A/N: *singing* this site hates me and I've accepted it*. Chapter twenty eight didn't automatically populate to the top of the page, so if you didn't read, The Wizard of Kessell 24, do that now. Also, if you didn't read Silence in the Library, you should do that now. As much as I harped on the quality, I actually went back and read it and enjoyed it a lot.

Thanks to Saiyanprincess1511 for your review (and your clarification) and Son of Whitebeard for your review.

I still don't own the Who of the Doctor. … Is that what it's called in French? Because I know like French doesn't use, like it won't be Anna's bike, it'll be the bike of Anna, or is that like an exception because it's a title and also that doesn't make any grammatical sense? (It's like five in the morning as I write this and I bet this author's note doesn't even show that at all. I'm not even fixing it during editing because I'm finding everything hilarious right now).

Chapter Twenty Nine: Turn Left

When Anna awoke, she was alone.

It wasn't often that that happened, anymore. Before, it was because she only slept when the Doctor slept. Nowadays, it was because the Doctor would be with her until she fell asleep and then come back before she awoke, to make sure she knew that she wasn't alone (and to chase away the remnants of nightmares that she had).

It was strange, though, because something was happening.

Even her untrained senses knew it, as she pulled on a robe and traversed her way to the console room.

It was immediately obvious that this was the case when she entered the console room. The Doctor's back was turned to her, not looking at her, his shoulders rounded out. The Gallifreyan on the screen was completely unreadable to her, and she raised her eyebrows as she stared at him. He was tense, more tense than she'd seen him in a very long time, and that was saying something.

"What's wrong?"

He whirled around on her, blatant surprise lighting up his eyes. "Anna!" he said, and he checked his mental watch. "Sorry, thought you'd be asleep for a few more-"

She wasn't one to be so easily deterred. "What's wrong?" she asked.

He looked like he was debating with himself for a moment before he simply gave in, steeling himself over. In that moment, she realized that he wasn't her husband. He'd switched full on into Doctor mode, and whatever the reason, it was scaring her.

She said as much, though it was said with a small smile on her face. "You're scaring me," she said, quietly.

He barely smiled, shaking his head in a reassuring way. "You don't have to be frightened," he told her, quietly. "I just have a couple of questions, if that's all right."

"Always," she said, even in the face of the fact that he was making himself a veritable stranger so that he could do the hard thing. Right now, she wasn't his wife. She was someone who had answers that he needed to know.

Still, at her admission, he softened before he steeled himself over once more.

"Right," he said, leaning back against the console as he crossed his arms. "I need you to do something for me, Anna, just answer me this. What happened the last time you saw your mother?"

She felt something jolt through her and she barely shook her head. "Why does that-"

For some reason, it looked like something devastating had been confirmed for him. A moment later, a look of barely there hope rested in his eyes. He was trying to keep the faith that whatever he thought she'd confirmed, she hadn't.

"No, no, no, don't think, just answer my question," he said, softly. "Just tell me what happened the last time you saw your mother."

She let out a shaky breath before she nodded, remembering that she wasn't here and that she'd never be here. Well, on the Tardis, here. That said nothing for-

She raised her eyebrows, her eyes widening as she swallowed uncomfortably. "You… found… her," she said, quietly.

"Anna," he repeated. "Just answer the question."

He hadn't confirmed or denied it, so she acted as if he hadn't.

"I said goodbye," she told him, simply.

"Why?"

She couldn't do it. She couldn't get into the particulars of this story. Not even with him. It was too painful to think about.

"Does that matter?" she asked him. "I said goodbye, that was it," she told him. "That was all. Why?" she asked. "Should there be more?"

He looked away from her, down to the bottom of the railing. "The… abuse that you've suffered would be enough to make anybody angry. Coupled with your… unique abilities, and I understand why you would have the urge to do what you… what I think it's possible that you might've done, and I'm not saying that you did," he told her, looking over at her. "It's you, Anna. I've never known you to be anything less than kind. So, I'm willing to believe whatever you tell me, Anna. I just need you to tell me the truth, and if that is the truth," he quickly tacked on. "Then I do believe you, one hundred percent, and we can move on from this. I just need to know," he told her. "Did you do anything to hurt your mother?"

"No," she answered, surprising both of them when she practically snorted. "God, no. I would never. I can't say I haven't thought about it, but she's not worth what that would do to me, as a person. Why are you asking me this?" she asked him. "Why now?"

"I may have found her," he said, running his hands through his hair as he turned to look back at the console.

She furrowed her brow. That's highly unlikely, she thought, considering there were certain things he still didn't know about her, but she pushed that aside and moved to the console.

"And?" she asked, standing next to him.

"And she died, Anna."

It felt like a physical blow to her chest when he said those words. Despite the fact that Anna's mother had hurt her worse than she'd ever been hurt, some part of her still felt a pang through her chest at the thought of her just… dying.

"She died when she was 18 years old."'

She cleared her throat, furrowing her brow. "H… ow?" she asked, the word disjointed and sounding wrong to her. "I mean, I don't…?"

She shook her head, letting out a breath.

"But that must mean that I'm not from here, then, right?" she realized. "Because-because that means she died before she'd had children, so I-I don't-" she shook her head. "I don't understand," she whispered, looking down at the grating.

"Look at me," he said, quietly, and she did, looking up at him like somebody looking for an anchor in the storm. "If what you've told me is the truth, then yes, it would likely mean that you aren't from here. But I'm not sure that that's better," he told her.

She blinked owlishly at him. "How?" she asked.

"Because you were still quoting the television show compulsively, and the way that you were acting, I just-"

"Was from shock, then, I was right, so it's fine," she said, shaking her head. "It's fine," she repeated, compulsively.

"Okay, good," he said. "Good, I'm glad that it's fine. Come on, let's just head to the kitchen, grab something to eat, I'm sure you're starving."

She shook her head, looking up at him. "How did you find her, anyway?"

He hesitated before he dove into the full explanation about something complicated and technical that had to do with her DNA and being able to find a match for it. "There was only one match, Anna."

"One match each, you mean," she pointed out. "My dad and my mum- oh god."

Because it hadn't occurred to her, the thought that she'd had, and now that she'd had it, what was in her stomach was quickly coming up. She only made it to the hallway before she puked her guts out.

#####

"Do you remember what I said?" she asked, having refused to speak up until the moment they were sitting in the hallway outside of their bedroom. "About making the ushers in Texas disappear?"

"We talked about that," he said, softly. He was rubbing gentle circles into her back, and it was insanely comforting. "It was something you saw, not something that you made happen."

She felt a small hope rise in her chest. "Was it possible that I just… saw this, too?" she asked him. "That I didn't make this happen by just thinking about it, creating-" she felt the nausea overwhelm her once more, and she curled up into a tiny ball at the thought.

"Were you happy when you saw it happening?"

"God no, how can you even ask me something-"

"So you were horrified at the thought of her dying," he said. "You hated yourself for it, but you couldn't make it stop."

After a moment, she spoke. "Yes," she said, quietly.

He wrapped his arms around her and she gratefully fell into them. "Then it wasn't something that you made happen, or even wanted. It was just something that you saw."

She pursed her lips, curling up deeper into him. "Promise?" she asked, in a tiny voice.

"I promise," he agreed.

It would never cross her mind, how strange it was that the Doctor would ask what had happened to her mother, what their last encounter was, or if she had hurt her. The Doctor would never willingly volunteer the information that he thought his own wife had gone back in time to before the abuse had ever occurred, to stop it from occurring. No part of him thought that it was even remotely possible, but the possibility had still occurred to him, and he wouldn't be the Doctor if he didn't ask.

It was better this way, he thought, having that awful woman already out of their lives. The temptation for him to somehow rectify the situation, to do what he'd basically accused Anna of doing, would be too great for him otherwise.

It would be a conversation that would float away in the ether, never to be discussed by either of them, Anna never realizing that the Doctor was accusing her of one of the worst things a person could do, even if he'd never actively believed her capable of it.

That still begged the question of what this meant. If Anna's mother had died here before Anna had ever been born, did that simply mean that Anna had been right about the television show? Or was it so much worse than that, meaning that the television show existed, but somehow, it simply amplified her time sensitivity, which also might've existed?

Except, she was more than time sensitive. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten about her 'feelings'. Anna had time sense.

So what did this mean? Possibly that she just wasn't able to handle having time sense without her abilities turned on, and being inside of episodes just amplified it.

Maybe this was a conversation that didn't need to take place. If enough changes were made to her 'episodes' to keep her sane, then maybe they didn't have a problem on their hands.

In the end, this didn't matter, not exactly. Eventually, Anna's luck would run out, and she would-

He sucked in a sharp breath, and he held her closer at the thought.

"Can we get milkshakes?" she asked suddenly.

"Yeah, course. Whatever you want," he echoed his previous statement, still meaning it as much as he had the first time he'd said it.

#####

"You know we don't have the best of luck when it comes to market places," Donna pointed out.

"What- are you talking about that mall? That must've been years ago by now. Right? Back me up on this, Doctor."

"A year to the day, actually, but I wasn't going to mention that," he said, giving Anna a pointed look.

She ignored that. "If you measure by that metric, we don't exactly have the best luck when it comes to any places," she told her. "Not with the way he attracts trouble."

"Oi," the Doctor said, at the same time that Donna spoke.

"Just him?"

"What?" Anna asked. "No, you cannot seriously be comparing the amount of trouble that he gets into with the amount that I get into."

"Isn't it the exact same? Considering that you two are practically joined at the hip?"

"We are not!" she said.

"We're not?" the Doctor asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"What did I just say?"

"What?" he asked, innocently.

"I said back me up," she said.

"That was two topics ago," he pointed out.

She rolled her eyes up to the heavens. "You're hopeless," she said.

"Hopelessly in love," he said.

"Hopelessly cheesy," she shot back at him, but still leaned over to kiss him.

"And that's my cue. I'm going to go out and explore. You two holler if your collective affinity for attracting trouble gets you arrested. Again."

"One time, that was one time!" she shouted after Donna.

Donna turned around to walk backwards. "Yeah, but isn't that more than enough?" she asked.

"Oh, just shift already!"

"Will do!" Donna shouted back, walking away from the pair.

As soon as Donna scurried out of sight, she whistled.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said. "Just… it's already been a year. Time flies when you're aging," she said.

"Oi," he repeated his earlier statement. "Enough of that. It's already been a year, that's a reason to celebrate! Hang about, it's been more than a year, hasn't it?" he asked her, and he looked up and away, pulling her along as he started through the marketplace. "There was… three months before that, and then Pompeii and the Ood and the Adipose, so that makes a year and three months," he finished, succinctly.

A lot had happened in the past year. For one, Unicorn and the Wasp, in which her Dues Ex Machina had kicked in. Professor Peach had just nearly died, Miss Chandrakala had only almost been crushed to death, and Roger had just been shy of being stabbed somewhere fatal, though she'd checked in on Roger the next day and found that he and the love of his life had run off to somewhere far away, where they could be accepted and loved for who they were (or her Dues Ex Machina had just taken them to the alternate dimension, ala Korwin and McCormick). Even the Vespiform had been teleported to the alternate dimension, via a very spectacular light show, which still resulted in Ms. Agatha Christie losing her memory because of the very violent severing of their link via the Firestone. The point being, things still fell into place, she hadn't ended up insane, and all in all, it was a good day because it sort of proved that it had just been shock that had caused her to 'compulsively quote episodes'.

It had never even occurred to her to mention to him that a better part of her life before coming here had had watching Doctor Who be one of her main coping mechanisms. So, it would only make sense that, in times of trouble, her brain would try to remind her of a coping mechanism that had worked before. Truth be told, she still hadn't told him. Some things were better left unknown, especially when it came to how she obsessed about a television show starring her now husband.

The point being, it had been nearly a year, and the only episode to come up was The Unicorn and the Wasp. Part of her was worried that they'd never get the phone call from Martha, signaling the start of what would be The Sontaran Strategem and The Poison Sky, as well as The Doctor's Daughter, but truth be told, she was sort of going with the flow. She trusted the Tardis to know when the time was right (because she absolutely refused to believe that Martha had been cut out of his life completely).

That was the other thing about the past year. It was working. She found herself starting to trust both him and the Tardis nearly intricately, on a level she'd never been able to trust anyone before. She'd started to think that, perhaps, it wouldn't be such a bad thing if this was how she lived her life, an ordinary human with her time lord husband and their time machine, saving the day and making a difference wherever they went. Maybe some part of her had known that, that day.

All in all, things were doing really well.

It was probably why she froze as she realized in that moment the exact place they had landed in.

"Oh, no," she whispered, looking around.

They weren't in just any marketplace, and apparently, Unicorn and the Wasp wasn't the only episode they were about to live through.

Turn Left had decided to rear it's ugly head.

"Donna."

She meant that in more than one way. How was she supposed to help Donna through the metacrisis, saving her from losing her memories if she didn't have her abilities to sort it out?

But, also, on a different note, Donna didn't have to-

Rose.

"Oh, no," she repeated, quietly.

She hadn't forgotten about Rose. No part of her had forgotten about Rose. She'd been content in the knowledge that Rose would get her happily ever after with her metacrisis Doctor. She'd just been willfully ignoring the fall out that would take place when Rose eventually did come back. Because there would be fallout. Rose's heartbreak over what looked like the Doctor just moving on to the next available thing, for one. She didn't know that he'd traveled on his own for nearly fifty years, and that aside, him and Anna'd been traveling together for nearly a year previous to their little spat in Dalek (little spat. Ha). Besides which, they'd had six glorious years together. This wasn't a simple matter of finding someone else. He and Anna were perfect for each other, even if Rose had also been perfect for him.

Oh, what a complicated life that man had.

That man being her husband.

This day was getting better and better. But, for now, she had a decision to make. If she stopped Donna from entering the parallel world, it meant that Rose might not be able to reach them because of it.

Well, then, she realized. It wasn't a decision. Rose had to be able to reach them to get her happily ever after.

Even if Anna was terrified of the fire that was about to rain down on her.

"Anna?" the Doctor asked. "What is it, what's wrong?"

"I. Erm."

She didn't know how to put this genie back in the bottle. Truth be told, she'd no idea how long it had taken for the unpleasant beetle to work it's mojo, but interrupting it's shenanigans didn't feel like the safest bet.

"Everything's fine," she told him.

The universe sometimes liked to laugh at her expense. Unfortunately for her, one of those moments happened to be right then.

"Oh. Okay. Guess I…"

Her eyes widened as she took in every detail of the woman standing in front of her, because the woman was her. Future!Anna was standing in front of herself, looking down at her and the Doctor's intertwined hands, her eyes barely widening.

"Everything's fine?" the Doctor asked, and Anna looked over at him, shrugging.

"It is not my fault that I get nostalgic for no good reason," she told him, and she meant it, because why would she come back to this place, of all places? She turned back to look at herself, asking her. "What're you doing here?"

"What am I doing here, what are you doing here?" Future!Anna asked, motioning angrily down at their intertwined hands. "What, I failed one Doctor so I thought, nah, it's fine, I can just pick up a replacement?"

She balked at that, opening and closing her mouth before she looked over at the Doctor. "Do you- woah, what's that face for?"

He raised his eyebrows, looking between the two Anna's. "What? No, nothing, absolutely nothing," he said, looking at Future!Anna. "You were saying something about failing me?" he asked.

"Okay, no, seriously?" Future!Anna asked.

In the next moment, time had frozen around them so completely, the Doctor still staring where he had been not moments prior.

"What is wrong with you?" Future!Anna asked.

"I don't- what's wrong with you?" she asked her, and then she realized the problem as her eyes trailed down to her left hand. She pointed at it. "Hold on, where's your-"

"My ring?" she asked, holding up her left hand. "The one that I don't have because I didn't marry the man that I failed? What the hell did you do?"

"What the hell did I do, what do you mean the man that you failed? How have you- we, how have we failed- hold on, if you're me, then why don't you already know the answer to your own question? Or is this a, 'I've lived through it and now I'm spouting utter nonsense' type deal. Because I've no idea what you're on about. How've I failed him?"

She wasn't used to seeing the anger on her own face. It was spectacular, actually. There was a smile lighting up her face, the anger itself actually located in her eyes.

"Turn Left. Is that ringing any bells for you? The alternate timeline that we've just come from, the one where we woke up after we'd been tortured by the angels to find the Doctor dead? Ringing any bells?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Um. No," she said. "Because I woke up and the Doctor was alive and well, albeit thinking that I had left him- and oh my god."

She was staring at an Anna who had come from an alternate timeline, and she raised her eyebrows, feeling a sense of bizarreness flying through her.

"H… ow do you even… exist right now? You're-you're not a copy, you can't be, because copies don't exist, so you're… but I'm paradox proof, so that means that there can't technically be more than one of me. Sort of. Kind of." She furrowed her brow.

She was confused when relief filled her own face. "So I… didn't just replace the Doctor with another version of him, then," she said.

She narrowed her eyes at herself. "I don't know what that means," she said.

"I… when I saw the rings, I thought- I just sort of assumed that I'd failed him the first time and I, I just…" she shook her head, letting out a breath. "I don't know, but it felt cruel and wrong."

She furrowed her brows. "He's still the same man," she told her. "Even if you-I-… we? Had whatever, it would still be him. The difference wasn't with him. It was with Donna."

Future-… Sideways? Anna furrowed her brows as well. "I guess… I mean, I guess I didn't think about it like that," she said.

"Yes, well, I am many years older than you and therefore much wiser."

"Much humbler as well, I see," she said, smiling slightly.

"Humble pie is not something I partake in anymore," she replied.

"You seem… different," she said, and Anna shrugged.

"It's what happens when you have unending love and unconditional support. Thought it was overrated, turns out, the joke was on me the entire time! It's great, really, you should try it."

Sideways!Anna fidgeted, glancing around. "Yeah," she said. "Yeah, guess I… should." She frowned, turning to look back at Anna. "So… what happens, now? I mean… do I, like… go home, or…?"

She frowned as well. "I mean, I don't… know?" she said. "Because, like technically speaking… both of us would have to exist there?" She shrugged. "I don't know, I guess you could, like, chill or something." She considered. "I mean, you could always head off to some of the other dimensions we always thought about visiting. Get a head start on helping- and oh my god! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my g-o-d GOODNESS!"

Her whole face lit up in realization, her heart pounding out of her chest in excitement.

"Anna, this-this could work, this could totally work, I could- oh my goodness, this could work!"

"Loving the enthusiasm, but do you want to clue us in on what's happening in that brilliant brain of yours?"

"I- oh, you called me brilliant," she said, in realization.

She shrugged. "Thought I'd hop on this not eating humble pie thing."

"How'd it feel?"

She shuddered. "Not great, can we get back to the topic at hand? What could work?" she asked her.

At the mention of it, she got excited all over again. "Okay, okay, okay, do you remember that alternate timeline version of the Doctor?" she asked.

She furrowed her brows, glancing over at the Doctor. "I mean… technically, from my point of view, he's the alternate-"

"Oh, no, no, right, that was-that was after Dalek- Oh, you never had that fight with him. Oh, you had such pure memories," she said, in remembrance, before she shook her head, excitement once again flying through her. "Okay, doesn't matter, point is, sort of accidentally spawned an alternate timeline where we'd never been there and, erm, well, the Doctor still had to suffer thinking that he'd ended the Time War, and, well, me and him ended up visiting that alternate timeline-"

"No, I'm sorry, hold on, back- what?" she asked. "What do you mean- then what was the point in doing any of this if there's a timeline out there where he's suffering for something he didn't even do?"

She frowned, smiling. "Seriously?" she asked. "You're saying that just because there's a broken arm out there somewhere that all the broken arms that have ever been healed don't mean anything?" she furrowed her brow. "I really didn't have the sunniest disposition when I got here, did I?"

She thought she'd been more healed than she had been when she'd originally traveled to the Whoniverse. But, look at her now. Look at where she was. Trusting someone so intricately that she was literally putting her life in their hands, and more than that, putting her emotional wellbeing in their hands. Leaps and bounds from where she had been, and proof of that was standing in front of her, a look of realization crossing her face.

"Oh. I didn't think about that, either," she said, looking up and to the left of herself, before she shook herself.

"That so isn't the point," she said, reaching out and grabbing her arm. "Because I have a solution, and it is the best solution!"

"Okay! Why!" she said, in the same cheery tone she was using, except hers was fake.

"Okay, so I…" she felt shame starting to crest through her. "Okay, now, this isn't… It's complicated. The situation is complicated, and I want you to acknowledge that before you get all judg-y on me."

She looked at her suspiciously. "Why would I be judg-y?" she asked.

"So, I…" And, she explained the situation. How she'd brought the Tardis to life and how the Tardis had tried to trap her to his timeline. How she'd rationalized that she couldn't visit every Doctor in every timeline, because the temptation to just get lost in him would be too great, and how she'd thought she'd forget her duties to the rest of the multiverse.

"But this is perfect!" she told her. "And actually, this might be even more than perfect, because technically, for every Anna that is in a timeline, there would be a Turn Left version of her that could just travel to the next timeline, and so on, and so on."

Sideways!Anna was looking at her, confused.

"What exactly are you asking me to do? Besides which- no, I don't understand," she said. "You're talking about having a lot of incredibly powerful beings wandering about the universe. What happens when all of their times end in the Whoniverse? Where exactly are they supposed to go?"

She'd never believed 13's words more than she did in that moment. Because the proof of that was standing before her, literally telling her that she wasn't even thinking about a forever with the Doctor.

The only thing she could do was hang onto the fact that she was different now, and some time spent with a Doctor who loved her unconditionally would help her to see that, too.

"The multiverse is an infinite place," she told her. "There's plenty of room for millions of Anna's to wander about, fixing things. I mean, The Magicians alone. How many timelines did that show have? Fifty?"

"Forty," she said, looking at her suspiciously. "Why don't you know that off the top of your head?"

"I have to know everything, all the time?" she asked her.

"Okay, okay, my point still stands," she said. "There can't be that many powerful beings running around. What if-" she bit her lip, leaving the words unspoken.

"Then I will deal with it," she said. "Or you will. We'll create a system of like, necklaces or whatever to let us know if one of us has gone rogue, but until then, we'll be out there creating good in the multiverse. Besides, isn't this better than having to obsess over all the ways- And actually, this is better, because each of us can be assigned to, like, one universe in a particular dimension so we're not always bouncing around to different places! This is perfect." She laughed. "Plus, can you imagine the looks on our faces when we meet each other in The Magicians? It's going to be hilarious."

"I'm-I'm not sure that's a word that I would use, except that technically I did just use it. Whatever, I'm glad you're finding this amusing. Can we get back to the point at hand?"

"I literally have no idea what that was," she told her.

"You were talking about the Doctor you so recklessly abandoned?"

"Oi! What did I say about the no judgement thing?"

"You could've done, though!" she said. "It didn't have to be every Doctor in every timeline, it could've just been that one- and, you could've even headed back to this Doctor after you were done!"

"I said that," she pointed out. "And you know me, us, whatever. It would've been too tempting, and I don't think you even know the true reason behind it."

"And what's that?"

She shrugged, shifting. "Because it would've been so easy to distance ourselves from him, saying that we could never get too close to one Doctor because we had so many Doctors to attend to." She shook her head. "This was never about being worried about being the Doctor's Doctor. This was about realizing that I was afraid to get close to someone, especially someone who I knew could actually help me."

"Be that as it may, you know that he still remembers you. You know how hard it would've been for him to just put it behind himself. After everything that he'd been through?"

Realization crested through her, and her whole face lit up. "There-there were so many emotions, I wouldn't- I might not have even noticed a feeling!" she pointed out, before she smiled. "What if I knew that you were coming?"

Anna opened and closed her mouth, before she looked up and to the right of herself. "Huh. I didn't think about it like that," she said, for the third time in the same conversation.

#####

He still hadn't found the wherewithal to move what must've been genuine days later, but it was only made worse when he heard the sounds of somebody else moving in the warehouse.

He looked to the left of himself.

"I'm in no mood for whatever this is," he warned whoever it was. "If you know what's good for you, you'll walk away."

He heard someone crouch down and he locked himself in place. He had no desire to hurt anyone but he wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to hold himself back, if push came to shove.

"Doctor," he heard a quiet, gentle voice say. It only made him angrier, the anger thrumming through his veins, making his muscles coil as tightly as a spring. "It's me. It's Anna Monroe."

In the span of a millisecond that lasted a thousand times minutes, everything changed.

His initial reaction was to see red instantly, thinking that somehow some psychic creature was preying on his grief. He'd already warned them that he was in no state to be toyed with. It was their mistake if they thought they could handle something like the Predator.

She can do everything and anything.

It was his saving grace that his mind had combed through every inch of his time sense to find out everything he could about the woman that had left him so abruptly, trying to hang onto every inch of the woman who had left him with his grief, rampant, unending, unyielding.

Every single inch of him stopped at the thought that Anna was a literal and actual miracle worker.

Even if it was too much to hope for, even if this might put his very life at risk because it might still be something preying on his grief… he looked over at her, utterly stupid hope filling his chest.

"Anna?" he asked, quietly, his voice sounding small, even to him.

The only reason he even noted that there was someone standing behind her was because he was a time lord, but the rest of all of his twenty thoughts were focused on her, on the singular moment when she'd returned to him and the clouds were parting and the sun was shining because she was there, she was his Anna and she'd come back to him.

She nodded. "It's me," she said, quietly.

For a moment, he couldn't move and yet he did, moving with shaking and unsteady limbs as he made his way to her on all fours, gently caressing her cheeks and holding her face in his hands before he matched up their foreheads, it was Anna, she was alive and whole and here and-

"What're you doing here?" he asked, hopelessly, some part of him finally unwillingly, (kicking and screaming all the while) registering that Anna was sitting in front of him and maybe that didn't mean forever.

"I'm here to give you a gift," she said, quietly. "But I need you to have an open mind. Can you do that?"

He still remembered the weight of his wedding ring sitting against his chest as he'd been forced to say goodbye.

And, despite the fact that his name was practically 'Open Minded' (among other things), and the fact that there was no part of him that wanted this moment to end, he still barely shook his head.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's lovely," he heard himself saying. "But it means sod all if it isn't you."

He felt her barely shaking and knew that it was with laughter that she was trying to hold back. He couldn't even think that it was cruel, because it was Anna, and if there was one thing she wasn't, it was cruel. She readjusted, getting a little more comfortable before she spoke (though he'd be damned if he was about to release her ever again, their foreheads still matched as tightly as she would allow them to be).

"Do you remember the alternate timeline that Donna's- well, being Donna created? The marketplace, the one right before the daleks tried to destroy the universe, the one where Donna talked to Rose?"

Okay, maybe she wasn't cruel, but this was mean. It felt like she was purposefully stabbing him for no good reason, bringing up the memories of people he'd long since lost.

"What's your point?" he asked her, though it wasn't that unkindly.

"It sort of…" she huffed out a breath and it fanned his face. "I've just come from there, and as it turns out, it spawned… well, it… there was a me that existed there, and I've no idea why, but she's standing behind me. She's about a year younger than I was when I came here, but she's still the me that you fell in love with, and if you're willing, if you have an open mind, then you can keep her. Well, as much as you can keep a person, I didn't mean to make it sound like I was saying she was a pet or anything-"

The Doctor jerked back, realization suddenly overtaking him. He looked back at the person standing behind Anna to see that she hadn't been lying.

She was standing behind her, looking uncertainly between the two of them.

"Anna," he breathed.

He stood, suddenly, glancing between the two before his eyes settled on the standing Anna.

"So you're… You're Anna, then," he said.

She held out her hands. "It would appear that way, yes. Which-which is to say that yes, I-I am Anna. I just, erm. Yeah, what… what she said," she finished, rubbing the back of her head.

His hearts were leaping in his chest. "Is this… I mean, would you- what about your Doctor?" he asked her. "The one-the one that you were with?"

A bitterness swept across her face, one he knew all too well.

"He's…" she swallowed past the lump in her throat, not looking at him, now. "I guess Donna wouldn't have told you what happened to that you." She frowned. "Or maybe she did?"

Realization crested through him. "Oh," he said. "Oh, I am sorry," he said. "Really, truly."

Anna looked up at him, startled. "What for?"

"Because it's always hard to lose the ones you love," he said. "Even if another version of them exists somewhere out there, and is currently standing in front of you, talking to you. I'm-I'm assuming, I guess, that you did love him?"

She looked down and away, barely nodding.

He cleared his throat. "I… I know that he wasn't… I mean, he's different from me, and I wouldn't… I wouldn't presume to-"

Anna's head shot up to look at him, but before she interrupted him, she closed her mouth.

"-replace him, or anything of that nature. But, if… I mean, if that's what you wanted, to be here, in the way that she was, in the way that you were, I would… be more than happy to have you here."

Because he'd never deserved an Anna who loved him so deeply and so widely, and he'd never presume to think that he'd ever have that again. He would be more than ecstatic, he would be more than thrilled to have an Anna at his side, even if it was just as a very good friend. Because having any version of her was better than having no version.

"But only if-if that's what you wanted," he quickly added on, finally glancing down at the other Anna. "No repeats of last time, I'm afraid- hoping, I'm hoping," he said, raising his eyebrows and making it very clear that what happened last time would not be happening again anytime soon.

"If that's- I mean, I'd… if you'll have me. I don't want to presume to replace her, either, because she's, like, I mean she's different enough that I would get- but yeah, yeah, if you'll have me, then-"

His hearts filled with an unending joy. He tried to find the strength to hold himself back from hugging her, picking her up and spinning her around in a circle, but, well, there they were, already having done that, his hands clasping her cheeks.

"It's all that I want," he promised, and he'd never said anything so true.

"Fantabulous!" Anna… One? Interrupted them, clapping her hands together. He looked over at her, allowing himself a moment of weakness to slot his arm around Anna's waist, turning to look at her. He could feel that Anna felt uncertain about it, but after a moment, he was delighted when she put a hand on his shoulder, leaning slightly against him. "We'll head back to the Tardis, bring her back to life, scold her for not understanding that no means no, and then we'll have her repeat whatever it was that she did to make you travel out of order in his timeline!"

The Doctor felt confusion trailing through him as he glanced at Anna. Was that what she wanted? He wouldn't object, but he'd thought that maybe they could start over, have her travel in order of his timeline.

"I mean, we... don't have to do that, though?" Anna tried. "Because I can just-"

"Travel through my timeline in the correct order, yes," he agreed, feeling a small relief fill his chest. "I was just thinking the same thing."

They both looked over at Anna One.

"Well, yeah, I mean, obviously we can do that. I definitely didn't forget that that was at all a possibility, can we get a shift on?" she asked. "I still have no idea if he's noticed that I'm gone yet."

"I already said I'd put you back where you're meant to be," Anna pointed out, and he frowned, looking at her.

"Why would you have to-"

"That doesn't matter, the point is, shift on!" she said. "Come on!"

He felt a giddy joy rushing through him that he hadn't felt in a very long time as they all made their way back to the Tardis who was no doubt waiting with baited breath to see if she would get to keep this one.

#####

"Say you're sorry."

"I'd like to be very clear that I'm only sorry because you've come up with a better solution," the Tardis said, and the Doctor rolled his eyes. "But yes, I am sorry."

"You know what? I'll accept that, but I'd like to be very clear that I'm only doing it because you're a sentient being that doesn't randomly jettison people into space for a laugh," she said.

"Duly noted. Can we move on, now?"

"Yes, we can!" Anna One said, before she glanced around. "I still have no idea what the plan is!"

"Oh, no, right, I guess I can just… head back, now." He was surprised by the nervousness resting on Anna like a blanket, and he turned to her.

"If you're having second thoughts," he started, and the only reason his stupid mouth even started to say that was because Anna One had just brought up the horror show that those events had turned out to be and they were therefore fresh on his mind and he didn't want a repeat experience of having an Anna glued to his timeline that didn't want to be there.

If he'd thought about it further, he wouldn't have said anything at all. Truth be told, now that she was back, he wasn't sure he was willing to give her up for anything (though he was wrestling with himself about whether or not at this point he would've agreed with the Tardis that he would've done anything to help keep her there. He shuddered at the thought that the part of him that agreed with the Tardis was starting to win. He could only hope now that she didn't say she was having second thoughts, because honestly, in this moment, he really wasn't sure what he'd do).

"No, absolutely not," she told him, and he scrambled to remember what it was that he'd said. "Promise, I'm just sort of… nervous, I guess," she told him.

Okay. That seemed promising and like it meant she wanted-

He would just wait for any sort of hope until the appropriate moment, which definitely wasn't now.

"Well, that's normal, then, nerves are normal. Right, Anna?" he asked, looking over at Anna One for encouragement (and he tried to tone down the threat in his eyes, but judging by the look of mild confusion on her face, he wasn't succeeding. Still, she played along, though it wasn't out of any sort of fear, which was good. Definitely didn't want to scare her into anything like submission).

"Right, yeah, absolutely. Just go with the flow. You'll be fine. Besides, it's even easier now because- of certain events," she said. "But- Oh, no, I see what you're saying," she said, despite the desperate look he was throwing at her. "No, you'll be fine," she said. "He loves you, he always will. Just pick a place and you'll be fine. You'll do the right thing. You always do."

Memories of this Anna were vague, but he didn't remember her being this confident, even with her powers being turned 'on'. He wondered what had changed. Maybe she'd made the right choice in heading back with the other Doctor, he thought.

"Oh my god, have I always been this nice and I just never noticed?" she asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Anna One said, and the Doctor had to hold back the laughter at the exchange. It was fairly easy when he was this nervous.

"Okay, yeah, you're right, I'm good!" she said.

One moment, she was standing in the console room.

The next, his hearts were made whole. He leaned against the console, breathing raggedly as time was rewritten, though a huge smile was on his face, even through the pain of the time storm in his chest.

"Okay?" he heard her ask.

He looked up at her, a manic smile on his face. "Absolutely amazing," he said. Before he could stop himself, he ran up to her, sweeping her up in a hug. "Thank you," he said, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Always," she promised, and he believed her.

A moment later, they pulled apart, and he walked to the console, humming a tune.

"Okay, but where is she, though?"

"What?" he asked, looking back at Anna One. "Who?"

"… Anna?" she tried.

"What?" he asked. "Oh, I don't…" he frowned, looking down at the console, before his hearts fell a little. "Oh, that's disappointing. She's popped off to some place called The Magicians for a bit. Said she had some business what needed taking care of there."

He wasn't as disappointed as he could've been, considering Anna was once again in his life and the ring no longer had to be hidden underneath his shirt, now sitting on his left hand proudly, visible for all to see. Memories filled his head of Anna, happy and smiling, the light in a sea of darkness. Besides, this Magician's business seemed important.

He looked up and didn't understand the look on Anna One's face, that wide-smile, barely there confusion in her eyes.

"That's… a joke, right?" she asked.

"I'm… afraid not, why?" he asked, not quite able to frown because this was a spectacular day. It might actually have been his favorite day. "What's wrong?"

She half-laughed, leaning over, propping her elbow up on the console as she crossed her leg, now leaning completely against the console.

"She was my ride, Doctor," she said, as if they were sharing a joke.

"Come again?"

"I have no other way of getting home."

At this, he did blanch. "Come-come again?"

A/N: Tada!

Smallish story time:

So, originally, I was going to have Anna head back to the alternate timeline during the post-Pond era but pre-Clara days, just to be there for emotional support. BUT THEN, there was a spare Anna laying around, and I felt bad just sending her HOME, and then I had THIS bit of genius idea, because there was a spare Anna and a spare Doctor and I thought, HEY GUESS WHO DOESN'T HAVE TO BE HEARTBROKEN ANYMORE? … Technically both of them. Because Sideways!Anna lost a Doctor, so. I love calling her Sideways!Anna. I have no idea why.

Onto bigger and better things, which is that this officially marks the beginning of the end for this story! That being said, I'm like ninety eight percent sure that Stolen Earth + Journey's End will be four chapters each. I've no idea why. I know what happens but I don't have it written so I guess we'll be on that *journey* together. Ha? Haha?

Not to mention that there's still a part two to Turn Left and boy oh boy it'll be a doozy. I'm stoked. Are you stoked? You should be. Properly stoked. Because I am.

As always, thanks for reading!