She heard him before she saw him, muted sobs sounding from the lower level of the control room. He'd been huddled at the base of the console, for once not fixing or fiddling, just sitting there with tears streaming from his eyes, hands pressed against his face, trying to muffle the sound of his sobs. She'd only ever seen him cry once before, and that had been disconcerting enough, but this…she didn't know how to fix this.
She slid down to the floor beside him, slipped both arms around his waist and laid her cheek against his shoulder, and simply sat. Eventually the tears and the tremors ceased, and his body was still in her arms for a while. Then he roughly scrubbed the tears from his face, still hiding behind his hands.
"I'm so sorry," he mumbled.
"For what?" she asked gently. "It was a bad day for both of us. I'd say you're entitled to a bit of looking after."
He finally removed his hands from his face, and wrapped both arms around her, pulling her in close. "It was my job to protect you - all of you - and I failed. Jenny. Strax. You. Especially you."
"Hey. Look at me."
Rather reluctantly, he did.
"Friendship is a two way street, mister. We take care of each other. If it's just you looking after us, well, that sort of reduces us to the level of pets or something. Is that how you see us? Because that's just not acceptable. I know the others would agree with me."
"No, Clara. No. Not pets, not anything of the sort. You're my Clara, and I can't let anything happen to you, not ever again."
"If I'm your Clara, then you're my Doctor. Simple as that." She helped him to stand, steadying him when he swayed a bit on his feet. "Come on, then. I think you need some proper rest." She gave him a gentle nudge towards the steps.
"Clara, why did you do it?"
"Because it was the only way to save you."
He stopped then, and caught hold of both her hands. "No, Clara. Why did you do it?"
A very gentle little smile quirked her lips. "Does it need saying?"