They had stayed the night on the Tardis, desperately needing to rest after a very long day that had seen such lows and highs. They asked River to let them all off at Sarah Jane's house to help her with the garden.
"Call UNIT," River had said in aside with Sarah Jane. "You've done enough for Earth. I mean it, they owe you a garden at least." She held up a hand. "Wait. I know your feelings about them, but I think you might change your mind when you hear this. Mickey?" He looked up. "Isn't there someone new at UNIT? I think she's in the Science Division."
"Yeah," he answered. "I heard about her. Uh, let me think."
"Kate something?"
"That's it. Kate Stewart."
Sarah Jane's heart jumped with hope. "Stewart? Is she- Alistair's- The Brigadier's?"
"Daughter." River smiled in understanding. "She may not use the full surname, but it's nice to know the universe still has a Lethbridge-Stewart. Isn't it? And you have Martha and Mickey there as well."
They had landed silently and invisible at her home just in case. ("Since when can it do that?!" Tegan had exclaimed.) She had found the other companions she had invited that hadn't been able to get there the night before, like Liz Shaw, and the Jacksons, Ben and Polly. They needed to know about the Silence, all parts of it, but she and the others still hadn't decided if they should reveal the Doctor being alive.
Now she picked up the debris strewn everywhere. The destruction was bad enough, but not being able to remember it happening put a chill in her that the sun's warmth couldn't reach.
She banished it on her own. Earth to protect and a circle of new friends helping her, bound together by the-
She heard that unmistakable "funny wheezing noise", as Jo had called it once. River came out in a lovely, deep purple dress that once more left her arms exposed. She took one look at Sarah Jane's grass and wisely pulled off her heels before they sank into the ground. She held them in the same hand she used to casually wave at everyone. She held a pen in the other but knelt next to K9 instead of looking herself.
"I scanned before we landed. Has anything changed?"
His ears whirred. "Indications negative."
"Thank you." She patted his head. "Let me know if you find something."
Martha started, "River, what's going on?"
She held up one finger asking for a moment and opened the Tardis door she had closed behind her earlier. She slipped inside and closed it again. It instantly opened once more. Sarah Jane heard a quick comment - "At least you let her make the noise!" - and then came a body headlong out the doors, clearly pushed.
A quiff of brown hair, a large chin on a baby face, tweed, bowtie, and braces.
The Doctor.
River had brought them the Doctor.
His eyes took them all in. "Oh. Ah, yes. Quite a lot of you. And staring." He scratched his cheek with the opposite hand. "Uh - hold on a mo!"
He dashed for the door, but River came out with Amy and Rory right behind her. Sarah Jane couldn't be sure how much time had passed for River; Jack said they could run into her at any age and some of the youth had faded from her movements. But her journalist's eye could see at least a year or more had passed for Amy and Rory since they were here yesterday.
They spread out across the front of the Tardis with one expression between them.
He got the message. "That's not happening. Right then."
He turned with a sweep of his arms and a broad smile. "Hello! Wasn't expecting this, but we've all seen that happen how many times? Tegan, Barbara, no need to answer. It was rhetorical. Have you met the Ponds? Three of them, and three more at home, but you rarely see those particular ones out and about on the Tardis. This trio comes in different shapes, sizes, and colours, might be using different names, good names like Rory the Roman or River Song. And the not-so-good such as Amy getting rid of Amelia,, but each is still obviously a Pond."
River lifted an eyebrow. "You didn't recognize me as a Pond. I had to tell you once already and I have to tell you again at some point in my future."
"Quiet, you're only trying to draw the attention to yourself. So! Ponds! That's the point! Which I would have made quicker if I hadn't been interrupted."
Sarah Jane had already started to laugh. Oh, there was no mistaking that rambling on.
Amy said in mock complaint, "You're talking like we're something from a shop."
"Rubbish. I'm doing you a favour. These people have known me for years. They obviously want to see if you measure up. That one," the Doctor indicated her and ignored her outburst over the measure up, "comes with a full Scottish attitude. The older looking one next to her has a half Scottish attitude due to genetics. She also has her father's nose."
"Nice try, Sweetie, but I'm not going to say it."
He looked back, thoughtful. "Disappointing."
Sarah Jane asked without meaning to. "Not going to say what?"
"That she hates me."
River hit him with a wicked grin. "No, I don't."
He gave a little laugh and pointed at her.
Wilf had a hand pressed to his mouth and tears in his eyes, this time out of happiness. Jo managed to answer for them, "We did meet the Ponds already."
"Wonderful! And a little bit scary, if I'm honest." He stopped and the boyish facade dropped for the old man. "Yes. Scary. Been some very scary things lately."
He did nothing for a second and then snapped the sonic screwdriver into the air. "K9, I need you to scan for other life forms as a safety measure to mine."
"Scans continuously performed on Doctor Song's orders, Master. No other life forms found."
"Good dog! I told Yappy - he's another robot dog - he had nothing on you."
"I have also worked on wood, Master."
He scowled. "That's enough, K9."
"Unlike the sonic screwdriver."
"All right, all right! This is why I called you a terrible old gasbag! Wait." He looked down as he searched his memory. "It wasn't you. Not you you. It was K9 Mark II. Actually, I said it about you to Professor Rufod, no Rumfred!"
River's head snapped around. "Professor Emilia Rumford?"
"That's it! Wonderful woman!"
"And an archaeologist."
"Yes! Wait, what-? No, River, not the point." He scanned again with his screwdriver and checked with Amy, Rory, and River. He then looked around the garden at all the people gathered there and Sarah Jane wanted to run to him, just to hold him. Something about the way he stood there with his lips pressed flat against each other.
He put the sonic away and spoke in a quiet, soft voice. "Right. You probably heard rumours, well not rumours, reports that say I died, that I was killed. This time, Sarah, Jo, it's not somebody making things up. I'm behind it. I needed to let these people think I died. Very bad people. You heard about them in my death announcement."
Sarah Jane understood at last why River worried. "Should you be so open about surviving what happened? Doctor, please, we're so glad you're here, but what if they hear you or find out some other way?"
"Then I act as if I'm before it happened. The younger me settled the Ponds back then. It makes sense I'd pick them up again supposedly before Lake Silencio. The Silence won't know any different. It happens with time travel."
"Asynchronous." Harkness looked as if a tether held him to the spot and he strained against it to go the Time Lord.
"Quite right. Hello, Jack. Stay away from River. You might stay away from all Ponds. Nasty jealous streaks. Swords and guns and right hooks."
And that was why River brought him: if he could go around the universe playing fast and loose with the Silence finding out, no reason existed why he couldn't see all his best friends together.
The gentleness became steel. "And if the Silence ever comes around, you need to tell me. Call me, and if I'm not available, the Tardis will call River."
He smiled again and it was a real smile that gave Sarah Jane everything she wanted. He was happy River brought him. "So that's me then." He clapped his hands. "What are you lot up to?"
They rushed to hug him, one after one, although pretty much en masse. Some went two at a time; Ian and Barbara, for example, didn't wait for the one to move away before the other came in. Ian teased that he didn't age anymore, but the Doctor was going backwards. The Time Lord grumbled over everyone saying that to him. Jack kissed him full on the mouth and then gave an angry looking River a Special occasion, won't do it again.
He asked Sarah Jane what had happened to her garden, and she vaguely referred to "It doesn't matter, nothing we couldn't handle. What matters is you! Don't you see? You being here, letting us know you're alive instead of hiding, caring enough to worry if we're safe - it says everything."
Wilf grabbed the Time Lord into a fierce hug.
"I'm okay, Wilf. Honestly, I'm okay."
After some time at this, Amy called, "Sarah Jane."
She made herself break away and walked over. Amy said it all in two words. "Hen Night."
She grinned, then laughed, and waved to Jo. "Hen Night," she mouthed slowly.
Jo flung her arms around Martha and whispered into her ear. Woman to woman it went: Martha to Tegan to Barbara to Liz and Polly, who had no idea what was going on, but shrugged in agreement and headed for the Tardis. Rani fought against being told she was a couple years too young, while Dorothy ran laughing past the Doctor calling, "Don't wait up, Professor!"
"What do you mean, don't wait-Rivah!"
"K9!" Sarah Jane called from the door, "Watch over them for me!"
"Affirmative, Mistress!"
She slammed the door in the Doctor's face. She laughed like she had in her university years: carefree, out with her friends, and a life lying ahead that she knew would be one of adventure.
"He's right behind me," she said as she dashed up the steps. "I sound like the head teacher's about to find us out."
Tegan said, "It's a good description. River says she locked him out. He can't get in."
He could pound on the doors though. "River! Not again!"
She turned on the monitor so they could see him.
Barbara watched him with a fond smile. "He's very cross. Nice to see that old expression on this face."
Polly had spun around when she got in, her long, light hair spinning behind her, taking in the vast changes in the Tardis with the same warm, dark eyes that had watched the second Doctor fly her. She pulled herself together and popped up the stairs. "It's incredible being back here after all these years."
Jo happily patted her hand. "I know just how you feel. Although it was never like this, was it? All the women on the Tardis together."
They each chuckled, laughed, or simply smiled as they made room for each other around the console. Dorothy joked they looked like a coven while River took her time setting the controls. "I think we should make this a regular thing. There's other women we can invite. Not everybody will always be able to go, but the twelve of us is a great start."
Liz's white hair, a bit shorter and whiter than Polly's, fell in gentle waves around her blue eyes, her strong nose, and high cheekbones. Her skin had tanned from wherever her work with UNIT had taken her. She counted the faces around her. "I see eleven of us. Who's the twelfth?"
River nodded up to the time rotor.
Shaw stared at her and then chuckled. "Of course, let's count the ship. Why not?"
Martha pointed at the monitor. "He's calming down."
Amy listened and her mouth forced back a massive grin. "He's blaming Rory, but it looks like Rory's winning."
The Doctor looked back at the ship. "You're right, Roranicus, I should have expected it. Are we meant to have dinner ready for when they get back? The last time this happened, the women took Bessie for a night out and the men were expected to make dinner. Of course, none of you were there, so you're no help with that reference. Ace is the only other person who knows and she's inside my ship!"
She shook her head and surprised herself by needing to wipe her eyes. "I've missed him."
He still prattled on. "So, we'll play it safe and cook, but I'm sure they'll at least give us some time. I know you're listening in there! You should be fair and give us a few hours. So, what are we thinking? Football? Of course, you can play, Wilf, don't be silly. I was thinking we'd team up. The oldest four, maybe five: myself, Jack, Rory, and - this is a good question. No, not about Rory, he's over two thousand. About Ian, I think he's older than Wilf. Doesn't matter. Wilf and I created this team and it's staying this way."
Polly smiled. "He's alive. I don't know why I'm surprised. It's just the sort of thing he'd do."
"It's because he's the Last Centurion," The Doctor argued. "Yes, that Last Centurion. You can't have two of them, because then they wouldn't be the last one. I'm not around all of you for a few years and basic education gets thrown out."
Sarah Jane walked around the console to put an arm around River. She squeezed her in thanks.
"It's exactly him," she agreed.
It was. Always, never to be mistaken. Ever. No matter the body, no matter the little differences. Always and forever, the Doctor.
"No, we can't get a take away, Ben. Be a man. Cook something from scratch. That's what I told Joseph Favre. 'Joe!' I said- what do you mean you don't who he is? It's the Dark Ages all over again!"
Amy leaned against the console and looked around. "Okay, we can live centuries between now and that dinner they'll have waiting. River?"
"Right. And I promise you, you will have plenty of time with the Doctor when we get back." She smiled at all of them with the same conspiratorial air as Amy's and then paused at Sarah Jane. "That day in Gunnersbury Park, I said something to you about not everyone can steal a blue box to see the universe."
Sarah Jane beamed and answered, at the end, with a small laugh. "I remember. Of course, it was just the other day for me."
"Well, not everyone can." River leaned in. "But we can. Ladies, you heard my mum. Time and space are at our beck and call."
Polly's dropped open. "Did she just say mum?"
River pulled back on a lever and they took off. Sarah Jane watched the Doctor's happy face as they dematerialized. She hugged River again.