Cedrepur, a doctor who fanfic

Co-ordinates set. This should be simple enough. All he had to do was persuade Clara that she really fancied a trip back to earth in her own time zone and he could deposit her there, nip off for a few weeks and then be back before she had really even noticed. Just a hop in time. No problem.

The Doctor ran a slightly clammy hand through his hair and took a steadying breath. No problem at all. Until she bounded into the console room wearing hiking boots.

'Are you ready?' she grinned, 'I'm so looking forward to this one, I think its going to be spectacular what with the views, and the moons and the waterfalls you spoke about. And look… sensible shoes,' she pointed at her feet, 'And a sensible warm coat,' she flicked up the fur lined hood and pulled it snugly around her round face beaming at him with excited sparkling brown eyes. He felt himself quaver a touch.

'Very impressive…' he started.

'Yup I'm getting it, the preparation part of the adventures, learning from my mistakes… no wedges this time… no high heels at all,' Clara approached the console, eyed the monitor with a frown, 'That doesn't look right.'

'Last I remembered you weren't an expert on TARDIS co-ordinates,' he said.

'I'm not but I know the digits for earth and those aren't them,' she jabbed a finger at an accusatory double 'eight.' 'The Juknip Mountains aren't on earth Doctor.'

'Umm… no…'

'Doctor?' she eyed him from inside her fur hood, her voice dipping.

'Well the thing is,' he shuffled back a step, 'We've been pretty busy lately, adventuring, exploring…'

'Yes…' she took a step forward.

'And I remembered how important keeping in touch with your family and friends always was to you…' he continued unconvincingly. Clara looked at him in disbelieving curiosity. 'So I thought maybe you'd like a quick trip home, catch up with a few people, have a break…' he hurried and flashed her an uncomfortable smile. Clara's expression changed from disbelief to suspicion.

'What are you up to?' she said confirming his interpretation of her expression.

'Nothing… really… just trying to take into account your… um….' He searched for the right words, something that would disarm her completely and derail her suspicion entirely, 'Your… human needs… yes I've never been very adept at considering those so I'd like to… demonstrate that I can understand your need to go home now and then and see the people you care about…' he finished hopefully. The Doctor took a deep breath, looked at Clara nervously.

She eyed him, then glanced at the monitor again. 'You are giving me 'time off' to see people?'

'Sort of…?' he tried.

Big brown eyes back on him. She was considering his motive. For a few seconds they stared at one another and then her expression changed.

'You really are making the effort aren't you? To understand my 'human needs'' she smiled, 'come here!' Clara opened her arms and he felt a small jolt of panic, sidled round the console. 'Oh come on, just a little hug?'

'No need… didn't do anything particularly deserving of it,' he stalled.

Clara sighed, 'You don't need to deserve it, I just… Ok never mind we're working on that…. But thank you, for offering to take me home for a while, it's been a few weeks you're right, that was really considerate of you. We'll make you socially acceptable yet.'

He winced but at the same time felt himself breathe an odd sigh of relief. Now just to pull the levers, get her home and then he could do… the thing he needed to do. He reached for the lever.

Clara's hand wrapped round his wrist and stopped him.

'Let's go see the mountains first,' she smiled.

'No, really I…'

'But you've been looking forward to it, been talking about them for weeks, come on, one more little trip then I'll go home and see dad.'

'I insist Clara, your family must come first…'

She blinked. Had he gone too far, so far he was unconvincing?

'No Doctor, I insist, mountains then earth,' she looked at the screen, 'Go on, put the right co-ordinates in…'

He hesitated.

'Please Doctor,' Clara glanced back up at him and there it was. The thing he dreaded. The look with the eyes and the dimples. The one he was powerless against, particularly at the moment.

One little trip. One brief little trip. He checked the Gallifreyan symbols on the screen, the markers of his own timeline, could he squeeze it in? He had a day or so before things got really difficult and he hated letting Clara down. He'd been promising her for weeks just like she said and she'd gone to all the effort, the coat, the boots, a little bag of supplies. Probably packed a picnic. Oh Gods… if he said no to her she'd be disappointed and he'd feel guilty and… he shut his eyes, felt the rhythm of his heartbeats and felt that clamminess on his palms again. A day, two at most to go. Right, okay yes, he could do this, a quick trip, just park closer to the mountains than he had intended, see the sights, a reduced number of them, then straight to earth. He opened his eyes again.

'Fine, if you're sure…' he checked with her. Please change your mind Clara.

'I'm sure,' she said smiling and his hearts sank.

He punched some buttons.

XXXXXXX

She was at least a hundred yards ahead of him, positively skipping up the mountainside in her climbing gear while he lingered behind. Lingered for two reasons despite his desire to get the trip over with quickly. Firstly his increased heartrate could do with not increasing any further or it would have… other effects, and secondly he was concerned Clara's presence might interfere with some of the symptoms he was beginning to experience.

Symptoms he'd been trying to ignore with relative success for the last three days. Symptoms he was certain wouldn't be quite so pronounced already. Maybe he was imagining that. Maybe if he was on his own he wouldn't be so paranoid about it being obvious. He navigated around a rock and followed the make shift trail through the purple flowers on the mountainside. He ached.

'Come on!' Clara called, 'What's wrong with you today, you're so slow, normally it's me lagging behind.'

He should say something in return, possible a quip about her tiny legs, but he didn't have the energy. In truth he was feeling oddly washed out. Above him Clara had stopped and was standing gazing down at him, hands on hips.

'Don't wait for me, Clara, go on up.'

'Don't wander off, you said,' she called.

Great she chooses now to obey his instructions.

'I give you my permission,' he said.

Clara laughed, 'Nope, if you are making the effort, I'm making the effort. How many times have you told me to stay in sight and I've disappeared off. Not today. I'm behaving, now come on hurry up the view from here is incredible…'

'I know I've seen it before…' he huffed up the increasingly steep rockface, the terrain changing from purple flowered meadowland to a rougher colder landscape. He felt the temperature drop a little and was grateful for a cooling breeze. He didn't feel right; he could feel the sweat gathering under his coat, his core temperature rising uncomfortably. No mistaking that. He was going to have to make this quick. At last he reached Clara's side.

'Look!' she pointed, 'Just look at that sky.'

Half leaning on his knees he looked, happy that she appeared entranced and that he could have a rest. The sky was impressive and much as he remembered it, greens and purples deepening into midnight blues where the horizon met the land. Layers of coloured cloud formations streaking back and forth like strokes from a delicate brush; the dark silhouettes of airborne creatures passing over the rainbow effect of the sunset. Clara turned and looked at him, all the colours of the planet in her eyes and he felt his stomach leap. Gods she was beautiful.

'Well worth the hike, thank you,' she said and gave him a world melting expression that went straight to his hearts. Did she even know she could do that? What was that anyway? He wished he was better at reading humans.

'I'm glad you think so…' he replied.

He felt her take his hand, turn back to watch the sun vanishing slowly. They'd made it. In a few more minutes the sun would be down and they'd start the easier downhill journey back to the TARDIS. His stomach lurched again and he felt a familiar sensation shoot down through his abdomen. Just in time.

'So where are we camping?' Clara asked.

'What?' the panic in his voice drew her gaze back to him.

'Camping? You said the moons here do that intertwining orbit thingy… like a dance you said…'

Oh so he had.

'Yes… um… well its not a great time of year to see that… I must have misprogrammed the co-ordinates… you know what I'm like…'

Clara raised her eyebrows 'I do but you don't usually admit to it.' Her hand was making his tingle.

'Well as I said, bad time of year. We'll come back another time...' he let go of her hand and took a few steps downhill. 'We'd better get back… Clara…'

'Hang on a minute!' Clara folded her arms and he watched her body language tense. 'I have not lugged this bag up here for nothing!' she said gesturing to her rucksack, 'You said camping. I was excited about camping. I'm still excited about camping.'

'Clara…'

'We're camping,' she spun and eyed the rockface in the gathering gloom, 'In there,' she pointed to a dry looking cave. 'Fire, marshmallows, ghost stories, camping, just the two of us.'

The Doctor stopped his descent and looked back up at her. She had determined face on. He looked down the hill at the TARDIS, a tiny dot in the shadows below. Clara raised her eyebrows expectantly at him.

'Camping,' he said doubtfully.

'Camping.'

He rubbed at his face, felt the tremor starting in his hands. 'I… I… we need to go…'

'Why?'

'Creatures….? Come out at night… never know what might happen…' his mind flailed for a reason other than his shaking limbs.

'You said this planet was safe.'

'I say that a lot though don't I?'

'Doctor what's got into you… that's the second time you've admitted you're not infallible in the last hour.'

He chewed his lip. 'Look if I'm being honest I…'

Clara cocked her head at him and waited.

'I'm… I'm not feeling too good…' he said vaguely.

Her face was immediately one of concern and she trotted down the rockface to meet him, her hand on his arm and her brown eyes looking over him worriedly.

'What kind of not good? Are you ill? What sort of ill?'

'I um… probably nothing serious but…well I don't fancy camping out under the stars…'

'Right…' Clara considered this and appeared to accept it. 'Better off in bed.'

He felt his face flush a little and was thankful for the darkness, 'Yes,' his heartbeats were speeding up again and he could feel fresh sweat breaking out on his brow. Gods she was near, very near and it gave him butterflies, even more so than usual.

'Thing is it's quite a hike back down,' she was saying, 'Long way… dark… you not feeling too good…'

'I'll manage… really…'

She looked at him doubtfully.

'We could make it quite comfortable here,' she said, 'I brought things from the TARDIS, you know futuristic camping stuff, all mod cons…'

'Yes I'm sure that's the case Clara but what if I get sicker and we need the med bay or…'

'You think it's that serious?' she looked alarmed. He felt guilty.

'No… no… I'm sure it's just a twenty four hour thing…. Or so…'

'Right…. You sure you can manage?'

'Yes, stop fussing.'

'You're the one who's too ill to stay in a warm dry cave overnight.'

Another stabbing feeling in his abdomen, this time passing further down to his legs. He felt his thighs tremble and despite himself staggered a little, suddenly grasping at Clara's arms to steady himself.

'Oh my god you are ill,' she said a little shrilly.

'Please Clara, let's just get back to the TARDIS…'

'Ok… Ok….' She hoisted the rucksack more firmly on her shoulders and turned him in the direction of the ship. It had grown very dark very quickly but his Time Lord vision could still pick her out even if it was swimming slightly with vertigo. He felt suddenly a little breathless. He just need to hold things together another hour or so, get back down this mountainside, he just had to focus.

'Doctor you're hyperventilating.'

'Don't be ridiculous.'

'No… you are…. Doctor…?'

The thunder exploded around them suddenly and at the same instant multi-coloured lightning tore through the utterly black sky illuminating thick cloud which had gathered and blocked the fabled dancing moons from view. Clara shrieked and clasped the Doctors arm which almost knocked him sideways.

'For goodness sake Clara it's just weather,' he snapped irritably, the pressing need in his body rising and feeding his annoyance. He tore his arm from her grasp, saw the hurt look in her eyes briefly.

The rain began to hammer down seconds later, no warning just a sudden downpour, soaking Clara's hair before she could lift her hood.

'When you said waterfalls I thought you meant the ones like Niagra not water falling from the sky,' Clara shouted over the noise of it.

'It's just a freak storm, it'll pass, now come on.' The Doctor took a few steps down the mountainside again.

'What? No way… just no way!' Clara admonished, 'I am not trekking back to the TARDIS in the dark, in this and neither are you, especially if you are ill.'

'It won't kill either of us!'

'No!'

'Clara I'm not leaving you here…'

'Well then you can come into the cave with me then…' and she made for the entrance, her hood pulled tight around her head in a desperate bid to hold off the enormous raindrops.

The Doctor hesitated, felt the water seeping through his jacket, cold on his fevered skin. He couldn't leave her in there all night alone, but neither could he drag her kicking and screaming to the TARDIS. He didn't have much option. But it was starting, it was definitely starting, he could feel the spasms and that semi painful sensation that so easily turned pleasurable churning at his core. He didn't know if he could hold it, his body's organs shifting without permission, his physiology altering and refusing to respond to the pleas of his mind. Throbbing, fluttering feelings criss-crossing his skin in every direction, stimulated by the rain and the breeze and by the touch of Clara's hand on his arm. If he lost control of this… it didn't bear thinking about.

A flare of light from the cave and he realised Clara was setting up the camping stove she'd packed. He cast a last glance at the TARDIS, grit his teeth against the growing discomfort and made for the cave.

XXXXXXX

'Stop pacing,' Clara looked up from her plate at him with something akin to a glare. 'Honestly you're driving me nuts, sit down.'

'I can't,' the Doctor continued his restricted back and forth pace across the wide entrance of their cave, restricted because of his height and the curve of the ceiling, meaning that in total he had all of about three yards to go before he had to turn and start over. He threw a look at the weather outside.

'You know the rain is looking…' he started.

'About as heavy as before. We're here now, shut up, eat, camp.'

'I'm not hungry.'

'You're always hungry.'

'Well I'm not right now.'

He felt her eyes on him and a re-ignition of her curiosity. 'But I brought marshmallows, for toasting, you love those. Don't you remember we had them before… I thought maybe….' She sounded sad.

'Not. Hungry.'

He turned on the spot again and paced back across her eye line.

'But you've not touched anything, you've not even had anything to drink.' A spasm in his lower abdomen caused him to wince despite himself and he drew a sharp breath, pressed his palm to his stomach. Clara's eyebrows shot up.

'Oh…' she said shortly, 'Ohhh, have you… is your stomach a bit…?'

'What?' he scowled at her puzzled.

'You know… a bit dicky? Do you need to… go outside…?'

'Go outside? What are you talking about?'

'Go outside, behind a bush outside? Is it that sort of ill?' Clara asked, 'You know?'

The penny dropped with him. 'No! No! Clara I do not need to go outside, I'm not a dog.'

'Ok… just thought I'd ask, you might have been too embarrassed to say. Didn't want you feeling all cramped up and uncomfortable.'

The Doctor growled and went back to his pacing, his thoughts now on the possibility of going outside. Maybe he should just say his stomach was upset and disappear for a few minutes. It might help, might offer some level of relief. He dabbed at his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket. No, he knew it wouldn't. It didn't work that way, in fact it often made it worse when it was during this part of the Cedrepur and then when he could deposit Clara back on earth he'd be left with even worse symptoms for even longer. Oh he'd forgotten how bad this could be. Was it always this bad? Wait no it wasn't. It was supposed to get easier the more regenerations a Time Lord had behind him. He was on his twelfth, he should barely notice the effects, so why was he struggling with it so badly, so early on? He was only a few days in?

Clara's voice cut through his thoughts again.

'You really don't look very well,' she was saying, 'You're kind of… sweaty.'

'Yes, thank you I had noticed'

'Why don't you take your jacket off you look like you're melting.'

'I'm fine.'

She stood up, approached him and he backed against the cold cave wall, oddly pleasant and unpleasant in equal measure, trapped by Clara's body in front of him. She raised a hand to his cheek.

'Oh my goodness you are burning,' she gaped at him, 'You really are ill aren't you?'

'I am not ill,' he grumbled.

'You're ill,' she grabbed his hand, 'come and sit down and take that off.' Before he could protest he was propelled to the stoveside where Clara had arranged her futuristic camping equipment. It included cushions and groundsheets and blankets and half a dozen other things which packed into tiny compartments for ease of transport but which inflated to full size at the touch of a lever. He looked at the candles and the chocolate fondu set. Fondu set? What in the heavens did she need that for? Roughly Clara pulled his jacket down from his shoulders and stared at the white sweat stained shirt below, almost see through with perspiration. He had to admit, sitting there in the cold draft from the cave entrance, it felt quite pleasant to be a layer down.

'You should have said,' Clara accused, handing him a flask of water. 'Drink.' He took a few sips.

'I didn't think it would be this bad,'

'So you know what it is…?'

'Yes and its nothing to worry about I promise, it'll pass.'

'When?'

'Umm… well I depends… but not long honestly.' He avoided her eyes. 'Last time it was just a day or two.'

'Last time?' she echoed.

Except it was already worse than last time. He could feel the heat starting to centralise. The diffused temperature of his body congregating and moving through his dual circulatory system, the muscles in his arms and legs becoming tighter and slightly fuller, more engorged, stronger. They pulsed once, making him twitch and sending a charge of something needy deep into his body.

'Gods…' he muttered and dropped his head, ground his teeth. The charge twinged within him, driving blood further down his torso to his groin.

'What?'

'Nothing it's just… uncomfortable.' He shifted, drew one leg up and rested his arm on it, shielded his body from Clara's view.

'But it'll pass?' she asked.

'Yes… Oh!' He flinched. Oh there it was, oh he really was in the grip of it now, his cells screaming out for attention. He needed to focus, think hard about something, calculations or theories, recite poetry, anything other than let his mind engage with what his body was doing now. Anything but let the link between the telepathic part of his brain, the chemicals it was pumping out and the physiological changes he was experiencing become whole and unrestricted. But at the same time it was so tempting, at the same time he knew how good it could feel just to go with that wave and turn the discomfort into something pleasurable. It had been so long.

'No...' he whispered.

'Yes… No? Which? Doctor are you OK?'

He'd be fine, he'd be fine just don't think about it, don't think about… when had he last felt this, at the start of his last regeneration, well over a thousand years ago. A thousand years. And it had been brief, brief because that had been his eleventh and it should barely have touched him at all. So why now, that question again, why was this feeling so intense, why was his body reacting like this, he was on his twelfth.

Wait. He was on his first. The first of a whole new set given to him through the crack in time on Trenzalore. That meant….

'Oh gods…' he opened his eyes suddenly and shot to his feet grabbing his jacket. 'No… this is bad… this is bad….'

He had to get out of the cave, he was suddenly certain the temptation was going to be too great, the force of nature too powerful, he'd end up giving in and Clara… poor Clara.

'Doctor…?'

'Clara, promise me you'll stay here… promise me… I'll come back for you… I just… I have to….' He looked out into the darkness beyond the cave. 'I have to go somewhere… there's something I have to…'

He doubled over suddenly.

'Doctor!' Clara, her arms around his shoulders, holding him. She smelled of the rain and her perfume and warm soft skin.

'Clara, don't… you need to get back…'

'Don't be ridiculous, you're not going out there and I'm not letting go of you…'

'Please you don't understand,' and to his shock he felt tears firming, another clue to his disrupted body, unbalanced mind, emotions becoming volatile and unpredictable. He felt something tighten in his brain, a pulling together of telepathy and physicality, drawn tight, tight, tight until barely straining to function separately. 'I can't stay here… what if I… I might…. Ah…'

Snap.

His legs went from under him and everything was dark.

XXXXXXX

'What's a Cedrepur?' Clara's voice cut through the darkness. Cautiously the Doctor opened his eyes, took in the sight of the cave's ceiling above him, the stove to the left, a blanket over his prone body. She was sitting next to him, cross legged on a cushion with the sonic in her hand. 'Did a scan,' she said.

'I rue the day I ever taught you how to do that,' he murmured trying to sit up.

'So what is it? A virus? A bacteria? Some sort of fungus?'

'A physiological state.'

'Go on…' she pressed, pocketing the sonic. He glared at her theft. 'You'll get it back when you explain what's going on,' she said sweetly.

The Doctor sighed, leaned back on his elbows. 'It's a physiological state unique to my species although there are variants of it in others. It comes in a fairly mild form in ordinary Galifreyans, around once a year for a few days, it can be easily ignored.'

'There was no ignoring what happened to you, you blacked out for over an hour, your hearts are racing and you're all sweaty. Not to mention,' she blushed, '….other things that I won't go into right now.'

'Other things?' he said with alarm.

'Never mind, let's just say I'm a grown woman and I wasn't offended, I've seen it before just not quite like…. Just tell me more about this Cedrepur.'

He swallowed. 'As I said, ordinary Gallifreyans, not much to see, Time Lords with their enhanced anatomy and telepathy, it's a different matter. Happens less frequently, once or twice per regeneration at almost, and gets less as each regeneration passes but to begin with…. Its… um… a very powerful er…'

'Urge?' she queried.

He blushed.

'I noticed,' she said.

'Oh Gods Clara what did I do…? I'm so sorry.'

'Nothing… you did nothing… consciously… you just er… well… enhanced anatomy is a good description. Really quite enhanced actually. Noticeably enhanced even while you're still dressed.' She shifted and looked away.

'It's a side effect…' he stuttered…' the priapism…'

'Right…'

He cleared his throat and tried to regain his dignity.

'What you're basically saying is you're in heat,' Clara said.

'If I were female I would be in heat I'm….'

'In rut?'

'Technically,' he looked away again.

'Well I mean that's nothing to be ashamed of...' Clara said levelly, 'It's just a natural function isn't it, heightened by your Time Lordy ness, though I don't get why its so er… strong…. This time round if you say it's supposed to get less?'

'I wondered that too…. But this version of me, the first in a new batch of regenerations, I have a lot of … excess energy to burn…'

'Oh… suppose you were alone a long time too.'

'Um… yes….'

'So do you need me to…' Clara gestured to the cave entrance, 'Give you some alone time?'

'No!' he replied horrified, 'I do not.'

'Sure? Because I'm detecting a lot of tension and that can't be comfortable….' She glanced down his body towards where the blanket tented. He wriggled, trying to disguise his issue.

'It won't help, it's gone too far,' the Doctor stared resolutely at the ceiling, at the moss and the spiders crawling above his head. He sighed. 'I was trying to resist it but its got a grip of me now… self manipulating,' he chose the words with difficulty, 'doesn't actually help matters when it's a case of the Cedrepur. The whole point is to breed not to pleasure oneself. I can't fool my body it needs….'

'A partner?'

'Yes.'

Silence. The vague sound of Clara swallowing her anxiety and the growing discomfort around his own body. He could feel the heat gathering again, making its familiar journey up through his limbs, down his torso.

Nothing compared to the Cedrepur. Two thousand years he'd lived and for a thousand of those he'd had some pretty good, inventive and unusual sex with a range of species but nothing touched the intensity and satisfaction gained during the Cedrepur Cycle. Oh how he wished he could… he wanted to do desperately but he was stuck in a cave with his best friend and he wouldn't use her that way, he wouldn't. He had to fight it. She'd never forgive him if he made advances.

He bit hard on his lip and felt his hips twitch needily. He could still smell Clara's perfume and he could practically hear her heartbeat. An image of him drawing his tongue up her neck filled his mind suddenly. No, he wasn't thinking straight, he couldn't degrade her like that. There had to be other options.

The TARDIS. Even if he had been on the TARDIS he loathed the idea of travelling to a brothel planet and indulging that way. He'd already preprogrammed his blessed machine not to allow it, even if he begged her in desperation because he'd done that before and felt disgusted for weeks afterwards, flashbacks of a unknown mutlieyed tentacled lover haunting his nightmares. The twitch in his hips became a ripple of motion up his body and he longed just to reach down for a moment, give himself something of the lightest touch. He wished he could trigger release.

Gods he would probably black out again at this rate, the rising desire becoming too strong and too desperate.

'Are you Ok?' He realised Clara had seen the twitch of his chest muscles and probably more. 'Is it happening again?'

'Yes…. Look its fine… This trip isn't what I intended but I'll just have to ride this out….' Another image, buried hilt deep in Clara's body. That wasn't what he had meant but his mind was dragging him to more and more base interpretations.

'Wait a minute is this why you were trying to drop me at home?' Clara said suddenly jolting him from the picture. 'Oh my God were you….? And her eyes spontaneously filled with tears.

'Was I what? Clara? What's wrong?'

'You were going to just drop me off and then go and… find someone. You're that desperate!'

'No!' He blushed deeply, 'Clara I…'

'How could you?'

'Clara I don't understand why you're upset, I just didn't want you to know… I didn't know how to…'

She glared at him through her tears. 'You were going to drop me off, fly to some planet and sleep with someone to satisfy your… your rutting urges!' she accused.

'No I wasn't!'

'What were you going to do then? Why did you want rid of me so badly?'

'I…' his body pulsed again making thought difficult. 'I was worried,' he managed, 'About what you'd think.'

'About what I'd think?'

'Well it's a bit… odd isn't it?'

'You're always odd you're an alien!'

Another spasm and he groaned deeply, moisture in his underwear and the material rubbing against him. Oh Gods the tension was climbing at such a rate, his hearts were absolutely pounding. Without thinking he laid one hand over himself above the blanket and pushed down in a half hearted attempt to stall his need which only inflamed his desire.

'Clara I'm hardly going to run off and find someone,' he ground out.

'Aren't you?'

'Well I'm the last of my kind it makes it rather difficult to find a partner,' he snapped.

'Well maybe you should be looking a bit closer to home,' she snapped back. The Doctor stared at her and Clara's face flushed. Oh. 'You could have just told me,' she said quietly, 'If you were you know… struggling… if you needed I don't know… help.' She looked at him meaningfully.

He opened his mouth briefly, shut it again, looked back at her. His brain couldn't unravel what she was saying, not when he was clinging barely to self control as it was. Did she want him or did he just wish that she did so that he could…?

Clara waited, her features becoming increasingly unsteady. 'Oh god… I thought we… since Christmas… I thoughts that's where we were heading but you don't want to, do you. … with me? '

'You mean you do?' the Doctor asked helplessly.

Clara looked at him in disbelief for not the first time that day. 'You are utterly clueless aren't you?'

'You… You'd…?'

'Yes!'

'Do you think that's wise?' he queried.

Clara's nervous embarrassment had reached a new level of frustration. 'Do I think it's…? You tell me! I don't know if it's even possible do I?! I know you said it had to be with a partner but I don't know if we're compatible…I mean I think we have the right parts…'

'Um… yes…. But really it's the telepathic side that's the important bit. The couple have to form a link during coitus which in turn stimulates the dopamine receptors in very specific parts of the brain, more developed in mine than yours, and that releases a particular pheromone which allows the Cedrepur to conclude in a more pleasurable way than if its left to just straggle on unful…'

'Doctor shut up are we able to do this or not?' Clara interrupted.

'There's no technical reason why it wouldn't work…' he stopped rambling and tried to slow down his breathing.

'Fine.'

'Fine?' he watched as Clara stood and went to rummage in her rucksack, extracting a little box about three by three inches.

'I brought this for camping but it'll work for this too….' She said and pushed at an indent on the top. The mattress exploded into the cave, knocking over everything else in its path. Clara stood over it while the Doctor crawled into its centre in only his trousers and still damp shirt. He looked up at her, his short, curved, round faced Clara with the huge eyes and the dimples and he suddenly felt inadequate. She wanted this and now he was at the height of the Cedrepur and that meant…

'Umm…' the Doctor's mouth went dry and his shaft strained against his boxers. Gods he wanted her so badly, he was going explode if he didn't have her right that moment but maybe, maybe… 'Clara I er… I don't think I can…'

She looked at him sharply, 'Don't think you can what?' she queried with alarm. The Doctor licked his lips slightly as he failed to stop his eyes wandering down her body. 'Control myself, I don't think I can control myself very well…'

'Oh…' Clara's concerned tone changed and she smiled at him, 'Well… um… don't then… just… do your thing…'

He almost didn't recognise the sound he let out when she said that, when he pulled her body down onto the space mattress and opened her coat, her sensible coat with the furry lining, soft to the touch inside, warm. He pushed it off her quickly while his mouth covered hers and crawled on top of her, tongue against hers, hands working under a sweater, to unclasp jeans, he thanked the Gods she'd already removed her formidable boots and pulled the fabric from her skin. Oh Clara, Clara, the unreal sight and touch and smell of her, the press of her flesh on his mouth as he suck and nipped her neck, her breasts.

He had wanted this for so long, long before the Cedrepur had heightened the desire and he felt like part of him was dreaming. He couldn't delay it, he had to be inside her, he was aching and hard and swollen and already leaking against her body, his breath coming fast and ragged and his hips thrusting against her desperately. Clara had hold of his shirt, removing it almost as fast as he had her clothes and then her small hands were working on his trousers and underwear, brushing against his cock so that he jumped at the contact, he gasped afraid he might come too early, the breath turning to a growl in his throat as she wrapped her fist around him and guided him to where he needed to be.

He pushed into her and she clamped down around him so hard that it was almost over right then but the Cedrepur had some advantages, brief as they might be. Their minds needed to be as connected as their bodies before he could find any true relief so with difficulty he broke their deep kiss and levered himself up on one arm, looking down into her eyes. Clara's pupils were wide ad her face flushed already.

'What is it, what's wrong?' she asked.

He didn't have breath or words to answer, instead touching her temple gently with two fingers, seeking out her permission with as much patience as he could muster, knowing the sensation would be odd and new to her human mind, anticipating having to guide her through it and not expecting the sudden collapse of her consciousness so that he fell into a sea of her thoughts, lapping against him, surrounding him. The Doctor's eyes snapped shut and he gasped. Oh it had never felt like this, so complete, so without doubt, he fell and fell and all around him something sure and safe, centring him, giving shape to the hectic desire that had been tormenting him.

'Clara…' he could feel that he was smiling, feel the other sensations in his body mounting and he wanted her to feel the equal of what she was giving to him, oblivious. So he gathered the lights he could see spinning in his mind and with a push reflected them back towards her consciousness and deep inside her with each stroke of his hips.

Now it was rushing to a conclusion and his prediction that he would lose control was about to come true, Clara grinding up into him with whispered words of encouragement as she sensed through his movement and through their connection that he was almost there. His body was shuddering with effort, oh Gods it was going to rip him apart, the power of it when it happened, it was almost close to pain and he could hear himself, the pitch of his cries altering, unable to supress them. They were rapid, desperate, keening and he felt shame, embarrassment at the level of his need.

Then Clara was holding his face, looking straight at him with such intensity it brought tears to him, speaking to him, before closing her eyes, resting her forehead against his and giving him the permission he sought. The need peaked and the Doctor let go suddenly, sure of everything between them, surer than he had ever been.

XXXXXXXX

The cave ceiling looked a lot better from this angle. That was to say he was horizontal again but somehow they had got turned around and instead of pointing towards the entrance he was now facing the back of the cave. Fewer spiders, he noted absently, more moss. Clara was half draped over him, her fingers tracing lines down the centre of his chest, pushing under the blanket and feeling to see if his side effect was cured. It wasn't.

'How long does it last?'

He raised his eyebrows. 'What?'

'The Cedrepur?'

'Oh… that I thought you meant…. Well I suppose it's the same thing. A few torturous weeks with no release if you remain unhappily uncoupled throughout.'

'And if you are coupled?'

'Anything from a few days to a month but less torturous, more… fun.'

'And this is technically your first Cedrepur so…'

'Around a month is more likely.'

He felt Clara let her hand snake further down, touch between his legs, draw patterns on his thighs. She nuzzled his chest. 'Doctor?' she asked.

'Shh…. I'm floating..' he wrapped an arm around her and tilted to the side, slipped his leg between hers already warming up for another round. 'It's been a millennium let me enjoy it.'

She giggled. 'I just wanted to say that as you were so very considerate earlier with regard to my human needs… you know… seeing my family…. Going home and so forth… well I just wanted to say that I will endeavour to be equally considerate of your needs, particularly this Cedrepur thing, because you know… that's important… it's part of your alien-ness… your alien needs…. And you know as your friend… your partner I should acknowledge those. Frequently.'

'How very understanding of you, Clara.'

He kissed her neck softly, let his tongue wander, made her moan just a little.

'I thought so…' she said.