Chapter 10
As the Doctor began to wake, he knew at once the pain was gone. He felt warm and the aches and pains had melted away, and then as he felt relieved to know Toby had been right, his joy was dashed aside as he wondered exactly what Clara knew...
Would she be able to forgive him for keeping such a terrible secret from her?
It was about her life, and he had told her nothing...
And then he saw her there, she was beside his bed.
She was holding on to his hand and the smile she gave him as he looked into his eyes made him want to shed tears of sweet relief.
"I do know," she told him,"I know everything now."
She paused, taking in a deep breath as she composed herself and held back on crying, instead she ran her hand over his hair and looked at him with an expression of deepest, warmest devotion.
"Maria told me everything."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."
"And that's fine."
"Really?"
"Yes, really," she promised him, "I know you put yourself in a lot of danger, at a lot of risk, just to make sure I was okay. And because of my cure, I was able to save you with a transfusion of my blood, so I'd say that makes us even now. You saved me, I saved you. And its all fine. So stop looking so worried, I love you."
Then she leaned closer and gently kissed him, and that kiss sealed a promise that everything really was going to be just fine...
The Doctor rested at the ship until morning.
Overnight, Clara had watched as he rapidly recovered, and she felt sure she was witnessing the closest she would ever get to a true miracle.
By morning, it was as if the Doctor's condition had never existed. The recovery was so rapid that it was only when she thought about how her own life had been saved that she realised two wonderful things had happened, it was just that she hadn't known about her own cure until afterwards...
It was early dawn when the Doctor and Clara said goodbye to Toby and Maria, and Clara had hugged them both and even though she had said thank you several times, it seemed as if no words would ever be enough for all they had done for both of them.
And then the Doctor and Clara stepped back into the Tardis, and as it took off, the house at the end of the street faded, and a second roar of engines was heard as the cloaked ship left earth and set off on its own journey through the time stream.
As the Tardis passed through time and space easily and the console room filled with the old familiar hum, Clara watched as the Doctor checked the controls, and as she watched him, she felt a wave of emotion wash over her.
He looked fine.
He was going to be okay.
It was just hitting home now, it really was over.
No more fear, no more looking to the future with dread and uncertainty...
She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, and she wanted to make him promise never to take such a risk with his own life again, not for her, not for anyone, because she didn't want to live in a world that didn't have him in it.
Clara wanted to say a lot of things, but instead she just watched him at the console and smiled, knowing everything was just fine.
Then as she walked over to him, the Doctor turned to her and their eyes met.
"Thanks," he said softly.
"What for?" she asked.
"For everything. For being there for me, for staying around when things got rough, for not giving up on me – and most of all I'm thankful you forgave me for hiding so much from you."
"And I told you it's fine," she promised him, "And it's over now, and we can -"
"Pick up where we left off?" he suggested, "That's a good idea, Clara...you and me and all of time and space. Just like before."
"No..."
"No?"
He fixed her with a gaze that held her and she felt awkward as she recalled all those plans they had made when he thought his time was running out.
"What do you mean, no?" he asked again.
"I was just thinking about the plans we made... you and me..."
She had spoken cautiously as she looked into his eyes.
The Doctor laughed softly.
"Oh Clara, that was then! Everything has changed, I'm okay, you're okay, we can forget about all that now! Leave it in the past!"
She tried to hide her disappointment, but he saw it in her eyes.
"Okay," she replied, "I suppose it's for the best, moving on from all we went through, getting back to normal... we didn't exactly made those plans under the best of circumstances, did we? You're right, we should forget about it."
"Right," he agreed, "Let's forget all about it, and carry on as before, just you and me."
He smiled.
She smiled too, and then she turned away from him as her smile faded and disappointment clouded her eyes, as she watched the screen as the Tardis travelled gracefully through black space punctured by more stars than she could count.
The Doctor had turned back to the console.
He glanced at Clara, saw her back was turned, and quietly walked over to her, surprising her with a kiss on the cheek as he joined her and they looked out at the darkness and the stars together.
"Yes," she said again, "You're right. We should forget about all of it – everything is okay now, it's best to forget about the things we said when everything seemed hopeless, I mean, it's okay now...so you're right, we should forget all that."
"But not this."
She turned and looked at him.
The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket, clumsily fumbled around, brought nothing out of it and then laughed as she saw a brief flash of shyness about his nervous glance.
"Sorry, wrong pocket...oh yes, here it is... We should definitely not forget about this, Clara... Actually, I've had this for a while, I just never got around to giving it to you, and I think now would be the best time to do it."
And he held out a small, velvet covered box and opened the lid.
Her eyes lit up with joy as she started to smile at the sight of the diamond ring he offered her.
"Will you marry me, Clara?" he said, and she laughed and nodded and blinked away tears of happiness, then she threw her arms around him and they embraced and kissed and that kiss lingered on as they held on and the Tardis carried them onwards, through a velvet night of stars that seemed to stretch on forever.
End