Whomerlock- Epilogue

The Doctor stepped out the Tardis. He had just finished conducting a few scans of both the city and the earth's atmosphere, to be sure that the aliens had indeed left for good. And they had, everything was practically perfect.

Sherlock was talking to Molly, hopefully congratulating her for successfully leading the rebellion. She deserved all the praise in the world, that pig-tailed young lady, but the redness in her cheeks indicated that Sherlock's attention was reward enough.

John was standing out of the way, against the colourful wall of the pancake house. He had a phone to his ear and was speaking tenderly to someone clearly very special to him. An old woman, the Doctor recognised her as Mrs Dawson, waved to John. But when she saw he was preoccupied, her attention returned to the two adults holding onto her arms. Eleven froze for a second, remembering the clones, but relaxed when his screwdriver confirmed that they were indeed her human children.

Someone else was being waved to. Gwen's hand swung eagerly in the air at Christy. She was walking away from the scene with her parents, who had fought alongside Molly. Gwen was standing with Arthur and Merlin, who were close enough to the Tardis that the Doctor could hear their conversation.

"You've lied to me, all this time..." Arthur was saying.

"I'm sorry," Merlin looked disappointed that they were still needing to have the conversation, "but you know I couldn't tell you." Eleven knew what was coming, what he would be required to do. There was no point putting the two friends through this anymore.

"Merlin!" He signalled for the warlock to join him. "Would you help me with something?" Merlin nodded and hastily left Gwen and Arthur to celebrate their success. As he stood beside the Timelord, Merlin's eyes found Morgana, who was sitting in the gutter, bandaging her knee.

"What are we going to do with her?" He asked plainly.

"Oh, I don't think you'll need to do anything." Eleven answered, wondering how to tell Merlin what he was about to. He spotted Sherlock approaching them, Molly having gone off to find her other friends. "Ah, if it isn't the consulting detective! Could I tempt you with a cup of tea?" He indicated the open door of the Tardis. Sherlock shook his head.

"I think something stronger is required."

"Yes, well..." The Doctor looked at all bodies of the clones. They were abandoned throughout the streets, just lying there like broken puppets, lifeless eyes glazed over. "You'll have a lot of cleaning up to do." He wouldn't really though, and Sherlock knew it.

"Oh," he replied, "I don't think that's quite true. I expect you'll be wiping the events of the past week from our memory."

"Yes, but I doubt you'll forget," he winked, "Even I can't get inside that mind palace-"

"Wait," Merlin interrupted, his expression twisting with confusion, "you're wiping our minds?" Eleven nodded. He didn't want to, but the aliens had distorted the natural timeline of earth. They had muddled up everything, and the only way to put things right was to erase the events from existence.

"When I take you back to Camelot, I'll have to make you all forget..." He spoke slowly, clearly, the way he talked when he couldn't save someone. And it was true, part of Merlin was going to die. The part that had seen the time vortex, travelled to the future, saved the world. Actually, that wasn't true, Merlin had and still was going to save the world over and over. "It's the only way to fix time." There were tears in the warlock's eyes, but he seemed to understand.

"It's for the best, I know." He glanced at the prince, who was laughing with Gwen. "And he won't know my secret, or Morgana." His head dipped. "Morgana will still be the same."

"Yes," Sherlock explained, "everything will be as it was before the foreigners arrived in Camelot."

"But," Eleven piped up, "Arthur would thank you. Given time, he would thank you." Merlin smiled, though he could tell it was forced.

"I know that, and when the time is right, he still will."

Eleven clicked his fingers and the police box door swung on its hinges. "Let's have one last ride in the Tardis, eh?" That brought a genuine smile to the warlock's face. "Let's take one last look at everything."

~

SIX YEARS LATER

"And then the blue box dematerialised, and everything went back to normal." Sherlock pulled the bed sheets up to the little girl's chin. "The end." Her delighted eyes beamed up at him, and she blew her godfather a kiss.

John appeared in the doorway, and placed his hand on the light switch. "You didn't just tell her that same story again, did you?" Sherlock laughed under his breath. "That's what, the one thousandth time? She'll start believing you." The detective's laughter was mirrored by childish giggles from the bed.

"Your mind was wiped, daddy. But it's all true, every word!" She winked at Sherlock, and, grinning from ear to ear, he winked back.