The Doctor's Last Goodbye

Regeneration

They were standing in the TARDIS, The Doctor and River. She looked sadly at him, the man who would become the love of her life. His eyes glowed with Time Energy, the heart of the TARDIS. She took a deep breath and steeled herself for what she was about to do. They gazed into each other’s eyes for a long moment, then she kissed him. The Time Energy streamed from his eyes and mouth into hers. She reeled backwards and sighed. What was done was done. River turned and placed her hands on the console, letting the Time Energy flow back into the TARDIS. She staggered over to a chair and sat down. The Doctor sat down next to her and pulled her into a loving embrace which she gratefully returned. She looked down at her hands and saw the golden energy starting to pulse through her veins. She knew she had less than a minute. She had saved the love of her life, but at what cost?

        “This has been great,” River told The Doctor. “Thank you so much for having me along.”

        The Doctor sighed. “I’m going to miss you… We both know that once you’re gone I’ll never see you again. In any form.”

        “Yeah… One more kiss before I go?”

        They stood up, hugged, then kissed each other for a moment that felt like an eternity, then River was flung backwards as the regeneration began.

        The Doctor sighed once more as River turned into a very young black girl whom Rory and Amy would grow up with. She was unconscious. He knew what he had to do. He fired up the engines of the TARDIS and took her to an orphanage near where Amy and Rory lived. As he set her down on the doorstep of the orphanage he kissed her on the forehead. He then knocked twice on the door and walked slowly back to the TARDIS wishing, not for the last time, that he could die.