Gabriella Gonzalez was deep in her sketching book. She had come to sit in the garden of their good friend Zhe. Being an eccentric alien garden, Gabby was often inspired to make doodles and drawings of what was in it. Huge statues lined the cobblestone pathway. Not even the beautiful sparkly blue grass would make anyone take their eyes off the statues. Gabby's own statue—her first statue ever since she learned how to wield the Block Transfer—of Renata as the Vortex Butterfly proudly stood at the front. It was that statue that kept pulling Gabby's attention off her sketchbook every now and then.

She was doodling Renata and the Doctor, her mind not letting her think of anything else. Renata had regenerated then left one day ago to find their Doctor. There was trouble - as the other Doctor had told her and Renata - on Earth and so of course Renata would go find him. Gabby hadn't been too thrilled staying behind but she didn't have much of a choice. The new Renata was just as authoritative as the last. Something about a 'Master' and 'there's no way I'm letting you near him!'. Gabby still didn't understand but then Renata and the Doctor came back...only for Gabby to learn that the Doctor was going to regenerate. He had come to say goodbye to her. Tears still came to Gabby's eyes when she remembered his face. He was going to die and he was saying goodbye to everyone, including her. That had been one day ago and now Gabby was going crazy waiting for some type of contact from the two Time Lords. She didn't know if Renata and the Doctor were safe nor where they were.

The owner of the gallery where Gabby resided, and once Renata, had done her own digging with her contacts. They confirmed that the Earth was just fine, still rotating normally and still in its right orbit. Zhe was more than just the owner of the gallery, she had become a close friend of Renata and Gabby and so Gabby had no reason not to trust Zhe's words. Gabby just wasn't sure where Renata and the Doctor were now.

But then she heard it.

She froze when she heard the first light noise of wheezing.

Please be real. Please be real.

Gabby put her pencil down as she heard the second louder wheezing. She looked up and nearly cried out of joy when she saw the TARDIS materializing in the garden. She dumped her sketchbook on the bench and raced towards the garden. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Her vision was blurred from tears but she kept laughing like a little girl who'd just seen something magnificent. Because she had.

Renata had barely open the door and stepped out when Gabby collided with her in a big hug. "Woah!" Renata barely kept on her feet from such a hug. "Gabriella, what's the mean—"

"Shut up, just shut up! I thought something happened to you!" Gabby hugged her so tight that she might actually crack some bones.

"I'm sorry. We were in a rush and—"

"It doesn't matter," Gabby squeezed Renata one more time before finally letting go. "You're here, you're alive and—" she suddenly stopped and peered inside the TARDIS from where she stood, "Where's the Doctor!? Is he okay!?"

"Uuh...so there's been a change…" Renata was just beginning to explain when the Doctor walked out of the TARDIS.

"That's an understatement!"

Gabby loudly gasped and stumbled back a few steps. Her eyes were as wide as could be. "Doctor!?"

"Am I that bad looking this time?" the Doctor brought his hands to his face. He'd finally had a proper look at himself and he thought he was pretty good looking. It would do.

Gabby's eyes blinked fast while they looked the Doctor over. "It's you!"

"Why are you acting so surprised? I understand this isn't the first time you've seen me," the Doctor fixed his tweed jacket.

"Yeah but...that was the future you! That's what you said!"

"Hello, future!" the Doctor waved a hand. Gabby deadpanned him. "Oh alright," he dropped his hand to his side. "I'm sorry."

"Oh Doctor, I'm so sorry," Gabby's face slowly softened. "You died…"

"We all have to go sometime but in a matter of speaking I did die. But I'm here—"

Gabby didn't let him finish. She walked over and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

The Doctor hugged her back. "I had Renata with me. She took good care of me."

"Still, wish I could've been there when it actually happened."

"No, you really wouldn't have," Renata's words broke them apart. "Because being the Doctor, he of course had to send us directly into trouble."

"Again, I'm so sorry I couldn't die the right way!" the Doctor rolled his eyes at her.

"What happened?" Gabby asked them, fairly amused as they started to bicker over some aliens and a crack and...something about a Prisoner Zero? They sure seemed to be acting normally for them.

"It's a long story, Gabriella. How about we talk it over while we...pick our stuff up?" Renata's eyes flickered to the gallery.

Gabby soon beamed when she understood what it meant. They were finally going back to the TARDIS after such a long time. Renata's illness had finally faded with the regeneration! "Oh yes! So we're all...we're all going back!?"

"Well, we are like a family right?" the Doctor asked and Gabby didn't miss the way his arm curled around Renata's waist.

"Uuuh…" Gabby's eyebrow went up without her trying. She was definitely taken aback when Renata shared a smile with him and leaned on him. "I think...we have a lot to discuss." A lot indeed.

"Why don't you two go ahead and start packing?" the Doctor suggested. "I need to take a quick little trip on my own."

"What? But you just got back!" Gabby was terrified that they would leave again without her. She understood why Renata did it the first time but she wasn't interested in letting it happen again.

"It'll be quick for you. I have to do it," the Doctor shared a meaningful look with Renata.

Renata gave him a nod. She knew where he was going. "Go ahead. And thanks."

"Thank you," the Doctor countered. He dove down to her lips for a quick kiss.

Gabby gaped. Renata, meanwhile, smiled at him with an actual blush! Gabby almost rubbed her eyes to make sure she was truly seeing this.

"Be back!" The Doctor exclaimed and hopped Gabby's head. "Start packing, Gabby-Gabbs—oh," he paused for a second, "I like that! Gabby-Gabbs! Gabbs!" He snapped his fingers a bit too close to her face that she flinched back, not that he would notice. He spun away and rushed into the TARDIS.

"Yeah, he seems to like using his hands more this time around," Renata commented while the TARDIS de-materialized. "We'll see how that goes. C'mon then! We got some packing to do and some goodbyes to say!"

"Wait a minute!" Gabby exclaimed as Renata took the lead towards the gallery. "Are we not going to talk about that!?"

Renata smiled knowingly ahead of her. "About what?"

"Ooh no!" Gabby almost laughed at Renata's attempt to deflect the topic. "You're not getting out of this so easily Renata! I'm serious!" She trailed after the Time Lady into the gallery.

~0~

Zhe's Gallery, 1 day ago.

Gabby ran out of Renata's bedroom, shouting for the Doctor. She heard the TARDIS materializing from inside the room. It was him! He had finally come back and with any luck, he had a cure for Renata. She hated to think that Renata's time was coming to an end.

"Doctor! Doctor!" Gabby yelled all the way down the hall, and to the TARDIS but she nearly crashed into the door when somebody opened it inches from her face. Gabby fervently shook her head and blinked fast to get her sight back. When she did, she saw who had come. "...Doctor?" It was the Doctor alright, but not the version Gabby knew. "Who...who are you?"

The eleventh Doctor smiled kindly at Gabby, though it was very strained. "Hello Gabby. It's the Doctor, don't worry."

But Gabby still didn't look convinced. "No...he's taller. And he wears suits. Plus, you look nothing like him!"

"I regenerated, Gabby. I'm from the future. I got your call but I'm a little late."

Gabby blinked at him, deciding if it was really true what he was saying. She looked back towards Renata's room. "...she's dying. Renata...she's dying…"

The Doctor gave a small nod of his head. "I know," he said grimly. "That's why I'm here."

"Did you find a cure?" Gabby asked him with hopeful eyes. The Doctor remained grim. With his intense gaze, Gabby knew that he hadn't. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked back at the room again. "She's going to die!"

"She will but she'll regenerate," the Doctor gently touched her arm. "And I'm going to be there with her. Thank you for taking care of her."

"Will she be okay?"

"Afterwards, yes. I'll make sure of it."

Gabby sighed. "What's going to happen?"

"I'm going make her last minutes as comfortable as possible," the Doctor gave her a quick hug and a kiss on top of her head.

He left her in search of Renata. He made it down the hallway and walked into the room where his Renata would be, her previous incarnation. His hearts nearly stopped at the sight of her writhing body on her bed.

Zhe was holding her hand tightly, trying to calm the Time Lady down.

"Renata," the Doctor hurried to the other side of the bed, ignoring Zhe's suspicious stare. He brushed Renata's blonde hair our of her face, feeling the sweat from her skin in the process.

Renata was swaying her head, coming in and out of consciousness. "I want...I want the...I want...the Doctor. Where is he?"

The Doctor grabbed her hand tightly, once again feeling the beads of her sweat on her skin. She was close, alright. "I'm here, love. I'm here."

Renata stopped moving to look at him.

Zhe's eyes had widened on him too. "You're…?"

The Doctor gave her a nod just to ease her suspicions on him. He then smiled softly for Renata. She was squinting her eyes as if she couldn't see him when in reality she was trying to process his words.

"I'm here," he told her and kissed the back of her hand.

"You're late," she said, sounding as if she wanted to huff. It made him laugh. Even when regeneration loomed over her, she would always have enough energy to scold.

"Yeah I am. And you have no idea how sorry I am. I should've been here - the other me - he should be here, but he's not coming. I'm so sorry."

Renata struggled to smile without making it seem too strained. She felt her entire body close to bursting. "No...it's my fault. I waited too long to change my mind. I wanted to die alone. But now that I'm here…" fresh tears filled her eyes, "I don't want to die by myself. I want you with me. How selfish am I? To think that you'll always come to me like you're at my beck and call."

"But I am, and I have no problem with that. Anytime you call, I'll run to you. Always."

Renata sniffled. He was always much too kind to people who didn't deserve it. She definitely didn't deserve it.

"C'mon," the Doctor slid his arms under her body to pick her up.

"Doctor, she can't go anywhere," Zhe rose from her seat. "She won't make it to—"

"We're just going to take one last trip to the garden." He told her while he settled Renata's body in his arms. "My Renée deserves at least that. She shouldn't die surrounded in a bland old room. No offence."

Zhe rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile. It was definitely him alright.

"She's going to see the flowers one more time." He kissed Renata's forehead and headed out of the room.

He took Renata to the garden in the back, the same garden she would take walks in each day she stayed in the gallery. It was her favorite pastime. Hopefully it could bring her some peace in these last minutes. He wanted to help her as much as she had helped him during his regeneration.

Despite her worsening condition, Renata felt the change of air around them when the Doctor brought them outside. He walked over the blue grass and stopped by a beautiful flower bed he had no doubt Renata planted.

"Here we are," the Doctor lowered himself to the ground, keeping Renata close to him but in more of a sitting position so she could see her flowers.

"Thank you," she whispered, for it was as high as her voice would allow.

"Of course. I wish there was more I could've done for you. If there had been a cure I would've gotten it for you, no matter the price."

"I wouldn't deserve that, Doctor." She tilted her head up at him, allowing him to see the usual guilt that often plagued her. It sat in her eyes like it belonged there. "You have dedicated too much time to me when the truth is I never deserved it. Look at you, I dread to think that you regenerated because of me."

"Hey, that's not true," he lightly scolded her. "You want to know the truth? The truth is we have spent far too many centuries trying to erase what happened between us. We tried pushing it away and in doing so, we built a mountain of lies. But none of that means that I would ever stop loving you."

"Even when I wasn't been honest with you?"

"I don't care, Gala. I love you and no matter what you do, that will never change."

Renata couldn't help but cry in that moment. "I wanted to die," she blurted, immediately reminding the Doctor what the present Renata had said. She'd wanted to die in her last body, truly die without regeneration.

He looked at her with a pained expression. "Why? Why would you want to do that?"

"Because I never learned how to live, especially in this body. I was just so tired of everything going wrong. I thought that it was best if I just...stopped. Forever. But you...but you still love me even after I hurt you so much and I thought...maybe if I survived, we could actually happen. The right way this time. I wanted to live in the end but it was too late."

"It's never late," the Doctor told her. "Because if you put all of your efforts into this regeneration, I'll be waiting on the other side."

Renata brought a hand up to his cheek, gently stroking his skin. "You would want to be with me again?"

"Very much," the Doctor gave her a nod. He lowered his head to capture her lips in a kiss, proving his words true.

Renata welcomed him despite her doubts. No matter where she was, who she was, who he was, it would always be the same old story. She would love him until the end of her life.

They pulled away to share soft smiles with each other but a few seconds later, Renata's hands started glowing with regeneration energy. She groaned and nearly fell out of the Doctor's arms if he hadn't held onto her.

"It's time…" she took in a shaky breath. "Let's see if this is what wipes the slate clean."

"Good luck, love," the Doctor pressed a kiss to her forehead and then helped her stand up. She wobbled for the first few seconds but she ultimately got her balance.

"I'll...try…" she flashed him a tired smile. The months of expelling Vortex and toxic energy had finally taken its toll on her.

She swallowed hard and raised her hands to see them glowing brightly. There was a second energy, one that she recognized as the same energy she used on the Daleks and their Reality Bomb. It wrapped around her like a present. She could feel the ripple of pain strike her once again before the energy took her over. She screamed as the regeneration finally began.

The Doctor shielded his eyes from the brightness, hoping it would be a quick process. He couldn't stand hearing her agonizing screams. He tried peeking through the light and saw the silhouette of the energy forming butterfly wings behind Renata. The Vortex Butterfly was finally finding the balance it needed to rest within Renata.

Slowly, the light faded and the energy dissipated from Renata to leave a brand new woman in its spot. It was the same Renata that the Doctor left in the future. His Renata with long dark hair and matching eyes. She blinked pretty fast as she gathered herself from such a process.

"I...I'm alive…" she spoke hoarsely and touched her neck, her throat specifically. "And I sound younger. Am I younger?"

The Doctor chuckled and rushed to hug her, leaving a bunch of kisses on her new dark hair. "You're beautiful."

Renata smiled and hugged him tight. "Thank you for coming back. I don't deserve you."

"You have got to stop saying that, Renee," the Doctor said with a heavy sigh. "No more of this stuff. I can't bear to hear it."

"But it's true!"

"So I'm completely innocent in all this? I have nothing I should feel bad for?" The Doctor waited for her to try and lie with the answer. She couldn't because she knew that he had some faults in their past.

"I'm sorry," she said in a whisper. "I'm am so sorry."

"I know, dear," he raised her chin up to him. "But this is a new life you have, one free of illnesses. Don't you think you deserve a new chance to live freely?"

Renata bit her bottom lip. "That...that would be nice."

"If you really want to make things better, then just do that. Live the way you want to live. That's all I want from you."

"Wouldn't that be nice?" Renata smiled for a moment. "This is my eleventh regeneration, my twelfth incarnation, and I'm only now going to try and live the way I want to. Isn't that funny? Nearly at the end of my first cycle of life and it's only now where I can try to do something I haven't been since my very first incarnation. I can be happy. It's in my name, actually. Renata. It means 'to be reborn' and I promise that this time I'm going to try and be someone good, be someone better than what I've been in the past. This new me is going to do big things."

The Doctor smiled with her words. He cupped her face gently. "I promise, if you give me a chance, I will do everything I can to add to that happiness."

"But first I have to find you," Renata reminded him. As much as he was the Doctor, he wasn't hers yet. "Where's my Doctor?"

The Doctor was reluctant to answer but he knew that she had to find him in order to get to where they were now. "I swear that he would've came but...he had a mishap..."

Renata pulled away from him, concern etching across her new face. "Is he alright?"

The Doctor wasn't sure how to answer that. His other self was probably on his way to Earth right now to stop the Master from returning. "There are some things I need to tell you before you meet with him. C'mon," he took her hand to lead her back to the TARDIS, only for him to remember something. "Oh wait!" He let go of her and rushed to the flower bed. He looked through them for a couple seconds while Renata watched him in confusion. "This one!" He had picked a beautiful red tulip from the flower bed and returned to Renata. He gently set it behind her ear and admired the sight of her. "Beautiful."

Renata touched the flower and blushed. "Thank you, though I could use a total change of clothes." She looked down at her clothes and realized that they no longer fit with her.

"I've got just the dress for you!" the Doctor promised. He had his current Renata's flower dress neatly folded on the Captain's chair. "C'mon!" He pulled Renata by the hand towards the gallery.

~0~

Present Day, Zhe's Gallery.

Renata picked up her golden pendant from her old bed stand and brushed her fingers over it. Her late husband had given it to her so long ago. She never took it off from the first day he gave it to her but now wearing it didn't seem quite right.

"Renata?" Gabby cautiously called her name. They were having a conversation when Renata spotted the golden pendant and suddenly the room went eerie quiet. Gabby wasn't all that surprised. She knew how important that pendant was to Renata, she just wondered how things would change now that she and the Doctor were apparently starting a relationship. That must be what Renata was thinking about.

Renata turned around to the girl. "Sorry, where was I?"

Gabby's smirk reminded her perfectly. "You just finished telling me about this Prisoner Zero fiasco and this Amy Pond girl and were saying how you and the Doctor finally talked."

"Right," Renata said, her eyes drifting to the side as a deep blush room her face over. They talked alright, followed by a good amount of kissing...on top of the console.

Gabby had come to know Renata really well, so she could see the red face from where she stood. "Hey Ren, something you wanna tell me about?"

"Hm? No!" Renata fervently shook her head and exhaled a shaky breath. "Why-why would you think that?"

Gabby set a hand on her hip and stared at the Time Lady for a good long minute. "Mhm. Is this how it's going to be, then?"

"Be like what?"

"Be like that whenever you and the Doctor make out." Gabby laughed when Renata went into a choking fit. "Oh my God! I knew it! I didn't think you were capable of making out with someone!"

"Stop saying that!" Renata exclaimed.

"What? That you made out—"

"Stop it!" Renata hissed, but the fact that she still had a red face made it impossible for Gabby to stop.

"I'm sorry, I'm American. I should say you 'snogged' instead, huh? Right term for you guys."

"Please, for the love of God, stop saying that!"

"Why? It's what happened, isn't?"

"Well, yeah, but...it just sounds weird," Renata crinkled her nose. It sounded childish and what she wanted with the Doctor would not be childish. "I don't 'snog' and I don't 'make out' with anyone."

Gabby giggled. "But you kind of did."

Renata deadpanned her. "Gabriella!"

"What? Look Ren, there is nothing wrong with having a little fun. And being serious, I am so happy for you and the Doctor." Gabby smiled at the Time Lady. "It was about time. I just wish Donna was still around to see it."

Renata could agree there. They both lamented the loss of their friend, especially since they had become like a little family and Donna was always trying to help the Doctor speak up about his feelings for Renata. If she could only see them now.

"So you guys really want me around?" Gabby inquired after a moment. "You don't want some, uh, alone time in the TARDIS?"

Renata chuckled. "God no! He'll drive me crazy! Plus, I might drive him crazy too. I don't know how these new bodies—" she gestured to herself, "—will interact with each other. Brand new us after all."

"Well, you're already making out—" Gabby giggled when Renata glared, "—so I think you'll be just fine."

"Yeah," Renata whispered as she looked back to her pendant in her hand. She turned away again and walked towards the bed. She didn't have a lot in the gallery to begin with, but the little clothes she had were now packed into a suitcase. "Did you finish packing yet?"

Gabby nodded her head. "Mhm. Just waiting for the Doctor now. Where exactly are we going?"

"I think we'll be going back for Amy Pond," Renata answered distractedly. Her fingers were still brushing over her pendant. "There's something not right about that girl."

"You mean because of the crack in her bedroom? Not really her fault though, is it?"

"No, not at all. But we want to be cautious and make sure her life wasn't affected by a crack that shouldn't have been in her bedroom."

"Good thinking," Gabby nodded again.

There was a light knock on the door a few seconds later. The Doctor poked his head into the room. "Hey! Are we done?"

"Yes!" Gabby beamed. She was more than ready to finally start travelling again. "But where did you go right now?"

The Doctor walked into the room with what Gabby could only describe as a grim smile. He'd been so happy before leaving, what could have changed his mood so quick?

The Doctor went directly to Renata who seemed to know what he would do, for when he hugged she already had her arms open for him. He hugged her tight and swayed her body. Gabby wasn't sure what he was saying but it sounded like he was apologizing for something. Renata had mumbled an 'I'm okay'. She wasn't sure if she should slip out of the room to give them privacy but before she could make up her mind, the two Time Lords pulled away.

Renata held onto the Doctor's hand afterwards. "Thank you," she whispered to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

The Doctor smiled at her until he noticed the pendant in her other hand. He didn't mean to react at it, but it was impossible given who it was from.

Renata followed his gaze to the pendant and sighed. "Gabriella, can you take my suitcase out please?"

Gabby came for the suitcase on the bed and pulled it onto the ground. "I'll be outside then."

"Thank you," Renata nodded for her to go. When Gabby closed the door, Renata apologized to the Doctor. "I'm just a little unsure of what to do with it." She gazed at the pendant, turning it over and over in her palm.

"It's alright. I know how much that means to you. And actually, I do have something else to give you. It's only right you have it back." The Doctor reached into his jacket's inside pocket to take out a familiar necklace with a diamond hanging from it.

Renata gasped and instinctively took it from his hand. "My Whitepoint Star necklace." Tears came to her eyes as she remembered the horrid day her sister yanked it off her neck to give to Rassilon and establish the link between them and the Master. "I thought I'd never see this again." She turned the diamond around to see the old Gallifreyan names on it; her name, her late husband's name and their unborn child's name.

"I went back to Naismith's mansion when we left. The Assessor stole it from you and I thought I could do a little good. I know how much that necklace meant to you." It didn't matter to the Doctor that the necklace had come from Renata's husband, Elek. He'd been a good man to Renata, loved her, and had almost given her a child. "I hope you can find some peace now."

Renata broke into tears with the Whitepoint star in one hand and the pendant in the other. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her for a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"I don't know what to do with them now," Renata admitted through her tears. "I used to wear them all the time but...it doesn't feel right anymore."

"Don't think that I'd be upset if you wore them again," the Doctor said just to make sure she wasn't making a decision based on what he would think. "I know how much Elek meant to you."

"Yes but it's not right," Renata raised her head to meet his gaze. "I know it's not. It doesn't feel right. I used to wear the pendant because I was a devoted widow...because I swore to myself that I would never move on. But here I am...wanting to be with you. I can't wear them anymore. I...I don't want to."

"Can I make a suggestion?"

"I would like it if you did…"

"I have a room specifically meant for my previous companions, people I have cared for who are no longer with me. You could add these two necklaces to that room, give them a final resting place."

"I like the sound of that," Renata admitted. Elek was long gone and deserved to rest in peace just as she deserved to move on with her life too.

"Yeah? We can do that as soon as we get back to the TARDIS," the Doctor took her hands and closed them over the necklaces. "Shall we go?"

Renata nodded. "Yes."

They left the room without looking back.

~ 0 ~

"Please visit me soon," Zhe stood just outside the TARDIS with the trio of travelers. The humanoid blue woman was happy that everything turned out fine in the end, only lamenting that both Renata and the Doctor had to regenerate for it to happen.

"We will, I promise," Renata said, taking two of the woman's four hands into her own.

"I still have to continue my training anyways," Gabby chimed in, referring to her Block Transfer abilities.

"Of course," Zhe nodded. "I'll be waiting for you."

"Thank you for everything, Zhe," the Doctor said to her, truly grateful for all the support the woman had given them while Renata was ill. "I will never forget that."

"Me too," Renata agreed. "I don't have a lot of friends—actually, I only have three friends. Gabriella, Martha and you."

"Oi," the Doctor huffed in offence.

Renata gave him a light whack against his chest. "You're more." That certainly made his face brighten up.

Zhe smiled knowingly at the pair, just like Gabby was. "I'm glad it worked out for you two."

"Would you like to come with us for a trip?" asked the Doctor. "Could be fun."

Zhe chuckled. "Oh no. I'm good, thank you."

"Well then, I guess this is it," Renata gave Zhe a tight hug, thanking the woman over and over for everything she had done in the past.

Zhe was then hugged by Gabby and the Doctor. She wished them good luck on whatever adventure they had planned, because she knew they had something planned. She watched them go into the TARDIS and waved as the box de-materialized into thin air.

~ 0 ~

"NO WAY!" Gabby laughed almost deliriously when she saw the new interior of the TARDIS. It was nothing like the previous one. She spun around to catch all the bright orangey details of the walls. "This is too cool!"

"Yeah?" the Doctor chuckled as he watched her stumble after spinning so much. "You approve then?"

"Uh, yeah!" Gabby tapped on the glass floor to see if it was strong. "And we get a new glass floor!? It's so elegant!"

"I thought so too," the Doctor hummed in agreement. He then clapped his hands and turned to the console. Gabby scurried beside him, watching him work the new controls. "So, I know Renata told you about the little girl we met?"

"Yup! Amelia Pond, right? Er, Amy? Yeah, that's really weird what happened with her room. You think she's still in danger?"

"Don't know, but I'd like to keep her around to find out."

"So...is she, like, going to stay with us?"

"Would you mind?" the Doctor asked her, fixating a serious gaze that warranted an honest answer from her. Gabby wasn't just any ordinary passenger, nor companion, she was family and he wanted her to know that he truly valued her opinion, especially after Donna's departure. Nobody new had come aboard since then.

Gabby swayed her head as she thought about the idea of having someone new in the TARDIS. "Well...it could be fun not being the newbie this time. I could take some notes and be what Donna was for me. How old is she? This Amy?"

"Uh, she was 19 I believe."

"Oh! She's one year younger than me! I think it could be fun," Gabby gave a firm nod of her head. "Bring her in, Doctor. Let's see what Amy Pond brings to the TARDIS."

The Doctor laughed with her and that's how Renata found them. She had left her pendant and Whitepoint Star in the room the Doctor told her about. She felt a strange wave of peace when she closed the door, like she was finally moving on from that moment in her life. And seeing the Doctor and Gabby so happy and laughing made her feel even more sure that she was right where she wanted to be.

~ 0 ~

Amy Pond had memorized the TARDIS wheezing on the first night it left her for 'five minutes'. Now when she heard it for the third time, she jumped out of her bed without a second thought. No more pretending with costumes! She bolted down the staircase and into the backyard, almost laughing when she realized it was once again night time and she was in her pajamas! Well, a nightie but it was otherwise the same.

By the time she reached the TARDIS, the Doctor and Renata were already standing outside the box...waiting for her.

"Did we wake you up?" Renata wrinkled her nose as she gazed up into the night, starry sky. They'd been gone for more than a few hours again, she was sure.

"It's you, you came back!" Amy basically confirmed the suspicions. She was staring at them in awe, like she couldn't believe it...again.

"Sorry about the running off, got a bit lost in the moment," the Doctor sent a quick smirk to Renata who rolled her eyes in response. "Plus, we had to pick someone up. But don't worry, brand new TARDIS is ready for the big stuff now!"

Amy looked him over and made a face that didn't quite fit with the usual response someone would get seeing the TARDIS. "You kept the clothes."

Renata laughed to the side while the Doctor deadpanned the ginger. "Well, we just saved the world, the whole planet, for about the millionth time, no charge! Yeah, shoot me! I kept the clothes."

"I did not," Renata gestured to her very gray dress.

"And you left the bow tie too…" Amy once again made a face.

"Yeah, I wasn't sure how to feel about that as well…" Gabby emerged from the TARDIS, startling Amy. "Hi," Gabby waved a hand. "Gabby Gonzalez. And yes I agree with you: the bow tie is ridiculous."

"Hey!" the Doctor cried. "Bow ties are cool!"

"Yeah, the jury's still out on that one!"

The Doctor mocked them with a sway of his head. "Gabby, you can go back inside now!"

Gabby laughed and wiggled her fingers at Amy. "See you in a moment."

Amy slowly wiggled her fingers at her even though she still didn't quite understand how Gabby was even there. "Is she...are you...are you all from another planet?"

"We are," Renata gestured to herself and the Doctor. "But Gabriella's from New York. She's quite human...ish." After the birth of the Vortex Butterfly and the Cosmic Butterfly, both she and Renata still needed to run extensive exams.

"So what do you think?" the Doctor asked Amy. Her eyes flickered to him after studying the outside of the TARDIS. It was still as blue as she remembered it.

"Of what?"

"Other planets. Want to check some out?"

"What does that mean?"

Renata smiled at the woman. "It means we'd like for you to come with us."

"W-Where?"

"Anywhere you'd like. First trip is always your choice!"

Amy's eyebrows seemed to knit together for some reason. "All that stuff, the hospital, the spaceships, Prisoner Zero…"

"Oh, don't worry. That's just the beginning. There's loads more!" the Doctor promised but also meant to warn Amy of what was to come.

"Yeah, but those things, amazing things, all that stuff…" Amy's face suddenly darkened with anger and annoyance. "That was two years ago!" She promptly smacked each Time Lord's arm, getting a sense of satisfaction hearing them yelp.

"Oh not again!" Renata let her head hang. "Doctor, you're seriously messing up my track record!"

"Sure, it's my fault—"

"You piloted us! On both occasions!"

The Doctor's mouth opened to argue but shut it at the last moment. Alright, so maybe it could've been been his fault.

"So...um…" Renata awkwardly met Amy's upset stare, the ginger woman having folded her arms over her chest. "What's it been, then?"

"14 years!" Amy spat and just a second after she said it, Renata did the same with a weary sigh.

"Really sorry about that."

"Fourteen years since fish custard. Amy Pond, the girl who waited, you've waited long enough," the Doctor said exactly what Renata had been thinking.

Amy's upset expression faded as curiosity took over, as well a bit of doubt. "When I was a kid, you said there was a swimming pool and a library, and the swimming pool was in the library."

"Yeah. Not sure where it's got to now," the Doctor murmured as he had still yet to locate each room that'd gone missing. "I'm sure it'll turn up."

"It better if you know what's good for you," Renata remarked without a hint of playfulness. The Doctor winced and silently begged the TARDIS to help him out there.

"So... coming?" he asked Amy again since she hadn't said anything.

"No!" she exclaimed, or perhaps meant to shout at them like she knew exactly what she was doing.

"No?" Renata wasn't sure to laugh there and then. Amy was obviously trying to put up a front that she was no longer interested in the TARDIS. "You wanted to come 14 years ago."

"I grew up!"

"Don't worry. We'll soon fix that," the Doctor promised her with a smirk, only for Renata to say he would leave her right alone.

"Just be you, Amy Pond," she told the woman just as the Doctor snapped his fingers to open the doors behind them.

Amy was immediately bathed in the orange glow of the TARDIS interior and before she knew it, her feet were taking her into it. Hearing her coming in, Gabby poked her head from the console to see Amy's reaction. It was a whole other thing being on the other side now. Gabby wondered if this is what Donna felt when she first walked in and Donna watched her take it all in. Gabby smiled warmly at the memory of that day, though bittersweetly too. How times changed.

Amy's eyes had widened like dinner plates as she took in the whole room. She always wondered what it would look like on the inside, but it didn't compare to what she saw now. There were no words to describe how she felt, even if she tried she was sure nothing would come to mind.

"Well...? Anything you want to say?" the Doctor walked past her, missing the way Renata rolled her eyes behind him. He had no concept of being modest in anybody. "Any passing remarks? I've heard them all."

"I'm in my nightie," Amy said for some reason then quickly checked herself to make sure it was true. Yes, it was.

"Oh, I've been there," Renata laughed. "But don't worry. Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe."

"You'll love it!" Gabby exclaimed. "I got lost in there the first time I went in. Played dress up!"

Amy's smile seemed permanent at the moment. She gazed at the console with fascination. She could hear a faint hum within it and wondered if that was part of the engines.

"So, Amy," the Doctor called on the other side of the console. "All of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will...where do you want to start?"

"You are so sure that I'm coming," Amy once again tried playing casual and failed miserably.

"Yeah, I am."

"Why?"

"Because if not he'll just kidnap you," Renata said with a wide smirk on her face that threatened to turned into a laugh as soon as the Doctor huffed.

"We're still doing that!?"

"You kidnapped me," Renata reminded him then looked at a stunned Amy. "Yeah, he kidnapped me. Threw me right over his shoulder and dragged me in here."

The Doctor's mouth was wide open in offence. So that was true...but it didn't mean she had to go telling that to everybody they met. "Oi! You're still here!"

"Because I've been kidnapped!"

There may have been a vein protruding across the Doctor's forehead when Renata turned to him. "That was a year ago! When are you going to get over it!?"

"How does somebody get over being kidnapped?" she arched an eyebrow at him, still smirking knowing that she was getting under his skin.

Gabby shook her head at the two—clearly, that hadn't changed at either—and moved around the console to Amy. "So Amy," she pulled the girl's attention away from the bickering couple, "What do you think? It's fun out there...up—" her eyes briefly flickered to the ceiling to refer to space, "—there. I've gone to see the Star of Orion and I've lived in a space gallery. Oh, and I got to go into some interdimensional weird information link thing belonging to a Block Transfer Matrix." Amy blinked wide at such a complicated list. "Where would you like to go first?"

Amy bit her lower lip and glanced at the couple still going back and forth about the kidnapping fiasco - whatever that was. "Can you get me back for tomorrow morning?"

"Of course, it's a time machine," Gabby answered, wondering why Amy would be so specific about that. Maybe she had an appointment? "I won't say 5 minutes like those two over there but you have to know that they do try. Is there something important tomorrow?"

Amy's mouth opened but she didn't know how to put 'I'm getting married tomorrow' into a casual conversation. "Uh...just stuff."

"Alright then," Gabby motioned her to get close to the console. "Wanna see something funny?" Amy nodded. Gabby winked at her then took over the controls. The Doctor had long ago taught her how to pilot the TARDIS in case of emergencies. She had the laugh of her life, as well as Amy, when the TARDIS lurched and sent both Renata and the Doctor to the ground.

Serves them right for still bickering when they had a new passenger aboard.

Author's Note:

Didn't I say we'd get to see the previous Renata's final moments? We finally get closure and a hopeful promise for Ren's new life! Will she get it, though? Hmmm...

Okay, so the next chapter is super important for Gabby and Amy and I just now realized that the chapter is 18k? Do you guys want me to separate it into 2 chapters instead? Or give you the whole content in one? xD.

For the reviews:

The Time Lord Oracle: Thanks so much! I'm doing far better now!

doctorsgirl262: Yup! I'm excited to show their relationship grow as well as Gabby's and Amy's relationship through the story. It'll be fun, fun!

savethemadscientist: Oh I LOVED writing that part. I felt like Ren doing that sort of plants the seeds for her own reputation...and who knows what that might do ;)

As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"