Herbert hesitantly touched his lips to hers and this time it came with a jolt of adrenaline that made his head spin and his heart pound. He shifted back and he waited, eyes closed tightly against the possibility that Clara would simply buck him straight off of her, but she remained calmly underneath, her thumbs stroking lightly over his skin before her hands drifted down over his neck and then curled around his shoulders and he knew she could feel his body shaking.

The bed creaked lightly as Clara lifted herself up to brush her lips over his, nudging his nose with her own, and a single light moan escaped her. She desperately needed him to meet her, to let her know she hadn't gone insane, because she thought maybe Herbert was feeling the same as she had, but maybe he'd simply been confused. Maybe, she considered, it'd all been in her mind and he was just a nice guy. A regular nice guy who'd been put in an awkward situation by a pretty girl.

"Herbert," she sighed, ready to tell him if this wasn't what he wanted – if he felt led on or put off in any way, he could simply stand aside and let her disappear into her room in awkward silence – but he gently pressed his mouth to hers again, lowering with her back onto the bed with a moan of his own.

Her lips parted and his tongue moved past them, circling hers and she had to remind herself to breath as she felt his hands pulling at the sheets on either side of her head, fingers grasping tightly to keep from wandering. She writhed slightly between his legs, one knee lifting to gently nudge at him and Herbert replied with a groan, lifting his lips from hers and replacing them at her neck as she gasped.

He tasted the saltiness of her skin, already aglow in a sheen of sweat and he sucked hungrily down to her collar, feeling himself growing dizzy with the gentle strokes of her leg against him. Herbert could feel himself hardening and he lifted his head to look down at the way her eyes were closed and her breath had become ragged and he shook his head, calling her name lightly and waiting for her to peer up at him.

Hands gliding down over his chest, she found the edge of his sweater and gave it a tug and Herbert took a breath to pull it over his head, dropping it on the floor and he could feel her inching up, slipping out of the white vest and then reaching for the edge of her own shirt, pulling it off easily to leave her exposed to him. He bent slightly against the way his trousers seemed to tighten restrictively over him as Clara laid back onto the bed, inviting him back atop her.

Anxiously, he slowly ghosted his left hand over her shoulder and when she smiled, he let loose a light laugh before shaking his head and sitting up on her, bringing his hands to his thighs before groaning and admitting on a shaky voice, "I've never done this."

Nodding slowly, Clara pulled herself up to sit and she took his hand in hers, kissing it lightly as she laid her palm to his chest to feel his heart racing. With a small smile, she settled his own palm to her chest, to the quickened pulse and the trembling skin, and she pulled him back down on her with a simple, "I am as scared as you are."

"Fear shouldn't be a part of this," he whispered with a light laugh.

"Fear is a part of everything," Clara replied gently with a sad smile.

Herbert laughed again, this time nervously as he told her, "I don't want to over think it. I do that, I over think everything. How…" he began.

Clara shifted his hand to her bosom and she lifted herself to kiss him, this time without restraint, and she felt his fingers tighten, beginning to knead at her flesh, thumb flicking over her hardened nipple through her bra. She undid the buckle on his trousers and he breathed a sigh of relief when she slid the zipper down over him, and then he let out a pained gasp when she cupped her hand over him, massaging at his length as she squirmed slightly underneath him, wanting to free her legs to wrap around him; to press him into the warmth beginning to wet the space between them.

Pressing his forehead to hers, his hand left her breast to stop her tantalizing strokes and he fell over beside her, laying his hands over himself as his eyes pinched shut. As though embarrassed to be caught in such a state, she imagined.

Clara shifted and she nuzzled into his side, asking him quietly, "Are you alright?"

He coughed when she touched his arm and she could feel his body jerk as he came, could hear his feet slide up over the sheets before one pounded into the bed and she rested her cheek to his shoulder with a sigh as he whispered an apology, his voice barely a croak. It was a minute later that she realized he was softly crying and she shifted up on her elbow to look down at his reddened face, hidden behind one hand as his other remained firmly atop his pants.

He felt betrayed by his own body and he knew she was looking at him. Clara could see, he knew, his spilled seed soaking his pants as his other hand fell away and eventually she would gather her belongings and leave, and he waited to feel the cold space at his side return, but she remained. She landed a hand atop his chest and he felt her lips at his shoulder, tenderly pressing kisses into his skin as her fingers moved back and forth soothingly over his sternum, occasionally stopping to play with the few hairs that grew there.

Then she settled her chin atop his breast and nodded, whispering, "It's alright."

For a moment he thought he'd heard wrong, but then she lifted up and shifted down to hook her hands into his trousers and pants, giving them a gentle pull as he stared. "What…" he began.

"I haven't surrendered," she told him coyly before eyeing him to ask, "Have you?"

His throat closed up as he uttered, unsurely, "No."

She tugged and he lifted his backside, letting her strip him completely and he sat up, timidly covering himself and grimacing until she tossed his pants at him. He watched her a moment, until she laughed, turning around as he cleaned himself off and folded the pants carefully, dropping them to the floor. "Can I turn around now?" She questioned on a laugh and he croaked something in response that wasn't quite a word.

Clara smirked when she shifted back to look at him, pale body hunched slightly with his hands over himself and a worried look on his face and she sighed, undoing the buckle of the white bell bottoms she wore and shifting the material over her legs to discard. With a long sigh, she climbed back onto the bed and moved towards Herbert on her knees until she was at his side, hands clasped nervously in front of her. She watched as his eyes darted from hers to her knickers and she glanced down before sighing.

"Oh, that's your job," she informed him.

"Whu…" he squeaked.

"This is still war, Herbert," Clara teased, "And if you want to plant your flag in enemy territory, you're going to have to get in there on your own." She smiled, a little too proud of her silliness, and she could see his eyes dilate slightly in the dim light of his bedroom.

Herbert looked sadly to himself and groaned, "I believe you've won this war."

"Is that surrender I hear?" She questioned, hand coming to her ear before turning to whisper, "Is it… Christmas?"

He managed a laugh as he raised his head to appreciate the smug grin on her face and then he imagined how it would feel to wipe it off and his cheeks went red as his pulse began to thud in his ears again. He shifted his hands to his thighs and then lifted his right tentatively, finding her cheek and the burrowing his fingers into her hair as her eyes closed, ready for him to pull her forward to kiss. Herbert sighed, tilting his head to deepen it and his left hand rose to meet the flesh at her side, sliding his fingers over her back and tucking their tips into her kickers, scratching lightly.

She moaned in response and he inhaled, pulling her up into his lap and reveling in how she automatically clung to him, steadying herself there. For a moment he stiffened, not sure of where his hands should go or where they were allowed to go, and then he smiled into her, slipping back to caress her face again and relish the adoration in her eyes when she looked into his, studying his expressions and finding some peace in them – the way he always seemed to find it in her.

This moment, he understood, wasn't about lists or rules or safe words; this moment was about Clara and Herbert existing without those things. Existing only for each other. It was about giving in to that impossible feeling he knew they were both harboring. And the thought calmed his heart because he knew whether it was his first time or his hundredth – with Clara it would always be about that one thing. He looked her over curiously and asked, "What is it about you that makes everything ok?"

Shaking her head slightly, Clara wasn't sure how to answer the question. She wasn't even sure what the question was, except the more she thought about it, the more she knew what he meant – what was it about Herbert that made her feel safe and normal and loved? What was it about him that made this moment feel less like the stupid impulsive move that it should feel like and more like an appropriate next step in their very short relationship?

She knew it wasn't his face.

Or who that face had grafted itself on.

Clara sighed a quiet, "Herbert," and she smiled and in that instant he was on her. His grip on her tightened and she lost her breath in his kiss, burying her hands in his hair as his fingers undid the clasp of her bra and she tossed it aside, chest heaving when his mouth left hers and latched onto her neck again as he delicately searched out her breasts and awkwardly fondled them as she found a light laugh, hearing him do the same while nibbling at her ear.

She took hold of him gently and he hissed, forehead touching her shoulder while she stroked at him, building him back up until he shifted suddenly, arm around her back as he curled his legs around and dropped her onto the bed with a loud crashing creak. He laughed, looking down at her and she reached up to flick her fingers through his long bangs as his laughter tapered into a calm smile and for just a moment, they simply stared at one another.

Then his fingers landed shakily against her hips and his forefingers crooked underneath the edges of her knickers and Clara could see the worry that struck him. She raised her body slightly and watched him take a breath before pulling them down her legs and holding them in a crumpled mess against his stomach. Clara sat up and she plucked them from his hands, dropping them to the floor and then curling her hands around his neck to pull him down on her as she laid back, legs spreading to accommodate his thin frame.

He nudged at her softly and his eyes closed, brow knotting, and then he shifted back quickly, as though shocked and Clara shook her head, asking quickly, "What, what is it?"

Herbert swallowed and scratched at the back of his neck before rolling back to grab the wallet off his nightstand, digging through it carefully with a grimace on his face and Clara was tempted to laugh because she knew what he was looking for and it felt like it'd been so long since she'd been in that situation. He plucked a condom out and stared at the wrapper anxiously and she sighed, sitting up and taking it from him while splaying her fingers of her left hand over his chest with a nod.

"I don't…" he began.

"Shhh," she assured.

Opening the package, she glanced up at the curious look on his face and then she tested him with a quick once over of her right hand that bent him slightly and in that moment of distraction, she unrolled it deftly over him before settling her hands at his sides. He grinned foolishly and when he arched over her to urge her back into the bed, he growled playfully as Clara held his shoulders and laughed. A laugh that dissipated when he accidentally rubbed himself over her as he inched his body closer.

Her eyes had closed and her lips had parted and he felt he owed her an apology because he couldn't imagine any way this wasn't going to hurt her. He reached between her legs and touched his head to hers as his fingers easily slid over her, middle finger shakily testing her before he guided himself into her. His mouth opened and he exhaled with her as he shifted forward just enough to assure himself that her body would adapt to him before he pulled himself free again, chest deflating against how cold and empty he felt without her.

Slowly, he slipped back into her and he pushed further, curling his arms underneath her to hold her shoulders as he began to rock against her, listening to the small whine she greeted each thrust of his pelvis with. He kissed at her neck and each puff of her breath into his shoulder sent a new jolt of adrenaline through his body and he lifted his head as he slowed his pace, watching her. Her head rolled to the side and he could feel her fingernails scraping lightly at his sides, and then her legs wrapped around him, heels digging into his back to urge him forward.

She uttered his name and he shuddered, eyes closing against his body's sudden desire to move faster and deeper into her and he slowly closed the gap between them. Herbert laid his weight on her and he buried himself in her as she cried out. He froze there, hands wrapping around her to hug her to him as an apology, but she began to kiss at his neck, her own pelvis shifting against him with the need for him to move again, a need he filled with a gasp and a jerking of his hips.

Clara clung to him as he began to grind into her, his own guttural grunts puffing out raggedly against her shoulder and she thought her heart might explode as she tried to catch her breath. He struck at her desperately, finding and pounding away at a spot that made her eyes squeeze shut and her grip on him tighten even further and when her body released, Clara shouted unabashedly. She rested her temple against his as he continued to pump into her and she thought about how very wrong she thought this would feel, and – at the same time – how very right it actually did.

She'd just stripped Herbert of his virginity, she knew. His fragile beautiful heart was now completely in her hands and she had the absolute power to crush it and it was a position she didn't want to be in. She took a short breath with each erratic plunge he took, gasping when she came a second time, unexpectedly, and then she felt him jerk into her as he exhaled roughly against her shoulder, mouth finding her skin to lap at it as his body collapsed against her and she let loose a shuddered breath as she continued to pulse around him while he grunted, still moving forward to the point of almost being painful, and Clara gave him a gentle tap.

He lifted up immediately and she closed her eyes because the pendulum of his body's movement hit that just right spot once more and she shook with one last wave of pleasure before she slowly unclenched her legs from his back and rested her feet back against the bed. Herbert was stroking her hair softly and she smiled when he kissed at her neck and her jaw and her cheeks and her nose and for a moment she didn't want to open her eyes. She wanted to lie there, overcome with the tingling ecstasy of knowing he was resting calmly within her. Knowing this man didn't have a Tardis he could escape in.

Knowing, if she wanted, he was hers.

"Clara?"

Taking a long breath, she opened her eyes slowly to look into the worry in his and she shook her head, leaning up to peck a quick kiss to his lips before dropping back to smile at the serenity that melted into his features, knowing she was alright. Clara giggled when he shifted himself against her and raised his eyebrows proudly, grinning goofily as he asked, "Could we try that just one more time?"

Hands running slowly up his sides, she shrugged and then asked him quietly, "You do understand you can't use that condom for seconds, right?"

He frowned and she knew – it was the only one he'd had – and she gave his body a light shove, turning with him as he rolled onto his side and she smiled because his hand travelled slowly down over the curve of her waist and settled itself at her hip, fingers pressing lightly into her backside. "You know," he sighed, "This wasn't part of the agreement."

Clara smirked at the sudden tint to his cheeks and she replied slyly, "Who really reads the terms on agreements anyways."

Herbert laughed and his hand curled around her, pulling her into his chest so he could kiss her again and Clara held tightly to him, mind contemplating the risks if she said to hell with it and mounted him, when the front door clicked open and she heard a woman's voice call out, "Herbert? Herbert, you said we were meeting at the shop an hour ago… come on out, I brought sandwiches!"