To Be a Time Lord

Epilogue

It was Christmas Eve. The Oracle rarely spent Christmas Eve this quietly. She wondered what the Doctor was doing. Pretending to be dead he was probably drifting around finding trouble, especially tonight. But here she was, having helped her mother with Christmas dinner all day and now sitting on the floor in the living room, next to Astrid as Amy and Rory sat on the couch in front of them.

"That is not a word", Rory laughed at the Scrabble board in front of him.

"Of course that's a word! Mum, tell him", Astrid whined.

"I'm sorry, Dad, but Sycorax is in fact a word", the Oracle grimaced with mock-pity.

"Yeah, in space maybe but we're here on Earth", Amy brushed her off, laughing as well.

"I hate to break it to you but Earth is a part of space, Amy", Astrid giggled.

"That's geography 101 for you", the Oracle nodded.

The family giggled together until the doorbell rang. The Oracle got up to answer the door.

"And stay away from my letters. I'll win this by a landslide", her laugh ceased when she turned to the door she'd just opened and saw her husband, "Hi."

"Hi", he gave an unsure smile.

She looked back for a moment before stepping out and leaning the door into the frame, not closing it completely, to talk to him in private for a moment. "It's been quite a while, you know."

"Yeah", he looked down, "I was a little busy."

"Pretending you were dead", she looked to the side in shame.

"Yep", he looked up again with a half-smile, "We're a bit of a strange couple, aren't we?"

She couldn't help but chuckle at that. She looked back at him as well and reached out a hand to cup his cheek, "I love you."

His smile grew, "I love you. Sorry I didn't tell you my plan immediately and left you with your parents for, er-"

"Two and a half years", she added, "Oh, and Astrid's been here for two years now. We've been sharing the bed."

"You can't complain about that, really."

"About being a thousand year old child living with her parents for two and a half years?"

He chuckled, "About sharing a bed with your daughter."

"Our daughter", she corrected with a smile.

"Speaking of which-"

They both just stared at each other for a moment. She raised her brows at him in question, waiting for him to finish his sentence. Noticing he wouldn't do it she gave a breathy chuckle and opened the door, "Mum, guess who's coming for dinner?"

Amy and Rory appeared behind her. Amy crossed her arms distrustingly and Rory smiled, "Whoa, not dead then."

"Who's not dead?", Astrid came up behind them and widened her eyes when she spotted the Doctor, "Dad!"

With a big smile she jumped around his neck making him laugh happily, "Well, at least you're happy to see me."

"Of course I'm happy to see you", she grinned and pulled back, "You're my dad and not dead. That's pretty cool."

"It is pretty cool", the Oracle agreed.

They moved inside and the Doctor stopped in front of Amy. She didn't budge from her upset position, "I'm not going to hug first."

"Nor am I", he looked down at her, trying to look indifferent.

"My days, let's leave the children alone for a moment, shall we?", the Oracle put one arm around Rory and the other around Astrid and pulled them along to the dining table where they'd set up now.

After a moment they heard the happy laughs coming from the door as Amy and the Doctor had reconciled. Then, Amy spoke up, "We're about to have Christmas dinner. Joining us?"

"If it's no trouble", he agreed.

"There's a place set for you", Rory called.

"Amy insisted", Astrid added.

"But you didn't know I was coming. Why would you set me a place?", the Doctor asked as he entered the room with Amy.

"Oh, because we always do", Amy playfully shoved his shoulder, "It's Christmas, you moron."

"Come on", Rory waved him over as Amy and him sat down.

The Oracle walked past him with a fresh bottle of wine in her hand. She put the other on his shoulder with a smile when she noticed his teary eyes. He looked down at her with a watery smile and she gave it back, reaching up her hand to wipe the tear that had flown and then kissing his cheek.

"Urgh, you two are such an old, cheesy married couple", Amy rolled her eyes with a laugh.

"That is the official description actually", Astrid told her, "But can you just not do that right now? The house has been smelling of this turkey all day and I'm starving!"

They chuckled together and moved over to the table. Before sitting down, the Doctor pressed a kiss to Astrid's head, earning him a cheery smile from her before Amy cut the turkey and they all dug in.

"Thank god you weren't a carol singer", Rory told him.

"Oh yeah, Amy had a squirt gun for carol singers", Astrid laughed.

"I have the squirt gun out year round, it was originally meant for you but then Tabby opened the door first and I didn't get to", Amy rolled her eyes playfully. Everybody laughed.

The Oracle rarely spent Christmas quietly. Usually, she'd be out on some adrenaline-inducing adventure with people she'd only just met. Yet here she was, spending Christmas Eve with her family that she never would have imagined like this. And, frankly, she wouldn't have it any other way.

//This would be a nice place for the end of the series, but it's obviously not. The main-series is on hold until March now but tomorrow I will continue To Be Astrid and I hope you stick around. Love you all!!//