The sun beat hard and heavy down on them when daylight broke and The Doctor's eyes fluttered open, staring directly into the sun. He blinked a few times, sitting up all of a sudden and feeling the sand in his hair and up his jacket sleeves. Clara was stirring too, flinching back when her eyes met the scorching sun. His hands ran over his face and Clara stared around her for a while, most likely confused about where she was and it clicked.

'Jakku.' She whispered, a little bit like she was relieved. He wondered if she'd had a bad dream again and wanted to ask her about it, but restrained himself. He was sometimes too repressed to give much comfort to those he loved.

'Good morning.'

'Morning.' She replied sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

'Are you alright?'

If she said no he told himself he would for once ask why. Fortunately for him she replied the opposite. He pondered further on what her dreams could be telling her but she fixed him with a gaze and a small smile before wringing out the sand from her hair.

'The only thing that's annoyed me so far, except the slave trade. And you.'

'Me?' He questioned in surprise.

'Yep. You. Just you.' She smiled.

'Fine.' He allowed.

Reaching over to him her have swept over his hair to get rid of sand and he flinched away from her touch.

'Hey, no, come here! Let me get this sand off you, it's annoying me still.'

She knelt over him, her hands raking through his curls and sifting the grains of sand out of it. Her hands were soft and almost pleasing as she shook his hair another time, just for fooling around. His own hands sorted through, messing it up even more. He stood, straightening his jacket and saw the signs of Rey shuffling about in her dome.

Clara's arms crossed and she walked up to him with a peculiar expression on his face.

'You know, she feels familiar. Looks it, too. Do you think we met her last time we came?'

'It's a possibility.' He replied gruffly.

'She looks like someone we used to know.'

'Well, she grows like any other human, ages once a year. If we met her it could have been when she was younger.'

'Yeah, maybe it is.'

She walked round him, a sudden hand scratching her head in confusion. She whirled round to face him on the spot, her face thoughtful and eyebrows creased in ponderation.

'Wouldn't she have recognised us? Me?'

'I don't know.'

One look at his guilty face and she had cracked him.

'Oh, but you do. You know everything about this girl, don't you Doctor? Who is she, who is Rey?'

'I have no idea who she could be, Clara, honestly.'

'You're lying to me. And when you lie it usually means it's something big and worth keeping it a secret from me. It also means I will smack you round the face if I ever find out on my own.'

'Rey is very special, but I don't know where she came from.' He emphasised.

'She probably came from Earth!'

'Earth isn't the only English speaking colony out there, Clara. In sure there's thousands of places she could have originated from.'

'Doesn't she know anything?'

'I don't know how much she knows, Clara.'

After standing in front of him rather awkwardly with her eyes burning into his she suddenly told him of her own plans.

'I want to find her parents.'

At first he was shocked, then guilty, and then only expectant. It was something he knew would a Clara would have said sooner or later. The trouble was trying to oppose it.

'We can't, Clara. Do you think, after however many years it's been, they would have already come back?'

'I would've.' She said defensively, 'I would have come back for my daughter a long time ago.'

It was a punch to the gut to hear that and he didn't quite know what to say, except to agree.

'I guess I would have as well,' he continued, 'but finding them, Clara, they could be anywhere! Any one of those planets or galaxies in any time zone or astrological location! How long do you reckon you could even put up with that?'

'We have a flying time machine, Doctor, we're closer than anyone else Rey could seek help with to find them. I want Rey to have her freedom, I want her to have a life outside of slavery.'

'You think I don't want that for her too? All I'm saying is that it would take endless days and nights searching the whole universe for people who may not even exist anymore.'

'Doctor, I don't know what's gotten into you. You save people. As long as we're on Jakku, we should help Rey find her parents. I'm not backing down on this one.'

'Then we should leave. Right now, before we end up in a tangled web of lies and misdirection.'

'Do you know who I think is giving misdirection and lying right now?' She said, 'you.'

Clara practically turned toward the dome but turned her head round just to inform him.

'I'm going to speak to Rey. She must know something that would be useful.'

She went inside, leaving the Doctor standing there with a hole in his chest and a massive regret of ever landing there. He sighed, his hands rubbing his face as he sat back down on the blanket and closed his eyes. It had escalated too quickly. He should have taken off as soon as they had been back in the TARDIS. And yet his own guilty conscience had offered to help her anyway, pointlessly stay with her for benefits he couldn't understand. He should have known not to trust her either, as she had had very clear intentions of stealing his ship, something he now knew she scavenged parts from. And yet there was still a sentimentality that tugged in that direction, where both Clara and Rey were. Of course he wanted to help his daughter, but obviously he didn't know how. After a moment if reconsideration he went back inside to see Rey and Clara sitting there, talking.

'What do you remember, Rey?'

'Nothing much at all. I just remember being dragged away from them. I remember my cries and their cries but nothing what they looked like. I can't picture them at all, I only come up with that memory.'

'Well, try to think harder. Think beyond that. Anything you may have noticed while being dragged away?'

Her face scrunched up again in thought, the exact same way he had just seen Clara's a minute ago. He perched at the edge of a small chair and listened on with interest.

'Nothing much. I guess my father was reaching out to me, but I still can't picture his face.'

'Well, did you see his hand? Anything on it, like a, uh, a ring or a watch, the colour of his sleeve?'

The Doctor could picture the image clearer now, fitting with the description Rey had given. Clara had only need to look to the right and she'd have her answer.

'I think his sleeves... I think he might have had a jacket on, maybe purple? I can't think of anything else, my minds going hazy.'

'Okay. Do you remember anything about your mother? Anything at all?'

'No. Believe me, I've tried. But I can't picture any part of her. She might as well not have been there.'

The Doctor's head shot up, something connecting in his brain with what Rey had said. Clara hadn't been there. She hadn't seen Rey being dragged away from him, she was back at the TARDIS, unknowing of anything going on.

'Well, I need to go. I've got one portion left and I need to stock up more, as usual. You can join me if you want. But you'd have to walk, my speeder can only take me.'

She grabbed her quarterstaff and headed off, leaving the two of them alone. He knew how frustrated Clara must be feeling with such little information.

'So, you're looking for a woman with no description and a man with possible purple jacket sleeves.'

'Shut up.' She replied sharply, her head still staring blankly down at her feet.

'I thought she'd have a little bit more information than that, at least.'

'It was over ten years ago, though. She can't have been more than nine years old.'

'How do you know? She could have been any age.'

'She said herself she was left here as a child.'

Clara sighed. 'I still want to help her find them.'

'Maybe she will. Maybe they'll come back to her, who knows. In the meantime I think we should be going.'

'What?'

'We should get away from Jakku. We're already outcasts to the locals and we're helping a girl who tried to steal our spaceship and has no leads to anyone we could possibly try and find.'

'That doesn't mean we should leave!' Clara exclaimed, standing up to face him. His mouth and eyebrow quirked at how small she was in comparison but he remembered how fierce and loyal and brave she was. His smirk turned into a smile. Clara. His Clara.

'No, it doesn't,' he said gently, 'but we've done all we can. Helped her with getting parts, tried to understand her heritage...there's not much more we can do. We can't stay on Jakku helping her forever. You know that.'

'Yes, I do but all I ask for is one more day. Let me find something useful here, something she might have forgotten about that could help track them down. There must be loads of things she's collected over the years, there must be something she brought with her on that first day.'

The more she argued, the more he panicked. He knew she had absolute perfect reason and a good plan, but it could only take them one step closer to the truth. And he wished to keep that strictly to himself. As soon as they were taking off in the TARDIS again, the better. He would finally feel safe and could offer any comfort he could toward Clara's failure. The hardest thing however, would surely be saying goodbye to Rey, his daughter standing in front of him, waving them off and still hoping her parents would come for her. Leaving with such false hope in her heart surely was one of his most cold-blooded crimes but he couldn't help it. The least he could do was stay with her as long as possible and assist Clara on her wild goose chase for whatever she might be looking for.

'Fine, then. We stay tonight, but tomorrow we go. Understood?'

She sighed but nodded her head in agreement. He knew deep down it would be as hopeless as he felt. But the great thing about Clara was her passionate determination. As long as she was set on something, she would soon find it. That's what he was worrying about.

He decided not to stay with Clara, but to help Rey with her scavenging. Not so much a father/daughter activity, but certainly an improvement from yesterday. He'd nearly gotten beaten with her stick. As he watched Rey's face he wondered how she would take to being half Time Lord, half human. Part alien. Probably too well, since she practically lived with all sorts of lifeforms. He also mused on what it could have been like raising her, watching her grow up each year, being a father. How unrealistically domestic it would be. Clara being the mother, too. Their relationship was awkward as it is but definitely as strong as it was years ago. An unbreakable bond, he was confident of that. What he still couldn't work out was why they left her here. Surely they would have given everything up to raise Rey.

'Why are you helping me?' She asked curiously.

'Because that's what we do. Help people.'

'I appreciate what you, and especially Clara's trying to do but I'm not sure you could find them. I've known so long they would eventually come back. It's always been a gut feeling.'

'And you'll never leave Jakku unless they come back.'

'No. As much as it might look like a dump to you, with your spacey time machine but it's my home.'

'I can understand that,' he said, 'I had a home once. Somewhere, a lot like this. Far far away, maybe as distant as this planet is. It's gone now.'

'I'm sorry to hear that.'

'That's okay, I mean, I was kind of the one who caused it. I've been trying to search for it though, what's left. A lot like you too, I just know it's out there somewhere.'

Her eyes looked at him for a moment. Even the Doctor now understood just how similar they really were.

'So, you're part alien? Or creature, should I say?'

'Yeah, sure, I'm part alien. Clara's the only human on this planet,' he said, suddenly remembering, and you, of course.' He added hastily.

'Who exactly are you two, you and Clara? I've been trying to work it out all night in my head. Was it a total coincidence we met?'

'No, it was probably your gut feeling,' he thought, unable to say it aloud.

'Me and Clara, we travel the universe. It's a lottery in what we're going to find. Sometimes we get into all sorts of trouble, like we did yesterday. Usually worse.'

'And you always survive it?' She asked, suddenly animated from hearing about their adventures.

'Yeah, in some way or another. But we always know how to help each other and that's what's important. I've had many wonderful companions in my time but Clara's certainly unique, for a very good reason.'

'What's that?'

'Well, for one, she's part of me. Intertwined, with my timestream. Sometimes I never take notice of her, but she's always been there for me. Even on my home planet.'

'It must be amazing to have such a good friend.'

'It is. But I notice you don't have many.'

'No, I'm independent. I have a reputation, you know,' she said, brandishing her staff, 'but I don't have friends.'

'Well, I know what that's feels like. I've been without friends before,' he reminisced, 'and I certainly have a reputation.'

She stopped suddenly, and the Doctor turned to face her.

'You feel familiar.' She said.

The same sentence he'd heard from Clara was pounding in his head like multiple alarm clocks.

'I wouldn't be surprised.'

'But I feel like I've met you before. Maybe.'

'Yeah, it could have happened somewhere along the timeline.'

'Then why don't I remember you?'

He had no answer to give, but instead shrugged his shoulders lightly.

'We all forget things we're not supposed to.' He said finally.

For a second it was the two of them facing each other, Rey's hazel eyes boring into his blue ones, her head finally looking to the sand.

They traipsed on, Rey explaining how she'd found a wreckage not so long ago and had been returning to it ever since to steal parts.

As he entered the gloomy caves and saw the destroyed ship he aided Rey in finding the most valuable of the parts left by using his sonic, a device in which Rey looked enviously of but fascinated to no end. He even let her try them on, and she herself scavenged a piece of metal from under a rusty pole using them. It was then he became quite impressed with her skills, impressed with how she'd already worked out the sonic.

'That's my girl,' he thought with a smile, watching her movements wherever they went, freeing part after part from the wreckage. Finally, she handed them back and they walked to where Rey's speeder was waiting.

'I'll go as slow as I can, so you can keep up. You must be tired by now, anyway.' She smiled mischievously.

'Oi, I'm just as capable as you are.'

'Whatever you say, old man.'

He stared in astonishment and part horror as she zoomed off and he was left standing there, mouth agape.

He set off into a run that turned into a penguin waddle, his breath coming in gasps as he finally caught up to where she was waiting, un latching all the items from a net by the side of it. She turned round to laugh in amusement as his steps faltered and he pointed at her with a long finger.

'Hey, you don't do that to your da-friend.' He corrected, realising just how close he's been to saying 'dad.' Either way she ignored his falter, still giggling at his gasp for heated air. Why he'd chosen the body of an older man he didn't know. All he knew was that Clara would have laughed her head off.

'Right, now you're finally here we can exchange these.'

He followed her up to that stand again, placing all the items on the table and the blobfish - who he realised was called Unkar Plutt - had given her an improvement on yesterday's meal. Delighted and smiling, she was offered fifteen portions for what she had and even the Doctor was smiling too despite the glaring looks still following him around from the locals.

'It's a shame you'll eventually have to leave in your TARDIS. If I had help like this again I'd be stocked for the whole year!'

'Ah, well, that's advanced alien technology for you. And we'll be leaving tomorrow, although I've actually had a good time today.'

'What?' She said disappointingly, 'you're leaving tomorrow?'

'I'm afraid so. Me and Clara need to get back to our own world, saving other civilisations and stopping monsters from attacking cities and different races. I'd be surprised if Earth had kept safe during the time we were away.'

'But...I don't want you too.' She said, turning to him. Her face was actually quite adorable in that state, eyes inflating like Clara's did.

'Well, that's a real good improvement on yesterday.'

'I guess it is, yeah. But you've also given me a lot of company, something I hardly get in my life.'

'I know, and I'm sorry. I'm sure Clara would love to stay and help you, especially with your parents but we need to go. We always do, sooner or later.'

'Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you didn't travel?'

'Many times. I'm sure Clara would hate the idea.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, she's become just as addicted as I am to it.'

'Well, anyway, I'm glad you landed here. And stopped me from stealing your ship.'

'I'm glad of that too.' He said, glimpsing the grey dome they were heading towards and wondering if Clara had found anything. Hopefully, she hadn't.