The Doctor spent much of the afternoon in a Sarah Jane-induced fog. She had been part of what he considered his "golden years" -- the time in his life when he was the happiest.

Before it had all gone to hell.

He'd always known that letting her go was the cowardly thing; true, he couldn't have brought her to Gallifrey, but there was nothing stopping him from heading back there just as soon as the Master had been dispatched. The truth is, he'd been afraid; afraid of getting even closer to her, then watching her wither and die.

He'd told himself he was better off without her, and vice-versa. But he knew it wasn't true. Without him, she seemed to have been carrying on, living her life, and he was glad of it. Without her, on the other hand... the years hadn't been kind to him. All of his joking, posturing, running around the universe, he was only running away from the truth of his life, just as he'd always done.

He'd destroyed his own world, and everyone on it. No matter how much he wanted it, he was never again going to be that fun-loving adolescent she'd known.

Hours later, when Sarah Jane had finished her interviews and the school was closed, she managed to get back into the building. Now was when the real work of investigation would start. Since the moment she had seen him, it had been almost impossible to keep her mind on her work; part of her just kept thinking about the Doctor, and how he'd come back for her, finally. The other part kept telling her not to be a fool. This young man wasn't the Doctor, of course he wasn't. He looked like a man she'd dreamed about when she was a little girl, and she'd merged that man in her mind with the Doctor. The real one. The one who'd dropped her off in Aberdeen and never looked back.

She sighed and set about picking the lock to the Headmaster's office; surely there would be a clue there as to what was going on, and perhaps it would take her mind off this distraction. Then she heard a noise, like a screech and the flapping of wings, and decided to take cover. There was a storeroom in the gym; she'd made note of it during her tour, and heading past the rings and climbing ropes she ducked into it, carefully closing the door behind her.

She was completely unprepared for what she saw when she turned around.

The TARDIS stood there, gleaming in the dark, like a monolith signaling a monumental change.

'So it was him.' she thought. The magical pretty blue box of her childhood dreams was the TARDIS. Where was the Doctor then? She desperately needed to talk to him. She stepped back out of the storeroom, and suddenly, as if on cue, she saw him. Her heart leapt into her throat.

The Doctor had known Sarah would be back; it just wasn't like her to let an opportunity go. So when he heard heels clicking in the corridors, he was pretty sure it was her, and he dropped everything to follow the sound. "Hello, Sarah Jane," he said, uncertain of the reception he'd get.

All of her doubts disappeared. It was real. It was all real. "It's you. Oh, Doctor, oh my God, it's you, isn't it? You've regenerated." 'And you didn't come back for me,' she thought. Sarah Jane tried her best not to cry. Part of her just wanted to run to him and throw her arms around him. The other part wanted to blast him verbally with all the pain he had caused her. She loved him and he just dumped her and never came back. Twice.

"Yeah," he said. Inside, he was thrilled that even in a new incarnation, she'd recognized him. "Half a dozen times since we last met." Maybe things weren't so bad.

"You look ..." ... 'like you did when I was five,' she thought. But why hadn't he said anything about it? Maybe there was a reason. "... incredible."

"So do you." And she did, too. Thinking about her was one thing, but now that she was here ... That urge to hold her, to swing her around and never let go, it ate at him, but he understood that time had passed for her. It was the Aldarian Wildebeast in the room, and they hadn't yet dealt with it.

Damn him, he was so handsome. Why couldn't he have come back to her they way he promised to when she was still young? She'd been so sure, when she was a child. Had he been lying to her? "I got old," she said, somewhat bitterly.

He wasn't sure what to say to that. Would it sound pat to tell her that she was still beautiful to him? Or to deny that she was aging?

She saved him from answering. "What are you doing here?"

That was promising, he thought. She was interested. "Well ... UFO sighting, school gets record results, I couldn't resist. What about you?"

"Same." She was so nervous. She'd been waiting, literally for her entire life, for this moment, and he didn't seem to care, or even acknowledge it.

She was smiling. He loved that smile. He felt like he had back in the teacher's lounge; after all these years of missing her, she was right here with him, doing what they'd always done. He smiled a big goofy smile.

That grin, it was the last straw. Finally she couldn't bear it anymore. She couldn't hold the tears back. Crying, she started to let it all out. "I thought you died! I waited for you, you didn't come back, and I thought you must have died!" She could hear the sobbing in her voice, and she didn't care anymore if he saw her this way.

Her words were like a slap in the face. He'd wanted to keep his memory of her separate from the darkness within him, but now all he could think about was what he was doing while she waited for him. "I lived. Everyone else died."

There was an iciness in his tone that pulled her up short. This was not the fun-loving man who'd played airplane with her on his shoulders ... was it? "What do you mean?"

It was there, so tightly interwoven with his very being that no amount of joking could make it go away. "Everyone died, Sarah."

And then it dawned on her. She remembered when he'd sat so tenderly and told her about his parents, and realized he'd just simplified things for her five year old sensibilities. This was the tragedy that had haunted him. She thought about that talk, how they'd literally cried on each other's shoulders. It was all fresh in her mind, as though it had just happened.

She was sure he'd come to some sort of peace with himself that day. But she could see now that that pain was still so raw ... because that conversation hadn't happened for him yet. Inwardly, the realization was like losing him all over again. 'Say something, anything, Sarah Jane,' she told herself. "I can't believe it's you." Then a scream echoed through the hallways. Just like the old days. "OK, now I can!" He grabbed her hand and started running, and she didn't care what he did or didn't remember. They were together again, and for now, at least, it would have to do.

The next few hours went by in a blur. Sarah had to keep reminding herself that the Doctor hadn't been to her childhood yet, and kept up the facade of being angry at him for what his fourth self had done. It wasn't difficult; she really was still hurt over it. And having to put up with Rose's cattiness didn't make it easier.

But she knew something that Rose didn't know. In the end, Rose would lose him. Because he was coming back to Sarah. He already had.

And it was a good thing, too, because when things finally came to a head, she really needed that resolve.

"Think of it, Doctor," Finch had said. "With the paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe and improve it."

The Doctor turned to face him. "Oh yeah? The whole of creation with the face of Mr. Finch? Call me old fashioned, no, I like things as they are."

"You act like such a radical, and yet all you want to do is preserve the old order. Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good."

"What, by someone like you?"

"No. Someone like you. The paradigm gives us power, but you could give us wisdom. Become a god at my side. Imagine what you could do. Think of the civilizations you could save. Perganon. Acinta. Your own people, Doctor, standing tall. The Time Lords ... reborn."

She could almost see the wheels turning in the Doctor's head, and it scared her. "Doctor, don't listen to him."

"And you could be with him throughout eternity," Finch said to her. "Young, fresh, never wither, never age, never die. Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor. Join us."

Sarah studied the Doctor's face as Finch continued to tempt him. He did look very lonely. But how did Finch know where his weakest spots were? 'Of course,' she thought, 'Time Lords are telepathic. Finch is reading the Doctor's mind.' Suddenly she realized the implications of that. The Doctor did still care about her. He still wanted to be with her, and Finch was using his feelings for her, and all of the pain the Doctor felt over the loss of Gallifrey and his people, as a carrot to lure him in. Up until this moment, she hadn't understood that pain and loss wasn't just something that defined her. It was something she and the Doctor shared.

The Doctor thought about what he was saying. To never lose Sarah Jane... to erase the last hundred and fifty years of loneliness and pain and guilt ... "I could save everyone," he realized.

"Yes," Finch oozed.

"I could stop the war," he said. 'Without becoming this monster.'

Sarah could see that he was thinking about what it could mean for him if he gave in to Finch. She'd spent half her life miserable, waiting for him to come back, so she understood how tempting that kind of control really was. But she couldn't allow him to give in. Not even if it meant that their lives could change forever. "No," Sarah Jane insisted. "The universe has to move forward. Pain, and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world or a relationship, everything has its time." She realized that their time together was both over and yet to begin. He needed to live out his time the way it was meant to be, and she needed to put her past behind her and move on with her life until he came back to her. "And everything ends."

The Doctor heard her through the haze of possibilities. Everything he'd done, everything that had happened, they made him what he was. There was no escaping it. But in her words, he heard something new: forgiveness. He knew he'd never escape what he was, but maybe, just maybe, he could live with it. He picked up a chair and smashed the monitor, breaking the spell. And maybe, just maybe, he'd get her back one day.

The Doctor stepped back out into the sun with Sarah. He'd managed to work up the nerve to invite her to come traveling with him again, and she'd said 'no'. Oh, she was nice about it, of course, but she made it very clear that she was moving on with her life. Without him. At least, he thought, she'd had the courtesy to tell him. And now it was time to say goodbye.

"It's daft, but I haven't ever thanked you for that time. And like I said, I wouldn't have missed it for the world." It had been so hard to turn him down when he asked her to join him again, but with Rose there, she knew she wouldn't fit in, and after all, it wasn't her time with him anymore, or yet. Still, she felt sorry for Rose. She had no idea of what was to come.

"Something to tell the grandkids?"

"Oh, I think it'll be somebody else's grandkids now." Oh, he looked so wistful, how she longed to comfort him.

'Idiot,' he thought. What an assumption to make! "Right. Yes. Sorry. I didn't get a chance to ask. You haven't ... there hasn't been anyone ... you know..."

She had to smile inwardly at that. He was hoping she hadn't found someone else. As if anyone could ever compare to him, no matter what regeneration he was in. Maybe she could put him a little bit at ease. "Well, there was this one guy. I traveled with him for a while, but he was a tough act to follow."

He knew he shouldn't be happy that she was lonely, but if he were really honest with himself, he had to admit that a little part of him was glad that she was still his.

"Goodbye, Doctor."

He'd been all prepared, but the word seemed so final. Like ... like he was never going to see her again. "Oh, it's not goodbye."

"You say it please, this time. Say it." She needed to hear it from him. Without it, she had no closure and she was determined to say goodbye to her past, and all the sorrow and regret that it had caused her.

The Doctor looked into her eyes, and he knew it was over. No matter how much he wanted to hold onto the dream of her, she needed him to let go. It was the least he could do. "Goodbye," he said, and realized that there was only so much letting go he could do. "My Sarah Jane," he said, and lifted her in a huge hug.

She closed her eyes as he hugged her. She tried not to cry for him and what she was leaving behind. So many memories, so much love. 'Goodbye, My Doctor, I'll always love you,' she thought as she enjoyed his arms around her and hugged him back as hard as she could.

He set her down and walked back into the TARDIS without a word. It was Castria all over again; if he looked at her he could never let her go. But someday, he vowed, someday he'd get her back.

She couldn't look back yet either. She felt that same emptiness in the pit of her stomach as she had the last time he'd left her. It all seemed so surreal when she heard the TARDIS groan and she knew it was gone. She turned once more as she had back then, knowing that there would be nothing there. To her surprise K-9 was standing there waiting for her.

"K-9! " She cried out, joy in her voice.

"Mistress."

"But you were blown up!" 'Oh that wonderful man,' she thought. 'He knew how heartbroken I was over losing the one gift he ever gave me. Well, at least the only one I remembered before now.' She thought about the vase in her bedroom with the Metebilis Angel in it.

"The master rebuilt me. My systems are much improved, with new omniflexible hyperlink capabilities."

It was then she realized what the Doctor had done for her. "He replaced you with a brand new model."

"Affirmative."

"Yeah. He does that. Come on you, home. We've got work to do." For the first time since he had left her, she was truly content. She could go on with her life now, knowing that he was coming back to her, and that one day soon, they would both be together and happy again.

"Affirmative."

Ealing, 2010

The Doctor smiled as he finally caught the last little furry animal and chucked it back in it's box with the others, then picked up Sarah's doll and thought bubbles and put them both away neatly on Sarah's dresser. He double checked to make sure that he had everything, confirmed the coordinates one more time and stepped out of the TARDIS onto Bannerman Road. Taking a deep breath, he crossed the road and jogged up to the door of number 13, ringing the bell before he could give it any more thought.

Inside, Sarah Jane Smith was typing away at her latest book. She took a sip of tea and smiled, as she had just gotten to the part she liked best. 'The Professor smiled at his young companion and put his arm around her. "What would I ever do without you my dear," he said. "For starters, you'd never be able to find anything, that's what," Nicola laughed as she smiled back at him. He moved his face closer to hers and' --

"Damn," said Sarah Jane. "Bloody doorbell! I swear, tomorrow I'm having that thing taken out," she grumbled to herself as she went to answer it. "If that's a salesman, he'll rue waking up today." She got downstairs and headed towards the door, ready to rip someone's head off. She flung the door open and her mouth opened wide with surprise. "Doctor," was all she managed to get out.

The Doctor stood there, looking hopeful and contrite, holding out his right pinky. On the tip of it was a tiny gold ring. "I pinky swore I'd come back," he said.

Sarah Jane reached out and touched the ring tenderly. "All those years," she said in a hushed tone. "You kept it after all these years."

"Well... technically speaking, you just gave it to me."

"What? I don't understand. For me it's been over fifty years," she said.

"Magic, remember?" he smiled.

She gave her shoulders a little shrug and grinned at him. "Magic, of course. You have always been magic to me."

He reached out and tenderly enfolded her in his arms. "You are my magic. And you always will be."