‘No!’ The Doctor grabbed her forearms and made her rise. ‘He loved you, he loved you so much that he was willing to become me again to save you. Feel.’

He took her hands and put them over one of his hearts. Then the other.

‘And is one of them his?’

For the first time since he’d come here, he allowed himself a moment’s uncertainty.

‘I think that both my hearts are mine. That was one of the things I wanted to learn, where one part of me ends, where the next begins. Many of his attitudes and ideas, his ways of acting, were mine. But he’s a different person, a role I created in order to learn things.’

‘So you remember everything?’

The Doctor paused, then decided to tell the truth. ‘Yes. What would be the point otherwise?’

Joan gave a short, bitter, laugh. ‘You haven’t learned how to love.’

‘A fish can’t learn to⁠ —’

‘Walk?’

‘Not that. A better metaphor. Whatever it is, I’m incapable of it.’

‘Could you not become John Smith again?’

‘If I could find another Pod. But such horror followed me. Such⁠ —’ He dropped his head. ‘That’s not true. I might become a man again, but it wouldn’t be John. And I wouldn’t want to do it. I know everything I am, and that includes the knowledge that I want to be me.’

‘Well…’ Joan let go of his hands, and moved off a little way. ‘I believe that you’re a good man. You didn’t know that your human self would fall in love.’

‘It seems obvious now. What else do humans do?’

‘Go to war.’

‘I did both, then. And I was half successful.’

She smiled, sadly. ‘Oh, more than half.’ She plucked the ring from her finger. ‘Do you want this back?’

‘No. Keep it. Please.’

Wolsey, oblivious to what was happening, was rubbing himself up against the Doctor’s legs. Joan glanced down at the cat. ‘I shall have to move, of course. There’s no school here for me to work at, now. I gained Wolsey through chance, when I arrived here, and I doubt that he would want to follow me to some other earthly destination.’ She paused and took a sharp breath. ‘I would like to think that you have a companion to guard you, besides Miss Summerfield. Would you be willing to take him on?’

The Doctor bent and picked up the cat, who curled up in his arms. ‘Won’t you miss him?’

‘Miss him? I’ll miss⁠ — No, no, I’ll get myself a litter of kittens and teach them all how to be good cats for good homes. May I keep those stories that you⁠ — that John wrote?’

The Doctor felt a heavy weight in his chest. ‘If you wish.’

‘Very well, then,’ she said brightly. ‘It’s all decided. Was there anything else?’

‘Joan… don’t…’

‘Don’t what?’