A/N - WELCOME TO THE LAST CHAPTER! I cannot believe we've made it this far. This book was so much longer than what I was planning, but it was ride, wasn't it?

Clara knelt down next to Elise. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," the Doctor said.

Clara held out a Christmas cracker to him, but he wasn't strong enough to pull on the other end. "Hey, it's okay. It's all right, don't worry." Clara placed her hand on his and they popped the cracker together.

"Ah! Is there a joke, Huh?" the Doctor asked.

"Extract from Thoughts on a Clock by Eric Ritchie Jr," Clara read.

"Is it a knock knock one? Those are best."

Clara laid her head on his knee. "I don't think so."

"Well, read it. Go on."

"And now it's time for one last bow, like all your other selves. Eleven's hour is over now. The clock is striking twelve's."

"I don't get it."

The sound of a Dalek shattered the moment. "Doctor! The Doctor will be brought! The Daleks demand the Doctor."

A young man came running in.

Clara and Elise stood up.

"They're here. The Daleks, we can't stop them. They want you."

"Oh, all right, Barnable. Are you Barnable?" the Doctor asked.

"No, Doctor."

Elise knew that the Doctor's connection with Barnable had been a strong one, so surely he remembered him dying. Maybe his memory was going in his old age.

"It's okay, Barnable, don't worry. I have got a plan. Off you pop."

The young man left the room.

"I haven't got a plan, but people love it when I say that."

"Doctor, what are you going to do?" Clara asked.

The Doctor struggled to lift himself from his chair.

Elise helped him up.

"Oh, I don't know. Talk very fast, hope something good happens, take the credit. That's generally how it works."

"Doctor..."

"Not this time, though. This is it."

"No!"

"Yes. We saw the future, Clara. This is how it ends."

"Change it."

"Ha!"

"Like Tasha said, change the future."

"I could have once, when there were Time Lords. Not anymore."

"Fixed points can't be rewritten Clara. Especially when you know the future," Elise told her, "I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do."

Clara started to follow the Doctor.

"No. You're going to stay here. Promise me you will," he said.

"Why?"

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

The Doctor hugged her. "Thank you and goodbye." He kissed her head and wiped away a tear.

He looked at Elise. "My clever, brave girl. Please."

Elise knew what he was asking. She threw her arms around his neck and he could feel tears hitting his skin. He rubbed her back until she calmed down. She stepped back and he kissed her forehead.

The Doctor started up the stairs. "The trouble with Daleks is, they take so long to say anything. Probably die of boredom before they shoot me."

"The Doctor is required!" the Daleks demanded.

Clara walked over to the crack.

"What are you doing?" Elise asked her.

"Listen to me, you lot. Listen! Help him. Help him change the future. Do it. Do something. You've been asking a question, and it's time someone told you you've been getting it wrong." Clara knelt in front of the crack. "His name, his name is the Doctor. All the name he needs. Everything you need to know about him."

Elise decided to try something. She knelt next to Clara. "Father? It's Elise, your daughter. If you ever loved me, please don't take him away from me. Help him. Please help him."

The crack snapped shut. Elise and Clara looked at each other before running outside to join the citizens of Christmas.

"Sorry I'm a bit slow. I may not be at my best right now," the Doctor told them.

"You are dying, Doctor," the Daleks said.

"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."

"You will die, and the Time Lords will never return."

"You still can't work up the courage to shoot me, can you? You're still worried I've got something up my sleeve. Well, you knock yourselves out, boys. I've got nothing this time."

Daleks fired all around them.

A crack opened up in the sky and golden regeneration energy flowed towards the Doctor.

"You will die now, Doctor. This is the end of you."

The crack snapped shut.

"Oh my gods," Elise breathed.

"What? What happened?" Clara asked.

"They gave him more."

"Gave him more what?"

"The rules of regeneration are known. You have expended all your lives," the Daleks said.

"Sorry, what did you say? Did you mention the rules? Now, listen. Bit of advice. Tell me the truth if you think you know it. Lay down the law if you're feeling brave. But, Daleks, never, ever tell me the rules!" the Doctor yelled.

"Emergency! Emergency! The Doctor is regenerating! The Doctor is regenerating!"

"Oh, look at this. Regeneration number thirteen. 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!" The Doctor shot regeneration energy at the Dalek ship.

Clara ushered people inside buildings as Elise took off for the TARDIS.

The Doctor came sauntering in, young now. His hands were glowing slightly, so Elise knew what was coming.

"Would you fulfill the wish of a dying man?" he asked, "I'd really like some fish fingers and custard."

Elise laughed and hugged him, before running off to the kitchen. She came back with the fish fingers and custard and handed it to him.

He was dressed in his purple outfit again. He scooped up some custard onto a fish finger and handed it her. "Please?"

Elise took it from him and ate it.

They sat in silence as he ate and then he started pacing.

Clara finally entered the TARDIS. "Doctor!" Clara said, happily.

"Hello."

"You're young again. You're okay. You didn't even change your face."

"Ha! It's started. I can't stop it now. This is just the reset."

The same thing had happened in the Naismith Mansion when his previous incarnation healed his own wounds.

"A whole new regeneration cycle." The Doctor finished his custard. "Taking a bit longer. Just breaking it in." He wobbled around the console and put the TARDIS in flight. "It all just disappears, doesn't it? Everything you are, gone in a moment, like breath on a mirror. Any moment now, he's a-coming."

"Who's coming?"

"The Doctor."

"But you, you are the Doctor."

"Yep, and I always will be." His hands started glowing. "But times change, and so must I." The Doctor turned to the stairs and smiled. "Amelia?"

Elise gasped.

"Who's Amelia?" Clara asked.

"The first face this face saw. We all change, when you think about it. We're all different people all through our lives. And that's okay, that's good, you've got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this. Not one day. I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me." He raised a hand to the air and sniffled.

He suddenly smiled and knelt down. "I'm sorry. My little girl. My clever girl."

"Hold up, is he...?" Clara asked Elise.

Elise only nodded. In addition to seeing Amy, he was also seeing a younger version of herself.

The Doctor finally stood up and removed his bowtie.

It hit the floor of the TARDIS.

"No, no," Clara cried, reaching out for him.

"Hey..."

"Please don't change."

In a flash, the Doctor they knew was gone. In his place stood a much older man with gray hair and piercing blue eyes.

The new Doctor stared at the two women and then jerked back. "Kidneys!" he yelled, "I've got new kidneys. I don't like the color."

"Of your kidneys?" Clara asked, in shock.

The TARDIS started lurching.

"What's happening?" Clara yelled.

"We're probably crashing," the Doctor told them. He rushed to the console.

"Into what?"

"Stay calm. Just one question. Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?"

Elise ran to the console and started pressing buttons and throwing levers.

"Don't touch that!" the Doctor yelled at her.

"I thought you didn't know how to fly it!"

He went around, flipping levers and pressing buttons.

"Stop touching the console!" Elise yelled at him.

The TARDIS made her usual wheezing noise and they heard a growl.

"Elise...what was that?" Clara asked.

"I don't know, but whatever you do don't open those doors."