It's only been three months since he's 'moved' in with her and she can't keep herself from getting this weird feeling (were ghosts even supposed to get these romantic attractions?) whenever he makes these little boy smiles at her, or anything for that matter.

She was becoming a typical woman, and that was scaring her.

It wasn't even that it was because he was super buff or a bad-boy type of guy; he was just really kind and rather funny (in a childish way); his personality (and body) was attractive and there simply wasn't anything she could do about it. He was a nerd of the highest degree; he spent all his hours researching on how to get her out of this old rickety house that she just so happened to be spending eternity in, and when he wasn't doing that, he was telling her of his adventures to faraway places and times that have yet to happed and those that already have happened.

He's had so many adventures, and here he is all cooped up in a manor house trying to bring a dead girl back to life with alien science. (If that doesn't scream 'Nerd', the she doesn't know what else does.)

And the friendliness of this ancient man is so pure, she doesn't think she'll ever see anything so extraordinary in her (after) life. But, the best thing about her ancient man of a roommate is that, for such a burdened being, he cannot handle any of her inappropriate humor. Honestly, the moment she even remotely hints at anything sexual, his elephant ears turn a bright blood red color and he quickly tries to change the subject to some sort of alien with twenty-seven brains and three hearts. (Which just causes her to laugh even harder, which usually earns her an agitated glare from the Doctor.)

Honestly, she just loves this man, not because he's the prettiest hunk of meat that she's ever seen, but because he's genuine and he understands what it's like to be hurting. He knows what it's like to be lost and to not belong and to just be an anomaly in general. And, maybe that's why, even know she knows she's a hopeless case, he gives her a little of his hope to hold onto.

Most of the time, she catches herself staring at him from a distance as he's reading with those funky little reading glasses of his. He's so into his reading that he hardly even notices that she's even in the same room as he (or that she's constantly wavering her gaze from his eyes – which are quite spectacular, if she says so herself – to his lips, which are more often than not pursed as he's muttering something to himself about the formula for relative dimensions or something like that.

And on the times that he does notice her spectral presence, he questions her about it, and she starts teasing him about his bowtie collection and he tells her to buzz off in the most immature of ways. She could swear that he's a five year old, not a thousand year old alien.

But that's okay; she doesn't care, because she thinks that she loves him. (Although, that is rather terrifying; she hasn't loved anyone, like, ever. She only tolerated her sister, and he parents, sure she liked them, but most of the time they treated her like a piece of crap.)

She knows that this little attraction she's got going on is only going to make her eternity a little more agonizing and lonely, but it's all about living in the now (that's the best way she can put it; yes, she knows that she is in fact not alive). This feeling is so fresh and she doesn't even know the right words to use to describe it that it makes her believe that she's just a normal girl; a normal, alive, human girl that this wonderful man from outer space has come to rescue and it makes her feel like the luckiest little thing in the universe.

And she knows that it is not likely that he'll ever reciprocate how she's feeling, but that's okay; it's all alright because when he's with her she feels like a million bucks; she hasn't felt this happy since her eight birthday (that was like twenty years ago.) Besides, she's dead and can't leave this stupid fucking house, and he's a one thousand year old alien; the likelihood of their relationship ever turning into something more is so preposterous that she can't help but laugh out loud in spite of herself.

He hears her and turns his head curiously in her direction.

"You okay, Clara?"

"Peachy keen, Doctor; just, you know, dead and all."

"Hey, that's why I'm here - To make you not dead anymore."

"Gee, thanks. Hopefully, my spirit won't get scattered all over oblivion and I'll become a living being again."

"Maybe if you were a bit more optimistic about things…" he begins, but stops because he knows that she's dead and she's trapped in a house that contains memories that she hates. He honestly can't really blame her for being so negative.

"I'm sorry," she says with an exasperated sigh, "It's just that sometimes I feel as if I'm never going to leave this place, and I know that you're trying really quite hard to get me out of here, but sometimes your efforts just seem so fruitless that I think that it would just be better if you to just get up and leave me here."

"Clara," she looks down as he says her name as if it's some type of endearment, "I came here because you sent me that message, because your subconscious screamed through the veil that you were in danger, and I'm not leaving until you are completely safe."

He steps closer to her and presses his lips to her forehead. She feels something similar to a blush creep up to her cheeks, but doesn't say anything as he removes his lips and envelopes her into a hug. She presses her face against he's chest and he tells her that it's alright, and that he was going to get her out of this house, even if it kills him.

And maybe this old man, who is loyal and kind, and more often than not, sad, can save her soul from this relic of a house and the in between that she is stuck in.

:::

Hey guys, sorry for such the long wait for this chapter.

I honestly had no idea what to write for the longest time plus I was in a play which took up about 579679348% of my time, and I sort of lost a lil bit of inspiration for this.

So updates hopefully will be back to normal(ish) in the next few weeks.

thanks for sticking with me though the long wait and as always, please review, favorite and follow!

I really appreciate it.

bleuboxes