A/N: This is it. The last chapter of my short story. All I ask is that you let me know how I did. I know I didn't have a lot of any one Doctor but I do hope I portrayed them properly. (And a last minute thought. Having Amy Pond come along for a Christmas Carol moment. The Eleventh Doctor does or says something annoying and Amy asks Jack, "Is this what you want to be when you grow up?")

Chapter Seven: Conclusion

Sarah stepped forward as Luke ran to Jack's other side. She saw that Jack was scared. He was rushing the explanation. "I don't need a bio-compatible form. I need one that's incompatible. If I absorb the regenerative material, it will stay with me until I do regenerate. The Valeyard will become the complete form. Luke, you were made. You can best hold in the regenerative essence until it can be released into the Valeyard."

"And how do I do that."

"Simply touch him. He'll . . . know . . . what I plan." Jack was looking at her. Sarah, could I ask a favour? A big favour."

Jack, the smirking Jack, the know-it-all Jack, wanted her help. His fate was in her hands. For some reason it did not scare her. It made her confident. And Luke was saying how brilliant Jack was to think around himself.

"What do I do?" she asked. She felt a foolish pride at how strong her voice sounded.

"Put your head close and take a deep breath."

"Are you sure?" Sarah asked. She had to know. "You said Luke would be better at holding it in until it can be released."

"I know he would be the better choice," Jack assured her, "and so does the Valeyard.".

For one second, Sarah saw a different side of Jack. He wanted to stop the Valeyard, regardless of the cost. Even if the cost was her. She paused. And the thought came to her. From what little she knew about the Valeyard, if the man were to succeed in his plan then nothing else would matter. It was that thought that made her decide what to do.

Sarah leaned forward. She inhaled, but it didn't stop. It was as though she was inhaling the entire world. The feeling wouldn't end. And she understood. The memories helped her understand. She was taking in the essence of the Doctor. The Doctor at the end of his twelfth regeneration. When she stopped, she looked at Jack.

He is young. So young.

His entire life was in her head. She saw, through the Doctor's eyes, her father in the crater. Staring. Then running. River was there in her memories. And the loss of Rose. How the Doctor knew, all the while, standing in this room next to Donna. Yet he smiled and kept his pain a secret so that Rose would never know.

The Doctor leaving Grace. Him yelling at Tegan that there was nothing he could do. That Adric was dead. Sarah Jane was left behind. Jamie had all his memories erased. Sarah was holding her granddaughter.

"Sarah," Jack was telling her, "you need to concentrate. You need to find a way to hold the essence in place."

Her mind was swirling. But it was also the Doctor's mind. It was also Jack's mind after a millennium and more of life. But she couldn't stop herself. She saw herself. Standing there. The golden aura was covering her. She could see it slipping away. She was remembering this moment as it was occurring. And before.

Gallifrey. The alien beauty that surrounded her. But it held no joy. Only sadness. Alone in the midst of everything. She was walking along a path. She looked up. Into the Untempered Schism. She felt it. All of time and space. The movement of the planets and the stars. The orbits of every electron in her body. And she ran. In her mind, she ran.

She knew his name. She knew its meaning. She knew why he wouldn't tell her. And she knew that this was why he asked her. He knew she would keep his secret.

Voices were in her head. They were telling her that she was too different to hold them in place. They said they could help. They said they were helping. She was told to go toward the light.

Now, in her mind, she was running again. She understood, fully, that time was short. And so she ran. Toward one bright spot. Amidst all the sorrow that was his life, Jack had one bright spot. One glorious memory. It made everything else bearable. She reached that memory and looked.

It was Sarah. That first day. Her mother had warned her they were taking in a houseguest. And she was looking at him. She knew what she was thinking. She had crushes before. But not like this. It was as though she knew he was everything she could want. Now she was reliving that scene. Jack was looking at her. In a way so total and complete that Sarah could not have imagined it. She knew how Jack felt.

"Kismet."

Inside her head, the Dandy Doctor was nodding. That was how he knew.

Sarah and Jack spoke in unison.

"We can't touch each other."

"How is it?" Jack asked.

"You're wonderful, Jack."

"Thank you, but you know what I mean."

She smirked. He may be the first but she was twelve Doctors. "I know something you haven't thought of. I can't go into that room with you. I may have your memories but I'm not you." She paused. "Oh, that's right. You did think of that. Just before I said it."

"You need me to take you into the room. But I can't touch you."

Sarah smiled as she heard the sound of a Tardis returning. "You can, once you've regenerated. That's because . . ."

"I know," Jack said.

"Sorry to bother you," The Eleventh Doctor said as he exited his Tardis. "I suddenly remembered that River gave Sarah one of her pistols." He started by looking at Jack, then turned to Sarah as his words came out more slowly. "RIVER, you must come and see this. This must be what's locked in my head. That little corner that constantly yells at me not to notice it." He turned to Jack. "It isn't actually yelling, mind you. It's just annoyingly obvious once you do notice it."

River came out smiling. She looked stunned when she gazed at Sarah. "I can feel it. I can feel her."

"She's holding the essence of my last regeneration. I couldn't do it . . . Not me me, him me because I hadn't regenerated yet." The Doctor paused. "But you're still standing here?" Another pause. "What am I missing?"

Sarah was smiling. She knew what was coming. As the Doctor said, "YES", she had to laugh. He added, "Aww, you ruined my moment."

"She knows you too well, Sweetie," River was saying.

The Doctor was smiling. "She does. And since we all know why I'm here, shall we be going?" He held out his hand for Luke to take. He held his hand out for River. He smiled at Sarah. "I'll come back for you after I drop these two off."

Sarah returned the smile. "Thank you. I'd hate to miss seeing what happens to the Valeyard."

The three followed as Jack led them down the final corridor to the Valeyard's lair. At the last second, River told them to wait. She went back to Sarah and asked for the holster and pistol. She might need it. That done, she grabbed the Doctor's hand and they continued.

Arthur had to ask his daughter what was going on. She was smiling. "The Valeyard will be wary of Luke. And River is now armed. He'll know he must win, or die."

A telltale noise was heard as another Tardis reappeared. The Doctor and Donna came running out. The Doctor cringed when he saw Sarah. "We're too late. It's Luke. We can only hope for the best."

At Arthur's question, Donna explained. The Valeyard would expect it to be Luke he had to avoid. The odds would have been better if he had picked Sarah. She asked the Doctor to confirm what she said but he was staring "Doctor? Why are you smiling."

"Because I'm absolutely brilliant. I was clever enough to figure it out, after all." He stood up. "Time to go. Again. We do have a planet to find."

Donna grinned at Sarah and wished her luck with her version of the Doctor. Sarah couldn't help it. She had all those memories in her head. She grabbed and squeezed Donna's hand with both of hers. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"We should go," the Doctor said, trying to sound casual. "Earth's gone missing. Just wandered off. Probably hiding behind Jupiter, just for fun. Or something." He almost ran into the Tardis. Donna followed him. She had a similar nervous smile.

"Oh." It was the Eleventh Doctor. He was staring at the vanished Tardis. He casually/nervously pointed. "It's almost over."

"She marries," Sarah was saying. "She has children. She has a full life."

"Does she ever remember me?"

"No."

The Doctor gave a shrug as though to dismiss the matter, then held out his hands for Arthur and his daughter. "We should be going."

This was the climax.

Sarah was thinking this as she passed the barrier. The one that would have stopped her if she were not holding the Doctor's hand. The Doctor was commenting on how hard it was to resist taking in the regenerative essence. "It's like having a sugar craving and . . . no, it isn't like that. Forget about the sugar."

Then they were through the corridor and in a room. A blank room except for a desk. There was a man there. Ginger hair, like the Last Doctor. The same height. And smoother features. The face said you could trust him. The smile said he was lying.

River stood by the entrance, her pistol drawn. The Valeyard would not escape. Even if it meant his death.

The man had stood up. Jack and Luke were moving forward, going to different sides of the desk. Sarah stepped off to one side and approached slowly. She found the perfect spot. From there she could see all three. She was directly facing the Valeyard. River was hissing at her. She was getting into her line of sight.

"Who do you think you are, boy?" the Valeyard demanded of Jack. He laughed. "Do you think you have it in you to finish me off?"

"I'm not here to finish anything," Jack said with a sneer. "I'm just getting started."

"Good line," River commented.

As Luke and Jack neared the man from either side, the Valeyard did the obvious. He jumped onto the desk and over it. He ran toward Sarah, casting a glance back at Luke Sarah looked at him in surprise. Luke was running toward him. Jack close behind. It was then that the Valeyard made his mistake. He grabbed Sarah. His plan was to throw her at Luke. Luke would be pushed back into Jack. Had he guessed correctly that Luke was the carrier, the collision would have resulted in Jack absorbing the regenerative essence. A good plan. He knew this would happen. He knew it would be either Sarah or Luke. He guessed wrong because Luke was the one who approached him.

And so he grabbed Sarah. The golden aura left her body at once. She was rushing forward but not crashing into Luke. Luke caught her. He asked if she was hurt, then had her turn around. Sarah knew what she would see. She no longer had the Doctor's memories but she did remember what she had seen in his thoughts.

The Valeyard was regenerating. Not as himself nor as the Last Doctor. He would be whole. Complete.

He vanished.

"What . . ." Sarah began to ask.

"He's gone back, or forward," the Doctor was saying, "to the point of his actual regeneration."

"That was too easy," River was saying.

"Really?" the Doctor asked. "Had he guessed correctly, it would still have been easy, but not for us."

There was a low vibration that could easily felt.

"And now," The Doctor said in an excited voice, "we should run." The vibration was increasing. "Very fast, I think. This place won't exist for much longer, now that the Valeyard isn't here to keep it up."

They all ran. Almost. Sarah was nearly to the corridor when she started to faint. The effort of what she had done had decided to make itself felt. Jack was on one side, Luke on the other, picking her up and carrying her forward.

Everything was shaking. And fading. She would have thought it more normal if the ceiling fell in, instead. It was as though the entire place was shaking itself loose into its individual atoms.

Father was there, holding the door to the Tardis open. She heard the Doctor yell good luck to Luke as he and River disappeared into their own Tardis. A moment later, Sarah was inside Jack's Tardis.

She was in a chair. Luke was holding her hand. Father was holding out a cup of tea. The fourth member of the party was at the controls. Luke was asking him a question. About the others. Would they remember? After all, his mother didn't know him when she first found him.

Jack said it would be a vague memory if anything. Sarah Jane would only have remembered if she were in the Tardis when it left the first time.

"This time?" Luke asked and Jack nodded. He smiled. "It will be a vague memory. She'll remember she likes the name, Luke."

Sarah was thinking about the recent events. How close it had been. Had she held the regenerative essence much longer, she would never have been able to let it go. Jack had said she was incompatible. The essence had been making her compatible. It was changing her. It did change her. She was not a Time Lord, but she was no longer completely human. That was why she fainted. The physical shock as her hearts began to beat.

Jack turned to her, smiling when he saw she was smiling at him. "Do you still think it was easy?"

"It was desperation," Sarah said. "He tried other tricks against you. He even put you on trial." She sighed at the memories of memories. "He was running out of time. He threw all his remaining eggs in one basket. That's what made it seem easy."

Arthur Smith was nodding his head. "It was one of the possibilities. The Doctor, my Doctor, told me that the Valeyard had several ploys at work. Had most of the Doctors become statues. Had Jack taken in the essence. Had I been the only one who was rescued. Had he guessed that it was Sarah he shouldn't touch. Any of these could have been the catalyst. We were very lucky."

The tea was finished. And the explanations. And Sarah had a question she wanted to ask. Except she couldn't ask Jack. She couldn't ever ask Jack anything, again.

"Where are we going, Doctor?"

"We're . . ." he paused. His smile held. "I don't know. She'll tell me where we are once we get there."

Father set his hand on her shoulder. "I was warned about that. The controls will be repaired eventually, but I don't think it will make much of a difference."

"Then, it's official?" Luke was asking, "I'm . . ."

The Doctor finished the sentence, ". . . welcome to stay as long as you want to put up with us."

Sarah saw it in their faces. And in her memories. The two best friends would spend years together. They would never fix the directional controls completely. Or the chamaeleon circuit. And, in deference to River, she would never tell them about the parking brake.