Tate joined the others at the time window. It showed the ballroom where all the guests were being terrorized by the clockwork droids. "You found it then?" Tate asked once he arrived. Rose went over to stand by Tate, while Mickey stayed near the window.

"They knew I was coming" Nova admitted. She was now dressed in her regular clothes again. "They blocked it off"

"I don't get it" Tate shook his head. "How come they got in there?"

"They teleported" The Doctor answered. "You saw them" He began pressing buttons and flipping switches on the console, in an attempt to fix the time window. "As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short range teleports will do the trick"

"Well, we'll go in the Tardis!" Rose suggested.

"We can't use the Tardis. We're part of events now"

"Well, can't we just smash through?" Mickey concurred.

"Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other" Nova divulged as she motioned towards the window. The Doctor was still running around. "We need a truck"

"We don't have a truck!"

"I know we don't have a truck!" The Doctor screamed out in frustration.

"Well, we've got to try something" Rose stressed.

"Well," Tate began as the lightbulb went off in his head. "We don't have a truck but we do have something else with horsepower"

"Oh, Tate, you're a genius!" Nova praised her best friend. She bopped him on the nose. "Rose, Mickey" She turned to face her other two friends. "Where have you put Arthur?"

"No!" The Doctor protested when he realized what Nova was intending to do. He stepped in front of her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Smash the glass, smash the time window. There'd be no way for you to get back" He cautioned her.

"I realize that, Doctor" Nova whispered. She smiled and placed a hand on his cheek. "But Reinette needs me right now. I made a promise to her. I never break a promise" She closed her eyes and touched her forehead to his. The Doctor closed his eyes as well and wrapped his arms securely around Nova. "If I'm not back in five hours--"

"Please," he begged, holding her closer to him. "Don't say that"

"If I'm not back in five hours," Nova continued. "Take the Tardis and go. Look after Tate for me. Please, promise me that, Doctor"

"I can't" The Doctor croaked, shaking his head. "I can't because you will come back" He paused and took her face in his hands. "You're gonna come back to me because I can't lose you. Not when I just found you"

"Promise me"

"I promise"

______

"Such a commotion" Reinette boomed her voice loud enough for the commotion in the ballroom to stop. "Such distressing noise" Everyone's attention was on Reinette. "Kindly remember that this is Versailles. This is the Royal Court, and we are French" Reinette turned around to look at the droid that was a few steps away from her. "I have made a decision. And my decision is no, I shall not be going with you today. I have seen your world, and I have no desire to set foot there again"

"We do not require your foot" The droid spoke in a literal sense.

Two female dressed droids grabbed Reinette and pushed her down to her knees. The droids pointed their blades at her. The droid Reinette was talking to approached her and pointed its blade also. However, Reinette was not going to give up that easily. "You think I fear you, but I do not fear you even now. You are merely the nightmare of my childhood. The monster from under my bed. And if my nightmare can return to plague me, then rest assured, so will yours"

A horse whinnied off in the distance and the sound of galloping hooves echoed in the ballroom. The mirror over the mantlepiece was smashed through. It was Nova riding on Arthur. Nova caught Reinette's eye and gave her a wink. Reinette let out a breath of relief. Nova came to the middle of the ballroom and got off of Arthur. "Madame de Pompadour" Nova greeted happily. "You look younger every day" Reinette smiled at her.

"What the hell is going on?" Louis demanded.

"Oh" Reinette uttered. She pointed at Louis and introduced him to Nova. "This is my lover, the King of France"

"Yeah? Well, I'm the Lady of Time," Nova expressed pridefully. She walked over to the droids keeping Reinette hostage. "And I'm here to fix the clock" She took the mast of the main droid. Everyone gasped dramatically at the exposed clockwork. It pointed its blade at Nova's throat. "Forget it. It's over. For you and for me" She glanced over at where the broken mirror was. There was a brick wall in its place. "Talk about seven years bad luck. Try three thousand" The droid looked over at the brick wall and then to Nova. "The link with the ship is broken. No way back. You don't have the parts. How many ticks left in that clockwork heart, huh? A day? An hour? It's over. Accept that. I'm not winding you up" All the droids winded down. One of them fell backwards and fell apart. "You all right?" Nova asked Reinette as she helped her to her feet.

Reinette nodded and looked around at all the droids. "What's happened to them?"

"They've stopped. They have no purpose now"

______

The Doctor, Rose, Tate and Mickey looked at the broken window that Nova smashed through. "What happened?" Mickey quavered. "Where did the time window go? How's she going to get back?"

A tear fell from Tate's eye. "She promised me..." He grieved. "She promised she would never leave me" Rose, who had also started tearing at the loss of her friend, pulled Tate into a hug. Mickey placed a hand upon his shoulder.

"I'm gonna miss her" Rose mourned. "She's the closest girl friend I have. She's like a sister to me" She looked to The Doctor. He was staring at the broken window with no emotion. She could tell his two hearts were broken, but he was keeping it in for their sake. "Doctor, what do we do? Can she get back through another way?"

"She wanted us to wait" The Doctor said. He turned around to look at the others. "She wants us to wait at least five hours"

"And if she's not back in five hours?" Mickey wondered.

It was hard for The Doctor to admit the outcome. "Then we leave without her"

______

Nova was looking out a window up at the night sky. She had a glass in her hand and took occasional sips from it. Reinette had found her and joined her. "You know all their names, don't you?" Reinette mused. "I saw that in your mind. The name of every star"

"What's in a name?" Nova pondered sadly. "Names are just titles. Titles don't tell you anything"

"Like The Nightingale"

"Like Madame de Pompadour"

"I have often wished to see those stars a little closer. Just as you have, I think"

"From time to time"

"In saving me, you trapped yourself. Did you know that would happen?"

"Mmm. Pretty much"

"Yet, still you came"

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" Nova gave Reinette a sad smile. "Catch me doing that again"

"There were many doors between my world and yours" Reinette remembered. "Can you not use one of the others?"

"When the mirror broke, the shock would have severed all the links with the ship. There'll be a few more broken mirrors and torn tapestries around here, I'm afraid, wherever there was a time window. I'll, I'll pay for any damage" Nova offered, causing Reinette to grin at her. "Er, that's a thought, I'm going to need money. I was always a bit vague about money. Where do you get money?"

"So, here you are, my lonely angel, stuck on the slow path with me"

"Yep, the slow path" Nova smiled. She held up her glass. "Here's to the slow path" Reinette laughed with her and they shared a toast. Nova took a drink as Reinette stared down at her cup.

"It's a pity. I think I would've enjoyed the slow path"

"Well, I'm not going anywhere"

"Oh, aren't you?" Reinette put her cup down. She held out her hand. "Take my hand" Nova looked down at Reinette's hand, before wrapping it in her own.

______

Reinette led Nova to a bed chamber. "It's not a copy, it's the original. I had it moved here and was exact in every detail" Reinette explained as they entered the room.

Nova looked at the fireplace. "The fireplace" She chimed as she stepped closer to it. "The fireplace from your bedroom. When did you do this?"

"Many years ago, in the hope that a door once opened, may someday open again" Reinette expressed as she joined Nova by the fireplace. "One never quite knows when one needs one's Nightingale. It appears undamaged. Do you think it will still work?"

"You broke the bond with the ship when you moved it, which means it was offline when the mirror broke. That's what saved it. But the link is basically physical, and it's still physically here. Which might just mean, if I'm lucky" Nova began tapping on the fireplace. "If I'm very, very, very, very, very, very lucky" She tapped a certain spot a couple of times and let out a victorious laugh. "Ah ha!"

"What?"

"Loose connection" Nova scanned it with her sonic screwdriver. "Need to get a man in" She gave it hard thump. There was a clunk. Her hand found the mechanism. "Wish me luck!"

"No" Reinette mewled in protest. But there was no stopping Nova from switching the mechanism to turn the fireplace around.

Nova found herself back in the spaceship. She crouched down and looked through the fireplace. "Madame de Pompadour!" On the other side, Reinette crouch down to look at Nova. "Still want to see those stars?"

"More than anything"

"Give me two minutes. Pack a bag. I'll be back with The Doctor"

"Am I going somewhere?"

"Go to the window. Pick a star, any star" Nova stood up again and went to go see her friends.

______

Rose was the first one to notice Nova when she came returned to the main room. "Sister!" She hollered in excitement as she ran to hug her. Nova smiled as she returned the hug.

"How long did you wait?" Nova inquired.

"Five and half hours" Rose let go of Nova. "Just like you told us to wait"

"See? You always wait five hours!" Nova turned to look at Mickey. He held out his hand for a handshake, but instead Nova hugged him. "Oh, Mickey Smith! I'm happy to see you again!"

"That makes two of us" Mickey responded. "I honestly don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come back. I can't always handle being around The Doctor, but I can handle being around you"

Nova let go of Mickey, and finally looked at Tate. He had a relieved smile on his face. "I did promise I wouldn't ever leave you, didn't I, pretty boy?"

Tate laughed and pulled Nova into a hug. "There was a part of me that thought you weren't coming back, but I knew that you would" He let her go. "Especially not after keeping that promise. You never break your promises"

Nova looked around and noticed a face missing. "Where's The Doctor?"

Just as Nova asked that, The Doctor stepped out of the Tardis. He and Nova made eye contact. "Supernova?" He breathed. Nova gave him a big smile and she ran to him. He picked her up and then spun her around. He held her in a longing embrace. "You came back to me" He whispered in her ear.

"I'll always come back for you" she promised. She suddenly remembered and ended the hug. "Doctor, come with me. I made another promise to Reinette" Nova took The Doctor's hand and the two of them began making their way to the fireplace.

"Where are you two going?" Rose called after them.

"Give us a moment! Wait in the Tardis!"

______

The two Time Lords made it to the fireplace. Nova peeked through but she couldn't see Reinette. "Reinette?" She called out. "Reinette?" There was no answer. Nova flipped the mechanism and the fireplace took both of them to the bedchamber.

"What did you promise this time?" The Doctor asked as they began walking through the palace.

"I told her to pick a star to visit" Nova answered and then went back to calling for Reinette. "Reinette?" Nova and The Doctor ran into Louis. "Oh, hello"

"You just missed her" Louis informed them as he stared out the window. He looked towards them. "She'll be in Paris by six"

"Ah" Nova muttered.

Louis eyed Nova curiously and approached her. "Good Lord. She was right. She said you never looked a day older. So many years since I saw you last, but not a day of it on your face" He reached into a drawer and pulled out two sealed letters. "She spoke of you many times. Often wished you'd visit again" Louis looked at The Doctor. "She waited for you too. You know how women are" He presented one letter to Nova, and the other to The Doctor. The two of them took their letters.

A horse whinnied and Louis went back over to the window. "There she goes" He watched as the hearse went down the driveway in the pouring rain. "Leaving Versailles for the last time. Only forty three when she died" The Doctor and Nova joined Louis near the window. "Too young. Too young. Illness took her in the end" Nova didn't even notice that a tear had left her eye until The Doctor reached over to wipe it away. "She always did work too hard" Louis turned towards the two Time Lords. "What does she say?" He referred to the letters. The Doctor put the letter away in his jacket, while Nova put hers in her bag. "Of course. Quite right"

______

The two of them went back to the Tardis. Rose, Tate and Mickey were patiently waiting for them. "Why her?" Rose asked them once they were onboard. "Why did they think they could repair the ship with the head of Madame de Pompadour?"

"We'll probably never know" The Doctor acknowledged. "There was massive damage in the computer memory banks. It probably got confused. The Tardis can close down the time windows now the droids are gone. Should stop it causing any more trouble"

Rose looked towards Nova. She noticed that her cheeks were damp from her tears. "Nova, are you all right?"

Nova looked at Rose and gave her a forced smile. "I'm always alright"

"Nova," Tate stepped forward, his voice cooing in a comforting manner. "If you need to talk about anything..." He placed a hand on her arm. "I'm here for you"

"Me too" Rose spoke up, giving Nova an assuring smile and a gentle pat on the back. Nova nodded at them and tried her best to hold in her tears. She didn't want to cry in front of them.

Mickey realized the state Nova was in and thought it best to leave her alone with The Doctor. "Come on, Rose, Tate. It's time you showed me around the rest of this place" Mickey had already seen the rest of the Tardis. He just needed an excuse to get them all to leave. The three of them left.

Nova couldn't hold it in anymore. She began crying. The Doctor began rubbing her back. Nova's tears splashed against the surface of the console. "I broke my promise" she wept. "I was going to take her to her favorite star. But instead, she died...waiting...for me"

"That wasn't your fault, Supernova" The Doctor assured her.

"I know, but..." Nova stopped herself. She reached into her bag and pulled out the sealed letter. All she did was stare at her. "I don't know if I can read it"

"You should" The Doctor gave her a kiss on the forehead. "It'll give you closure if nothing else"

"I suppose you're right" Her tears finally stopped. She took in a deep breath, calming herself down. "Give me some privacy?" The Doctor nodded. He went off to some other part of the Tardis, leaving Nova by herself. She broke the letter's seal and began to read it.

My dear Nightingale. The path has never seemed more slow, and yet I fear I am nearing its end. Reason tells me that you and I are unlikely to meet again, but I think I shall not listen to reason. I have seen the world inside your head, and know that all things are possible. Hurry though, my love. My days grow shorter now, and I am so very weak. God speed, my lonely angel.

______

The Doctor was worried about Nova. He had never seen her so upset before. Had she developed some sort of romantic feelings for Reinette? Or was it something else? The Doctor suddenly remembered the letter that Reinette had written for him. He reached into his jacket and pulled it out. He broke the seal and read it.

My dear Doctor. If I shall never see my dear Nightingale again, promise me that you'll look over her. I've seen the thoughts inside her head. I've never met a lonelier woman. There are things from her past she wants you to know. But let her share her secrets with you when she is comfortable. I will say this on her behalf. She's loved once before, but she lost just as fast. I hope that you are the one that remains for the rest of her life. She needs you, Doctor.