Clara stayed backed against the rail long moments after the heat and flash of the Doctor's regeneration faded. She slowly dropped her hands from her face, but couldn't bring herself to open her eyes quite yet. Maybe, if she kept her eyes squeezed shut, this would all turn out to be some horrible dream, and the Doctor, her Doctor would still be there.
"Clara? Open your eyes, won't you? You have very pretty eyes, as I recall."
Different voice. Not her Doctor. And yet…there was something of him there, in the wheedling and mischief of the tone.
"Very pretty everything," he added warmly.
A frown creased Clara's features.
"Oooooohhh…that did not come out right at all, did it? Damn. Another mouth I can't control."
"I'm beginning to think that's just you," Clara replied with a shaky laugh.
"I assure you, on my honor as a gentleman, I meant no impropriety. I wouldn't want to get myself slapped. Oh, wait…you punch, don't you?"
"And don't you forget it, mister," Clara answered, smiling in spite of the tear tracks on her face and the apprehension in her heart.
The new Doctor crowed with delighted laughter. "I did it! I made you smile! Now, won't you please open your eyes?"
Clara scrunched open first one eye, and then the other, and a faced a new beginning. Their new beginning.