Clara was reading in her room when she heard a rustle coming from the doors of her bedroom. She rose from the bed and approached the doors to inspect the source of noise. Next to the threshold, she found a small piece of stationery. She smoothed out the delicate paper and read the words written on it with a black ink in the Doctor's hand.

"6 p.m. Your Tardis.

P.S.: Sorry about the paper, I couldn't find anything that didn't stink like roses. -D"

Since there was only an hour to go, Clara hurryingly decided to change into something more appropriate and leave the house as soon as possible. She chose a simple burgundy dress with a huge white and black flowers printed on it and matching black leather sandals. A sad reverie filled up her mind when she realised that she couldn't recall the last time when she put on anything similarly young and innocent. It seemed like the Doctor took that part of her life with him.

No one could tell from her face, but she was in her late nineties already. Most of the people she grew up with were either dead already or were awaiting in their hearts for death to finally pay them a visit. Clara in turn, hadn't gotten older by even a day over all these years. It didn't mean she hadn't changed though. She did more than anyone, but the changes simply didn't touch her body; only her heart.

She once again checked her expression in the huge standing mirror in her room and finally left her bedroom to meet the Doctor.

The way to her Tardis turned out to be much longer than she remembered, but maybe it was simply the fact that she couldn't wait to finally meet him that made the time stop.

The Doctor was already waiting for her there when she arrived. He was leaning on one of the huge maple trees and discussing something with Gulliver who was sitting patiently by his side. Once the dog spotted Clara, it immediately got up and quickly ran to greet her.

Clara kneeled over him slightly and gently stroked his soft golden fur. The Doctor also moved in her direction and soon she met his eyes,; he was smiling at her slyly.

"Hello stranger,-" he whispered into the fabric of her dress while she was hugging him. "Mind a little walk?"

"Not at all,-" she answered merrily when her grip around his thin body was loosening.

"Gulliver." The Doctor called the golden retriever which started to sniff shrubs of blueberry totally unaware that they already wandering off. He tried multiple times, the dog, however, pretended to be deaf to his calling. Finally the Doctor approached Gully and fasten a leash to his black collar.

"It's a divine retribution with this fellow." He grumbled as he caught up with Clara and put his hand in hers.

"You know what they say about pets -" she teased him. "They are a reflection of their owners."

"In case of this one, it's the lack of discipline." The Doctor hissed under his breath when had to stop as the dog didn't want to move. He tried to pull the stubborn animal but the dog was keeping itself in place with its strong paws.

Clara giggled and took the leash from his hand. And to her surprise, the dog moved immediately.

"See, a right attitude is the key."

They were wandering for another twenty minutes till a glade decorated with a carpet of tiny blue and yellow flowers appeared before their eyes. Clara was utterly surprised when she noticed a red blanket lying on the soft grass in front of them. She turned around and raised her eyebrow on the Doctor.

"Do you know anything about this?" She asked with a deadpan expression on her face.

"Not at all-" he said calmly and winked at her. "Do you like it?"

"It's lovely. What's the occasion?"

"Just lovely?" He shook his head pretending that he felt offended and took a bottle of wine from the picnic basket lying on the blanket. "At least I have this bottle of twenty year old Chardonnay to comfort myself."

Clara went on tiptoes and brought her lips to his in a chaste kiss.

"Actually you were very close to excellent,-" she told him as their lips parted.

She could feel the Doctor's huge hands wrapping around her waist and press her harder to his core.

"You think so?" He asked her before he leant in and captured her lips for another gentle kiss.

His attitude after everything he heard from her earlier was surprising, she thought to herself. She doubted he would take it so easily with his stubbornness and need to prove everyone it was him who was right. But maybe she was taking his respect for her choices for granted and he truly accepted it.

"Well, Pierre can stay forever if it means more picnics like this one." Clara purred in satisfaction nuzzling his nose with hers.

The Doctor took a seat and gestured her to make herself comfortable too.

"It's just a prelude. Wait till you see what I have planned for later." He spoke proudly as his hand reached to the basket and opened it revealing multiple treats.

"Sorry to spoil the mood, but I need to ask you about something,-" Clara rasped. She wished she could be as romantic and spontaneous as he was that day, but she remembered the truth. There were dark clouds hanging above their heads and pretending they weren't there would not help to set things straight. It would only make them worse.

"I know what you mean. And yes, this is why I wanted to meet here,-" The Doctor muttered. "Hope I got instructions from the book right. Nevertheless please be forgiving, I don't do this every day. " He told her before he reached to his pocket and retrieved small box from it.

Before she could collect more information about the object he held in his hand, he kneeled in front of her with the above box opened. Inside the small wooden box, on white velvet sat a tiny ring made up of two intertwining rings. The metal was well-known to her, silver, and a medium-sized burgundy stone sat in the middle of it all.

Frantically, Clara rose from the blanket and escaped few steps away from him.

"You better be making fun of me-," she whispered.

The Doctor got himself up from his knees and approached her.

"I know it's very early to ask you about similar things. But I have a counter proposition to yours. We'll stay together for a while, until my time is up. We'll be travelling as much as possible. Do silly stuff as always. And then I'll go there with you. How does it sound?"

"Is that entire carry-on just to make me stay with you?" Clara said with a note of disbelief in her voice. She had no doubt what she just saw wasn't real. The Doctor she knew needed over six months to finally hug her and almost hyperventilated himself to death when he tried to answer to her love confession in the Cloister. And now, out of the blue he decided to propose to her? She just wasn't sure what his intentions were.

"Is it working?" The Doctor asked merrily but the smile left his face when he spotted tears forming in Clara's eyes.

"Do you do that often?" Clara was almost shouting. "Is that your way to make women who love you keep their mouth shut? You just pop up with an engagement ring and an offer of marriage. Does that promise even mean anything to you or is it just what you do? The end justifies the means and so on. Is that how you treated River and Elisabeth I? Wait, don't even answer. "

She left him in the pouring rain of questions and walked herself back to the manor.

Once she was sure she was out of his sight, Clara leant back on one of the tall trees and breathed in heavily. She wasn't ready to show up in the house just yet, not after what he just did to her. It was quite obvious to her it wasn't love which made him ask her to marry him today. His ruthless methods to get what he wanted were known to her, but she has not even once thought he would dare to use her love for him against her. He hurt her. He'd made her feel humiliated more than anyone ever had. All her innermost secrets and desires were displayed in front of her eyes today, so close she could almost touch them. Only to become a mockery.

A mockery she would never forgive him for.