"Nanogenes."

"Yup."

"You used the nanogenes that were on the Chula ambulance that Jack was trying to sell me when I first met him."

"Correct."

"Oh, I am getting old," the Doctor mumbled as he ran his hands across his face again. " I can't even remember half the technology I've come across just in my last regeneration."

"Doctor, you were under a lot of pressure. You'd just barely come out alive from a possible universe ending scenario, you're best friend seemed to be self-destructing before your very eyes. You did what you had to do," The Archivist said as she sat down across from him at the table in the Doctor's TARDIS kitchen. She slid a cup of tea across the table to him, then rested her hand atop his. "You've got to stop being so hard on yourself."

"She's right, you know," Donna said from the doorway.

"Donna!" The Doctor jumped up out of his seat nervously. Donna rolled her eyes as she walked over to get a cup of tea.

"I think—I'm going to go take a cup of tea to Wilf. He hasn't left Jack's side since we laid him down in med bay He's probably a bit thirsty."

The Doctor's eyes went wide as he watched her take the cup Donna offered her, along with her own, and walk out the kitchen door, leaving him alone with his former companion.

After a moment of watching the red head's back as she prepared her own cup, he flopped back down in the seat.

"Donna, I'm…" He fidgeted in the seat and tried again. "Donna, I'm so—I'm so so sorry."

"What are you apologizing for, exactly? Saving my life by blocking my memories temporarily?"

"But Donna—those memories, they were precious to you. And I took them."

"Technically, you blocked them. You didn't take them. You didn't wipe them away with no chance of being able to retrieve them."

"Still—Wilf says you were—"

"Listen to me, Doctor, and listen good. Was I sad? Yes. Could I figure out why? No. Did I know there was something I was desperately missing from those two years? Yes. But—I found love, Doctor. I found Shaun and he makes me happy. Am I upset about what you did? Of course I am. But do I understand why you did it? Yes."

"So, the future Donna Temple-Noble," the Doctor said, smiling at the idea of his best friend's happiness, even if it did make him wonder what the future held for their friendship.

"That's right. So we'll be needing to find our way back to Chiswick post haste, if you don't mind. I've got a fiance who deserves a nice long explanation. And don't think you're getting out of helping with that explanation, mister."

"Of course, I'll take us back as soon as Jack wakes up. I'd like to stay in the Vortex while the residual radiation wears off."

They sat quietly for a few moments before she spoke again. "So, that docking thing between the two TARDISes. That's something."

"Isn't it? Didn't even know the Old Girl could do it. She's the one that showed us."

It grew quiet again, but the Doctor was smiling as he remembered walking into the control room hand in hand with the Archivist and his TARDIS making the instruction manual appear to answer their question about how they'd travel with two ships.

"You want to tell me about her?" Donna smiled as she asked.

The Doctor grinned. "She's brilliant."

"I gathered that," Donna said as she tapped on her temple as a reminder of the Archivist work to heal her.

"Yeah—that was pretty amazing, wasn't it?

"You'll here no complaints from me."

"Archie and I, we—Archie, that's what I've called her since our naming ceremonies, or Arch, sometimes I call her Arch—anyway, Archie's known me since we were kids, we walked the path to the Tempered Schism together. Archie's been putting up with me longer than anyone left—" He frowned. "Now that the Master is gone again."

"Did you love her then?"

"I've thought a lot about that. Ever since she showed me a few moments from our past when I was particularly…cruel…to her. I cared about her—but I was young and immature and mistreated her so many times—I took advantage of what a good friend she was. And then when there might have been a chance—as I grew older—my path had been laid out before me and for a time, I followed that path as I was told."

"That doesn't sound very much like the Doctor I know."

"That's because I came to my senses," he chuckled. "Seriously though—the Archivist put up with a great deal from me in our younger days."

"And yet, here she is. Perhaps she isn't as smart as I thought—," Donna said with a smirk.

"Ha ha," he snarked back, then grew serious. "I thought she was gone with the rest of Gallifrey."

"But?"

"Then, one day, the TARDIS led me to New York City, where, while diffusing an alien bomb, I met the most incomprehensible woman."

The Doctor spent the next several minutes telling Donna all about his time with Christine Madison in New York City, about their discovery of her actual identity, and their brief but incredible time since then.

"That's an incredible story."

"It is."

"I'm so happy for you, Doctor."

"I'm happy for you, too, Donna."

Both were awkwardly silent then, both wondering what the future held. The Doctor was fairly certain that the Archivist would have no problem with Donna, and even Shaun, traveling with them. But what would Shaun think? How would he handle the news of how Donna had spent those missing two years?

"So, have you two sat here and solved all the problems of the universe while I was taking a nap?"

The Doctor grinned at the sight of Jack Harkness standing in the kitchen doorway. Donna jumped up and caught the man in a hug. "Jack! You're back! You're okay! I'm so relieved. Thank you so much for what you did for Gramps."

"Anytime, Red."