A/N: I was so inspired by a drawing that my friend of Twelve, Clara, and a Hybrid kiddo that I actually sent myself a prompt so that I wouldn't forget to write it. This is the super-fluffy result.

Takes place when when the Time Twins are about four.

Far as zoological parks went, the Doctor wasn't exactly keen on them, but he wasn't against them either. It was part of the fact he could understand most species thanks to the thousands of years of translation microbes in his system, making him suspect he was likely the inspiration for Doctor Dolittle and other such indirectly-related characters. After assuring him that not only was he much better company than Doctor Dolittle, not to mention leagues more handsome, Clara was able to convince him to stop the TARDIS at an Earth-based zoo for the day, the sight of which made their children's eyes open wider than previously thought possible.

"This place is neat!" Alison declared. She pointed at a couple of nearby exhibits. "The Amur tiger and the capybara don't exist in the same hemispheres and here they're neighbors! How did they manage that?!"

"Very carefully," her mother chuckled, taking note of the girl's advanced language skills. It was those learning docks in the TARDIS, that much she knew, and did her best to not draw attention to the words that should've been well beyond her grasp.

Clara and the Doctor began to walk along, fingers laced together as they held hands, and watched their children as they bounced around from exhibit to exhibit. It was a slow day at the zoo, for the TARDIS parked them in the middle of the week (despite it being their weekend), and the people wandering around were mostly there for their daily walk or a date. There were a couple small school groups running about, but they were all in uniforms and generally stayed away from them. It was more relaxing than any school trip Clara had been on, walking along the leafy paths to look at expansive habitat enclosures, letting her kids tire themselves out as they ran and hopped and wandered just within her liking.

Sitting down on a bench after what was an ample stroll, the couple watched as their children went into the interactive part of an exhibit. There was a small tunnel for their tiny frames to crawl into, opening up to around a dozen plastic individual plastic domes so that they could be right next to meerkats as they wandered around the above-ground portion of their habitat. Some juveniles were playing between the two domes Alison and James were in, visibly making them delighted.

"You know, we could bring them to meet meerkats in the wild," the Doctor noted.

"No, they're still wild and dangerous creatures, no matter how nice they seem here," Clara said. She rested her head on his shoulder and held his hand in both of hers, massaging it gently. "No field trips when I'm not around either—the TARDIS would rat you out."

"She wouldn't."

"Then why did she show me the logs of when you took them to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on its opening weekend?" Busted. "Don't do it too often, anyhow. Both of us need to be with the kids so that one can take them back to the ship while the other attempts to save the day. You told me yourself danger could happen anywhere, anywhen, and we need to be careful with the twins while they're young."

"It's just a bit of fun…"

"Don't leave me out; it's bad enough I'm not around as often as I'd like anymore," she requested firmly. She then stopped as the kids ran up to them, large grins on their faces. "Are you enjoying yourselves?"

"Yes! This was a good idea, Mummy!" The girl hugged her mother tightly, causing the woman to tear up slightly. It went unnoticed by her children, however, as James gasped when he caught sight of something far off.

"Aly! There's an aardvark! An aardvark!"

"Wow!"

Both children rushed along, their parents standing so that they could follow. James was only about halfway to the enclosure when he tripped over himself and fell into the grass, whimpering in an attempt to not fully cry in the place filled with strange people. Only a moment and he was scooped up and placed on his father's shoulders.

"Better?" the Doctor asked.

"I can see a lot from here!" James realized. He clutched his father's hair as they got closer to the aardvark. "You're really tall, Daddy!"

"Ow… just be careful on the hair—I don't think I regenerate that back," the Doctor winced. He didn't even need to look at Clara to know she was chuckling at them; he could sense it. "Do you remember how to spell 'aardvark'?"

"A-A-R-D-V-A-R-K!" the boy sang loudly.

"Very good, James," Clara said. They arrived at the enclosure to find Alison leaning over the initial wooden barrier to get a closer look. "Two on the ground, young lady."

"…but Mummy! I can barely see! It's so far back!" Alison protested. She then noticed where her brother was and began jumping up and down. "I wanna be on Daddy's shoulders! I wanna be on Daddy's shoulders!"

"One at a time, you know that," the Doctor sighed. He put his son down and then picked up his daughter, letting her have a turn. "Do you see now?"

"Yes! It's very big, isn't it?!"

"You're taller than it."

"Really? Okay."

"You know what I think this day needs?" Clara wondered aloud. This caught the children's attention. "Ice cream."

"Yes!" both the twins said at once. The Doctor put Alison down on the ground and the siblings nearly skipped their way over to the ice cream cart. Clara paid for ice cream cones for all four of them, and they all walked along as they ate, Clara holding James's hand and the Doctor holding Alison's.

"Mummy?" Alison asked, chocolate all over her face. "Why do we get ice creams before lunch?"

"…because it's a special day, going to the zoo, so I decided that we can have a special treat," Clara replied.

"It's delicious; thank you, Mummy," James nodded.

"Yes, thank you Mummy!"

The Doctor leaned down and whispered in his wife's ear, "Thank you, Clara." He could sense the shiver that went down her spine, knowing that he would pay for it later in spades.

"Daddy! Daddy! Can we go to the penguimarium?" Alison asked, pulling on her father's hand. The Doctor glanced in the direction she was holding her ice cream and saw the building not far away.

"Only if you finish your ice creams outside," he said. The twins ate quickly as they could without getting a headache and let their parents clean their faces before running excitedly inside. Inside the penguinarium was slightly cooler than the outside early autumn weather, but with being out of the sun came a stench that the adults cringed at and the children ignored.

"They run like you, Daddy," James noticed, pointing at some birds making their way towards the water's edge. They dove in and they could see the penguins gliding through the water with incredible ease.

"Reminds me of a Whifferdill I used to know," the Doctor said. Seeing that there was yet another bench to sit on, he and Clara took up occupancy there, allowing their children to rush back and forth, chasing after the penguins.

Eventually, James and Alison went back towards their parents and pulled them out of the building. They attempted to continue, but after only a few more exhibits, they began to grow sluggish and cranky. The Doctor picked them both up, one in each arm, and the family went back into the TARDIS for the children's nap. In their beds and out for at least an hour, they seemed almost too peaceful to their parents, who knew full-well that once they were up again, it would be havoc all the way until bedtime proper.

A grab at his rear in the corridor and the Doctor jumped in surprise. "Clara! What was that for?"

"As a thank you, for taking us to the zoo when I know you didn't want to," she replied. She wrapped her arms around his middle and leaned into him. "Would you like to know what comes next?"

He didn't have to say anything—of course he did.