The next morning we met Vincent in his kitchen where he had handed us a picture he painted of himself, "I wish I had something of real value to give ya." The Doctor was grinning and Amy was giggling. The Doctor held it up to Vincent and grinned,
"Oh no, no, no I could never accept such an extraordinary gift." He gave it back to Vincent who felt slightly dejected,
"Very well, you're not the first to decline the offer." He set the painting aside and held his arms our, "Amy the blessed, the wonderful." She went up to him and kissed him on both cheeks,
"Oh be good to yourself. And be kind to yourself."
"I'll try my best."
"And maybe give the beard a bit of a trim before you next kiss someone." They laughed,
"I will, I will. And if you tire of this Doctor of yours then return and we will have children by the dozen." She made a face and laughed. "Doctor my friend," He held his hand out which the Doctor accepted, "We have fought monsters together and we have won. On my own I fear I may not do as well." The Doctor pulled him into a hug. I could see the look on the Doctor's face. His hearts were breaking. Vincent turned to me, "Phoenix, the beautiful the kind the woman of the stars." A question rose in Amy but soon died away, thinking it best to ask later, "I shall miss you." I gave him a hug, "Shall I see you again?"
"Of course. You know I'm always watching over you." He smiled at me. After we had said our goodbyes we left. We were on our way back to the TARDIS and didn't get but a few feet from the house when the Doctor stopped,
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I was thinking I may need a bitter something before we leave." Apparently Amy didn't get what he was thinking,
"Definitely not what I was thinking." He looked at the house then back to her making a 'what the devil?' face before calling up to the house, "Vincent!" Vincent stuck his head and torso, which was bare, out the window, "Got something I'd like to show you. Maybe just… tidy yourself up a bit first." He grinned at us. Vincent came down and followed us back to the TARDIS, "Now, you know we've had quite a few chats about the possibility that there might be more to life than normal people imagine," He groaned when he saw that the TARDIS was covered in posters for the circus,
"Yes."
"Well, brace yourself Vincent." Amy laughed and the Doctor slid his key down the paper effectively cutting it. He unlocked the door and opened it letting the door swing open for Vincent to walk in. He did and looked around at everything and I felt the wonder and the magic in him. He popped his head out and looked around then went around the TARDIS pushing on the walls, not believing what was in front of him. He came back around and looked at us before stepping back in the TARDIS,
"Now come on I'm the crazy one and you three have stayed sane." We stepped in after him and the Doctor took his hat off and put in the hat rack while Amy closed the door, "What do all of these things do?"
"Oh a huge a variety of things." He spun around the console before stopping, "This one her for example plays southing music. And, ah, this one makes a huge amount of noise." He looked to us and we nodded, "And this one makes everything go absolutely bonkers." We laughed as Vincent was thrown about the place,
"And this one?" He pointed to a few switches. The Doctor leaped toward him,
"Thos are friction quantomfibulators." He pointed to two more buttons. One was red and one was yellow.
"And these?"
"Ah, that's ketchup and that's mustard."
"Hm, nice. Come on, back to the café. And you can tell me about all of the wonders of the universe.
"Good, although, there's a little something I'd like to show you first." We exited and found ourselves in front of The Musee d'Orsay.
"Where are we?"
"Paris. 20010 A.D. and this is the mighty Musee d'Orsay, home to many of the world's greatest paintings in history."
"Well that's wonderful." Just then a child walked buy with a radio and Vincent was curious never having seen one before. But the Doctor intervened before he could ask,
"Ah, ignore that. I have something better to show you." And with that we headed into the museum. We passed many works of art and kept going up the stairs. When we got near the statue on the stairwell the Doctor stopped and imitated the pose of it. I laughed and pulled him along. We kept going, straight into the Vincent van Gogh gallery. We stopped once we were inside and Vincent simply looked around in awe. His heart swelled with amazement, question, and joy. The doctor went over to Doctor Black,
"Doctor Black, we met a few days ago I was asking you about the painting of the church and it was very helpful."
"Oh, yes, well glad to be of service. You were nice about my bow tie."
"Yes, and I must say today is another cracker if I may say so," I nudged the Doctor, "Right, I was just wondering…" Amy situated Vincent so he could hear what was being said, "Between you and me, in a hundred words, where do you think Van Gogh rates in the history of art?" Vincent's eyes were already red with some tears and his heart was swelling by the second. My heart was soaring with pure delight of it all.
"Well... um... big question, but, to me Van Gogh is the finest painter of them all. Certainly the most popular, great painter of all time. The most beloved, his command of color most magnificent. He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty. Pain is easy to portray, but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world, no one had ever done it before. Perhaps no one ever will again. To my mind, that strange, wild man who roamed the fields of Provence was not only the world's greatest artist, but also one of the greatest men who ever lived." His heart was swelling with joy and happiness and a gratefulness that few had ever had. Tears were simply flowing free by this point and the Doctor took note and went to him,
"Vincent, I'm sorry, is it too much?" He hugged Vincent,
"No, they are tears of joy." He patted the Doctor on the shoulder and kissed me on the cheek before going to Doctor Black and kissing him on both cheeks, "Thank you sir. Thank you." He hugged him,
"Oh well you are quite welcome." He wasn't quite sure what to do.
"Sorry 'bout the beard." We walked away and I couldn't help but grin as I felt Doctor Black's heart grow with realization and amazement. But then it died just a little when he turned around and realized we weren't there anymore.
We had reentered the TARDIS and went back to Vincent's time. He exited the TARDIS feeling so lighthearted and happy.
"This changes everything. I'll start out tomorrow with my easel on my back a different man. But I still can't believe one of the haystacks was in the museum, how embarrassing."
"It's been a great adventure , and a great," The Doctor shook Vincent's hand before pulling him into a hug, "honor."
"You've turned out to be the first doctor ever actually to make a difference in my life."
"And I'm delighted. I will never forget you." Then it was Amy's turn.
"And you are sure marriage is out of the question?"
"Oh not this time." She hugged him, "I'm not really the marrying kind." She kissed his cheek before heading back into the TARDIS. Now it was my turn,
"When shall I see you again?" I sighed,
"In time. I promise you that I will see you again long before your time on this world ends. And now you know that when your time does end, your memory will live on. That is something that is truly a gift." He smiled and kissed my cheek,
"Be safe."
"And you." I headed back in and waved to Vincent.
"Come on, let's go back to the gallery right now!" Amy was excited. Her heart was full of excitement and joy. We went back to the gallery and walked towards the doors, "Time can be re-written. I know it can." The Doctor smiled at her and he took my hand in his own. He squeezed it knowing exactly what I was thinking. "Come on!"
She ran up the stairs, "Oh the long life of Vincent Van Gogh. There'll be hundreds of new paintings."
"I'm not sure there will." She was like an impatient child as we entered the room just before Vincent's,
"Come on!" Slowly we entered the room after her. And immediately I felt her heart drop with sorrow. She stood there in the middle of the room as Doctor Black spoke,
"We have here, the last work of Vincent Van Gogh who committed suicide at only thirty-seven. He is now acknowledged to be one of the foremost artists of the time. Now if you will follow me…" The Doctor and I approached Amy. She looked at us,
"So you were right. No new paintings. We didn't make a difference at all."
"I wouldn't say that. The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things...hey," He hugged her and I put my hand on her arm, "...the good things don't always soften the bad things; but vice-versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things and make them unimportant." He pulled back some and took her head in his hands, "And we defiantly added to his pile of good things. And…if you look carefully…" He pulled us over the painting of the church, "Maybe we did indeed make a, couple of… little changes."
"No Krafayis."
"No Krafayis." The Doctor got closer to the painting of the Church while Amy turned around and headed for another picture. I spun around and looked at the picture of the stars. I smiled because I saw my constellation in the mix of stars and my name in the top right corner of the painting. I smiled and turned around and followed the Doctor over to Amy who was staring at the picture of the sunflowers in a vase. The vase said "for Amy, Vincent." The Doctor let out a whistle.
"If we had got married out kids would have had very, very red hair."
"The ultimate ginger." Her heart lifted some. It was pain but a good kind of pain.
"The ultimate ginge." We laughed a laugh that is the remembrance of something good when something bad has come to pass. "Brighter than sunflowers. The Doctor gave her a side hug then pulled me to him. He let out a sigh after a few more minutes of simply standing there we decided to leave. It was a silent walk until we came to the TARDIS. Once we were inside Amy asked a question, "What did Vincent mean when he called you 'The woman of the stars'?" I smiled a little and the Doctor answered for me,
"Remember I told you that I see Phoenix as she truly is? That I can see the universe as it really is. Well there are a few in your world that can see the universe is at truly is like Edger Alan Poe but all he saw was the bad life, H.G. Wells who saw the wonders of the world, and Vincent Van Gogh who saw the bad and the good in the world. Those are the people who see the universe through different perspectives."
"Wait so you mean to tell me H.G. Wells had a time machine?" The Doctor scoffed,
"No. I took him for a few rides here and there." Her jaw dropped. The Doctor hit a few switches and we went back into space. Amy yawned and stretched,
"I think I'm gonna hit the sack. Don't go getting into trouble without me." She smiled at us before heading up the stairs to her room. I pulled the brown trench coat around me more and yawned as well. I felt arms wrap around me and I laid my head back on his chest,
"Tired."
"Mhm." I felt my legs being lifted out from under me. He took me to my room and laid me on the bed. He started to leave but I grabbed hold of his arm. I pulled him back so he was closer to me. "Stay with me?" He smiled and gently kissed my head.
"Alright. If you wish." I scooted over and the Doctor climbed in bed. His arm wrapped around my waist and my head on his shoulder,
"Good night Theta."
"Sleep well my love."