This was written for amysfall on Tumblr (otherwise known as amysfall on Twitter). Mostly Doctor Who with some Supernatural bits thrown in. I hope you enjoy!

When the Doctor first opened his eyes he couldn't quite believe what was in front of him.

For it could not be possible.

It was not possible that the red grass was swaying in the wind before him, that two binary suns were setting, and that these suns were touching the silver-leafed trees- trees that looked like a sea on fire in the shining light.

It was not possible either that a glorious mountain rose in the background of this unbelievable scene, or that a house rose in the grass, a proud, tall, ancient hall, or that the man could see flutterwings soaring in the sky, hear the singing fish in a brook near him, and even sense the voices of a million more minds where there had once just been awful, excruciating, silence.

It could not be possible that he was back on Gallifrey, with his people.

It could not be possible that he was home.

Immediately, the Time Lord stood up, frantic, trying to remember- trying to come up with some explanation of how in the universe he could be here. But his memory of recent events was uncomfortably hazy. He had been… travelling, yes. In the type 40 TARDIS. With one of his beautiful humans. A girl. Her name… began with a C. Clarissa? Catalina? Something close.

They'd met up with some American boys, too, after they'd realised they were searching after- for some reason those boys called it hunting- for the same thing. Cattle mutilations, strange symbols… an abandoned warehouse… nothing seemed to make sense in the Doctor's brain. What had even been those men's names? Sean and Dawson? Santiago and Daniel? Who even cared, frankly?

He was back home. A place he never thought he would be able to see again. Why was he even worrying about two trivial human names? He had made it back to Gallifrey.

But how had he managed that? The man swore he'd Time-Locked the planet with that dreaded Moment. His throat clenched a bit as he imagined all the horrors that could be leaking out into the universe from the Time War. But then again, this Gallifrey did not look like it had even ever seen a war. It was peaceful, totally serene, and not much different than when he'd been able to visit the place on his travels throughout the universe before the War. But how…?

The Time Lord's train of thought was broken when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. At first jumping at the contact, the man turned back to look what had touched him. His hearts melted as he saw Romana, his good friend, in all the splendidness of her second incarnation.

"No need to jump around me, Doctor," the Time Lady laughed, punching him lightly in the shoulder. She grinned again as he scanned his dishevelled appearance. "What have you even been doing?" the woman teased, twirling her long blonde hair a bit around her finger.

Spoken Gallifreyan… how long had it been since he'd heard that? Amidst the surprise and confusion it took him a while to answer back, to shift his mind to his native tongue. "Oh… you know me, not much. Just enjoying the beautiful day," he stammered, gesturing around him as if somehow this would make a better point.

"Sure," the woman laughed, almost like a song in the man's ears. "Well, anyways, you're going to be late. Everyone's waiting, you know," Romana continued on, gesturing to the house that he could see among the red grass.

"Everyone?" the Doctor murmured, still in shock and awe at all that was happening around him. "What do you mean everyone?"

"Come and see," the Time Lady whispered back, holding out her hand for him.

ooo

They'd run up the hill, the wind pushing them back a bit, but still the pair reached their goal, that house that the man had noticed earlier. The Time Lord stared in wonder in front of that ancient hall, a tears unwillingly falling from his eye. "But… this can't be," he stuttered, falling over his words. "Romana," he turned to the woman, "This is my House. I saw it burn, on one of the first days of the War- shot by dozens of special weapons Daleks- it can't be here. It's impossible." The Doctor stood back, looked at her. "You're not possible. You can't be here. What is going on?" he all but pleaded.

But even with this explanatory monologue, Romana just stared at him blankly. "What war are you talking about, Doctor? "Gallifrey has never been breached, most certainly not by any Dalek." She shook her head. "Now come on already, they're all waiting up on us."

Still hesitant and well, just plain confused, the Time Lord followed behind his friend as she unlatched the doors and went inside the hall, his breath hitching a bit as he took in all the oh-so-familiar oak furnishings and paintings and sculptures and the etched Circular Gallifreyan on the walls. He was so entranced in everything that he almost didn't notice when he bumped into a young red-headed woman. But he did. And his mouth came wide open as he saw who it was. "Amelia?" the man whispered, so hopelessly shocked by now that he shouldn't even be surprised by what was before him now.

"Doctor, finally," his glorious Pond enveloped him in a tight hug. "Dinner's ready, and everything, you have to come now."

The man had barely heard a word she said, him just staring at her face in awe. But she couldn't be here. She had died, gone back in time- he'd seen her grave! Rory's too. It was not possible.

"Doctor? Is something wrong?" Amy asked, clearly puzzled.

"Nah, nothing, Pond," the Time Lord answered back, putting back his insecurities of the situation. "Just uh, Rory the Roman wouldn't happen to be here too, would he?"

"Of course, Raggedy Man," she smiled, a confused smirk on her face. "And Rose and Martha and Jack and Ace and Tegan and Peri and Jo and Sarah Jane and Susan and who knows how many others. You're quite the travelling man, you know?" the woman grinned again. "Now come on."

The Time Lord's head spun as he took in all those names… no, there could be no way they were here, on Gallifrey of all places, when some of them- most of them- were dead or cut off from forever or just plain forgotten. How could this all be true?

He didn't have much time to ponder all that was going on around him, because soon both Romana and Amy were leading him down a hallway, laughing and jabbering with him- or at least tried to. The man was a bit too absorbed in taking in every inch of this home, a place he'd thought he'd never see again.

As the trio made their way to another set of doors, the Doctor swore he could smell food inside. "Is someone cooking?" he asked the girls next to him.

The women just laughed and Amy eventually replied. "Yes, everyone's been waiting for you all day, getting everything ready. Haven't you been listening?" She stated this like it was commonplace.

"Why me?" the Time Lord blurted, still trying to work out all this improbability in his mind. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"Because," Romana began, staring back at him. "You've been travelling for so long, and it's time to rest and come home."

As he looked back at the hall behind him, his attention was turned to a plea. "Doctor, please. Please come back!" he thought he heard someone call out. But it must just have been his imagination, for when he looked back behind him, there was no one there.

ooo

When they opened the doors, the Doctor's growing shock grew ever larger. At a long table, several people- some who he could sense were Gallifreyans and some not- stood around putting various culinary dishes on the top, along with silverware and napkins. And every single one of them he recognised. His old companions… Barbara, Ian, Jamie, Zoe, Liz Shaw, Turlough, Adric, Nyssa… even some of his more recent friends, like Donna, and Mickey… and somehow, his family was there too, Braxiatel and Susan… and the Master… he felt like he was going to tear up at the sight. It was everything he ever wanted.

The group seemed to immediately recognise their guest was there, and they greeted him with names not only like Doctor but Sweetie, Grandfather, Professor, Spaceman, and Theta. Hugs, telepathic greetings, handshakes, and kisses- they all danced in his mind and on his skin in a comforting dance. They eventually led him to a chair where his own mother- oh god, his mum, looking so young- reprimanded him to look respectable and if he wouldn't put on his robes at least he could straighten that lopsided bowtie and comb his tangled brown fluff. And then all his most cherished people raised their glass and saluted Gallifrey and Time, and most importantly the Doctor.

It was the little things that made the evening. Rory's laugh. Rose's golden-and-pink-ness. Jack's innuendos. Donna's brashness, River's wit, Ace's stories, Mel trying to once again make him drink that god-awful carrot juice. Sarah's telling of her adventures and Liz's science knowledge and Jamie trying to play his bagpipes after dinner. Susan telling him all about David. The Master running a hilarious commentary of the whole event. Tegan's mouth, Martha's brains and compassion… his brother telling him about some Gallifreyan political scheme he could care less about. Even Adric seemed a little less annoying. There were fish fingers and custard, at least, if anything went wrong.

And as the man stared at the stars after dinner that night, he figured out why. (He still knew the name of every star even though he hadn't been anywhere near the Kasteborous constellation for a while).

Home is where the hearts are.

And his hearts couldn't let go of this beautiful world ever again.

ooo

It had been about three days since he'd made it back to Gallifrey, and he had tried to do as much as he could possibly do. Running through the red grass, swimming in the brook, joking and talking with his friends and family… it was like he was a young child again.

Now, for some reason, he'd chosen to be alone. The Doctor was bent over a table in the atrium of the house, using a circle cut-out attached to his pen to practice his rusty Circular Gallifreyan. Out of the dome above him he could again see the beautiful stars in the sky; the very same stars that had made him want to travel. His eyes pulled up a bit to look at them, admiring their movements. How he missed this.

Everything had been going swell in his stay here- not one mishap. Well, there was the woman, but the Time Lord didn't like to think about her.

He'd first heard her cry as Romana and Amy were leading him to dinner. Honestly, he'd wished that only the woman's voice could haunt him. But at the strangest of times, the man would see her. She wore a blue spotted dress, her brown hair pulled behind her shoulders, sandals on her feet and a pink handbag slung over her shoulder. "Doctor, Doctor! Please! Come back to us!" she always yelled, reaching out to him. But as mysteriously as the girl had come, she was always gone.

When the Doctor sensed someone behind him, he thought that maybe he had the misfortune of seeing her again. But the woman was never accompanied by the… fluttering of wings, was she?

Dropping his pen and turning around, the Time Lord was surprised to see a man looking at him. He had brown hair and was wearing, if the Doctor could say so, a very cool trenchcoat and tie.

Somehow, though he had no idea why, the Gallifreyan was sure he'd seen this man before. When he and Claudia had worked with Simon and Derek. He wasn't human, right? He was… the word came to mind. An Angel.

Cas.

"Castiel," the Time Lord breathed, still glancing at him in shock. How could he be here?

The angel nodded his head in greeting. "It is good that you remember my name." He paused a while, looking at the floor, then glancing back up at the man. "Doctor, do you know where you are?"

"Gallifrey," he answered back quickly. He wasn't dumb. He knew his boyhood home when he saw it.

To his surprise, Castiel sighed a bit, disappointed. "Doctor, do you know where you really are?"

The Time Lord was taken aback. Couldn't this angel see Gallifrey before him? But then something clicked in his brain. Angels… worked God's will.

And they lived in Heaven.

Oh Rassilon.

"Am I in Heaven?" the Doctor squeaked, petrified. What had he done to run out his regenerations? Who had he left behind? How? What? When? Why? A thousand questions came to mind.

But Cas merely shook his head in response. "No, you're not in Heaven." He looked around the room, then coming back to stare at the man. "Though your personal heaven is very similar to this, I must say."

"Then where am I?" the Gallifreyan bounced back. If this wasn't home, or heaven, where could he be?

The angel didn't reply at first, again just staring at the space around him, but then took a step towards the Time Lord, waving a hand in the air and closing his eyes. "Can't you feel it, Doctor? Time is so wrong here. It does not flow as it should," Castiel whispered.

The man blinked. Yes, he'd noticed some time distortions in this place, but he'd never really thought about it before. If this wonderful world was before him, why would he care about some little anomalies? "So?" he questioned.

Cas broke out of his reverie, standing in front of the Doctor. "So," he began. "Your physical body is lying in an old warehouse. You and your companion, Clara, were searching for what you thought was a demon with my friends, Sam and Dean. It turns out that it was not a demon, but a djinn. And I'm afraid you're still under its spell. I only came here to tell you the truth."

The Time Lord tried to come to terms with this rush of information. "What's a djinn?" he quietly asked, still mulling over everything in his mind.

"A creature from Islamic mythology," the angel replied. "It feeds off a person, by drugging it, most commonly in this state making the victim live out their own personal paradises. Sometimes reality bleeds through though. Maybe you've noticed a familiar person or two?" He stopped, then continuing. "Luckily the Winchesters and your Oswald have saved you from it, but I'm afraid if you don't wake up soon you won't be alive much longer."

Still trying to take this all in, the man breathed. If reality sometimes bled through, then… "The woman," he asked. "Is she Clara?"

Castiel looked ever graver. "I truthfully don't know, Doctor. But I do know you must let go of this fantasy." His hand enfolded the Time Lord's own. "I know that it is hard to realise Gallifrey is gone, that some of your friends and family are dead. But you must move on and remember that you are never truly alone. I wish the best for you." The angel stepped away, unfolding their hands, walking away from the man.

"But how do I wake up?" the Doctor pleaded. "I- I can't leave this behind-"

But with another flutter of wings, Castiel was gone.

And against his will, the man felt a tear drop from his eye. Yet another. And another. And another. Until it seemed that the comets that flew by in the night-time sky of Gallifrey were his own tears, a testament to what the Time Lord would have to leave.

ooo

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting in the grass, and frankly, he didn't care. So many things were floating around his mind he probably wouldn't even have noticed if a big bug landed on his face.

The Doctor was distraught, to say the least. Castiel's warning still echoed incessantly. At least now he could remember the past. Clara and Sam and Dean.

But memories had also resurfaced that he didn't want to think about. So much pain and misery and loss and loneliness… so many of his friends and family, dead and gone.

Gallifrey, in all its glory, burning and falling, the own red grass eh sat on now stained with blood, the screams of so many people…. all dying one by one.

How could he go back to that?

But how could he not? The man couldn't leave Clara alone, or even Sam or Dean for that matter. They needed to go home.

But the Time Lord needed to go home too.

How many times had he thought about death? How many times had he been reckless, hoping to end it all? At least in Heaven he could maybe hear from the people he had so desperately wanted to that maybe, they would forgive him.

For everyone wants to be forgiven.

The Doctor was so immersed in this train of thought that he didn't notice the redhead that sat down next to him until she spoke. "Hey, Raggedy Man," Amy whispered, touching his shoulder.

"Amelia," the man muttered back, staring at her. Even though she was supposedly a figment of his imagination, her hair was still as red as he remembered it in real life. He'd always loved gingers, especially after the Time War. Their hair reminded him of the red grasses of Gallifrey which were seated in now.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" the woman replied back, staring at the scenery around her. "Who could ever leave this place?" She turned to the Doctor then, her eyes frighteningly. "Why do you want to leave, Doctor?"

"My friends are waiting Amelia," the man muttered back as if he was not only trying to convince his companion but himself. "I have to come back to them."

"But then you'd have to travel again, all that pain and misery." The Time Lord looked up into the face of Rose, staring at him where he was placed on the grass. "Can you really do that again?"

"Oh, he just thinks he's better than us," a new voice jumped in, this time that of the Master. "Words, words, words. Promises he won't ever keep."

"No, I-"the Doctor tried to interrupt, but yet another sound entered the fray.

"Leaving behind what he cannot look back on," River murmured.

"Manipulating," Ace had joined the crowd now.

"Toying," Mel uttered in disgust.

"Letting others die for his own sake," Adric taunted.

"Stop," the Doctor cried, standing up now.

"Others he makes forget," Donna said, Jamie and Zoe around her.

"Or he just forgets them," Ian and Barbara also were in the throng, showing no sign of relenting.

"Never checks in, always selfish…" Sarah Jane, Jo, Romana…

"Don't leave us, Grandfather," Susan, oh darling Susan, holding his hand. "Don't add to your guilt. Don't mull over those ifs and buts and maybes."

"I have too," he whispered back, his own statement sounding so futile in the wind. "You don't understand."

"Can you not make Gallifrey proud for once?" Even his mother joined in the shaming. "Make me proud. Show what it means to be of your House." Her eyes were sad, and pleading. "Can you not do that just once, Thete?"

"I-"the man tried to respond. But really, why was he fighting? He could be redeemed. Living a new life… for what was there to live for in the one he was told to wake to?

And then somehow, amidst the roar of his former companions and family, the noise dulled and the grasses of Gallifrey disappeared beneath him.

The Time Lord looked at himself now, lying on the floor of the same warehouse, looking very much dead. Dean and Sam crouched around, Clara sobbing into the Doctor's chest. "Please, Doctor, come back to us," she murmured, and the man himself could hear the sound ringing in his ears. "There is so much to live for."

And as quickly as the scene had come he was back on Gallifrey again, staring into the eyes of the people he had wronged in so many ways, a sort of twisted Rising of the Witnesses, still taunting him, asking what better he had to go to.

But the Time Lord had so much. He had Clara, his TARDIS, saving people…. Making the universe a better place. This was a sick and twisted dream, of things he could not change.

The Doctor glanced around, focusing on the sky above him in all its flaming glory, looking at all the wonderful, magnificent people. "I'll see you again one day," he began, staring at them, trying to remember every feature of them all begotten in his memory.

And as he caught a last glimpse of a wondrous blade of red grass, the man made a promise he knew he would keep. An answer to the question that must never be asked.

But you'll just have to ask the Silence what that Last of the Time Lords said as he finally let go of his Heaven.

ooo

Clara had been crying for who knows how long. Ever since the Doctor had gone missing, she'd been at her wit's end. And her despair didn't get any better when even after she and the Winchesters had found him and fought off the djinn, it just seemed as if her friend didn't want to wake up.

"Please, Doctor. Come back to us," she murmured for what seemed like the millionth time.
"There is so much to live for."

"Clara-"the woman heard Sam say, touching her back some time after the mournful message. "Maybe it's best to-"

"He's not dead," the impossible girl whispered, still clutching at the Time Lord's chest.

"I'm afraid he probably is, sweetheart," Dean replied from behind her. "C'mon, let's take you back to the motel-"

"No," she shot back. "We just need to wait."

"We've been trying to resuscitate him for minutes and there's still no pulse. Clara, we really-" Sam began, but the woman put a finger to his lips.

"Clara-"

"Shut up, Sam!" the girl yelled, exasperated, pulling up her body pressed against the Time Lord. "Did you not see his head just move?"

"Clara, c'mon, please-" Dean began, but then paused, his mouth agape as he heard the Doctor mutter something in a stunning language he could not understand, his head tossing exactly as the British girl had said.

"I told you so!" Clara cried, happy tears streaming down her face. "He's alive, Dean!" She turned back to the alien, kissing him on the cheek. "You can do it, Doctor. You just have to wake up."

And as if some angel had heard her prayer, the alien's eyes shot open, glancing at the unfamiliar scenery around him. Finally, as he looked up at his mysterious woman, he smiled a bit. "Clara?" he whispered, stroking her hand.

"Doctor," the girl sighed, grinning, pushing herself into his chest. "Thank god." She laughed a little. "We thought you were dead."

"My Clara," the Time Lord murmured. "I will never leave you again," he stated back, the enigma and the two hunters there so that they might be witnesses to his testimony.

ooo

"So what will it be next?" the crazy man leaped about the much-missed gears of his beloved TARDIS. Dean and Sam had just drove off in their Impala moments earlier, no doubt ready to save yet another person with their expertise in the family business.

"The Lost Moon of Poosh? Adamas? The Rolling Hills of Cryastal World VII?" The Doctor continued, flipping even more gears. "We have the whole universe to explore, Clara!"

Grinning and shaking her head at his excitement, the impossible girl looked at her madman. "Doctor," she began quietly. "The Winchesters said that djinns make people live their own perfect fantasies. Did you see yours?" She stopped, frowning a bit. "Is that why you wouldn't wake up? You wanted to stay?"

The Time Lord looked at her, pausing, before turning back towards the console. "Or we could go to Barcelona, lovely place you know-"he rambled again, clearly trying to avoid his companion's question. "They even have dogs without noses, I've heard-"

"Doctor," Clara sighed, smiling softly again, a sad expression on her face. "What did you see?"

He could have told her of that made-up Gallifrey. Of its glory and how he had almost stayed. But instead, the man looked down at that human girl and smiled. "Oh Clara, does it really matter?" And biting his lip down at the gears of the TARDIS, his head glanced back up again, the girl merely still smiling, realising that that was all he'd probably ever say about what had happened. The man started again, seeing the danger of questions was over. "Now where were we… ah yes, the universe!"

And as the pair ran away from yet another monster later on, and helped save the day again, the Doctor couldn't help but think that it really didn't matter.

For he was here and this was now.

And all he could do to escape the past was to keep on running.