They made their way up the last set of steps laughing, Clara just behind the toddler she'd set down only moments ago. The little girl with the flowery dress and leggings bent forward and reached for each upcoming incline with a giggle before she lifted herself onto it, passing glances back at her mother for approval and Clara obliged. With a wide smile, brow high, and her hands clapping, but ready to catch the girl if she fell, Clara cheered Ella on until they were on their landing.

"Oh, that's my big girl," Clara called happily.

She adjusted the grocery bags on her left arm as the baby girl stomped each foot in place, squealing with glee before lifting her arms up as Clara dipped down to pick her up. They walked towards her apartment with a shared song Clara sang while Ella hummed and mumbled along with and when she pushed through the front door, she sighed with relief, locking the door behind her to put the girl down in her playpen so she could set their groceries in the kitchen.

It was a normal Thursday afternoon and Clara knew the routine ahead of her: fix dinner for them, struggle to get the girl to eat all of her food, give her a quick bath before settling down in her bed to read to her until she fell asleep. Once she was in her crib, Clara could concentrate on school work – the grading of papers, preparing for the next day's class, worrying about covering rent and child care expenses. And all the while she'd be listening for the whirring of the Tardis landing on the lawn behind her building.

She knew it wasn't often he missed an evening. Sometimes she thought he enjoyed getting mashed peas spit at him, or splashing the bathroom with soapy water while the girl laughed at him, and she knew he loved to cradle her in his arms as he strolled along the hallway telling her grand tales of Ice Warriors and Weeping Angels so Clara could get her work done. The Doctor knew playing daddy allowed him to play with mummy and, with a smile easing onto her tired lips, she knew she wouldn't mind it this evening as well.

"Mummy," she heard as she pulled out a tray of frozen chicken fingers out and preset the oven before rummaging through the fridge for leftover broccoli for herself and a small plastic tub of carrot slices for Ella. "Mummy!"

"Yes, sweetheart," she called back, settling the items down on the counter and listening.

Sometimes she missed the sound of the Tardis playing around the clock. She'd gotten used to it, living aboard it for almost a year, and knowing how different it was to the real world made long pauses in sound like this one all the more worrisome.

"Ella?" Clara questioned. She waited a moment more before rushing out from the kitchen and across the small hall to the living room where she found the girl glaring down at a photograph. "Ella?"

She beamed up at her, eyes disappearing as she shouted, "Daddy," waving the photo of the Doctor up into the air before bringing it back down into her lap to grip tightly.

With a relieved sigh, Clara moved towards the crib and bent slightly, pushing her hair behind her ears to peer down at the photo to tell her, "Yes, Ella, that's daddy."

"Where's daddy?" Ella asked quietly, head coming up to look around. "Daddy busy?"

Clara straightened with a glance towards the window, "I suppose daddy is busy tonight."

"Mummy," the girl began quietly, "I love daddy."

She smiled and nodded, "I know you do; you love your daddy very much." Clara knelt next to the playpen, watching Ella push off the thin matt to grip the edges to smile at her, tilting her head slightly as Clara told her, "And daddy loves you more than anything, baby girl."

Ella chuckled, then hung back slightly and asked, "Mummy?"

"Yes, Ella," Clara responded with a nod.

"Daddy loves mummy," Ella told her simply, a small shy grin tugging her lips up before she chuckled and dropped herself back to find the photo.

Pressing her hands into her lap, Clara laughed lightly to herself as she repeated, "Yes, Ella, daddy loves mummy."

She found her cheeks warming at the thought, because Clara was sure her words were true, but he'd never said them aloud and she imagined the man would flounder if put on the spot. Standing slowly, she listened to the beeping of the oven in the kitchen before the girl called to her again. Clara turned and looked into the playpen, seeing the girl lying on her back, photo held between her chubby fists and she looked between the photo and Clara with a sort of curiosity.

"Mummy loves daddy?" Ella asked.

Reaching forward, Clara smiled down at her and she nodded, telling her brightly, "Mummy loves daddy very much."

"How much?" Ella prompted, arms coming apart to slap at the matt on either side of her before giggling at the sound she'd made.

Clara watched the girl smiling up at her and she poked her belly, listening to her squeal before asking, "How much does mummy love Ella?"

"A lot a lot," the girl told her with a set of nods, "'Finity a lot," she sang, repeating words Clara had told her many times before.

With a small sigh and a nuzzle of her knuckle to the soft skin of her daughter's cheek, Clara told her calmly and with a half-grin as she admitted, "Mummy loves daddy infinity a lot."