Clara darted forward and slapped at the emergency shut down switch on the console. Immediately the wild shuddering ceased. She reached forward to gently pat the time rotor. "Thanks, girl. Rest a bit why don't you?"
"Thank you, my dear," the Doctor - the new Doctor - enthused. "Splendidly well done. I'm sure I would have remembered that in a moment or two, but thank you all the same."
"Not sure we had a moment or two," Clara replied shakily.
"Nonsense. The readings showed we had a solid two point five three minutes before we collided with anything significant."
"You couldn't even see the monitor from where you were standing," Clara challenged, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Stubborn little thing aren't you?"
"Yeah," Clara snapped, "and if I wasn't so stubborn, maybe you wouldn't still be here!"
"All right, I will grant you that," he conceded, with a gracious half bow.
Clara stared at his strange, new countenance, trying to find some hint of her own Doctor. There were traces, in the manic grin, and the depths of his eyes, far too old, even for this face. Her chin wobbled slightly.
"Oh, what is it now? I'm sure I can't look all that bad."
"No, you don't. It's…you promised not to send me away again - promised - and then you did it anyway!"
He couldn't meet her eyes, looking instead at the console and pretending to fiddle with something. "You girls are all alike, you know. Silly, precious, stubborn girls…it never occurs to any of you that in all my centuries of life, I might just have learned how to look after myself. It never occurs to any of you that it might just be easier for me to keep to the task at hand if I'm not worried over the safety of the people I -"
"The people you-?"
"Care about," he mumbled.
"Do you still?" Clara whispered. "Care…about me?"
He stared at her, slack jawed. "Of course I do! How can you even ask?" He reached out to tip up her chin with gentle fingers, a new gesture, perhaps, but one that felt so very right. "My impossible girl. My Clara."
Clara smiled tremulously, then stepped forward too slide both arms around the Doctor's waist, resting her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeats.
The Doctor wrapped his arms around her, tentatively at first, then with the desperate strength she'd known before. "Thank you, Clara Oswald."
"What for?" she asked, looking up at him curiously.
"For staying with me. For not turning away or hiding. I will always remember that the first thing these eyes saw was you, looking at me, and holding out your hand to me…that I wasn't alone."
"You'll never be alone as long as I'm around."
"I rather like that idea. Well then, shall we begin?" He turned to the console and touched a control, which promptly hissed and spit sparks at him.