A/N: Happy 4th of July! I'm not dead! I know! Just real quick story cause I found a place with wifi. Anyway, if you can guess which Doctor I'm talking about, even some of the less known ones, I'll give you free cyber cookies! Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
River had left with her vortex manipulator and now it was just him. And of course, the afterword. The afterword. Her story couldn't end there... Not his Amelia Pond.
The Doctor, sitting against the console with his head in his arms, was tired. He didn't want to do this anymore. The losing, the dying, the giving until there was nothing left to give.
He had regretted and he forgot and he was through- through following the rules. Damn the rules, damn the consequences! He was going to get them back.
"Keep running, if you stop now, there would consequences."
He glared at sandshoes. "I want to go back. I want to get them. Shouldn't they owe me this once chance to get them back? Just this once?"
"No. You can't do it that way." The owner of the old voice faded into his vision.
"I'm older than you are, I know what's better."
"Or maybe you are going senile."
He frowned at sandshoes. "Shut up. You'd go back for her. Why can't I go back for them?"
Sandshoes shuffled awkwardly and big ears spoke in that thick northern accent, "We all would have, but we didn't."
"Easy for you to say. You didn't lose anyone. Just a fresh regeneration after the war. You still had her, even then."
"I would go back for Adric."
"Or Tegan."
"But we didn't."
Eleven turned away. "But they're family."
"So was Susan."
A curly-haired figure crouched in front of Eleven. "Sometimes you have to let go, it was their time. They all move on. Sometimes... It's for the best.
They knew something might happen and they still came with you.
Have you ever wondered why?
It was because they loved you. They would not want you to destroy the world- the galaxy- to see them again.
It's time to say goodbye."
Eleven shook his head, tears in his eyes. The man handed the end of his long scarf to Eleven who wiped his eyes with it.
"You're right. It's time to say goodbye." Eleven finally managed.
Eleven stood up and he pulled a lever on his console.
"I'm not going to run, I'm not going to forget- I'm going to leave. I'm going to say goodbye. If I never take a human with me again, they'll never leave me again."
The other ten men in the room frowned.
"Wait that's not-"
"Shut it frills."
Eleven turned away and set the time rotor for random. He didn't care anymore.