A/N - So this is the last chapter. It's short, more of an epilogue than a chapter, but the story just wrapped itself up and there wasn't anything more to say about this part of their lives. Over 100,000 words though, you all ought not to mind too much. LOL I don't know if I will write more of their future just yet. I need to finish up Gravity and the re-write for Susan's War (now with more Darginian and more Doctor - LOL) But I doubt these characters will leave me alone for long, so expect another story eventually. Thank you all for being amazing and reviewing me with such generosity and enthusiasm.

Chapter 36 – Moving On

"Oi," the Doctor retorted. "Killing you wasn't a pastime or a hobby! You know, that really hurts, Shay!"

"It did actually, several times," he shot back, his lips curled up in a smile and the Doctor shuffled his feet a bit in shame, though his sense of humor was starting to peek back through again. Evarian walked back into the room then and looked back and forth between them, confused by the tension between them.

"You did me in as well, you know," his old friend pointed out and Koschei was reminded of the Radio Telescope and Logopolis, his biggest mistake and the source of his greatest sense of guilt and failure. He nodded.

"That's why this all needs to stop," Koschei insisted, looking up at Susan. "If we are going to build a new Gallifrey, then all the old crap has to go. All the old hatreds, all the old bitterness, it has to go, or it will poison everything we're trying to build," he pleaded with her, watching her stubborn jaw setting into belligerence. "You have to let go of this anger and hatred you have for your mother, it's not helping you get over your past and it could ruin the future."

"He's right and you know it, daughter," Evarian chimed in and Susan's head whipped around in shock. Her father was looking at Shay with warm approval, which was nearly enough to make him keel over from shock on its own, but the Doctor was also looking at them all with a small smile on his face.

"You're agreeing with him?" Susan asked and her own shock was palpable.

"Yes, and look, the suns haven't gone nova or anything," Evarian joked and suddenly Shay could see the little boy he used to be shining behind his eyes again. He grinned at him, suddenly remembering playing endless games of Pico with little Ev, back before the madness had completely claimed him. Evarian had been so different lately that it was easy to forget that he was the same person as that funny little boy.

Susan barked a surprised little laugh.

"Who are you and what have you done with my father?" she accused, a small smile tugging her lips.

"It's amazing how being dumped on your head a few times can knock some sense into you," Evarian sighed and they all chuckled at that, as not a soul in that room hadn't had a few tumbles over their own stupidity.

"Look, I'm not saying to press your mother to your bosom or anything, just let go of all the anger. Firstly, it's not worth putting the energy into and secondly, she's not sane. If you can forgive me for everything I did while I was a bloody lunatic, then you can forgive her for one action taken under extreme mental stress, all right?" he pressed and she was looking at him, her face rueful and her jaw unclenching.

"You make an excellent point, damn it," she sighed. She looked at her father with a sigh. "I suppose I should start with accepting your previous apology and trying to see that you might have changed, just a bit, since I was eight years old," she grumbled, the corner of her mouth twisting up, though he could feel that it was almost against her will. He was catching the edges of her mental battle against her own righteous rage. Letting go of her anger was probably as hard for her as it had been for him, they both had so damn much to be angry about, after all.

"I don't expect you to forgive me anytime soon, Susan. You've been civil to me, which is more than I really deserve at this point. I know that I have a long way to go before I am the sort of person who even deserves your forgiveness. I'm not even sure that I can forgive myself right now. I've been an unmitigated arse for seven hundred years, it might take a while to get out of the habit of it," Evarian admitted with bitter regret.

"Oh, tell me about it," Koschei groaned dramatically. "Try getting out of the habit of thinking of ways to take over planets!" The others were looking at him with alarm, though Susan's eyes were twinkling in amusement. "It's not easy getting over being a mad villain. I used to have staff, doomsday weapons, brilliant schemes, and minions too! It wasn't all shooting people and demanding unconditional surrender, you know! I had to learn how to properly monologue, how to create traps for the Doctor, that he could escape from with a bit of ingenuity, and make it all interesting for him!" he informed them and noted that Susan seemed to be the only one who saw the humor.

"Oh Shay, that was so sweet of you to see that Grandfather never got bored," she answered, her eyes merry.

"See, you're the only one who truly understands," he responded with a grin and the Doctor laughed, getting the joke finally. Rose blinked and then slowly started to smile as well.

"Really, quite considerate of you, old friend," the Doctor conceded. "Especially when I was stuck on Earth, you made the whole thing far more bearable."

"You're quite welcome, old chap," he returned with a gracious bow.

"I'll assume that the message there is that if you can turn your life around, it ought to be easy for me, whose sins are so much lighter?" Evarian asked.

"Your sins are not lighter than mine, Ev," Koschei contradicted, but using the childhood nickname to gentle his words. "I was under the control of others, with little choice in what I became. You chose to betray your own child and you abandoned her to those monsters." He had his own anger about what Evarian had done, after all, but he held tight to his emotions, watching as the younger man winced. "We're all trying to be better people. We've been given a second chance, a whole new universe, where our pasts are wiped clean. If we can't make better choices this time around then we don't deserve forgiveness. Use what we've been given and let's just make those kids' lives better than ours were." He ran out of words abruptly, feeling emotionally drained, and Susan stood up and leaned into him, her head on his shoulder, her arms about his waist.

"Sounds like a plan," the Doctor murmured and Shay saw that deep pride in his friend's eyes. Embarrassed suddenly, he buried his face in his wife's hair.

"I consent and give," Evarian said and this time around his voice was proud and happy. Shay looked up in surprise and saw the Doctor smiling at his son, Rose grinning beside him and somehow things seemed better all at once.

Maybe the future would be easier for all of them. This tentative reconciliation was certainly a good beginning and more than he'd ever hoped for.

"Well family, back to work," the Doctor announced and clapped his hands together. "Things to do, planet to rebuild, children to take care of. Allons-y!" he shouted and they all raced from the room laughing.

The future awaited.