Okay so people reviewed and did want a second chapter so here it is - there will be more but don't ask how quick I can get them out, this will have to be written around my coursework but I'll try get the chapters finished out out quick as I can. Be warned - there will probably be a lot more Poe quotes.

Prove It

Clara startled awake, surrounded by her familiar fluffy pillows and blankets and was greeted by the sight of the white cracked paint on her ceiling. She really needed to get around to painting that. She lay back on her pillow and wondered…

She was inclined to believe that what had just transpired in a fantasy forest was just a cruel dream her own mind had created. It had happened before, she dreamed that she found the Doctor again, but it had never been as elaborate as that before… she looked around her bedroom for anything that could prove to her that it wasn't just a dream but found nothing. Though she did not remember getting home or going to bed the night before, so maybe that was something in itself.

She couldn't be too mad with herself if it was a dream. It had been the most fun – even unconscious fun – she'd had in months. And Alice in Wonderland had always been a favourite of hers, in fact she had just reread the book as well as Through the Looking Glass last month. Maybe that was why she had that dream. Though, as she thought about it, she realised that the Doctor would make a very good mad hatter. He as certainly mad enough. She wondered if he'd ever met Lewis Carroll because she could easily see him being the inspiration behind the character.

Clara's phone on the side table began to ring and vibrate – she caught it just as the violent vibrations caused it to slide off the edge of the table. Who thought it was a good idea to give phones such strong vibrations? She answered, happily noting that her voice didn't betray that she had only just woken up at 11am on a Saturday rather than her usual 9:30am.

"Hey gran." She greeted.

"Clara!" her grandmother sounded excited for some reason. "I just had the most hilarious dream, I had to tell someone about it. I was in one of those Arabic castles and I met a genie, oh I it was such a fun dream Clara!"

Clara chuckled – it didn't take a lot to excite her gran, the older the woman got the crazier she wanted to act. "You met a genie? Did you get your three wishes?" she asked as she got out of bed, moving to her kitchen to put the kettle on for her morning tea.

"Of course!" her gran said as if Clara's question was dumb. "It was easier to decide than I thought it would be actually, I guess when you get old like me you don't really want too much else from life. Anyway, I wished for my favourite-"

"-Let me guess, chocolate?"

"-of course!" her gran laughed "Oh it was such a fun dream Clara."

The kettle finished boiling just as there was a knock on Clara's door. She moved to answer it while asking "What else did you wish for?"

As she was searching for the door key her gran answered "Well after chocolate I couldn't really think of much else, so I wished I was in Hawaii and that your grandfather was with me one last time, god rest his soul."

"That's really sweet gran" Clara smiled tenderly, though no one could see, as she finally unlocked the door and removed the chain to open it.

Clara did not hear what else her gran said, too stunned and overjoyed when she opened her door and found the Doctor leaning on the wall opposite her door, her arms crossed over his chest, he had a small smile on his face as he looked at her from underneath the top hat he was still wearing – though Clara now noticed the hat was rather battered, with a TARDIS blue ribbon wrapped around it and feathers that looked like peacock tail feathers and yet she had the feeling they were from a different, and probably alien, bird. She smiled back at him, stepping inside to invite him in as she said to her gran "Gran, sorry but I'm going to have to call you back" and then knowing her gran would ask for an explanation she decided to say "The man is here about the leak in my roof."

"Oh your finally getting that fixed?" her gran asked "Well okay, I'll talk to you later Clara. Love you."

"Love you too Gran." She mumbled, hanging up the phone as the Doctor brushed past her into the apartment – his brows had raised when she said he was the man to fix her roof.

"Fix a leak?" he asked.

"I couldn't very well say the Doctor was here now could I?" Clara frowned as she shut her front door again. "My gran would either be convinced I was sick, or she'd remember you as the naked boyfriend I brought to Christmas dinner."

He had the grace to blush, though he looked irritated. "Yes well. I assure you that I would never forget that other humans could not see holographic clothes."

Clara chuckled, going to the kitchen to finish making tea and he followed her. "Why bother remembering? It's not like you make a habit of wearing holographic clothes is it?"

He just raised his eyebrows as he leaned on the kitchen counter and watched her.

Her eyebrows raised too, in surprise and disbelief. "Do you? Oh my god do you just wander around naked in holographic clothes?"

His face remained carefully blank as he said "I could be wearing holographic clothes right now. You wouldn't know. Would it be a problem?"

Clara felt a blush creep up her neck and new her face and the tips of her ears would be bright crimson. She was so startled by his upfront question – normally he would has laughed in her face or made some angry remark – that she said nothing, having to look away from his suddenly heated gaze and focusing on the tea.

She swore she heard him chuckle, but it might have been the birds outside her windows.

She decided to change the topic. "You know I was convinced I dreamed everything when I woke up. You really shouldn't just prod people and tell them to wake up."

He frowned as she handed him the cup of tea. "Why?"

"Because that's what they do in the movies, and when you wake up you have no idea if it was real or not – it's very confusing."

He was still frowning, though this time he seemed to have a rather interested expression "These movies sound interesting."

She waved a hand at him "Eh, not really. They're usually fantasy romances or something like that. Not your cup of tea."

"How would you know what my cup of tea is?"

"I know you. I highly doubt you'd sit through a romance film without disputing something. Or any movie for that matter."

He made an agreeing noise, but his expression was serious. "Yes well Clara, I am over two thousand years old. I know more about romance and things than any human director could ever."

"That's quite a serious claim" she frowned at him. "But or someone who believes that you often act clueless."

He looked amused "Oh, you think?"

Uncertainty logged in her brain as she considered him then – she hated that on this face she couldn't not read his expressions. His other self had been like an open book, but this face was concealed. He didn't let her past those carefully raised guards of his, she was unable to ever figure out what he was thinking. Then something popped into her head, remember what he quoted in the fantasy Alice in wonderland world, she met his gaze and narrowed her eyes wondering what his reaction would be.

"Years of love have been forgot, in the hatred of a minute." She quoted Poe – and watched as his carefully blank expression fell into one that was stunned, and then a slow smile graced his lips.

"There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of man." He quoted right back to her, the Scottish lilt of his tongue wrapping around the words in a way she had never heard before – her heart practically sang to hear it though she had no real clue what he meant with the words.

"I know that was Poe too, but I don't know what you mean. Are you referring to yourself as the cat or what?" She asked, hiding her lips with the rim of her cup as she prepared to take a sip of her tea.

The Doctor just shrugged, a noncommittal answer and said instead "I still contend that I had a far greater knowledge on romance and the such."

"Prove it" the words slipped out of Clara's mouth as if it had a life of its own. Her expression turned stunned and horrified as the Doctor looked up from his cup to stare at her with a carefully calculated and stunned expression. For a few minutes there was nothing said between them, Clara swore her heart pounded so loud he could hear it across the kitchen. "Wait – sorry – I didn't mean…"

"Okay." He cut across her words – though his expression hadn't changed much.

"What?" she frowned, not daring to believe her ears.

"Okay. I'll prove it. If you're sure you want me too." His stare turned challenging – and she nearly scowled at him because he knew her just as well as she knew him. He knew she wouldn't back down from a challenge so blatantly given. For once though he was keeping his expression readable to her as if he knew that being able to decipher his emotions was making this less, well, nerve wracking for her. His expression was a careful balance between challenging, puzzling and interest – though the interest was not the same expression that he gave his chalkboards when he was solving an equation. It was different, one she'd not seen on this face before.

"Alright then – you have yourself a… a slightly strange deal." She said carefully. She wasn't completely sure but she had the idea she might have just agreed to go on a date with the Doctor – not that she was going to ask outright. She remembered him as the man who was quite afraid of her getting too close to his emotions – she didn't want to scar him away by asking upfront after being apart for so many months. She was still a little shell shocked that he was here at all – she had a feeling it might hit her later and she would have a little break down (but a happy one) and hoped by that time she was alone.

The Doctor suddenly put down his cup, stepping across the kitchen – which for his long legs did take just a single step – until he was standing toe to toe with her. If she wasn't leaning back on the counter her front would have been pressed against his, a realisation that made her tempted to stand straight so that they were touching. He brought a hand up, his expression suddenly soft and calm like she'd not seen it before (except for that one time he fell asleep in the console room) and he reached up, brushing some strands of her hair out of her face. "Are you sure, Clara?" he asked, his voice just as soft as his expression. "Because you really should be sure before asking a, well, someone like me to 'prove it'."

Clara did consider it – but if anything the months of pining for the Doctor had just proved to her more that she loved him. Maybe she always had. She knew each of her echo's that had been in his time stream, that had saved him, had each loved his many faces differently – was it so strange that she would love him too? If anything her feelings previously had made her feel guilty, how could she love both Danny and the Doctor? She had though, maybe she had loved the Doctor more than Danny or the other way around – it was hard to tell – and though she knew she'd always keep Danny in her heart (it was hard to not) she wanted this chance with the Doctor.

"Yes. I'm sure." She said, her voice clear and confident.

He gave a small smile then, leaning in just slighting Clara wondered if he was about to kiss her – but he stepped away instead grabbing his cup back up off the counter as he smirked. "In good time then. Now I'm pretty sure you should get out of those pajamas – we have amazing things to see."

Clara was torn between throwing her cup at him and laughing. Instead she crossed the kitchen, having to stand on her tip toes but managing to swipe the top hat off the Doctors head. "Alright, fine. But I'm taking your hat - hatter."