Clara, the woman he had come to know again in his memories, was less than twenty feet from him. He could feel her, sense her and if he chose to tune in, he would hear her, he was sure. He bent over her grave and listened, expecting the crunch of frost or twigs, discovering instead her breath, her heartbeats tapping out her pulse. Things that ought to be silent. Things that stopped when he plucked her from her timeline and trapped her in a moment before death.

Clara was alive again. Properly alive that was. The force of that hit him unexpectedly hard. He could feel tears rising and something clutching at his chest. He had saved her only to have her life a lifeless existence. How he had gone over the implications of that since he remembered; he had tormented himself for his selfishness and regret. She would have no pleasures in life, no eating, no drinking, no sleeping, no physiological change of any kind; excitement, fatigue, discomfort, arousal. She would never age or bear children. She would never die until she chose to go back to Trap Street. Clara would exist in a constant state of being, and in her case, perhaps a constant state of fear, adrenaline frozen in her veins, waiting for the Raven to strike.

And now here she was, unfrozen, released, alive. For a moment he couldn't think how and for that moment it didn't matter. It was the most joyous thing he could ever have wished for. Clara was alive and he was forgiven, he could feel it. He could feel it in the warmth with which she was watching him.

He could feel it. Now there was an odd thing.

The Doctor hesitated. How could he feel it without trying, without contact? How could she be alive? His mind began to question and to query, leaving behind the pure joy and increasing his concerns. This wasn't right, this wasn't right at all.

Oh no.

The heartbeats he could hear, the forgiveness he could feel. Suddenly he knew the cause of her cure and the tears of happiness he had felt rising now fell slowly in regret, wetting his cheeks. The fault still lay with him; his guilt was as great as ever. Had she been so desperate to restart her metabolism, live a life that she had made a deal? Was this really something she had chosen, perhaps in some vain attempt to find him again? Or had it been imposed upon her, an odd punishment for the Impossible Girl. Did she even understand the implications? The true nature of what she had become? Perhaps she had been tricked, she wouldn't be the first. A pretty package it made, but laced with troubles that only became obvious long after the conversion had taken place.

Had she noticed yet? It was probably too early, Clara had that yet to come and oh how his hearts sank at that.

He knew at that moment he couldn't turn his back. He knew she might blame him in the end, after all if she had never met him her life would be so different. She might hate him one day when the true implications of her state hit her, but he would just have to be strong. There was no-one else to guide her. They knew that though didn't they? That was probably half the reason they had done this. So he would have to watch the woman he loved, be tortured by something which never should have been given to her; watch her slowly realise the gift she thought would help her, would become her prison.

And in the meantime the Doctor could feel them pulling together, an old tie, like a string, connecting and urging him on. He could almost hear the TARDIS from where he stood, pleading with a high serious of bleeps for him not to speak her name, to keep the Hybrid apart, and this new development was almost certainly a warning sent back along his timeline. She had altered and their potential for danger was much greater with the power she now had.

He should leave. He should heed it and head back to the TARDIS, give no indication he had felt her there. He glanced towards the trees and back at his ship.

But he was all she had this side of the end of the universe, and They knew it. She must feel quite alone and that hurt him. After all, he did, he understood it, and now they were even more similar. He'd only known her a week, but really it was millennia, freshly packed back into his memories, and he couldn't turn away from that or the thing he had discovered tonight.

He let her know he felt her there and waited for her response, hoping it would dry his tears.

XXXXXXXXX

'Coffee?' Clara said again trying to spur him into action. He'd offered it and then become befuddled and awkward, just like he always had been, but the more she looked at him the less awkward he became until eventually he was beautiful. The Doctor, lost in analysis, studying her hard, each feature, each word and the light from the TARDIS at his back casting a halo around him. He looked like an Angel.

'Coffee,' he muttered tilting his head and looking at her again, the a spell broken he straightened up and gestured for her to go ahead, 'Yes, coffee …' The Doctor ushered her a few steps and hovered by her side until she took the lead and picked her way towards the TARDIS. She could hear him behind her, the sound of his steps, but he didn't say a word and it unsettled her. She supposed it must be hard, to see her again from nowhere, in a graveyard of all places, but for herself she felt excitement and joy. She wanted to chatter away and throw her arms around him, cry and laugh and tell him everything, but there was an invisible shield around him that stopped her and made her nervous.

He knew didn't he.

When she reached the TARDIS doors she half expected them to shut in her face. Never her biggest fan the ship would look to protect the Doctor and her new state could arouse suspicion, upset the Old Girl until it was all explained, even then it wasn't likely to be popular. Then again, she prayed, the ship had its own psychic abilities and might be able to sense her intentions. She wasn't on some secret mission to hurt him, she just missed him so badly. If anything she wanted to protect him.

Clara stepped through into the console room and hesitated, one hand on the rail, glancing behind her. The doors had stayed open, allowing her to enter. She felt like she had passed an exam but when she turned back she could see that even if the TARDIS had ok'd things, he was still watching her with wary blue eyes. She tried to smile and make some conversation, desperately trying to erase the several hundred years of nothing that hung between them, but just where did she start?.

'You haven't redecorated then,' she tried, 'I like it.' She glanced across at him but his face remained set and mirthless. The look he always had when trying to contain an emotion, positive or otherwise. He was inscrutable when he wanted to be. Clara looked away and ran her eyes over the fittings.

Inside very little had changed. He hadn't altered the décor significantly or the layout of the console room. The same roundels and railings, perhaps a richer colour scheme but one that was subtle. While she was gazing around her he snapped his fingers and the doors still shut in response, just as they had always done. She listened for a moment to the low thrum of the engines and breathed in the scent around her. Leather bound books and technology in equal parts, mixed with a delicate citrus overtone she knew came from him. It was home. It always had been, and she fought with the urge to fall into its arms and rest at last.

'Coffee…' he said suddenly and she looked back at him over her shoulder to find he had stopped his wary watching and sprung into terrified action. 'Coffee, coffee,' the Doctor glanced up at her a little panicked, like he hadn't had a houseguest in centuries, 'Coffee in paper cups or mugs, take away coffee? Fresh coffee? Instant? I…I can't remember what you take,' he added softly. Clara thought she could see pain in his eyes when eh said it, pain from such a little thing, but she knew why.

He couldn't remember. He couldn't remember coffee… or all of it? How much did he know about her really? He said he had no blank bits but how could he tell? She suddenly realised she was scared to find out the extent of his memories. She wanted to pretend things were as they had always been. She could feel him inside worrying, turning over his thoughts again and again, wandering down increasingly catastrophic roads with them. Physically, when she met his eye she saw he was as nervous as she was, inanimate with anxiety.

He was never good at this stuff, and still wasn't, she understood with a small smile of reminiscence, so she stepped forward and tried to take the lead in this, a difficult social engagement if ever there was one. She'd have to do some cards for him later and tried to think what one should put on the one for being reunited with the person you love after centuries. Clara smiled bravely.

'Calm, Doctor, coffee in mugs is fine. We don't need to go anywhere especially for coffee.'

'But we always used to…'

'End up in Glasgow, or get lost entirely and land in trouble. No, Doctor I don't want you to vanish for three weeks retrieving beverages. Let's just go to the kitchen.'

'If I vanished you could probably locate me now, you have a TARDIS of your own,' he smiled shyly and made his way to the corridor with Clara closely following.

'Yes,' she said hesitantly, 'All TARDIS have tracking ability on one another, I learned that early…'

The Doctor looked down at her and sideways as they walked.

'Did you? Yes a very handy ability….Did you ever track me?' he asked trying to seem nonchalant.

'Um… well…'

'Because I tried to track you and for some reason… you never showed up.'

Clara bit her lip and looked away.

'Blocked the signal?' he queried.

'I didn't,' she confessed, 'Ashildr used to try and keep it off, both ways, so you couldn't see me and vice versa. She thought it was unhealthy of me to watch… I used to look when I was up all night. Back then I didn't need any sleep at all of course…' she stopped suddenly when she became aware of his frown. Oh he knew alright. Clara quickly continued her story, 'but… it was comforting to see your TARDIS and I thought maybe if you could see my signal now and then… even if you didn't really know why…'

He nodded next to her. 'You were right,' he said.

'Oh,' she said.

'It was comforting,' the Doctor went on, 'Except back then I didn't know who I was looking at. Just this blip on the screen. I tried to get to it a few times but the Old Girl never let me get within any kind of range. I had a theory it was the girl called Clara… you I mean… but she never let me near. Still… sometimes at night I'd watch…'

'We sound like we were watching each other then… from time to time, so to speak,' Clara said.

They reached the kitchen and Clara sat obediently while he flitted about, her eyes wide, taking in all the old familiar things she could see, right down to the cooking utensils she had brought on board years ago that still occupied cupboards and shelves. Despite all her efforts her own TARDIS had never really had the same charm. She suspected because it never had him.

He made coffee. Well he started to and then Clara had to take over. It seemed he'd forgotten in the time since he'd seen her how to go about mundane human chores. She handed him a mug but he couldn't settle in the kitchen so she thought hard about somewhere more relaxed and the TARDIS, to her great surprise, came to her rescue. The library popped up opposite and within that a cosy little corner with a fire and plenty of cushions. She watched the Doctor adjust them over and over and eventually took them away from him.

'It's ok, relax,' she said ad watched him exhale very deliberately. 'I know this is… odd,' she added wishing she had a better word for their situation. 'I don't really know where to start either.'

He was brushing down his trousers now, fiddling with the material, picking at it. She'd forgotten how unsettled he could be, how overactive. He looked as though he was psyching himself up for something and she supposed that was fair enough. She'd been sitting by the yew trees knowing this was coming. He'd arrived at her graveside expecting to find her dead. That would throw anyone.

At last, slowly he raised his eyes and she very deliberately smiled when they locked with hers.

'Clara,' he said.

'Um… yes,' she said lightly.

'You're here. After all this time. In my TARDIS,' he smiled cautiously, watching her every move and expression. She could almost feel him trying to read her mind, battling with himself. It was considered rude just to dive in there and flick through somebody's thoughts so he was restraining himself although he could have done it so easily, she was no expert at blocking people yet.

From him she felt a vague sense of terror. It had to be coming off him pretty strong for her unpractised ability to notice, but there it was. He so desperately wanted to be happy, but he feared something too. She tried as much as possible to 'feel' calming and reassuring to him, to try and transmit those sensations but she had a long way to go when it came to controlling her thoughts. Still he seemed to pick up on something and he seemed to relax a little as he said again, 'Clara Oswald…Back in my TARDIS after all this time,' with a sigh.

'Yes.' Clara grabbed one of his hands and squeezed, but wasn't prepared for what came next. A jolt of purple electricity behind her eyes as they connected which nearly knocked her backwards, but which he seemed to deal with easily. She gasped and he tilted his head, looking at her with interest for a moment, considering what he saw.

He smiled properly then, a full, uninhibited smile that crinkled his eyes and warmed her chest. 'Two phrases I never thought I'd say again together,' he said.

'It's a special occasion,' she confirmed.

'It is,' the happiness in his eyes threatened to spill over and she sagged with relief, his concerns were still there but less evident; his joy at seeing her had supplanted them all, 'And as such I would like to make a request,' he was saying.

'Oh?' she sat up a little straighter, trying to drag her mind into the current setting.

'Well…. I know its perhaps a little out of character, but you always liked these things and I thought maybe I could request….a hug?' he said. He watched her with a little of the same wariness as he had in the graveyard. Did she still do hugs? His face wondered, or had things changed beneath the surface of her skin?

Well yes they had, and she knew he sensed it, but that part was still pure Clara.

'I have waited decades for that request!' she said reassuringly.

'I'm a little slow on the uptake,' he said.

Coffee was abandoned. Clara pulled herself into the Doctor's waiting arms and squeezed him tightly, overwhelmed by the feel and scent of him, the tight hold of his arms. All that uncertainty which had so far plagued them both was forgotten. This was where they belonged, together again. Damn the Hybrid, damn everything outside of that room, of that embrace. He was right there and a rush of love nearly knocked her backwards as it poured from his psyche. Without thinking she drew back slightly and pressed her lips to his.

He startled almost immediately, staring at her wide -eyed until she realised what she had done. She held one hand to her mouth.

'Sorry! Sorry. Carried away. I just…' she looked at him wistfully, 'I have missed you, you daft old man, so much.'

Clara watched him again wrestle with what to do next until something in him gave way. 'I've missed you too,' he said roughly and before she could reply he was kissing her, properly this time, his arms tight around her body and his lips parting. Clara responded in kind, arousal in her blood, pumping hard around her vessels, making her burn. She thought of the Cloisters and of the things they had said. Nothing truly had changed, and his kiss felt the same. The Hybrid, the echo of that legend, hovered at the edges of her thoughts, but she wouldn't let it in.

But Clara couldn't keep everything at bay. The memory of the Hybrid, her parting from the Doctor, the years without him, the offer she had accepted and the changes in her. She hadn't strength to build barriers high enough and the knowledge was leaking back into her consciousness.

Not now, not now…

Something was wrong and something had changed. They both knew it, Clara was just waiting for the topic to be raised and the Doctor had been afraid to raise it, but it couldn't be put off forever. Their kiss slowed, their touches became more gentle and the Doctor pulled away from her, his eyes searching hers. Clara felt a cloud pass over her and knew she would have to tell him properly, explain the unsaid truth between them.

Slowly he placed one palm between her breasts, and waited, counting beats; she knew what was coming.

'How?' he said quietly.

'They made me an offer I couldn't refuse,' she said straightforwardly, simplifying the awful heated arguments of that day, down to the basic truth.

'Which was?' the Doctor asked, and she sensed his fear already, what had she wanted so badly that she would risk repercussions so huge? 'Clara?' he asked again. 'What was their offer?'

'To live,' Clara said, 'Properly, to be unfrozen…'

There was utter defeat in his expression and it shocked her. She had thought he would be pleased somehow, shocked at first but then a form of relief.

'And you said yes, straight away didn't you?' he said.

'Yes, but not for the reason you think. It wasn't just about me; I'd accepted I was on borrowed time,' she saw him nod.

'I know you didn't do it for yourself Clara, I almost wish that had been your motivation.'

'Doctor, They told me that…'

'Let me guess,' he said sadly, 'They told you one day soon I would need you? To keep travelling and that the timelines had finally come right? That the universe wouldn't end as predicted and all that Hybrid stuff was rubbish? That you could help when the time came?'

Clara stared at him. 'How…?'

'Clara I've been playing their games for thousands of years, nothing is ever free. They are sitting at the close of the universe, passing time until everything ends. What better way to pass the time than to watch the chaos they create? Its entertainment for them. They are like the Gods in ancient Greece in that respect, throwing lightning down onto their people, playing games of cat and mouse.'

'No… no it wasn't like that, they told me I could help you, they transformed me, with the Elixir and the Schism,' Clara took his hand back again and made him feel her heartbeats. 'Two hearts,' she said, 'I'm like you now, a Time Lord, a Time Lady in my case…'

'Clara… oh Clara I'm so sorry,' he said. 'You're like me now in more ways than one.'

She hesitated and frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'I mean before you might have taken one of their TARDIS but they were never really going to come after you to get it back.'

'No, I guess they had a few spare,' she said chirpily. The Doctor gave her a curious withering look. 'What's that got to do with it?' she retorted when she saw his expression. He was unnerving her.

'This is serious Clara. They will use you in any way they can. Now that you are a Time Lady, an inexperienced biological Time Lady with no Academy training to protect you, they have powers enough to hear you, sense you, find you…manipulate you, use you… to get to me. To do anything they like. Track you, take possession of you, make you walk, talk and act the way they want.'

Clara could feel her pulse rising as he spoke. 'What?' she whispered, horrified.

'They could have you stick in knife in me or navigate the TARDIS into a moon to crash land,' he elaborated. 'You are incredibly vulnerable. You're like a sleeper waiting to be activated for their fun. And on top of that, all of that other stuff, the Hybrid, the universe, it still applies,' he continued.

'Oh my god…' she breathed. 'I'm a time bomb.'

The Doctor held her gaze, grim and pale. 'Yes, Clara. Before you were one of times tourists, frozen maybe, but relatively free to roam, but now…'

'What am I now?' she asked, dreading his answer.

'A ticking clock, a danger to everyone around you, pursued and shunned at the same time. You're like me, just as you said, except more exposed that I ever was. A beacon in time for them to latch onto. Nothing will ever be the same for either of us.'

She shook her head not understanding and he leaned into her slightly to whisper, the tone of his voice unreadable. Was it fear or excitement or both? It sent a shiver through her whichever it was, and a sense that a new and even more dangerous adventure was about to begin.

'Run… you clever girl,' he breathed, 'because they're coming.'

She barely had a second to respond, before the Cloister Bell rang out.