"We need a vacation," declared the Doctor. He leaned on the TARDIS console in the way he did when he was acting especially Doctor-ish. Clara mimicked his lean and regarded his boyish smirk with a girlish smirk of her own.

"Oh?"

"Yes we do, and I know just the place." He began to dance around the console, flipping switches and turning knobs, performing a spin every now and again just to spice things up. Clara couldn't bite back her laughter any longer. She loved watching him when he got like this. He was so…lively. So happy, even though she knew in his many, many years, he'd seen so much sadness. How was he able to exonerate life and joy the way he did when Clara knew behind those ancient eyes, there was more sorrow than she could ever begin to comprehend. "Have you been to the planet Compedibus Obstrictus before, Clara? No, of course you haven't. They have beautiful sunsets there. Well, the name of the planet actually means beautiful sunset in Latin which is strange because I'm sure whoever named that planet wouldn't even know Latin…"

Clara let him ramble because she knew once he got started he wouldn't be stopping anytime soon. Instead of listening to him go on about some nebula in some solar system somewhere, she thought about sunsets and thinking about sunsets made her think about Earth and thinking about Earth made her inexplicably homesick. She felt her smile travel downward. She was soon staring at a red blinking light on the console with an expression very close to a frown.

"Clara?" She jerked her head up at the sound of his worried tone. Her immediate thought was that something had gone wrong in their travel, since it seemed something always went wrong, but when she met his worried gaze, she realized the worry was directed at her. She forced one of those appropriate smiles and shook her head. "What's wrong? We…don't have to go to Compedibus Obstrictus if you don't want. I just thought…"

"No!" She breathed a laugh in spite of herself. "No, Doctor that sounds absolutely brilliant. I don't know what got into me just then. A bit of homesickness maybe." The Doctor looked awkward for all of about fifteen seconds until he smiled and held up a finger to silently say: hold on a sec, and disappeared somewhere into the TARDIS.

Clara couldn't even begin to fathom what he could be up to. But just when she was starting to get some truly bizarre scenarios in her brain about what he could be doing, he came bounding back into the control room holding a little black ring box. Her breath caught.

"What's that?" she asked. She couldn't tell if she was eyeing the box as if it was poisonous or as if it was made of gold.

"This?" He looked at the box with mock surprise, pretending as though it had just materialized in his hand. "This is a little present. I don't exactly think it helps with homesickness all that much but…well." He thrust the little velvet box before him, the most adorable and goofy grin spread across his face.

Clara smiled with sincerity. It didn't matter what was in that box. She was already cheered up quite a bit. She reached out and took the little thing. It felt weightless in her palm. She opened it up and inside a simple silver bracelet sparked a wink at her. It was beautiful and simple and made her heart swell. Why did the Doctor have such a beautiful thing just lying around the TARDIS? She looked at him, a sly smile creeping onto her lips.

"Thank you, Doctor. This is…beautiful. But…why are you giving it to me?"

"Because you looked sad." His voice held that low, slow quality it did every so often. "And we all know about my weak spot for sad people." He smiled and Clara pounced into a hug. The Doctor stiffened in surprise but returned the hug all the same.

When she decided to release him, she looked at her new bracelet and slipped it onto her wrist. It fit like it had been made just for her and when she lifted it to the light, it seemed to spark and glint with personality. "Thank you so much, Doctor." But the Doctor had slipped away and was now hauling two beach chairs out through the TARDIS doors. "What are you doing?"

"Well, were not going to sit on the ground while we watch our sunset, are we?" He looked utterly appalled at even the consideration. "Come along. We don't have all day. Well, we actually have longer than normal since days are longer here. We get at least three hours of sunset here. I promise you it will be breathtaking."

Clara smiled and followed him outside the TARDIS.

The ground she stepped onto was not what she had been expecting. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting but it certainly wasn't this. Her foot sank into the warm peach colored sand of a beach. She could hear the sound of crashing waves and could smell a distinct, yet alien smell of salty sea brine. She looked out into the distance and her breath caught in her throat.

Absolutely breathtaking. The sky was positively brimming with pink, yellow, orange and red clouds. The sun was a glowing yellow orb on the horizon and the ocean stretched out far beyond the eye could see. She let a breathed 'oh' escape her lips.

"Clara!" The Doctor's voice carried from a little ways away and she found him lounging in one of the white beach chairs that he'd hauled out there. She ran over to him, sand sinking uncomfortably into her sandals. Once she sat down, she ripped the infernal things off. "What do you think?" asked the Doctor, a self-satisfied awe coloring his voice.

"Oh, it's beautiful. And the sand's still warm. I can't believe things like this actually exist."

"Of course they exist!"

"Doctor, this is an alien beach!"

"I know!"

They laughed together as Clara danced around, kicking up the foreign sand. Finally after a while, she sat back down and looked out into the glorious sky. Alien bird-like creatures flapped about in the distance.

Clara looked over when she sensed stirring from the Doctor. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I must have a look around, haven't I?" He was already up and about, flinging his sonic screwdriver this way and that. Clara always wondered how he actually got readings from the thing.

"But, it's just a beach isn't it?"

"Shh…"

"Now, hold on a second, I–"

"Shh…"

"Enough with the shushing!"

"Clara! Shush! I'm getting a very strange…oh…my…"

Clara followed his line of vision, just about to tell him to stop being ridiculous when she saw what he was seeing. A girl running up the beach who looked very much so like…

"Doctor…why am I over there?" asked Clara as she witnessed herself, in the same red sundress, running over to her and the Doctor. Eventually, Clara number two reached the real Clara and the Doctor and stood in front of them, very much so out of breath.

"Clara!" Clara number two said. "Very soon something very bad will happen to the Doctor. And he'll need your help.

They stood staring at each other for a good thirty seconds before the Doctor shifted and coughed. "Well…" he began, "this is awkward."