrichor. One of the telepathic passcodes in the TARDIS, you really are brilliant.”
“She’s not just marketing the perfume,” River spoke up.
“I came up with the formula.” Amy gestured to River. “River helped.”
“What?” His head snapped back and forth between the two women. “When … how?”
“Oh, my love. You weren’t there for every step of university. I had to do something on my summer holidays now, didn’t I?”
“What I did on my summer vacation, hopped back in time and helped my mother create a perfume?” he asked.
She flashed a grin at him. “I got an ‘A’ on the assignment.”
“It was brilliant, really. The one thing River … well, Mels, was good at in school was science. She helped create the formula. We worked on a business plan together, then went into business. It’s kept me busy.”
“Ponds!” The Doctor caught up both of them in fierce embrace. “Brilliant, brilliant Ponds! Every single one of you!”
“Including Rory!” Amy reminded him.
“Especially Rory the Roman! He must be in on this!” The Doctor bounded to the door and was out before the women could say a word in response.
“Does he have any idea?” River asked.
“Not a clue. I think you’ll be surprised too.” Amy tugged River toward the door.
They didn’t manage to get very far, for the Doctor had halted in the doorway. He was so quiet, so still that Amy and River exchanged worried looks.
“Doctor?”
“Sweetie?”
“Amy.” His voice was a raspy whisper. “Why?”
“Well, you told River she couldn’t tell anyone, but of course obviously you gave her permission at some point to tell me.” Amy grinned at River. “While she made it quite clear that she wouldn’t be talking, well, I feel that I’m family and have privileges.”
“What did you do?” River asked.
“Only what you suggested we do. Well, future you. You know, if I think about this too much, it’s going to give me a massive migraine.”
Because she was wearing heels, River could see over the Doctor’s shoulder. Amy and Rory really did have a nice garden, and it was entirely lit with lantern lights, roped from tree to tree and bathing the garden with a soft glow. She saw Rory standing near the grill next to a black man with close-cropped hair, laughing as they debated over the best way to cook burgers. The man turned, and River sucked in a breath, recognizing him from her thesis files. Part of the reason she’d spent a summer with Amy and Rory was to ferret out his former companions to hear their perspective on him.
“Mickey Smith,” she said, shocked. “That’s Mickey Smith.”
She matched faces she knew with the files she’d accumulated. She’d only spoken with a precious few, such as Sarah Jane Smith and her adopted son, Luke. River spotted her at a table, looking extremely thin, pale and fragile. Luke hovered over Sarah Jane’s shoulder like a sentry and, sitting next to her, was Jack Harkness. Next to them was Dr. Martha Jones. Smith-Jones, she quickly corrected herself. Martha looked to be checking over Sarah Jane herself and was quietly murmuring to her. It was a small group, but they were loyal to him. Every one of them would go go to their graves before revealing that the Doctor wasn’t dead.
They weren’t just companions, but they were true friends, letting out a cheer when they saw him alive and well. There was one thing that River hadn’t been able to really see while she was doing her thesis, and that was seeing the Doctor interact with people he knew well outside of Amy, Rory, and Jack. But his huge grin spoke volumes, and the way they flocked around him showed their equal devotion. He exchanged high-fives with Mickey, avoided a kiss from Jack (he kissed River instead, which made the Doctor fume just a bit), hugged Martha and Sarah Jane, the latter very gently.
Amy sidled over to Rory as he flipped burgers. “Are they not here yet?” she murmured.
“Called right before you came out. Ran into traffic. Accident on the M4 on the way. Should be here within the next few minutes.”
“I don’t know how long I can keep them stalling.”
“Well, who else can we use?” Amy pulled out her phone, quickly tapping through the app where she kept notes. “We’re doing this properly. Can’t be either of us. Maybe Sarah Jane? Jack? Martha?”
“Look, I don’t want to be the one having to tell her that the Doctor got impatient, figured this out, then avoided it all and …” Rory breathed a sigh of relief as he saw headlights pull over in front of the house next door. “That must be them. I’ll go let them around.”
In a quiet corner of the garden, where Amy had set up a card table with a few chairs scattered around it, River managed to corner Jack.
“Where’s Ianto?” she asked, looking about. “And Gwen?”
“I imagine Gwen’s fine,” Jack said with a sad smile. “Ianto …” He swallowed and found her hand, squeezing hard.
He didn’t have to say it. “When?” she asked quietly.
“Killed by the 456 two years ago.” At River’s sudden gasp, he raised an eyebrow. “You’ve heard of them.”
“A time or two. Jack …”
“Let’s just not talk about it. This is a party, remember?” He flashed her a winning smile that she knew held years and years of pain. He glanced at the other table, where the Doctor was talking animately with Sarah Jane and Martha, waving his arms in the air as they laughed.
“You know,” River commented, “my files on Sarah Jane Smith said …”
Jack held a finger to his lips. “Yeah. But, he doesn’t know that, does he.”
“No.” But, she suspected from the sadness in his eyes as he hugged her that he knew. “Does she?”
“She guessed. She agreed to the time travel. Luke got the invitation after the funeral and found me. We agreed to go to an earlier point in her timeline, but not too much earlier. She already knew she had cancer, but since the Doctor doesn’t know, it’s not a fixed point yet. The trip … it took a lot out of her.”
“Traveling by vortex manipulator is hell, even on a healthy person, Jack.”
“She wanted to do this, even if it proved to be fatal,” Jack insisted. “I can’t go get Ianto, and the Doctor knows the Brig is dead.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “Hell, I know this is a risky move, but she’s dying to begin with. It won’t change her future, or his, to have her here now. Out of everyone, she wants him to be happy. Just … don’t take him to April 19, 2011, OK?”
“I think in general, we should just avoid April 2011,” River replied.
“Doctor!”
A spry older man came through the gate ahead of Rory, waving enthusiastically and moving much faster than a man of his years normally would.
“Wilf!” The Doctor’s eyes lit up and he stood just as Wilf reached him, catching him up in a bear hug. “Wilfred Mott, look at you!”
“Sorry we’re late! Ran into traffic on the 4. Sylvia’s hanging up the coats.” Wilfred rocked and forth on his feet, nearly bouncing in place.
“River!” The Doctor waved his hands excitedly over his head, then pointed down at Wilf.
“Be sure to have that anti-bruising cream the TARDIS keeps around handy,” Jack murmured as he and River joined the Doctor.
“Why?”
“You’ll find out.” The sadness was gone now, and Jack gave her a teasing grin. “Your parents really are something, I’ll say that. It’s good to know where you got it from. Did you know you and your mother share a mean right hook? And a thing for handcuffs? You’ll have to introduce me to your future sister.”
“I don’t think Amy and Rory are quite over having one vortex-influenced child yet. Give them a bit. And what if I have a brother?”
“Well, you better introduce me to him, too.”
Wilfred Mott turned out to be one of the loveliest people River had ever met. He hugged her like she was a long-lost relative, and it was clear he had spoken with Amy and Rory at some point. Because she knew what happened to Donna Noble, she hadn’t sought him out for her thesis. She knew he had been there shortly before the Doctor had regenerated into his current self and suspected he had something to do with it. But thanks to the metacrisis, even she knew not to venture too near the Nobles. Not until she came up with a solution on how to save her.
“What’ve you been up to?” The Doctor asked as Wilf shoved a huge silver hatbox in his hands.
“Oh, a bit of this and that. Got in a trip to France. Tried to bike along the coast, but wouldn’t cooperate with the knees.”
His eyes met River’s briefly before he focused back on Wilfred. He had to ask. “Donna? How is she?”
Wilfred raised an eyebrow, then nodded at something over the Doctor’s shoulder. His eyes widened and he slowly turned to see Donna Noble, auburn hair streaming about her. His face was caught halfway between delight and absolute horror. “Donna?” he squeaked.
“Oi, spaceman,” Donna replied.
Then, she promptly socked him.
——
“That hurt!” The Doctor moaned as Martha inspected his eye and applied the cream that River had ducked into the TARDIS to find. He waved a finger at River and Amy. “And you! You two should be hovering over me!”
“Why?” Amy asked, tapping her foot.
“I think you deserve it, my love.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” Martha muttered under her breath.
He promptly ignored both of them, choosing instead to gesticulate at Donna and try to get up from where he was still sprawled on the ground. River and Martha promptly shoved him back down. “You should be dead!” he sputtered as Martha finished applying the cream.
“Oi! I think not!” Donna promptly smacked the Doctor upside the head.
“Ow! River!”
“Oh, don’t go crying to her, you floppy-haired, big-eared Dumbo.”
“Oi, I am not Dumbo!” He finally shoved Martha away and rolled to his feet. “Regardless, you should be dead. You can’t remember.”
“Well, I did, no thanks to you, sunshine.” Donna threw herself on the bench near him. “It just … happened.”
“It didn’t just happen. Nothing just happens!”
“Well, it did for me! June 26, 2010. All sort of weird going on that day. Was suppose to meet Neyrs for coffee, but had this headache. Dropped off, woke up and remembered everything.
“June 26, 2010.” The Doctor’s gaze met Amy and Rory’s and they silently nodded.
“What happened?” River asked.
“Spoilers,” they all replied.
“Might have known.” River looped her arm through Wilf’s. “Mind escorting me over to the punch? I know when to get myself out of earshot.”
“Spoilers? What’re they going on about?” Wilf asked as he led her away from the group.
“It’s a long story.”
Donna stared after them. “Why aren’t you …”
“Younger version of her,” the Doctor explained. “Older version was there. Haven’t happened for her yet.”
“No wonder she has that diary. I can’t even keep it straight.”
“Wait, so back to Donna,” Amy said, “we guessed it had something to do with the cracks? She told us about the meta-crisis.”
“Yes. Oh. Oh, it’s brilliant! When the universe rebooted and took me out of time, it reversed the memory block on Donna. Not just that, but it reversed the meta-crisis! When you remembered me, Amy, you didn’t know the exact circumstances of what happened, but you knew Donna traveled with me because you saw her in the TARDIS databanks. You brought me back, but it didn’t bring back the meta-crisis.”
“So, that’s why I remember?” Donna frowned. “What about the other you? What about Rose?”
And he stilled, then pushed the guilt away. He reached for Donna’s forehead, and she flinched. “I promise, I’m not going to do anything,” he murmured, then lightly pressed his fingertips to her temple. “You’re human,” he said after a moment. “Completely human. No Time Lord left.”
“Then Rose and him …”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Amy didn’t know about him. He could be full Time Lord. He could be all human. He could simply be gone, but I highly doubt it since without him we wouldn’t be here. Whatever happened, they’ll be fine.”
“Can’t you just drop in on them? Make sure they’re OK?” Amy asked.
“Oh, Amelia Pond.” He patted her hand. “I can’t. Alternate universe. Would have to blow a hole through, and really, there’s been enough of that recently.” He motioned to Donna and Amy. “How did you two … ?”
“Donna’s my assistant,” Amy replied.
“You ought to see the benefits she offers,” Donna said with a grin. “Once my memory came back, I tried to find Torchwood. Couldn’t find them, but did find Petrichor. I remembered the word from the TARDIS databanks. I did some snooping about.”
“At the same time, we were trying to track down former companions ourselves,” Amy continued. “Donna happened to apply for the job, and we spent the interview plotting how miserable we’re going to make your life.”
The Doctor paled a bit. “How miserable?”
“Very.” Amy kissed his cheek.
——
It turned out to be quite the party, though the Doctor still wasn’t sure what it was for. Amy cheekily said it was a celebration of life. He said they should have had it on 11/11/11 in that case, but she rolled her eyes and had gone for another glass of wine.
There was dancing. There was always dancing at parties, but he was suspecting this was turning out to be more than a party. And, it was good to actually see all of these people again. Mickey had migrated back to Rory, and the two seemed to be discussing football. Martha and Donna were getting caught up, as Martha hadn’t known about Donna’s memories being repaired either. She and Mickey had spent the majority of the past year out of the country doing freelance work for UNIT. Wilf had put on dance music, 1930s swing that seemed to match the mood of the party. He found himself seeking out River. He still owed her a dance.
But Jack had gotten to her first, and they were laughing and dancing and making him feel like going over there and ordering Jack off her. But when Jack grabbed River in a hug, swinging her in the air until she shrieked that it hit the Doctor with the force of an asteroid slamming into the side of a dormant planet.
He’d never hugged her.
Never. Not as his 10th incarnation when she’d sat on that blasted seat and died to save them all, so they could have a future together. Not when she spent all that time comforting Amy, her own mother, in the aftermath of the Weeping Angels when she probably could have used a hug as well. Not when she helped strap him into the Pandorica, knowing that she was sending him off to possibly have their entire history erased. Not when she was forced to watch herself kill him again, when she was forced to dissect her own childhood, when she helped him fight the Silence, when she told him who she was … the list of grievances scrolled through his mind. A litany of missed opportunities.
The closest they’d ever come was the times they kissed, and really those tended to involve some sort of embrace. But, he’d never just hugged her. He’s hugged pretty much most of his friends. They all were quite the huggy lot, and really, hugs are very, very cool. Hell, he hugged her parents right in front of her and never even bothered to treat her the same as he did them.
That’s because, the rational side he’d thought he’d buried along with his sixth incarnation’s fashion sense, you never trusted her for a good bit of that time.
He hated that side of his brain.
Or, it continued, you knew what would happen if you ever held her for longer than a couple of seconds, so you never did.
He really hated that side of his brain.
“Oi. Spaceman.” Donna bumped hips with him, jerking him out of his thoughts. She waved a cold bottle of ginger ale in front of him. “You all right?”
“Huh? Oh. Yes! Fine. Finer than fine. Absolutely fine, absolutely. Best night of my life.” And it a lot of ways, it really was one of them. It was a very good night. He took the bottle from her.
“Jealous?” She nodded toward where Amy had joined Jack and River, and Jack dipped River before spinning her out and deftly switching partners while River laughed, catching her breath.
“I am not jealous!” He sobered. “I just realized I’m a very foolish man,” he admitted, “in so, so many ways.”
Donna tilted her head and took a sip of her own drink. “Well, I can’t argue that. Now, are you going to mope about like you’re won’t, or you gonna do something about it.”
He frowned. “I do not mope.”
“Who spent nearly a year on that TARDIS with you, you skinny streak of nothing? You definitely mope.” She tilted her head. “Not that you didn’t have good reason to some of the time, but you know it hasn’t happened yet for her.”
“Every time we meet, I know how she’ll die,” he admitted. “I don’t like to think about it.”
“Maybe something did knock loose in that thick skull of yours this go-around,” Donna admitted.
“Why am I considering taking you with me again?”
“Face it, spaceman, you can’t live without-,” Donna cut off, stared at him in shock. “You mean it?”
“What? ‘Course I mean it! Wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it, would I? That is unless you don’t want to?”
“Don’t want to? Of course I want to!” Donna threw her arms around his neck and they laughed together. “Amy’s fine with it. Paid time off for extraterrestrial activities. Only company on the planet that’s got it built into the paperwork.” She pulled back and leveled him with a firm stare. “You sure it’s all right?”
“River … She has to go back to the Stormcage.”
“Amy told me about that. Can’t you just keep her out?”
“Can’t. Fixed events. She needs to be there in order for events to happen in her future that affect our past. It’s all back to front. My first time meeting her was her last. The Library. It gets all muddled there in the middle. Well, really, it’s not exactly back to front, but in a general sense. As she gets older, she’ll eventually meet younger versions of me until she reaches the Library. Means we can’t always be together.” He glanced at Donna out of the corner of his eye. “Could use a mate.”
“Just as long as you don’t want to mate, sunshine.” They laughed over the old joke. “And speaking of that, put up some sort of sign before you two have a shag in the console room. Hang out a couple of balloons or something.
“We haven’t shagged in the console room!” Yet, he silently added, but still managed to look outraged, flustered and intrigued all at the same time.
Donna gestured to Amy and Rory, who were now dancing themselves to the dulcet tunes of a Frank Sinatra ballad. “And them?”
“Amy and Rory have a life of their own,” he said wistfully.
“You’ll be back to see them often. And as for us? We’ll be amazing.”
He grinned at her. “Yeah, Donna Noble, we will.”
——
“We’ve got to be heading out,” Martha said as Mickey made his good-byes to Amy and Rory. “We’ve got a drive back, and I told Mum and Tish I’d go shopping with them in the morning, Mum sends her best wishes, which I never thought I’d be able to say that.”
“Great! That’s brilliant!” Remembering some of the “rules” of society that he’d read in a book once, he added, “Ah, she’s creative unlike any other.”
Martha raised an eyebrow. “Why are you quoting ‘The Rules’?”
“Am I?”
“Oh, you.” She kissed his cheek. “You’re all sort of gangly and awkward this go around, aren’t you? It’s kind of sweet. We’ll see you around, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Martha started to walk toward the gate, and the words suddenly spilled out. “Martha!”
She turned back. “Yeah?”
The Doctor shuffled from foot to foot, this sort of thing never coming easy. “I’m sorry,” he said, quietly, holding her gaze. “For everything. Thank you for what you did for me. We wouldn’t be here without you.”
Martha didn’t say anything for a moment, and he wondered if he’d said the wrong thing. Maybe he should have sent a card. Or a fish. Smoked salmon was said to be a nice gift. Then she ran to him, threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly.
“I resented you for a long time,” she admitted in a whisper. “There was just so much to heal from after all that. You hurt a lot of people. Me, my family, and Mickey.”
“I know, I know.” He rocked her, the familiar guilt clawing at him like an old, unwelcome friend.
“But, you know what?” Martha pulled back. “You made me so much better. I’m happy now, really happy. I wouldn’t be who I am without you. Neither would Mickey.” She shot him a fond smile. “You made him grow up, he admitted it to me. He was so jealous of you and Rose, and so was I. But, it forced us to become better people and I get it now, I really do. If I lost him … I think I know a bit what you went through now. And for not getting that, I’m the sorry one.”
“Martha Jones.” His voice was full of pride. “You are amazing.”
“Always was.” She kissed his cheek. “Don’t be a stranger. I’m so glad you found someone. Remember, we’re your family. You don’t have to be alone.”
Mickey beeped the horn and Martha broke away, waved over her shoulder and disappeared out the gate.
And the Doctor thought maybe he didn’t really ruin lives the way he thought he did.
Then, he turned back to the remains of the party to face the one good-bye he dreaded.
“I probably should get her back home,” Jack said, approaching him with his hands shoved into the pocket of his greatcoat. He nodded toward where Sarah Jane, looking wan and exhausted, had rejoined the group after a trip to the loo with Amy’s help.
“How long does she have?” the Doctor asked.
“I can’t tell you that,” Jack replied, and in that told him everything.
“It’s cancer,” the Doctor confirmed. “Scanned her with the sonic when no one was looking earlier.”
“By the time I found out, it was too late for options. You get what I’m saying, don’t you?”
“Yes, and I’ll overlook you bending time this once. Don’t say anything more. I’d rather it be this way.” Not like with the Brig, who had waited for years with an extra brandy poured out for him. He’d never come, and now because of a well-meaning nurse, he never could go. No, Jack had done the right thing here.
“I can’t believe you used a vortex manipulator on her in this condition,” he scolded as they strode back to the dwindling group. “We’ll take her back in the TARDIS. You two can come with us.” He glanced at Donna. “Where’s your luggage?”
“Not in the boot this time. You two are to get me in the morning.” Donna pulled River aside and pushed a paper into her hand. “Coordinates for my flat. I’ll be ready ‘round 9. I was told you need to drive.”
“I heard that, Donna!”
“I want to be picked up on time, spaceman!”
The Doctor took Sarah Jane’s hands. “We’ll take you home in the TARDIS. It’ll be a lot easier on you. She’ll make sure you get back to the right place.”
“I never thought I’d see you again,” she admitted. “After you left us that last time, after helping Clyde, everything began going downhill so fast.”
“Here now, let’s not talk about that. It’s depressing. Tonight’s not depressing! You can tell them about when you, me and Harry were on Space Station Nerva. Remember that?”
“How could I forget?” The Doctor slipped an arm around Sarah Jane’s waist, and she leaned heavily into him as they made their way slowly toward the TARDIS. They were longtime friends talking a walk in the moonlight, strolling and reminiscing of good times. “I got stuck in the conduits just a few feet from you, and you kept ordering me about, yelling at me and calling me useless.” She laughed, until it ended in a raspy cough, and his heart broke. “I was so angry at you.”
“Well, rule 1. You were never useless.” He tapped her nose and grinned. “It did get you out of that conduit.”
“Yes, it did!” They were outside the TARDIS now, and the Doctor reached past Sarah Jane and opened the door. Light spilled out, illuminating the woman who’d been there for so much, and had known him for longer than anyone else there. He flicked a glance at River, Jack, and Luke, none of them moving toward the ship. River shook her head, smiling sadly. Amy and Rory stood next to her, arms around each other as tears silently ran down Amy’s cheeks.
“I’ll bring Luke back myself,” Jack said. “You two go on!”
The Doctor offered Sarah Jane his arm and his best smile, hoping she couldn’t see the tears he was struggling to keep back. “My Sarah Jane. Let’s go for one last trip.”
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4
Author:
savvyliterateFandom/Characters: Doctor Who, Eleven/River
Rating: T for now, but will eventually be M
Word Count (chapter): 5,130
Note: I am happy to say that "Night and the Doctor" has rendered this story into an AR. Doesn't mean I won't finish it though!
Summary: When the Doctor arrives to spirit River away from the Stormcage for the first time, he discovers she's already saved herself -- and is bent on driving him insane. She leads him on a madcap chase across time and space as she seeks to discover herself and he accepts what she really means to him.
Chapter 5: Leadworth Again, or What the Cracks Actually Fixed
When River had sought Amy out in the alternate timeline, they hadn’t just been mother and daughter, but comrades in arms trying to figure out a way to avert the events of Lake Silencio and keep the Doctor alive.
Now, as they went through the massive TARDIS wardrobe, it was like the friends they had been growing up. Mels and Amy, tearing through the shops as Amy tried on one outfit after another.
“Just without the shoplifting,” Amy said, pulling a full-skirted evening gown off a rack, frowning and putting it back.
“Practice,” River said as she rifled through some clothes as well, tugging aside some for later and wondering what adjustments she’d need to do in her Stormcage cell to enlarge the wardrobe. It was entirely too small. “I had to hone my skills somewhere.”
“Great. Do you realize how much money you owe me and Rory for all the times we bailed you out?”
River swooped by with a green parachute-skirted dress and a leather utility belt in hand, greatly favoring the belt. She had a feeling it would be quite useful. She kissed Amy’s cheek. “Love you, Mummy dearest.”
“Now, you’re just being cheeky,” Amy pulled out a pleated dress she admired on a previous trip through the TARDIS wardrobe. She held it up in front of her. “This one?”
“That one. You’ll look lovely for the party.”
Amy grumbled under her breath and started changing. “It was suppose to be a surprise.”
“The Doctor didn’t close the door that fast. I saw the decorations.” River rummaged through a small box and held up thin, beaten gold earrings in the shape of a pyramid. “Try these.” She held them against Amy’s ear as the women admired the look in the mirror.
“Perfect. Do up the back?” Amy turned and hooked in the earrings while River buttoned the dress.
“It still feels weird.” Amy swept her hair back and accepted a pair of strappy sandals River held out to her. She tilted her head to the side. “You’re not questioning the fact that we know the Doctor’s alive.”
“Oh, I saw. Upstairs window. Lovely room. Mind if I come for a stay?”
“It’s yours. Of course! I thought someone had been there. You … well, older you … she stayed the night. We heard her talking to someone, thought it was the Doctor, but she was alone.”
“He was there too. We were having a little marital discussion.”
“That’s between you and him.” Amy picked up a brush, pulled it through her hair a few times and shuddered. “I still can’t quite believe I’m his mother-in-law. I mean, yeah, rooted for you two before we had any idea who you were because you’ve always been,” she wildly gesticulated with her hands, then dropped the brush on a table, “Mrs. Doctor. You called and he’d come running even if he didn’t want to, and …”
“Spoilers,” River cautioned, and Amy bit her lip. “Sorry,” Amy murmured. She yanked out an iPhone and launched an app.
“Texting?”
“Recording. You and the Doctor can do paper, I’ll do digital.”
River laughed, and they hooked arms, walking out of the wardrobe together to see the Doctor dressed in the tuxedo he’d worn to Amy and Rory’s wedding.
“Well, well, look at you.” River’s gaze slowly raked the Doctor’s frame, and he blushed, quickly shifting behind console. “He’s good enough to eat.”
“Don’t ask him to dance. He’s just rubbish.”
“Amelia Pond!” he exclaimed with a half-laugh.
“Well, you are!” Amy pulled away from River, walking over to him. She straightened his lapels and fixed his bowtie, pinning him with a knowing look. “You slammed the door in my face, Raggedy Man.”
“Had to make sure it was you. You know, a you that knew, not a you prior to that.”
“Doesn’t give you an excuse to slam the door in your best friend’s face, yeah?”
“Fat lot of good that did, you big ginge. You and your daughter have taken over the TARDIS. Might as well sign her over to you.”
“You know what they say about in-laws.” With a half-laugh, half-sob, Amy threw her arms around the Doctor’s neck. “I’ve missed you so much.”
He made shushing noises, rocking her back and forth. “I’m fine, my brave Amelia. Look at you, all grown up. And selling perfume!”
“Selling?” Amy pulled back, an eyebrow arched high. River snickered behind her hand.
“Oh no.” The Doctor looked from Amy to River then back again. “What have you been doing? I saw the ads! Petrichor! Brilliant name, Petrichor. One of the telepathic passcodes in the TARDIS, you really are brilliant.”
“She’s not just marketing the perfume,” River spoke up.
“I came up with the formula.” Amy gestured to River. “River helped.”
“What?” His head snapped back and forth between the two women. “When … how?”
“Oh, my love. You weren’t there for every step of university. I had to do something on my summer holidays now, didn’t I?”
“What I did on my summer vacation, hopped back in time and helped my mother create a perfume?” he asked.
She flashed a grin at him. “I got an ‘A’ on the assignment.”
“It was brilliant, really. The one thing River … well, Mels, was good at in school was science. She helped create the formula. We worked on a business plan together, then went into business. It’s kept me busy.”
“Ponds!” The Doctor caught up both of them in fierce embrace. “Brilliant, brilliant Ponds! Every single one of you!”
“Including Rory!” Amy reminded him.
“Especially Rory the Roman! He must be in on this!” The Doctor bounded to the door and was out before the women could say a word in response.
“Does he have any idea?” River asked.
“Not a clue. I think you’ll be surprised too.” Amy tugged River toward the door.
They didn’t manage to get very far, for the Doctor had halted in the doorway. He was so quiet, so still that Amy and River exchanged worried looks.
“Doctor?”
“Sweetie?”
“Amy.” His voice was a raspy whisper. “Why?”
“Well, you told River she couldn’t tell anyone, but of course obviously you gave her permission at some point to tell me.” Amy grinned at River. “While she made it quite clear that she wouldn’t be talking, well, I feel that I’m family and have privileges.”
“What did you do?” River asked.
“Only what you suggested we do. Well, future you. You know, if I think about this too much, it’s going to give me a massive migraine.”
Because she was wearing heels, River could see over the Doctor’s shoulder. Amy and Rory really did have a nice garden, and it was entirely lit with lantern lights, roped from tree to tree and bathing the garden with a soft glow. She saw Rory standing near the grill next to a black man with close-cropped hair, laughing as they debated over the best way to cook burgers. The man turned, and River sucked in a breath, recognizing him from her thesis files. Part of the reason she’d spent a summer with Amy and Rory was to ferret out his former companions to hear their perspective on him.
“Mickey Smith,” she said, shocked. “That’s Mickey Smith.”
She matched faces she knew with the files she’d accumulated. She’d only spoken with a precious few, such as Sarah Jane Smith and her adopted son, Luke. River spotted her at a table, looking extremely thin, pale and fragile. Luke hovered over Sarah Jane’s shoulder like a sentry and, sitting next to her, was Jack Harkness. Next to them was Dr. Martha Jones. Smith-Jones, she quickly corrected herself. Martha looked to be checking over Sarah Jane herself and was quietly murmuring to her. It was a small group, but they were loyal to him. Every one of them would go go to their graves before revealing that the Doctor wasn’t dead.
They weren’t just companions, but they were true friends, letting out a cheer when they saw him alive and well. There was one thing that River hadn’t been able to really see while she was doing her thesis, and that was seeing the Doctor interact with people he knew well outside of Amy, Rory, and Jack. But his huge grin spoke volumes, and the way they flocked around him showed their equal devotion. He exchanged high-fives with Mickey, avoided a kiss from Jack (he kissed River instead, which made the Doctor fume just a bit), hugged Martha and Sarah Jane, the latter very gently.
Amy sidled over to Rory as he flipped burgers. “Are they not here yet?” she murmured.
“Called right before you came out. Ran into traffic. Accident on the M4 on the way. Should be here within the next few minutes.”
“I don’t know how long I can keep them stalling.”
“Well, who else can we use?” Amy pulled out her phone, quickly tapping through the app where she kept notes. “We’re doing this properly. Can’t be either of us. Maybe Sarah Jane? Jack? Martha?”
“Look, I don’t want to be the one having to tell her that the Doctor got impatient, figured this out, then avoided it all and …” Rory breathed a sigh of relief as he saw headlights pull over in front of the house next door. “That must be them. I’ll go let them around.”
In a quiet corner of the garden, where Amy had set up a card table with a few chairs scattered around it, River managed to corner Jack.
“Where’s Ianto?” she asked, looking about. “And Gwen?”
“I imagine Gwen’s fine,” Jack said with a sad smile. “Ianto …” He swallowed and found her hand, squeezing hard.
He didn’t have to say it. “When?” she asked quietly.
“Killed by the 456 two years ago.” At River’s sudden gasp, he raised an eyebrow. “You’ve heard of them.”
“A time or two. Jack …”
“Let’s just not talk about it. This is a party, remember?” He flashed her a winning smile that she knew held years and years of pain. He glanced at the other table, where the Doctor was talking animately with Sarah Jane and Martha, waving his arms in the air as they laughed.
“You know,” River commented, “my files on Sarah Jane Smith said …”
Jack held a finger to his lips. “Yeah. But, he doesn’t know that, does he.”
“No.” But, she suspected from the sadness in his eyes as he hugged her that he knew. “Does she?”
“She guessed. She agreed to the time travel. Luke got the invitation after the funeral and found me. We agreed to go to an earlier point in her timeline, but not too much earlier. She already knew she had cancer, but since the Doctor doesn’t know, it’s not a fixed point yet. The trip … it took a lot out of her.”
“Traveling by vortex manipulator is hell, even on a healthy person, Jack.”
“She wanted to do this, even if it proved to be fatal,” Jack insisted. “I can’t go get Ianto, and the Doctor knows the Brig is dead.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “Hell, I know this is a risky move, but she’s dying to begin with. It won’t change her future, or his, to have her here now. Out of everyone, she wants him to be happy. Just … don’t take him to April 19, 2011, OK?”
“I think in general, we should just avoid April 2011,” River replied.
“Doctor!”
A spry older man came through the gate ahead of Rory, waving enthusiastically and moving much faster than a man of his years normally would.
“Wilf!” The Doctor’s eyes lit up and he stood just as Wilf reached him, catching him up in a bear hug. “Wilfred Mott, look at you!”
“Sorry we’re late! Ran into traffic on the 4. Sylvia’s hanging up the coats.” Wilfred rocked and forth on his feet, nearly bouncing in place.
“River!” The Doctor waved his hands excitedly over his head, then pointed down at Wilf.
“Be sure to have that anti-bruising cream the TARDIS keeps around handy,” Jack murmured as he and River joined the Doctor.
“Why?”
“You’ll find out.” The sadness was gone now, and Jack gave her a teasing grin. “Your parents really are something, I’ll say that. It’s good to know where you got it from. Did you know you and your mother share a mean right hook? And a thing for handcuffs? You’ll have to introduce me to your future sister.”
“I don’t think Amy and Rory are quite over having one vortex-influenced child yet. Give them a bit. And what if I have a brother?”
“Well, you better introduce me to him, too.”
Wilfred Mott turned out to be one of the loveliest people River had ever met. He hugged her like she was a long-lost relative, and it was clear he had spoken with Amy and Rory at some point. Because she knew what happened to Donna Noble, she hadn’t sought him out for her thesis. She knew he had been there shortly before the Doctor had regenerated into his current self and suspected he had something to do with it. But thanks to the metacrisis, even she knew not to venture too near the Nobles. Not until she came up with a solution on how to save her.
“What’ve you been up to?” The Doctor asked as Wilf shoved a huge silver hatbox in his hands.
“Oh, a bit of this and that. Got in a trip to France. Tried to bike along the coast, but wouldn’t cooperate with the knees.”
His eyes met River’s briefly before he focused back on Wilfred. He had to ask. “Donna? How is she?”
Wilfred raised an eyebrow, then nodded at something over the Doctor’s shoulder. His eyes widened and he slowly turned to see Donna Noble, auburn hair streaming about her. His face was caught halfway between delight and absolute horror. “Donna?” he squeaked.
“Oi, spaceman,” Donna replied.
Then, she promptly socked him.
——
“That hurt!” The Doctor moaned as Martha inspected his eye and applied the cream that River had ducked into the TARDIS to find. He waved a finger at River and Amy. “And you! You two should be hovering over me!”
“Why?” Amy asked, tapping her foot.
“I think you deserve it, my love.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” Martha muttered under her breath.
He promptly ignored both of them, choosing instead to gesticulate at Donna and try to get up from where he was still sprawled on the ground. River and Martha promptly shoved him back down. “You should be dead!” he sputtered as Martha finished applying the cream.
“Oi! I think not!” Donna promptly smacked the Doctor upside the head.
“Ow! River!”
“Oh, don’t go crying to her, you floppy-haired, big-eared Dumbo.”
“Oi, I am not Dumbo!” He finally shoved Martha away and rolled to his feet. “Regardless, you should be dead. You can’t remember.”
“Well, I did, no thanks to you, sunshine.” Donna threw herself on the bench near him. “It just … happened.”
“It didn’t just happen. Nothing just happens!”
“Well, it did for me! June 26, 2010. All sort of weird going on that day. Was suppose to meet Neyrs for coffee, but had this headache. Dropped off, woke up and remembered everything.
“June 26, 2010.” The Doctor’s gaze met Amy and Rory’s and they silently nodded.
“What happened?” River asked.
“Spoilers,” they all replied.
“Might have known.” River looped her arm through Wilf’s. “Mind escorting me over to the punch? I know when to get myself out of earshot.”
“Spoilers? What’re they going on about?” Wilf asked as he led her away from the group.
“It’s a long story.”
Donna stared after them. “Why aren’t you …”
“Younger version of her,” the Doctor explained. “Older version was there. Haven’t happened for her yet.”
“No wonder she has that diary. I can’t even keep it straight.”
“Wait, so back to Donna,” Amy said, “we guessed it had something to do with the cracks? She told us about the meta-crisis.”
“Yes. Oh. Oh, it’s brilliant! When the universe rebooted and took me out of time, it reversed the memory block on Donna. Not just that, but it reversed the meta-crisis! When you remembered me, Amy, you didn’t know the exact circumstances of what happened, but you knew Donna traveled with me because you saw her in the TARDIS databanks. You brought me back, but it didn’t bring back the meta-crisis.”
“So, that’s why I remember?” Donna frowned. “What about the other you? What about Rose?”
And he stilled, then pushed the guilt away. He reached for Donna’s forehead, and she flinched. “I promise, I’m not going to do anything,” he murmured, then lightly pressed his fingertips to her temple. “You’re human,” he said after a moment. “Completely human. No Time Lord left.”
“Then Rose and him …”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Amy didn’t know about him. He could be full Time Lord. He could be all human. He could simply be gone, but I highly doubt it since without him we wouldn’t be here. Whatever happened, they’ll be fine.”
“Can’t you just drop in on them? Make sure they’re OK?” Amy asked.
“Oh, Amelia Pond.” He patted her hand. “I can’t. Alternate universe. Would have to blow a hole through, and really, there’s been enough of that recently.” He motioned to Donna and Amy. “How did you two … ?”
“Donna’s my assistant,” Amy replied.
“You ought to see the benefits she offers,” Donna said with a grin. “Once my memory came back, I tried to find Torchwood. Couldn’t find them, but did find Petrichor. I remembered the word from the TARDIS databanks. I did some snooping about.”
“At the same time, we were trying to track down former companions ourselves,” Amy continued. “Donna happened to apply for the job, and we spent the interview plotting how miserable we’re going to make your life.”
The Doctor paled a bit. “How miserable?”
“Very.” Amy kissed his cheek.
——
It turned out to be quite the party, though the Doctor still wasn’t sure what it was for. Amy cheekily said it was a celebration of life. He said they should have had it on 11/11/11 in that case, but she rolled her eyes and had gone for another glass of wine.
There was dancing. There was always dancing at parties, but he was suspecting this was turning out to be more than a party. And, it was good to actually see all of these people again. Mickey had migrated back to Rory, and the two seemed to be discussing football. Martha and Donna were getting caught up, as Martha hadn’t known about Donna’s memories being repaired either. She and Mickey had spent the majority of the past year out of the country doing freelance work for UNIT. Wilf had put on dance music, 1930s swing that seemed to match the mood of the party. He found himself seeking out River. He still owed her a dance.
But Jack had gotten to her first, and they were laughing and dancing and making him feel like going over there and ordering Jack off her. But when Jack grabbed River in a hug, swinging her in the air until she shrieked that it hit the Doctor with the force of an asteroid slamming into the side of a dormant planet.
He’d never hugged her.
Never. Not as his 10th incarnation when she’d sat on that blasted seat and died to save them all, so they could have a future together. Not when she spent all that time comforting Amy, her own mother, in the aftermath of the Weeping Angels when she probably could have used a hug as well. Not when she helped strap him into the Pandorica, knowing that she was sending him off to possibly have their entire history erased. Not when she was forced to watch herself kill him again, when she was forced to dissect her own childhood, when she helped him fight the Silence, when she told him who she was … the list of grievances scrolled through his mind. A litany of missed opportunities.
The closest they’d ever come was the times they kissed, and really those tended to involve some sort of embrace. But, he’d never just hugged her. He’s hugged pretty much most of his friends. They all were quite the huggy lot, and really, hugs are very, very cool. Hell, he hugged her parents right in front of her and never even bothered to treat her the same as he did them.
That’s because, the rational side he’d thought he’d buried along with his sixth incarnation’s fashion sense, you never trusted her for a good bit of that time.
He hated that side of his brain.
Or, it continued, you knew what would happen if you ever held her for longer than a couple of seconds, so you never did.
He really hated that side of his brain.
“Oi. Spaceman.” Donna bumped hips with him, jerking him out of his thoughts. She waved a cold bottle of ginger ale in front of him. “You all right?”
“Huh? Oh. Yes! Fine. Finer than fine. Absolutely fine, absolutely. Best night of my life.” And it a lot of ways, it really was one of them. It was a very good night. He took the bottle from her.
“Jealous?” She nodded toward where Amy had joined Jack and River, and Jack dipped River before spinning her out and deftly switching partners while River laughed, catching her breath.
“I am not jealous!” He sobered. “I just realized I’m a very foolish man,” he admitted, “in so, so many ways.”
Donna tilted her head and took a sip of her own drink. “Well, I can’t argue that. Now, are you going to mope about like you’re won’t, or you gonna do something about it.”
He frowned. “I do not mope.”
“Who spent nearly a year on that TARDIS with you, you skinny streak of nothing? You definitely mope.” She tilted her head. “Not that you didn’t have good reason to some of the time, but you know it hasn’t happened yet for her.”
“Every time we meet, I know how she’ll die,” he admitted. “I don’t like to think about it.”
“Maybe something did knock loose in that thick skull of yours this go-around,” Donna admitted.
“Why am I considering taking you with me again?”
“Face it, spaceman, you can’t live without-,” Donna cut off, stared at him in shock. “You mean it?”
“What? ‘Course I mean it! Wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it, would I? That is unless you don’t want to?”
“Don’t want to? Of course I want to!” Donna threw her arms around his neck and they laughed together. “Amy’s fine with it. Paid time off for extraterrestrial activities. Only company on the planet that’s got it built into the paperwork.” She pulled back and leveled him with a firm stare. “You sure it’s all right?”
“River … She has to go back to the Stormcage.”
“Amy told me about that. Can’t you just keep her out?”
“Can’t. Fixed events. She needs to be there in order for events to happen in her future that affect our past. It’s all back to front. My first time meeting her was her last. The Library. It gets all muddled there in the middle. Well, really, it’s not exactly back to front, but in a general sense. As she gets older, she’ll eventually meet younger versions of me until she reaches the Library. Means we can’t always be together.” He glanced at Donna out of the corner of his eye. “Could use a mate.”
“Just as long as you don’t want to mate, sunshine.” They laughed over the old joke. “And speaking of that, put up some sort of sign before you two have a shag in the console room. Hang out a couple of balloons or something.
“We haven’t shagged in the console room!” Yet, he silently added, but still managed to look outraged, flustered and intrigued all at the same time.
Donna gestured to Amy and Rory, who were now dancing themselves to the dulcet tunes of a Frank Sinatra ballad. “And them?”
“Amy and Rory have a life of their own,” he said wistfully.
“You’ll be back to see them often. And as for us? We’ll be amazing.”
He grinned at her. “Yeah, Donna Noble, we will.”
——
“We’ve got to be heading out,” Martha said as Mickey made his good-byes to Amy and Rory. “We’ve got a drive back, and I told Mum and Tish I’d go shopping with them in the morning, Mum sends her best wishes, which I never thought I’d be able to say that.”
“Great! That’s brilliant!” Remembering some of the “rules” of society that he’d read in a book once, he added, “Ah, she’s creative unlike any other.”
Martha raised an eyebrow. “Why are you quoting ‘The Rules’?”
“Am I?”
“Oh, you.” She kissed his cheek. “You’re all sort of gangly and awkward this go around, aren’t you? It’s kind of sweet. We’ll see you around, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Martha started to walk toward the gate, and the words suddenly spilled out. “Martha!”
She turned back. “Yeah?”
The Doctor shuffled from foot to foot, this sort of thing never coming easy. “I’m sorry,” he said, quietly, holding her gaze. “For everything. Thank you for what you did for me. We wouldn’t be here without you.”
Martha didn’t say anything for a moment, and he wondered if he’d said the wrong thing. Maybe he should have sent a card. Or a fish. Smoked salmon was said to be a nice gift. Then she ran to him, threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly.
“I resented you for a long time,” she admitted in a whisper. “There was just so much to heal from after all that. You hurt a lot of people. Me, my family, and Mickey.”
“I know, I know.” He rocked her, the familiar guilt clawing at him like an old, unwelcome friend.
“But, you know what?” Martha pulled back. “You made me so much better. I’m happy now, really happy. I wouldn’t be who I am without you. Neither would Mickey.” She shot him a fond smile. “You made him grow up, he admitted it to me. He was so jealous of you and Rose, and so was I. But, it forced us to become better people and I get it now, I really do. If I lost him … I think I know a bit what you went through now. And for not getting that, I’m the sorry one.”
“Martha Jones.” His voice was full of pride. “You are amazing.”
“Always was.” She kissed his cheek. “Don’t be a stranger. I’m so glad you found someone. Remember, we’re your family. You don’t have to be alone.”
Mickey beeped the horn and Martha broke away, waved over her shoulder and disappeared out the gate.
And the Doctor thought maybe he didn’t really ruin lives the way he thought he did.
Then, he turned back to the remains of the party to face the one good-bye he dreaded.
“I probably should get her back home,” Jack said, approaching him with his hands shoved into the pocket of his greatcoat. He nodded toward where Sarah Jane, looking wan and exhausted, had rejoined the group after a trip to the loo with Amy’s help.
“How long does she have?” the Doctor asked.
“I can’t tell you that,” Jack replied, and in that told him everything.
“It’s cancer,” the Doctor confirmed. “Scanned her with the sonic when no one was looking earlier.”
“By the time I found out, it was too late for options. You get what I’m saying, don’t you?”
“Yes, and I’ll overlook you bending time this once. Don’t say anything more. I’d rather it be this way.” Not like with the Brig, who had waited for years with an extra brandy poured out for him. He’d never come, and now because of a well-meaning nurse, he never could go. No, Jack had done the right thing here.
“I can’t believe you used a vortex manipulator on her in this condition,” he scolded as they strode back to the dwindling group. “We’ll take her back in the TARDIS. You two can come with us.” He glanced at Donna. “Where’s your luggage?”
“Not in the boot this time. You two are to get me in the morning.” Donna pulled River aside and pushed a paper into her hand. “Coordinates for my flat. I’ll be ready ‘round 9. I was told you need to drive.”
“I heard that, Donna!”
“I want to be picked up on time, spaceman!”
The Doctor took Sarah Jane’s hands. “We’ll take you home in the TARDIS. It’ll be a lot easier on you. She’ll make sure you get back to the right place.”
“I never thought I’d see you again,” she admitted. “After you left us that last time, after helping Clyde, everything began going downhill so fast.”
“Here now, let’s not talk about that. It’s depressing. Tonight’s not depressing! You can tell them about when you, me and Harry were on Space Station Nerva. Remember that?”
“How could I forget?” The Doctor slipped an arm around Sarah Jane’s waist, and she leaned heavily into him as they made their way slowly toward the TARDIS. They were longtime friends talking a walk in the moonlight, strolling and reminiscing of good times. “I got stuck in the conduits just a few feet from you, and you kept ordering me about, yelling at me and calling me useless.” She laughed, until it ended in a raspy cough, and his heart broke. “I was so angry at you.”
“Well, rule 1. You were never useless.” He tapped her nose and grinned. “It did get you out of that conduit.”
“Yes, it did!” They were outside the TARDIS now, and the Doctor reached past Sarah Jane and opened the door. Light spilled out, illuminating the woman who’d been there for so much, and had known him for longer than anyone else there. He flicked a glance at River, Jack, and Luke, none of them moving toward the ship. River shook her head, smiling sadly. Amy and Rory stood next to her, arms around each other as tears silently ran down Amy’s cheeks.
“I’ll bring Luke back myself,” Jack said. “You two go on!”
The Doctor offered Sarah Jane his arm and his best smile, hoping she couldn’t see the tears he was struggling to keep back. “My Sarah Jane. Let’s go for one last trip.”
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4