A/N: This is a one-shot I wrote before the second half of season 7 started so it's sort of AU. I hope you enjoy it. =) And I don't own Doctor Who.

The Doctor could see her. Finally after many failed attempts at finding her, there she was standing just a few feet away from him. He had been yearning to see her ever since he had watched her die. He had actually missed her. A lot. Watching her die had been like watching the Ponds get taken all over again.

Which was weird because he barely knew her. He hadn't felt anything like this for anyone since Rose.

That was exactly it. He had been trying to figure out why this feeling was familiar. Now he knew. It was the same feeling he had gotten when he first met Rose. Like they were meant to be together.

For a moment the Doctor felt extremely saddened by the reminder of the loss of his Rose. It still hurt so much to think of her. He missed her more than anything else in the world.

Suddenly he was reminded of his more recent love interest.

His wife.

The Ponds' daughter.

River.

For a moment he felt guilty. Strangely, though he didn't feel guilty about fawning over another woman because it would hurt River. Actually, at the moment he was thinking about how Amy would react if she could see him right now getting caught up over someone he just met while he was still married to River.

He felt guilty because he knew that would upset her.

Still, he had spent all this time looking for the girl, he couldn't just let her slip away because of his two too-human hearts.

Slowly, shyly, he approached her. "Hello," he said and she turned around, slightly startled. When she saw who it was, though, she calmed down.

"Hello Doctor," Clara said with a smile. The Doctor stared at her somewhat in shock.

"You remember me?" He definitely did not expect that.

"Of course I do. Great kisser like you could never be forgotten." Clara said as she winked at him. He still couldn't believe that she just remembered everything. "To be fair, you were the one who forgot me last time."

"I never saw you the first time!" She just smirked as he got all worked up over this. "How do you remember everything? What's going on? How did you end up here?"

"Did you expect me to think it was all some sort of dream and you would have to remind me that it was real by snogging me or doing something romantic?" Clara giggled as the Doctor spluttered for a moment.

"Well, yeah sort of." Clara laughed even harder. "Hey don't laugh at me. It's not funny." The Doctor paused for a moment, watching the girl laugh at him. Only after a minute did he crack a smile himself. "Okay maybe it's a little funny." And suddenly, the two were laughing like they had been friends for years.

"Sorry to disappoint you Doctor," Clara said once they had both sobered up. "But I've always remembered everything, even if I didn't tell you." She paused for a moment, tapping her chin as if thinking. "I could go for a good snog, though." She smirked at him.

The Doctor cracked a smile. "You remind me a lot of an old friend of mine."

"Is that a good or bad thing?" The Doctor wasn't quite sure how or when she had gotten so close, but he was suddenly very aware of the fact that she was only inches away.

"I suppose it's a good thing. This whole obsession with snogging me, for example, works much better for you than it did for him."

"Does it really?" She whispered in quite an alluring manner.

The Doctor nodded quickly before lowering his lips to hers. It was much better this time than the first, mainly because he was ready for it this time. He was much better prepared for those little things she did with her tongue and was not frozen in shock this time so he could respond to it. This was much better than any time he had kissed River. By far.

Crap. River.

The Doctor suddenly pulled away, leaving Clara gasping for breath and wanting more. She was dismayed to find that he had a guilty look on his face.

"What's wrong?" She asked, sensing that something was off.

"I- I just miss my friends. That's all," he lied. There was no way he wanted to tell her that he was married. Although, technically that happened in an aborted timeline so it never even really happened.

He knew none of the Ponds would ever accept that excuse.

He didn't think Clara would either.

The girl in question placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and smiled at him kindly. "It's okay. How about we go back to your ship?" She seemed to stop and think for a moment. "That is, if you still want me to come."

The Doctor looked at her as if she was crazy. "Are you kidding? After that snog, you're not going anywhere." She smiled brilliantly at him and let him lead the way to his ship. He still looked somewhat guilty, or Clara supposed, sad over his friends, but he was still considerably cheery.

"Good because if you thought you were getting rid of me, you're sadly mistaken."

A/N: By the way, if you didn't get it, the friend Clara reminds him of is Captain Jack. =)