Sarah Jane looked at him and cried. She knew that she had made her choice long ago, and she had no regrets. John was absolutely the best thing that had ever happened to her. John and the children were her whole life. But thinking of the Doctor and what they had had and how much they had each lost, well, it did break her heart. She smiled up at him through her tears. "Can I still be your best friend?"

He hugged her again, letting her cry. "Of course you can. You've always been my best friend. Can I be yours?"

"Always, Doctor. I'm always going to be there for you whenever you need me," she said, still sobbing.

"And I'll always be a phone call away," he said, wishing he could let it out the way she did.

The door to the waiting room opened, and the physician who'd first greeted them appeared. "Doctor," he said, "I wanted to let you know we've got him stabilized."

The Doctor rubbed his face. "Right, yes, Doctor … Dawkins was it?"

"Yes, that's correct. He should be up to a visitor or two in about a half an hour or so," he said, smiling at Sarah Jane.

Sarah looked at him, almost afraid to believe what he said. "Is my husband going to live, then," she asked him, grasping the Doctor's arm for strength.

"Not only is he going to live, ma'am, he's going to feel better than he's felt in years. His heart condition is completely gone right now and there's no reason he won't live for a good long time. I'd say he's had a good forty to fifty or more years added to his life."

Sarah Jane squeezed the Doctor's arm harder just to make sure it was all real. "Thank you so much, Dr. Dawkins. I have no way to even begin to thank you and your staff," she said through tears of joy.

"My pleasure, ma'am," he said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have another patient waiting for surgery. I'll see you later when I do my follow-up rounds." The doctor waved as he headed back to the operating room.

The Doctor smiled. "Marvelous chap, that Dawkins. He was on duty the night Sidney first came in, so I knew he'd know what to do, and more importantly, what not to do."

Sarah Jane just sat, staring at the Doctor with a look of love, respect and gratitude on her face as tears of relief ran down her cheeks. The ordeal was over for John and herself and now she could let her guard down at last and cry.

He just held her and let her sob.


After a while, Sarah Jane cried herself out. She really hadn't had any rest since John had been found, and once her emotions were drained, she ended up falling asleep on the Doctor's chest. His shirt was wet and there were dried tears on her face, but her breathing was slow and peaceful at last.

He just held her. He knew that before long, the door would open, and some well-meaning nurse would let them know that Sidney- John, that is, was ready for visitors. And then she'd be gone.

Oh, she'd still be there, of course, and she'd still be his best friend. But this was probably the last time he'd feel her leaning up against him like this.

The last time he'd feel whole.

But she'd be happy. In the end, that was all he had ever really wanted for her, even if it meant he had to give her up. He thought back to that moment when his fourth self had had to leave her. Back then he'd thought that it would be better to let her go, to let her live on in his memory, frozen in time, always alive, always young, always happy, than to watch her wither and die.

He wondered, now, whether he'd made the right choice.

The Doctor was lost in his thoughts when the nurse gently touched his shoulder. "He's awake and ready for visitors," she whispered. "I'll let you wake your friend up. He's in room 226 when you're ready," she said as she walked back to the nurses station.

"Thanks," he whispered.

He waited for her to go, then looked down at Sarah Jane for a long moment. It was time, and he couldn't avoid it any longer. He brushed his hand over her hair. "Sarah…" he said quietly.

"Hmmm," she moaned softly. "Is is time to wake up already? Push the snooze button and let's just sleep a few minutes longer please," she said, her eyes still closed and clearly not awake yet.

He shook his head, kicking himself for what he was about to do. "Come on, Sarah, don't you want to go see your husband?"

Sarah pulled away quickly. "Is it alright to see John now," she said, jumping up and looking around. "Where is he, what room is he in?"

The Doctor forced a smile. "He's in 226. Now remember, you can't let him know he's in the future. As far as he knows he's just in a very, very good hospital, and he can go home soon. If it looks like he's starting to remember, you need to call for help right away so they can sedate him."

"Right, got it," she said as she ran towards John's room, not even looking back at him, but with her eyes and heart focused on heading to John's room as fast as she could move.

He sighed as he watched her go, losing her all over again.


Sarah found John's room and paused for just a second to catch her breath before she entered. She opened the door slowly, saw John sitting up and waiting for her and rushed into his arms.

John just held her, smiling and drinking in the scent of her hair. Finally, he spoke. "Boy, am I glad to see you."

Sarah Jane hugged him, holding on as if she'd never let him go again. "I've never been happier to see you too, You look great, like a new man," she said through her tears. "I must look a sight, though."

"You do look tired," he said, brushing a thumb over her face to try and wipe away her tears. "But you're always beautiful. I thought…" He smiled. "I thought I was never going to see you again."

"I was afraid of that too," she smiled back at him. "You gave me, and well, everyone such a turn. You were touch and go for so long. But you're well now and that's all that matters my love. The doctor says that you've got maybe forty or maybe even fifty good years left now," she laughed. "You may even outlive me."

"That's ridiculous, I'd be, what, 110?" he laughed.

Sarah laughed nervously with him, realizing she'd made a mistake, not doing the math and knowing that his prognosis was only possible because they were in the future. She held her breath, hoping he wouldn't notice, and in a moment she relaxed as he continued.

"Anyway, I don't care about that, I just care about being with you right now." He got suddenly serious. "Wait a minute, what happened to that… thing?"

"It's dead and gone, no need to ever worry about it again," she said. "As soon as you're well enough, we can go back home and forget any of this ever happened. But first, I have so much to say to you, sweetheart. Things like I'm sorry for any moments worry I ever caused you. I swear that I'll never do anything that puts me in danger or causes you to worry about me ever again. I'll even stay at home and take up knitting if that pleases you."

John stared at her for a moment. "I must have been really sick. Did I … did I really have a heart attack? I thought I was having one, but I feel so good now I thought maybe it was a false alarm. But if you're talking about staying home taking up knitting, I don't know what to think."

"John dear, you did have a heart attack, you even had open heart surgery. You're all better now, thank heavens, but you have no idea how close we came to losing you." She gave his hand a squeeze. and looked deeply into his eyes. "I did a lot of self examination and I've decided that nothing matters more to me than your happiness. I don't need to work to feel complete, I don't need anything but you to be happy. All I want from now on is to spend the rest of our lives showing you how much I love and appreciate you."

He smiled. "And I love you enough to know that you'll never be happy sitting at home, so I don't expect you to do it. But I can live with that." He hugged her, then held her out at arm's length. "But I'm done with UNIT. No more, not even on call, I don't care WHAT crashes to earth. No. More. Aliens."

"I agree, but you've got plenty of time to think about that John. We both have all the time in the world now to make plans and decide what to do with our lives." She sighed and put her head on his shoulder.


When Sarah opened her eyes again, she was in a bed, in a bedroom, and for a moment she wondered if perhaps she'd dreamt the last 20 years. Her room in the TARDIS seemed just as she'd left it - if perhaps a little neater than she remembered.