Series 1: Episode 7: The Long Game Epilogue:
"Doctor? What happens if you use time travel to save someone like you do?" Valarie asked, thinking about Eva.
"Valarie, don't. Don't do that to yourself." The Doctor warned, knowing exactly what she was thinking. He had thought it a million times about his own people but he knew there were rules.
"So it's not possible?" Valarie asked, a little disheartened. The Doctor shook his head and Valarie looked down for a moment before interrupting the Doctor as he was about to speak. "Don't worry, I'm not delusional. I know that there was no way to save her. I read the books." She smiled, easing the Doctor's worries. "I just wanted to know for sure if there was any hope." Valarie finished with a small sigh.
"There's always hope Valarie. Because even if we never know for sure, details of an afterlife are told in almost every culture across the universe." He told her, taking her hand in his. It was another one of their late night chats as Valarie had no sleep again. The memories of Eva had mixed into her nightmares and once again, the Doctor had found her in the library, reading her heart out with hot chocolate to sooth the hurt. "And I for one, know that if that is true, Eva Saint Julienne will be looking down on you with pride." He told Valarie with a smile as Valarie laughed a little, looking down at her hands.
"Thanks Doctor." She replied, no other words sufficient enough to explain what she was feeling.
"Its fine." He smiled, glad his friend was happy again. "If there's one thing I don't like, it's a sad companion." The alien told her as she gasped, scoffing at his terminology.
"Companion?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "Rose and I are the people who keep you sane. We're not companions." She told him with a laugh as they both bantered back and forth. "But really Doctor, what are fixed points and vulnerable points? I read over the page 5 times and it still didn't make sense." Valarie asked, holding up the book to show to him.
"Because it's in Galifreyan." The Doctor explained, looking fondly at the language of his people.
"But I can read it." Valarie argued, blinking a few times at the page, trying to see the circles that she always saw on the TARDIS console screen.
"The TARDIS must have translated it." The Doctor shrugged, not fully understanding why she would do such a thing for Valarie.
"Ok." Valarie replied, unsure of how to respond as she processed the news. "Is that why the words are jumbled up?" She asked, pointing to one of the sentences. "I just thought it was a typo."
"What does it say? I can only see it in Galifreyan." The Doctor asked, evidently not seeing what she was.
"Fixed points are strong points in time that show events that cannot change despite any one person's interfere." Valarie read out, showing the Doctor what she meant. "I mean, I get it. You can't change a fixed point but it isn't written in the best English." She told him as she concentrated on the rest of the page.
"Yeah, I get what you mean. Galifreyan isn't meant to be read in English, the TARDIS did her best." He explained, still wondering how she could read it in English anyway and why the TARDIS would even go out of her way to try and translate it.
"So what does this page mean? Different points in time and how do you know which ones to change and which one to keep the same?" Valarie asked, leaning back in her chair and taking a sip of her hot chocolate and popping a marshmallow in her mouth to chew on.
"Well, this page talks about fixed points in time. It talks about how you can't change them because that would cause a completely different chain of events to take place and they could potentially cause the end of the world." The Doctor explained, pointing to different points in the page as he explained in proper English. After he had finished his long monologue with Valarie interrupting to point out things which he hadn't properly explained.
"So, what you're saying is a fixed point cannot be changed and a vulnerable point should not be touched. But other points in time like Satellite 5, they can be changed because it wasn't how it was supposed to be. You knew that because you're a Time Lord. Biology means you can feel the change and stop it?" Valarie recapped, closing her eyes to rethink everything.
"Exactly." The Doctor smiled, glad she was understanding.
"But what happens if a vulnerable point in time is changed. Who sets it right? Can it be set right?" Valarie asked, pointing out another plot hole in this whole rule book the Doctor was bringing out.
"I don't know Valarie. It's never happened before. And probably for good reason." The Doctor nodded, not wanting to experience it.
"What about the TARDIS? She exists in a separate dimension from our own, so where would she go?" Valarie asked, so many unanswered questions swirling in her head. The Doctor shrugged, not knowing and not too sad about it either. "Oh well, I guess the fact that we don't know means something." She laughed, carrying on with her reading as she finished her hot chocolate. Eventually she fell asleep with questions of the universe and rules of time swirling around her head like a marshmallow, filling every space it could in her mind.
"A little help?" The Doctor asked the TARDIS as he looked at Valarie asleep. In a second, the TARDIS had transported them to Valarie's room where the Doctor took the mug and book away from her, placing it on the bedside table for her to find when she woke up. "Thank you." He smiled, patting the TARDIS walls as she thrummed with happiness. The Doctor didn't hesitate to note that Valarie was falling asleep a lot quicker than she did when she first found the library. They were making good progress and the Doctor himself found himself glad to be a lot more active than he usually was when Rose was asleep.
He could find new topics to discuss with Valarie and wait eagerly until he walked into the library to see her with the book he had recommended and another mug of hot chocolate. He could pass on his knowledge and remember times on Galifrey without the usual sting of pain in his hearts. The TARDIS was glad to bring together two people that knew each other's pain and could help each other heal. She loved seeing her Doctor more active and happy and Valarie getting proper rest.
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