Epilogue

When the stars started going out, Rose Tyler returned to the Doctor's universe. The second he saw her, his hearts skipped. If Rose was there, that meant Clara was there, too. Right?

Wrong. Rose told the Doctor that shortly after their last meeting, Clara left Torchwood and started traveling on her own. Rose had no idea where she was, so she couldn't bring Clara with her to the universe. Again, the Doctor's hearts broke.

Still, he sent his Metacrisis self to that universe, hoping that he would one day find his Clara. Maybe Clara could, at least, have a happy ending.

Then, he regenerated. And he met young Amelia Pond. And Rory Williams. And he got to know River Song.

No matter how much he hated it, he could tell that he was falling for River. He despised himself for it; he felt like he was cheating on Clara. As his and River's relationship developed, he continually felt guilty about it. Still, he was happy that he and River had the kind of relationship where they never stated out loud that they loved each other. He was never able to tell Clara how he felt, and he never wanted to tell anyone else. It just wouldn't feel right.

He tried to forget Clara. He tried hard. But, he just couldn't. She was seared onto his hearts in a way that he had never realized. He had never realized just how special she was.

Then, there was the day he heard her voice. The Daleks had kidnapped him, Amy, and Rory and brought them the a ship orbiting their Asylum. A girl took over the Daleks' sound system and talked to him. He wanted to cry when he realized that it was his Clara. He didn't know how, but he really didn't care. It was Clara, and he needed to see her. He needed to rescue her from that horrid Asylum.

And he failed. Clara called herself Oswin Oswald, and he called her Souffle Girl. She had always loved souffles, so he liked his new nickname for her. But, she had been converted into a Dalek. For a moment, he was actually tempted to bring her with him anyway. But she sacrificed her life to get him and his friends off the Dalek Asylum. Plus, she even erased the Daleks' memories of him. His Clara truly was a remarkable woman.

And then, he met her again. He didn't understand it, but he didn't care. He had another chance to be with his Clara. The instant he saw her, going by Clara Oswin Oswald, in Victorian London, he ran after her. She was different, but still his Clara. And he loved her all the same.

But, she died as well. And, yet again, his hearts were ripped to shreds. He sat by her side, clutching her hand for a great while. Then, he remembered something. Kissing her lightly on her cheek, he ran back to the TARDIS. He ran into her room- which he hadn't entered since she had gotten stuck in the parallel universe- and searched for it.

Finally, he found it. The broken, Gallifreyan fob watch she had found on her first adventure with him. Tears filled his eyes when he held it in his hands. He remembered the fight they had had the day he found out she had it. He brought it to his lips, kissing it gently.

He ran back to Clara's body, only to find that it had been taken off and buried. So, he set off to find her grave. It was still raining as he knelt at her grave. He sat there for a long time, trying to think of what to say. He dug a small hole in the freshly dug up dirt, burying the watch on top of her. Stroking the gravestone, fingers brushing her name, he uttered the words that he wished he had said to her long ago.

"Clara Oswald, I love you."

A/N: And, that's it! This is the end of Running Again. And, I'm really proud of this story. I'd just like to say thank you to every reader, every reviewer, every favoriter and follower. Thank you for loving this story and staying with me to this point. I'm sorry if this isn't the ending you wanted, but this is the whole reason I wrote the story. I saw this epilogue in my head and wanted to write a story to go with it.

I think I may write an epilogue for Clara, but it won't go on this story. If I do write it, it will be a separate story. So, stick around and you may see something you like. Also, I think I'm going to write another Allonswin story (probably). I've got a few ideas for it, so I'm gonna create a poll and you can vote for whichever story you'd like to see.

By the way, I hope you see that Clara's story with Ten didn't change the Doctor's timeline. He still went on and married River and all that, this pretty much just added to his excitement each time he meets her again.

I hope you enjoyed this story. Thanks again.