Thank you all so much for the sweet comments :) I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter!

Since the topic already came up multiple times, here's a few words about looms: I read up on it in light of this fanfic and found a pretty good article on a fandom Wikipedia page that tells you everything you need to know about looms. They became necessary because the Time Lords lost the ability to procreate sexually - meaning they can't have children the way humans do.

Chapter 25

Clara had never felt so well rested, so happy, so free from the Time Lords and their silly, ridiculous rules. The Doctor had opened her eyes and she had opened his and here they were, in the barn, still cuddled up like they had fallen asleep the night before with only his velvet coat as their blanket. Then Clara opened her eyes and realized that the suns were already up.

"Doctor!" she said quietly, but he was fast asleep. Clara gave him a soft nudge. "Doctor, it's morning. The suns are up."

He sat up with start and even though he still struggled to keep his eyes open, there was a look of horror in them as he was slowly waking up. Then came the panic.

"We have to go!" The Doctor half shouted and jumped out of bed, reaching for his clothes to put them back on. "Come on, Clara! Get dressed!"

"Why are you in such a hurry?" she wanted to know and reached for her undergarment, slipping it over her head to cover herself.

"Because if we're lucky, your father hasn't noticed your absence yet, but we need to hurry! You need to get back!"

Clara laughed. "I have no intention of going back," she stated plainly.

"You have to, Clara, please, now get dressed," the Doctor urged her, the panic audible in his voice as he struggled to fasten his belt.

But she didn't move. Instead, Clara crossed her arms in front of her chest. "My father kept me a prisoner for 168 years, he took away the only friend that I had, I am not going to pretend that none of this ever happened, I am not going back!"

"Clara," he said her name hurriedly and crossed the distance between the two of them, placing his hands on her upper arms and looking intently at her. "I love you and I will find a solution to all of it, but I need more time. Please, you have to go back."

"No!" she said determinedly.

"Where would you even go?"

"I don't know," Clara raised her voice at him and as she realized that she really had no clue, she felt the tears run down her cheeks. It didn't matter. I didn't matter that she didn't know. But she could never go back. "Stay with you, live with the Shobogans, I don't care. I can't go back, Doctor, please don't make me!"

Suddenly, Clara felt as small and hopeless as she had on the day she had let the Doctor leave and more tears kept coming. She was already back in her cage even though they were still outside the city walls and it was slowly suffocating her. Clara gasped, but suddenly found that she couldn't breathe, there wasn't enough air, she was as good as dead.

"Shhh," the Doctor hushed her softly and sank down on the small, improvised bed next to her, closing his arms around her in an embrace. "It's going to be okay, I promise. Have I ever let you down?"

"No," she sobbed in reply. In his arms, it was a lot easier to breathe and slowly, the tears subsided.

"Come on," he said gently and lifted his hand to wipe away her tears. "Let's get dressed and I promise, I'll meet you again tonight.

Clara turned her head and looked at him for a long moment. "Are you really going to get me out of there?"

"Yes," he promised. "But only if you get dressed now and come back to the Citadel with me. If your father thinks that you've been sneaking out, it will only get more difficult."

Clara knew that he was right. Of course, he was right, so she had no other option but to do as he said.

They didn't speak much on the way back to the Citadel and with the suns now rising above the horizon, Clara was beginning to worry what her father would do if he noticed that she was missing, but whatever it was, she vowed not to let him do it. She was no longer the same person, she wasn't a child that could be locked up in her room and as soon as she could, Clara would escape that house forever.

"I'll come back tonight," the Doctor repeated his promise as they came to a halt next to her garden wall. "And I will find a way to get you out of there, Clara, I swear."

Clara nodded softly. "I'll meet you here tonight."

In response, he uttered a long sigh and suddenly, the Doctor reached for her hand, lifted it up to his lips and pressed a swift kiss to her knuckles. "If I knew a place for us to go, I wouldn't ask you to go back. But the capital isn't safe and neither is the Shobogan camp."

"I understand," she replied. "I'm sorry about earlier, I overreacted."

The Doctor glanced around and once he had made sure that no one else was near, he cupped her face in his hands and gave her a brief kiss on the lips. "See you tonight."

"Tonight," Clara confirmed with a smile.

When Clara walked through the wall and into her garden, she looked around and noticed to her relief that no one had spotted her, yet as she moved on she became aware of movements in the woods, of footsteps and voices that called out her name. Her absence had been noticed, so Clara did the only thing she could do and hurried back to the house.

"Where on Gallifrey have you been?!"

The Lord President's sharp, angry voice greeted her as soon as she stepped through the door and Clara instantly straightened her shoulders to make herself taller and racked her brain for a good excuse as to why she hadn't been in her room. She didn't even know what time it was or how long they had been searching for her.

"I, uhm," she spluttered and then, in a flash of inspiration, the solution sudden came to her. "I'm sorry, Father. I went out into the garden last night to watch the meteor shower and I must have fallen asleep. I only just woke-"

"Lies!" her father barked and Clara flinched at the volume of his voice. "The guards have been searching for you for hours! They would have found you!"

"The guards don't know the way through the forest!" Clara argued loudly. "Not like I do!"

"You would have heard them, they-"

The President was interrupted when the door flung open and one of the guards stepped into the house, carrying what Clara immediately recognized as the picnic blanket she and the Doctor always used.

"Miss Clara," the guard blurted out, "there you are, we've been looking for you all over."

It was her chance, Clara knew it, so she grabbed it because there was no other option. "Well, at least you found my blanket," she replied and reached for it, taking it out of the guard's hands. "I must have left it there when I woke up. Thank you."

She turned back to look at her father, but she could read no emotion from his face. Instead, his gaze kept wandering back and forth between the guard and the blanket in her hands and Clara had no idea what he was going to do next. Did he believe her? Had he figured out the truth? If he had, she would make a run for it. Clara wouldn't stay and endure his wrath, she would run and never come back.

"Call off the search," he told the guard after what had seemed like a painfully long minute. "Tell them Clara is back."

The guard nodded and retreated back outside while Clara was left alone with her father. He was still angry, she could feel it.

"I'm sorry, Father. I promise it won't happen again."

"Damn right it won't," he growled. "Because you will stay in your room until I tell you otherwise."

Clara heard the words, she heard them loud and clear, but she was no longer the same person he had kept here for over a century. She inhaled deeply and gathered up all of her courage before she replied.

"No."

The Lord President arched up his eyebrows. "No?"

"No," Clara repeated determinedly. "You keep me in this house, in this garden, that's fine, but I will not be confined to my room like a child. You built this garden for me, to keep me here, to keep me happy and I will not let you take that away from me. It is the only bit of freedom that I have and it's mine."

"Clara-"

"I will not stay in my room," she told him. "And that's my final word."

Clara tried her best to hide the fact that she was shaking, that she was actually terrified of what her father was going to do, but she was determined not to let him see that. If he managed to lock her up, Clara would never be able to see the Doctor again. She wouldn't allow that to happen.

Her father looked at her for a long moment as if he was examining her, but to her surprise, he eventually nodded. "Very well," he replied, his voice now calm and quiet. "You're right. I'm keeping you here for your safety and the garden is safe, so you're right. I have no reason to keep you locked in your room just because I'm angry that you overslept."

At first, Clara was too surprised to speak. Had her father just given in to her demands? Had she really managed to convince him? It seemed almost too good to be true, but as she looked at him, Clara didn't see him protest.

"Alright," she said eventually. "Thank you."

"There is some breakfast left over if you're hungry," her father explained.

Clara frowned. It really seemed too good to be true, but her growling stomach told her to leave it be for the time being.

"I am," she confirmed warily.

"Then let's eat," he told her with a smile and placed his arm on her shoulder to lead her into the dining room. Clara followed him reluctantly, but it seemed that she had really managed to convince her father after all.