Where River clears up a few things.

Well, we're almost done. Now I hope you'll enjoy this chapter that will fill in all the gaps are still open about things that happened in the past. Reviews are love

The knock on the door made Amy frown. She turned to Rory, who was trying to balance Anthony on his knee and feed him his lunch, but he just shrugged.

'I'm not expecting anyone.'

'I'll see who it is, then,' Amy sighed and disappeared into the hall. She was perfectly ready to properly dress down to whoever dared disturb their peaceful Sunday afternoon, but when she saw who was standing at her doorstep, she couldn't help but stare. 'Susan?'

'Hello, Amy.' Susan gave her a small smile. 'I think I should not call you great-grandmother here, people would think that very odd, but I do have something important to tell you - may I come in?'

'Of course.' Amy stepped aside to let Susan past without any hesitation, but she couldn't help frowning at her in worry. 'You're not pregnant, are you?'

'What? No!' Going by her emphatic reaction, she really wasn't, but Amy wasn't sure if she should be relieved and if she should laugh at the horror on Susan's face or rather worry what else could have brought her to their doorstep.

'No, I'm not pregnant,' Susan repeated after she hung her coat on the rack and followed Amy into the living room. Immediately, she crouched down in front of Rory. 'Hello Anthony, how is my favourite uncle doing?' she cooed, not noticing how both Amy's and Rory's eyebrows shot up. How could she know Anthony, not only by name but clearly actually know him when she had never been here before?

'Susan, not that it's not nice to see you,' Rory finally tried, 'but what are you doing here?'

'Well, grandmother sent me.' She shrugged and flopped herself on the sofa in a decidedly out-of-time style.

'Melody sent you?' At least that had gotten her both her great-grandparents' attention.

'Yes. You know that she can't come herself - she's too involved in the paradoxes around here already, if she came, they'd probably snap. So she asked me to come check on you instead, because this is before I moved to London with Grandfather - that was in the early 60s, so I'm still only in one place at a time. Grandmother wanted to know if you found everything and got all the things she set up for you, but you obviously did.'

'We did - we shouldn't have been surprised, should we, Amy, that she'd take care of everything. Please, Susan, tell her thank you from us, will you?'

'Of course. But you can tell her yourself, actually.' When Amy and Rory frowned, she gave them a grin. 'That's the other reason she sent me here today.'

'But you just said she could never come to see us here,' Amy said pointedly.

'And she made it very clear in her letter that we can't leave here either lest we cause another paradox,' Rory added.

'True, true.' Susan's grin widened. 'But who said anything about coming or going anywhere?'

'Well, how else are we supposed to talk to her? Do you have some sort of space-time-video chat?'

'Not quite. But time travel has always been possible in dreams.'

'What?'

'Well. This Silurian Lady, a friend of Grandmother and Grandfather - oh, you know Madame Vastra too, don't you? She and Grandmother are great friends, and when Grandmother was dead in the Library, she always invited her over for tea in a sort of dream conference,' Susan explained. Amy and Rory just stared at her, not sure which bit of information they should address first, but Susan didn't give them time to get a word in. 'You need this substance - you couldn't pronounce it - and then put yourself in a trance or go to sleep. And once you're asleep, you'll find yourself in the place the host set up - it can be anything, really, anywhere, anywhen.

'Grandmother gave me a bunch of candles, just lighten them and then go to sleep next to them and she'll do the rest. If you want to talk to her now, I can look after Tony,' she added after a moment of hesitation, smiling at the baby. Amy and Rory shared a look.

'And it's safe?' He asked, slightly sceptical, and Susan nodded.

'Oh yes, it is. I've done it a few times, and Grandmother does it all the time with Vastra and Jenny - not our Jenny, Vastra's wife. It is absolutely harmless - all you do is go to sleep, really.'

'Rory, I don't think River would send us something that could be dangerous for us to use,' Amy noted and Rory, with a deep sigh, nodded.

'She wouldn't.'

'Well, then let's try this? Rory? Susan?'

'I'll look after Tony - here.' Reaching into her bag, Susan handed them a dark green candle. 'But maybe go into the other room - or I take Tony up to the nursery? So I don't fall asleep too, by accident.'

'That's probably a good idea,' Rory agreed. It didn't take long for Susan to scoop up Anthony and his toys and with a little wave, she disappeared upstairs with him. Amy and Rory shared a long look before making themselves comfortable and lightning the candle. Within moments, both of them were fast asleep.

'Mum, dad, you can open your eyes.' The voice was all too familiar and Amy's eyes snapped open. She paid no mind to her surroundings, instead found herself staring at her daughter, unable to tear her eyes away. River gave her a warm, brilliant smile. 'It's wonderful to see you.'

'It's wonderful to see you,' Rory corrected and moved over to pull her into a hug. For a moment, Amy wanted to hold him back - how could they possibly hug someone in a dream, how could River be solid? But she was, and held on to her father, tight like a child seeking comfort after a nightmare. It was all Amy needed to rush over too, throw her arms around them and for a long moment, they just clung together, a torn family reunited in a dream that wasn't one. Or maybe it was and Amy had just lost every perception of reality - but her daughter, in her arms, she felt real, and not at all like a faint and fuzzy dream.

'There's sofas over there,' River eventually said, interrupting their family hug and finally, both Amy and Rory took a moment to actually look at the room. Or whatever it was. Maybe more a conservatory - plenty of comfortable looking sofas and armchairs, flowers and plants everywhere, sunlight from the top - and a nice pot of hot, steaming tea on the coffee table. 'We could sit and talk.'

'Sounds like a plan.' Amy agreed with a nod and followed her husband and her daughter over, sinking onto the sofa next to River. Her daughter gave her a warm smile when she put an arm around her shoulders and scooted closer to rest her head on her shoulder. Even though her hair was tickling Amy's nose, she couldn't stop smiling - this face of her daughter's had never been young but even if she hadn't been told so before, she'd have known that this version of River was far older than the last version they had met in New York, 1938.

'We have to thank you, Melody.' Rory's voice pulled Amy from her musings and her eyes darted over to her husband, who was looking at their daughter. Sensing the shift in the atmosphere, River pulled away and sat up straight.

'Whatever for?' she wanted to know and frowned at the look of disbelief from her parents. 'I mean it, whatever for?'

'For everything you did,' Amy explained, slowly, suddenly afraid to run into the cursed "spoilers" again. 'Making sure we were set up here, in the past, taking care of everything?'

'Oh, that.' River waved her hand. 'Of course, yes, it was the first thing I did once I left the Doctor. That was such a long time ago, it completely slipped my mind - I take it Jack picked you up and took care of you?'

'Oh yes,' Amy grinned, 'he was quite marvellous. Where did you find him?' Rory glared at her, but River grinned back, suddenly more Mels and River than Melody.

'Known him for ages - married him once, even.' She sobered. 'He's a good friend, has been for a long time. I don't know if he left you a way to contact him?' They shook their heads and she nodded once. 'I'll take care of it, then. He'll probably be by soon, or at least send you a message how to get in touch with him. Please, if you ever need anything, let him know. But do me a favour and don't go looking for the version of him running around in England, he's not with Torchwood quite yet and he doesn't know me yet. Well, he's met me, but he'd probably try to kill me.'

'What?' Rory looked slightly confused, but Amy just nodded.

'Stay away from the Jack in this time and Torch-whatever-it-was, don't tell him about you if we run into him anyway and if we need help, call your Jack who actually does know us, got it.'

'Yes, and don't try meddling with Torchwood. Stay away from them, I mean it,' River continued, her face serious. 'They're no real threat for you, not now, not here in America, but if you visit England again, don't let them hear that you know the Doctor. Oh, that reminds me -' she pulled a small address book from her pocket and handed it over to Rory, '-in case you do get into trouble, these are a few people in this time period who should be able to help you out, if you can't get ahold of Jack. In about ten years, UNIT is going to be founded and the Doctor - an earlier version of him, that is, will be working there as a scientific advisor in about twenty five years?. They know him before that, of course, so I put together an assortment of the most important contacts for you, with years when they'll be active.'

'Thank you, Melody. But -' Amy carefully reached for her daughter's hands, forcing herself to broach the subject lingering in her mind since they arrived, '-there's something I have to tell you. I'm so, so sorry.' She took a deep breath and looked up into River's eyes. They were warm and understanding, knowing. It was oddly reassuring. 'I'm sorry that when that Angel took Rory, I didn't care about you. I was so selfish, I was just thinking about me and my best friend but you're my daughter and I, I had the chance to say goodbye, to tell you I loved you and instead I asked you to look after the Doctor. He's your husband, I didn't need to tell you to look after him, and I wasted that one chance I had and that's something I never really forgave myself for and-'

'I did.' River's voice was gentle as she interrupted her mother, giving her hands a soft squeeze. 'I've long forgiven you for that. I've had so many years to think about it and you know, if it had been me - I would have asked you the same. Look after him, be it my husband or my father - I'd have done the same. It's why I let you go, you know, why I told you to go after dad and not stay with us. So trust me, mother. There is nothing more to forgive.'

'Thank you,' Amy whispered and wiped away the lone tear that had found its way down her cheek.

'I never got the chance to thank you for that either, you know? That you sent Amy to me,' Rory clarified quickly and nodded thoughtfully. 'I was worried there, for a moment when I was all alone, but then she was there and suddenly, whatever it was - I knew we could face it together. So thank you, for saving both of us.'

'Of course.' The smile of River's face was still wide and genuine, it was impossible not to return it. 'I'd do it all over again - all of it. It's what brought us here, in the end. I don't think any of us thought we'd end up like this, but I've long stopped regretting any of it.'

'What do you mean?' Amy's smile slipped all of a sudden, dark memories of shooting Melody, Mels dying, River in pain, pushing to the forefront of her mind. It seemed River knew exactly where her thoughts were heading, for she gave her hands another gentle squeeze and gazed thoughtfully at the two of them.

'The last time you saw me, I was so incredibly young, mother. Barely 200. I spent years running after Manhattan, only to then suddenly stop for 24 years. One night on Darillium, the last night for River and the Doctor, where their story ends - but it had barely even begun.' She seemed far away, her eyes clouded, only to suddenly snap to fix on Rory. 'Remember how I once told you of the thing I feared most? Not my death, not my husband's, but the day I would meet him and be a stranger to him. I told you I thought it would kill me.'

She shrugged. 'It did. Not metaphorically, I really died. Only, that wonderful idiot husband of mine knew, of course he knew, so he saved me. Into the biggest library in the Universe, until the day it was destroyed.' For a moment, her gaze was lost in the distance again but neither one of her parents dared interrupt her tale. Eventually, she continued, voice soft. 'The TARDIS always knew. She exists at any point in time at any time, all at once. She's just as much my parent as you are, and she took care of me.

'I ended up in the Matrix on Gallifrey, an anomaly, and someone found me. Someone who, as it turned out, knew me and had the power and ability to help me. She got me out and there I was again, alive, new old me. On Gallifrey, knowing I couldn't stay. Only, it turned out I could. Because I already had.' Smiling, River held up a hand and Amy and Rory nodded. They could hold their questions just a little longer.

'My first wedding with the Doctor, in the collapsing timeline that never really happened but did, it was my first wedding. But the Doctor had married me already, long, long before that. Almost a thousand years, for him. Remember when he told you, before Demons Run, that he had once had a family, back on Gallifrey - a family he could scarcely remember?' Two reluctant, confused nods. 'Since you've last seen me, a long, long time has passed for me. Several hundred years. I've never been terribly good at sticking to a name, so I took on another one. The one a dear friend used because I had already told her to.

'She called me "Patience". There was only ever one woman on Gallifrey called Patience. The woman who married the Doctor. I couldn't stay on Gallifrey after I returned to the living because my future was already in the past, written in the history books my grandchildren would one day learn from. Patience, the Doctor's wife. A woman with a past shrouded in secret, who just disappeared from Gallifrey one day, without a trace. A woman her own husband can remember clearly and not at all - their life, yes, but not her face, her voice, her smile.

'The day the Doctor decided to steal the TARDIS, I had to leave so not to dismantle our timeline. Because I'd met him before, in his future, and he didn't know me, so we knew I had to obscure his memory.' A tear trailed down her cheek, pain unhidden in her eyes. 'It was, perhaps the hardest thing I ever did. He allowed it, oh, I'd never have done it without his consent, he always knew I'd come from his future - but to take it all? All the laughs we shared, the falling in love over and over again, the children, their names, their faces - all I could leave was Susan, dear, darling Susan, so eager to run with him. It's still there, all of it, but hidden, deep inside his - her - mind, buried only to be pulled forth again if we are in sync, for good.

'And oh, how I hated to do that, take away our life, our family - I would do it all over again; if I hadn't, would have never had it in the first place. In the end, all of it was worth having had that.'

Silence followed River's words, Amy quietly caressing her hand, deep in thought. Rory just looked at them, his mind as far away as his daughter's as he contemplated her story, her life.

Once, a long time ago, he had grieved that he had never once held his daughter after she was born, only ever her ganger. Later, he had grieved that he had never seen her grow up, that he had been denied the chance to be her father. Then, when he learned she had grown up as his best friend, he had wondered how the Doctor had failed them all so utterly, especially his Amy.

With Mels, he had always wondered how many more times he'd have to hold her when she raged and cried about utterly useless boyfriends and men in general. They had always joked that River was the Doctor's wife, no matter how great a flirt she was, and it had been almost impossible to reconcile these two women as one.

But now, having listened to her story, what she had entrusted them with - Rory realised with a strange, sudden certainty that while he had always wondered about his daughter, neither he nor Amy had ever made a real effort of getting to know her. They had accepted her presence in their lives, had accepted River was Melody was Mels, but they had never tried to find out who she was. She was River Song, warrior, archaeologist, Professor, the Doctor's bespoke psychopath. Beyond that? He didn't know.

One look at Amy was enough to tell him that she was thinking along the same lines. He felt ashamed all of a sudden, about how they had treated their daughter, and amazed at how she treated them. Despite their lack of interest in her over the earlier years of her life, she still trusted them, trusted them enough to tell them her story, her past. How had they ever managed to create such a marvellous not-quite-human being that she forgave them for it all?

Because that's what her eyes said, forgiveness. Rory had only seen an older River once and she, too, had this air about her, this aura of wisdom and certainty and calm reassurance that no human could possibly possess. The Doctor was like that, too, even if he only rarely portrayed that side of him openly. But their daughter, it seemed impossible for her to hide it away.

Gently, he locked eyes with her. 'When was that for you? Taking his memories?'

River shrugged in answer, nonchalantly. 'Perhaps two decades ago? Maybe more. I lost track.'

'What have you been up to since then? You said you couldn't stay on Gallifrey, right?'

'No, I couldn't - I read it, in the history books on the TARDIS, that I disappeared. So I did - and went right back to Luna.' She chuckled. 'You can't imagine how strange it was, going back to that life. It didn't quite fit anymore, you know?'

'It would have been stranger if it did, don't you think?' Amy's look was thoughtful, but both River and Rory nodded.

'It would have. It was odd, the empty house, working at the University again - I came back a few days after we left for the library, no time had passed for them, but for me, it was a lifetime.'

'You came back a different person,' Amy realised and once again got a nod from her daughter.

'I left a woman all alone in the universe but for her absent husband, and I came back a wife, a mother - grandmother, even! It was strange, and it took a while to get used to things again. They noticed, all of them, you know? The students, the faculty - they didn't know what was different, but they knew I had changed.' She smiled deviously all of a sudden, her eyes sparkling. 'They didn't even question when I showed up with Jenny one day.'

'Jenny? Who's that?' They had heard the name before, but neither Amy nor Rory knew who "Jenny" actually was.

'Oh, of course, you wouldn't know. The Doctor - the face before the one you know, he managed to get himself cloned. Sort of. It's a long story and I've only heard it second hand myself, but from what I gathered he ended up somewhere with a DNA copying mechanism to create soldiers. They used the Doctor's DNA on it and the result was Jenny. He left her behind because he thought she'd died but she didn't. Since she's technically the Doctor's daughter, she's mine too.' River shrugged, completely unfazed by the slightly freaked out looks on her parents' faces. 'It was a simple matter of figuring out where she'd end up and collecting her. She's been living with me almost since I came back to Luna .'

'So you haven't been all alone?' It was funny, Rory thought, that there was so much fatherly worry in his tone when his daughter had a few hundred years on him - but he was still her dad and from the look of her face, River very much appreciated his concern.

'No. I've had Jenny, and Susan popping in regularly as well.'

'Good.'

'Melody?' There was something very tentative in the way Amy said her daughter's name and all eyes focused on her. Amy bit her lip before fixing her own look on River. 'You said you had children too. They're our grandchildren, aren't they, Rory? Will you tell us about them, and about your grandchildren? We'll tell you about Anthony - he's your brother - are you alright?'

'Of course.' River blinked rapidly a few times, but the smile she sent Amy was forced. 'Please, tell me about Anthony.'

'Well, he's brilliant. Adorable and cute - he's just started to say "mum" and "dad" - but he keeps throwing his food when he doesn't want to eat. Especially the carrots.'

'It'll get better,' River said softly, but there was something deeply sad in her smile. Clearly, she wasn't ready to talk about whatever had happened to her own children, but she was more than interested in learning all about her very little brother.

'I'm glad you have Anthony,' she said, her smile long returned to its usual brightness. 'You deserved the family you always wanted.'

'But don't ever think we were trying to replace you,' Amy interrupted softly. She needed to explain that again, even though River hadn't given any indication that she thought she had been offended by the existence of her baby brother.

'I know, mother, I know. But I was never meant to be part of your family like that, even if you are my parents. Anthony was. I am just glad that you are happy.'

'But we'd like you to be part of our family too.' Rory gave his wife another quick glance. 'Could we do...this, could we do this again and maybe bring him along so you can meet him?'

River beamed at them. 'I would like that very much, dad.'

'How do we, you know, set a time? Date?'

'No need. I'll take care of everything - just whenever you want. It's time travel, remember? In your dreams - I can go to sleep anytime to meet you, linear even.'

'So we just..go to sleep with that candle on and we'll wake up here with you?' Amy reassured herself once more and River nodded. 'Then this is goodbye for now, I guess.'

'For now.' Smiling, River got up and hugged first Amy, then Rory. 'It was wonderful to see you again. I'm looking forward to the next time. Goodbye!'

Amy blinked, but the spot where her daughter had stood just seconds ago was empty, as if she had disappeared into thin air. Shaking her head, she turned back to her husband and smiled.

'I'm glad she's alright.'

'She did well,' Rory agreed. 'I don't think we ever gave her all the credit she deserved, but we get a chance to do it now.'

'Yeah, you're right about that. Better not waste it.'

'Nope. So...Amy?'

'Yeah?'

'How do we get out of here?'

Amy laughed. 'How do you wake up from a dream?' Without a warning, she pinched his arm - and he reached over to punch her arm for it, he found himself punching a pillow instead. Only a second later, in the armchair across from him, did Amy wake up with a gasp, rubbing her arm before turning to grin at him.

'See, stupid face? We've still got it.'

And with that, they went upstairs to retrieve their son and their great-granddaughter, feeling eerily relieved by the knowledge that even though they had never voiced them, their daughter had defied all their worries and had managed to be the one thing they had wanted for her: Happy.