Notes: I think this chapter marks the end of this story... there will DEFINITELY be more in the series. I've got lots of plans for them still.

Chapter 20: Saving Lives

When River and James finally emerged from their bedroom, it was late afternoon. They giggled their way through lunch before James decided to talk to his parents about the circular paradox issue. River decided to spend some time in the pool, relaxing and he promised to join her later.

The Doctor, Rose and James sat together in the library to discuss everything and the younger Time Lord was fidgeting nervously. "I think it's safe now to tell you everything about the events, dad. We're past everything that could influence it except for what I saw from the future you that was there," he told his father.

"This has something to do with those blue envelopes, doesn't it?" the Doctor guessed.

"Yeah. Yours sent you to the diner, but the rest of us were called in a bit earlier. I'm guessing the two of you have been running from it for a few centuries now?" James questioned as he handed his father the letter he had received to give him the exact time and place to send everyone else.

"Well, yeah," he admitted sheepishly.

"You don't have to worry about it. Use the Tesselecta, or something very like it. You called us all to go for a picnic at Lake Silencio. We were being watched, you warned me about that and to make it all seem real. I didn't want River in here for this conversation because it hasn't happened for her yet, but she'll come out of the lake in that damn space suit that she can't control. She appears to shoot you, you start to regenerate, and she shoots you again. Canton was there, but older of course, and he brought a can of petrol to burn the body," James explained in detail.

"What about me?" Rose wondered.

"You weren't there. I think they presumed they were successful with that thing in Berlin. Dad told me you were off shopping with gran. That should be all the information that you need to close it all off," he concluded.

"Thank you, Jamie," Rose said, hugging him tightly. "I was terrified. For hundreds of years now, I've been terrified that this was it and you'd be on your own, trying to do what your dad has done for so long."

"Don't worry, mum. Lots of years left for all of us," he assured his mother.

Rose looked at the Doctor pointedly for a moment. "We need to tell him about River. There has to be a way around it. What about something similar to what he's suggesting for you?" she thought to him.

"Jamie, we need to discuss how I first met your wife," the Doctor began, agreeing with Rose that they deserved a chance to try and save her.

"It was while mum and I were in the other universe, yeah?"

"Yes. River contacted me on the psychic paper. She asked me to go to The Library. When I got there with Donna, the whole planet was deserted. River arrived with an archeological team to discover what happened there to seal it off one hundred years before. Long story short, the place was infested with Vashta Nerada, nearly killing all of us," the Doctor explained.

"You're both upset about this, what is it?" James pressed, sensing their anxiety.

"First, I didn't trust her. She kept saying that she knew me and whatnot. To prove herself to me, she whispered the part of our names that you and I share. With your mother gone and me not knowing about you at all, I thought it was a sign that she would be my wife in the future," the Doctor told him honestly.

"Ok, I'll be sure to pass along that information to her, but there's something else. Tell me what it is," James insisted.

"From what I saw, River died. All of the people that had been in The Library during the initial attack had been teleported out and saved on the hard drive, but there wasn't enough memory to get them out again. I was going to plug myself into the computer to save them all, but she knocked me out and plugged herself into it instead. I think, we might be able to work out something similar to what you were suggesting for me with the Tesselecta," he assured his son.

"She died the first time you ever met her?" James asked, tears forming in his eyes. "And you never thought to tell me about it? Just let me keep going with her the whole time?"

"Oh, sweetheart! It wasn't like that! I've been trying to think of a way to fix this from the first moment that I knew about it. You know that we would never sit by and just let it happen," Rose told him, soothingly rubbing his back.

"This will work, Jamie. In fact, we can set it up so that the thing will work even better than hooking a biological brain into it for the download. You can't be with her for it though. My past self would feel our link for sure, but we will save your wife, son," the Doctor said earnestly.

"Now. Let's leave all of this melancholy stuff behind for a mo' and give these love birds their wedding present, husband," Rose suggested.

"Ah! Yes. You're gonna love this!" the Doctor beamed and grasped both of their hands to pull them along behind him. He practically ran down the hallway, urging James to call River to join them.

When River peeked out the door to the pool, James grabbed her hand and pulled her along with them as his father continued to tug him down the hallway. Rose giggled at the sight of them stumbling behind the Doctor.

"What's this all about, dad?" James questioned.

"Your wedding present!" the Doctor responded happily. "It's a human thing, I think. Giving wedding presents? Don't know if we did that for Amy and Rory, did we? I suppose we could always jump back and drop something off for them."

"We took them on a few honeymoon trips, love. Several of them, not so fun, but the last one was alright, I think," Rose told him.

"Ah yes! Right again, my love. Now, this has been in the making for some time, and to be honest, one of the reasons that we've been running for quite so long, Jamie. Wanted this to be ready for you before taking any chances, but you've gone and figured out our solution, so it's just a bonus now. Through that door, the two of you will find something that every Time Lord needs," the Doctor told them with a grand gesture toward the door they had stopped in front of.

James had a feeling that he knew what he would find, but wasn't sure. He tentatively opened the door with shaking hands. What he found was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. In a rather plain looking room, there stood what appeared to be a a beautiful tree made out of coral. It reminded James of the old console room, from when he was a child, before his father regenerated. The coral shimmered slightly in the light and almost seemed to glow from within. The little TARDIS reached out to James and River telepathically and both of them gasped at the contact, grasping each other's hands tightly.

"She's so beautiful, dad. Oh thank you!" James cried and pulled him into a quick hug before running into his new ship, tugging his wife behind him. A door opened in the main trunk of the little tree, revealing a small, round console room.

"This TARDIS is young yet, but she'll grow. You've got the essential rooms and controls ready to go, and she can always dock in here when you'd like to visit. The two ships are linked, so they'll always be able to find each other," the Doctor explained as he and Rose joined them by the main console.

"It's lovely. Much nicer than travelling by vortex manipulator, I'm sure," River replied.

"Definitely, though I'm sorry to say that you've got quite a bit of that left, love. But, like so many other promises that I've made to you, our beautiful TARDIS will be waiting for you. Did you need any help with that thing we discussed, dad? I'd like to take my wife on a few trips before I return her to the university," James suggested.

"Nah, I'm sure Rose and I can manage it. And when you're ready to tackle that other project, you let me know. I want to make sure that everything is perfect for that," he responded.

"You come visit us often, sweetheart. You too, River," Rose told them, giving them both hugs and kisses before leaving their ship for the time being.

As the older couple stood back in the hallway, they listened to the engines start up. That sound was made by every TARDIS and Time Ring from Gallifrey. Now, there were only these two TARDISes left in the universe. But there was hope; the Doctor was not the last anymore.

They dropped off Amy and Rory at home for the time being and set to work on closing the circular paradox. Rose went to the store to purchase the blue stationary, while the Doctor searched out plans for the Tesselecta. He could just borrow it, knowing it would be burned at the end of the adventure, but if they were going to create another one to save River, then creating a second would be necessary anyway.

After several trips to find the necessary parts and days of the two of them working to build the machine, Rose and the Doctor were practising their control over it. The Doctor was inside, doing most of the controlling of movement and speech, while Rose was at the TARDIS controls, making sure that everything worked smoothly and would be operating the transmat beam that would get him out of there.

"What do you think, love? Does it look exactly like me? Maybe it needs a fez," the Doctor wondered.

"No fez. Ooh, I have an idea!" Rose exclaimed and ran off to the wardrobe room for a moment before returning with a Stetson for him.

"Really? You think?" he asked, carefully placing the hat on his head and tipping it to emulate the few western films that he had seen.

"Mmmm, yes, I think," Rose told him with a sexy smirk. "This one, you can keep."

"Well, let's get this show on the road," he replied with a terrible accent as he tried to sound like a cowboy. Rose giggled as she piloted them to the correct date to send out the letters, then to sneak past themselves into the past TARDIS to deliver their own summons.

With everything in place, the couple jointly flew their time ship to meet their fate. The Doctor borrowed an old car and drove it to the spot where he had called everyone together. Rose watched everything through a video feed from the robot her husband was piloting. The look on River's face from the spacesuit was heartbreaking. She felt awful for her daughter-in-law, strengthening her resolve even further to make sure that she lived past The Library to have her happily ever after with Jamie.

As the simulated regeneration light flashed, she teleported the Doctor back onto the TARDIS and allowed everything to play out the way everyone remembered, closing the loop of events.

##############

It was only a few days later, that the Doctor and Rose got a call from their son. The couple was lounging by the pool inside the TARDIS when Rose's mobile rang. "Jamie! How are you, sweetheart?" she asked.

"I'm fine, mum. Just dropped off River at the university, and I'd like your help starting on the solution for The Library," he told her.

"So soon? I thought you two would spend some time honeymooning before she went back," Rose commented as she grabbed her towel and headed toward their bedroom to get dressed. The Doctor followed after her, realizing what the phone call was about immediately.

"It's been months for me, mum," he replied.

"Oh, well just a week or so for us. But we'd love to help you with it, love. Dock your TARDIS here and we can get on it right away," she assured him. "See you soon."

James docked his TARDIS inside his parents' and made his way to the console room. He was anxious to get this rescue just right, which would take excessive planning and possibly quite some time to accomplish. He would not risk any mistakes in saving the life of his wife.

"Jamie! Just wanted to say that you, son, are brilliant. All went off without a hitch, as you well know since you lived through it even before we did, but absolutely brilliant nonetheless. Now, we have quite a task ahead of us if we are to save your River Song while keeping things the way I remember them happening in The Library," the Doctor rambled.

"Hello, Jamie," Rose greeted him with a hug.

"Mum, dad," James acknowledged. "Let's get started, and the more details you can give me about what happened, the better. I know I can't tell River everything that will happen for her, but I need to make sure that she will have everything she needs while she is there."

The Doctor, Rose, and James worked steadily for weeks to build a new version of the Tesselecta-type robot that was custom made for River and what she would need to accomplish in The Library. It would shield her from any Vashta Nerada entering and threatening her, it would connect with the computer mainframe to facilitate the safe retrieval of everyone trapped in the core, be easy enough for her to pilot the robot on her own, and have the strength to knock the Doctor unconscious when necessary. Armed with a sonic screwdriver and a sonic blaster similar to Jack's, the device was ready to be passed along to the woman who would need it.

James kept it stored in his TARDIS, never knowing exactly when he would cross that point in her timeline. He only knew that she had achieved the title of Professor at that point and was therefore after all other meetings they'd had in his life so far.

He visited her often, both between his past visits and during her time travelling with his younger self. James knew it had to be hard for her to be travelling with her husband, but not have the intimate contact that she deserved. There were several times during their past travels where he remembered her being gone for some time and that gave him the opportunities to meet up with her briefly.

On a day just like any other, though perhaps a bit lonely on his baby TARDIS, the phone rang. "James Tyler," he answered the ringing.

"Hello, James," came River's voice. "I'm packing up my things from Stormcage and was hoping you might help me move out of here."

"Of course, love. I'll be there right away. Coordinates?" he responded, excited that she might be at the end of the tangled mess of their timelines apart. She gave him the date to meet her and he materialized right outside of her cell. Their ship felt the excitement of her pilots and chose the form of a little house with a sign hanging on the door reading, home sweet home. The sight made both of them laugh as James greeted his wife with a spinning hug, lifting her easily off of the ground.

"She seems almost as anxious to get me out of here as you, James," River beamed.

"I'm sure she is. It's lonely travelling without you or the rest of the family. Where am I taking you, love? I'm sure you've got something planned," James replied.

"I don't have anywhere to live for the moment, but I am expected for an expedition. The team is waiting for me at the university," she informed him as they both carried the various boxes of her things from her cell into their ship.

"Interesting. And where is this expedition going to take you? I could always tag along if you'd like," he suggested.

"That would be fun. We're investigating what happened in The Library a hundred years ago," she responded casually. James froze immediately. This was it. If it didn't work, he would never see her any later in her life. "What is it? What's wrong?" she questioned, feeling his panic.

"I can't go with you," he sighed and moved their ship into the Vortex to discuss what she would need to know. "Dad will meet you there though."

"This already happened for them. You know what I'm about to be up against," she realized.

"Yeah. And just like the last time we had a circular paradox, the less I tell you, the more freedom you'll have to improvise. There are a few things however that you'll need to know for this to work. The first is, you'll be going inside a protective, robotic shell that I've constructed for you. I can't go with you because dad won't know that I exist yet, so you can't mention me or mum. Dad won't trust you. To gain his trust, you'll need to whisper the part of our name that he and I share. Let him think what he will about that," James explained.

"But wouldn't he think that would make me his wife?" she asked.

"Yes. Mum and I are trapped in the other universe for him. You can't let him know we're coming back. The last part is the most important. This suit that I've made for you is designed to solve the problem the way dad works out. You've got to stop him from doing it himself and take his place. That's honestly all I can tell you about it, but I will get you out of there in time, I promise," he assured her.

"You're terrified that this won't work," River pointed out.

"Mum and dad and I have spent a long time working on this. We should have accounted for all possibilities that dad remembers. I have to keep telepathically shielded through all of this or dad will feel my presence. I'll keep our TARDIS on the planet nearby and at the right moment, I'll get you out of there. Oh, and this is his face before the Byzantium," he added.

"Alright. I've got it. Is this it? The end of our timelines crossing?" River asked.

"As far as I know, this is it, love. When this is over, you're staying with me, and that life that has been waiting for you is here," he told her and pulled her into his arms. River held onto her husband tightly, thrilled that the pain of all the secrets was almost over. She'd been waiting for this day since their wedding and it was almost in their grasp.

She practised piloting the robot and pronouncing the name that she would need to use to gain the Doctor's trust before he dropped her off at the university and parked himself on The Library planet, shielding his presence from his father's past self, but able to receive a signal from River to teleport her safely once it was all over.

He watched the video feed from the robot as his wife fought her way through The Library with his father and Aunt Donna. He never knew Aunt Donna before she had her wheel chair, so it was strange for him to see her running with the rest of them. The pain in his father's eyes just about broke his hearts when River was about to plug into the computer core, but he couldn't let it distract him from the critical moment that he needed to activate the teleport.

In a flash of light, River was in his arms, tears streaming down her face. The pain of having lost most of her team, putting on the façade of dying for the Doctor, and the relief of it all being finally over came crashing down and the couple spent hours crying together.

When they were snuggled together in their bed that night, and most of the tears were dry, James whispered to his wife, "Welcome home, Melody."

"Thank you, James. Though a century of being called River Song, has made that name feel far more real to me now," she told him.

"How about River Tyler?" he suggested, knowing that she had never had the chance to openly claim their marriage since the wedding itself.

River chuckled softly. "We could take my parents' route and call you James Song," she teased. "But I think I'd like that. River Tyler."

James hummed happily as he squeezed his wife a little tighter against himself and they both drifted off to sleep.