Jamie's head was still muddled as he, the Doctor, and Aggie headed towards the direction of Lochindorb, Ordinarily, he would have made conversation with Aggie, a fellow Scot and a descendant of his closest friends, but he was still trying to wrap his brain around what his future held.

Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that he would be the Laird and owner of the castle; indeed, before the rebellion, it was a dream just to be able to visit the castle—one that Jamie's father and brothers had hoped would come true. But Aggie had said that he had been the only survivor of his family who still carried the name—the implications of which were all too clear. Other than a few possible cousins, his entire family had perished at the hands of the Redcoats. Indeed, he had expected it, but the confirmation of that knowledge had stamped out that fool's hope that, just maybe by some miracle, a few of them had survived.

The Doctor knew that Jamie was distressed, and he knew the exact reason why; he also knew that there was little that he could say in the way of comfort. Drawing an arm around him barely helped; the plastic rainwear they were wearing blocked the normally comforting sensation that would usually follow.

Still, they pressed on; it was as they neared the edge of the woodland that they heard a commotion.

"I know those voices," Aggie said, her eyes widening.

She ran up ahead, with the Doctor and Jamie right behind her, and they soon came across a group of teenagers—Aggie's friends, no doubt—with a few adults and policemen.

One of the adults—a woman, immediately ran over to Aggie, drawing her in an embrace as the others now gathered nearby, looking relieved.

"Mrs. McLaren, I presume?" the Doctor asked, gently.

Mrs. McLaren looked up, and as Aggie explained that the Doctor and Jamie had gone out of their way to help, she immediately thanked the both of them.

"I cannae thank ye enough," she said. "I'd feared the worst for my Aggie in this weather. Is there nae a way I can repay ye?"

"We're quite fine," the Doctor assured her.

"They're going t' Castle McCrimmon," Aggie said. "Can we give them a lift?"

"Ye'd get yer car stuck in the mud in this weather if ye go that way; the ground is verra boggy," Jamie said. "I know; we tried driving already. Best that ye go on home and stay there until this rain clears."

"Aye, if ye're sure," a man who they presumed to be Mr. McLaren replied. He cast a glance at Jamie's kilt. "That would be the McCrimmons' tartan, aye?"

"He says he is a McCrimmon," Aggie said.

"How apt, then, that ye're the one t' help our family," Mr. McLaren said. "Yer kinfolk had a long history of helping ours."

"Aye, I know," Jamie said, gently.

"And how wonderful that the McCrimmon line still exists!" Mrs. McLaren said.

The Doctor cleared his throat as he saw Jamie's face fall even more.

"Er, yes; well, we'd love to stay and chat, but I do believe it is best if you take Aggie home to where it's safe and dry. I'm sure she must be hungry and tired, as well," the Doctor pointed out.

This caused everyone to fuss over Aggie again; the Doctor chose that moment to lead Jamie away, towards the direction of Castle McCrimmon. The piper glanced over his shoulder at the descendants of his dear friends.

"My line ends with me," the piper said, quietly.

"Jamie…"

"I don' regret anything, Doctor; maybe it's better this way. I'll be a legend among my people—the Laird of the McCrimmons, who kept disappearing and reappearing to do good deeds for the family of the McLarens, just as he had always done."

If it hadn't been for the more pressing matter at hand with the vortex, the Doctor would have brought up the subject of different ways for Jamie's bloodline to live on. But those would be a discussion for another time and place.

"Why don't you show me the way back to your castle?" the Doctor said, at last.

This perked Jamie up a bit, albeit slightly, and he picked up his pace, with the Doctor right behind him.

Jamie's shortcuts ended up getting himself and the Doctor to Castle McCrimmon ahead of the others. The piper didn't mind this at all, and the Doctor wasn't surprised when, upon casting the rainwear and supplies aside, the first place the piper went to was the fireplace in the Great Hall.

But to Jamie's disappointment, the spot above the mantel was empty.

"She was wrong aboot the portrait," he said, quietly, as the Doctor came to join him. "It's nae there."

"So it isn't," the Doctor said. "But I don't think it's a mistake on Aggie's behalf. If you'll allow me…" The Time Lord withdrew his sonic screwdriver, running it across the empty space. "Just as I thought. The dire situation with the vortex is causing the events of our future to unravel."

"Eh?" Jamie asked, worried. "That doesnae sound good."

"It isn't," the Doctor said, grimly. "You see, Jamie, you are, presently, not the Laird, and you haven't reclaimed your ancestral property. Yet. But, at some point, you will go back to Scotland and do so. Except there's one thing that is threatening that future now."

"…That e'erything will end early when the vortex explodes," Jamie realized. "And if I die the morning after tomorrow in the explosion, getting the castle will ne'er have happened, so there would be no portrait."

"Yes; the vortex is in such a state right now, it can't determine which of the futures will be the one to occur," the Doctor said.

Jamie suddenly shuddered.

"Do… Do ye think the same thing applies to ye and yer future?"

"Yes, I suppose so," the Doctor replied.

"Then… All of yer other selves—the dandy, and Peri's Doctor, and all the other ones of ye that I met… What's happening t' them now?"

The Doctor's eyes widened in dawning horror.

"Well, if the vortex explodes, it would happen to quickly for me to regenerate. That would mean that my other selves would never exist. Like the portrait, I… I suppose… one by one, my other selves are disappearing the closer we get to the morning after tomorrow," he said, quietly. "Starting with my oldest self, and working backwards."

A knot formed in Jamie's gut.

"How many do ye think have vanished already?"

"I don't know," the Doctor said, helplessly. "But considering that we're more than halfway until the time limit, it stands to reason that more than half of my future selves would have vanished!"

"That means that Ace's Doctor is the oldest one of ye left right now," Jamie said, counting on his fingers.

"Yes, and I expect him to vanish soon enough, as well," the Doctor fretted. "It will keep going; I suppose the dandy will vanish an hour or two before the explosion, and then…"

"Can we get them back?" Jamie asked.

"If we can solve the problem with the vortex in time, absolutely," the Doctor assured him. "Everything will be back to normal, including the portrait here."

"I don' care aboot that," Jamie insisted. "I care aboot ye."

The Doctor fell silent now.

"I mean it," Jamie said. "It's why I expected that my family line would end with me—I couldnae leave ye, e'en t' start a family to continue my lineage. I meant what I said before—that I don' regret going with ye. My life would've been so empty withoot ye, assuming I'd survived at all—and according to that alternate timeline I saw, I di'n survive anyway."

"Yes, that timeline…" the Doctor murmured. He shuddered. "Oh, Jamie, I truly am sorry you had to see that. Just thinking about the person I had become under the Intelligence's influence is sickening. I wasn't myself at all; I was a mad being devoid of any compassion. And to think, the potential of becoming someone like that exists within me, able to be drawn out by some force or influence…"

The image of the Valeyard crossed Jamie's consciousness again.

"I won' let ye become that," Jamie vowed. "I already told the Master I wouldnae."

"Why did he know about that?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh… I… Well, he used his touch-telepathy on me. I di'n want t' tell him, but it just sort of happened," Jamie admitted. "The dream I had the other night was aboot that, actually. I guess talking aboot it with the Master made me dream of it."

"Yes, I suppose it would," the Doctor sighed. "It's simply horrifying to think about that from my end, but you had to face me like that. It must have been unbearable for you to see me without a shred of love in me."

Jamie responded with a nod, not wanting to dwell on that.

"You know, Jamie," the Doctor continued. "We are in a good position to fix everything in time. But, seeing as though we never had a chance to properly test the coding sequence, there is still a chance that we might fail."

"I realize that," Jamie replied. "And I just want ye t' know that no matter what happens, there's no place I'd rather be than right here with ye."

"And there's nowhere else I'd rather be than with you, Jamie," the Doctor promised. "…That was the real reason you wanted to get Aggie back to her family, isn't it? You wanted that even before you found out she was a McLaren."

"Aye," Jamie admitted. "If this is the end, then I wanted her t' be able t' spend her last hours with her loved ones."

"I suspected as much," the Doctor replied. He paused for a moment. "You know, Jamie, there have been things that I wanted to say to you that largely went unsaid. It's something that, I think, everyone is guilty of. A lot of the time, it's because you assume that the other person understands without you saying anything."

Jamie gave the Doctor a look, but then smiled.

"Aye, and I did understand," he said.

"Oh, yes?"

"I know what ye want t' say. Yer older selves said as much t' me each time we met them. And e'en if they hadnae said it, I'd still know; yer actions always spoke for ye."

"All the same, Jamie… I feel as though I must tell you now."

The piper gave a nod, silently instructing him to speak.

"You've been traveling with me for thirteen years, Jamie," the Doctor said. "Not all at once, of course, though it did feel that way for you, but still—thirteen years. There's only one other person with whom I've traveled longer than that, and that is my granddaughter, Susan. Those thirteen years have been truly wonderful, Jamie—yes, even the ten years we've been working for the Celestial Intervention Agency. And if I had the chance to change anything, the only thing I would have changed would be to not give you as many scares as I know I have. You've put up with a lot from me—more than you should have. And yet, you stayed with me."

"I know ye di'n mean t' make me worry."

"Yes, but even so, when I saw later how it had affected you, I regretted it at once," the Doctor insisted. "You mean so much to me, Jamie. Even with this chance to try to put it all into words, I feel as though it's not quite enough."

"I know what ye mean," Jamie said. "I don' think I can fully tell ye how I've felt aboot the last thirteen years. Ye took the time t' teach me things—t' help me understand about a universe that I knew nothing aboot. And ye made sure that I ne'er felt like I was alone; I knew ye were always there for me."

"And so I shall be," the Doctor promised. "You have my trust, my faith, my love, and my care until the end—whenever that may be."

"And ye have my trust, faith, love, and care until the end, too," Jamie vowed.

"And that's more than I could ever ask for," the Doctor finished, drawing the piper into an embrace.

Jamie returned the hug, ignoring the confusing swirl of emotions within him. If it did end the morning after the next day, he knew he would still be grateful for whatever time he had known the Doctor.

Noises from outside soon drew their attention; the others were arriving at Castle McCrimmon—just barely making it before the last light of the day had vanished. The Doctor and Jamie retrieved their rainwear to help guide them inside.

"How did you make it here before us!?" the Brigadier demanded.

"My shortcuts," Jamie said, proudly. "Ye should have stayed with us."

"Oh, never mind that," Zoe huffed. "Let's just get the rest we need so that we'll be ready to make good time tomorrow."

"Aye; just make yerselves at home," Jamie said. "Ye'll like the vast rooms of this place."

"It's nothing compared to my father's estates on Mount Perdition," the Master scoffed.

"Aye? Well, it's my property, and unless ye want me t' kick ye oot, I'd suggest ye drop the subject," Jamie snarled.

The Doctor gave Jamie's shoulder a quick squeeze.

"I think it's lovely, Jamie," he said. "Now let's get everyone settled with some food and some sleeping quarters. We have a long night ahead of us."

Jamie nodded; there would be plenty of time to worry about the Master later. For now, he would enjoy what time he had left with the Doctor, and with Zoe, Victoria, and the Brigadier—and would hope that there would be more to enjoy in the future.