Finally able to maneuver his way out of his time stream, the Doctor carried Clara into the long-dead console room. It unnerved him from minute one that this dead TARDIS had the same desktop theme as his current one. How far off could his death be? Laying Clara on the floor, he pushed those thoughts from his mind. Madame Vastra and Jenny rushed forward with Strax curiously waddling up behind them.
"Is she alright?" asked Jenny.
"Give her some air, darling," said Vastra, gently pulling her back a step.
The Doctor barely heard them. He was focused only on Clara. He sat her up and held her face in his hands. "Clara?" Her eyes were screwed shut in pain. "Clara, can you tell me your full name?"
"Clara Oswin…" she breathed. "No, wait. Oswin Oswald? Clarabelle?"
"No, Clara. Open your eyes," the Doctor begged. "Look at me." She did. "You are Clara Oswald. Just Clara Oswald. Your parents are Dave and Ellie Oswald. You were born in Lancashire, England in 1989."
Clara looked hard at the Doctor. "Doctor… I remember them all." She grabbed her head "It's too much!"
"What's wrong with her?" asked Madame Vastra.
"The human brain can't hold that many lives. She's losing herself. Hold on." He slid his fingers to Clara's temples. "I haven't done this since my last regeneration."
He concentrated. Gathering up all the lives she lived, he attempted to bury them in her subconscious. It was stomach-churningly similar to when he'd buried the memories of himself in Donna's head. He tried to push that pain away, but it was sharply brought back to the surface when she cried out, "I don't want to forget!"
He looked at her pleading eyes. "Not everything," she said. "Not you. Your faces. I don't want to forget that."
His hearts nearly stopped. All of these emotions coming on the heels of what was probably the final goodbye to the ghost of his wife. Almost losing Clara, the way he felt when he held her again down there, the sight of that version of himself, and the pain in his beautiful Clara's eyes as she asked not to forget her other encounters with him. His hearts probably felt the way her head did right now. So full, so confused, and about to burst. "Alright," he whispered. "Just my other faces. I'll leave those on the surface."
He continued burying the rest of her lives deep in the back of her mind and closed the door, and she slumped, unconscious against his chest. He picked her up again and instructed Vastra, Jenny, and Strax to follow him back to the TARDIS.
Clara felt warm. Warm and safe and soft. Softness surrounded her. And that smell… musty old books, tweed, and just the lightest touch of honey. The Doctor. She smiled and slowly opened her eyes. She realized she was being held lightly against the Doctor's chest. He was in his shirtsleeves and they were lying on a bed. She looked up at the Doctor to see he was awake and smiling warmly at her.
"Hey, sleepyhead," he said softly.
"Hi." She looked around. "Where are we?"
"The bedroom."
Clara blushed. "What, your bedroom?"
"No," he chuckled.
"Well it's not mine," she said. "I don't have a bedroom on the TARDIS. I always go home."
"I know," the Doctor said. It still hurt him that she didn't yet think of the TARDIS as home. "It's The Bed Room," he explained. "This room is nothing but a giant bed with walls. Look around."
Clara sat up to get a better look. He was right. The room was an immense wall to wall mattress with a blue shimmering cover, but the walls… "Oh my stars." And that's what they were, quite literally. They weren't walls at all, it was a huge glass dome looking out on space. Trillions of stars and a blue gas giant that might have been Neptune giving them light.
"Pretty cool, huh?" he said, holding her wrist gently as if to urge her to lie back down with him. So she fell back into his arms, but this time looking up at the beauty above them.
"It's amazing!" She felt him kiss the top of her head and, not for the first time, felt her heart jump. "Why haven't I seen this room before?"
"Well," he said. "It's a bit… intimate. I didn't know if you felt like…snuggling."
Clara giggled. He sounded so adorable. "I can't think of anywhere I would have rather woken up."
"You're making a habit of sacrificing yourself for me," he said, half joking, but she could hear pain behind it. He held her tighter. "Please don't do it again."
She thought about it and looked at him. "I won't make a promise I don't know I can keep, Doctor. You're more important than me."
"Not to me," he said earnestly.
They held each other's eyes for a long while and again, not for the first time, Clara wanted to kiss him. She didn't. Someday she would though. Someday soon. But right now, they just stared up at the sky together, relishing in each other's closeness and falling slowing back to sleep.