CHAPTER NINE

It had been a long few days and she was sorely looking forward to the downtime, once she'd finished up with the paperwork of course. She was distracted enough that she wasn't immediately aware of Jack settling into the seat beside her and disrupting her thoughts. A fact he seemed to relish as he tossed some popcorn into his mouth, twirling on his chair as Mickey and Martha called out a goodbye, calling it quits for the evening and not intending on returning for several days, like she should have been doing if she'd got any sense. Clara watched them leave and sighed, deciding that being alone with Jack wasn't a game she wanted to play tonight and flicked her own monitor off. They hadn't mentioned the incident in the dormitory several weeks ago, but she wasn't stupid enough not to notice the new fission of tension that had developed between them.

"Good night Jack." Clara told him, getting to her feet and making to move away when his hand caught her wrist holding her firm. Clara risked a glance at him and saw his expression was void of the impishness she associated with his teasing, or efforts to alleviate his own boredom by drawing her into some sort of debate or dalliance. This was much more serious, she'd started to learn his moods she realised, working side by side with the man she expected it would happen eventually.

"What is it Jack? It's late, and I'm tired." She admitted, unsure if she could take one of his in-depth particularly probing talks tonight. Their relationship had improved over time, she might even call them friends, if he could find it in him to lay off the incessant flirting... or casual touching, which with him was always a constant threat but with her it seemed almost too personal, too calculated and had only worsened since the dormitory incident.

"I wanted to talk to you about these." He asked gently and his tone softened her a little as he flipped on his own monitor and pulled up images of her... or more accurately her echoes.

"You've been snooping in UNITS personnel files." Clara tutted letting him tug her down by her wrist onto his lap with only a mild huff as he wrapped his arm around her waist trapping her and rightly assuming it was the only way she'd stay for this conversation. It was a fairly intimate position but she'd been in worse with him and he seemed to have a talent for making even the most harmless of positions suggestive anyway. Fortunately she could handle Jack... most of the time.

"What happened to you?" he asked quietly and she heard the near desperation in it as she turned to glance back at him, clearly he'd been wrestling with this question for some time, probably spurred on by the knowledge that the Doctor had married her, he'd of course wanted to know why, what made her so special. She should have known he'd dig, particularly after he'd caught her with the Doctor in her mind that night. But she had to work with him, 'wanted' to work with him, she liked her work here and whether she admitted it or not, they were a team and that only worked if there was trust. Which meant he deserved an answer.

Knowing his fate was difficult for her in moments like this. She knew what this man would become... who he would become, the 'Face of Boe' was almost endless; she and Martha had discussed it together once in a rare bonding moment over copious amounts of wine. The good doctor had confided that she found the best way to deal with it was to think of them as two separate people, separate them entirely in her mind, that way it didn't press on you. It was also how she realised she'd had personal experience with both Martha and the Face of Boe, one of her Echo's had been there on New New Earth, trapped in a car on an endless motorway, waiting to manoeuvre into position to save another car containing none other than Martha Jones; because one day the Doctor would need her to save him, to save Earth. But she couldn't reveal any of that, 'spoilers' were always something she like River chose to avoid and she'd kept to that.

But she needed to answer him now, to give him something or he would never let it go. "You mean am I like you Jack?" she turned her head seeing his deep blue eyes shining back at her with what seemed like hope. Her hand rose and she touched his cheek, feeling the grip of his arm tighten around her waist, drawing her closer into his chest. "No Jack. I'm sorry, I'm not." She dropped her hand and turned back to the monitor to see the images of her in other lives, other times, they even had hold of some future records and those off-world it seemed. No wonder Kate had freaked.

"Then what is this? How can you be here, over and over again if you're not immortal?" He wasn't giving in it seemed. "It's not possible." He argued and she wished she could explain it better to him, after all he had not chosen what happened to him either, just a consequence of getting too caught up in the Doctor's world. But then that was the difference between them, she had chosen this, chosen to die for him.

Clara flicked off the monitor not wanting to see the images. "I'm impossible you mean." She turned back to glance down at him, his grip still not releasing her. "That's what he used to call me, 'Impossible Girl', because he watched me die, twice." She didn't need to elaborate on who 'he' was and it had always twisted her heart just a little to know that she wasn't the first one to make an impression on the Doctor, to know that he'd probably fallen half in love with Victorian Clara first.

"But you're not immortal either Jack." She pointed out seeing him flinch slightly as she highlighted the slight but tell tale signs of his aging in the occasional streak of grey or the slight crows feet lining his eyes. Not much, but life with the Doctor had taught her to notice the details.

Jack's smile was sad as he reached out much as she had and captured her face his thumb taking liberties as he swept it briefly over her bottom lip. She knew he wanted her; that he had from the start. Although she couldn't tell if he wanted her for her or because she 'had' been the Doctor's; he liked to use the past tense even before the incident, because he was convinced and seemed intent on reminding her of it, that the Doctor didn't come back for the people he left behind, even if he promised. This revelation that she might be similar to him wasn't helping her any right now in curbing his interests and she turned her head away from his touch.

"No one knows I'm aging. Not anymore. I haven't told a soul since..." he couldn't mention his previous Torchwood team mates, or their fates it seemed and she sighed, hating that he always seemed to draw her in when she knew better than to let him.

"It's subtle Jack don't worry. But nothing is ever immortal. Everything ends." Being with the Doctor had taught her that.

"You know you sound like him sometimes." He murmured dropping his head to her shoulder his breath tickling her neck as he swept aside her long dark hair and Clara hesitated, perhaps that was the attraction he felt, the need to be near the Doctor again, and she was the closest he might ever get.

"I spent a lot of time with him Jack, just over five years in fact. The last four of which with him able to get inside my head and a year or so of that I was able to get into his too. That tends to rub off on you." She smiled ruefully, she didn't choose to mention the thousands of lives she'd spent in the Doctor's shadow.

"He tends to rub off on people full stop, whether he's in their heads or not." Jack replied his breath closer now to her neck.

"Perhaps you're right." His lips were hovering and she felt the need to break the sudden tension. "We do have one thing in common," she tried to bring a smile she much preferred to see on his lips than this melancholy, which only seemed to make his true age all that more pressing between them. "The TARDIS loathed me almost as much as she did you." He smirked, leaning back a fraction to see her clearly.

"She tried to run to the end of the Universe with you clinging on to the outside?" Jack quirked a disbelieving eyebrow but he had a wry grin at the memory which was what she'd been aiming for.

"Not quite, but I did get to enjoy a wonderful flight clinging to the edge of her shell as she attempted to dump me back home, fortunately given as I was the Missus she extended the shields for me."

He laughed lightly and she smirked at the memory, she enjoyed making him laugh, he didn't do it very much anymore. She leant in to drop a chaste kiss to his forehead that had him closing his eyes and his grip on her waist lowering a fraction. She withdrew and looked into his face, he wouldn't let this go, couldn't. He would never truly understand what had been done to him, or how, but if he could unwrap her enigma he seemed to be hoping it might reveal his, or at least a way around it. Clara didn't want him to live in false hope.

"Jack we are not the same. I promise you." He looked doubtful. "I died. If we are anything it is mirror images, you live again and again... whilst I can only die."

He kissed her. Clara wished it was unexpected, but she had been hoping to avoid this between them since she first felt his flirtatious advances become something more the first time he had stepped in front of instant death for her and taken it as his. Clara pulled back gently, her fingers going to his lips to stop them. "Don't Jack. I love my husband." She whispered.

"Your husband left you." He pointed out sharply as she stood, his grip finally releasing her in his rejection, but only for a moment as she felt him spin her, taking her in his arms and dipping her in a romantic move supposed to flutter her heart and leave her wanting him as his mouth tried to convince her. It should have worked. In any other situation it would have, after all she wasn't immune to his charms, not many women were. Nor was she completely unaffected by them, she was fond of Jack; probably a little too fond. But she was married to a Time Lord, which came with its own set of rules. And despite his charms, he simply wasn't the Doctor.

She didn't respond and he set her upright, capturing her face in his hands. "Why do you wait for him? He may never return and if he does there is no guarantee it will be in your lifetime, or that he will even be the same man!" He was angry with her she realised, angry and pitying again, but he wasn't necessarily wrong either she acknowledged. "There is something here between us, or at least there could be, don't tell me you don't feel it Clara?" Jack persisted as they shared the same breath. "We could be so good together." She knew what he meant, they seemed to have a natural chemistry she wasn't blind enough not to notice, and when they worked together in a team it was fluid, she never had to second guess him; it had been one of the easiest partnerships she'd ever had. But it wasn't enough.

Clara took his face in her own hands and leant forward dropping a chaste kiss on his lips that seemed to startle him with its complete utter lack of romantic feeling. "Jack I might not be a Time Lord, but I married one in a Gallifreyan ceremony before a temporal schism." He frowned and she couldn't blame him for not understanding what that meant, the Doctor had hesitantly had to explain it to her before their wedding. "For Time Lords there is no infidelity, no divorce... they are bound, always. His hearts beat within me, our time-lines are interwoven." He still didn't grasp the extent of her meaning she could see it in his eyes, sighing she pulled out of his arms gently.

"What all that means Jack is that my heart is his. There is simply no room in it for anyone else, not like that. Even if I wanted to feel something for someone else, I couldn't. At least not whilst he lives, and maybe even then." His eyes widened and she stared at him letting him see her acceptance of that, she had walked into this marriage knowing what it would mean; she would feel the same way for his 12th, 13th, or 1st and 6th self's as she did for the 11th if by some twist of fate she got to see them. It hadn't been an easy decision to make, but she made it, for her and for him and she would do it gladly again.

"Then he is more in-human than even I thought." Jack snarled spinning away from her and Clara let him go. "Look what he's done to you, claimed you utterly and then abandoned you, left you unable to move on from him even if you wanted to. I told you before, I hadn't realised it was a kindness at the time, but at least he had the decency to let the rest of us go!"

Clara blinked back tears, hating how close his words could strike, he hurled something heavy at a nearby wall and stalked off into the back room he usually slept in, to likely drown his sorrows. Clara watched him leave, knowing that going after him would be a mistake; she was a painful reflection of the damage the Doctor could inflict on those he cared about the most she supposed. And Jack had been left irreparably damaged by his time with the Doctor, more so than any of them; it was not an easy thing to forgive, nor the fact that the Doctor had quite literally abandoned him to it.

Jack didn't let on that anything had changed between them, if it had at all, and she didn't see any reason to change that; it had been weeks and that arrangement seemed to be working out just fine. There team dynamic was working as smoothly as it ever had, there had only been a few near death scrapes, Martha and Mickey's playful bickering was at a minimum, things were good. She actually felt for the first time since the Doctor had forced her to walk away that perhaps she could do this without him, maybe be happy here for the most part. Even if she did kind of live for the job.

Jack was examining his screen a little too closely given as it was 9pm on a Sunday evening, which incidentally meant that her being here too at that time when they had a few days off next week was entirely his fault; that and his ineptitude for paperwork. His desk looked like the leaning tower of Pisa with the groaning pages threatening to spill out at any moment; if she didn't sort it no one would. "What are we looking at?" she asked after finally bringing some sort of order to it all as she came up to stand beside him as he examined something on the console.

He glanced at her and returned with a sly grin to the scrolling information. "I thought you were supposed to be taking the day off?"

"So did I, then I saw your latest paperwork. Great job with that." She snarked and he spun around in his chair to face her.

"Oh I know how much you love doing it for me." He smirked, his innuendo clearly intended. "That or you just like the excuse to spend your off days with me." That wasn't so much innuendo as flat out insinuating and Clara rolled her eyes with a long suffering sigh.

"Just shut up fly boy and tell me what I'm looking at." She smirked back at him, knowing he was as likely to take a day off as her, particularly given as he actually lived and slept down here, talk about taking your work home with you. She was grateful that at least Martha and Mickey had enough sense to actually get away from the hub on down days, otherwise they'd probably all kill one another.

He grinned his set of perfect pearly white's at her. "Seems a group of Slitheen may have infiltrated a local school, I'm not sure why yet." Clara nodded, not needing to hear his question to know it was coming. "Didn't you used to be a teacher?"

Her huff was audible. "So that's the plan I play a substitute and just march right in to a school full of Slitheen?" Ok so she was a teeny tiny bit excited at the prospect of getting to be a teacher again, even if it was just as a ruse to hunt down some shape steeling aliens with serious flatulence issues.

He shrugged, "Plans sound, I just don't see you pulling off the wholesome teacher bit." He also had from the start had trouble imagining her as a teacher, which given as she was used to running around with her sonic and gun these days in full on alien hunting mode, she supposed it did seem a stretch to him. After he'd had difficulty with that she deliberately hadn't mentioned the whole 'Nanny/Governess' thing to him, she didn't need to give the poor boy an aneurism, god knows he'd probably start calling her Mary Poppins... or Nanny McPhee; she shuddered neither of which was happening.

Clara tutted. "I'll have you know I was a great teacher."

Jack smirked. "I'm sure you were, I imagine there was a line of teenage boys in the front row all eagerly listening to what you had to 'teach' them."

Clara gave him a narrow glare. "Your really are an old letch, you know that."

He shrugged. "It's my thing." He wasn't in the least bit apologetic, and his charm smile was in place trying to win her over already.

"Fine," Clara snapped, "but you'll need to arrange for the spaces to open up, English and Drama."

"Drama?" he queried frowning and clearly not following her.

"Well what else would you teach?" she snorted at his less than amused look. "Or are you honestly going to let me go in without back up?"

He cocked his head in acknowledgement, "Fair enough, I suppose I am a dashing sort of chap, and it wouldn't be my first time to tread the boards in a grand theatre... I'm sure I can come up with something to teach the little darlings."

"Glad you're so pleased; my second option for you was janitor." She smirked at his offended look and tried to imagine him in a boiler suit with a mop in hand, somehow it just didn't work. But their levity was interrupted by an alarm, several in fact and flashing red warning lights.

"Breach!" Jack bellowed, diving at the controls.

Clara did the same, looking for the source. "I'm reading a massive temporal disturbance, big enough to override the shut off." She barked giving him a significant look about how they had disabled it in case the Doctor came calling in her dreams. The thought spurred something and her hand shot to her pocket the telltale feel of her sonic waking up in response to its maker.

"It's the TARDIS." She whispered just as the distinctive sound of its engines reverberated through the hub. Her heart caught in her throat, he was here, he was coming back for her. But she hadn't dreamt of him in weeks perhaps this was why? A guilty part of her mind had wondered if he'd felt her preoccupation with Jack and his team and was giving her the silent treatment.

Clara spun watching as the blue box materialised before them as Jack stepped quite deliberately in front of her, his hand out protecting her as usual, like she had something to fear from it. "Jack." She whispered, as the engines quieted and the Box settled into position, her hand wrapped around his and lowered it from her path. He gave her a searching look that seemed more resigned now than anything, and of course a little excited, no matter what he thought of the Doctor he couldn't seem to help but remain in awe of the man. Clara stepped towards the Box, surprised he hadn't emerged yet.

A hologram flickered to life and Jack let out a startled shout of surprise, clearly not familiar with that particular facet of the Old Girl. Although the face was new Clara noted, taking in the woman with mad hair, wild eyes and rather tattered Victorian dress as it stared impassively at her. The fact that the voice interface was here and not the Doctor spoke volumes, Clara felt her hand clutch her heart as she searched inward for the tell tale sign of his heartbeats, finding them there she clung to the presence of him that lingered in her mind, grasping his thread and holding it close.

"It's fine Jack, it's the TARDIS." Clara told him, seeing him holster his gun, but not move his hand far from it as the holograms eyes flickered onto him with something close to distaste, clearly they weren't ever going to be bosom buddies.

"I can see that." He replied tersely but his attention was on the Box, not the hologram.

"No, I mean it's actually the TARDIS, her visual voice interface, she wants to talk to us."

"Correction, talk to you." The woman's image snapped, cocking her head and focusing in on her surroundings as if calculating.

Clara acknowledged her. "Ok, tell me what's happened?" she asked quietly almost terrified of the answer but certain something must have changed to have the sentient machine coming to her like this, given their particular history. He wasn't dead, she'd have felt that and his heart beat still echoed in her mind, she was certain of it.

The TARDIS focused her deep gaze on her which seemed to lose none of its power given her holographic form. "My Thief is dying." As blunt as ever Clara nodded, feeling something stick in her throat painfully as she stepped closer to the interface.

"He's been dying for a long while now." Clara pointed out, trying to swallow past the lump in her throat and push past the pain in her chest at the thought of it.

"No one should die alone." The TARDIS pointed out and held her hand out to Clara, behind her the TARDIS doors swung open to admit her. "He needs you and I always give him what he needs."

Jack's arm gripped onto her and she turned back to him, knowing he wouldn't try and stop her as his face fell. He knew there was nothing he could say to stop her going. She pulled him into a fierce embrace. "I'll be back, one day. We'll meet again Jack, I promise." She kissed his cheek gently her hand pressing against his as he took it to kiss the palm. "Look after the others." She reminded him gently and he nodded.

"Clara Oswald." He declared, "It has been an honour and a privilege. I will never forget you." He whispered, kissing her lips lightly that half grin in place as she smiled back at him and detached herself turning back to the machine that was inexplicably waiting for her.

Jack called after her. "Look after him, who knows what kind of trouble he'll get into otherwise?" she grinned back at him as the hologram vanished and the doors slammed closed behind her, sealing her off from the Hub and the life she had started to build there; and reminding her starkly of where she was going and why. The time rotor spun up, wasting no time she noted as she grasped the console, the levers moved of their own accord and whilst she could have assisted there was no need. The TARDIS had flown all the way here to retrieve her; it needed no assistance to get her back to him.

Clara stepped out of the rather silent TARDIS, her apprehension becoming full on panic as she realised the whole world seemed to be on fire. There were shouts and blasts and people running to and fro. Soldiers with guns and Dalek's screeched across the sky. It looked every inch the battle ground she once walked through, the gravestones heavy in her mind as she ran, dodging and weaving and heading for the place that the steady thump of his hearts led her onwards to, the clock tower.

Crashing through the barn doors she didn't hesitate as she all but stumbled down the few stairs to the room she knew awaited. Praying and hoping she wasn't too late. His heart beat increased and she knew, sensed that he could feel her, the proximity flaring in her mind until she can practically feel him.

"Doctor." She breathed coming to a crashing halt at the bottom of the stairs and staring in desperation at the back of the only chair in the room.

His hand fell the remnants of a wooden carving tumbling from it.

"Clara." He whispered and she heard it in her mind as well as with her ears as she was drawn closer as he turned and she felt her breath catch. Everything in her struggled not to let her tears show, to keep the pain sealed away at the sight that greets her, but she can do nothing but stare as he struggled to get to his feet. But the look on his face, the smile, the gentle adoration in his eyes, despite the long thin grey hair, the wrinkled skin and hunched weakened frame, she could see the man she married.

"Hello Husband." She managed, hating that her whole body seems to be trembling and all of a sudden she is back in the TARDIS with him the last time she saw him as he pleaded with her to leave him, because he couldn't leave her, not again.

"Were you always so young?" he hobbled forward until they are close enough to touch, his eyes scanning every inch of her face.

"That was you remember." She smiled back hesitantly, she knew how many years a Time Lords body could last in a single regeneration. The last time she'd seen him 300 years had given him a limp and a little grey... but this, oh god this; this was so many more she was certain of it and the knowledge left her hollow, an ache forming deep in her chest.

"Ah." He acknowledges with a small wry smile of his own as he reached for her hand and lifted it to his lips, kissing it reverently. His eyes closed and he didn't relinquish her hand, drawing her closer with it until she found his arms hesitantly embracing her and she sighed against him, the smell of him still the same as she pulls him closer too, trying not to damage his now fragile body.

"How long?" she asked nervously, feeling his hands in her hair as he pulled back to look at her, his hands tracing her face and clearly comparing his memory to the reality again, his soft smile breaking her heart as his fingers traced her lips and she pressed a kiss to them.

"Oh, you know, I never was that good at keeping time, 600 years I think, give or take." His voice shook and she notices his legs are trembling, clutching him around the waist she helped ease him back into his chair without a word, his mental barriers are weak though and she realised with a start that she can feel everything he is.

"It's okay." She whispers easing him back into his chair as he sighed with relief as she can felt the pain in his legs, his back, everywhere... especially his hearts at seeing her again.

"I've missed you." He sighed as she knelt down beside him, taking his hands in hers and dropping her head to his lap, making sure that her mental barriers are locked in place, he doesn't need her turmoil now. His fingers brush through her hair and she holds back a sob. There are shouts and bangs from above, the unmistakeable sounds of Dalek voices screeching overhead demanding death.

It became agonisingly clear to Clara why she hadn't felt the Doctor in her mind for the last few months, the way they had been separated with him so far in the future meant that time could move differently between them, perhaps the time between his visits to her had been years apart for him, and only days for her. But with his mental barriers in such a mess she could understand why he had struggled to reach out. His emotional state also told its own tale as he stroked her cheek, his fingers brushing away the tears she hadn't meant to let fall. He had felt old, he didn't feel right coming to her in the guise of her young husband, even in her mind, like it was a betrayal somehow.

"Shhhh." She whispered, lifting her finger to his lips and pressing them there, her hand stroking over his cheek and against his forehead, trying to help him rebuild the mental barriers he so dearly wanted to, something to maintain his dignity. "It's ok, I'm here." She offered.

"Why?" he asked genuinely and once again she felt the pain that thought brought him like a knife in her mind, forcing her to shut her eyes and reinforce her mental walls again, his tripping hearts pounding inside her with his anger and his desperation.

"Because your ship is as stubborn as you. Did you really think she'd stand by and let you die alone?" Clara almost felt pity for him at the heartbroken sadness in his expression and the hope, because neither of his girls could let him die alone.

A tear slipped down his face as he smiled softly down at her, raising his hand once more to her face. "Clara, my Clara."

A booming Dalek voice mades her flinch. "Doctor! The Doctor will be brought!" there was more gunfire and shouts from above that draw her attention. "The Daleks demand the Doctor!"

A young man came charging into the room drawing their attention and the Doctor reluctantly took his eyes from her to glance at him.

"Doctor, they're here. The Daleks, we can't stop them. They want you." Clara got to her feet she noticed the Doctor didn't drop her hand.

"Oh, all right, Barnable. Are you Barnable?" the Doctor asked and the young man looked at her in confusion and she could only smile sadly back.

"No, Doctor." The young man replied gently, but his eyes were panicked, this man this protector that had stood by them seemed to be failing before his eyes; she saw all of that in his face and wished she could reach out and convince him otherwise.

"It's okay, Barnable, don't worry. I've got a plan. Off you pop." The Doctor reassured him and the young man ran, the sound of an explosion rocked them both and she clutched the Doctor's hand tighter.

"I haven't got a plan, but people love it when I say that." He confided in her and she nodded more than a little terrified.

"I know. What are you going to do?" she whispered hoping he could pull something out of his bag of tricks; but in her heart of hearts she knew he couldn't, not this time.

"Oh, I don't know. Talk very fast, hope something good happens, take the credit. That's generally how it works." he admitted wryly, having the actual gall to smile.

"Doctor..." he turned away, "Husband." She tried instead and he dropped his head, all artifices fleeing them both as she helped him to stand, feeling how much of an effort even so simple an act was for him.

"Not this time Clara. This is it, we both know how this ends, we've run as far and as long as we can from it." his voice his firm, trying to convince them both.

"Change it. Change the future." She all but pleaded one last time knowing it was utterly futile and feeling it break her heart. afresh

"I could have once, when there were Time Lords. Not anymore." He lamented, looking at the crack in the wall.

There was another explosion that shook sawdust into the room and the whole tower seemed to groan with it. "Locate the Doctor!" a Dalek voice demanded.

The Doctor takes her face in his hands, "I need you to stay here. Promise me you will." His eyes are exactly the same she realised, age hasn't seemed to touch them, but then she has to admit they were always ancient.

"Why?" she manages pointlessly, his mind is clear enough to her on this.

"I'll be keeping you safe. One last victory. Allow me that. Give me that, my impossible girl."

Clara bowed her head not wanting to see his eyes, she never could deny him much, he didn't even try the 'wife' card, obviously not wanting to make it a request she couldn't refuse. "You impossible man." She sighed and reached up cradling his face and pulling his head down to hers until their lips touched briefly, chastely but enough to remind her of everything they had and why she couldn't bear to lose it.

"Promise me." He insisted against her lips and Clara nodded once, letting him feel her promise through her linked thoughts. "Thank you." He kisses her and she hates to think of it as a goodbye as he wipes away the tears that have begun to fall down her cheeks. With one last lingering sad look he turned from her and she had no choice but to watch as he struggled up the stairs.

She listened to him muttering to himself as he ascended, "The trouble with Daleks is, they take so long to say anything. Probably die of boredom before they shoot me." She managed a wry smile before more tears flow as she could hear the sounds from above, reminding her of what's waiting for him.

"The Doctor is required!" she watched him until he disappeared out of sight.

The moment he is gone Clara clapped her hand to her mouth to contain the sob and spun away from the lingering sight, her heart pounding in her ears, echoing his. Her eyes fell on the wall. She couldn't do this, couldn't let him just do this; she ran to the crack in the wall, its image fuelling her despair and hatred. It was their fault. They could stop this, all of this, if they'd just listen!

Her Gallifreyan was rusty, she hadn't used it for over a year, not since the Doctor left her on Earth; but it was coming back she realised thankfully as she placed her palms against the wall. "Listen to me you lot. Listen!" she snapped in desperation praying that someone was there on the other side, someone with a heart. "Help him. Help him change the future. Do it. Do something!" She slammed her hands against the wall not caring if her bones groaned with the force as frustration fueled her and she slid down to her knees as a sob overtook her; and she can't help but wonder if the Doctor in all his brilliance, ever considered simply speaking to the Time Lords beyond the crack, or if he feared saying anything at all.

"I know what you want, the answer to the question you've been asking all these years. I could give it you." she paused, and the Universe seemed to pause with her. "But it wouldn't be the truth... and it wouldn't be safe. He's spent centuries defending this world, defending you. But you know that already don't you?" she glares into the crack, wondering if she stared hard enough if she'd see the red grasses beyond.

"That question you've been asking, you've been getting it wrong, so wrong." She murmured. But she can't give his name, not his true name, if she could he would have done it himself by now and she won't betray him, not like that, not now. "His name you see, his name is the Doctor. It's all the name he needs. Everything you need to know about him. And if you love him, like I do and you should." She insisted knowing with every fibre of her being that they should, "Then help him. Help him." She pleaded into the crack, her lilting Gallifreyan breaking at the end until she is pleading in English with the long lost Time Lords. Pleading for her husband who is slowly dying overhead, his tripping heartbeat struggling as she searches for it within her. Unable to bear it Clara turned away from the crack, so it startled her when she heard it snap shut the muted glow from it cutting of, staring at the smooth expanse of the wall her eyes widened with mild horror, and a blossoming hope.

'Please'. She pleaded with whatever deities were listening. 'Please let them help him.' Without hesitating Clara ran from the room charging up the stairs to join the villagers that were amassing outside and it doesn't take her long to realise why, as she like them turned to stare up at the Doctor on the bell tower above, facing down a sky full of Daleks.

The Doctor relied heavily on his cane as his breath rattled in his chest from the effort of climbing the steps. "Sorry I'm a bit slow. I may not be at my best right now." He smiled almost at the irony of that as he sat down in the chair, watching the destruction bought on a world he was supposed to be protecting.

"You are dying, Doctor." The Dalek voice taunted

"Yes, I'm dying. You've been trying to kill me for centuries, and here I am, dying of old age. If you want something done, do it yourself." He can't help the bitterness that clouds his voice at the words and the fact that it will be the Daleks that end him

"You will die, and the Time Lords will never return." The scorn is clear in the Dalek voice, beautiful hatred they once called it, it still just makes him sick. But he notices with a smirk they are still talking about killing him and not actually doing it.

"You still can't work up the courage to shoot me, can you? You're still worried I've got something up my sleeve." He waved his cane at them, before dropping his head in defeat "Well, you knock yourselves out, boys. I've got nothing this time." What can he do, he is weak now, his body failing, Trenzalore is burning and the future is pressing behind his eyes. The sounds of screams force his head away not able to watch further destruction it has been his entire existence for so long;,instead his eyes fall to the one face in the crowd he wants his last sight to be of... his Clara as she stared back up at him. He'd tried to save her, to keep her from seeing this, but fate never was kind to him why would it start now?

His eyes were drawn overhead, to the impossible sight of the crack as it tore apart the sky and he raised his head, Clara's gaze following his. His mind flicked to hers briefly straining across the distance and using more strength than he should, but he feels her elation that somehow her plea had been answered... 'her plea?' He has only a moment to wonder what his impossible wife has done before golden regeneration energy spiraled out and heads straight for him, he has a moment to consider it, to think about rejecting it before it is upon him, but it hits and he inhales it. The energy suffused him and he stared at his glowing hands in surprise. So it was happening, his 12th incarnation, 13 regenerations... he was coming.

"You will die now, Doctor. This is the end of you." The Dalek declared, confident of its victory, seemingly ignorant of what had transpired and the Doctor raised his head, staring beyond the Dalek to watch as the crack vanished. He feels a pang of something, not quite sadness as he realises his people were so close and they are gone again; but their gift remains pouring through his cells, giving him strength.

"The rules of regeneration are known. You have expended all your lives." The Dalek barks, seemingly thinking this is a trick, some last ditch attempt on his part to pretend to be regenerating. He can't help but grin gleefully back at them.

"Sorry, what did you say? Did you mention the rules? Now, listen. Bit of advice boys. Tell me the truth if you think you know it!" He shouted back, almost preaching to them now, "Lay down the law if you're feeling brave." He waved his cane at them, energy all but bursting from him, "But, Daleks, never, ever tell me the rules!" he bellowed.

"Emergency! Emergency! The Doctor is regenerating!" the Dalek shrieked and he laughed wildly. Now they get it! Now they remember what he is, why they feared him and his people. He slid across the rooftop, the years feel like they are receding from him, his knees are strong and his back straight.

"The Doctor is regenerating!" they shriek again in panic and it is music to his ears.

"Oh, look at this. Regeneration number thirteen." He swings his cane madly around like he's winding up to an explosion. "We're breaking some serious science here, boys. I tell you what, it's going to be a whopper!"

"Exterminate! Exterminate the Doctor."

"You think you can stop me now, Daleks? If you want my life, ha, ha, come and get it!" he held up his arm to them palm outstretched and the energy lept from him in a stream straight into the floating Dalek vessels. He can hear Clara and the villagers bellow him running for cover inside the clock tower as he raised his other arm and more energy shot from his hand as Daleks begin to tumble to the ground.

"Love from Gallifrey, boys!" he taunted as he finally aimed both of his hands up into the Dalek Mothership, drawing forth the full might of the new set of regenerations, all that energy, just waiting inside of him. The blast is dazzling and he watches in satisfaction as the shockwave rips through the remaining Daleks on the ground, rocking his TARDIS as it travels out of the town taking anything else it finds with it. He can do nothing but watch then his eyes wide, energy still dancing across him as silence finally falls.