5. Epilogue.

The Doctor's Bereavement.

A while earlier. Before their mother, Crystelle, died.

The Doctor is visiting Crystelle and Devyon, her husband. Their daughter, Chloe, is out, briefly, with her boyfriend Simeon.

It's a sad day as Crystelle is counting down her remaining days as her health fades.

"I'm glad you don't seem to be fading, Devyon," the Doctor says.
Devyon has been caring for Crystelle constantly, having temporarily given up his full-time job at the local space dome.
"I'm glad I never took the regeneration for myself!" Devyon says. "It would be folly for an inventor or a developer to try something out on himself. If it went wrong there would be no-one able to do anything to help. I'm only too sad that Crystelle took it for herself, but I can quite understand why she did. What an offer - to be able to regenerate!"

"Did you never want to have it for yourself?" the Doctor asks gently.
"Not for myself, but my instant clones all took it, so I guess I did want it really."

The Doctor arrives home at tea time after his excursion to see Crystelle.

Myriad is in the kitchen. The tea is ready for the Doctor, but he senses something is wrong.

He greets Myriad with a nose rub as they usually do and have done since the start of their relationship (ref. 1).

"I love you, Myriad," the Doctor says and kisses her gently as they always do now.

"Today, something is troubling you," he says. "What is it?"

His hand travels down Myriad's arm to her hand where the Doctor notices her flinch.
"Something's hurting you just there." He raises Myriad's hand to look at. A small unhealed scratch greets his eyes.

"Doctor, I recalled what you said, If I injure myself and my regeneration can't heal me then I have only weeks to live," Myriad says carefully. "I did this three days ago and it ought to have started healing before now."

"Oh, no!" the Doctor becomes horrified. "Not you as well! I can't bear to lose you, too! This is why I always used to avoid relationships with Humans."

"Doctor, Crystelle had the same problem, didn't she? And now she's dying!"
"Disaster!" the Doctor says. "Losing one person is bad enough, but two at once! How will I cope?"

...

The Doctor turns to look at me desperately. He's never turned to talk to the author before.
"Peeet, can you start a new series for me, please, and start at episode ONE again. I'm unsure how I can possibly cope with this story ending."
"You'll cope fine," I say. "You're a great person and you've done exceedingly well over the last forty episodes."
"It feels like many more than that!" the Doctor says.
"I've only written up a very few of the wonderful times you've had," I reply. "I suppose I could have written up more?"
"No, no," the Doctor says emphatically. "What's gone by we'll leave. You don't have to cover every adventure I have."
"A lot of it's been the adventures of your chosen family, particularly Crystelle," I say.
"Yes," the Doctor says. "I only knew half of what went on until I read your stories." .

"You did the stronger thing – marrying Myriad – knowing you would have the pain of losing her one day."
The Doctor pauses. "Yes, I guess I did the braver, stronger thing," he admits.
"You can cope," I say.
The Doctor sighs.

"I guess you want to start all over again, fresh. Meet new people, make new special friends; a new special family?"
"No! No!" the Doctor says emphatically. The sorrow at leaving them is still too fresh.
"Yes, but you're really stressed by it just now, and I'm sorry. I can see you want to start afresh," I say. "You'll recover; it might take a while, though."

"Maybe, maybe not," the Doctor replies despondently. "What do you think, Myriad?"
"I'm not sure it ought to be my decision at all," she says. "You're a fantastic guy and I've loved being with you, every minute. I love that you're so fond of me and it breaks my heart to have to leave you."
"But can't you leave me in some other way than in a box?"
"You'll have Chloe," Myriad says. "She's totally devoted to you as we all have been. I suppose I could wander off and Peter out." .
"Very funny," I say, noticing the pun on my name. . "I'd like to do the right thing by both of you, though. Episode Forty-One might be an appropriate place to resume?"
"Only after a gap for me to recover," the Doctor says reluctantly.

"You rarely have any time to recover," I observe. "Usually, you find yourself going straight into the next episode."

The Doctor ponders his position. "Am I just a some-time defender of some small parts of the Universe?" he says, somewhat despondently.
"Not many people get to do that!" I say. "You do much more than that and you do it well. And you're a great role model for so many people."
"Yes, I know, but I still need some re-charge time, some Me Time," the Doctor says. "Can you arrange for a bit more?" he asks hopefully.
"Yes. It almost sounds as if it's time for you to regenerate when you're getting tired," I say. "If you hadn't regenerated fairly recently, I'd suggest it. A clean sweep - new start - a new Doctor and a new companion."
"It's a while since I did that," the Doctor says. "Just after the Millennium, I recall."
"Are you ready to carry on?" I ask.
"I guess so," a reluctant reply returns to me.

"How if you start with a holiday?" I ask.
"It never turns out that way!" the Doctor complains. "That shed of a Tardis ensures that!" .
"It usually has your best interests at heart," I say in the Tardis's defence.
"Hmph!"

Chloe is elevated to be Gallifreyan. This must be a pinnacle; a peak of achievement.
Surely it's all downhill from here! .

Beware if what you have is built on a mistake! Much better to build on the truth!
Everyone has things in their past that didn't quite go according to plan. But focus on the good things, the things that went right, and build on them!

Everything that Chloe has is a result of a mistake when the Doctor's Tardis gave Crystelle an entire copy of the Gallifreyan Library. What a mistake! What a mistake to build on! What a mistake to have built on!

THE END

The previous episode in this series is called "The House of a Hundred Doors." (ref. 39).

The next episode in this series is called "Alyssa's Stowaway".

I hope to add further episodes soon.

Sparse References.

Reference 1 Episode Maintenance Mission in this series,
where Myriad had first met the Doctor and had started their friendship with rubbing noses (as Eskimos do).

Reference 9 Episode Gallifrey Exhumed in this series,
where the Doctor rescued Gallifreyans from underground muster points when Gallifrey was under attack (ref. TV series 12, The Timeless Children).

Reference 12 Episode Crystelle Growth in this series,
where Crystelle defeated huge armies of Cybermen with just a few friends.

Reference 29 Episode The Wristwatch Tardis in this series,
where Chloe followed instructions from Gallifreyan Library documents to create and miniaturise what she likes to call her Wristwatch Tardis,
where Chloe read and viewed significant amounts of the Gallifreyan Library contents,
where Chloe discovered prophecies about the Girl in the Time Continuum,
where Gwendolina had been the first to notice the resemblance between Chloe and image of the Girl in the Time Continuum.

Reference 31 Episode Peace at Last in this series,
where Chloe had secured peace, but it relied on her identity not becoming known.

Reference 32 Episode The Lady with Secrets in this series,
when Chloe met Simeon,
where Chloe planned to register a device she had made from Gallifreyan instructions,
where Chloe escaped from Gallifreyan Security.

Reference 33 Episode Rescuing Nolland in this series,
where Chloe faced-up an angry Bicx Captain.

Reference 36 Episode The Master's Freedom in this series,
where Chloe eventually registered her device on Gallifrey, after a fashion.

Reference 37 Episode The Master's Revenge in this series,
where the Doctor had told Crystelle that Chloe would live longer.

Reference 38 Episode Time Distortion in this series,
where Chloe was involved in rescuing the Universe from a time distortion, and in doing so, secured Tardis time travel for Gallifrey,
where Chloe accidentally fulfilled a prophecy about the Girl in the Time Continuum.

Reference 39 Episode The House of a Hundred Doors in this series,
which precedes this episode.

-OOO-

** A "Closed meeting" or closed group means that all persons present are accounted for (by ticket only here) and can't change places with anyone else. Here, everyone present has signed a secrecy agreement, so everyone present can hear the secret without it going any further.

At points in the story where there is humour, an additional full stop is added. .

ANOTHER END