Sometimes, he would watch a dot appear at the scanner and then he would wonder what she's got herself into this time. Always, he would fight a will to go and check himself.

But so did she. Not as often as him because now he had another duties as a professor in a university (not like she knew anything about that), and he stayed most of the time there, she could see him on a radar just every time he caught a minute to sneak away. She would watch a familiar TARDIS pop up here or there, stay for some time, letting her owner do what he must do, and then come back to Earth. Back to Earth! How strange it sounded! As far as she knew, the Doctor wasn't a great fan of anchoring and having a peaceful life, not even on his original planet. He must have changed a lot since she had seen him last time.

Last time had been ages ago, and as he had changed, Clara Oswald, his companion, had too. Gone was a mortal teacher from planet Earth, now she was something completely different. Completely strange and alien. She need no sleep, no eat, drink could not affect her even slightly, she couldn't hear a heartbeat and even a simple familiar breathing was nothing but a habit – that last one was the only thing she could call human in her. Ashildr told her to relax, she was a super being now, immortality was her superpower. Aren't human obsessed with comics? Don't they all want to be Batman just for a day? Of course they are, and yes, they do.

"Then be a hero just for a day before you vanish." Ashildr smiled. "Be him, while you go the long way round."

And there was a tiny truth in her words. She owed this Universe so much, she should pay a debt before she disappeared. Not because she must. It's certainly not obligation. Because she was who she was, Clara Oswald, and she liked helping others.

But nobody said it would be easy.

"Maybe you should go?" Ashildr said, kneeling before the console panel. "I'm not very good at barging. And we need money more than ever."

Clara smirked. Wee old viking refusing to talk with people – now that was something that never had happened before. In fact, on a good day she wouldn't have stopped chatting with strangers, and that had been just embarrassing – and the reason they'd got kicked off of several planets. A girl gave her a pleading look from beneath the console, and she just couldn't help herself but smile.

"Admit it. You just don't want to spend hours and hours under the blazing sun in search of gold in one of the biggest open market in this zone." Clara chuckled, shaking her head.

"Sounds like you do." Her eyebrows twitched. "I can't deny you the opportunity to tan at least a little."

"Ashildr–"

"Me." The girl corrected, giving her a glare.

"You. Do you happen to remember who saved our arses that time we got into the sontaran's fleet circle?" She asked nonchalantly.

"Well, what if I do?"

"You said 'I owe you my life'."

"Which is, let's all admit it, a wacky expression to use."

"Nevertheless," Clara pointed out, "you used it. You owe me. And here's your chance to pay off your debt. C'mon, off you go. You know what the gold is and how it looks like. You're a viking after all."

"And I also know that the real gold is rare to find here. It's like going to Walmart to buy a gum!" Ashildr moaned, getting up unwillingly. Wearing a long face, she sighed dramatically. "I so hate you."

"No, you don't."

"You chose this planet."

"You broke takeoff stabilisers."

"Oh, you!.."

"Such an arse, I know that. I used to work in school, anything you say was said before."

"Alright!" Ashildr tsked. "I'll see you when I see you." She went away with a loud smack on a door. Such a childish act for the old viking. Perhaps, under this veil of weariness, she was a child after all.

"So what's on your mind, old man?" she asked him, her hand gripping the space-time throttle behind her back. Anticipation boiling through her veins, she caught a little sparkle in his eyes; that little sweet sparkle bonfires every time he thinks she doesn't look.

"Something you'd like, Clara." The Doctor nodded towards her back where the space-time throttle was. She pushed it down with excitement.

"Would I? Did you try hard?" She asked him perkily. "Or am I so easy to impress?"

"Yes." He gave her a thin smile.

"Yes what?"

"Yes." She rolled her eyes on that nonsense.

"You just don't want to hurt my feelings."

"Yes." He shrugged nonchalantly. As his smile widened playfully, she knew he was only half-serious.

"So you say it's something I'd like?" she asked, her mind came up with a wicked game to play. Not to take a revenge, no, that was never about revenges with them. Just to occupy some time before they land. Just for fun.

"Yes," he said, leaning back into the jump-seat.

"Is it something marvelous?"

She could see the Doctor liked her idea; he folded arms on his chest and gave her a short nod. "Yes."

"Something breath-taking?"

"Yes."

"And definitely safe to be? In a relative way, of course."

"Yes."

"Can we get into trouble?"

"Yes."

"Can I hug you?"

"Ye… no!" His eyes doubled in size as the Doctor's hands alertly rushed up in the air. There was no way to escape from his place, she was right in front of him with a wide laughing smile.

"Gotcha."

He shook his head.

"Never put your defenses down with impossible girl," he grumbled, eyeing her from toe to head. She leaned back on the console panel frame, never leaving her eyes from him. "Well?"

"Well what?" She put the most innocent face on, knitting her eyebrows together just for the effect.

"Aren't you going to torture me?" The Doctor asked, resting on the seat. He wanted that hug, everything in him just screamed he wanted more than a mere hug. But it was a game, and she always won them.

Having rounded the heart of the TARDIS, the console between them, Clara smirked. "Do you want me to?"

The Doctor chuckled, leaping lightly from his place.

"Do you want me to say 'yes'?" He checked the approximate time of their landing, drawing the screen closer to him.

"No, not 'yes'. 'Maybe' will be enough."

He analysed her words thoroughly, his mind was on fire. C'mon, make up an answer, Doctor, and let it be a good one.

"Perhaps," he said finally, not without that hint of proud in his voice. Well, she must give him the credits, it really had been a good answer.

So Clara opened her arms welcomely, and for the rarest time he made the first step, embracing her like a bear, yanking at her shoulder blades as if he was falling. She rested her chin on his shoulder, inhaling the alien scent that she could only identify as him.

"You make me feel funny, Clara." His muttered words tickled her earlobe.

"In which way?"

"Inadequate way. It feels…" She waited for him to find a proper word describing his current mood. Something told her she was feeling the same, he made her feel inadequate, too, and it felt… "good."

"Do you mean to say you love me?" Clara asked without a back-thought. She just couldn't help it. They were done with lies, weren't they? And this was just a question. Just a check. It's okay to ask questions, the answers don't mean anything, smiles merely do, it's the actions that speak for themselves. And if talking about actions, well, he had proved that he loved her long ago.

She literally felt him smiling in her ear, still trying to hide it from her.

"Why, does it matter?"

"I don't think so. But it would be nice to hear it from you anyway."

"That I love you?" He chuckled, his warm breath lightly ruffled her hair. "Nah, don't be ridiculous! I love a sun on my back, the infinite number of stars, a good pun, when my guitar's tuned and a marvellous strong cup of tea. I certainly do not love you. I just can't put you in this list. I hope you don't love me, too, that would be so rude."

"What do you mean?" Clara pulled back, confusion was all over her face. He barely made a sense.

"Love is simple. Here, I can show you." The Doctor suddenly dashed towards the blackboard on the second floor, beckoning her with his hand. Hesitantly, she followed him.

"You human lot exaggerate it. This…" putting a tongue between his teeth, he wrote 'hormones', 'personal preferences' and 'attachment', circled each of them and connected together. "… is your love." He gave her a quick peek, just checking if she was listening to him. She was, a thumb between her teeth. "Of course, the scheme is quite primitive, but so is love. I won't go deeper explaining every aspect of it, what hormones, what preferences, what kind of attachments, actually, as a teacher, you must know where I'm going with it. You get to know some person, you get attached to some person, then your endocrine system says 'Hey! You're not getting any younger with every passing day. Let's coopulate with this chap, he/she's your best friend I think he/she won't mind it.' You see, love is quite the same as like. In our case, loving another being is just an excuse for invading personal space. Love doesn't mean a thing, even when it's a mutual feeling, because love is relative. You can love someone more than the other. You can make yourself love another person. Hell, one day you might stop loving that person. You can fake love! Love can delude you and make you do wrong things with a wrong chap. When you say 'I love you' and don't get it back, you become sad. Love is an excuse for a shag. So, again, Clara, my Clara, answering your question: no, I certainly do not love you. Love is for primitives. So, here's a question for you: do you love me?"

"I… am confused. If I said 'yes', I would offend you. And if I said 'no'… Sorry, human brains, not very clever." She smiled bitterly, biting her lower lip. What was he talking about?! That he didn't feel anything for her? But that would be a lie, a rude lie and she would know it. No, this was something different. This was the first time they faced the feeling they shared, and the Doctor actually was trying to explain it using a blackboard. And it seemed she was the only one not getting it.

"But you are. Clever. I know you get my idea, it's just a matter of asking right questions." She hadn't noticed until now that his excited face got closer and he was on the same level with her.

"Right. So if you don't love me, then what do you do?"

The Doctor squeezed her hand in his own, finally receiving the right question, as he would have said.

"I care. And before you say anything, yes, care is far much stronger than 'love'. It's not controlled by hormones, personal tastes or any such thing. You can fall in love with a person within five minutes, but you can't care for a person you've only met. In fact, it needs more than a month, sometimes even more, to understand whether you really care for her/him."

There was something naked and hypnotizing in his eyes, she couldn't pulled herself back from them. The Doctor made a pause, just to gain his breath in lungs and thoughts together. His hard grip on her hands became less firmer. And when he proceeded talking, she could feel his fast-paced pulse on his wrist.

"Right now, I'm confessing in something more important than Hollywood clichés, fancy words, excuses for sex. It's not an emotion, Clara. It's not a promise you can easily break. It's not a feeling. It's not something you will shout to the whole world in a moonlight being all naked and playing the ukulele, because it's something sacred. Because once thought the words are with you forever. Once said, you can't take them back, it becomes your duty. Clara, I have a duty of care of you. I know, it doesn't sound beautiful. I know if I ever said 'I love you' it would be more dramatic. But it is what it is. I care for you, and I know you care for me, too. Do you really think that we need words, terms and blackboards to know that?"

"No…"

The TARDIS loud landing interrupted her, and with it the Doctor dropped her hands, lightly patting her shoulders after.

"Good. I'm glad we've settled it. Now, Zetta-2.95!"

He dashed towards the door, gripping her by upper-arm and dragging down with him.

"Doctor!" She made him stop before they left the TARDIS.

"Yes?"

"I won't forget it."

The Doctor nodded. "I won't, too."

It was nice to be on Zetta-2.95 once again. The smell, the view, the alien-ness of surroundings. Angry buyers and even angrier sellers. Soft gold sand under your feet and deep blue sky above your head. The tranquility under the blazing sun despite hot atmosphere, literally and figuratively. It hadn't changed a bit. She'd have liked to roast while searching the gold they so needed, the place had so many cuddlesome memories that were just so tempting, but she had thought twice before stepping out of the TARDIS. Clara knew out of experience that humans were disliked on this planet. Very much disliked. And as she wasn't against a sip of nostalgia, she had no will to repeat everything on her own. It would have been unlikely to get her arse out of troubles without the Doctor.

So here she was, sitting at the bar, sipping icy sweet lemonade through a straw, watching passing shopping chaps behind the window through her shades. So unlucky they were, those poor guys. Or rich. It didn't matter on Zetta-2.95 who you were, everyone was treated the same (except for humans). Everyone was welcomed (except for that said human race). As far as she could remember, the Third Great Human Colony had put a blockage on this planet, no way in, no way out, economic had been down a drain, so Zetta-2.95 had to capitulate. Since then, every bar and every respected shop put a warning sign that humans would rather go and shop somewhere else.

Actually, that long time ago, the Doctor had wanted to show her Zetta-3, the planet he had described later as the most bizarre place in the universe, green and that sort of things. Must have jumbled the name, he'd said then. However, when she had tried to go to Zetta-3, it appeared the planet did not exist. What a truly bizarreness.

Clara smiled sadly, putting the lemonade aside. Funny, she had promised herself she wouldn't go too sentimental. But once thought, it was impossible to stop the flow of memories.

He had said 'you're so human' then. Such an innocent expression, but that last word had put them in troubles. As if there had been a fire, everyone had started to shout that she's a human. The Doctor hadn't understood it then; you can hardly blame him, sometimes he doesn't know everything in the universe. They had understood it when they'd been imprisoned.