River was the only person home for a change. Hope had moved out a year before to live with her fiancé. Carys was away at University. Tristan, Rory, and Amy were all at work. River found her family life boring at times but she still loved being with them. She missed her adventures, missed the Doctor, but finally had the normal life she had often dreamed about having.

She was reading when she heard a knock on the back door, which was strange because there was no way into the back except from the house... or if you had a TARDIS. Yet when she opened the door she didn't find the Doctor as she had hoped but Sophia.

"What are you doing here?"

Sophia IV, who looked younger than River, sighed. "We need you again. The Doctor needs you. I was an idiot, thought I could do all of this on my own. Now I know we still need you."

"What are you talking about?"

Sophia wandered into the house and got herself a drink from the refrigerator. "I always knew that Gallifrey would be freed because I knew that the Doctor had visited the past of our world and was known as The Valeyard. He put himself on trial, meaning to execute himself."

"How did you know that hadn't happened yet?"

"He hadn't reached the end of his regeneration cycles. The Valeyard is the Doctor but at the end of his twelfth life. During the Time War he was only in his eighth life."

"So the twelfth Doctor has now died and he's in trouble?" Sophia nodded. "What do you need me to do?"

"Talk to him. If anyone can reach the Valeyard and make him the Doctor again it's you."

"How would I even find him?"

"We know he is somewhere in the past trying to interfere with the Council of Timelords. His TARDIS is hidden and that's where we assume his body is. If we can get the Valeyard to the Doctor's body I'm sure you can convince him to stop projecting this self-destructive persona and that he will regenerate."

River hesitated. To have the Doctor back in her life was her dream, but she was afraid of what could go wrong.

"Please, if you can't do this I don't know what will save the Doctor."

So River agreed and went with Sophia through space and time to find the find the Valeyard. When they found him he was alone, on the run from the authorities on Gallifrey, careful to avoid being seen, yet not careful enough to hide from River Song.

Sophia offered to come with her, but River refused; she had to meet him on her own. It was late and she had no idea if he was in the TARDIS or not, but the doors opened for River without hesitation.

The twelfth Doctor lay on the floor beside the TARDIS console. River walked slowly to him and kneeling, caressed his face. She didn't realize they weren't alone until she felt something hard pressed against the back of her head. She froze.

"I have a blaster against your skull in case you were wondering. Now I want you to turn around slowly and tell me why you are here and how you found me."

She did what he asked and let her eyes meet his. "Valeyard?" He remained silent, too startled to respond. "I'm not a ghost. I didn't die in the Library. I went home and you ran away. You left your world, left our children, and disappeared."

"I don't believe it."

She laughed. "All this time, everything we've been through and you didn't think I could find a way to cheat death? In four lifetimes I've never seen you like this. I've seen you angry, foolishly angry. I've seen the darkness in your soul and never run from you. Yet here you are, running from yourself, from everyone who loves you, and trying to destroy yourself."

"I don't deserve life or family. Do you know how many lives I have destroyed? How many families I have torn apart? Can you begin to understand that the universe would be better off without the likes of me?" His voice was strained and angry, but he had lowered his weapon.

Her eyes blazed at him and her voice was deathly low when she replied. "You made me, remember? Took my mother into the universe as if nothing could go wrong and it nearly destroyed her. My life was stolen from me. My future determined for me. Then I met you and you gave me a new future."

"I lied to you. Every day I saw you I knew I'd be sending you to your death and I lied so you would save me. In your first selfless act I was nothing but selfish, as usual!"

"I know, but does it matter? I'm alive now. I became the woman you did love, the woman you chose to have a second family with. So yes, I have seen the worst that you bring, but I have also seen the best. We choose some parts of our lives, but not all of them, and we make the best out of the situations that are before us. Giving up because we don't like what we've done isn't an option. Isn't that the point of regeneration; to give a Timelord the chance to have a brand new life?"

"Why are you here?" His voice was softer now, distant.

"To save you from yourself." Daring, she touched his hand. "Please, end this madness and become your thirteenth self. Don't let my gift to you be lost."

"Do you think it's that easy River?"

"No, I don't, but I think that together we can keep moving forward."

He gently touched her cheek. "For you I would do anything."

A moment later the Valeyard was gone and the Doctor had begun regenerating again. When the thirteenth Doctor opened his eyes he smiled at River.

"Well, now that we have no secrets what shall we do?"

"Anything."

"One day this will end, we can't live forever."

"I know that, but in the long journey of our lives we've never been able to stop having secrets 'til now. Some day our journeys will end, but today isn't that day."

He jumped up, and touched the TARDIS controls tenderly. "Well then where will we go first?"

The End

Thank you to everyone who has shown interest in this story. I had a very big goal for such a small story: to tie up all the loose ends that I had seen scattered throughout Doctor Who. While I know this story isn't perfect I hope that all of you who read it have enjoyed it.

Each of the characters has had a very complicated timeline in the story. The Doctor and Sophia aged hundreds of years while River and her children only aged a few decades and the Ponds went through less time than that.