The young woman named Clara Oswald blinked. She found herself, Danny Pink, and Martha Jones standing by the Tardis in Calvary Cemetery on a sunny afternoon. The gaunt, gray-haired man Clara thought of as the Twelfth Doctor stood a little farther away, facing a row of headstones.
Clara went to stand by the Doctor. She read Amy and Rory's headstone:
'IN LOVING MEMORY
'RORY ARTHUR WILLIAMS
'AGED 82
'AND HIS LOVING WIFE
'AMELIA WILLIAMS
'AGED 87'
Clara breathed, "What happened?"
"Gabrielle happened," the Doctor said, not looking at her. "She sent herself back to Winter Quay. She held the door. Amy and Rory had time to jump. Everything is back the way it was."
"So, where is she, then?"
"You see her around?" The Doctor took a reading with his sonic screwdriver. "There isn't an active weeping angel within a hundred miles of here."
Danny nodded. "Another brave soldier making a heroic sacrifice to the cause, sahr!"
The Doctor rounded on Danny and slammed his fist into Danny's jaw. Danny fell against a headstone to steady himself.
"You idiot!" the Doctor shouted with tears in his eyes. "YOU THINK SHE DID THIS FOR ME!? No. She did it for you and Clara and the kids at the school. She did it for your children and your children's children. So you'd be free of the angels' yoke. So you could spread out into the universe and breed and steamroll and flatten everything you came across without bending knee to another race." As Danny got to his feet, the Doctor started to turn away, but then he turned back. "But you know what? You know what makes my whole life a sick joke? You know what makes me look like a complete idiot every time I save you stupid apes? Because I know how the story ends. I know what you become. Don't I, Martha? You saw it. Shall I tell them? Shall I give them the ultimate spoiler? Why not? At the end of time, when all the stars go out and the last entropy wave blasts the last atoms from existence, humans achieve their final form of psychopathic disembodied human heads living in armored self-contained life support systems. All your potential, but in the end, you become infantile killing machines that make Daleks look like pacifists. Gabrielle sacrificed herself so you could fulfill your destiny as homicidal metal beach balls."
Clara said, "So what now?"
"Now?" the Doctor said. "I'm done. I've had it. I give my all for you apes and get nothing back. Time to look after myself and let you go to hell or heaven or New Jersey for all I care."
"No, Doctor, you can't give up hope!"
"You watch me, Clara. I was quit before I met you. I'm a thousand times as quit now. And nothing and no one is going to shake me out of it this time."
Danny looked away for a second. Then he crossed to the Doctor. "Doctor, I don't like you and I don't trust you….but Clara's right. You can't give up. And you need to see something. You need to get the Tardis to…some place with a view of Tower Bridge. 1630 GMT tomorrow."
The Doctor scrutinized Danny. "It took a lot for you to say that. I appreciate that. But what's at Tower Bridge?"
"I don't know."
"I'll need a little more than that."
Danny took a deep breath. "'Timey wimey.' Honestly, that's all I know."
"All right, I'll bite. I have to get you lot home anyway."
8
8
Landing by the Tower of London was problematic, so the Doctor found a vantage point across the Thames.
The Doctor led the others out. "Well, here we are-"
"Doctor?" a voice said. "You are the Doctor, right?"
The Doctor turned to the fat, gray haired man coming up to them. He had a bag slung over his shoulder. "Brian? Brian Williams?" He turned back Clara, Martha, and Danny. "Guys, this is Brian Williams, Rory's dad-" He broke off and spun back to Brian. "But I regenerated! How do you know it's me?"
"Bloke who called a few days ago. He said to meet you here after buying new clothes for Rory and Amy. Then meet you here at this exact spot."
Danny said, "Who called?"
Brian pointed at Danny. "You did!"
"No, I didn't."
"Danny?" the Doctor said. "Is there something you want to-"
Clara pointed. "Look!"
They looked at the bridge. There was a figure standing on top of the nearest tower. It looked like a woman with wings. She ran and jumped off the tower, banking and flying towards them.
The Doctor grinned. "It's her. She made it!"
She came to hover above them. She was wearing black BDU pants and a black tank top and a new Heisenberg necklace. She was holding a thick envelope 9 x 12 .
The Doctor stammered, "How did you make it?"
"Spoilers," Gabrielle said. "But you have to get to the church on time." She dropped the envelope into the Doctor's hand. Then she pushed off and flew out over the river, banked through an s-turn and vanished in a flash of silver light.
They ran back into the Tardis. The Doctor opened the envelope. He pulled out several photos. He grinned at one of them. "Look at it!" he said with a grin. "Look at it!"
8
8
Queens, New York – 1996
With a flash of silver light, Gabrielle appeared in the living room of the small house. "Hello?"
"Hello?" A man in his late 40's came into the room. He smiled. "Gabrielle!"
"You're Anthony Williams. You know me?"
"Of course, I know you! It's been years. Don't you remember?"
"No, because for me it hasn't-"
"—happened yet-"
"—yes, but you have something for me?"
"Of course." He went to a cabinet, opened a drawer, and brought her a thick 9 x 12 envelope. "Here."
Gabrielle opened the envelope and looked at the photos. She slid them back in, closed the envelope, smiled, and gave Anthony a kiss on the cheek. She touched a wrist band and vanished in a flash of silver light.
8
8
Queens, New York – 1961
Amy and Rory jumped when the dark-haired woman with wings, in Black BDUs and a black tank top, appeared as they were sitting at their coffee table. The winged woman had her hands behind her back.
Amy challenged, "Who're you?"
"It's all right, Amy, Rory. I mean you no harm. I am Gabrielle. I'm the weeping angel who sent you back."
Amy said, "What do you want now? How come you're not stone?"
"In reverse order, long story. And I'm here to talk to you about the Doctor. When I sent you back, the Doctor said you were creating a fixed timeline and he would never be able to see you again. He was half right. In the first place, it's not just you creating it. We are together. In the second place, you're not done. And in the third place, when the Doctor knows how a story ends, he skips over huge chunks of the middle. And in the fourth place – and this took me a while - like anyone not from America, I made the same mistake about New York everyone does. So. In two years it will be 25 year since you arrived. You're thinking of renewing your vows. Would that be a good opportunity to see the Doctor one more time? But before you answer, remember, this part is not set. It's still up to you."
Amy said, "If I can see him again, yes."
Gabrielle brought the envelope from behind her back and handed it to Amy. She said, "The Doctor has changed. He's in the middle with the gray hair."
Amy opened the envelope and looked at the photos. Then she turned to Gabrielle. "Whatever you want, I'll do it. I don't care."
"There are things you have to do to make sure the timeline happens," Gabrielle said with a smile, "but I want nothing for myself. I have wronged all of you and I have to make amends. So this is my gift to the Doctor and his family."
8
8
The Tardis – London – 2014
The photo the Doctor held in his shaking hands showed himself flanked by Amy and Rory, Clara, Brian, Martha, and Danny filling out the frame. They stood in the sanctuary of a church. Amy wore a wedding dress, Rory had a tux on, and the rest were in formal attire from 1960's America.
Clara found a card that had fallen out of the envelope. She read, "'You are cordially invited to witness Rory and Amy Williams renew their vows, St. Mary's church, 46 North Main Street, Cortland, New York. October 19, 1963, 2 PM.' And there's a handwritten note: 'Get a move on, you old haggis! I won't forgive you if you're late for this one. Love, Amy.'"
Danny said, "I thought you couldn't see them again."
"Not in New York City in 1938," the Doctor said, "but…oh…Danny…WE'RE IDIOTS! Or at the very least not Americans! We think of New York CITY and forget there's a whole STATE attached!" He worked a console and a monitor lit. "See! There's Cortland. 200 miles from New York City. Well outside any paradoxes. And the date, 1963 – twenty-five years after the event. It can work! Well, we know it can because we're going to be there and get our picture taken."
Martha had the picture. "Then I guess we have to get changed. Danny? Brian? Follow us."
8
8
Cortland, New York –October 19, 1963, 2:15 PM.
No sooner had the Tardis materialized on the sidewalk outside the church than the Doctor raced out and bounded up the steps of the church. "Amy! Amy!" He got inside and dozens of people were milling around the pews. "Where's Amy? Amy!"
"Doctor!" Amy came running from the front of the church, Roy behind her. "Is it really the Doctor?"
"Amy! It's me!"
"Raggedy man!"
They crashed into a hug in the middle of the church. Brian caught up with Rory and shook hands with him.
"Amy Pond, the girl who waited…"
"And got old. River said you didn't like to see it."
"I don't know what you mean," the Doctor said. "You look fantastic. But why did Brian have to buy new clothes for you?"
"Oh. Remember that business with the mine? How we saw our future selves?"
"Yeah?"
"Rory and I never got there. So after the ceremony you have to give us a quick lift to 2020."
Rory said, "Yeah, quick out and back. What could possibly happen?"
The Doctor grinned. "It would be my pleasure."
The priest came over. "So, this is the mystery man who couldn't make it to New York City? Can we start now?"
As they found their places, Clara said to Danny, "Don't. I know you're dying to rain on his parade. Don't you dare. Not today."
Danny let himself grin. "No. Not today."
8
8
Gabrielle banked over the center of Cortland, towards the Church's spires. As she flew between them, she was joined by the cyberman who had been Danny Pink. They flew in formation for a second before they vanished in a flash of silver light.
THE END