Earlier

Slowly but surely, Clara awoke. She could have sworn that there had been a hand, lightly brushing through her hair, and she muttered:

"Doctor?" No one responded, and she lifted her head from where it had been resting on her arm, opening her eyes. She glanced around with confusion, until her eyes landed on a small note in the middle of the table, which read:

Don't worry, Lilly's with me.

She'll stay in the TARDIS to recover, and then we'll be back

Shouldn't be too long.

-The Doctor

Clara's eyes widened. Lilly! She had forgotten all about her when she was trying to hack into the Wifi. What's happened to her? Why does she need to recover? These thoughts were flying through her head as she picked up the laptop and ran out of the café.

I better find out if she's okay . . .

Many Hours Later

Clara stood in her room, peering around at nothing in particular. It hadn't taken her long to realize that she had no way to contact the Doctor or to check on Lilly.

Great, she thought. Who knows when he'll be back.

A sudden zapping noise and a bright light from behind her caused Clara to jump. She spun around, her eyes quickly landing on what must've been the cause of the noise.

Someone, standing in the shadows cast by the curtains, faced Clara. The familiar figure caused her to raise an eyebrow.

"Lilly, what the heck are you doing here? The Doctor said that you're 'recovering.'" Lilly ignored her.

"Clara, I need you to remember this. It's very, very important." Clara raised an eyebrow, but nodded nonetheless.

"When the time comes – and you'll know it when it happens – I need you to do something for me." Clara nodded again, beginning to get slightly skeptical.

"Of course. I mean, if you'd stop speaking in riddles then that would be great, and would probably make life easier for the both of us, but anyway, of course." Lilly seemed to grin slightly, but because of the shadows surrounding her, Clara couldn't truly tell.

"When it happens, you need to save me from it."

"From what?"

"From myself." Clara shook her head.

"Okay, you know what I said about speaking in riddles? This is what I'm talking about. And why aren't you in the TARDIS, recovering? The Doctor said-"

"I know what the Doctor said," Lilly snapped. She didn't have much time left; she could feel it in her bones.

"Just remember what I told you." Clara nodded wordlessly. Lilly never snapped at her. She never got upset at small things like that . . . so who was this?

"Who are you?" Clara voiced her thoughts aloud. Lilly seemed to smile weakly.

"To quote a good friend of mine, 'Spoilers.'" And without further ado, Lilly reached to something on her arm, and bright flash of light engulfed her. In the blink of an eye, she was gone, and Clara was alone in her room once again.

Now

"What was that for?!" Lilly asked in shock, holding her stinging cheek.

"You know exactly what that was for," Clara spat. "Popping into my room, speaking in riddles, then just popping back out again. What the heck was that about?!"

"Clara, I really don't know what you're talking about. Really, I've been in the TARDIS since I woke up!" Clara opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She huffed,

"Fine, but how did- how did you . . . ugh, fine. I give up." The Doctor, after silently watching the exchange, clapped his hands together.

"Erm- anyway, Clara, you didn't answer my question earlier." The Doctor said, changing the subject.

"What question?" Clara asked, letting the topic from earlier go (for now).

"You don't seem like a nanny." Clara paused, thinking for a moment of how to respond.

"I was going to travel. I came to stay for a week before I left, and during that week . . ."

"She died," The Doctor finished for her.

"So you're returning a favour. But 101 places to see, and you haven't been to any of them, have you? That's why you keep the book." Clara moved closer, allowing a small smile onto her face.

"I keep the book because I'm still going."

"But you don't run out on the people that you care about," The Doctor said, peering at Clara curiously. He looked down, and muttered to himself: "Wish I was more like that."

Lilly looked up at him, a curious yet concerned look on her face. She shared a glance with Clara.

"You know, the thing about a time machine, you can run away all you like and still be home in time for tea," he said. A smile was on his face as he practically seemed to skip closer to the two girls.

"So what do you two say?" The smile on his face seemed contagious, and Lilly couldn't help but find herself grinning too. "Anywhere. All of time and space right outside those doors."

Clara smiled, turning to look at the doors before turning back to the Doctor.

"Does this work?" The Doctor gave her a confused look, and she continued.

"Is this actually what you do? Do you just crook your finger and people just jump in your snog box and fly away?" Lilly had to stifle a laugh as she scolded her.

"Clara!" She exclaimed at the same time that the Doctor said "It is not a snog box!"

"I'll be the judge of that," Clara replied with a smirk. Lilly faked a belch.

"Starting when?" Lilly smiled, and walked over to the two.

"How about this . . . come back tomorrow, ask us again." The Doctor looked down, and started to fiddle with the console.

"Why?"

"Because tomorrow we might say yes." Clara and Lilly grabbed each other's hands and began to move back towards the door. Clara called back over her shoulder:

"Sometime after 7:00 okay for you?" She asked.

"It's a time machine," the Doctor said, exasperatedly. "Any time's okay."

"See you then," Lilly responded. A smile on her face. She was about to walk out the door when the Doctor called out again.

"Clara?" Clara turned around, her hand resting on the door handle.

"Uh-huh?"

"In your book there was a leaf. Why?" Clara and Lilly shared a glance.

"That wasn't a leaf," Lilly started.

"That was page one." Clara finished it for her, and with that, they opened the door, and left the TARDIS.

"He's got to be so confused right now," Lilly whooped as they stood outside of Clara's door. As they stood there a moment longer, the smile slowly dropped from her face.

"Clara- you said that I was in your room earlier-"

"It's fine, I get that it wasn't you. I mean, I do want an explanation, but I know that you can't give me one since you apparently weren't there." Lilly paused.

"But- what if I was?" She looked up at Clara. "What if I was there, but not- not me me?"

Clara raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Lilly leaned against the door.

"I mean, we just found out about time travel, and aliens, and all sorts of stuff. So what if it was, I don't know, future me, not current me, or maybe it was an alien or something."

"Not a very comforting thought," Clara commented with a smirk. Lilly rolled her eyes playfully.

"Shut up, it's the best explanation I can think of." Lilly opened the door after a light-hearted whack to Clara's arm, and they entered the house.

Little did they know, at that very same moment, the Doctor was delving into their past. Going deeper into it than even they could remember, he wanted something very specific from it.

He wanted to unravel their mystery, and he wanted to do it now.