Sara barely stirred from sleep when someone knocked on her front door. An old Collie trotted from the kitchen to the door, wagging its tail in anticipation of greeting the visitor. Sara didn't move from the couch. The person knocked again.

She closed her eyes, wishing the person away. The dog trotted over to her and whined.

"Go lay down," she ordered, pushing its head away when it thrust its nose in her face.

It whined at her. The person at the door knocked again.

"Go lay down!" Sara snapped at the dog.

Dejected, the dog went back to the door. It sat down, staring at the door as it softly whined. Sara threw her blanket over her head. The person knocked again. Still, she didn't move.

She heard the front door open, and the dog began yipping excitedly.

"Helloooo," a woman called out.

Sara didn't respond. She closed her eyes tight, wishing the person away. She whispered, "I can't take another visitor."

"Sara are you-" The woman's voice was coming closer. "Oh! There you are. Found her!"

Sara didn't move. She didn't care who the woman was or what she wanted or who she was finding her for.

"Sara?" another woman said – the familiar voice of-

Sara pulled the blanket back, staring up at the holograph of Tara. Standing next to her was a blonde woman. She looked like she'd rummaged through a garbage bin for her clothes, and her lopsided smile didn't help her image.

"Sara," the blond said gleefully. "I haven't seen you in... Well... It's been six years for you, hasn't it?"

"Who is she?" Sara growled at Tara.

"The Doctor," Tara told her. "Remember? I told you she was a she. He was a she. The Doctor is a woman now."

"Good for you both. Get out." Sara threw the blanket back over her head.

There was a moment of silence.

"She wanted to see you since she regenerated; she wanted you to know what she looked like. I'm sorry it's been a while."

"Three years, four days," Sara snarled.

"I'm sorry I was gone so long. Things happened. I lost The Doctor, I thought I found The Doctor, I got caught in a-"

Sara exploded off the couch, throwing the blanket away. The Doctor took stepped back with a look of surprise.

"Of course you did! Of course!" Sara snarled at Tara. "When I need you, when I really need you, you can't ever be here. It's always something with you. You always have something more important to do, someone more important to save. You wouldn't even try to save Jason – there'll be another, you said. I DON'T WANT ANOTHER! I WANT JASON!"

Sara was trembling by the time she stopped. Tears flowed down her face. Tara stared at her.

"Not everyone can be saved," The Doctor started. "Not everyone-"

"GO TO HELL!" Sara screamed at her. "AND GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE! BOTH OF YOU! I NEVER WANT TO SEE EITHER OF YOU AGAIN! YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING BUT RUIN MY LIFE! RUIN IT!"

"Sara, I tried to tell you about-" Tara started.

Sara yanked her locket off her neck and stomped the heel of her foot on it over and over and over until it was pieces covered with blood. And Tara was gone. She glared at The Doctor.

"Get out of my house," Sara snarled.

The Doctor nodded. "Very well." She turned and walked away.

At the door, The Doctor paused when Sara began to sob. The sobs swiftly turned to wails. The woman's grief tore at her hearts. She quietly closing the door as she walked out.

#

The Doctor walked into the Tardis to find things chaotic.

"Tara," The Doctor called.

She didn't appear.

"Tara, let's talk, love."

Tara appeared before her, crying holographic tears.

"She always told me not to tell her about her future, then she asked me to tell her, so I did. I did what my friend asked. And now she's angry with me? I don't understand this. I don't know what I did wrong!"

The Doctor smiled. "Darling, you did nothing wrong. But you've also never experienced a friend in pain before."

"I've felt yours."

"Yes, but I've had thousands of years to get a better handle on it. Sara's only had thirty-three. And Jason was the first man she fell in love with. Her anger is meant for the world, and she can't stop herself from blaming something or someone. You just happen to be that someone right now. You and I both know you could no more stop his death than you could stop the creation of the universe. Most creatures are destined to die at a particular day, and a particular time and nothing will ever change that. It's when we find those rare ones who don't have a particular day or time that we know we've found a gem."

"Like Sara."

"Like Sara. Like Amy. Like Bill. No day, no time, no warning."

"And Cla-Others."

The Doctor cocked her head. "And who?"

"Others." Tara turned away. The chaos in the Tardis had stopped, and it was quiet again. "I've never seen her so angry."

"She is angry, yes, but she's hurting, scared, lost, her heart is breaking. Humans are used to emotions – well, lots of creatures are, not just humans – but it doesn't mean they can handle them. She took all those feelings out on you because you are safe."

"Safe?" Tara turned back to The Doctor.

"You're her friend. She felt safe showing this to you. She probably hasn't shown it to anyone before today."

"I hate leaving her like this."

"Then we won't."

"We promised Graham, Ryan, and Yasmin we'd be back shortly."

"Are you or are you not capable of manipulating time and space?"

Tara smiled. "You don't mind?"

"Helping you and your only other friend in the universe make amends? No. I absolutely do not mind. And neither would my last two incarnations."

Tara turned around, nodding. "They really did get to liking her."

"I'm sure I will too. Now, let's clear out this smoke and give Sara some space for a few days. We'll try again."

"She smashed the transmitter. I can't see her unless she comes here."

"I know. A few days gives me time to make a new one. Maybe a lovely broach this time." The Doctor headed up to the mezzanine, toward one of the side doors. "Or a tiara."

"A tiara?"

"Too much?" She stopped to smile at Tara.

"Yes."

"I could make a ring."

"A necklace. She always loved that necklace he, you, gave her."

The Doctor smiled. "A necklace it is, then. Come join me?"

Tara shook her head. "I need some time..."

"Okay. When you're feeling better then."

Tara nodded before disappearing.

The Doctor sighed, telling herself, "If I'd known this would make me a mum..." She turned into the side hall, smiling.

#

The Doctor crested the hill of the hay field and stopped. Below her was the end of Sara's farm. She sat on a bench made of a split log sitting on two large split logs. The tree the bench had come from was next to it, the top smooth from use. She watched Sara for a few moments, considering how best to start this conversation.

Sara tossed a handful of cracked corn on the ground, watching the crows peck at it. Some had perched on the bench next to her, eating corn from her hand when she offered it to them. At her feet, the Collie lay watching the birds. It had taken a while to make him understand crows were not to be chased, especially here at the end of her property where she'd created a sanctuary for them.

The Doctor strolled down the hill, stopping at the end of the bench. Sara glanced up but said nothing. The Doctor slowly sat down on the opposite end, watching the crows.

"They're quite happy here. They like you," The Doctor told her.

Sara said nothing.

"Can you understand them-"

"Leave," Sara hissed.

The crows grew still, all eyes turning toward The Doctor. Another human, another creature, might think nothing of this, but The Doctor knew better. These crows were friends with Sara, not her, and she might have been there to broker the friendship, but that was when she had another face. They saw a stranger now, and she was on a very thin line of being a safe stranger, or an enemy.

"Please, let's talk," The Doctor said.

"I don't want to talk to the likes of you."

"The likes of me can't be responsible for things I cannot control."

Sara sighed. She put her face in her hands for a moment, then pushed her hands up and through her hair, pinning it away from her face. The crows were slowly moving in on The Doctor now.

"Am I an enemy?" The Doctor asked Sara.

"What?" Sara finally looked at her.

"I asked, am I an enemy?"

"No. Just an ass."

The Doctor smiled at her. "Perhaps, but I'm not an enemy?"

"No."

"They don't know that." The Doctor subtly motioned at the crows around them.

Sara looked at them, noticing their focus and the hive movement toward The Doctor.

"Leave her be," Sara told them. "She made me angry, but no harm."

Most of the crows looked at Sara, cawing. With a tired sigh, she smiled.

"I know the feeling isn't that, but I'm angry. She made me very angry. Her and Tara."

More cawing.

"No. She's The Doctor. She just changed faces," Sara told them.

They continued cawing.

"Ah," The Doctor told the crows, "I see the confusion. My kind doesn't die. We regenerate into a new body. This is the new me. It can be quite mind boggling at first. Perhaps your ancestors spoke of it?"

The crows cawed some more, but relaxed. Sara returned to feeding them from the bucket at her feet.

"They have certainly taken a liking to you," The Doctor told her.

Sara nodded.

"It's strange being a woman. I've never been one before."

Sara looked at her. "What's strange about it? I thought your species didn't have male and female."

"We don't. I mean, not like humans, but we can obviously change gender." She motioned to herself to emphasize.

"Obviously. Why are you here? You never come without wanting something." Sara looked away, adding angrily, "Which is infuriating, actually."

The Doctor stared at her until she looked back up.

"You've never told me that before."

"I've never been this angry at you before."

"Or Tara?"

Sara stared for several minutes. She slowly looked away. "She warned me. She told me it was going to happen. But she didn't tell me what I really needed to know."

"What was that?"

"It would take him three days to die, and he would be in so much pain that he wouldn't even know who I was when he passed away. I lost him twice. When the accident happened, and at the end. I think I'd have rather he died from being shot by a Dalek."

"Shot by a Dalek?"

"She said if he went adventuring with you, he'd be killed by a Dalek on the same day, same time. I didn't know that the car accident wasn't that day and time. Three days later would be. I could have been with him three more days."

"Oh. I see. Would he have enjoyed adventuring?"

"Yes. After he saw the Tardis and met Tara, he always asked me what adventuring with you was like. I didn't know, of course, since I don't, but I told him what I'd heard from you and the others, the companions you call them."

The Doctor thought for a moment. "That could be changed."

Sara looked up at her. "What?"

"I have a time machine, don't I? He could die adventuring. But understand, Sara, he'll die no matter what. I cannot save him. No one can save him."

Sara started to cry. She dropped her face into her hands and began to sob. The Doctor moved next to her and put her arm around her, holding her close. For several hours they sat while Sara cried.

Slowly sitting up, Sara dried her eyes. The crows had moved closer to her, trying to comfort her as best they knew how. She petted several of them. Noticing she was now petting the crows, the Collie pushed ahead of the crows and demanded attention. She petted him for a while, watching him watch her.

"So?" The Doctor asked.

She shook her head. "No. I can't live through losing him a third time. I feel like my heart would shatter if I did that. I would die too."

"Then we have progress!"

Sara looked at her. "What?"

She smiled at Sara, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You don't want to die. And you're out of the house with your friends." She motioned at the crows and dog. "And me, of course. That's progress for a mending heart."

Sara smiled a little, looking away to the ground.

"And what of Tara?" the Doctor asked.

"She tried to tell me. I wouldn't let her."

"She said that. I hate to place blame right now, but it sounds more like you chose not to know."

Sara sighed. "I'm not ready to talk about it yet. I can't... I can't face her right now."

"That's fair." The Doctor dug into her coat pocket and held out her hand.

Sara looked down at the locket on a gold link chain. It was a little bigger than the last one.

"A transmitter?"

"Yes, but I made some changes." The Doctor opened it. Inside was an aged picture of the Tardis on the left and an aged picture of Tara on the right. The Doctor pointed to the Tardis. "If you press this, it calls Tara. When you press it, she'll know if it's urgent or just a friendly call – that's important since we never know where our adventures will find us when you call. I'd like not to get stranded while being shot at." Sara laughed a little at the joke. "When she's here, it still reaches two kilometers. But if you press on Tara, for four hours you can reach as far as ten kilometers before it powers down to recharge. It takes a day to recharge, use it sparingly." The Doctor picked up Sara's hand and placed the locket it in it, then curled Sara's fingers around the locket. "Tara doesn't have but two friends, Sara. You and me. I know you're hurting, I know Jason's death has torn you asunder, but remember your friend feels the pain too. She would do anything to be here for you."

Sara nodded.

"That's a girl. We're going to go now. Have some rescuing and adventures to get to. When you're ready to talk to Tara, call her. We'll be here as quick as can be."

Sara nodded again.

The Doctor stood up and then hugged Sara, surprising her. Sara stared wide-eyed at her when she stood up.

"I'm a hugger now."

"It would appear."

The Doctor flashed a smile and walked away.