*Hello again intrepid adventurers in the 4th Dimension! The Potter Doctor here with one last prompt for the day! Clara and the Doctor return to Gallifrey and she is made a Time Lady in honour of her acheivements in helping the Doctor save Gallifrey during the Time War. Very fluffy, very soppy and frankly a poor representation of Gallifreyan society but there you go. I hope you like it anyway. TPD*


The Doctor had never been happier. Clara could see it on his face. It was written on every part of his body, he was shining. He was a man in his element as he whipped around the TARDIS, flipping the levers at twice the normal pace and occasionally stopping to embrace Clara, either with a bone-crushing hug or a snog. She laughed every time as he'd occasionally make a shout of: "YES!" or fist pump screaming: "EVERYTHING'S COMING UP DOCTOR!"

"I'm going home!" he said to Clara, the tears in his eyes reflected in hers. "After all these years, all of these disasters, I can finally be forgiven. I can finally see them again." Then he seemed to have a thunderstruck moment of panic. "Oh crap!" he said out loud. "I'll have to see them again. They're probably still pissed at me for the whole Timelock thing. Not to mention stealing the Moment. And stopping Gallifrey returning on at least two separate occasions. And then there's the time I ran away from Gallifrey in the first place, not to mention the reason I ran away. Plus, if they're not stupidly angry with me, they'll probably want to make me Emperor or something." Clara snorted at this. "What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Clara replied hurriedly. "It's just…you shouldn't be running anything. I can't imagine you being a good Emperor of a lemonade stand, let alone an entire planet. I'll be there," she added seriously. "Right by your side. Whatever goes down, I won't let them take this old girl from you or lock you up or take your regenerations or whatever they want to do. Not after everything we've been through. I love you. My Doctor."

"And I love you too," he replied, kissing her forehead and straightening his bow tie. "My Clara. Now come on, I need a new regeneration cycle, this old body isn't going to last forever you know!"

"That's funny," she giggled. "I thought it would."

The Doctor kissed her forehead and then the TARDIS came to a halt. This was it. Gallifrey. The Doctor turned to Clara, joy and fear in equal measure on his face as he took a deep breath and took her arm. She raised an eyebrow and he shrugged in reply. The truth was, this was as much her victory as his and he wanted her to enjoy it. They stepped out of the TARDIS arm in arm and they were met by cheers and laughs and confetti. It was the most un-Time-Lord thing that the Doctor had ever seen. They were at the end of a very long corridor, lined with civilians and children. They were the ones cheering. The High Council of Gallifrey stood at the end of the corridor, on top of a small stage and even the most old and weary among them had managed a smile. The Doctor practically dragged Clara behind him as they raced down the procession. He suddenly jerked to a halt and Clara found herself stumbling behind him, still holding onto his hand for dear life.

"Clara Oswin Oswald," he said, his voice barely above a whisper and cracking from emotion.

"That's not my middle name!" she said with a smile.

"This…" he was crying now. "This is…"

He couldn't finish. He was breaking down, pulling the woman in front of him into a hug. She was tall, blonde hair streaked with grey, and wearing traditional Gallifreyan dress, with a single red rose attached to the collar. She was looking at the Doctor the way that Clara had never seen anyone but one person look at her. The look in her eyes said everything that it needed to say. Clara didn't ask how they recognised each other, as they had obviously both changed faces since they'd last met. She didn't need to ask, she would always know the Doctor when she saw him, even if he didn't have the same puppy dog face that he currently held. Even if he wasn't HER Doctor.

"This is your mother," Clara finished quietly and smiled, her eyes glistening. The Doctor turned back to her. "Clara."

"Pleasure," she said in a deep, intricate voice that seemed to be struggling with the words. "You're speaking English, Puppy." Clara didn't call him up on the nickname. "She's an Earth girl then? You always had a thing for Earth girls."

"She's the best of them," the Doctor replied with a smile, shooting Clara a glance. His mother said something in Gallifreyan and the Doctor replied with a smile and a few quick words before turning back to Clara. "Give the TARDIS a minute, she's a bit slow but the translation matrix will kick in. It's not used to being able to translate Gallifreyan."

Clara suddenly understood all the chatter, coming at her from every end of the hall. Some of it instantly made her insecure, some of it proud and some of it terrified. She immediately clutched onto the Doctor's arm like her life depended on it and then the Head of the High Council cleared his throat and both the Doctor and Clara turned back to him, his mother falling back into the crowds.

"Doctor!" he greeted.

"General," the Doctor replied, his voice slightly stiff and Clara's grip on his arm tightened. Then, the General burst into a huge grin and the Doctor sighed in relief and they completed the short walk up to the stage.

"You saved us," he said and the entire hall fell silent, watching them. "You saved Gallifrey again. How can we ever repay you?"

"Thank you," the Doctor said quietly. "But I didn't save you." There was a series of hushed whispers. "This is Clara Oswald. She is my…everything." He looked at her with a look so different from that moment, as if Gallifrey itself fell away around then and she was the only one there. "And she saved Gallifrey. I was ready to burn it, because I thought there was no other way. But Clara stopped me and reminded me that there is always another way. She's the one who found Gallifrey, almost sacrificing herself in the process of opening the door. Clara is the one you should be holding in such high esteem. Not me. I'm just her handyman. I'm just her Doctor."

"Well then, Clara Oswald," the General turned to Clara and she immediately felt like a 5 year old girl in the head teacher's office. "It seems that our planet owes you. What is it that you require? We can give you anything my dear. Gold, riches, power. But I suspect, as you stopped us burning, that none of those things interest you. Am I correct?"

"The only thing I want," Clara said without hesitation. "Is the Doctor. I want him safe. I want him to have a full regeneration cycle, so that he is free to keep on doing what he does. Free to keep on flouncing every single law that you made up and save people's lives. And if I can spend the rest of my life with him, then that is enough for me."

"Clara Oswald," the General replied. "You are something else. I'm not surprised that the Mad Man is attracted to you. If you want him to have a new regeneration cycle and the freedom to keep his TARDIS, then that is the smallest of prices for our race to pay. But I offer you something greater. The chance to become a Time Lady yourself. To join the Doctor forever, rather than just the length of your fleeting human life."

Clara gasped and looked stunned. After a moment, she nodded, crying now. The Doctor was staring at her in adoration. They exchanged a giggle and then Clara stepped forward.

"Be warned," the General chuckled. "This is one of our rarest scientific devices. We would not waste it on just anyone. And it will hurt. Considerably. But you will keep your current form, you need not regenerate. I'm sure the Doctor can talk you through it all, but if you'd like someone who actually has the faintest clue how to be a Time Lord…"

"Oi!"

"Then I'm here to offer you guidance should you need it."

"I'm sure the Doctor will manage just fine," Clara laughed, winking at him.

The General wasn't lying. Clara felt as though every cell in her body was burning at once, trying to get out of her simultaneously. But she couldn't scream, as her voice box was changing, being rewritten. It only hurt for a moment or so, but when it was over the memory of it made her shudder. She turned to the Doctor, her Doctor.

"Geronimo!" she whispered.