Epilogue

The ship was crowded to the point that it was almost impossible to make her way through the masses and back towards the cockpit to where the Doctor and the Q'Uartar were waiting for her. When Clara had finally managed it, she noticed that they were already in the company of Chief and Geoffrey and all of them were so deep in conversation that she felt a little guilty for disturbing them.

"They're all settling in," Clara announced. "All of them. All the colonists, men, women and children and a handful of the Croatoans."

Even as she said the words, Clara found it hard to believe that it was actually happening. Somehow, between the arrival of the Croatoans and this moment, the Doctor had seized the opportunity to sit everyone down and explained to them what was happening and where they were going. Despite what had happened, the Q'Uartar had offered once again to take everyone with them. On the ship's screens, it had shown them the planet this ship was headed to and one after the other had agreed to come with. Even Clara had almost been tempted to step into one of those pods just to see that paradise, but now, the ship was booked solid. There wasn't a single stasis chamber left. In fact, for everyone else to go, it meant to leave one person behind. Luckily for them, the Doctor had had a suitable idea.

"Good," the Doctor replied to Clara and then turned back towards Chief. "Will you be able to handle him?"

The Time Lord nodded towards a bundle on the cockpit floor. Governor Johnson was tied up and gagged even though he still tried to complain about his unjust treatment.

"We will treat him like one of our own," Chief promised solemnly. That meant that Johnson would be punished accordingly but fairly, but Clara had no doubt that the worst punishment for him would be to depend on the very people he hated. Naturally, the Doctor had come up with that idea to teach him a lesson.

"And you," the Doctor continued, now speaking to the Q'Uartar, "thank you for helping these people. Not all of them deserve it, but thank you."

The alien nodded. "Kindness is the core value of our people. We will teach it to them."

The Doctor smiled in reply. "I can't wait to see the outcome."

Clara smiled as well, more than happy with the recent development after everything that had happened.

"At some point, people will come looking for them," the Doctor went on and suddenly, his voice had taken on a grave tone.

"Not to worry," Chief said, "we've left them a message to come and find us."

Still, the serious expression didn't leave the Doctor's face. "More will come," he told Chief, "many more. And they'll spread over the entire continent eventually. Not all will be friendly towards you."

Chief nodded but didn't say anything.

Then, the Q'Uartar stepped in. "We're ready to take off. I'm sorry, but there is no more space for you two," it said to the Doctor and Clara.

"Ah, don't worry about it," the Doctor replied with a dismissive gesture, "I have a ship of my own."

"It was a privilege to have met a Time Lord," it said and nodded in a way of saying goodbye. The Doctor and Clara nodded back.

The TARDIS landed with a thud and when the spinning part of the console unit came to a halt and the flashing lights went off, Clara realised just how tired she was. She stumbled out of the doors and let herself fall down on her sofa only a couple of steps later. Had it always been this soft and comfortable or was it just the impression she had after her recent adventure?

The Doctor followed after her, carefully stepping into her living room as if he still wasn't entirely sure whether she wanted him there. It was funny how sometimes he seemed so insecure about their boundaries when, on other occasions, he just parked his time machine in her bedroom while she was fast asleep.

"So," he began, "mystery solved."

Clara grinned at him in reply. "The Lost Colony," she chuckled, "just be glad I'm not a history teacher because I doubt I could keep all of that stuff from my students."

The Doctor scoffed. "I don't think you'd be a history teacher for very long if you started telling them the colonists were abducted by aliens."

She laughed. "True."

They were silent for a long moment and Clara started wondering whether he would leave straight away or stay for a chat like he sometimes did. Even though the Doctor was an alien, there were moments during which they shared a completely ordinary friendship. It was those moments that Clara treasured just as much as she did the adventures.

"Do you think it worked?" she found herself asking him. "Do you think the colonists lived happily ever after with the Q'Uartar?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I don't know," he replied truthfully. "But I supposed we could check in on them next week?"

Clara smiled. "Yeah, that would be nice."

"So, uh, see you next Wednesday?"

The Doctor shuffled his feet nervously and Clara wasn't sure whether it was because he wanted to stay or because he wanted nothing more than to get back into his box and fly off. There was only one way to find out.

"How about I order pizza and we watch a movie before you go?" she suggested hopefully.

"How about you order pizza and we don't watch any of your silly human movies?"

Clara chuckled and patted the empty spot next to her on the sofa. "Deal."

A big thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this fic :) I love you all!

Since I'm not overly active in the Doctor Who fandom at the moment and the Whouffaldi fandom has kind of lost its enthusiasm, I currently have no DW/Whouffaldi fic in progress. HOWEVER, if you still love my writing and happen to be interested in Harry Potter as well, I have good news for you. After re-reading the books this year, I decided to give a little (I say little, that's a big, fat lie) HP fanfic a go and I've been working on that for a few weeks now. It's not finished yet, but I'd love to see you again for my take on a different fandom when it's done :)