John didn't let the wind take him lightly—he kicked and struggled until it deposited him on the ground and immediately began to run for Sherlock, screaming for him over the bluster. "Sherlock! Sherlock, where are you!?" He wheeled around and accused the Fields, "You took him away. There had better not be a misplaced hair on his head, or YOU. WILL. BE. SORRY."

Sherlock Holmes is safe and well. Have you no questions of your own?

He shook his head. "I don't need anything answered. I need my fiancé safe, in my arms, thank you very much."

You wonder about him. You wonder if he will really marry you. It's the question you want answered.

John considered it. He wanted so, so much to hear the answer to this question, but he was terrified of the answer. Besides, it was a trivial thing in the face of the Doctor's imminent doom. "I don't need to know. It's fine. Where is Sherlock Holmes?"

A kilometer to the east. Begin walking and you will get there in twenty minutes. Ten if you run.

John ran for all his might due east.

Do you not want to know if he will marry you?

"I don't need to know. It doesn't matter."

It does to you.

"I know it doesn't matter to you, because you're made of grass and anger, but I trust him. I might be scared, but I don't have time to waste. Sherlock and the Doctor need me."

The Fields seemed shocked into silence. Maybe John had impressed it. Have you no questions?

"One, actually." He paused to catch his breath and get his bearings. It was horrible to run through the stringy, tall grass. It caught on his legs and weighed him down. "Am I the one who asks the Doctor his name? I'm going to try my damnedest not to, but I'm afraid it will slip."

No. You are not the one who will ask.

"So who does?"

His daughter will be the one who asks him.

"Is there any way to stop her?"

No. It is meant to happen.

"I refuse to believe that." He broke into a run. "Where—is—Clara?"

Turn around. She is to the west, two kilometres away. You will not get to her in time.

"I have to try. The Doctor could die today, and I can't let that happen."

You care for the Doctor?

"No," he smirked. "I have a very irritable husband-to-be, and if I let his favorite alien die, he'll be ever so cross."

The Doctor was alone, but he wasn't frightened. Alone protected him. Alone protected everyone.

Your friends are gone.

"If they know what's good for them, they'll stay far away." He sat in the grey grass and wrapped his arms around his knees to escape the chill. "Is my name revealed today?"

Yes.

"Clara asks me, doesn't she?"

Yes.

"And River is running to save me, so she won't have to do what I will ask of her."

Yes.

He shook his head in disbelief. "I have a really incredible family, did you know that?"

Are you not angry with your child?

"Nah, never could be. She's had a rough day, after all, and I'm sure you were instructed by the Time Lord Council to break her into asking me. I'm ready. But they aren't going to win." He stretched out his legs. "So, they stole the TARDIS. That's the power source they're using?"

Yes. You are very calm for a man about to destroy all of time and space with a single word.

"Just call me Mr. Calm," he joked. "No, never mind. Don't call me that."

Have you no questions?

"No. What is meant to happen has always meant to happen. This is a fixed point—I will reveal my name today when Clara asks, because I won't be able to lie. And once my name is said, the TARDIS, wherever you've hidden it in the Fields, will begin to haul Gallifrey back to our sky. But I won't let it stay there. Without me, it will have to snap back, yeah?"

You won't survive.

"That's the point, isn't it? If there's no one with the name to bring it back, the TARDIS won't be able to pull it back. The TARDIS and I have to be connected for the name to work. So I have to take myself out of the equation."

You won't—

"You know, I do have a question. What will happen to them?" he asked. "What will become of Sherlock and John?"

They will marry and start a family. They'll be happy.

"And Clara?"

She'll inherit the TARDIS. Her mother will teach her how to drive it, and she will travel in it.

He smiled to himself. "Sexy will have to get used to her. What about my wife?"

She will go to the Library in a few weeks and die for you.

"Will it hurt, when she goes?"

No. Too quick. She will think of you.

"I'll think of her, too. I took her to Darillium a few months ago, back when the timelines were wibbly. Did you know, I thought that was the last time I was meant to see her, and then all this happened? I never thought I'd be lucky enough to see it. We had a baby girl…"

They will try and save you.

"Bless them. They're adorable, humans are. It will be okay, I know it. I'm ready to go. I've seen the last thing in the universe I wanted to see before I had to die—a family of my own that will the chance to live." He stood up and looked up to the sky. "It was a really lovely universe. I'm glad I got to see everything twice."

John Watson was currently the luckiest man on the Fields of Trenzalore—on his way to save the Doctor, he happened to run into the love of his life without even looking for him. Well, Sherlock actually ran into him, with a huge and ungainly thud that knocked them both to the ground, with Sherlock right smack on top of John.

John felt the air escape his chest but couldn't help chuckling. "Well, hello, dear. Weren't we up to this last week?"

"Really, John, is this what you call a good time for flirting?"

"No, you're right, I'm sorry," John agreed. "No PDA on a case or mission. I forgot. What did you learn?"

"Nothing helpful to the mission, I'm afraid," said Sherlock, pulling John up with him. "The Doctor's name is destined to be revealed today. I suppose we have to deal with the consequences and be there for him. Though I did learn about a higher plane of consciousness that might factor into an escape plan for him. We'll have to discuss it later." Sherlock looked at him expectantly. "I thought you would have asked me by now."

"Asked me what? Come on, we've got to run," John said as he pulled Sherlock along to the center of the field.

"You know bloody well what, John Watson. Don't think I haven't noticed that you're scared about the wedding. You might as well have branded the word 'terrified' on your forehead."

"I am terrified," John admitted. "But I know you love me, and however much you can't imagine yourself in a marriage, you wouldn't abandon me. That's not what we do, you and me. So, no, I don't need to ask."

Sherlock's eyes widened in surprise, which John didn't notice because of the speed at which they were running. "I think that might be the most romantic thing I've heard out of your mouth, John Holmes."

"Oh, no. There's no bloody way I'm changing my name, Sherlock Watson," John said offhand.

Figures could be seen in the distance, which prompted the pair to quicken their pace to get to them. They screamed their heads off to get them to turn their heads, but they were all too far away to here each other. Thankfully, they were all heading to the very same place, where the Doctor stood. His feet were spread apart and he looked straight off into some unfathomable distance.

"Doctor! Doctor, you have to avoid Clara!" John yelled at him, tumbling over his long limbs to get there. "

"Clara? Is Clara going to ask him?" Sherlock whispered to John.

"Yes—we have to keep them apart! DOCTOR!"

River could be seen sprinting. She stopped pumping her arms and threw them out to the Doctor, reaching out to grab him and protect him from whoever was going to hurt him.

The Doctor ignored them all and walked straight ahead, past them all to a destination only he could figure out.

"Doctor! Doctor, no! Whatever you're doing, just stop! JUST STOP!" River screamed.

He walked on. He didn't slow his pace and wore the smallest of half-smiles, like a crescent moon, while he went to the spot over everyone else's heads. River reached him first and tried to pull him to face her. "Doctor, Doctor, please, stop, you need to listen to me, we can fix this, we can save you—"

"River."

"Don't keep walking, don't you dare, you are going to bloody LISTEN to your wife!"

"Stop."

"I am not going to stop, you idiot! I hate you! Oh, Doctor, stop!" She dug her nails into his jacket and tugged him back until he finally faced her. "I don't care what the Fields said. Time can be rewritten!"

"Not this time. Not any time. Not one line; don't you dare," he said. "This always happens. And if you keep asking me to stay with you, I might just agree with you and stay."

"Stay." She pressed her palms to his face and pleaded with him. "Love, stay with me."

"I can't. River," he said, cutting her off, "if I look at you for one more moment, I'm going to break. And I couldn't live with myself if I let my wife see me break." He took his eyes off her and stared at the space over her head. "You know what I need you to do."

"I refuse."

"You don't. I need you, love—please, River, I need you to do this for me." He turned around and walked away from her, leaving his wife and the boys trailing behind.

Clara was lying in a tangle of grass, sobbing into her hands. "No, no, no," she repeated over and over. "No—you're lying, you're lying to me!"

At this point, the deep rumble of the voice of the Fields had disappeared from everyone's head but Clara, where it had amplified and seemed to repeat itself and its malicious words.

The Doctor, with infinite care and wisdom, leaned down to where she was curled into a ball and put a hand on her shoulder. "Lyra. You're safe, darling. Look at me."

"The Fields…they keep telling me all these things about you…" She shook her head and cried even harder. "You've killed, you've hurt, and you've lied…and you don't care!"

"That's the biggest lie in the universe. I do care about all of it. Especially you. I am the Doctor, after all."

At that, she screeched. With seething, red eyes she turned to look the Doctor directly in the eyes and asked, "Doctor who?"