Flash!
Champagne corks popped for two, very different, reasons. Not only was Jo Grant engaged to be married to Clifford Jones, but the Wholeweal environmental commune had been upgraded to a priority one research complex.
‘You got on to your uncle at the United Nations, didn’t you?’ said the Doctor.
Jo blushed. ‘It’s only the second time I’ve ever asked him for anything.’
‘Yes. And look where the first time got you.’
‘You don’t mind, do you?’ asked Jo.
‘Mind?’ asked the Doctor with a smile. ‘We might even be able to turn you into a scientist.’
As Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart made a toast, the Doctor downed his champagne and left Wholeweal for the last time. He climbed into Bessie and, with a final glance back at the cottage, started the engine and drove away into the night.
Flash!
The Doctor was now surrounded by the Shroud, and more women were swarming towards the hospital, their veils blowing in the early evening breeze.
Slowly, he began to back down the corridor behind him.
Flash!
He was in the secondary control room. Sarah Jane Smith entered, carrying a bag and a pot plant. She kicked the door shut behind her. ‘A-hem!’
The Doctor wiped his brow, unable to look at her. ‘I’ve had the call from Gallifrey.’
‘So …?’
‘So I can’t take you with me. You’ve got to go.’
Flash!
The corridor was packed with women in blue veils, all of them advancing on the Doctor as he retreated further into the hospital. He stepped over the large, heavy chain and continued backwards.
Flash!
The Doctor raced back to the controls, spinning dials and pulling levers. ‘Please hurry, Doctor!’ begged Nyssa. ‘We must get Adric off the freighter.’
‘The console’s damaged!’ cried the Doctor.
Tegan stared up at the monitor, a look of horror in her eyes. ‘Look!’
‘Adric!’ yelled Nyssa.
But there was nothing any of them could do but watch as the freighter collided with prehistoric Earth.
Flash!
The streets of Dallas and far beyond were empty of the Shroud. Every single tentacle was reaching into Parkland Memorial Hospital and into the Doctor’s mind.
Flash!
The Doctor stared up at the screen in horror, all thoughts of the unfairness of his trial forgotten. He watched as the warrior king, Yrcanos burst into the medical chamber to face a shaven-headed Peri – only that wasn’t really Peri any more. Her mind had been swapped with that of the Mentor, Lord Kiv.
Yrcanos roared with rage and triggered the explosion that would kill them both.
Flash!
‘I suppose it’s time I should be going,’ said Mel. The Doctor looked up from the console. ‘Oh …’
‘Time that I left …’
Flash!
Fireworks exploded above them to welcome the new millennium.
‘Come with me,’ said the Doctor.
Grace shook her head. ‘I’m gonna miss you.’
‘How can you miss me?’ exclaimed the Doctor. ‘I’m easy to find. I’m the guy with two hearts, remember?’
‘That’s not what I meant …’
Flash!
Captain Jack Harkness kissed Rose goodbye. ‘Wish I’d never met you, Doctor,’ he said, his voice trembling slightly with the fear of what was to come. ‘I was much better off as a coward.’
The trio shared a final look.
‘See you in Hell!’ said Jack, then he was gone.
Flash!
Astrid turned to look at the Doctor one last time. ‘No!’ he begged. But she knew there was no other way out.
Raising the forks, she lifted Max Capricorn’s life-support unit clear off the ground and drove for the guard rail surrounding the gantry above the engines.
‘Astrid!’ cried the Doctor as the forklift disappeared over the edge. He pulled his arms away from the Host and ran to the edge in time to see Astrid reaching back up towards him as she plummeted into the flames below.
Flash!
‘Doctor!’
The Doctor raced out of the TARDIS at Amy’s cry, River Song at his heels.
Rory had vanished, sent back in time by a lone, dying Angel – and now Amy was walking towards the creature.
‘Amy, what are you doing?’ the Doctor asked, nervously.
‘That gravestone – Rory’s – there’s room for one more name, isn’t there?’
The Doctor couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘What are you talking about?’ he demanded. ‘Come back to the TARDIS, we’ll figure something out.’
He grabbed Amy’s hand, but she shook him off.
‘The Angel, will it send me back to the same time?
To him?’
‘I don’t know,’ the Doctor admitted. ‘Nobody knows!’
‘But it’s my best shot, yeah?’
‘No!’
‘Doctor, shut up!’ cried River. ‘Yes, yes it is!’
‘Well then,’ said Amy. ‘I just have to blink, right?’
‘No!’ begged the Doctor.
‘It’ll be fine,’ Amy said, trying to reassure him. ‘I know it will. I’ll … I’ll be with him, like I should be. Me and Rory together.’
She clutched River’s hand, making her promise to look after the Doctor, trying hard to ignore his final protests.
‘Raggedy man,’ she said, spinning to face her best friend. She looked into his eyes one last time. ‘Goodbye.’
Flash!
The Doctor’s tears were flowing freely now, his back pressed against the open doorway of the TARDIS. He could feel the Shroud’s tentacles inside his mind, feeding off his grief, and the food was plentiful.
And it was time for one last push. Time for him to relive a fresh memory. Time for him to visit one final place in his mind. One he’d been avoiding all these months.
The Doctor closed his eyes.
Flash!
He was standing near the gates of a different graveyard, the gentle summer breeze ruffling his thick hair and pulling at the edges of his bow tie. A few hundred yards ahead, a large crowd gathered together – a mixture of civilians and UNIT personnel.
A man in uniform stepped up to place a folded flag on the polished surface of an oak coffin. Like almost everyone else there, he had aged since the Doctor had last seen him.
John Benton saluted the coffin, then turned to the UNIT soldiers standing beside the grave. ‘Rifle party!’ he commanded. ‘Five rounds rapid.’
Crack! The first volley sent a flock of birds flapping up into the air. A man in a crumpled suit rested on the question mark handle of his umbrella and watched them disappear.
Crack! Liz Shaw buried her face against the shoulder of a man in a velvet jacket and an opera cape.
Crack! Mike Yates exchanged a sad glance with a small, tousled-haired fellow in an over-sized fur coat.
Crack! A man in a coat of rainbow colours wrapped an arm around Jo Grant.
Crack! A short-haired man lowered his head and pushed his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.
Slowly, the coffin lowered into its final resting place.
Flash!
Several years had passed, and leaves now tumbled from the branches hanging over the cemetery. The mourners and their extravagant floral tributes were long gone. In their place, standing to attention on either side of the marble headstone, were bunches of flowers in more permanent glazed pots.
The rain pattered down, leaving the ground slippery and soft underfoot. Eventually, the Doctor came out from the shelter of the trees.
He slowly approached the grave, raindrops dripping from his hair and down his cheeks. He stood and read the name carved into the marble: Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
Quietly, he saluted.
Flash!
The Doctor tumbled back through the doorway of the TARDIS.
Mae dashed to kneel beside him. ‘Ready?’ she asked as she unbuckled the harness holding the Once More With Feeling in place. On the other side of the doorway, the corridor was filled with blue-veiled women, their hands outstretched.