Sometimes being with the Doctor made you notice the little things that he did, his habits. Sometimes you notice when he mutters. There are little things that he muttered about that made no sense to Clara. Things that he probably would hold on to for his entire lives. Some mutterings Clara heard were things like, Why souffles? , Where is the red setting? , The only water in the forest is the river...What does it mean? And things that weren't questions. Come along, ponds, he'd say, his voice thick with nostalgia. Clara had a feeling that he liked roses. He sometimes would say, My pink and yellow rose. Clara didn't know he had a soft spot for flowers. Especially roses.
Sometimes, being with the Doctor made you notice the little things. But whenever Clara asked him something,
("Do you like roses?")
he'd answer in a painfully evasive way
("Yes. I do like her.")
and Clara would just frown at m
("'Her'? Don't you mean 'them'?)
Clara never gave up trying to get him to open up.
("There can't be more than one Rose.")
The Doctor was never any less stubborn about it.
After all, there were things that people would hold on to for their entire lives that no one would even blink at.
Sometimes the Doctor would mutter things. But no matter how many times he said them, Clara could only get more confused each time.
And each thing he said about roses sounded more and more like he was talking about a person.
