Ok, time for the epilogue. I'm glad you all have enjoyed the fic so much, and thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! It really inspires me to keep going and thinking up new ideas! But here you go, the epilogue!

Dobby's Polka-Dotted Sock

Epilogue

It had been several days, planets, spaceships, and adventures, but Amy and Rory just hadn't been able to find the time. It wasn't completely their fault, seeing as they were a newly-wedded couple at last. Sometimes they were just…busy. And it was the last thing on their minds. But at last, Amy looked at her brand new Mr. Pond and said, "We have to talk to him."

Rory nodded seriously in agreement, and the two made their way to the console room. They didn't immediately see the Doctor, but then she saw his legs poking out from under the console. He was lying back on some sort of sliding board and tinkering with the controls, but she was pretty sure he could spare a minute. And if he couldn't, she'd make him.

"Doctor," she called in greeting.

He slid out and looked at them both, shouting a, "Hullo!" before pushing off with his feet and disappearing under the control panel again. "You two finished sleeping, then?" He asked rhetorically, and Amy felt herself flush a little at the reminder of the excuse they'd given him. Rory wasn't faring much better.

"Yeah, actually, and we need to talk," she informed him.

"Well talk away then, Pond, I'm listening," he replied, and she rolled her eyes in frustration before marching forward, seizing him by the lapels of his jacket, and yanking him back out again. "Woah!" He yelped in surprise at the sudden movement, and looked quite alarmed at her irritated expression.

"We need to talk," she repeated, emphasizing the importance of his participation. The alien's eyes darted nervously to Rory as if looking to him for an answer as to why this was happening, but her husband merely nodded in agreement with Amy's words.

The Doctor slowly sat up. "Right, talking…yes, I can do that. So then, Ponds, what do we need to talk about?"

"Well," Rory started, walking over to join them. "You saved the universe."

"Rebooted it," the Time Lord automatically corrected.

"Ok," the other man acquiesced, "but you rebooted it…by not existing."

"Correct. And then Amy brought me back, quite brilliantly," he added with a fond smile, and her lips quirked up in response as he looked at her, but now wasn't the time to get distracted.

"But Doctor," she told him, "Before the wedding, before I woke up on my wedding day…I woke up somewhere else."

He frowned. "Somewhere else? How do you mean?"

"Well, you were there—in the Pandorica, remember?" She prompted in confusion.

He grinned sheepishly. "Bit of a blur, really. I was in the Void—"

"What's—" Rory started curiously, but the Doctor shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, I'm out now, that's what matters." Amy and Rory shared a look, as both had a feeling this Void was something very bad. They'd have to try and get him to open up about it some other time. "But then, you sort of- pulled me through, see? And I remember—but nahh," he shook his head with a look of disbelief. "Can't be, that was an alternate universe- alternate reality- you two can't possibly remember—" He pulled out the sonic and looked about to scan them, so Amy decided to save him the trouble.

"We remember it," she told him, and his eyes widened.

"You remember living in an alternate reality where I never existed?" His voice was just above a whisper. The Doctor stood from the sliding board and walked some ways from them, obviously in deep thought. When he turned back, his eyes were searching their faces, though she had no idea what he was looking for.

Amy didn't have long to dwell on that, for their friend's next question nearly stunned her. "Why would you bring me back?" She was astonished to see the absolutely perplexed expression on his face.

"Sorry?" She shook her head in disbelief. She must not have understood him properly, that had to be it. But he still had that look on his face.

"You were living in a world…where I didn't exist," the alien repeated, stepping toward her cautiously, like any second she might lash out at him. For what reason, she didn't know. "A life where you grew up with your parents and aunt together, Amy. No scary crack in your wall, no physiatrists, your life making sense, a life with Rory. Rory!" He exclaimed, turning sharply to look at the nurse.

"Um, yes?" Her husband asked, meeting her eyes with an equally confused look. Because what was the Doctor on about?

"Not to sound rude, Rory, but until recently you haven't liked me very much."

"I wouldn't say—" the human male defended, but the Time Lord waved his protests off.

"Perfectly understandable. You saw me as competition, it's instinct. But- a world where that competition didn't exist? No imaginary friend, no dressing up as a Raggedy Doctor." He looked at them both as if he simply could not comprehend.

"Doctor—" Amy tried, but it seemed to snap him out of his contemplations.

"Do you see it, now? I'm dangerous, remember?" Rory had the grace to wince a bit at the reminder of his words. "You were living safe, happily-married lives—with no daleks, no Angels, no Silurians—no dying, no being plastic! How could you give that up for this?" He demanded of them, a hand sweeping back his fringe in consternation, but Amy couldn't take it anymore.

"Because it was Hell!" She snapped, and the Doctor jumped at the sudden outburst. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Amy walked right up to him until he was backed against the railing and had nowhere to run. "You listen, Raggedy Man, and you listen good. My father was left behind when we fled Scotland as refugees. My mother was killed by a dalek before I was ten. I grew up in an underground cave that we called Leadworth, barely knowing Rory's name. And I did nothing all day except wait for whatever scrap of food we managed to find, and worry that any second we would be found and killed, or the tunnels would collapse because some alien battleship was testing their new lasers on the Earth. That was my life without you."

The Doctor gaped in silent horror, seemingly rendered speechless by her words. Rory quietly joined them, standing next to his wife.

"I was part of the scavenging parties that went out looking for food and supplies and new sources of water," he said, offering his own tale. "And all I saw around me was the Earth—but it was barren and destroyed and dead." The Doctor flinched back at the harsh word. Rory gave a bitter chuckle. "Barely in my twenties, but I had to scour that- that wasteland, so we could struggle to survive."

"It wasn't even a life," Amy continued. "But then, I started to remember. I slowly started to remember- and I heard you," she added with a tiny smile.

"Heard me?" Their friend echoed hoarsely.

"Yeah. Just things you said, but you know what? It gave me hope. It made me think maybe there was somebody out there watching out for me. And it led me to Rory." She found her husband's hand and slipped hers into his, entwining their fingers.

"So we figured we'd go look for it," Rory told him. "Because let's face it, whatever it was had to be better than what we were doing. And that's how we found them all."

"Who all?" the Doctor asked, still stuck on repeating things, it seemed.

"Your friends," Rory replied. "Your other friends—Rose and Mickey and Martha and Jack—"

"Oh, well!" The Time Lord finally roused, "There you go! Couldn't have been all bad then, eh? Mickey still a mechanic? And Martha was probably on her way to being Chief Surgeon or something at some hospital," he had an optimistic smile on his face, as he looked for some small piece of good news. "And Rose—" his voice faltered as Amy simply shook her head.

"There weren't any hospitals, least not for humans," she informed him, and almost grinned at the indignant expression he wore for the humans' behalf. "And Mickey and Rose were living in a slum. Shacks in an alleyway."

"The aliens split up the globe," Rory explained. "Picked out the bits they wanted and set up empires."

"Spheres of influence," the Doctor said, eyes lighting up in clarity before his brow furrowed. "Who managed to organize that?"

Amy hesitated, meeting his eyes sadly as she answered, "The Time Lords." He sucked in a breath sharply and she hated to see how those three words had ripped the wound open anew.

"Still alive…" he breathed, staring off over their shoulders at something they could never hope to see, a look of longing on his face.

"But still at war," she spoke gently, trying to break the news as easily as she could, but obviously failing as his eyes became tired and sad and watery. Those big watery eyes turned on her, silently pleading with her to take those words back. Amy couldn't, but she also found she couldn't continue, so Rory did for her.

"Jack told us that in the future, the Time Lords win." A brief look of hope flashed in those ancient eyes, and her husband swallowed before speaking again. "By doing this- this Final Sanction thing—"

"No!" The Doctor cried in dismay, putting his face in his hands and not saying any more for a very long moment. This hurt, having to do this, but it had to be done. He needed to know, needed to see why. When at last he took a deep, shuddering breath they knew he was ready. The alien peeked out from behind his fingers, slowly lowering his hands as he stared at them in newfound wonder. "How did you survive?"

"Vincent left us a message," Amy told him, returning his weak smile in memory of the artist. "we went to the museum, just like last time. I found a painting with coordinates to the Pandorica…and Rose found the TARDIS."

He actually managed a chuckle at that, looking up and saying in a scolding tone, "Wrong museum, dear. That's cheating." The TARDIS hummed back a retort, and it seemed to further lift his spirits as he laughed again. Amy and Rory exchanged curious looks, but respected what was a private joke between a mad man and his box.

"There was a woman- Sarah Jane Smith. She stole the painting for us," Rory started, and the Doctor looked at him in interest. Her husband seemed to struggle to continue. "The Judoon, they- they killed her."

Their friend practically collapsed against the railing, and she feared he might just topple over the other side, he seemed so broken. "Sarah Jane…my Sarah Jane," he whispered, his eyes staring at nothing, and Amy had to look away, she couldn't bare it. Because even though now it never happened, that woman she barely knew had given her life for their sake, and it was tearing the Doctor apart.

"Martha got us to where they were keeping the Pandorica. She knew where it was, cause the Shadow Proclamation had her detained—" she said, wanting to try and bring him back from his horror-struck reverie. It worked.

"Detained! What for?" He exclaimed in outrage and bewilderment.

"Something about a plasmavore," she replied, and a look of guilt crossed his face briefly. "So we found the Pandorica and it opened. And there was a woman inside—Donna Noble."

"A universe where my existence was forgotten…she remembered," the alien said softly, a sad smile on his face. "And they locked her in a box for it. Oh Donna…" He staggered forward, and they let him pass, watching as he slumped almost boneless into the pilot's chair and dropped his face into his hands, elbows propped on the console. "No more, Ponds—please," he begged, the words muffled but comprehensible.

Amy looked helplessly at Rory, who shrugged before they walked over to the chair. "Sorry," she spoke quietly. "But you had to know what really happened."

"But—how?" He lifted his head to stare up at her beseechingly, and she could not believe he still wasn't grasping this. "How could everything be so wrong?"

"You weren't there," Rory pointed out, as if that explained everything. To Amy, it did. But the Doctor looked at them back and forth, like a lost child.

"But things are- the world is dangerous when I'm around…I'm dangerous. The Destroyer of Worlds," he said, in a voice filled with past regret and fresh despair. "I'd always thought a universe where I couldn't even touch it would be a good thing. How it should be. How it ought to be."

"Well, you were wrong," Rory informed the Time Lord bluntly. Amy decided to use more tact.

"Yes, the things you do sometimes are dangerous, and sometimes people get hurt or killed." She waited for him to actually meet her gaze before continuing. "But that doesn't make you dangerous, Doctor. That just makes you the only one willing to brave the danger. And maybe that isn't fair, but when you're not around to do that…it's horrible."

"I mean, it makes sense," Rory said. "Who was going to travel through time and fight monsters and stop invasions if you didn't? Things get dangerous around you because you try and help people…and no one else is like that."

Their friend looked at them in remorse. "I'm sorry- I didn't think—"

"It doesn't matter. That wasn't the real problem, anyway," Amy dismissed, and he looked at her in confusion and disbelief that there could possibly be even more wrong with that terrible world they'd left behind. "Because, I have this friend. He can be a genius about almost everything, and then really stupid about the simplest stuff." She shook her head before speaking again. "He's older than I am- by a lot –but it doesn't stop him from acting like a kid half the time, and it's annoying but actually really funny," she admitted. "He always knows what to do or what to say to make things better, he's got an awful sense of fashion, and sometimes I think he's completely mad." She couldn't help chuckling a bit as she amended, "Most of the time I think he's completely mad."

She took a deep breath and continued on. "But in that other-life," her husband's lips twitched in slight amusement at her use of the familiar phrase. "He didn't exist. And even though I couldn't really remember him, everything was just wrong without him, and I missed him. A lot. So much that sometimes I'd be crying and I wouldn't know why. And that made me really, really sad." Her voice had gradually grown quieter and quieter until she found it wouldn't support her anymore as he just stared at her. Amy couldn't tell what he was thinking, but his eyes were wide, and his lips slightly parted as though he wanted to speak, but the words failed him. "That was the worst part," she whispered.

The Doctor rose from his seat slowly, gazing at her with gentle, sad, tired, amazed eyes. She was finding it difficult not to just break down and start crying as a smile slowly spread over his face. "Oh Pond…come here, Amelia." She held onto him for all she was worth, instantly comforted by his warm, secure embrace. She felt one of his hands come to rest at the back of her head as he pulled away slightly, and she noticed immediately that his old eyes were brimming with tears of happiness. "Thank you, Amy," he said, and placed a reverent kiss to her forehead.

Rory was looking away uncomfortably during the exchange, and so the nurse was completely caught off guard when the Doctor released her and promptly threw his arms around him. He relaxed his stiff posture after a moment, awkwardly returning the hug, but the Roman gave a little "Oh!" of surprise when the alien actually pressed his lips to his forehead as well. Amy barely managed to stifle her giggle, easily accepting a final hug as their friend brought them both in, so she was brushing sides with her husband and the Doctor's head was poking in between theirs.

"The Ponds…two of my dearest friends," he murmured, holding onto them tightly. And Amy wondered at that, for it was some of the Doctor's dear friends that they had met in that other universe. And they had all been such wonderful people; she wondered how it felt for him to never see them once they were gone. What that did to him inside, where he rarely let anyone see.

He let them go at last and spun away, hands automatically finding buttons and levers, once more the pilot. "Right, where to next?" He asked with his usual enthusiasm, and Amy found herself smiling.

"You know, we actually had to fly the TARDIS by ourselves," she commented, and he blinked in surprise.

"Really? Did it go alright?" She nodded, and he beamed. "How about that…you amazing humans. My friends, the most fantastically brilliant to ever live on the beautiful planet of Earth!" He seemed to relish saying these words, and Amy grinned back, because it was good to be home. In this universe where the Earth truly was a beautiful place, and they travelled the stars in a blue box with their friend.

"There's only one thing I don't get," Rory spoke up. "We met your friends- a lot of them anyway. And they remembered you too, that's how we all started working together." The Doctor nodded to show he understood. "Then, how did—sorry—do you know Mels?"

And wasn't that a load off her shoulders, because their childhood friend was alive and well once more. Amy nearly sagged against her husband in relief, but he had raised an interesting point. So she looked with him at the Doctor, waiting expectantly for an answer.

The alien, for his part, looked nonplussed. "Mels? Who's Mels?"

"She's a friend of ours. We grew up together. You mean you don't know her?" Amy asked, because that didn't make sense.

"Well, let me think…Mels, Mels, Mels from Leadworth…hm—oh! Knew a Mel Bush, long time ago. No?" He asked at her shaking head, and then shrugged. "Sorry, but I have never met your friend. The universe is small, especially when you're travelling it in a box- but not that small, Pond."

She frowned, glancing at Rory who also looked perturbed by this issue. "But she said she could hear you saying stuff, too. Though she was acting kind of funny."

"Funny how?" He questioned, coming around to stand before them again.

"Well," she looked at Rory again for support. "Sort of, not herself. Actually, she kind of reminded me…" she trailed off, her eyes widening in realization. "River! She was acting kind of like River."

"Oh yeah," her husband nodded. "I see what you mean."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed as he slowly requested, "Describe your friend."

Amy and Rory shared a glance again, for a completely different reason. Though she was a very good friend, describing Mels in terms that made people like her was rather difficult. "Well, she's- err…independent," Amy supplied after wracking her brain for an adjective.

"Really independent," Rory agreed, "has absolutely no respect for authority. Ow!" Amy had elbowed him in the ribs and now he rubbed at the sore spot.

"So she has a free spirit. It can be fun…when you're not bailing her out of jail," she cringed a bit as she said it, remembering countless nights where they would sit in her room, and she and Rory would try to get Mels to see why she needed to stop doing illegal things. Mels took it as she needed to stop getting caught doing illegal things. The Doctor merely hummed in interest as he went back to flying the TARDIS.

"But, you know, it really just adds to her, uh, charm," Rory tried, attempting to defend their friend's character. Because the Doctor was their best friend, but so was Mels and neither of them wanted their two best friends to dislike each other. "I mean, loads of people like her. I guess it's because she's attractive." Amy shot him a look, and dutifully her husband hastened to add, "That is, if you're kind of into that 'bad girl' kind of thing—which I'm not," he laughed nervously, and it was almost entertaining to make him think she was still annoyed. "But, uh, Mels is just sort of—"

"Yowza!"

"What?" Amy raised an eyebrow at the alien, who blinked and for some reason turned a sort of pink color. It made her rather suspicious about what exactly the word 'yowza' meant to the Doctor.

"Sorry, I was going to say you could stop," their friend amended, and Amy crossed her arms at his deflection. "I think I understand what may have happened. You see, Amy, your friend Mels is rather similar to our Dr. Song—"

"Is that why she's also 'yowza'?" Amy pressed, but he merely spun around to the other side of the console and threw another switch. Then the Time Lord poked his head around the time rotor to continue his explanation.

"But you met River through me, and since I wasn't there in that universe to introduce you two, you would have never met. You couldn't remember River at first because your mind associates her with me."

"For a pretty good reason," she pointed out.

"Anyway," he said loudly, hiding once more behind the time rotor, and Amy rolled her eyes. This was worse than immature. She had to wonder how the archeologist ever put up with him—because she was so his wife. "You instead replaced her with the very compatible Mels, someone who has no ties to me."

"Then, why did River show up later?" Rory asked, another valid question. Amy nodded in acknowledgement, which the Doctor saw because he finally came back around to their side of the console.

"What happened to Mels in that universe? She wasn't there when the Pandorica opened."

Amy swallowed. Even if it hadn't actually happened, it was still hard to say. "She died. She and Jack were fighting the Judoon, and they shot her." Rory wrapped an arm around her, which she was glad to accept.

The Doctor, however, gave a satisfied smile, like he'd just solved the puzzle. "By that point, when the Pandorica was opened, you had nearly remembered me. That, in turn allowed you to remember River, and since Mels was killed, your mind was able to insert her in your friend's place. See? Simple."

"I suppose," Amy said. "I just wish Mels didn't have to die for that to happen- I know it didn't really happen but—"

He placed his hand on her shoulder, his smile now gentle and sympathetic. "I understand. Just remember that River and Mels are both alive and well now—you could even introduce them if you wanted!"

She and Rory both laughed at that, each thinking about what disastrous effect that might have. Not the best plan to give Mels even more ideas, or vice versa. She briefly entertained the mental image of the archeologist and the delinquent graffiti-ing the oldest cliff face in the universe together with the words 'Hello, Sweetie', and decided for her alien friend's sake that that should never happen.

"That's probably not the best plan, Doctor," she informed him. "Besides, are we even going to see River again? You don't seem to keep in contact with a lot of people…" she wished she could take the words back as his smile slipped and he withdrew his hand from her shoulder.

"Oh, we'll see her again, I should think," he tried for his usual confidence, but his smile was flat and didn't reach his eyes.

"So, uh, how exactly does that work?" Rory asked, obviously to distract them from this rather uncomfortable moment. "She just leaves you messages so that you'll show up and do your 'save the day' thing?"

It put Amy in mind of her 'Heel boy!' comment, and it clearly did so for the Doctor, for he stubbornly shook his head. "No, no, it's not always like that." He was fiddling with the control panel again, not looking at them, so Amy stepped forward to get his attention.

"Really? Cause that's what it looks like to everybody else."

"Well, everybody else isn't there all the time," he retorted, but immediately looked up in alarm at Amy's predatory grin.

"So there is something going on between you two," she declared smugly, as he backed away from her and nervously scratched at his cheek. "Out with it, Raggedy Man."

"There's nothing between us, Pond," he insisted, becoming increasingly uneasy as she followed him around the console. He wasn't getting away that easy. "It's just- well, sometimes I see River first, and—"

"Ooh, you pick her up in the TARDIS?" She cooed with exaggerated sweetness. "Show her the stars?"

"Stop it," he practically whined, but she was on a roll.

"Treat her to dinner?"

"No."

"Shopping at a marketplace in a distant galaxy? She's got to get those clothes somewhere."

"No!"

"No, you're right. The TARDIS has a wardrobe." She gave an overly-scandalized gasp and said with an accompanying eyebrow waggle, "Or maybe you two just have a night in."

He was completely red in the face and stammering all over the place. "N-no!"

Amy was having way too much fun with this. "Careful, Doctor, just make sure you have her home before her dad starts to worry. Have you met the in-laws yet?"

The Time Lord had gone full-circle around the console, and in his haste to get away from her, he bumped right into Rory with a squeak of surprise. Their friend then leapt away from the Roman, tripped over his own pilot's chair, and crashed to the floor in a tangle of his gangly limbs. Amy was hugging her sides in laughter while Rory himself chuckled at the alien's antics.

"A picnic!" The Doctor finally exclaimed crossly from his position sprawled on the floor, which had the effect of quieting both the Ponds, but also making them doubly curious.

"Aw, that's so sweet!" She said, completely genuine this time. "Where was it?"

"Asgard," he muttered as he stood back up and brushed imagined dirt off himself, still quite red in embarrassment.

She couldn't help pointing out her victory. "So you did take River on a date."

"It wasn't a date," he snapped. "It was an—apology."

"An apology for what?" Rory inquired, and the alien sighed heavily.

"Everything." He spoke the word so miserably, with his shoulders slumped and his head hung low, and Amy sidled up to him and touched his arm. He glanced at her, yet his eyes weren't sad—they were grieving.

"Hey…I'll bet she loved it," she assured him quietly, and some of the guilt washed away from his expression. Still, she couldn't resist adding, "because she's your wife," in a teasing voice, and playfully pushed him.

The Doctor gave an irritated huff. "I think you're getting confused, Pond. Because," he took her hand, and tugged her over a few feet so that she was next to Rory, and handed her off to him. "The only married people on this TARDIS are Ponds. Now, since the last wedding present didn't go exactly as planned—"

"I'd say it wasn't at all like the plan," Rory offered, but the Time Lord chose to ignore it.

"How about something for the honeymoon, eh?"

She and Rory exchanged skeptic looks. They appreciated the sentiment, but…

"What did you have in mind?" Amy asked slowly. "Because, you know, we don't need you to take us somewhere, or, uh—" Trying to convey that they didn't really want the alien along for their honeymoon was not an easy task. But she needn't have bothered.

"A Starliner touring the Horse Head Nebula on Christmas Eve, fully booked." He crossed one foot behind the other at the ankle, leaning with a hand braced on the console and waiting for their reaction.

"Ok, so what's that have to do with us?" Rory asked in mild confusion.

"Except the honeymoon suite," the Doctor finished, and as their eyes widened in realization, his lips pulled up in a grin. She rushed forward and hugged him.

"Oh, thank you!" She cried in excitement, and he laughed as he returned it briefly. Rory stepped forward next to gratefully clap him on the shoulder.

"Well, get packing, Ponds. You've got a ship to board," he waved them off to their room, and Amy eagerly grabbed Rory's hand and pulled him from the room.

OoO

The two humans hurried off to get their luggage ready, and the Doctor's shoulders dropped as yet another sigh escaped him that evening. It would only be a couple days, and if he really wanted, the time traveler could drop them off, dematerialize, and then rematerialize just in time to pick them up. But still…

He was happy for them, his two friends. They were so very much in love and devoted to each other. If ever he knew a couple that should be together, it was these two.

But marriage? Marriage was just another milestone, another step, from Amelia Pond…to Amy Williams.

Still such a child inside, Prisoner Zero had remarked, but his little Amelia was growing up before his eyes. And all too soon.

Yes, it was selfish. It was the absolute worst, wretched thing for him to think. But he couldn't help it, he wasn't the shining, model hero his friends always thought of him as. At least, they started out thinking that.

No, he didn't keep contact with many people. Mostly it was for his own sake, the old man who couldn't stand to watch the short lives of his friends bloom and flare and then wither and fade into ending. But it was also for their sake.

Because as Mickey grew into his own man, reliable and strong in both body and character, he didn't need a Boss to stand in the shadow of.

Because as Martha lost the doe-eyed innocence of first-love, she didn't need to be second-best—should have never felt second-best—she needed to get out.

Because as Jack became a dependable leader, accepted and admired and even adored by his team, he didn't need to feel like he was something wrong.

Because as Sarah Jane gave up waiting and had a life of her own, she didn't need the constant reminder of the act that was tough to follow.

Because as Rose stood on a beach on the worst day of her life, she didn't need a love that would never be spoken or realized, left to grow dusty and stale with the ceaseless passage of time, she needed one love with one heart and one life to spend.

Because as Donna spent day in and out with a husband and a family, she didn't need a Martian to remind her that she was settling, she needed to forget…forever.

Soon, so very soon, the Ponds—the Williams'—would join that list. That list that stretched on and on, the living and the dead, all accounted for in his nine-hundred and seven years of life. And as Amy and Rory set out on that wonderful journey called marriage, they left him standing at the start line, growing further and further away from him.

Everybody knew that everybody died, and nobody knew it quite like him. But he also knew that everybody lived. Everybody moved on. Everybody grew up and left their childhood dreams behind. Including imaginary friends.

And the Doctor—Doc, Professor, Spaceman, Raggedy Man, my Raggedy Doctor, my Lonely Angel, my love, my Doctor, mineminemine—who gave himself to everybody, was cast away time and again. Locked up in the big, blue toy-box to wait for another friend to love and leave him.

Where he ought to be. But not where he wanted to be.

So that's that. I hope this epilogue was a good mix of the serious and the humorous. It ran a bit long, but I figure you guys won't mind. So let me say one final time, thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, following, and inspiring me to write this story! It was definitely a challenge at times, but I'm glad I undertook it, and most of the reason I was able to finish was because of your support. Thanks for taking the time to read this story, and please let me know what you thought!