Where old friends make new friends.

Someone was knocking on the door. Rather impatient- and persistently.

'I'm coming!' River called and pushed her chair back. Was it too much to ask for one afternoon of peace to prepare for her next dig? But even before she opened the door, she knew who had been knocking and couldn't hold back a smile. 'Romanadvoratrelundar. You better come in.'

The woman in question just looked at her for a moment before stepping past her without hesitation. Wordlessly, she followed River into the kitchen, taking in everything in the room without saying a word. Only when a cup of hot, steaming tea was placed in front of her did she finally turn to look at her host.

'You were right,' she said softly. 'The Master destroyed Gallifrey.'

'I know.'

'How?'

River shrugged, staring at her tea. 'I saw it. I was in the Matrix for a long time, you know? And before that, I was part of the biggest library in the universe, every book ever written. It helped that I'm the child of a TARDIS too, I suppose.' She sipped her tea and grimaced. 'Too hot,' she mouthed and a tiny smile tugged on Romana's lips. But it was gone as soon as it appeared and River continued without commenting on it.

'When I was in there...it's different for me, in a way, than it is for you, when I'm in the Matrix. The first time I was in there, I still had a body, but the second time, it was just my conscience. My mind.' She gave another shrug. 'I've always been more human than Time Lord, but I've also been less human than I was something else entirely. The TARDIS part, it made some things easier to access. Things like tapping into the knowledge of another TARDIS and somehow, I found the one that belongs to the Master. I saw what he was going to do and acted accordingly.'

For a moment, Romana silently stared at River, her eyes serious. Then, very slowly, she nodded.

'I see why you are called Patience. You could have gone back to tell me about the Master's plan right after your conscience was placed in your body. But you waited, you lived an entire life on Gallifrey, you were there for centuries and only when you came back here did you come back to warn me.' She paused, hesitated. 'Why?'

'Susan.' Not really an explanation, but River held up a hand to ward off Romana's impatient questions for a moment before she slowly continued. 'I didn't know who she was back then, but right before you came to fetch me, she arrived with a letter - a note, really. It was a warning: I couldn't postpone the procedures because of the precise calculations that had gone into their preparations, but once I arrived, the temporal flux around the Doctor's past would make it impossible to come back until the day he left Gallifrey with her.'

Romana nodded thoughtfully. 'That makes sense. Your timestreams are so intertwined that it would have been impossible to pin down to which point to return to, unless you used the Doctor's TARDIS, which you couldn't because that would have led to an even greater paradox.' She frowned. 'Then how did you know when to warn me?'

'Didn't you listen? Susan told me.'

'You said she brought you a warning to not destroy your entire timeline.'

'Well, who do you think sent her there?' There was a satisfied smile on River's face and Romana's eyes widened at the implication.

'You sent her into your own past and used that as a reference for when to warn me?'

'Precisely. I knew I liked you.'

'You and the Doctor.' Romana shook her head in disbelief. 'You two really play with time like children in a sandbox, don't you?'

River shrugged nonchalantly and looked perfectly nonplussed by the accusation. 'I suppose we do, yes. You helped a lot - I don't think I ever thanked you properly for what you did for me that day.' Romana just waved her off, not relevant right now. 'Before our life on Gallifrey, our timelines went in opposite directions - well, not completely, but for the most part. But you already know that, because you saw it. It can't be helped, now can it, that we made such a mess of things - one slip and everything could have fallen apart.'

'But it didn't.'

'No, it didn't. Because we - I - took the necessary precautions.'

'He couldn't know, River. He couldn't know because he hadn't known, so you had to do the only thing you could have done. Taking all those memories, obscuring them without removing them, there aren't a lot of people who would have known how to do it.'

'That doesn't mean it's something I'm proud of, Romana.'

'No, I suppose it doesn't. But knowing you, you left a loophole, didn't you?'

'Of course I did.' A genuine, warm smile spread on River's lips as she looked at her opposite. 'Eventually, the loops would close and we'd reach the parallel point. It's not long now, I think - I have a feeling we'll run into each other again soon.'

'Are you going to tell him then?'

'I think he's finally regenerated into a woman now.'

'Oh!' Romana grinned, looking quite delighted at that prospect. 'It's about time, how many regenerations has it been now?'

'I think it's Thirteen now - you're on what? Five?'

'Four. You too, right? Or is it the first - I don't even know how to count in your case.'

'I've given up trying,' River said loftily, though from the look in her eyes it wasn't something she liked to discuss very much. Romana let it go. It was time to return to the subject that brought her here in the first place.

'Gallifrey is gone. Our home is gone. For good, this time,' she added and River nodded solemnly. 'So many died, River, so many. Because they were too stubborn and self-absorbed to listen but even if they were giving me a hard time being their leader, they were still my people. And I couldn't save them.'

'Romana.' Cool hands wrapped around hers. 'Listen to me. It is not, has never been, and will never be your fault that Gallifrey was destroyed. I watched it, I saw all you did and tried to do and there was nothing else you could have done. I know it is hard, it is terrible that our home, an entire, beautiful planet, is gone. But we're not alone, we have each other and those people who listened and followed your orders. It won't be easy, but we will get everyone through this. And that,' River squeezed her hands, 'I have on good authority.'

'What?' Romana's head snapped up. 'Whose?'

'Mine.'

'What? How - you sent yourself another note?' Instead of an answer, River stood up to grab a note from the board by the door, gave it a quick glance before pushing it over to Romana. The Gallifreyan on it was very neat, just like the one on all the other notes on the board. The same handwriting, all written by the same person.

It didn't say much, Romana thought, half of it was a set of coordinates somewhere on earth in the 21st century. But the important bit, the part that made tears well up in her eyes, was the other half. Simple, reassuring words, no details, no spoilers. She blinked, handed the note back to River.

'Thank you.'

'Of course.'

For Time Lords, especially of their age, losing track of time was an unheard of concept. Their perception of time was part of their very being, ingrained deeply in their DNA, yet neither of them could tell how long they had been sitting there, staring at their cold tea in silence. Eventually, Romana broke the silence with a question even River didn't have the answer to.

'Where do those coordinates lead?'

'I haven't the foggiest. Let's go find out, shall we?'

Romana's TARDIS landed quietly - unlike some people, she had paid attention in class, thank you very much - in the driveway of a quaint, british house.

'Earth, 2020,' River nodded and pushed the doors open. She strode outside and Romana walked right into her because barely two steps before the door, River had stopped dead. Hating not knowing, Romana had to peek around her to see what had caused her to halt and found herself staring at another woman, pretty, maybe around fifty, who was staring at River with unabashed surprise.

'I'm very sorry for parking on your property,' Romana began, stepping around River towards the woman, but strangely enough, her eyes were still fixated on River.

'You died,' she finally said, very slowly. 'The Doctor said you died and I'd never see you again. But you...you're older. Much older. But you haven't changed.'

'Neither have you.' It was eerie how out of place she felt, Romana thought. Clearly, there was a story here, history between River and this other woman, but she had no idea what it was, except that from the stranger's words, it had something to do with the Doctor. Which could mean a lot of things.

'You haven't aged. You should have aged. This is 2020 - you should look older.'

'And you should be dead, so I guess we're both rubbish at doing things we should,' the woman said and Romana couldn't decide whether it was sarcasm or just resigned honesty in her voice. At least her words had put a smile on River's face and she finally returned her attention to Romana.

'Romana, may I introduce you to my husband's best friend, who happens to be a good friend of myself as well? This-' she put an arm around the woman's shoulders '- is Sarah Jane Smith. Sarah, I'm sure you've heard of Romana.'

'Of course.' Sarah Jane smiled and held out a hand to Romana, who took it, dazed. Sarah Jane Smith. Who else would they go to for help on earth? If Romana wasn't mistaken, and she rarely was, then Ms Smith was mentioned in several tour guides for earth as someone to turn to for help and out of whose path to stay if you came looking for trouble. She was one of the Protectors of Earth, one of the Doctor's 'Children of Time' and if the stories were true, she had a whole cult devoted to her for the last five centuries. It made sense that River knew her - she was, after all, her husband's best friend. It also explained her earlier confusion because frankly, Romana was confused too. Unless earth science had evolved enormously since she last checked, Ms Smith should be almost seventy, probably older considering she used to be a time traveller. But she stood by her earlier assessment, Ms Smith appeared to be in her mid fifties at most - though was that a perception filter on her ring finger?

Apparently, Romana scanning her hadn't been as subtle as she had thought because Sarah Jane followed her gaze and held up her hand so she could have a proper look at the ring.

'I figured it would be easier to just pretend to be aging with this rather than go get my hair dyed grey every other week.' She shrugged. 'It's been working well so far.'

'I don't think that's a matter to be discussed on the street,' River interrupted and glanced at Sarah. 'Do you mind if we come in?'

'Oh, silly me, of course, come on! And do make yourselves useful, help me with the shopping?' Sarah nodded at the bags in the boot and both River and Romana sauntered over to take one. Between the three of them, they managed to get everything inside in one go and in no time, they found themselves seated around the kitchen table, each yet another cup of tea in front of them.

'I've not seen much of Gallifrey when I was there,' Sarah said softly once the other two had brought her up to speed about what had happened to have them appear on her doorstep in the first place. 'It wasn't a pleasant experience but I still would have never wished for Gallifrey to be destroyed. Again.'

She didn't give her condolences, didn't try to express the sorrow she felt over the loss of their planet because she knew there weren't any words. Instead, she squeezed their hands and waited for one of them to break the silence. In the end, it was Romana who did.

'As wonderful as it is to meet you, Sarah Jane,' she began, 'future River sent us to you for a reason - though I am not sure I can see why. I don't mean to offend you, but unless you have some place to hide equipment that can detect empty planets, I don't see how you can possibly help us right now.'

Clearly, River was uncomfortable with the politely put critique on her friend, but Sarah didn't seem put out at all. Instead, she gave Romana a brilliant smile.

'Well, it's your lucky day. Come on, I have to show you something.' Wordlessly, they followed her upstairs and into the attic that promised the secrets of the universe. River smiled knowingly, but hung back to watch the scene play out in front of her.

'Mr Smith,' Sarah called, stepping in front of the chimney.

Romana frowned and shot River a questioning look. 'Is she talking to the wall?'

'Mr Smith, I need you.'

River had to restrain herself to not laugh when Romana jumped a foot into the air as, with his usual fanfare, the wall opened and Mr Smith emerged. In front of them, Sarah shook her head.

'Really, Mr Smith, I wish you would turn down that noise whenever I call you!' She scolded, but it was clear that her heart wasn't in it. Turning back around, she waved her guests to stand next to her and River stepped close immediately, but Romana couldn't help stare. Not only at Mr Smith, but at the entire attic. There were all kinds of alien tech lying around, the walls lined with books - it felt very homey and cozy and she wondered if, perhaps, Sarah Jane Smith could be of help after all.

'Romana, this is Mr Smith,' Sarah pulled her back from her thoughts and finally, Romana joined them in front of the computer. 'He is a Xylok and he's been helping protect the earth for over a decade now. Mr Smith, you remember River, of course, and this is our friend, President Romana of Gallifrey.'

'Welcome, President Romana.' Even for someone from Gallifrey, it was a little strange to be addressed directly by a sentient computer, she thought but tried to give him a smile. Smiling at computers, she then stopped herself, she must be going mental.

'Just Romana, please.'

'Sarah Jane, as I assume you did not only want to introduce me, how can I be of assistance to you?'

'Mr Smith, you have access to planet charts from all across the Universe, don't you? We were hoping that you would be able to find an uninhabited planet that the survivors from Gallifrey can settle on.'

'Are there any specific perimeters you would like me to consider?'

'Yes, there are,' Romana interrupted, taking a step towards the keypad. 'May I?'

'Of course. Depending on the perimeters, finding potential planets will take some time. I will conduct a thorough analysis of all planets in my databanks, so if you don't need me for anything else, I will begin now.'

'Thank you, Mr Smith.'

Leaving the Xylok to it - and Romana would have to ask for that story later, because how on earth did Sarah Jane get her hands on a Xylok, on earth? - they wandered back downstairs and settled in the sitting room with some more tea.

'So, Sarah Jane,' River began, eyeing her friend carefully, 'what's with the perception filter?'

'Oh, well.' Sarah hesitated and Romana sat back in her seat, content to just watch and listen for the time being. 'I've always looked younger than I was, so I never thought much of it. But about, oh, ten, twelve years ago, it started to get a bit too noticeable: Not a single grey hair, no new wrinkles - I shouldn't be complaining, I know, but I'm human and I always liked being human.' She shrugged, ignoring the frowns on both River's and Romana's faces. 'Eventually, I had Mr Smith scan me and he said the natural aging process of my body had been slowed down significantly - he didn't know why, but I think it might have something to do with all that radiation and whatever else I got exposed to when I was travelling with the Doctor.'

'Exposure to the Vortex is known to influence DNA - I should know. Off my head, I couldn't come up with something more plausible,' River admitted and Romana found herself agreeing silently. From the stories she had heard, Sarah Jane had been in quite a few situations of the sort and mixing DNA degrading from radiation with Atron particles from the Vortex, that sounded like a bad idea for keeping one's DNA unaffected.

'Neither could I. I started wearing this -' she held up the perception filter again, '- because I didn't want the neighbours to notice. There's enough talk already with all the aliens coming and going. Besides, there's Luke. I didn't want him to worry.'

'How is he?'

'Oh, he's amazing! He's got married since you've last been here, he and Sanjay are thinking about adoption. But it's early stages yet - oh, I wish you'd come last week, they'd have loved to see you! They just left for a conference yesterday though, and they won't be back for a month…'

'That's a pity, I'd have loved to see them - I can't believe I missed their wedding! Romana, you'd love Luke, he's brilliant, and so is his husband.' Luke, Romana gathered, was Sarah Jane's son, the young man she had seen in several pictures in the house already. So she gave them a smile and a nod, feeling a little like the third wheel in this little catch-up-session. Which now seemed to have turned to River, who just shrugged.

'-not really sure, actually,' she said. 'Romana and I were talking earlier and we had several theories, but they're just that, theories.'

'You mean about your...regeneration problem?' River nodded, of course Sarah would want to know about that now.

'I thought it might have had something to do with having been stuck in the Matrix for so long, without a body. All my previous and possible future regenerations were flowing together, but I kept projecting the body I had longest, this one.' She gestured at herself. 'It's possible that mucked up the possibility of different future bodies because I had mentally already liked them to this one.'

Sarah Jane frowned, gears visibly turning in her head. Finally, she slowly said, 'I didn't know you could influence regeneration like that?' Half question, half statement, but it got her nothing but a shrug from both her friends.

'Possibly. We don't know, though.'

'It's not like there's a precedent for a situation like that,' Romana added. 'I thought it might also be because when we loomed this body, we used the DNA sample we acquired from the Doctor's TARDIS.'

'Which obviously only had the hardwiring for this body, and bits from my previous regenerations, but not the thousand genetic possibilities Gallifreyan children are given when they're loomed.'

'I see. So you're stuck with that body?'

'Luckily, I am quite fond of it,' River said with a smile. 'But yes, essentially - I did die twice since I got it and I changed, but only a little. Bit taller, bit shorter, the hair a little darker or lighter - only small things, but they're there. Preferences change, though, it's quite annoying.'

'And your personality?'

'Mostly the same too - but not exactly. I used to be a lot more willing to take risks and make all kinds of sacrifices to get what I want - mind you, that could also just be age.'

'Might be, it certainly was for me,' Sarah admitted and shrugged lightly, cradling her mug close. Her eyes drifted to Romana, who had curled herself in one of the armchairs, watching the two of them chat. She smiled. 'Romana, is it true that you've got a K-9 as well?'

'Oh, that's right, the Doctor gave one to you, didn't he? Where is he?' Suddenly, it was very hard to restrain herself, after all, K-9 was still a dear friend.

'Sorry, Luke took him when he went off to Uni - I wanted him to have someone to protect him, you know? - and he's still staying with him. It's better for my nerves too, he kept fighting with Mr Smith, if you believe it.'

'He was fighting with Mr Smith?' echoed Romana in disbelief. Next to her, River grinned, but Sarah just sighed, exasperatedly.

'Yes! Two alien computers, and all they do when they are together is fight! It was getting a bit ridiculous, though when it came down to it, they did work together well…actually, Romana, River, I've been meaning to ask, are you going to stay in yourTARDIS, or do you want me to set up the guest rooms?'

'Guest room,' they answered in unison. Startled, Sarah looked back and forth between them, then placed her empty mug on the table.

'In that case, you can both come help me, if you don't mind.'

They didn't mind, of course, and even Romana had to admit that, in the haze of meeting first River and then Sarah Jane, the dark thoughts about Gallifrey's destruction that had been hunting her before, seemed to have disappeared, if only for the time being.

Making up beds like children for a slumber party certainly made them all feel decidedly lighter than they had in a while and perhaps, Romana thought before falling asleep, things would work themselves out after all.