"Mummy! Daddy! Lookit me!"

Clara swung higher and higher until the top metal bar of the swing set also swung with her. Her black curls swung back and her eyes closed with glee, laughing. Rose lurched forward on the dark green bench five feet from Clara. She wanted to tell her daughter not to go as high, not to lean back like that, just so she wouldn't get hurt. Her husband put a hand on her knee to calm her down.

"Let her go." He smiled, the very front bangs of his hair falling right over his eyes.

"Mummy, look!" Clara tried to swing higher, but the chains began to groan. Almost immediately the young girl dug her heels into the mulch below her to slow down.

"Are you okay, Clara?" Rose stood quickly, and her husband grabbed her hand while he stood up alongside of her. He looked to Rose, but then to his daughter who was still shakily finding her footing in the mulch.

"I'm fine, Mummy!" Clara laughed, running to her mother. She grabbed a fistful of Rose's pant leg and pulled it urgently. "D'ya think the soufflees are done yet?"

Rose laughed, detaching Clara from her and brushing her hair behind her ear. Her husband smiled, letting go of Rose's hand. He sighed and while his hands still were balled into loose fists, he appeared relaxed.

"They might be, Sweetie." Rose clutched Clara's hand; not too tight but just enough that she felt resonably sure that Clara would not be able to dart off. "Do you want to go check?"

"Yeah!" Clara grinned widely, squeezing her hand out of her mother's. She raced forward, down the hill that the playground was situated on top of. She nearly tumbled down, raced towards her house. Rose leaned forward, as if she was about to follow Clara, but her husband grabbed her hand again.

"It's okay to let her go like that, Rose Smith."

"I just don't want her to run off again!" Rose cried, keeping her eyes on Clara, as the young girl slid open their back door and walked in forgetting to take her shoes off, tracking small clomps of mud onto the kitchen tiles.

"She won't, she won't..."

Rose and her husband sped down the hill, nearly falling over each other. They began to laugh as Clara wheeled the door back open.

"They're done, Mummy! I think they're done! Come see!"

Rose opened the door completely and held it open for her husband, who walked straight in. She walked to the oven with Clara at her side, pulling open the door and looking in.

"Just perfect, sweetie. Step back for a second?"

Clara stepped back as Rose pulled the souffles out, carefully setting them on the stove. The girl reached up to grab one, but, finding it was burning hot, immediately dropped it again.

"Ouch! Mummy! That hurt!"

Clara grabed onto her left and with her right, stepping from toe to toe trying to get the pain out.

Rose's husband stepped forward and swept Clara into his arms, guiding her to the sink. He eased on the cold water and held Clara's burnt fingers under it.

"Is that any better?"

"Yeah! Thanks Daddy..."

"Just making sure my sweetheart is okay."

He kissed Clara on the forehead and she wrinkled her face, her lips curving up at the edges.

"Now lemme down - I wanna souflee!"

He laughed and set his daughter down, letting her storm up to Rose, grab a soufflee fearlessly and race off into the living room and upstairs into her bedroom. The ceiling groaned when she threw herself onto her bed.

Rose sighed, leaning back against the counter, scarily close to the still-hot stove. "What are we going to do with her?"

"Well, raise her, I suppose." The dark-haired man laughed, approaching Rose closer. He kissed her gently, and Rose blushed.

"She's just like you, you know." Rose smiled up at him, carefully grabbing a few of the soufflees from the stove and placing them in a better place to cool. "Adventurous, clever as anything."

"That makes her just like you, Rose Smith," he leaned against the counter opposite of Rose.

"Oh, you know I only travelled with you for the perks."

"The perks?"

"Being with you."

He chuckled, propping his arms straight against the counter. "So you didn't enjoy saving the world? Looking into the Time Vortex? Jack Harkness?"

"Saving the world: of course. The Time Vortex...not so much. And Jack Harkness...well...I think that's an unfair question. But, you know, no matter what, you were always there in your TARDIS with me."

"Well if I wasn't you and that TARDIS may have had a few problems here and there."

"Stuck off in the shop - just like I am now."

"You're stuck with me."

"Which is what makes this life 200% better."

He smiled, glancing to the floor.

"Are you going to tell Clara about you? Well...I mean...the other Doctor, technically."

"Yes - of course. I don't know when, but she's going to ask about my life at some point. I can't just say I was born in London and I met you during Year Eleven! I'm a Time Lord, born on Gallifrey, and I met you while saving you."

"I saved myself." Rose smirked.

"You ran!" The Doctor watched her knowingly.

"By myself."

"After I told you too."

"Yes, Doctor, I'd be just lost without you." Rose swooned, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, Rose Smith, I'm sure it's actually quite the opposite."

Rose opened her mouth to reply, but there was a thundering noise parading down the stairs and back into the kitchen.

"Mummy? Daddy? D'ya think I can make the soufflees next time?" Clara asked, rocking on her toes, watching her mother and father with wide curious eyes.

Rose looked to her husband to offer him a sorry smile. She then looked to Clara, "sure sweetie. I just have to go out to make sure we get some eggs."

"And do we have milk?" The Doctor asked, already moving towards the fridge in order to check. "No. We don't."

"Okay," Rose looked to the ceiling as she created a mental shopping list. "Milk and eggs."

The Doctor moved to actually write that down, and Clara flew back upstairs.

"I'm gonna make soufflees!" she cried, nearing her room. "Just like Mummy!"