Both women crouched down in front of an unconscious Doctor after moving him to prop up against the wall.
"Ah, he's going to kill me when he wakes up," Luna groaned, shaking her head. While she checked the back of his head to assess the damage she'd caused, River straightened herself up and grabbed a spare piece of metal that had been carelessly thrown on the floor. "Well, at least there isn't that much damage… might take him a couple of centuries to forgive me but he'll be fine in the end."
"Now," she murmured, rising to her feet. "I better go strap myself in."
"I'm sorry," River said, standing in front of her. "but I can't let you do it Lu. You mean too much to him. He'd never forgive me if I let you go this."
"I'm sorry too Ray but you don't have a choice," She said, taking a step forward to cup her face in her hands; it wasn't often that she showed the kind, caring side she owned but occasionally, it crept out and no one knew it better than the Doctor and River Song. "I can feel that you're gonna mean something to us both."
"Forgive me," The archaeologist begged before bringing the metal down sharply onto the Gideon woman's head, effectively knocking her to the floor. Once she was down, she handcuffed both aliens to one of the pipes so they couldn't stop her when they eventually came around.
The Doctor came round to find Luna's head resting in his lap and River messing with some wires and sitting in a weird chair.
"Autodestruct in two minutes." The computer announced.
"Well, how nice of you to join us Doctor," River greeted as though she had done nothing wrong.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, come on, what are you doing?" he yelled at River. "That's my job!"
"Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?" she shot back.
The Doctor tried to get up and discovered the handcuffs. He glanced down upon feeling his love stir and watched as her eyes fluttered open before closing straight away.
"Ouch…"
"Why are we handcuffed?" he demanded. "Why do you even have handcuffs?"
"Spoilers!" River told him.
"This is not a joke." The Doctor yelled at River. "Stop this now, this is gonna kill you! I'd have a chance, you don't have any."
"If I didn't knock her out Doctor, Luna would be the one sitting here. I did this for you."
"Really?" He asked, staring down at the woman in his lap.
"You wouldn't have had a chance,"
"Neither would you!" He argued.
"I'm timing it for the end of the countdown, there'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download." River explained.
"River!" the Doctor shouted. "Please! No!"
"Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die." River continued. "All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you both, the real you, the future you, I mean-you both just turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut, a suit and a couple of ball gowns. You took me to Darillium to see the singing towers. Oh, what a night that was! The towers sang, and the pair of you just sat and cried."
"Autodestruct in one minute."
"You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was my time." She told him. "My time. Time to come to the Library. Lu even convinced you to give me your screwdriver-that should have been a clue."
The Doctor saw the two screwdrivers sitting on her diary. He tried to reach, but it was too far away.
"There's nothing you can do." She told him.
"You can let me do this!" he shot back.
"Or better yet, me!" Luna added.
"If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you." River told him.
"Time can be rewritten." The Doctor said.
"Not those times." She said. "Not one line! Don't you dare! It's okay. It's okay, it's not over for you. You'll both gonna see me again. You've got all of that to come. You , Luna and me, time and space. You watch us run!"
A tear slipped down her face.
"River, you know my name!" he shouted at her.
"You know my secret…" The Gideon added.
"Autodestruct in ten…"
"There's only one way a time lord can share his name."
"…nine, eight, seven…"
"Shh." River said, smiling at them. "Spoilers."
"…three, two, one…"
River plugged two cables together and she disappeared in a white light.
Donna was sitting on the stairs of her home when Lee arrived.
"Donna?" he said. "What's happening?"
"I don't know, but it's not real." She told him. "The whole world, everything, none of it's real."
"Am I real?" he asked her.
They were surrounded by a white light.
"Of course you're real." She told him. "I know you're real. Oh god, oh god, I hope you're real…"
Lee drifted away from her, disappearing into the light.
"I'll find you!" she yelled to him. "I promise you, I'll find you!"
Mr. Lux was in the reception area working on a terminal.
"Excuse me." A voice said.
Lux turned and saw a room full of people.
"What happened?" a man asked. "How did we get here?"
WLook at you, you're back!" Lux rejoiced. "You're all back."
He went through the crowed, hugging people at random.
"He did it!" he shouted. "You're all back. Look at you!"
Laughing with delight, he walked outside to see a planet alive again.
"Look at that!" he said. "Oh look at that, he did it. 4,022 people! Saved!"
Down in the core, the Doctor sat with an arm around Luna as she buried her face in his chest.
She had been consumed by a fit of tears; not even the Doctor knew how to comfort her so he settled to letting her get it out while he stared at the chair where River had last been sat.
Donna walked to the Doctor and Luna through the crowd in the little shop.
"Please be patient." A teleport operator called. "Only three can teleport at a time. Do not sate your intended destination until you arrive in…"
"Any luck?" the Doctor asked her, his arm around his love as she stood there, staring at the floor in thought.
"There wasn't even anyone called Lee in the Library that day." She told him. "Suppose he could have had a different name out here, but let's be honest, he wasn't real, was he?"
"Maybe not." The Doctor agreed.
"I made up the perfect man." Donna said. "Gorgeous, adores me, and hardly able to speak a word. What's that say about me?"
"Everything." The Doctor said absentmindedly.
Donna looked at him, offended.
"Sorry, did I say everything?" he said quickly. "I meant to say 'nothing'. I was aiming for 'nothing', I accidentally said 'everything'."
"Stand right in the middle of the teleport, please." The operator said. "Keep your hands and feet inside at all times."
"What about you?" Donna asked.
"And remember to switch off your mobile comm. unit." The operator said.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm always alright." The Doctor said.
"Is 'alright' special Time Lord code for 'really not alright at all'?" she asked.
"and a special Gideon one, why?" Lu asked, her voice quiet.
"Cause I'm 'alright', too." Donna told him.
The three looked at each other, understanding each other perfectly.
The red-haired alien reached out to take both of their hands before leading them to the TARDIs without uttering another word.
Donna never saw Lee on the teleport pad, trying to call her name, but the stutter hindered the effort.
The Doctor set River's diary on a rail outside of reception.
"Your friend…Professor Song…she knew you in the future, but she didn't know me." Donna said. "What happens to me? Because when she heard my name, the way she looked at me…"
"Donna…" the Doctor said. "This is her diary. Mine and Luna's future. I could look you up. What do you think? Shall we peek at the end?"
"Spoilers, right?" Donna replied.
"Right." He said.
The Doctor set River's screwdriver on top of the book and they turned away.
"Come on." The Doctor said. "The next chapter's this way."
When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it will never end. But however hard you try, you can't run for ever. Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark, if he ever, for one moment accepts it.
Luna ran back and grabbed the screwdriver as the Doctor and Donna followed closely behind her.
"Why?" She asked him, waving the small device under his nose. "Why would I insist so much on your giving her your sonic? Why the hell would I do that, it makes no sense. Think about it, future me had years to think about it… All that time to think of a way to save her and you finally let me tinker with your screwdriver! Maybe because we thought of a way!"
The Doctor took it off of her and opened a panel in the side.
There, beneath the casing, was a blinking green light.
A neural relay.
"Oh!" he shouted. "Oh! Oh, look at that! Your very good!"
"What have you done?" Donna asked.
"I think we've saved her."
He ran across the Library to the entrance to the core.
"Stay with me!" he shouted. "You can do it, stay with me! Come on, you and me, one last run! Sorry, River, shortcut!"
He used his screwdriver to disable the gravity platform and jumped down the hole.
Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day.
The Doctor plugged the screwdriver into the computer and smiled at CAL.
Not today.
River appeared in front of the hospital, and standing a little ways away was Dr. Moon and CAL.
"It's okay." CAL told her. "You're safe. You'll always be safe here. The Doctor fixed the data core. This is a good place now. But I was worried you might be lonely, so I brought you some friends. Aren't I clever girl?"
"Aren't we all?" a voice called.
River turned to see Miss Evangelista, her face fixed, Proper Dave, Other Dave, and Anita walking towards her.
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" she exclaimed. "They just can't do it, can they? Those two, they're impossible! They just can't give in."
She hugged everyone.
Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all.
The Doctor walked up to the TARIDS and stood in front of it for a moment. Gripping Luna's hand, they both raised their hands and snapped their fingers.
The doors opened.
Smiling, they made their way inside to an eagerly waiting Donna.
As Lu explained what the Doctor had done, he snapped his fingers again.
The doors closed.
Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair, and the Doctor and his moon come to call…everybody lives.
River closed the TARDIS book and stood up.
She bent over and kissed first CAL's forehead, then Joshua's, then Ella's.
"Sweet dreams, everyone." She told them.
She switched off the lights and left.