A/N Thanks again for the reviews and the follows. It's wonderful to get feedback on a story. This one's a little bit of a downer, but then saying goodbye always is.

Chapter 4 - Farewells

It didn't take Martha long to explain to the group everything she knew and had observed about the Chameleon Arch and River assured her, rather dismissively, that she and the TARDIS would be able to figure the rest of it out. The Smiths had been there less than half an hour, but already felt like old friends as Clara showed them to the door.

"So he really told you about us?" Mickey asked in disbelief, "I mean, he never used to talk about the past, did he?"

"He used to be like that," Clara agreed, "all avoidie."

"So what changed?"

Changed? Clara thought. What had changed? When she first traveled with the Doctor she didn't know anything really. Not about him. Not for a long time. She didn't know about River, or the other people who had traveled with him, she didn't even know there had been other Doctors. But after Trenzalore everything was different. She already knew the stories, or at least pieces of them. So when she made a comment or asked a question, he couldn't help but fill in the details. Every good day and every bad. She was Clara Oswald, the keeper of all the Doctor's stories. Which was soon to be a very literal description. But how was she suppose to put all that into words?

Martha saw the tongue-tide look on Clara face and came to her rescue, "Let me guess, it's a long story?"

"Yes," Clara's relief was palpable.

They were almost out the door when Martha turned back, "I'm really glad you came today. The last time we saw the Doctor... It was like he was there to say goodbye. And you know him, he hates goodbyes. So we just thought..." she couldn't finish the sentence.

"We were worried we'd never see him again."

Clara nodded. She could understand that feeling.

"Can you do us a favour?" Martha asked, "When it's all finished, when you have him back and he's the Doctor again, can you pop by. Just so we know he's okay?"

"I'll do my best."

Martha looked relieved, "It really was very nice to meet you," and she enveloped Clara in a hug before Clara had a chance to react.

"It was great to meet you too," Clara went to shake Mickey's hand, but was surprised to find him hugging her as well.

"He only travels with the best," Mickey said, and with that they were off.

River had remain at the console as the Smiths were leaving, checking and rechecking that she had everything in place. "The TARDIS and I have everything sorted with the Chameleon Arch. Are you ready?"

"No," Clara said truthfully, "but let's get it over with."

The best thing Clara could say about the Chameleon Arch was that mercifully Mickey's joke turned out to be correct, the transformation was quite short. But the sounds of pain and the way the Doctor's small body convulsed still made it some of the worst minutes of Clara's life. It took her a long time to calm the child down afterwards. When he was finally asleep-still in her arms mind you-she walked up to the console to consult with River. "How are we looking?"

"The closest we can get you is Buffalo. We'll land near the bus terminal and you can take a bus down to New York City."

"Me? Aren't you coming?"

"No," River said, her eyes back on the console.

"But... the Doctor, and... don't you want to see your parents?" Clara didn't mean to say it. She had done her best not even to allude to it up until this point. River had stopped what she was doing, but did not look up at Clara. "I'm sorry. I know they won't be able to see you, but I could-"

"There's a time to live and a time to sleep," River continued to stare at the console as she spoke, "I've said my goodbyes."

At that moment the Doctor-or was it John, now?-woke up with a start, and Clara soothed him as River and the TARDIS finished the final preparations. Clara watched River work, and it broke her heart a little to realize that John didn't seem to notice River at all and was only looking at Clara. "You're really gone, aren't you?" she whispered to him as he played with her necklace and tried his best to put it in his mouth. Clara glanced back at River. An echo the Doctor had called her. A fragment of a woman long dead. Her stories with the Doctor were over. And that's all they were in the end, stories. Moments. Fragments in time. And far too few, Clara would wager. All that empty time. Or at least, time without him. "River? Did ever have other love affairs?" She knew she didn't have the right to ask, she wasn't even quite sure why she was asking, but in that moment she wanted to know that there was life beyond and (for her potentially) after the Doctor.

"Yes and no," River said, although there was a ghost of a grin on her face, "I would just call them affairs." The grin was gone, suddenly replaced by a more serious look, "He was always the opposite though."

"Opposite?"

For the first time in a long while, River turned around and looked Clara right in the eye, "If you travel with the Doctor there's something you must know..." She paused, trying to find the right words, "The first rule with the Doctor-"

"Oh, I know this one. 'The Doctor lies'."

River smiled again. Thinking back to that day, so very long ago. The first day she met him and all of his silly rules. "Yes, that's his rule. Although it wouldn't be mine. He always gets his way though, so who am I to argue? Yes, rule one: the Doctor lies. But rule two: the Doctor loves. Everyone and everything. That's just who he is, who he's always been," she was looking warmly at Clara now, "So I don't want you to feel bad, if something happens between you."

Clara looked a little taken aback, "River..."

"I know my husband and you are just his type."

Clara didn't know how to respond. She lowered her gaze and found herself staring at ginger hair. Once again she was hit by the realization that her Doctor really was gone, "Things change."

"Not everything," River looked down at the baby and then back up at Clara. "I've never known him as a ginger. He's not my Doctor anymore. He might still be yours." River's statement was punctuated by the TARDIS landing on solid ground. Silently of course, she never leaves the breaks on.

"What will happen to you now?" Clara asked.

"Tired of being a book on the shelf. I think it's time to go. Goodbye Clara Oswald. It really has been a pleasure," and with that she was gone. For good this time, Clara thought. She could feel it, at the back of her mind, like a single nerve tensing and relaxing. She knew right away River had severed the mental link.