A/N - Wow. 40 chapters. And we still a little to go until the Christmas special! I really loved writing this chapter.

The Doctor and Elise rang the doorbell of the Maitland home and Angie answered.

"Ah, hello Angie. Is Clara home?" the Doctor asked.

"She's busy...but we can play a game while we wait."

"A game? I love games."

"How about Blind Man's Buff?" Artie suggested.

Angie blindfolded the Doctor and shared a look with Elise. Elise smirked and nodded. Angie smiled and bumped her fist with Elise's before they ran off.

Elise explored the Maitland home while the Doctor walked around calling out for the children.

"Angie? Artie? Am I getting warm? Am I getting warm? Look, I'm pretty sure you have to tell me if I'm getting warm. I'm...I'm...I'm pretty sure that's in the rules."

Clara came running down the stairs. "Doctor?"

"Ha! Clara. How are you? Don't worry, everything is under control."

"What are you doing?"

"Elise and I showed up and the kids said you were busy..."

"At which point they suggested Blind Man's Buff."

"Yes. Where are they?"

"At the cinema." Clara took off the blindfold.

"The little Daleks." He looked at Clara. "What's wrong?" She was normally so excited to see him.

Clara led them into the kitchen where she made tea. "I saw her," Clara told Elise.

"Who?"

"Your mum." Clara watched Elise's eyes light up.

"River? You saw River?"

"River asked Vastra for the exact words. What were they?" the Doctor asked.

"The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered," Clara told him.

The Doctor's eyes filled with tears and he started crying.

"Doctor?"

"Sorry. And it was Trenzalore? Definitely Trenzalore?"

"Yeah."

"Oh dear." He sniffled. "Sorry." The Doctor stood up and ran out of the house, Elise following. "Please, leave me alone Elise."

"No way."

He made his way under the rotor and sat down.

Elise sat next to him.

"You know. I miss the days where you cried over everything."

"Because I was scared. Everything scared me. But you taught me to be brave." Deep down, Elise's hearts were breaking. Never let him see the damage. She knew this day was coming; she just didn't think it'd be this soon.

Clara entered the TARDIS and found the two Timelords. "Well?" she asked.

"Trenzalore. I've heard the name, of course. Dorium mentioned it. A few others." He stood up and soniced the cables above his head. "Always suspected what it was, never wanted to find out myself. River would know, though. River always knew. Right, come here. Give me your hand."

Clara held out her hand.

"Now, the coordinates you saw will still be in your memory. I'm linking you into the TARDIS telepathic circuit. Won't hurt a bit." He jabbed the cable into her hand.

"Ow!"

"I lied."

"Okay, what is Trenzalore? Is that your big secret?"

"No."

"Okay, what then?"

"When you are a time traveler, there is one place you must never go. One place in all of space and time you must never, ever find yourself."

"Where?"

"You didn't listen, did you? You lot never do. That's the problem. The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered. He wasn't talking about my secret. No, no, no, that's not what's been found. He was talking about my...grave. Trenzalore is where I'm buried."

"How can you have a grave?"

"Because we all do, somewhere out there in the future, waiting for us."

They went up to the console.

"The trouble with time travel, you can actually end up visiting."

"But you're not going to. You just said it's the one place you must never go."

"I have to save Vastra and Strax. Jenny too, if it's still possible. They, they cared for me during the dark times. Never questioned me, never judged me, they were just kind. I owe them. I have a duty. No point in telling you this is too dangerous."

"None at all."

The Doctor looked at Elise, who nodded.

"You and me, no matter what," she told him.

"How can we save them?" Clara asked.

"Apparently, by breaking into my own tomb." The Doctor put the TARDIS in flight and she started jerking.

"What's that?"

"She's just figured out where we're going. She's against it. I'm about to cross my own timeline in the biggest way possible."

"To be fair, the last time you did that, the universe ended."

"Do you have to bring that up now?"

Elise laughed loudly.

"The TARDIS doesn't like it. She's fighting it. Hang on! Hang on!"

The console started sparking as both Elise and the Doctor tried to get control of the TARDIS. They were thrown into the railings as the TARDIS shut down.

"Now what?" Clara croaked.

"She doesn't want to land. She's shut down," the Doctor explained.

"So we're not there?"

"We must be close." The Doctor walked over to the doors and opened them.

An angry burning planet was right outside the doors.

Elise imagine Gallifrey probably looked like that now.

"Okay, so that's where I end up. Always thought maybe I'd retire. Take up watercolors or bee-keeping, or something. Apparently not."

"We both know you'd never be able to sit still," Elise told him.

"So, how do we get down there? Jump?" Clara asked.

"Don't be silly. We fall," the Doctor said. They closed the door and the Doctor walked back to the console.

"Please don't tell me you're thinking of doing what I think you're doing," Elise said.

"She's turned off practically everything, except the anti-gravs. Guess what I'm turning off." He soniced the console and the TARDIS started falling.

Elise closed her eyes and she was transported to her childhood, when the TARDIS fell out of the sky and landed in Amelia's backyard.

The TARDIS hit the ground with such force that one of the glass windows in the door shattered.

"Oops," the Doctor said. It was then he noticed a shaking Elise, clinging onto the railing for dear life. He walked over to her and just barely touched her. He was transported into her mind and he could hear the First Elise screaming, her blue eyes wide with terror.

"It's okay. It's okay. You're safe." He softly hummed her lullaby and Elise came back to herself.

She looked around the dark TARDIS.

He helped her up and they ventured outside.

The sky was dark and there was an occasional burst of lightning.

"You okay?" Clara asked, "You're visiting your own grave. Anyone would be scared."

"It's more than that. I'm a time traveler. I've probably time-traveled more than anyone else."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning my grave is potentially the most dangerous place in the universe. Shall we?"

Elise took her father's hand and they walked through the graveyard.

"Gravestones are a bit basic," Clara commented.

"It's a battlefield graveyard. My final battle," the Doctor explained.

"Why are some of them bigger?"

"They're soldiers. The bigger the gravestone, the higher the rank."

At the end of the graveyard, sat a large TARDIS.

"It's a hell of a monument."

"It's the TARDIS."

"I can see that."

"No. When a TARDIS is dying, sometimes the dimension dams start breaking down. They used to call it a size leak. All the bigger on the inside starts leaking to the outside. It grows. When I say that's the TARDIS, I don't mean it looks like the TARDIS, I mean it actually is the TARDIS. My TARDIS from the future. What else would they bury me in?"

The Doctor and Elise walked on ahead, towards the TARDIS.

"I always thought maybe you'd take the TARDIS. Keep traveling without me," the Doctor told Elise.

"Traveling alone? That's no fun."

"You wouldn't be alone. You'd have a companion or maybe a husband."

Elise laughed quietly. "A husband? Who would want to marry me?"

"Well, you never know." The Doctor realized their companion wasn't following them. "Well, come on, then."

They walked over to her.

"Who are you talking to? We need to get..." The Doctor realized what gravestone she was standing near. "River?"

Elise knelt down and ran her hand over the letters. This wasn't right. Surely she'd wanna be buried with Amy and Rory.

"That can't be right," Clara said.

"No, it can't," the Doctor agreed.

"She's not dead."

"Oh, she's dead, I'm afraid. She's been dead for a very long time."

Elise wanted to ask, but they were probably so far into the future that River was most likely dead.

"But I met her."

"Long story. But her grave can't be here."

"Doctor!"

They turned and saw men dressed in black with white faces. Except the faces only had mouths.

"This man must fall as all men must. The fate of all is always dust."

The Doctor tried sonicing them, but nothing happened.

"What do you think that gravestone really is?" Clara asked.

"The gravestone?" the Doctor asked, not sure why she was bringing it up now.

"Maybe it's a false grave."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Maybe it's a secret entrance to the tomb!"

"Yes, of course. Makes sense. They'd never bury my wife out here. Maybe Elise, but never River."

"Your what?"

The Doctor soniced the headstone and for the second time that day, they were falling.