As she walked down the busy Manhattan street, Amelia Williams did not seem to be heading for anywhere in particular. She took no heed of anyone around her, but just carried on walking. As was the case from time to time, she was lost in her own personal train of thought.

It had been eight years since Amy had sacrificed her life with the Doctor in order to be with Rory, her husband. The man who had waited over 2,000 years to keep her safe; the man she loved. Technically neither of them existed in 1938, with both of them lacking any documents to prove their identity, and so at the beginning it had been a struggle to find work in order to generate a source of income. But through a string of luck, Amy and Rory now lived a happy life in an apartment on the Upper West Side. But happy though they were with each other's company, Amy still often pondered that there was something missing from their lives. No question about it, Amy knew that she missed the Doctor. Her raggedy Doctor. The alien with two hearts, floppy hair, a bow-tie and a blue box, travelling the universe, saving people. In short: a madman with a box. Whether it had just been the Doctor and Amy, or the trio of Amy, Rory and the Doctor (and on occasion River Song), they had all shared such wonderful, adrenaline-inducing adventures together. Whether it was dinosaurs on a spaceship, Weeping Angels in an artificial forest, or locking Adolf Hitler in a cupboard, they had been a family unit. And unfortunately, that family unit had been separated forever. Although she did not regret choosing a life with Rory over life with the Doctor for a single second, she still could not help missing her life of alien worlds and running down corridors, and in particular, she missed her raggedy man. If only she could see him just one more time...

At that precise moment, Amy was thrown out of her train of thought, colliding with a grey-haired man, both of them falling to the ground.

"I'm sorry, are you okay?" Amy asked the man as she stood up.

"Yes yes, sorry, my fault, was in a hurry," the man replied as he scrambled to his feet. He dusted off his purple velvet coat, turned round and looked at her, for a moment, the man gasped and raised his eyebrows in shock, but quickly shut his mouth and tried to return to a neutral expression.

"Do I know you?" Amy asked the strange man, taken aback by his strange reaction to her.

"No no, you don't know me..." the man replied, accentuating the last word before trailing off, as though mentally choosing his words with great care.

"You're Scottish!" noticed Amy. It had been a long time since she had communicated with somebody sharing the same country of origin as her.

"Yes, so are you. Two Scots in New York, whatever will they think of next?" the man replied. Amy then noticed a strange blue tube in the strange man's hand. Could it be? It certainly looked like a different version of the sonic screwdriver, the green buzzing device that the Doctor always carried, that had saved their lives on many occasions.

"What's that?" Amy asked, pointing at the tube.

"Oh, that's my son- um, my special device," he replied unconvincingly. "Now if you don't mind, I really am in a hurry, must be off." And he instantly hurried away. Could it really be him? Amelia didn't take it as a guarantee that that strange man was the Doctor. Of course she knew he was a Time Lord, and Time Lords had the capacity to change their appearance to prolong their lives, so it could be him. But even the slightest chance of this strange Scotsman being the Time Lord from Gallifrey was all she needed. In an instant her mind was made up, she simply had to follow him.

After at least a good hour of walking, Amy started to question whether she should have started following this man at all. They had walked for miles, and she had no idea where he was heading. Although he was walking at a brisk pace, she had managed to keep up, while staying out of sight. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the man rounded a corner, yet when Amelia arrived at the same corner, he had seemingly vanished. Frustrated, Amy grew angry with herself, irate that she'd deluded herself into believing she had finally found the Doctor, only to wind up in the middle of nowhere, miles from her home.

And that's when she saw it. Wheeling around with fury, tears streaking down her cheeks, her eyes set upon a blue box. Ten feet tall, with the words "Police Public Call Box" written along the top. That ancient blue box, containing such impossibly vast rooms full of pure wonder inside. The TARDIS. There was no doubt in her mind now, she had found the Doctor again, after all these years. The TARDIS did seem to be a lighter shade of blue than she remembered though. There was only one way to find out if this was the real one. Without a moment's hesitation, she knocked on the door.

The door opened, and her eyes met with those of the strange, grey-haired, velvet-coat wearing man she had been following for the past hour.

"Doctor..." she started, beaming with delight.

"Amelia Jessica Pond," he responded, his mouth stretching into a grin. "Or is it Williams? No matter, you'll always be Pond to me. Well don't just stand there, come along Pond, into the TARDIS."

Amy gasped as she entered the blue box that used to be her home. The inside was not anything like she remembered. It was an entirely different room! Gone was the bright orange lighting and orange walls. Gone was the orange and black console, seemingly made up of various bits and pieces from different time periods. Even the glass floor was no longer there. Instead she had entered a somewhat dark room, with dimmed orange lighting, The floor was a solid grey, with steam rising from vents. The main console was what her eyes kept returning to. Rather than the mismatch of different technology that her TARDIS console had been, this one looked much more practical, with levers and buttons, and a keypad rather than a typewriter. The six different control panels looked much smoother than her console had. There was even an alternate control panel along the edge of the main console area, containing various lights, and buttons, something her TARDIS control room had lacked. Bookcases and chalkboards lined the edges of the upper area. Amy stared at the room in shock. Although she had expected the Doctor's appearance to change, she never considered that the TARDIS would change it's appearance as well.

After a few moments, the Doctor finally spoke, "So what do you think?"

Amy took a few moments to reply, unable to comprehend how much had changed. "It's...much more practical."

"I meant my change in appearance, but we can start with the TARDIS, if that's what you want," The Doctor replied, "yes, it's much more suitable for my needs now, the previous appearance would never do for me now, far too bright."

"So, is this the same TARDIS? Did you change it? I didn't know there were any other TARDIS'."

"This is the same TARDIS. I just changed the desktop theme," he smiled, "it is so good to see you again Amy, after all these years."

"How long has it been since you saw me last? How old are you now Doctor?"

"Oh, over two thousand years at least, I lose track. It's been close to a thousand years since you gave up your life in the TARDIS, give or take."

Visibly shocked, Amy contemplated this information for a moment before continuing the conversation, "You were around eleven hundred years old before we parted. And now, it's been a thousand years since you last saw me?" Amy paused for a moment, mentally selecting her words, "Do you even remember me?!"

"Well of course I remember you! I remember everyone, but particularly my best friends. After you're gone, I don't just move on, never thinking of you again. Of course I do eventually move on, I have to. But you all still live on in my mind."

"I can't help but notice you're alone Doctor," Amy observed, her face hardening in disappointment, "what happened to my final request? What did I tell you to do?"

"But it's 1946, you haven't written that book yet, how-"

"The book might not be published yet, but I still know exactly what I'm going to tell you to do. What I would always have told you to do, should anything have happened to me and Rory. I've seen what extended time alone turns you into before." Her eyebrows narrowed. "Remember Mercy? Remember how far you were willing to go? I had to convince you to show compassion. If I wasn't there to stop you, I dread to think what you might have done, not just there, but wherever you go."

"I know that only too well. Just recently, I was on the verge of destroying the universe to save my best friend." The Doctor looked down at the console, avoiding Amy's gaze. "She still ended up dead."

"Doctor, I'm sorry, "Amy replied, walking towards the Doctor with a solemn but sympathetic look on her face, her kindly expression temporarily soothing the pain in the Doctor's mind, "tell me about her."

"That's just the trouble, I can't. In order to save her, I had to wipe my memory of her. I can remember events and facts, but not what she looked like or sounded like. In short, I robbed myself of what truly makes a person real. Not just experiences, but memories. Without memories, we may as well not have had a past at all."

"You took my request then? You made sure you weren't alone then?" Amy asked, changing the subject.

"I may have had a period of isolation, but I did find somebody else to travel with, as I just mentioned. Clara, her name was. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been able to regenerate again, and we wouldn't be having this conversation.

"So what have you been doing since we last spoke?"

"Well, let's see. After I lost you, I tried travelling on my own for a bit, but everywhere I went, every action I took, I just couldn't stop mourning you. So I retired. Spent a period of time living in Victorian London..."

As Amy listened eagerly while the Doctor recounted the tales of his eventful last millennium of travelling and defending the universe, she couldn't help but feel pity for her best friend. As he continued with tale after tale, sacrifice after sacrifice, Amy noticed that his manner became increasingly serious and depressing, hitting an all-time low point as he recounted the story of trap street. After his selfless devotion to protecting those in need, after everything he had done, he ended up alone in the end every single time, the universe continuing to take from him, never giving back. It had happened with her, it had happened with his most recent travelling companion, and no doubt it had happened countless times before, with the Doctor's countless travelling companions. With all the people close to him that he had lost, surely the Doctor must be considering giving up now? She realised that she must convince the Doctor not to lose hope.

"...and that was the end of my night with your daughter at the Singing Towers of Darillium."

"And she really had no idea it was you at first?"

"Not a clue. Turns out she had more than a couple marriages on the go as well!"

"Ah Melody," Amelia chuckled, "she's a Pond alright. Now listen Doctor-"

At that moment, with no warning at all, the TARDIS powered down. The room plunged into total darkness, and then for a moment there was complete silence. And then Amy heard a sound that she hadn't heard over half a dozen years. That harbinger of impending doom, the TARDIS cloister bell. It rang several times, before stopping, and the TARDIS powered back up.

"Doctor? What's going on?" Amy asked in a tone that sounded half frightened, half excited.

"It appears that somebody with a large amount of power tried to control the TARDIS," the Doctor answered as he walked to the console and began pressing buttons and flicking switches, "but clearly they weren't powerful enough. They came fairly close though. Give me a minute, and I'll have their exact coordinates, ready for dematerialisation." The Doctor swivelled round, looking at Amy with glee, "Are you ready for one last adventure Amy?" Despite her initial reaction of fear, Amy felt elation. All traces of fright now gone, all she could feel now was pure excitement coursing through her veins. She was ready for this.

"Of course! I've been starved of adventures for eight years Doctor. I wouldn't miss this for the world."

The Doctor made no attempt to hide his expression of delight as he turned back towards the console and pulled down the dematerialisation lever. The TARDIS roared into life, groaning as it travelled through the time vortex towards their destination. Amy watched in gleeful exhilaration, her eyes tracking the various movements throughout the TARDIS. Lights danced round the room. Within the central glass tube, which housed six glowing bright orange tubes, a seventh tube right in the centre repeatedly rose and fell, one aspect that her TARDIS desktop theme had in common with this desktop theme. Her eyes were then drawn upwards, to the area above the main console. Three layers, all inscribed with Gallifreyan symbols, rotated around like helicopter blades, albeit at a slower speed. It may not be what she remembered, but it certainly was an awe-inspiring sight. All too soon, it was over, and the time for them to exit the police box and investigate had come. Hand in hand, they bounded towards the doors, eager to share one last adventure together.

As the TARDIS doors opened, Amy and the Doctor's eyes adjusted to the darkness they found themselves stepping out into. The Doctor felt around in his pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, illuminating the tip like a torch.

"Did someone forget to pay the electricity bill?" the Doctor jokingly enquired. "Ah, this looks like the power control box," the Doctor motioned towards a large box fixed to the wall to their right, "a few seconds and I should be able to give enough of a boost to turn the lights on."

After poking around the box with his sonic screwdriver, the lights clicked into action, expelling the darkness from the room. They found themselves in a dimmed room. The walls and floors were a dark green metal. The room was vast, looking somewhat like a factory, with large square tubes in rows and columns around the room, all extending from floor to ceiling. Spotting windows around the room, Amy surmised that they were in space, judging from the view. At the end of the room they noticed a door. Looking at each other, they mentally agreed that they would venture towards it. Arriving at the door, the Doctor activated his sonic screwdriver, and the door slid open with a clang. This was a much smaller room. Although the walls and floor were the same colour and material, this was clearly some sort of control room, with screens and control panels with a vast array of buttons and switches dotted around the room. However at the end of the room, a few paces from the door, on a raised panel was a chair. This chair had an occupant.

Hearing the intruders enter, the chair's occupant pressed a button, swinging the chair around to meet those who would dare enter. The Doctor's face fell as he recognised the chair's occupant.

"Well well, if it isn't Fake Odin!" the Doctor snarled. "What are you up to this time? Do you want me to ruin your reputation? I still have the footage."

"And so the coward comes to me, just as I planned," Odin retorted.

"Now now boys, play nice now." Amy cut in.

"Who is this?" Odin asked.

"No concern of yours," the Doctor snapped, "where are your fellow Mire?"

"Elsewhere on this ship, all ready to come running as soon as I press this button," Odin motioned towards a button on the console to his left.

"There will be no need for that. Just tell me why you tried to enslave my TARDIS. You've got a flight worthy ship, what did you want mine for?" the Doctor asked.

"You think I was trying to gain control of your vessel?" Odin roared with laughter. "I siphoned enough energy from it for my needs."

"Don't make me laugh, you didn't even have enough power to turn the lights on! Hell of a party you can throw in darkness!"

"Oh, that power didn't go to the ship itself. It transferred right here!" Odin threw his arms out, gesturing that they were inside a structure inside his ship.

"And where is 'here'?" the Doctor asked.

"I call it, The Energy Cannon!" Odin boomed, as though the universe should bow down at the might of his voice.

"Sorry to interrupt, but what do you need an 'energy cannon' for?" asked Amy, mockingly repeating the manner in which Odin introduced his weapon. "And what is it aimed at?"

"Sol 3!" Odin boomed. He then turned to face the Doctor. "The planet you sought to protect from me, Doctor. Earth!"

"What?" the Doctor replied in a stunned tone. "Why?" the Doctor asked, surprised that False Odin seemed to be giving answers to every question they had. He must be confident. Lucky for the Doctor, Amy thought. She knew only too well that overconfidence is what the Doctor thrived on exploiting. She suddenly realised that there was a buzzing noise in the background, sounding somewhat like electricity.

"Doctor-" started Amy.

"Not now!" the Doctor replied.

"You caused great embarrassment to me and my army Doctor. It is fitting that I should destroy this wretched world you clearly have affection for."

"Then what are you waiting for?" the Doctor asked. He then paused, suddenly noticing the background buzzing noise that signalled energy build-up. "Oh, you still need to wait for the energy to transfer. You're waiting for your energy cannon to charge up!"

"Correct." Odin replied.

"Which means we still have time. This energy cannon must require a colossal source of energy. It's drained nearly all power from this ship, minus essential systems. That's why you needed my TARDIS!" the Doctor's face lit up, satisfied from having worked it out. "But draining all that power from your ship means that there can't be enough power for teleport, meaning that your soldiers can't get here immediately. Meaning that even if you do press that button, your guards will have to take time to get here on foot. They won't be able to get here in time."

"What do you mean?" Odin asked.

Amy glanced at the wall to her side. She noticed that there was a big red button enclosed in glass casing, marked 'Self Destruct'. Clearly the Doctor must have noticed it too.

"Well it doesn't take much to deduce that in grabbing so much power for your energy cannon, you've left yourself exposed! If someone were to, say, activate the self-destruct mechanism, you wouldn't have enough power to cancel it, would you?" the Doctor asked.

"You wouldn't dare! Cowards would rather talk than get their hands dirty!" Odin snarled.

"Oh, but I'm not a coward. You're threatening billions of innocent lives in a senseless act of violence! You're perfectly happy to commit genocide in a mindless, petty act of revenge against me! You obviously can't be persuaded otherwise. You leave me no alternative." The Doctor turned to Amy. "If you would do the honour, Pond."

"Certainly, Raggedy Man," Amy replied proudly. She then opened the protective glass surrounding the button, and without a moment's hesitation pressed the button.

"Warning! Warning!" the ship's automatic siren blared. "Self-destruct system initiated. This vessel will self-destruct in 60, 59, 58..."

"If I die, you die with me, Doctor!" Odin shouted, his voice booming over the ship's artificial intelligence continuing the countdown to oblivion. In a surprisingly agile move, Odin lunged at the Doctor, landing on his feet, both hands secure around the Doctor's neck.

"Excuse me," Amy piped up in a calm manner, distracting Odin enough to relax his grip on the Doctor. In one swift but brutal action, Amy pulled her arm back and swung her fist on a collision course with Odin's head, making contact with the side of Odin's face with a crunch, indicating that she had inflicted serious enough damage to give him pause. Odin staggered back with a groan, releasing his hold on the Doctor entirely. Amy turned towards the Doctor. "I think it's time we were going."

"42, 41, 40, 39..." the ship's self-destruct system continued it's countdown. The Doctor and Amy opened the door behind them, then broke into a run, hand in hand, running towards the TARDIS, both of them bursting with ecstasy, filled with pure bliss at being able to share one more adrenaline-fuelled adventure together.

"26, 25, 24, 23, 22..." the countdown continued. The pair then reached the TARDIS. The Doctor pulled out his key and hurriedly unlocked the door. Pushing open the doors, they rushed inside, and the Doctor rushed to the console and began pressing buttons while Amy closed the doors.

"If I'm quick, I can fly us away to a safe distance, and we can watch the ship burn up, just to make sure that the Earth is safe," the Doctor spoke in a hurried tone, as he carried on pressing buttons. He pulled down a lever, and Amy struggled to maintain her balance as the room jolted forward, indicating that the TARDIS had flown some distance away. The Doctor ran past her and pulled the doors open.

As they watched the ship explode, with no evidence of any survivors, Amy thought about how overjoyed she was to have found the Doctor again and shared one last adventure with him. But she also realised that that life was behind her now. As fun as it had been, it really was time for her to settle down and have a normal life. But before she and the Doctor parted for the last time, she had some words for him.

"And there we are, the Earth saved from destruction, and now the TARDIS is returning to it's previous position," the Doctor told Amy, "and now it's time for you to pop off back home to Rory and raise babies. It's basically what you do, isn't it?"

"Doctor, unless you've forgotten, I can't give Rory children," Amy replied.

"That's why I said 'raise', not 'make'. Haven't you given adoption a thought?"

"I thought about it, but I wasn't sure that that would satisfy Rory."

"Rubbish! If he's still the caring centurion I remember, where the baby came from wouldn't make the slightest difference. You know Amy, blood isn't what makes a family. It's how much love there is." The Doctor smiled at Amy. "Now you go back to Rory and raise a family. Doctor's orders!" the Doctor said playfully.

"Well now you've given me a purpose in life. Doctor, it's time I gave you yours," Amy said to the Doctor, narrowing her eyes to indicate her serious message. "I've said it to you before, and I'll say it again. Whatever happens, don't be alone Doctor. You fly away and you find someone else to share adventures with. Clara obviously benefited your life in an infinite number of ways. Don't let her death be your undoing. Don't mourn in isolation like you did after you lost me. You fly headlong into adventure, have an enormous amount of fun, save the universe countless more times, and find someone to join you. No matter how much pain there is in your mind, you still have thousands more happy memories alongside it. So block out the pain, and move on!" Amy then noticed that one of the chalkboards along the wall on the upper level had writing on it. Moving closer towards it, she was able to make out the words, 'RUN YOU CLEVER BOY AND BE A DOCTOR'. She turned to face the Doctor and asked, "Who wrote these words?"

"That is Clara's final message to me." the Doctor answered.

"So you see? It's not just me telling you, you have two of your best friends giving you the same message here. You simply cannot be alone Doctor. Make sure you're not," Amy finished, satisfied that she had said enough to get the message through to the Doctor.

"Alright Amy, message understood," the Doctor said. With both of them realising that the conversation had reached it's natural conclusion, they stepped towards each other and embraced, knowing that the time for them to part had come. They separated, and gave each other a smile.

"Goodbye, Raggedy Man," Amy said with a grin.

"Goodbye, Amy Pond," the Doctor replied, widening his smile. Amy then turned and walked towards the doors, but then stopped.

"Doctor?" Amy asked, turning on the spot.

"Uh-huh?" the Doctor answered.

"There's something I still don't understand. The paradoxes surrounding New York made it impossible for you to land the TARDIS in that time zone in any nearby area. How did you manage it this time?" Amy enquired.

"It's been more than a thousand years since those events. Even time itself eventually heals, given enough time. I'm still not able to land directly within that area of New York, but I can land close enough now." the Doctor informed Amy.

"So you could take me and Rory back to life in the present?" Amy asked half-heartedly, unsure of what answer she wanted.

"You know what I say about rewriting fixed points. I'm sorry, but there is no going back," the Doctor replied, giving Amy a sad smile, indicating his sympathy.

"That's okay, I don't even know why I asked. Curiosity, I suppose," Amy replied with a slight smile, showing the Doctor that there was no reason to feel sorry on her behalf. "Doctor, my adventuring days are over, but I have one more request. Come back with me. Come stay with me and Rory for the day. We've been apart for so many years, half an hour just isn't enough. And besides that, Rory will be delighted to see you again. I might have urged you to fly away, but before you go, I think you should spend some time with the people who love you. We are technically family, after all. And we have an awful lot of catching up to do!" Amy finished, trying her hardest to persuade the Doctor.

After a few moments of consideration, he finally gave his answer, "Alright. I'll stay for the day. Just one day!" the Doctor raised a finger, illustrating his point.

"And after you leave, just remember. You know where to find us. Whenever you're feeling lonely, or you just want to see us, then you come and see us," Amy told the Doctor, ending with a caring smile.

"I'll keep that in mind. After you," the Doctor said, gesturing Amy to exit the TARDIS.

"And Doctor, about your new face and accent, I approve, very much," Amy said, flashing a smile at the Doctor. They both exited the police box. The Doctor locked the door, and then they both set off down the path, happy to have found each other again.