Kate Stewart looked from the blonde girl to the brunette and back again. She knew who they both were, of course, UNIT kept extensive files on the Doctor and his companions, not nearly as extensive as the private records she'd inherited from her father and expanded upon herself, but then, that was no one's business but her own. Still she'd never expected to see them both in the same place at the same time.
"How very extraordinary," she said softly.
"You get used to these things, travelin' with him," the blonde replied, grinning. Her eyes flashed gold for the briefest instant.
"You're the Bad Wolf," Clara said, wonderingly. "You're his Rose."
"And you're his Impossible Girl."
"Excuse me, but how can you two possibly know one another?" Kate asked curiously. She felt rather superfluous, as the two younger women stared intently at one another.
"You healed his hearts, after the Time War…after, well, all of this," Clara said quietly. "He wouldn't be the man I know today, if he'd never met you. I think I owe you, big time."
"You introduced him to the TARDIS in the first place. If it wasn't for you, I'd never have met him," Rose replied. "I'd say we're even."
"Isn't that rather a paradox?" Kate asked worriedly.
"Isn't this whole day?" Clara answered.
"Point taken."
"Are you OK with this?" Clara asked Rose. "With him and me…?"
"It's fine, really. He needs someone…he's rubbish on his own, always has been, and, if it can't be me, well…I guess...I'm just glad he found you."
"I think I'm really rather envious of you both," Kate said softly. "I grew up on my father's stories, but I've only ever met the Doctor briefly. I never got to have any adventures, or go for a trip in the TARDIS. I've always rather wished I could."
A rather rusty voice spoke quietly from behind them. "Perhaps…perhaps I might be able to make that wish come true," the Doctor - the War Doctor - said. "As the young ladies were discussing, I am rubbish on my own. Perhaps you might consider staying with me, and traveling about, and , er…seeing what adventures we might find for ourselves."
He smiled tentatively and the expression did wonders for him, but it didn't quite meet his eyes. They were shadowed with old pain, and the fear of new rejection.
"I…don't quite know what to say," Kate stammered, blushing a bit.
"Say yes," Rose encouraged.
Smiling, Clara added a gentle nudge forward. "Go on."
"I think I'd like that, very much," Kate answered.
The Doctor beamed, and both Clara and Rose could see hints of the men they would come to know in that smile. Kate hugged them both tightly for a moment, then stepped forward to take the Doctor's outstretched hand.
"Tell the others I'll take good care of her."
"We know you will," Clara replied.
