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Chapter 39

The exhaustion was tugging at his bones as they climbed the stairs up to their hotel rooms because an "out of order" sign on the lift doors had forced them to abandon their hopes of going to bed via the fastest route possible. It was almost midnight now and John could feel the events of the day dragging him down with every step. The early flight, the paperwork, the conversation with Saibra Preston and after that, his attempts to lift Clara's spirits. Not knowing what else to do, he had opted to take Clara on a stroll along the Thames near Westminster, out of nostalgia more than anything else. As a former Londoner, he had enjoyed the sight of the inner city and apparently, so had Clara. A part of him wondered how she felt about it, returning to the city she had left behind. For him, it had only been a couple of weeks, but despite that, John felt as if he had left years ago; as if London had ceased to be his home the moment he had received Kate's phone call. His place was now in Scotland.

Even though it was a little far off their route, somehow, they had ended up at the Dungeon in Tooley Street and Clara had dragged him inside despite his protests, her mood already somewhat elevated by the stroll and the atmosphere of the city and John hadn't had the heart to say no to her. Her laugh was worth it. After receiving the scare of a lifetime, they had visited a small pizza parlour with excellent food and even better wine and by then, it had occurred to John that their recreational activities were probably not what Kate had had in mind when she had allowed him to bring Clara along. Not that it mattered much when they had obviously made the best of the day.

While they were climbing the last flight, Clara suddenly started to giggle.

"What?" John growled, knowing that whatever amused Clara could only be bad for him.

She chuckled, grinning next to him. "You scream like a little girl," she remarked. "Do they teach you that in training?"

John rolled his eyes. It hadn't been his fault at all. The scary person had appeared out of nowhere and Clara hadn't stopped laughing until five minutes later. "Stop it," he told her grimly.

"Never," Clara replied, the amusement all too audible in her voice, but then, she let out a sigh and stopped once they had reached the end of the stairs. From here, their hotel rooms were just around the corner. Yet Clara uttered a sound of weariness. "It's too far."

Her complaint made him laugh, but if John was completely honest, he felt the same. Even though it was only a few metres, their rooms felt as if they were miles away. The exhaustion wasn't the same John usually felt after a long day at work, this was different. Somehow, the disappointment about their conversation with Saibra didn't seem so important anymore because he and Clara had still managed to make the best of the day. And despite his body telling him that it was high time to get some rest, a part of him didn't want the day to end.

Carefully, John placed his hand on her waist and started leading the rest of the way, almost pulling the tired Clara along, but she seemed to need the motivation as much as he did. Somehow, the skin on his hand tingled a little as he guided her along the corridor.

"We probably shouldn't tell Kate about this," he remarked once they had turned around the corner. Judging by the numbers on the doors they passed, their rooms were the last ones at the far end of the corridor.

"About what?" Clara wanted to know and craned her neck to look at him. She looked as tired as he felt, but her eyes still hadn't lost that flicker of excitement. "I thought she was fine with me coming along."

John chuckled softly. "Not that, she was fine with that," he reassured her. "But the Dungeon and restaurant were not exactly part of the plan. Especially not the wine because, technically speaking, I'm on duty."

"Mhhh," Clara hummed. "I have something on you now."

Once again, she stopped and John was about to ask why when he noticed the number on the door right next to her. They had arrived at Clara's hotel room and his own would be right behind him. However, he wasn't entirely sure that Clara had noticed because she was grinning at him mischievously. "I could blackmail you."

John shot her a suspicious glance. "You wouldn't blackmail a police detective, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't," Clara said, shaking her head, but still smiling at him.

She seemed so different when her thoughts weren't circling around Bonnie or Danny, when, for once, she was carefree and just allowing herself to have a little bit of fun. John loved to see her like that and he knew that by morning when they headed home, her good mood would be gone. If only he could freeze this moment for just a little longer just so Clara had a chance to be happy; this exact moment with the two of them standing in a hotel corridor, Clara smiling up at him, John smiling back at her, his heart hammering in his chest not because he was nervous, but because right now, he was happy to be here with her.

A sudden surge of bravery came over him and John wasn't sure whether her smile was to blame for it or the wine, but he stepped forward and carefully raised his hands until he cupped her face in his palms. Her eyes, her smile, they were a beautiful sight to behold and a sudden thrill rushed through his veins when John realised that Clara wasn't pulling away from him. Instead, she just kept on smiling and the sweet memory of the brief kiss they had shared came back to him along with a desire to repeat it. Would she let him? Would she want him to kiss her? John had no idea and all of a sudden, he was too scared to ask or act as if his life depended on this one decision. While he was still cursing himself, wondering why he wasn't better at this at his age, John hardly noticed that the smile faded from Clara's lips before she pushed herself up on tiptoes, her body leaning in, touching his before their lips finally met.

It wasn't anything like the first time. Clara didn't pull away and John had all the time in the world to savour the feeling of her soft mouth along with the taste of a last hint of wine on the tip of her tongue as she parted her lips to let him in and all of a sudden, there were butterflies in his stomach. He closed his eyes. John had dreamed about this moment in the small hours of each morning, never imagining it would actually come true and right now, he was probably the happiest man on this earth – or the luckiest because Clara had chosen to kiss him. Now he truly didn't want this evening to end and the earlier exhaustion was forgotten.

It was the shrill ringing of a phone that eventually made him come back to his senses and when John realised that it wasn't going to stop, he broke the kiss and opened his eyes. Clara was looking at him, but the expression on her face was unreadable and only slowly turning into confusion while the ringing went on. "Um," she uttered, "I think it's coming from your room."

At last, her spell had lifted and John let her go and stepped out of their embrace as he turned around and noticed that Clara was right. The noise that had disturbed their precious moment was coming from his hotel room. Quickly, John reached into his pocket and pulled out a key to unlock the door, all the while cursing the disturber in his head.

The telephone sat on his bedside table and John picked up the handset as quickly as he could before the noise woke the surrounding guests. "This is John Smith speaking," he answered, his voice wary because he had no clue as to who could be on the other end of the line.

"Oh, thank God," a voice sighed on the other end and John quickly recognised it as Osgood. "I've been trying to reach you for hours!"

His mind still a little befuddled from the exhaustion and the wine and the kiss, so John needed a moment to gather his thoughts before he could answer. "Oh, um, sorry. I was out."

"It doesn't matter," Osgood replied sharply. "I have to tell you something."

"Alright," he said. Now John really had no idea what was going on. "Why? Did something happen?"

The pathologist hesitated for a moment and the only sound he could hear was her breathing. That was when John knew something bad must have happened and it seemed as if an eternity passed before she finally spoke. "Kate is in the hospital."