"Doctor? What…?" Clara was silenced with a hug.

The Doctor's hearts were racing. It was her. She was alive. Again. He was so overwhelmed by emotions he couldn't put a name at this particular moment. Words filled his head but he was unable to make any sense of them, unable to arrange them into sentences.

"TARDIS. NOW." Those were the only two words he could manage to get out. The ecstatic joy, his responsibility to keep her safe and his love for his companion swarmed inside his mind. He grabbed her hand tightly and practically dragged her into the TARDIS, which was parked obscurely in a storage room.

"Doctor?! What's wrong?" Clara didn't want to see him now – it was bad timing. Very, very bad timing. But it seemed like he needed her more than ever.

"I love you, Clara." Did he really say that out loud? "I need you to know that." He added shyly.

"Doctor…." Clara hesitated. "Tell me. Why are you behaving this way? This… is not you!" She knew there was something wrong with the Doctor. She wasn't going to accept that statement as a fact, no matter how much she wanted it to be true. No, she couldn't let her emotions take over. She had to stop and she knew why.

"What about a nice holiday, eh? Somewhere really safe and where no one will interfere with us. Do you fancy anywhere in particular? I know a great place in-"

"Doctor!" Clara interrupted. "Sit. Down." She patted the chair in the console room. "Stay still." She commanded. He obeyed. She disappeared into the corridor, and came back with two mugs of tea.

The Doctor opened his mouth to speak. "I-"

"Don't say anything until you've calmed down. You are not yourself and you know it." Clara scolded. She always knew what was best for him. His impossible girl, taking care of him when no one could. What was that sad glint in her eyes?

He finished the tea in silence, never taking an eye off Clara.

"Now slowly breathe in," Clara instructed as she demonstrated. "And out. Now, tell me what happened." She said in a gentle, caring voice.

"I… I-" The Doctor stopped himself. He couldn't tell Clara what had happened. Even he didn't know what was happening. What would Clara think of him if he said he had watched her die? She certainly wouldn't appreciate knowing about her… future? Her echoes? He had no idea why his impossible girl was being impossible.

"I… lost someone." He finally concluded. Vague yet true. He wasn't lying, but he wasn't being entirely truthful either.

Clara slowly nodded. "You lost someone and now you're trying to fill the space with me?" She asked, compassionately. "I understand."

"Really?" He looked up. Clara's eyes were twinkling. He could tell that it was the truth and she had really meant what she said.

"When I lost my mum, I filled the hole she left with study. I didn't talk with anyone, I didn't eat… I just overloaded myself with study and work. That was my way of handling grief. I guess everyone has a different way of dealing with it. Grief is a strong emotion… and nothing can prepare for the pain it brings."

"Yeah." He choked out. Three times she had died. All of their faces flashed past him. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He suppressed the memories deep inside his mind. Somewhere he would never look.

"Somewhere quiet." Clara smiled, patting the Doctor's shoulder.

"Sorry?" the Doctor opened his eyes again, his mind finally clear of emotion.

"You asked me if I fancied somewhere. Let's go somewhere quiet. Away from civilisation. It feels like we both need it." She smiled. The Doctor wondered why she was on her way to the hospital, but he could see that it was something Clara didn't want to talk about. Some bad news, he thought.

"No adventure, then." The Doctor quietly walked around the TARDIS, pressing buttons and pulling levers. "Australia. Early 1700s. Untainted by the industrial revolution. Just before the first settlers arrived." He clicked the door open. Clara saw stars swirling all around them. Beautiful blues, purples and greens. Crickets were chirping and quiet waves crashed onto the beach. A cool breeze gently touched her cheeks and the smell of greenery invited her outside. She saw silhouettes of kangaroos in the horizon: obviously they had never met people before, as they cautiously approached them in curiosity. Clara giggled as they went past.

"It's beautiful." Clara said, lying on the beach. The Doctor gathered some driftwood and lit a fire, which glowed green and orange.

"Chemicals in driftwood makes the fire go green." The Doctor explained as he poked the fire. He lay beside Clara and gazed at the stars.

"Thank you." Clara said after a while, eyes shining. "I thought I was having the worst day today before I met you." Clara laughed dryly. It wasn't even a happy laugh, it was a laugh filled with sadness.

The Doctor didn't want to push her for a reason, even though his curiosity bothered him. Clara did so much for him yet he could never seem to return the favour.

"Doctor, I need to ask you a question." Clara turned her head to face him.

"Go ahead." He turned his head to face her too. Her eyes were filled with sadness.

"When- I mean, if I die… are you going to travel alone?" Clara asked in a small voice.

"I don't know. I try not to. You never know." He shrugged. He always seemed to move on, just like he did after Adric… Donna… the Ponds… The Doctor realised that Clara was crying.

"Hey, Clara, what's wrong?" The Doctor sat up, surprised. Was the sight upsetting her?

"Doctor, I can't travel with you anymore." Clara whispered. She wanted to, but she couldn't. "This is our last hurrah."

"What? Why?" The Doctor stood up abruptly in shock. She couldn't just say that! He thought she liked the adventures. 101 places to see yet holed up as a nanny. Who was going to help her fill them now?

"I… can't anymore. It's becoming harder to juggle two lives." Her eyes told otherwise. 'You idiot. If you say that, this is the last time you're going to see him. Why are you saying that?!' her heart chastised her brain. "When you take me back home, I don't want you to come and see me again."

She sighed in regret. 'Of course you want to see him again. You fancy him!' the voice in her head screamed.

"It would… hurt me." She confessed, the only piece of truth in her words.

The Doctor was hurt. His impossible girl wanted to stop. But then he realised that was for the better. With him, she died. Kept dying. Will inevitably die in the future. "Okay. I understand."

When they arrived back at her flat, Clara stopped the Doctor before he entered the TARDIS. She reached up and gave him a kiss.

"Thank you, Doctor, for making me feel special." She smiled.

"Thank you for exactly the same." Something told him that this had happened before, but he decided not to question it.

He set the TARDIS in flight and sat on the staircase pondering what he'd done wrong. Why Clara just out of the blue, left him.

"I don't want you to come and see me again… it would… hurt me."

The sentence echoed in his head. Another question popped into his head. Why was she going to a hospital?

Just before he reached for the lever, he found Clara's phone. He had to go back, he had to ask. So many questions were rushing through his head. The Doctor clutched her white phone.

When he landed in Clara's flat, no one was home.

"Clara?" Dead silence answered him.

Everything was the same, except for the thin layer of dust gathered on the books laying around the furniture. She must be out. He decided to try somewhere else.

The Doctor connected Clara's phone to the TARDIS and tracked her. He landed to find himself once again parked inside the storage room of the hospital.

When he opened the door, he found a small parcel near his foot. He opened it to find a bag containing a small, silver cube. He tilted his head in confusion, placed it in his pocket and scanned the hospital for Clara.

He quietly opened a wooden door that the sonic indicated.

There was one patient in the room whom he didn't expect to see.

"Clara." He whispered. She was in an oxygen mask, sleeping. He dared not wake her. After all, he did promise not to visit her again. He carefully picked up her patient records and flicked through.

"Thyroid cancer. Stage 4." He uttered as he placed it down. "Oh, Clara." He stared at her in sad eyes.

Everything made sense now. Clara was going to the hospital because she'd been diagnosed with cancer. She had said she didn't want to travel because it would be too much for her. Clara slowly opened her eyes before the Doctor had a chance to hide. When everything came to her senses, her eyes widened.

"You should have told me." The Doctor smiled sadly. "I understand now."

Clara teared up. "I'm sorry." She mouthed. The cancer in her throat had destroyed her voice, leaving her mute. The lie she had to tell in her last adventure had hurt more than the truth. After the Doctor had left, she had regretted that decision every night.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm here now." The Doctor wiped away her tears. "Everything is going to be okay." He smiled.

No it's not. Clara thought. Nothing was okay right now. It hurt her seeing him see her like that.

"Because you know what? I'm a time traveller." The Doctor said, a smile creeping into his face. "More than that, I'm a Time Lord from Gallifrey." He smirked.

Clara watched him as he sat next to her bed. So what?

He continued. "Time Lords created this thing – it's a long term treatment, but it cures any form of cancer. All you need to do is take a dose of this certain type of medicine intravenously every day for years and years and years and when your body is ready for it, they give you an electric pulse – which targets the cancer cells, killing them and curing the patient."

Too late now. Clara looked sadly. She didn't have years and years and years. She was given two months, and her time was nearly over.

"Be right back." The Doctor ran out of the room, and came back in a few minutes.

"You see, time travel has its perks. Yes, there are rules, but anyone can bend around the rules so long as you don't break it." He explained as he took his sonic out from his pocket.

"And if I just do this…." The Doctor adjusted the sonic and pointed at Clara's throat.

Clara felt the lumps disappear, and her airways clear up. Clara reached for her throat. He'd just cured her. She pulled off the oxygen mask and breathed the air for herself.

"…Easy." He snapped his fingers. "Just like that. I didn't break any rules – no paradoxes and no deadly cracks in time. You still had the cancer because I hadn't cured it with the electric pulse. I went back years and years of your timeline and gave you the shot every day while you were asleep. I hope you don't mind that." He smiled awkwardly.

"Doctor!" She hadn't heard her voice for a very long time. It was still croaky, but she was regaining her senses in her throat again. She was grateful. So, so grateful.

"Welcome back, Clara Oswald." He hugged her. "You could have told me. Never hold back. Sharing the load will ease the pain." He added after a moment.

Likewise. You hide stuff from me too. "Yeah. Thank you Doctor. I owe you. I owe you my life." She said.

"No, Clara. You don't owe me anything. You repaid the debt just by being alive – and do so by staying alive." The Doctor smiled with a hint of desperation. Please don't die.

He had finally saved her. He had beaten death. The impossible girl was under his protection now.

The Doctor entered the TARDIS with Clara following, bounding in joy.

Suddenly, as the Doctor reached the staircase, he collapsed onto the ground.

"Doctor!"

"W…what's…?" The Doctor was as confused as Clara. He gasped for breath as red light filled his view. "Doctor, what's happening?!" Clara screamed. The Doctor was having some sort of an epileptic fit.

With his shaky hands, he took out the small bag he had picked up in the storage room. The silver cube had now melted into a puddle of liquid – which was all over his hands and pumping through his bloodstream. It was mercury.

"P-pp-oison." He stuttered. Someone had given him mercury. "Clara… stay back."

"Doctor! What do I do?!" Clara paced anxiously.

"Nothing." He lay still on the floor. He had lost control of his muscles.

"Doctor!" Before Clara could approach him, he plunged into the never ending darkness.

From Clara's point of view, as soon as the Doctor closed his eyes, his body disappeared.

"No! What are you doing?!" Clara yelled at the TARDIS. "He needs me! Bring him back, you cow!" She kicked the console.

"Hazardous substance has been automatically removed from the console room." The voice interface informed her using the Doctor's holographic image.

"Removed where?! Where did you put him?!" She yelled in anger as she pressed random buttons in a desperate attempt to bring him back. "Where?!" She fell onto the ground, crying.

"Clara?"

Clara froze. That was the Doctor's voice. She looked up slowly. He was fine. The Doctor was just standing there… he was alive.

"When did you get into the TARDIS?" His confused eyes met with hers.