Four Travelers
"Where's she going?" River said, running up to the Doctor.
"Scouting."
River sighed. "You're being completely ridiculous, the both of you. The Pandorica partially restored one Dalek. If it can't even reboot a single life form properly, how's it reboot the whole of reality?"
"What if we give it a moment of infinite power?" the Doctor suggested. "What if we can transmit the light from the Pandorica to every particle of space and time simultaneously?"
"Well, that would be lovely, dear, but we can't, because it's completely impossible."
The Doctor grinned. "Ah, no, you see, it's not. It's almost completely impossible. One spark is all we need."
"For what?"
"Big Bang Two!" the Doctor leaned closer. "Now listen…"
And he was cut off when the Dalek hit him in the chest, crumbling to the ground. "Exterminate! Exterminate!"
River knelt by his side as Rory ran up. "Get back. River, get back now!"
"Exterminate!" As the Dalek moved closer, Rory shot it with his hand, draining it of its energy.
"Doctor?" River shook the Doctor, looking up for Adelaide, knowing the Time Lady would need to be there. "Doctor, it's me, River. Can you hear me? What is it? What do you need?"
The Doctor just activated his Vortex Manipulator, vanishing.
|C-S|
When Adelaide found the Doctor, he was already sitting in the Pandorica, weak, but alive. He smiled weakly at her when she arrived and she quickly took over the task.
"Doctor!" Amy called from behind her, but Adelaide didn't turn.
"Why did he tell us he was dead?" Rory asked, shaking his head.
"We were a diversion. As long as the Dalek was chasing us, he could work down here."
"What're they doing?"
"Big Bang Two," Adelaide said quietly, still working. "The TARDIS is exploding at every point in history. If we throw the Pandorica into the explosion…"
"Then let there be light," River continued, eyes wide. "The light from the Pandorica would explode everywhere at once, just like you said."
"That would work?" Amy asked. "That would bring everything back?"
"It would be a restoration field powered by an exploding TARDIS at every moment in history."
River nodded. "Oh, that's brilliant. It might even work." She pointed at what Adelaide was working on. "They wired the Vortex Manipulator to the rest of the box."
"Why?"
"So he can take it with him," Adelaide said. "Fly the Pandorica into the heart of the explosion."
River frowned. "Only him?"
Adelaide nodded, not looking at the human, but gently touching the Doctor's hair, brushing it from his eyes. "Whoever pilots this will be trapped on the wrong side of the cracks. They will literally never have been born. If the Doctor never existed…my history before the war wouldn't have changed, but by now I'd be trapped as a human on Earth again. Thankfully, my Chameleon Arch was weak. If I had been left alone…eventually, I would have broken through myself. And then…" she shrugged, "I'd be able to remember him back."
"There's no guarantee though…" River said quietly.
"It will work." Adelaide tightened her jaw. "It has to."
She didn't want to leave the Doctor. She couldn't bear the thought, but she knew it was the only thing that could happen. She may have been the one with the idea, but the Doctor would have never let her join him, not when she was one of the only people in the entire universe with the ability to remember him.
Because she would. She had to.
Because she loved him.
Adelaide loved the Doctor and now she was going to lose him in order to save the universe.
|C-S|
"Adelaide…" the Doctor whispered a little later, River having moved over to talk to Amy and Rory. "I'm sorry."
She was still standing beside him, clutching his hand. "I'm going to remember you back. I don't care if that's not how it works, I'm going to do it."
The Doctor smiled. "Of course you will, Adelaide."
"You're not going to leave me." She shook her head. "This was my idea, it's going to work, and you're not going to leave me, you foolish man."
He reached out and touched a bit of her hair that had fallen close to his face, twisting it around his finger. She still smelled like strawberries. "I'm sorry." The Doctor glanced up through the ceiling above them, watching as the explosion grew even bigger. "Amy?"
Adelaide nodded, not stepping away, just turned to look at the group. "Amy?" she called. "Can you come here, please?"
The ginger clearly didn't want to, but she walked up to the Time Lords. "Hi."
The Doctor gave her a smile. "Amy Pond. The girl who waited all night in your garden. Was it worth it?"
"Shut up. Of course it was."
"You asked me why I was taking you with me and I said 'No reason'. I was lying."
Amy shook her head. "It's not important."
"Yeah, it's the most important thing left in the Universe." The Doctor held Adelaide's hand tighter. "It's why I'm doing this. Amy, your house was too big. That big, empty house, and just you."
"And Aunt Sharon."
"Where were your mum and dad? Where was everybody who lived in that big house?"
Amy frowned. "I lost my mum and dad."
"How? What happened to them? Where did they go?"
"I…" Amy swallowed hard, "I don't…"
Adelaide touched her arm gently. "It's alright, it's not your fault."
"I don't even remember…"
"There was a crack in time in the wall of your bedroom, and it's been eating away at your life for a long time now." The Doctor sighed. "Amy Pond, all alone. The girl who didn't make sense. How could I resist?"
Amy shook her head. "How could I just forget?"
"Nothing is ever forgotten. Not really. But you have to try."
"It's speeding up!" River called.
"There's going to be a very big bang. Big Bang Two. Try and remember your family and they'll be there."
"How can I remember them if they never existed?"
"Because you're special. That crack in your wall, all that time, the Universe pouring into your head. You brought Rory back. You can bring them back, too. You just remember and they'll be there."
Amy shook her head again, taking a step back. "You won't."
"You'll have your family back. You won't need your imaginary friend anymore. Ha! Amy Pond crying over me, eh? Guess what?"
"What?" Amy whispered.
Adelaide forced herself to step away from the Doctor, moving Amy slightly back as well. The Doctor grinned, winking at Amy. "Gotcha." Then he looked at Adelaide. "Goodbye."
She shook her head. "Not forever."
And then the Pandorica closed, locking the Doctor inside. Adelaide just closed her eyes, focusing on every single memory she had of the Doctor, from her Time Lady and human self. Everything she couldn't bear to let go.
She remembered the Doctor, and the universe wept.
|C-S|
On Gallifrey, so many centuries ago, centuries before war and Chameleon Arches and exploding TARDISes, a Time Lady known as Adelaide sat in her office at the Prydonian Academy grading the work of her students. This wasn't a task she particularly enjoyed, but it was a required sacrifice until she finally got the approval to travel.
She frowned when a loud ping sounded, interrupting her. She knew she had set the volume quite high to ensure she did actually hear it when she was focused, but she rarely got any messages. After all, it wasn't like she had friends.
Adelaide stood from her desk and walked over to where her messages were received, flicking through a few she'd forgotten to read before finding the most recent.
The image that appeared was that of a young man, a little older than her in general appearance. His brown hair looked like it was supposed to be gelled back, but the majority of it had failed to be so. And he was grinning.
Adelaide shook her head as she flicked the image to projection. "Hello," the man said cheerfully, "I'm the Doctor. I understand my son's having some trouble in your class and I was wondering if it was possible for us to meet at some point to discuss options. Send a response with your answer."
She sighed when the man neglected to mention his son's name, though it only took a few seconds for the system to connect this man with a boy in her class. She recognized the boy, a troublemaker, no doubt getting it from his father if the man's hair had anything to say about his nature.
After fixing her hair, Adelaide sent a message to the Doctor informing him that he should come in two days for a meeting, preferably after classes.
It appeared the Doctor forgot that last part because just as Adelaide was in the middle of lecturing a class, she heard a noise from the back of the room. She glanced up to see the Doctor standing there, clearly a graduate of Prydonian given the color of his robes. He had the courtesy to look sheepish when he realized she was in the middle of lecturing and stayed almost silent until she had finished and gestured him down to her.
"I'm sorry about that," he said as he walked up. "Didn't know you'd be in the middle of teaching."
Adelaide didn't bother forcing a smile. "I do believe I told you certain times to come so that you wouldn't interrupt anything."
He shrugged. "I came early, my apologies." He glanced back behind them, ensuring that there were no students still lingering in the room for a question. Thankfully, this class had not included his son. "May I ask you a question, Adelaide?"
She raised her eyebrows. "That is why you're here."
"This isn't about my son." He tilted his head slightly. "You don't seem to like teaching."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean no offense!" he raised his hands. "It's just, after watching you…you didn't seem overly interested in lecturing. The information, certainly, there were times when you seemed interested, and when the children asked a question, but…teaching, especially in this setting, doesn't seem to be what you prefer. I can't describe how I know, but..."
Adelaide crossed her arms. "Would you prefer the honest response or the one I would officially give?" She was a bit offended, of course, by the Doctor's line of questioning, but it was good to know that it was possible her opinion on lecturing was…a bit too obvious. He was right, after all. Teaching, especially like this - the Gallifreyan way - was not what she wanted to do.
He grinned. "Honest."
Good. Adelaide always preferred to be honest.
"I love the questions, as you say, and I love the information, but I would prefer not to be teaching at all." She shrugged. "I far prefer learning, going out and making my own discoveries instead of regurgitating what others have already done."
His eyes widened. "You want to travel?"
Adelaide nodded. "I'm in the process of waiting for the councils to make a decision on the matter."
"And you're not married…"
She smiled. "I petitioned the councils at the age when we normally wed and they allowed me not to do so until a final decision has been reached on if I can travel or not."
The Doctor nodded. "Interesting."
Adelaide sighed. "Now, I do believe you were here, originally, to discuss your son."
The Doctor looked like he had honestly forgotten that fact.
They discussed his son as they should - another aspect she honestly hated about the job, which she had no doubt that the Doctor had noticed - and, when it was finally over, the Doctor and Adelaide stood. "Thank you, Adelaide."
She nodded. "You're very welcome, Doctor."
He moved backwards. "I hope you'll be able to travel."
Adelaide smiled. "Thank you, Doctor."
|C-S|
The next moment Adelaide opened her eyes, she was standing at the back of a large hall, looking at the TARDIS as it stood in the middle of the room and Amy, in a wedding dress, banging on the door. Neither she nor Rory noticed Adelaide standing there.
"Okay, Doctor," Amy was saying, knocking. "Did I surprise you this time?"
The doors to the TARDIS opened and the Doctor swung out dressed in a suit, top hat, and scarf. "Er, yeah. Completely astonished. Never expected that. How lucky I happened to be wearing this old thing." He grinned, stepping out of the TARDIS. "Hello, everyone! I'm Amy's imaginary friend. But I came anyway." As he rounded the side of the TARDIS, he spotted Adelaide, grinning widely. "Adelaide," he said, sounding incredibly relieved, and she didn't wait a second before running towards him and hugging him tightly.
She hadn't been a human. Or at least, not a full one. She'd been a Time Lady trapped in a human mind, living her life as Caroline while Adelaide had screamed inside. She hadn't had any control, just been an observer as Caroline came here, the human not even knowing why. It was only when the TARDIS had appeared that Adelaide had returned as though she'd never been gone.
Of course something had gone wrong. They'd been gambling with a faulty Chameleon Arch in a faulty rebooted universe. She should have taken those variables into account, not that she had any idea what she could have done about it.
She hadn't been able to remember the Doctor back but, thankfully, Amy had done it for her.
"You're back," she whispered.
"Just like you said."
It was Adelaide who stepped back, looking at Amy and Rory who were both still a bit dumbfounded at the sight of the Time Lords. "So sorry I'm not dressed for the wedding," she said.
The Doctor grinned. "Why don't we go remedy that?" he pulled her back to the TARDIS, pausing in the doorway. "Also going to move my box, since you're going to need the space. I only came for the dancing."
|C-S|
Adelaide stood on the edge of Amy and Rory's reception watching as the guests danced. She was tempted to join, but she was a bit too distracted by attempting to figure out exactly what her feelings about the Doctor were.
And she was having a bit too much fun watching the Doctor dancing with the younger children.
When she'd thought she'd lose him, she'd thought she'd loved him. When she'd been Caroline, she'd thought she'd loved him. Even now, she thought she loved him, but she didn't know. How was one supposed to? As far as Adelaide was aware, there was no definition of love. No checklist to follow. You just knew.
Did she 'just know'?
Eventually he did pull her out onto the dance floor with him in order to attempt to teach her the dance. As younger children began to drift away to hang off their parents because of the late hour, the Doctor and Adelaide just began to dance together. They ended up, vaguely, copying a dance from Gallifrey that neither of them seemed to completely remember and didn't quite notice when the songs changed to a slower tune.
They just moved closer, swaying together, and Adelaide was almost certain about her feelings.
She was fairly certain this was what 'just knowing' felt like.
"Doctor…I need to tell you something."
His eyes widened. "What is it?"
"I…" she had to say something, she knew she did. She'd been living for so long now without saying a thing. "I think I might…"
"May I kiss you, Adelaide?" the Doctor asked, and Adelaide grinned.
"Of course you may." Adelaide grabbed the Doctor's jacket's lapels and pulled him down to her height, kissing him soundly.
And in the newly reformed universe, all of the reborn stars burned just a bit brighter.
|C-S|
When the time came for the Time Lords to take their leave, they snuck out of the party towards where they'd left the TARDIS. The Doctor was just preparing to unlock the door when there was a voice behind them within the trees. "Did you dance?" River said, emerging from the trees. "Well, you always dance at weddings, don't you?"
"You tell us," the Doctor said.
River chuckled. "Spoilers."
Adelaide held out River's journal, which she'd apparently given Amy to help spark her memory, and her Vortex Manipulator. "Everything's back, but we didn't look. I wouldn't let him."
River smiled at her, but even Adelaide noticed River's slightly nervous expression. "Thank you."
"Are you married, River?" the Doctor asked her.
"Are you asking?"
"Yes."
River looked at Adelaide. "Spoilers."
Adelaide shook her head. "River, who are you?"
"You're going to find out very soon now." She sighed. "And I'm sorry, but that's when everything changes." River vanished.
The Doctor turned back to look at Adelaide. "We met before," Adelaide said. "At least once. On Gallifrey."
"Really?"
"When I was a professor. You came about your son and we ended up discussing my plans for traveling."
His eyes widened. "How do you…"
"I was trying to remember you so hard that I went all the way back to Gallifrey." She smiled. "Apparently we never had a rememberable encounter as students, if we ever met at all."
"I think I remember…" the Doctor nodded. "I remember a Time Lady who wanted to travel. I didn't remember her name, but…"
Adelaide nudged the Doctor's shoulder. "I'm offended, Doctor."
He grinned. "I'm never going to forget you again." The Doctor leaned down and kissed her again, making Adelaide laugh, before turning and finishing opening the TARDIS door to pull her inside.
They didn't get far before they heard Amy opening the door. "Oi! Where are you off to?"
"Amy!" Rory called, closing the door.
"Shut up. It's my wedding."
"Our wedding."
"Sorry, you two," the Doctor called from the console. "Shouldn't have slipped away. Bit busy, you know?"
Rory raised his eyebrows. "You just saved the whole of space and time; take the evening off. Maybe a bit of tomorrow."
"Space and time isn't safe yet," Adelaide corrected. "Something brought the TARDIS to that date and blew it up. Why? And why now?" The phone on the console rang and Adelaide moved to answer it.
"The Silence, whatever it is, is still out there," the Doctor finished.
"Hello?" She leaned back as she listened. "Yes, hello. Sorry, this is quite a bad line." She paused, her eyes narrowing. "Really? But she was sealed into the seventh Obelisk." She nodded. "Yes, I know it's important, I'm sorry. An Egyptian goddess is loose on the Orient Express, in space."
The Doctor turned to the humans. "Sorry, something's come up. This will have to be goodbye."
Amy nodded. "Yeah, I think it's goodbye." She glanced at Rory. "Do you think it's goodbye?"
Rory grinned. "Definitely goodbye."
Amy turned and walked to the door, throwing it open and leaning out to wave. "Goodbye! Goodbye!" She turned back around with a smile.
The Doctor turned back to the phone. "Don't worry about a thing, your Majesty. We're on our way."
Together, the Time Lords flicked the levers, and sent the group off into the universe.
A/N: The Time Lords have kissed! Finally!
Just the Christmas special left now, and then a brand new story and season to explore ;)