Clara had nearly forgotten about the roses by the time she was ready for bed. It had been a good day, by recent standards. Which meant no major disasters had occurred, she'd managed to get dinner on the table without starting anything on fire that wasn't supposed to be, Angie only spent half of dinner texting her friends, and Artie miraculously remembered to get materials for his science project more than 24 hours before it was due. Clara and Eggs had even managed to walk to the library without incident, though Eggs did need to pry her out of the Roman history section.

She had taken to reading up on various historical periods, trying to put some context to the various memories that still stopped her in her tracks. She supposed she could just ask the Doctor, but...that would...She didn't want to ask the Doctor.

As had become their habit, the Doctor made his appearance around 11:30 or so. Clara was already in bed reading, her bandaged right hand making turning the pages just a bit difficult.

Naturally his sharp eyes noticed the haphazard Hello Kitty plasters almost immediately. Clara glared back at him, almost daring him to say something disapproving. He held her eyes for a moment, a spark of...something... almost answering her silent challenge, but then he sighed and looked away. For a moment Clara felt a bit ashamed of herself.

The moment passed, however, as she saw his hand twitching toward his pocket.

"Don't even think about it!" Clara didn't realize she'd grabbed the pillow until she saw it flying through the air. Much to her surprise, the Doctor caught it deftly. She stared at him open-mouthed. Before they'd died he'd been as clumsy as a puppy.

"Did you just...throw a pillow at me?" His voice was incredulous.

"Yeah...well... there's more where that came from!" Clara shot back at him. It had sounded more imposing in her head. "Keep that sonic away from me!"

The Doctor sighed again, and Clara was startled to see how...old his eyes looked. Old and sad.

Slowly he set the pillow down and turned for the door.

Well, damn.

Guiltily she climbed out of bed to go after him, to apologize, but after sticking her head into the TARDIS doors she didn't see him. Confused, she sat back on the edge of the bed and wondered where he had gone. Absently, she toyed with the little ruffled hem of her pajama top.

What am I doing? It was cruel to let him keep coming back every night. It would only make it even harder for him when...well, when she died. Even the Doctor didn't know what those tests meant, but she was human and humans had short lives, even before doing crazy things like jumping into... Her mind might be a fog three quarters of the day, but she wasn't blind. She remembered the man who perched on a cloud and mourned. She remembered why he should never be alone-

Clara gasped as a warm hand gently wiped the tears from her cheeks, the tears she didn't remember shedding. The Doctor knelt before her, the bottle of peroxide and box of plasters he had raided from the bathroom dropped on the floor in front of her.

"Please don't be nice to me," she mumbled. It was hard enough trying to drive him away, it was awful when he was being so kind.

He just raised his non-existent eyebrows and held out his hand expectantly. Clara reflexively cradled her injured hand against her chest.

"It's nothing, really, just a few punctures from those dead roses. It looks worse than it is." She felt somewhat foolish as he meticulously examined her slapdash bandage job. A couple of the punctures were deep enough to be oozing slightly.

"Did you even clean this?" the Doctor asked quietly, clearly not impressed with Hello Kitty. Clara shrugged awkwardly with the shoulder not attached to the hand currently being prodded at. The grip on her hand tightened for just an instant, and suddenly Clara realized the Doctor was furious.

"I'm sorry." She was. For everything.

He didn't speak for a moment, and when he did she realized he was choosing his words very carefully. "Clara, it is clear that self-preservation is no longer a high priority for you, and I deeply regret that my presence in your life has caused your current apathy to your own well-being. But, if not for yourself, or for my sake, I and no doubt Eggs would appreciate it if you remembered that your safety not only affects your own life, but the lives of the children you are meant to be caring for, not to mention your Dad and your Gran and any number of people who care about Clara Oswald."

Clara didn't know what to say to that, and he didn't seem to expect a reply.

"Your hand is infected. Either Martha treats it or I do, make your choice."

She was pretty sure the Doctor was overreacting to a few thorn punctures, but she realized now was not the moment to say so. "Go on, then," she told him, not wanting to get Martha involved. It all seemed so...silly. But then, none of this was really about her hand.

"Dare I ask why you are handling dead roses? Not that the live ones are any less stabby, but surely they have greater appeal."

Clara hissed as the peroxide burned into her wounds. Why is it always little scratches like this, or papercuts, that hurt like hell, but you can run a marathon on a broken leg? she wondered. "I didn't exactly plan on it. Someone sent them, and Angie couldn't be bothered. Someone trying to be funny, I guess."

"Yes, roses are hilarious."

"No, not the roses, well, not entirely. The note was odd, though."

"Oh?"

With her free hand Clara dug the now crumpled note out of her pocket. The Doctor glanced at it absently, then suddenly went still.

"Weird, right?"

"Clara, who sent you this?" His voice was deadly serious.

"I don't know, someone who thinks misquoting Shakespeare is clever, I guess."

"You don't notice anything other than the quote?"

Clara frowned. "Should I?"

The Doctor took in a deep breath. "Clara, this note is not written in English."

Clara frowned. Now that he told her that, she realized the writing was foreign, although she understood it easily. "The TARDIS..?" her voiced trailed off, confused.

"The TARDIS does not translate Gallifreyan."

AN Thanks as always to the lovely Kosovaheartland for beta-ing. Reviews are super-appreciated- I'm curious to know who has figured out who our villain is!