Abbey reveals over dinner that she wasn't always called Abbey; however, she could no longer use her birth name, it wasn't possible.
She knows it didn't make sense, but she insisted that she's telling the truth, that she couldn't use her birth name, anymore, because she was considered dead.
Ironic, isn't it?
Spending centuries watching everyone around her age and die, how she hid from everyone else when she realized that she wasn't aging, now, she's back, but only because there's no fear of judgement.
Aliens among them lived centuries longer, she didn't have to fear that her immortality would've put her in danger, yet again.
Going into more details, Abbey revealed that she was born in 1942. She just celebrated her birthday the other month.
"That'd make you… 1,058 years old," Lila estimated Abbey's true age and she nodded, acknowledging that it was correct, she's over a thousand years old, but to anyone who looked at her, she's still in her twenties.
It fascinated Theodore, but unfortunately, he didn't know Abbey, that was someone else, and trying to keep up the ruse, he leaned on what he knew, picking out what he needed, and going from there.
"I don't understand, this man, how could've he brought you back to alive by transplanting your heart to someone else's body?" Lila questioned how Abbey survived in the fashion she claimed and she replied that for the longest time, she wondered the same, but in the years of traveling, she thinks she has her answer.
She thought she destroyed everything, but something survived despite her attempts at covering up what transpired.
Of course, her hometown's far different than it was when she left so long ago, but it didn't deter Abbey, she got into contact with an archeologist who was excavating the area. He'd discovered there was a spiral notebook locked away in a metal trunk, buried beneath where Paul (the man who'd attempted surgery on her) lived, and discovered that it buried beneath where the basement would've been.
He determined the age of the trunk and the spiral notebook to be older, about two years older, this was before Paul started collecting blood from Abbey for the heart transplant.
In the spiral notebook, it was Paul's writing, Abbey recognized it, and it looked like he was taking a course shortly before he returned home.
It described transplants in a way that Abbey wouldn't understand if someone showed her back in the '60s, but now, she's certain, that whoever taught Paul this, was far more advanced than professors were then, noting that there were things in the spiral notebook that weren't invented then.
Somehow, Paul thought if he'd followed the teachings, he'd save his sister, but it was much more advanced than he's used to, and it forced his hand, trying to make with what he had.
Why it was buried beneath the basement, Abbey assumed that he didn't want anyone finding it, because he was convinced it was going to work, that his sister would've survived like the teachings hinted.
Handing it over to Theodore's large hands, he opened the spiral notebook delicately, the spiral notebook written like a college student, diagrams, scribbles, short notes, the work.
His icy blue eyes glided over the pages, reading the notes, and as he went through the notes, he found that indeed, the teachings that Paul copied weren't something found in the '60s when the incident occurred.
There's things that wouldn't have been known until later, things that weren't to be, yet.
"Where did he learn this from?" Theodore inquired as he rubbed the side of his mouth as he looked over to Abbey.
Abbey responds that she didn't know, Paul was studying to be a practitioner like his father, that much she knew.
Never mentioned anything more than he needed her blood for his sister and when he kidnapped her for the heart transplant.
"Maybe that's why I survived and not her. He misinterpreted it wrong," Abbey suggested that Paul, in his anguish, misinterpreted what he saw, causing him to incorrectly assume that by doing the procedure he wrote notes on, it'd help his sister.
Blinking as she's hearing this, Lila turned towards Theodore as she asks him, "You think the 'verse corrected the outcome?"
Maybe before they get into the big idea that Paul somehow committed an act that's improbable at that time, there's something easier explaining this, that Abbey wasn't meant to die, but Paul's attempts complicated things. Led to the universe correcting the slip-up in a big way.
Mulling it over, Theodore noted that he's heard the universes correcting things that should've happened prior, even the most mundane of events needed doing, else a hurricane or Kaiju would demolish a city.
"Wouldn't explain how she survived for centuries," Theodore noted that if the universe corrected the outcome, Abbey should've still died at any point before this, even it follows the unspoken rules about an immortal human.
So, the most mundane explanation didn't pan out, thus falling back to a spiral notebook filled with shorthanded notes and slang that only Paul understood.
"Where was he studying, do you know?" Theodore asked if Abbey knew where Paul went for school and Abbey replied that he'd gotten into a prestigious medical school on the laurel of his late father who was an alma mater there.
Which professors he had for classes, unfortunately any remaining records don't go that far back.
"So, what other reason did you want the Doctor's help?" Lila asks Abbey as she sat quietly with her blue sundress crinkling.
On her mind, weighed many things, before she finally tells Lila that she wanted to know if the Doctor could undo what Paul did to her, make her mortal, again.
Looking through the spiral notebook again, Theodore frowns as he tells her that he's not sure what to make of it, it's completely shorthanded with slang he can't understand.
He showed Lila and she looked over the slang, before saying that she doesn't recognize it, and asked where Paul's from.
"New York City," Abbey replied.
Nodding, Lila mentioned that she's not versed in the slangs, rarely did her dad's ship dock in New York City, and if it did, she wasn't with him because of scheduling and that he didn't stay long for them warranting a rental.
"I'm not versed in either, sugar," Abbey shrugs as she said that she didn't spend a long time in New York City getting antiquated with the regional terminology.
Curious, Theodore noticed there's something more to this than she let on, and asks her if he can't reasonably figure out how to reverse what's done to her, what she like him to do, instead, and she responded with an answer that made him frown.
"I'm tired, Doctor. I can't go on much more. I've tried everything I can think of, but nothing kills me. Poison, gunshots, falls, I can't die, Doctor. If there's anyone in this world who'd know how to kill someone, it's you, right?" Abbey looked towards Theodore with her eyes reflecting him.
Tired of her immortal life, Abbey did everything she could think of trying to end her existence. From the common solutions, to uncommon solutions, to even the most improbable solutions, she doesn't die.
Showing her arms, the faded marks of repeated attempts killing herself, all for naught, Abbey said that she couldn't come up with anything that'll kill her for good.
"No explosions, volcanos you could try falling into?" Lila tried suggesting ways for her, but Abbey said that she didn't want to try explosions in case she hurt anyone, and volcanos became geothermal powerhouses that she'll never get a chance going near an open volcano.
Sharing looks with each other, Theodore and Lila discussed the sensitive issue.
"A thousand years, can you imagine?" Lila must that it's nigh improbable that a human survived that long without looking like a sun raisin, leading Theodore telling her that he didn't have to imagine it, with his genes, he might live that long.
Subtly shaking her head, Lila retorts, "You know what I mean. I'm just saying. Forced into hiding because of something out of her control, lost everyone she cared about, now what does she have?" Lila elaborated what kind of life Abbey led.
Circumstances out of her control thrusted her into an unnaturally long life that she no longer wanted part of, losing everyone she cared about because they aged and passed away, except her. Having to hide because of her unnatural life, what's that leave for someone like that?
Asking her if she considered all avenues' improbable, a thousand years, she would've expended everything in the known world, and then some.
Convincing her that she didn't have to end her life's improbable for that reason, too.
Having tried every way and failing, no wonder Abbey turned to the Doctor, if there's anyone who'd know a way, it'd be him.
A moral question for sure, but as far as the two's able to get from talking to her, she's coherent, under no external duress, and clearly at the end of her rope.
"What do we do?" Lila sheepishly asked what Theodore wanted to do, as this isn't a normal adventure for the two.
Thinking it over quietly, Theodore says that his father would've showed solidarity with Abbey's plight.
His father, if he were here, would talk with Abbey, giving her time to vent, and once he's convinced, would've aided Abbey with her wishes, only because it's one of the hardest things a person could ask.
He doesn't have to like it, but someone needed help, even if it's not the conventional sense, he'd do it.
Curious though he may be.
"What about Al, can't he figure it out?" Lila inquired if it's possible they'll take the spiral notebook to Al, see if he can make sense what exactly Paul wrote.
It's a good idea and Theodore saved time, by reaching out to Al while he's conversing with Lila.
"Al, how good are you deducing medical notes?" Theodore asks him as he stirred.
Pondering, Al says he can try his hand, but without the full story, he can't exactly make water from stone.
"Try," Theodore encouraged him anyway.
Reading off the notes and describing the drawings in Paul's notes.
Throwing in what they knew about Paul and his studying, Al deduced that Paul must've went somewhere else studying, because he can't find anyone at the university Paul went to that fit the description of teaching advanced science like this.
Going through the records that he pulled from searching, Al didn't find any teacher capable of the science, and suggested that Paul had a private tutor that even his sister knew nothing about.
"But the science, you understand it, yes?" Theodore asks Al if he knew anything of it, which led Al going quiet for a moment, before coming back, saying that he doesn't understand the science.
It's nothing like he knows and whoever Paul learnt it from, knew it better than anyone in the '60s did.
Coupled with how Paul made his notes, if Al tried breaking it down, he could easily have a hundred results, with no way of knowing which's the correct one.
"Can't you reverse the effects, at least?" Theodore asks if Al could've at least developed a way reversing it, but the TARDIS thoughtfully said he doesn't think he can without the full breakdown.
These notes could've easily trip him up, hell, anyone, because he noticed that Paul wrote in a way suggesting that he didn't want just anyone reading it.
If Al, does it wrong, he risks hurting Abbey, or worse.
"What kind of science are we looking at here?" Lila spoke up, wanting to know what exactly they're looking at and why Al's having problems with it only for Al to sum that basically, to people then, it's pseudoscience.
Somehow, someone broke through even what they have now, but with the way Paul wrote his notes, Al can't be sure what he's doing.
"What does that mean?" Lila asks him before Theodore spoke up that they'll have to concede.
Looking towards Abbey, Theodore outwardly asks if she's sure if this is what she wants, and she nodded.
"I'm tired, Doctor," Abbey mournfully said that she can't find a reason anymore. She watched her world change around her, watched wars over, famine, she seen enough things that'll break a man.
Sheepishly, Lila asks if Abbey had children and the woman shook her head, her updo stiffly moving, as she said that once she realized what she became, she avoided all relationships.
She didn't want to risk her children not being born with her immortality and having to watch them die, too.
Many suitors tried over the years and it took mental fortitude for Abbey declining every attempt.
So many good men, but she didn't want to see them die in front of her, nor their children.
It hurt for the longest time, but Abbey overcame it, only because it was the only thing she could.
Chewing on his inner lip, Theodore asks how Abbey wanted to end her life, and Abbey thought it over before saying however he thinks would've killed her and she wouldn't mind her last view of life being a full moon.
"Al, is there a way you can at least come up with a way to euthanize her?" Theodore reached out to Al and he said that it's doable.
Even if he can't make sense of the science used, it doesn't mean he can't make something that'll give Abbey what she wanted.
It won't take time at all.
Finishing his lunch, Theodore uneasily looked over to Abbey as he asks her if she's ready for it.
Nodding, Abbey says, "I've been ready all my life, Doctor."
The blue skinned waitress came back and the lunch's paid.
Following them, Abbey went with them back to the TARDIS, where there's a bottle waiting for them. Complete with warnings on the glass, courtesy of Al.
"We'll take you somewhere with a full moon and according to this, you'll die as soon as you fall asleep, it will be painless," Theodore went over their plan as he looked at the directions on the bottle.
He handed the bottle over to Abbey and she thanked him. She hoped when she dies, it'll make up for what she did to the real Abbey and her brother.
"I never meant to do it," Abbey shook her head.
Lila tried cheering her up, by saying she didn't mean for it, how could've anyone known it was going to happen?
It didn't seem to do much for Abbey, but she appreciated Lila's attempt.
Theodore took them somewhere that had an eternal full moon, quiet, somewhere that Abbey's allowed to collect her thoughts for the moment she's alive.
Stepping out of the door, they trailed behind Abbey as she held the bottle, looking for the right spot.
The full moon gave the darkened area a hue, there's no breeze, but the temperature's nice, at least.
Walking through the green knoll, Abbey aimlessly walked until she found a spot with flowers, and sat down with her bottle in her lap.
"Is this spot?" Theodore asks her as she looked around.
Nodding, Abbey says it's the spot. The full moon overlooking her, with plenty of stars, and the flowers smelled nice.
"I'm sorry," Lila haphazardly says to Abbey.
They couldn't reverse what was done to her much less understood what happened.
Smiling at her, Abbey tells her that she's accepted it as a possibility. Nobody there knew what they were looking at either, so if the Doctor couldn't understand it, then suppose it wasn't mean to be understood.
They watched as Abbey unscrewed the bottle and drank the concoction made by Al until she emptied the bottle, putting to the side, and laid across the green knoll near the flowers. Her eyes fixated on the full moon above her until she felt her eyes becoming heavy until they closed on her own.
She heard her heart, the heart that caused all this, slowly still, and she's drifting away, drifting until she couldn't hear her own thoughts anymore. The feelings she would've felt when her previous attempts failed didn't come through, something else.
Peace.
The peace she longed for, now in her hands.
Over a thousand years, finally ended.
THE END