Clara sat in front of her mirror, idly pulling a brush through her hair. A shower and some tea hadn't quite soothed her enough for sleep, even though her body screamed for rest. As had become a habit of late, her thoughts drifted to the Doctor.
He took the kids on a trip in the TARDIS. She suspected he could have found some way to wriggle out of it, but he didn't. He planned an outing to the most wonderful place he could think of. It wasn't his fault that things went slightly - OK, catastrophically - askew. And he did get them all safely home again.
He said she wasn't pretty, but he looked a bit green at the gills when someone else called her beautiful. Did he really think she'd accept a proposal from someone she'd only just met? Even if he was an emperor? Wait…she had run away with a spaceman she'd only just met. Clara winced and sank her head into her hands.
Why did he have to be so complicated and irritating and…wonderful?
It was very sweet of him to replace Angie's phone, especially when she'd been so horrid and teenager-y for most of the day. And he still didn't bother to correct Artie when he called him her boyfriend.
What did that phrase mean, the impossible girl? And why… Why was she hearing the TARDIS materializing at this hour?
Clara hurriedly slid a cardigan over her nightgown and padded down the stairs to open the door before he could ring the bell or knock or do some other daft thing that would wake the whole house. Sure enough, he was right there on the mat, fist poised to pound on the door, with a manic grin plastered on his face.
"Shush!" she warned, finger on her lips.
"Clara -" He gently grasped her arms and drew her out into the garden.
"Will you keep your voice down?" she hissed, quietly pulling the door shut behind her. "What are you doing here at this hour?"
"Clara, I came back because I had to tell you…you are pretty. Very pretty. And you're not too short, you're just exactly the right height for hugging." He demonstrated by wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in tight against his chest. "And well, you are rather bossy…sorry, no way round that one. But your nose is perfect." And he dropped a light kiss on the end of her nose to prove it.
Clara looked up at the Doctor and dissolved into helpless giggles. "And you just had to come here and risk waking the entire neighborhood at this hour to tell me that?"
"Well, yes…and to thank you."
"What for?" she asked curiously.
The manic, sugar-rush edge dropped from his voice, and his eyes grew very tender as he gazed down at her. "For not getting yourself killed today. For not letting them blow up the planet." 'For not marrying the emperor,' he added silently.
Clara stared into his eyes, and wondered what he was thinking in that silent instant.
He smiled then, and stroked her cheek, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Right then…'til Wednesday."
"'Til Wednesday," Clara agreed. She leaned idly back against the doorframe and smiled as she watched him wander off into the night.