A/N Only four days left to Deep Breath! Til then, there will probably be an update every day, because I really need to get a few more Days in before the Story–Changing Thing that will be happening in the 23rd update. Thanks to believeinangel for the review! Also, I looked back on a few of my other chapters, and I'm really sorry about their quality issues– I may do a few reuploads because of typos and stuff/ last minute changes that I didn't fully change. Disclaimer: I do not own and Double Disclaimer– the title (and part of the chapter) come from the song Captains of the Sky, which everyone should listen to and I still don't own. Read and review?

Day Six: Her Flight of Downy Dreams

Over the next few days, Clara only recieved brief text updates from Peter and David. John wasn't going to work; he was barely eating, and he didn't talk until two days after. So when she woke up at nine am to a thunderous knocking on her front door, she was extremely surprised. She pulled herself out of bed and went to the door, still in her ratty t–shirt and shorts that she had slept in. She was even more surprised to see the person who occupied the threshold.

"Hallo, then." Clara said roughly, meeting the excited green eyes before her with a cool, dark stare. "Can't say I was expecting you."

He frowned "Why not?"

"For starters, after the stunt you pulled a few days ago, I thought Peter had you on house arrest."

He jerked a thumb towards the car, which was idling in front of her house. A shadowed figure who she assumed was Peter sat in the front seat, tapping out some rhythum with his hands. When he finally spotted her looking at him, he gave a half wave. She waved back.

"Is he here just to keep tabs on you?" she questioned.

"No." John rolled his eyes. "You have to go check in with him before we leave. And call him when we're done, which I personally think is a bit much, but I'm also not entitled to an opinion. He doesn't want me doing it again."

"If you were in his place, would you?"

"...no..."

"And I didn't think you'd want to talk to me. You didn't exactly want to say anything the day you came back. Or, according to your brothers, the day after." She crossed her arms. "You've been missing work, and you played mute on a Doctor Day."

John rubbed his neck. "Yeah. I did."

"And that you looked tired, which you really do. Have you been sleeping?"

The purple circles under his eyes wrinkled as he scowled. "Of course I've been sleeping, Clara. And I didn't come here to bring all that up. I came here to apologize."

"I accept your apology." Clara paused and cocked her head at him, narrowing her eyebrows. "Out of curiosity, which part are you apologizing for? The secrets, or the lies?"

"All of the above." He sighed.

"And what about this?" Clara tossed something to him- the Dalek. His semi-cheerful almost- normal facade cracked for a moment, and the boy in a dingy hospital room resurfaced. But only for a moment; then he recovered, and he stuffed the thing into one of his pockets. Clara blinked; he was wearing a dark green coat that she had never seen him wear before. It looked nice.

"Ignore that. I came to ask you a question."

Clara tucked a stray hair behind her ear and tried to push her annoyance away. "Yeah?"

"Would you...er, I don't know..." Clara held back a laugh at his adorable stutter– could she stay mad? Yeah. She had to. But if she didn't...

"Spit it out, Chin." she teased, and he looked up, caught off guard. a bit of a genuine smile peeked through, and a flash if hope made her smile too.

"Would you like to go on an adventure? Like we did the other day. You know, just exploration adventurey day."

She pretended to think about it before breaking into a huge grin. "Oh my god yes. Just let me get an actual shirt and everything on, okay?"

"Okay." He stepped inside while she ran to her room, right past Oswin, who opened her mouth to say something. Clara beat her to it: "I'm going on another explorey thing with Joh- er, Mr. Smith. I'll be back before three and I'll have my phone on me. Good?"

She kept going without waiting for a response. Clara yanked open the door to her room and began searching for a clean shirt.

Outside, she could hear Oswin's muffled voice and John's quieter reply. Giving up on finding a clean one, Clara picked a shirt up off the floor and sniff-checked it. "All clear." she muttered, and pulled it on. There actually were a pair of pants in her closet, which she gladly took.

Clara bounced into the living room, where Oswin was sitting in awkward silence with John standing near the door. He started smiling, a real, full, genuine smile, and she smiled back. "Ready, Doctor?"

John offered his arm to her. "Only if you are, my dear Clara."

"Thanks for waiting, Chin." She reached up instinctually and straighened his purple bowtie, which she was very much pleased to see again.

"Oh, it was a pleasure."

"Please just get to the part where you skip romantically out the door because I cannot handle the level of fluff that is filling this room." Oswin gagged.

"Skipping sounds good." Clara mused.

"Let's."

And so, our two heroes skipped out the door.

"Where are we off to this time?"

"Anywhere!" John shouted. "WE ARE CAPTAINS OF THE SKY!"

"Yeah, but...Earthbound ones." Clara observed.

He made a noise. "Stop killing my dreams. Gosh."

He sounded so...normal. Just like he did before the incident.

"Okay, okay." She relented. "But where are we going? Trenzalore again?"

Her sharp tone was lost on him, or he was just remarkably good at acting oblivious. "Nah. Trenzalore's boring. Tell me, Clara, where's the fun in going places you've already been?"

"Sometimes it's not so bad..." Clara trailed off.

"When?"

"What if you're returning to a place, and it has changed a lot? Then it would be like exploring something totally new, a whole new world to be in."

John shrugged, which is rather hard to do while skipping, but somehow he managed it. "I wouldn't know." he said. "I've never actually been out of Neptune Creek."

"Is that why you..." she trailed off as he nodded.

"Yeah. That's why I." He rolled his eyes. "You can actually say the word, Clara. You wonut summon Voldemort."

She rolled her eyes. "You ran away because you wanted to get away for a bit? Chin, you should've said!" She pushed his shoulder. "We could've gone on a trip or something."

"That was part of it."

"I'm not going to ask what the other part of it was. Why? Because I know you're not going to tell me."

He nodded silently, which is also hard while skipping.

An idea popped into her head, and she halted as it reworked itself in her brain until– yes. YES. That would work so well. She smiled up at him. "So this time, I'm taking you on the adventure."

John almost stopped. "What?"

"Yup! Clara knows how to adventure too." Clara said with a huge grin, pulling him back along the sidewalk towards her house. Peter had left after she confirmed her cell number and gave him her word that she would not assist John in doing anything that could end up like the other day.

"Where are we going?" John asked.

"You'll see." Clara smiled a bit as she replied. This was a very good surprise.

"You've got to tell me where we're going."

She turned back to him, mouth open. "Are you seriously about to get on me about not telling you stuff? Seriously?"

"Er, Never mind."

"That's what I thought. Close your eyes?"

He blinked at her. "Why?"

Clara huffed. "Try a little trust, Doctor." He huffed back, but did as she asked. She took him by the hand and led him out through the woods, weaving throught the trees.

"OW."

"I am so sorry I swear I did not see that tree there."

"Was that retribution? I sense retribution."

"You sense nothing, Chin. Now shut up."

About a minute later, he began whining. "Are we there yet?"

"Nearly."

Another minute– "What about noooow."

"Shh."

Finally they arrived. "Here." she said proudly. He opened his eyes, and a patch of light bounced off of his iris, making it glow like a pale leaf. "Oh." he said softly. Clara sat, and he came down beside her– John was wonderstruck, and she was so pleased.

"This..this is just...wow. Wow, Clara."

"The companion knows a thing or two." Clara smirked. "And now the really cool part." She twisted behind her and pointed. "See that tree?"

"Clars," John said in a patronizing tone, "There are a lot of trees over there."

She stood up and walked near the tree. "This one." She patted its trunk. "This tree marks the city boundaries of Neptune Creek. The is the outside of the city."

John stared at her for a moment before realization dawned on his face.

"I just thought of it when you told me that you'd never been out. When we were looking for you the other day, I found it." She shrugged. "Bit of a surprise."

"Thank you." he was on his feet in a flash, staring at the dirt that was the boundary. "Clara Oswald...thank you." He met her gaze. "Thank you so freaking much."

"Come on, Doctor." Clara gestured for him to come forward. He took a step, and then hesitated.

"Leaving seems so strange." John mused. "But when you think about it–"

He stepped carefully over the dirt and took her hand. Five little shivers ran through her arm, and she smiled broadly, glad to see he was doing the same.

"When you think about it, that's all it is." Now he was looking directly into her eyes. "One." They were close. "Single." He leaned in a bit. "Step."

And then his lips met hers, and the world around them burst.

It was like a thousand sparklers going off in her stomach. It was like fire, and ice, and the eye of a hurricane. His hands did that cute thing there they slid farther from her cheek and then jumped back, and she found hers looping around his neck, and the light was perfect and it felt like everything but them had ceased to exist and it was so–

He broke away. "Wrong."

She met his eyes; they were troubled, not at all the way they had been moments before. "What?"

John backed away so quickly that he stumbled a little bit over one of the tree roots that was sticking out of the ground. The dappled light flashed over his face, lightening and shading his terrified face. "This is really wrong. I'm sorry, Clara, I can't. I just can't."

"John?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I really, really should not have done that." John ran his fingers through his hair, messing up the adorable floppy bit. He was very flustered, and her heart dropped into the space where her stomach should be. Clara forced the upsetness down, masking her disappointment. How was it wrong?

For her, it had been magical.

"Chin, you're blushing," she laughed a bit, which only made him blush harder. "I'm fine with it. Let's pretend like it never happened, okay?"

He nodded fervently, which only made her laugh more.

"Rose is back in town, yes?"

"Well, there's been a significant lack of David around the house..."

"Let's take that as a yes. They're probably out on Mission Kisspossible."

John snorted.

"We can head over to the coffee shop?" Clara suggested. John gave a half smile.

"Just like the first day?"

Clara smiled. "Minus that bloody rainstorm. Captains of the sky need smooth sailing."

"Sounds like a great plan." John offered his arm to her. "Shall we be off, my captain?"

"Flutter all through the night..." she murmured as they skipped off.

"And we can pull the clouds around this paper hanger skyline," John sang.

"Summer smile again, and..." she faltered, but continued. "and you can disappear,"

"But I'd rather be here." they sang in unison. She liked the sound of his singing voice.

"Hello down there," John smiled down at her, and with the hand not clasped in his, she swatted his arm.

"The morning made of singers in the air,"

"Keeping the midnight stars held high,"

"We are captains of the sky, waving goodbye."