A/N - Prepare to have your hearts broken in this one.

"A question only I could answer. A truth field to make sure I'm not lying. If I give my name, they'll know they've found the right place and that it's safe to come through," the Doctor said.

"The Time Lords? Okay, so what then? If you answer the question and they come back, what happens?" Clara asked.

"Hell," Elise answered.

The Doctor handed Clara a small round object. "Ah, you need to take this to the Tardis and put it in the charger slot for the sonic."

"Why?"

"Elise is right. Hell. All hell, that's what happens if the Time Lords come back. There's half a universe up there already, waiting to open fire. Now please, go to the TARDIS and just do as I say."

Clara ran out of the room.

"You're sending her home, right?" Elise asked.

"This is between the Timelords and me," he said.

Elise took her hand in his. "The Timelords and us."

The Doctor offered her a small smile.

The moment was shattered by Tasha's voice. "Doctor. Speak with me. Doctor! Face me now! Doctor!"

The Doctor put his jacket back on and they made their way to the bell chamber.

Tasha's face hung in the sky.

"Mother Superious, there is only one thing I need from you. This planet, what's it called?" the Doctor asked.

"Trenzalore."

Elise's hearts stopped in her chest.

This was the end.

"If you speak your name, the Time Lords will return," Tasha said.

"If they return, they will come in peace," the Doctor told her.

"It doesn't matter. They will be met with a war that will never end. The Time War will begin anew. You know that, Doctor."

"They're asking for my help!"

"And if you give it, war will be the consequence. I will not let that happen, at any cost. Speak your name and this world will burn."

"No, this planet is protected." He soniced the bell and it started ringing.

The citizens started to gather outside the tower.

Elise and the Doctor stepped out of the tower.

"So, you lot, a quick word, thank you. Spot of news. Christmas has a new sheriff. Hello, everyone. I'm the Doctor. And this my daughter Elise."

There were many attacks on the town, but the Doctor and his daughter defeated them every time. Elise herself was becoming quite a warrior in her own right.

But something else happened on Trenzalore.

She fell in love. He was human of course. With sandy brown hair and green eyes.

Joey.

Elise came home one day to find her father sitting in his chair, working on toys for the children. "Maybe you should just retire and make toys," she teased him.

He rarely did anything else nowadays. He'd aged in the many years they'd been here, his old age finally catching up with him.

When she wasn't fighting, Elise worked at the schoolhouse. Clara would have been proud of her.

Elise hung up her scarf. She didn't really need it, being a Timelord, but it had been a gift from Joey's mother.

Elise walked over to the Doctor. He hadn't greeted her when she entered the tower. "Dad? Is something wrong?" she asked him.

He looked up at her, sadness in his green eyes. He held out a letter.

"What's this?" she asked. She took it from him and realized it was in Joey's handwriting. She ripped it open and started reading. He'd gone to the front lines without telling her. Elise collapsed to the ground.

"Did...is he...?"

Her father just nodded and Elise felt her hearts shatter in her chest. Her sadness quickly morphed into anger and she ripped the letter up, chucking it into the fire. She reached for her scarf, but she couldn't bring herself to get rid of it. Instead, she stashed it deep in the chest where she kept her clothes.

She vowed she'd never love another man ever again. Elise pushed her lost love to the back of her mind and instead focused on the children. She loved the children and the children loved her and the Doctor.

They drew her and the Doctor pictures, which they hung up around their room in the tower.

It wasn't as nice as her bedroom in the TARDIS, but it was home.

One day, they heard the sound of the TARDIS engines.

"What is it? What's that noise?" Barnable, one of the children, asked.

"Well. Where have you been for three hundred years?" the Doctor yelled at the TARDIS.

Three hundred years? Was that how long they'd been here?

"What's that?"

"It's my ship."

"Your what?"

"It's my TARDIS. That's how I got here in the first place."

"Does this mean you're leaving?"

The TARDIS landed completely.

Clara was clutching onto the outside.

"What are you doing here?" the Doctor asked.

"I was in space."

"Well, you were in the time vortex. She must have extended the force field. No wonder." The Doctor pulled her off the TARDIS. "No wonder she's late, dragging you around."

Clara turned to him with tears in her eyes. "You tricked me."

"I saved you!"

"You didn't even say goodbye!"

"I'm furious with you!"

"Well, I am not even talking to you!"

They both started laughing and hugged.

They went inside the tower and Clara looked around. "Oh, Doctor. Fixing toys and fighting monsters." She turned to Elise. "And what about you?"

"I teach," Elise told her.

"The turkey isn't done yet," the Doctor said, entering the room. He handed a few books to Elise. "TARDIS left these on the console."

Elise smiled and ran her fingers down the spines. Her favorite books.

"Is it still asking the question?" Clara said, looking at the crack.

"Oh, never stops. Come upstairs. It's almost time." The Doctor picked up Handles.

"What for?"

"Dawn. The light here lasts only a few minutes. You don't want to miss it."

They went up to the bell chamber and the Doctor made a fire.

"Well, it's a standoff. They can't attack in case I unleash the Time Lords, and I can't run away, because they'll burn this planet to stop the Time Lords. Hey, after all these years, I've finally found somewhere that needs me to stick around. A town called Christmas. Could've been worse." He adjusted Handles. "Right, there you go, buddy. Comfy?"

"Comfort is irrelevant," Handles said.

He propped Handles up a bit more. "How's that, is that better?"

"Affirmative."

"You just take it easy, buddy. He's getting old. I do my best for him, but I just can't get the parts, you know. Hey, I know the feeling." The Doctor groaned as he tried to move.

"It's fine. I'll get it," Elise told him. She reached over and handed him the bag of marshmallows.

"Where did you get those?" Clara asked.

"I have a supplier. The pink ones are best," the Doctor told her.

"I have developed a fault," Handles said.

"Hey, don't you worry, Handles. You're just dreaming. The sun's coming up very soon. You just hang on in there."

"I have developed a fault. I...I have developed a fault."

The Doctor picked Handles up. "Hey, Handles. Come on. Come on. One more dawn, you can do it. You've got it in you. Come on, just hang on in there."

"Attention. Emergency. Attention."

"Handles, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Urgent action required. You must patch the telephone device back through the console unit." Handles' lights faded out.

"Come back. Handles? Handles." The Doctor sighed and Elise put a hand on his knee. "Thank you, Handles, and well done. Well done, mate."

Handles was just one in a long line of people who had brought the Doctor comfort in these last few hundred years.

The sun rose between the mountains and the birds sung.

"What do you think of our new place?" the Doctor asked, "I come up here once a day for a few minutes, to remind myself of what it is I'm protecting."

"It's beautiful. Why did you send me away?"

"Because if I hadn't, I'd have buried you a long time ago."

"No, you wouldn't. I would never have let you get stuck here."

"Everyone gets stuck somewhere eventually, Clara. Everything ends."

"Except you."

"Have you been paying attention? I'm an old man now."

"But you don't die. You change. You pop right back up with a new face."

"No, not for ever. I can change twelve times. Thirteen versions of me. Thirteen silly Doctors."

"Okay, so you're number eleven, so..."

"Ha. Are we forgetting Captain Grumpy, eh? I didn't call myself the Doctor during the Time War, but it was still a regeneration."

"Okay, so you're number twelve."

"Well, number ten once regenerated and kept the same face. I had vanity issues at the time. Twelve regenerations, Clara. I can't ever do it again. This is where I end up. This face, this version of me. We saw this planet in the future, remember? All those graves, one of them mine."

"What? No. No!" Elise cried. She'd lost so much and now she was going to lose him. How much longer could he hold on?

"Hey, Ellie. It'll be alright. You've grown so much. You don't need me anymore."

"I'll always need you."

"We've had some good times, eh?"

The sun started to set.

"Change the future," Clara told him.

"I can't."

"You've got your TARDIS back."

"Ha! You think I'm just going to fly away, abandon everyone?"

"Of course not. But you've been protecting this town for over three hundred years. Do you not think it's anybody else's go yet? Can't Elise do it?"

"There is no one else to protect it. I'd never leave Elise to fight alone."

"It's not going to be you forever. It'll end the same way, whatever you do."

"Every life I save is a victory. Every single one."

"What about your life? Just for once, after all this time, have you not earned the right to think about that?"

The Doctor looked at Clara.

"Sorry. Wrong thing to say. We shouldn't be having an argument."

"Clara, I've been having that argument for the last three hundred years in my head."

"But you didn't have your TARDIS."

"Ah. Yes, well, that made it easier to stay. True."

As the sun set, thunder rolled in.

"Doctor!" Tasha's voice said.

"Ah. Look who's woken up."

Tasha's face appeared in the sky. "The Church of the Silence requests parlay. Your rights and safety are sanctified."

"I'll be right up."

"I'm sending a transporter."

"Nah, don't bother. I've got me motor back."

"It's gone dark," Clara said.

"Yeah, well, the sun's gone down."

"Already?"

"Everything ends, Clara. And sooner than you think."