A tear slid down the girl's cheek. "There must be something I can-" Her voice stopped as if cut off by a knife. River stared hopelessly at the space left behind. "How many times did you save her, Doctor?" she whispered.

The Doctor forced his eyes open through the pain. "Clara?"

A moment later he was gone again, being rewritten moment by moment, time and again.

The sound of running. Feet coming closer, pounding frantically up to the door of the dead TARDIS.

River looked up from where she knelt, unseen, by her Doctor. A young woman pushed through the doors, a blonde woman with a wild look in her eyes.
"DOCTOR!"

River's eyes widened. "Rose," she breathed.

The woman stepped haltingly towards the Doctor. "N-no," her voice broke, "I've come so far to find you, traveled so far..."

River stood up, reaching invisibly toward her. "Rose, I wish you could hear me."

Rose's eyes traveled upward from the Doctor. Unbelievably, she saw her. She saw River. "River Song?"

River smiled through her tears. "Rose Tyler." The younger woman reached for her still outstretched hand, and, impossibly, took it with both her own. "I've seen you," Rose said tremulously. "Looking for him, I've seen you through and through his timeline."

"He did not tell me of you." River's smile was kind, but her eyes held Rose's gaze solemnly. "But I saw you. I've looked for him as well, my dear, and I want you to know that there's a part of him that has never stopped loving you. And I am sorry, I am so sorry that I have taken-", Rose squeezed her hand.

"No, River. You took nothing from me. He was already lost to me, and I am only sorry that you have the man broken by that loss. You deserve better than that. He is unkind to you."

"It doesn't matter that he is broken, only that I love him."

Rose found she had nothing to say to that. She couldn't very well discourage the woman from doing exactly as she herself had done.

They clasped hands over the man they loved.

In the minute that they spoke, Barbara was lost, and Ian died trying to save her. Sarah Jane was killed by a cyberman. The Earth, the Doctor's beloved Earth was controlled by a succession of hate-filled races. Adric lived and Ace died. Jack Harkness was shot by a Dalek on Satellite 5...and the Bad Wolf was born.

Rose began to glow. River gasped. "Rose, if anyone can save the Doctor right now, you can. You are the Bad Wolf. You're tied into his timeline more thoroughly than anyone else."

I CAN SAVE HIM

Burning eyes looked into hope-filled copies.

THE PRICE IS HIGH

"What is the price?"

NOT A LIFE FOR A LIFE

A DEATH

FOR A DEATH

Her image faded as she whispered, "If I could, I would pay it."

YOU ALREADY HAVE


He woke, reaching for the women no longer there. "R-...Clara?"

The white-hot burning strands of his life flashed in front of him. The Doctor's eyes widened as he realized what she had done. He gangled to his feet and straightened his bow tie determinedly. Time to save his rescuer.

"Geronimo!"