New York City — 1889

There was the usual round of hugging, exclamations, a bit of weeping, and a lot of talking over each other. Clara hung back during most of it until Brian took the lead in introducing her, and Amy and Rory warmly welcomed her into the fold.

"I'm glad someone's keeping an eye on him," Amy said as she showed off the brownstone that River had purchased for them so long ago. "He doesn't do well on his own."

"No, I gathered that," Clara said as she admired the rooms. "This reminds me of Vastra and Jenny's, what little I saw of it after Trenzalore. The Doctor dropped them off there before taking me home to recover. I don't remember a lot. I was really out of it."

"They helped decorate," Amy said as she led them into the kitchen while Rory and Brian headed upstairs. "And we're traveling overseas to visit once Anthony is a bit older and can appreciate it more. Thankfully, we're not tied to this city. We can't leave the era, but we can travel, so that's fine by me. They were here though, when we arrived." She grinned at River. "You're a pretty good daughter, you know that? Don't think we didn't realize right off the bat that you arranged everything."

"I wasn't about to let the two of you fend for yourselves." River hefted a carpetbag onto the table. "I seeded everything and contacted Vastra. I wasn't sure of the exact when and where you and Rory would be dumped, but she said she would be able to figure it out. I have learned it's best not to question Vastra about these things."

Amy nodded. "I'm surprised we didn't end up in 1938. I was expecting it. Rather hoping for it, really. But I wound up being spit out in the same graveyard where the angel was. I wasn't far behind Rory, and that was luck. He'd only just started to panic when I popped in. And then before we could figure out what to do with ourselves, Vastra and Jenny were there with clothes and that letter from you telling you what you'd done to help us settle." She squeezed River's hand. "Thanks."

River grinned. "You'll really thank me once you've looked in that bag."

Amy yanked it open and stuck her hand inside. "How big is this?"

"As big as I could make it. I had a lot to bring with me."

Amy rummaged through it, her hand immediately closing over a torch. She turned it on and sucked in her breath to see so many familiar things from her old home. "You brought all our pictures?"

"Most of them, the ones I felt were mostly era appropriate." River pulled out a small plastic bag with discs. "Those you want to display in public areas, you can attach one of these to the back of the frame. It'll enable a perception filter that will make them seem sepia-toned. That way you won't have to explain why you have colored photographs in 1889."

Amy pulled out one of her wedding photos, a candid shot of her and her parents. "What did you tell my parents?"

"They think you died in a plane crash."

Amy lightly traced her mother's face and didn't say anything for a moment. "Did you tell them about you?"

"No. Brian knows, obviously."

"I'm sorry." Amy sighed and sank into a chair, still holding the photo. "I had a lot of time to think about what happened after Demon's Run after we got stuck here, especially when Rory and I were talking about adopting a kid. We never did handle what happened to you very well. You were always so generous about it, but we were never that good to you. Not the way we should have been."

"You were fine," River reassured her. "You were young, and there was never a guide on how to handle seeing your baby kidnapped then restored to you as an adult within five minutes."

"You left out the part where I tried to shoot you twice."

River chuckled. "You were only successful the one time, Mother."

"Well," Clara said, fascinated, "that sounds like an interesting story."

"For another day," River told her. She nudged the bag toward Amy. "Keep going through that."

Amy pulled out the pieces of jewelry River saved and laughed at the Roman lunchbox before pushing it and the jewelry back at River. "Keep those," she said, then exclaimed over packages of food and cheered at a box of PG Tips. With a hoot, she yanked out a package of modern underwear. "Oh, thank God. You have no idea how much I loathe underwear in this era. Tell me there's real bras in there."

"An assortment of modern underwear and night clothes," River confirmed.

"And tampons!" Amy kissed the box of Tampax she pulled out.

"Biodegradable, so there's no risk of leaving behind evidence."

"I have the best kid," Amy told Clara as she pulled out other items. "We're also a bit ahead of the time here, but Vastra and Jenny saw to it that we had flush toilets. I hate chamber pots."

Clara shuddered. "That is the worst part about some of the places the Doctor has taken me. It's like he doesn't get it."

"Time Lords," Amy replied, and Clara nodded sagely. "At least I don't need birth control."

Madame Kovarian had taken care of that, River thought as Amy peeked into the first aid kit stocked with penicillin and an array of 21st century medicine. She crammed everything she thought she could get away with into the bag, and Brian held even more in his luggage. She surveyed the kitchen with a critical eye. "I brought my sonic with me, so I can do something about the lights. I'm surprised you have electricity in here."

"Vastra and Jenny again," Amy said. "Not a lot of homes have electric lighting in this time. Really, we're about five-six years too early on the electricity. And it's certainly not as durable as what we had in our time, but it's passable."

"I can tweak the bulbs, and I think I have some packages of everburning LCDs from the 24nd Century in the bag." Amy pulled them out as River said this and handed them over. River pulled her sonic trowel out of the small handbag she brought with her and began to tweak the fixture.

"If you were the Doctor, I'd be afraid you'd light the city on fire," Clara said.

"She's too good," Amy said proudly as River worked on the fixture. She turned off the bulb, pulled it out, then twisted off the bottom. She inserted the LCD, soniced the bulb, then reassembled it and screwed it back on. The bulb popped back on, far brighter than it had been.

"I'll do these with the other fixtures," River said as she turned to see Brian and Rory standing in the door, a small boy in Rory's arms. Her breath hitched, just a bit, as the baby stared at her with wide, dark eyes. He looked around two years old, with wisps of black hair that curled around bronzed skin.

"Meet your brother," Rory told her with no small amount of pride. "Amy and I adopted him about six weeks ago. His parents were Romani and were barely clinging to life when they got off the boat. I run a clinic for the poor, and they made it there before they died, first his father then his mother. I didn't want to turn him over to an orphanage, not the way Romani children are treated. So I brought him home. We'd been talking about adopting, so it was a no-brainer. His parents were too delirious to tell me his name, so we named him after my father."

"Anthony Brian," Brian said, his smile so wide and happy that River automatically smiled in response. "Look at him. My grandson."

Anthony squirmed in Rory's arms until he relented and let the toddler slide to the ground. He stuck a finger in his mouth and gazed seriously at Clara, then at River. With a natural ease, Clara sank to her knees and murmured to Anthony. He crept to her side as she enticed him into some sort of game with her hands. River watched, gripping her sonic tightly as the little boy warmed up to Clara. Children had never been her strength, and she'd been content to let the Doctor interact with them when their adventures included them. She startled as she felt a touch on her arm and realized she never noticed Amy get up.

"I'm still getting used to it too," she murmured as Rory joined the game. "But look at Rory. He's so good at it."

He was, River agreed. "Are you happy?"

"Yeah," Amy said. "I was happy before. But, I'm even happier now."

Weehauken, New Jersey — 1889

The rational part of his brain knew that he was being petulant about this. Really, a small inner voice said, you are over 1,200 years old. You know better than to pitch a fit because time hasn't gone your way.

Well, the Doctor was quite used to ignoring that inner voice, thank you very much.

He stomped down the dockside, absently kicking a rock as he did so. He refused to even look after the ferry, though he knew Clara was watching. River would be focused on her parents, and she always had the fortitude to actually get on with what needed to get done. As the years slipped by, he relied that more and more to the point where he hadn't been able to function well without her. The tiny inner voice spoke up again, and this time it was laced with guilt. Time had been evaded and he'd gotten River back, thanks to Clara Oswald's giant heart. He missed his Amelia and his Rory so much … but he still had River. He still had the Pond he loved the most.

The Doctor leaned against a post and finally hazarded a glance over his shoulder at the Hudson River. The ferry had disappeared into a small speck on the horizon. He turned and rested his elbows on it. He would be content just to stand there until River and Clara returned.

His foot jiggled a bit. Or not.

Great, he was already bored and his girls had been gone for maybe 15 minutes. Tops.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, the Doctor contemplated wandering down to the Alexander Hamilton-Aaron Burr dueling site. There was a memory worth revisiting. He really should take River and Clara to see the musical at some point, and maybe he would let them in on the fact that he dropped a copy of Hamilton's biography in Lin-Manuel Miranda's bag as the brilliant genius had gone on vacation. Humming "My Shot" under his breath, the Doctor took two steps away from his post and halted as the hair on the back of his neck suddenly prickled. Then there came the tell-tale whiff of the vortex before the distinct sound of time and space being rendered apart. He spun in time to see a woman stumble into existence, blonde hair whipping around her face as she clutched a large gun.

His hearts stopped.

The woman pushed her hair out of her face and quickly surveyed the area. "Oh no, this can't be it! I was sure she was sending me to the right place. She promised."

"Rose Tyler," the Doctor whispered.

Rose startled, swinging the gun up for a second as she quickly took in the Doctor's stunned expression. She blinked, then let the gun go slack. "Doctor?" she asked hesitantly.

He threw his arms open, unable to keep from grinning ear-to-ear as Rose laughed with joy and ran into them. He held her tightly, pressing his suddenly wet eyes to her hair as he rocked her back and forth.

"I can't believe I found you," Rose sobbed into his shoulder. "I came all this way." She suddenly pulled back. "You changed your face. This isn't 2008. Where am I?"

"No. It's 1889, and this is my eleventh incarnation, one after the one you left."

"Eleven?" Rose's brow furrowed. "But River Song said the vortex manipulator she left me would send me to Chiswick in 2008. She said it would take me to my Doctor."

The Doctor stilled and gripped Rose's arms. "Where did you meet River Song?"

"Oh." Rose managed a weak smile. "It's a long story."

They had the time for it. They headed to a nearby café as Rose started to fill him in on gaps in River's escape from the Library that the Doctor had quickly started to reassemble in his mind. Rose explained about the dimension hopper, about encountering Oswin Oswald and rescuing River from the Library. "But if you're a newer reincarnation, I'm not telling you something you don't already know … am I?"

The Doctor gave her a sad smile. "Spoilers."

Rose huffed. "She's just as cryptic, you know. She's yours, isn't she? River Song is your wife."

"Last I checked." The Doctor fiddled with his tea cup, then decided to be as merciful as he could. "You will find me, Rose. The version of me you're looking for. Let me see that vortex manipulator."

Rose handed the thin device to him, and the Doctor pulled out his sonic out and ran it over it. "Right coordinates are keyed in," he murmured. "But … ah. Ah, clever girl. River didn't steer you wrong, but it appears she wanted you to make a detour first. Rule 1: The Doctor lies."

"I thought Rule 1 was don't wander off?"

"Different Doctor, different rules. In this case, the Doctor lies. But Rule 1b, so does his wife." The Doctor handed the manipulator back to Rose. "She wanted you to find the oldest version of me that she knew and keyed it to my time signature. Me after Manhattan."

"Sorry? Manhattan?"

"Another long story." And his hearts swelled two sizes as the Doctor fully realized what River had done. His beautiful, clever, wonderful wife who had known exactly what he needed, even though at the time she probably thought they would never see each other again. He knew that Rose would find him and Donna, knew that Rose would help in the defeat of Davros, knew that Rose would choose to spend the remainder of her life with a clone of his tenth self. And that was OK. That was good. Though he'd been too thick to acknowledge it at the time, his hearts had begun to heal and reach out toward a certain curly haired archaeologist who was too brilliant for her own good.

"River is like me," he told Rose.

"She's a Time Lord?"

"Half-Time Lord. Yet another long story, involves a crazy amount of messed up genetics. But thanks to you and Oswin, we can spend the rest of our lives together."

"Like we never could," Rose said a bit bitterly.

"I wouldn't say that," the Doctor said a bit carefully and watched a spark of hope come back into Rose's eyes.

"That time on the beach," she demanded, "what were you going to tell me? And don't tell me does it need saying or any of that nonsense. I deserve to hear it."

"You do," he acknowledged. "It's a very human thing to want to hear that. You lot seemed pretty obsessed with it, actually."

"Doctor," Rose growled.

"I'm not the one who can tell you what you want to hear," he admitted. "Besides, do you really want this face to be the one to tell you that?"

Rose didn't say anything for a moment before sitting back in her chair, deflated. "No. You're not my Doctor, are you?"

"Not the one you developed feelings for."

Rose sighed. "It's not fair to any of us, I suppose. I just always thought … the way you talked with me so many years ago, you would never be the type to marry or settle down. I wanted to hate River, I really did. But she was really nice to me, given she knew who I was to you."

"She always understood. She's never been jealous of you or any of my past companions."

"You're really, properly happy?"

He smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

Rose smiled back. "Good."

New York City

Unable to sleep, River spent the night tweaking her parents' brownstone, installing modern comforts that could easily be disguised. She enlarged all of the wardrobes and fixed the toilets. She finished tweaking all the light fixtures and turned the icebox into a proper refrigerator. There was little she could do with the stove other than ensure that a gas leak wouldn't start. She altered the boiler so that it would run off of a heat coil from Trexia she brought with her, rather than coal. When she had tweaked everything that she could, she made a pot of tea and sat at the table reading her diary.

"You used to do that when you came and saw us," Rory said from the entryway. River glanced up to see him wearing his old, familiar dressing gown. She'd brought both his and Amy's from the future. "I'd get up for work and see you sitting here reading or writing. Then there was the one time I caught you and the Doctor … did you really have to do that on the table?"

"It seemed imperative at the time, and don't even begin to tell me you and Amy haven't." River closed her diary and gave her father a pointed look. "I knew you as a teenager, remember?"

Rory sighed and took the chair opposite hers. "As you loved reminding us. Constantly." He helped himself to River's tea. "When do you head back?"

"The first ferry back over to New Jersey leaves a little after 8. I don't dare leave the Doctor any longer we have to. He doesn't do linear well."

Rory rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. You'll be all right, you and him?"

River nodded. "We're finally in sync," she said.

"You told me though once that your timelines were in reverse. That one day you'll meet a version of him that should know you, but doesn't."

"I have." Her hands tightened on her diary. "I have, and it did kill me." She gave him a wry smile. "I got better."

"Clearly."

"Rory." River laid her hand over his. "We'll be fine. Amy asked me to take care of him, and I have been."

Rory's eyes were fierce and protective as he squeezed her hand. "He should take care of you, too."

"He has. He will be. We haven't decided what we're doing yet, but we'll decide on it. Our marriage will never be typical, and I'm not sure how long we can remain on the TARDIS without murdering each other." It was a subject that River had yet to even dare think about, not in the flurry of pulling off this trip. Both she and the Doctor were out of regeneration energy. It was something they would have to address. But not yet. "It's a long story, but the Doctor and I are fine. We're better, I think, than we ever were."

"That's good. You two are pretty unstoppable."

"I'd like to think so," River replied with a saucy grin.

Rory grinned back at her, then sobered. "I wasn't a good dad to you."

"Amy already apologized."

"Yeah, but being with Anthony made me realize that I pushed you away, especially after Demon's Run." Rory sighed when River didn't reply. He was right. Amy had always had the closer relationship with River. "It got better there, at the end, but you didn't deserve us freezing you out at first. But it got better. I'm sorry I never told my dad about you before now." The corner of his mouth lifted. "He blistered my ears over that when I was showing him the house."

"We can't dwell on that," River told him.

"But I won't see you again, will I? Not once you and Clara leave."

She shook her head. "The timelines are too fragile. This was the last possible area of loose time, and as we found out, not even the Doctor can get through it. I can leave you letters, seed them through time, and you can do the same to me. But the Doctor was never meant to be a part of your time stream again, and neither can I. But, Rory, you'll be happy. You and Amy have Brian and Anthony, and the four of you will have a good life."

"Whatever happened to your spoiler mantra?" Rory asked.

"Not spoilers. It's a fact."

Weehauken, New Jersey

Rose spent that long night with the Doctor, the two of them drifting from café to restaurant to tavern to finally benches looking out over the Hudson as they picked pieces off a stale loaf of bread to feed the birds. With the messiness of human emotions out of the way, Rose filled in the Doctor on her family in a way she hadn't been able to before. She'd been light on the details, he remembered, once she had found his past self. But everything had moved so fast.

On his end, he told her what he could without spoiling her own future. Instead, he focused on his Ponds, River, and Clara. This was what she needed, he knew, though he suspected it would be a long time before Rose realized it herself. She needed to know that he was OK and not alone. She needed to know the universe hadn't ended on her watch, even though both were painfully aware of the fact that time could be rewritten. They laughed over old stories and teased each other in a way they hadn't done since the relationship between their younger selves had turned romantic.

"Oh God," Rose managed. "I'll never forget the look on Mickey's face when you finally popped out of that wardrobe!" She dashed her hands over her eyes, then sobered. "I ruined things with him, Doctor, with Mickey. I can't fix it this time. He hates what I'm doing. He's helping, because he's Mickey, but we barely speak anymore. I've lost my oldest friend."

The Doctor didn't say anything, knowing far too much.

"I tried apologizing, but he won't listen. So we just don't speak at all. He doesn't understand why I have to do this."

He squeezed her hand.

Rose huffed a bit and kicked her legs. "I have to go, don't I?"

"Dawn's coming," he acknowledged. "Not that River and Clara wouldn't want to see you, but you have a universe to save, Rose Tyler. The next few days won't be easy, but you'll be OK. I promise."

Rose quirked an eyebrow. "Is your new rule 1 in effect here?"

"Let's just say I've already lived through the events once."

He took her hand as Rose got to her feet, standing with her. She worried her lip. "I'm not sure how to say good bye," she acknowledged. "I'm never going to see this future you again, am I?"

"I love all of my companions," the Doctor acknowledged, evading her question. "I love almost every person who has stepped through the TARDIS doors and traveled the universe with me. But there are some I will never, ever forget. Some that will stay with me always in a part of my hearts that very few have ever seen. You saved me in so many ways, Rose Tyler. I am who I am today because of you healed me after the Time War. You will always be a part of me." He hugged her hard, patting the back of her head before kissing her forehead. "Go find your Doctor, Rose. Save the universe, and be amazing. Have a good life. Do it for me."

Tears streamed down Rose's cheeks, and she hastily pressed her lips to his. Before the Doctor realized what she had done, Rose gave him a tremulous smile, pressed the button on the vortex manipulator, and disappeared into the past.

New York City

They all went down to the docks together: Amy, Rory, Brian, Anthony, River, and Clara. Anthony still regarded both women with curiosity, but River managed to hold him for all of 10 seconds before he squirmed to get down. She pressed a kiss to his curls and whispered in his ear, "You take care of them. I'm going to make sure that you do."

Anthony reared back and stared at his sister for several long moments before he wiggled away.

Amy stood at the edge of the dock and stared across the river as Brian and Rory walked with Clara to get the ferry tickets. The breeze pulled thin wisps of hair out of her chignon and across her face. "I feel like if I stare hard enough, I can see him," she admitted. "He's standing across the river bouncing on his toes, giving that stupid wave of his. It all happened so fast. I close my eyes at night and see him staring at me, like I was about to die."

River took her mother's hand, the same way she had in the graveyard. Instead of kissing it, she merely squeezed it. During the rushed hours together, they had talked little about the Doctor other than to explain about the Reapers and how that forced him to wait in New Jersey. Amy had grown silent at that and didn't mention him much during the evening other than listening to Clara's story about how she joined the TARDIS. There had been a few good laughs at his expense, and at hers as well. But the Weeping Angels had not been discussed at all.

Fitting how it would now be crammed into the last 10 minutes of her time with her mother.

"He's all right now, Amy," River said soothingly.

"But he wasn't before, was he?" Amy turned her focus to River. "Be honest with me."

"No, he wasn't," River admitted. "Neither of us were, to be frank. But we're OK. This helped a lot."

"But I'm never going to see him again. Or you."

"Maybe. Maybe not." River took Amy's other hand as well. "The Reapers appearing meant that the Doctor was not meant to see you at this point in time without tearing the fabric of time apart. He's convinced it means he'll never see you again. He's probably right. But it doesn't mean we can't find a way. Time has a wonderful way of yielding when you least expect it. We'll still be a part of each other's lives. He loves you so much, Amy. He'll never forget you."

"He better not." Amy's brow furrowed. "So, I'm not really good at imparting advice I don't follow myself. But let him see that you hurt at times. You're just like me, you know that? I've had to learn to get better about it with Rory. The Doctor loves you so much, and I think he doesn't know how to handle it. He thinks you walk on sunlight and can change the universe in a fingersnap. Be good to each other, OK?" Whatever she had planned to say next was drowned out by the sound of the ferry horn.

River loathed good-byes. She was never any good at them, but she at least managed to project the illusion that she was when she was around the Doctor. One of them had to at least pretend to be an adult. But as she hugged her parents and Brian for the last time, she wanted to howl with grief. She thought she could handle it, that she could say good-bye. This was the closure she had craved, yet now she was perilously close to not being able to handle it at all. She clung to Amy the longest, both of them trembling as they tried not to break down.

"You be a good girl," Amy repeated her words from so long ago. "You take care of him, but make sure he takes care of you too. If he doesn't, I'll know, and I'll find some way to haunt him." Her eyes were shining, but her expression was serious as she handed River an envelope. "That's for him. I love you both."

"We love you both," Rory cut in. "Make sure he knows that. We'll keep in touch somehow."

"All of us do," Brian added. He nodded to Clara. "We're leaving them in your hands."

Clara saluted. "Taking care of people happens to be my greatest talent." She laid a hand on River's back. "We need to go," she said softly.

Wordlessly, River nodded and pulled on every acting instinct she had. She pasted on a bright smile and blew kisses to her family as they boarded the ferry and it launched. She kept waving and laughing as her family waved after them, even little Anthony finally giving a little wave of his own. She waved until the docks were a distant speck, and the spray from the Hudson disguised any tears that may have escaped.

"You OK?"

It took her a moment to register that Clara was speaking to her. River kept the smile pasted on her face and sincerely hoped the Doctor hadn't done anything to destroy half of New Jersey out of grief or boredom. "Yes. I just needed a moment."

Clara squeezed her arm, and they spent the rest of the trip back to New Jersey in silence.

They found the Doctor speaking with a tour group at the dueling site of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, relating a gripping first person narrative. River was braced to find him either still in a petulant snit or have descended even further into melancholy and was relieved to see him be his bouncy, energetic self. His eyes seemed years younger when he spotted River and Clara at the back of the crowd and waved frantically at them. There was an air of ease around him that River hadn't sensed since before her parents were sucked into the past, and she wondered what prompted the sudden turnabout in his attitude.

Ignoring his fans, the Doctor leaped off the stump he commandeered and loped over to them. He grabbed Clara up in a fierce hug.

"Everything OK?" Clara asked.

"Right as rain, Clara Oswald, thanks to our lovely professor here." The Doctor pulled River into an embrace and laid his forehead on hers. "Thank you," he whispered.

"For what?"

"I'll tell you later." He kissed her forehead, then drew back for a moment. After a few seconds of contemplation, he cupped her face with those large hands of his and kissed her. She started with a bit of surprise, then sank into the kiss. She wasn't about to pass up on a moment like this. Her fingers dove into his hair as he grasped her hips and pulled her closer, both ignoring the gawkers and a fed-up Clara.

Clara rolled her eyes, then squinted at something over the Doctor's shoulder. "Um, hello. I think the two of you are about to be arrested for public indecency," she said as two police officers quickly ran toward them.

River smiled against the Doctor's lips. "What, again?"

He smirked and kissed her nose. "Victorian times, dear."

"You started it."

He nuzzled her cheek, and the smugness radiated off him. "Well, my dear, shall we make a run for it?"

"I have just the thing." River dipped into her handbag and pulled out her vortex manipulator. "How about this time we head home the short way 'round?" She strapped it on as the Doctor beckoned to Clara.

"How about it, Clara?" he asked, indicating for her to grab hold of River. "Fancy a week in ancient Mesopotamia followed by future Mars?"

"Will there be cocktails?" Clara took River's arm on one side while the Doctor kept his hand around the other.

"On the Moon," he promised.

"All of us?" Clara asked a bit nervously.

"All of us. As long as the missus doesn't mind."

"The more, the merrier. Of course, I'm driving." River waggled her fingers over the vortex manipulator.

The Doctor pouted. "Why do you always have to drive?"

"So we can actually get there!" River kissed his cheek, and he scowled at her while Clara laughed. She bumped hips with the Doctor, and he grinned back at her. There were still so many questions to answer, but for now, she and her husband and their friend were going to have cocktails on the Moon.