In to the stars – Whouffle (Clara x Eleven)

There was something about a sleeping companion that usually made the Doctor feel somewhat uncomfortable, but Clara was different. He'd never seen her asleep before, she'd usually retired to the bedroom if she knew sleep was needed, but they'd been busy talking about their recent trips and although she'd been yawning quite regularly, Clara hadn't left the room. Now she was sat on the chair behind him with her head tilted slightly to the left and her eyes were closed. Her breathing was very calm and regular, no snoring just soft breaths and she suddenly seemed smaller and more delicate, if that was even possible.

He didn't know what to do. She looked so settled, but there was no way that could be a comfortable position to sleep in. There was a decision to make, does he wake her or try and move her to her room? Both had their disadvantages and neither seemed to be the right thing to do, he didn't want to wake her and while one would definitely involve consciousness, the other had the risk to do so as well.

Clara's brown shiny hair was slowly falling in front of her face as her head dropped forward, he guessed she must have been falling further in to sleep. Still he pondered his options, not taking his eyes off her reflection in the screen in front of him.

"Oh Clara, if only you knew," he begun, turning around and looking at her directly. "It's getting harder, I mean, with you… being here. Things have been different since you appeared in my life; I mean literally you just appeared didn't you? You've always been there, but I never knew it, and then suddenly – here you are, but that's another story. Except it's not is it? Truth is that you've always been there haven't you? Always 'had my back' or whatever you kids say now a days. I don't know if that makes things harder or not, it certainly doesn't help." Walking around the console slowly, he still didn't take his eyes off the sleeping human in front of him.

"I don't mean that in a bad way, hell no. You saved me, you save us all, you practically saved Gallifrey! The thing is Clara, that you are just… too impossible, too despicably perfect. I mean, how dare you! No, that's not what I mean at all. Oh goodness, I don't even know why I'm saying all this, you're fast asleep after all, but maybe that's why I'm saying all this. I can't say it when you're awake; it's not right – never ever right. Last time I… last time I went there…" he sighed, looking down at the floor for the first time since this had all started. Right now he hated himself for how he was feeling, and he was honestly, truly scared about how this could turn out.

After around 10 minutes of silence, there was a clang on the floor. The Doctor jumped around, looking for what it could be before spotting Clara's phone on the floor, she must have dropped it. He walked over, picking it up and pausing in his crouched position, smiling at how cute her face looked asleep. As he stood up, The Doctor noticed her phone screen had come on as it dropped, and the picture on the screen was one of them she had insisted on taking on their last trip out.

"Come on just one, just the one, I promise just the one." Clara ran at him with her phone in her hand, waving it at him.

"No, no selfies…"he paused, checking for approval on having the correct word, "are not my thing. Selfies get posted on twitter. Twitter!" He turned away, laughing at her attempts to follow him round; her height was at this moment not an advantage. Eventually she stopped, and he looked around. "What? What's wrong?" She was stood in front of him with that face on, the one that always got her own way. Sometimes he didn't know why he argued in the first place.

"Just one photo, no twitter. Is it too much to ask?"

Clara got her photo. And actually, it was quite fun.

Now that photo was staring at him, they looked so happy. Clara's smile, that was something that lit up the room and… the phone screen flicked off again, and shocked him back in to his normal thought pattern. This had been going on far too long now, a decision needed to be made – to bed or not to bed (a slight chuckle was necessary for the Shakespeare reference).

20 minutes, ish, later and the Doctor was still pacing around the console. The indecision was driving him crazy; it was so unusual for him to take so long with something so simple. The biggest question was: what would Clara want? You see he'd never been in this situation before; it wasn't a situation he wanted to be in regularly, unless… no. No it was not a situation he was enjoying.

"Right, I'm going to have to do this aren't I? I'm sorry in advance if I wake you… not that you'll know… I'm going crazy aren't I? Oh let's just do this…" Walking over, he gently picked her up off the seat, making sure he had a good grip and then double checking she was still asleep. Whilst he was stood there, she turned in to him slightly; he didn't entirely know what to do. "I… right… bed."

He carried her through, not going too quickly to make the journey as smooth as possible and eventually he reached Clara's room. Once he'd determined a way to open the doors (if Clara had allowed him automatic doors life would have been much simpler) the Doctor placed Clara gently down on her bed, finding a blanket to put over her. There was a chair behind the bed, so he sat down for a moment, watching her sleep. It's possible this could be considered strange on his part, but in all honesty he couldn't leave just yet.

"You know, whatever happens to us, with us… you'll always mean the world to me. I love this, I love spending time with you and travelling with you. It almost hurts every time I drop you off, the temptation to just skip to the next time is strong, but I resist because I know you want me to. You've taken over everything and I simply don't care. When you smile, when you see something amazing, that makes everything better. Clara, my Clara…" he stood up, leaning over and gently kissing her temple. "Sleep well."

Clara came down the stairs, bouncing in to the room like a gazelle in the woods, and he smiled.

"Good sleep then?" The Doctor asked, turning back to fixing a cable that had come lose, or maybe he'd loosened it to fix it… he couldn't remember.

"Very. We going somewhere or are we floating whilst you play with your toys?" Wet hair was something that shouldn't be allowed; he forced himself to look away from her when she appeared in front of him.

"I wasn't sure if you'd want to go home? That is where we were meant to head before you dropped off last night." Continuing to focus on his cable, Clara moved away to sit down in the seat she'd fallen asleep in the night before.

"So you still call it last night then? Sometimes I get confused about that. Anyway, might as well go somewhere now right? I don't think I fancy home just yet, let's investigate somewhere new! Come on Doctor..." He wasn't really going to complain and she knew it.

"Alright then! Let's go." The Doctor jumped up from his seat and started sorting a destination. Clara came over to join him, smiling and looking at what he was doing.

"Thanks, for last night." A short pause followed before he continued pressing buttons and sending them flying off to somewhere new, he didn't know what to say.

"No problem… it didn't look comfortable over there." Clara nodded but took his hand.

"I didn't mean that." He looked at her, they both knew, but neither would say it and they both knew that too. "I woke when you picked me up…"

"Oh."

"Yeah."

They exchanged a look, a wonderful and beautiful look.

"Does this change things? I can still take you home…" he asked, they were still keeping eye contact.

"No, no it certainly doesn't. It makes things a whole lot better." And there was a smile, a knowing smile. They landed at that moment. "So let's go shall we?"

"In to the stars…"

I don't know how I feel about this, it didn't turn out how I first expected… but here you are anyway! Enjoy.