Dave paced the living room, looking down at his watch. He knew it was stupid, waiting up for them as though they hadn't just flown away in a time machine. It could be hours, it could be days, or they could have arrived earlier in the evening and were already snuck up to their rooms, snoring away the night in their beds. For a moment he glanced at the stairs and considered it, but then the back door opened and he heard Clara release a quick giggle before she mumbled something back at the Doctor and when they stepped into the living room, he tried to put on his best face because he knew, from the tone in her voice, that Clara was happy.

And that's what was important. Clara was happy.

"Hello, sweetheart," he called, "Did you have a good trip?"

She offered a smirk, dimple deepening on her left cheek as she lifted a bag to him and then moved to give him a tight hug and a light peck on the cheek before she responded, "Wonderful, dad. Off to bed. Eat."

Making her way towards the stairs where she gripped the railing and slowly climbed up to the second floor, Dave looked to the bag now held in his hand and then up to the Doctor, asking, "Are you happy now?"

"She's happy now," he replied with a nod.

Dave smiled and released a long sigh, agreeing, "Sorry, yeah, she is – I'm glad for that."

The Doctor gestured at the bag, "You really should eat, it's late and if I know you, you've been pacing for," he swung his wrist up to glance at his watch before tilting his head with a grin, "The past two hours."

"How long have you been gone?" Dave asked as the Doctor passed him, "For you and her, how long?"

Stopping, the Doctor turned and told him honestly, "Not long, just a few hours." He admitted, "I took her to the safest planet I could think to take her," head bobbing, he narrowed his eyes at the ceiling to tell him, "Well, technically, I could have taken her to the sponges, or the third moon of Pek, but this was her favorite place and I promise you, Dave, she was completely safe."

With a quick nod, Dave raised the bag and asked, "This is familiar; do I know it?"

"Have a taste," the Doctor teased, "It'll come back to you," and he swung back around to the stairs before Dave called out to him and he stopped, hand on the edge of the rail.

"Did she remember anything new?" He began, "I mean, your theory that the more she sees, the more it would prompt her to remember – did she?"

Dropping his chin, the Doctor glanced sideways at him before sighing, "Not really; not from our travels – but she remembers her twenty first birthday, so that's progress."

Dave pressed his lips together tightly and nodded, "That's good, Doctor," then he added, "A little warning next time though," he gestured back at the yard, "Maybe tell me where you're going; when you expect to be back. Just so I don't…"

"Worry," the Doctor finished, "I know. I'm sorry, Dave. I understand. Though you know… now that she knows, it might be difficult not to go out again." He looked up the stairs and smiled, wanting nothing more than to get up there and give her one last kiss for the night; like the one she'd given him just as the suns had set and they'd stood, ready to depart.

It was a gesture of appreciation for the trip; for the new memories he knew she was still going over in her mind. And it had been deeper and longer than any of their previous kisses since the accident, coming with a hunger for more that he wasn't quite sure he was ready to allow, though the temptation was growing. For the both of them, he knew.

"Yeah," Dave said quickly, interrupting the Doctor's thoughts. "Suppose my time's coming to an end again then."

The Doctor turned and leaned against the railing, watching Dave move into the kitchen to pull the bread and cheese from the bag to settle on the counter. Glancing once up at the sound of her door opening and the bathroom door closing, the Doctor sighed, going into the kitchen to find Dave pulling cold cuts from the fridge to assemble a sandwich as he leaned against the entranceway to watch him, arms crossing at his chest.

"Go on," Dave laughed, "Let a man wallow with dignity."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor offered solemnly as Dave placed a jar of mayonnaise on the counter and looked up curiously at him. "We had sort of drifted off into our own world, hadn't we; before the accident."

"It's what couples do," Dave told him with a shrug. "You look after your son, or your daughter, for the time you have them and one day they move on. It's easier to hold on when they're alone, but once they're married – they start their own life together. They travel, have kids – their time is occupied now. You get them on Christmas or Easter, sometimes for a sit down here and there, but she built a life with you and that's good, Doctor – it's that life that's keeping her alive."

The Doctor nodded slowly and dropped his arms, "Everything will be different this time, Dave – she needs you to keep her alive as well." He laughed, "One thing I know about daughters: they need their fathers, more than their fathers will ever know. And granddaughters," he peered up at the smile on Dave's face, "One day you will understand."

"Not too soon, eh," Dave warned with a teasing tone – the same one Clara often gave him – before he took a large bite of the sandwich and uttered, "This from that Farsaswarsa place, isn't it."

Smiling, the Doctor corrected, "Faraswara," and then he chuckled, "And yes, it is."

Head tilting back slightly to release a satisfied sigh, Dave uttered, "Clara loves that place."

The Doctor considered him a moment and then shifted slightly before telling him, "She'll want to be moving back to our flat soon; should I try to talk her out of it?"

Dave shook his head slowly, staring at the sandwich in front of him as he spoke, "She remembers more with you, maybe it would be for the best." He smiled up at him weakly, "Just…" he trailed, hanging his head to shake it and the Doctor could see him trying to work the tension out of his shoulders before he lifted his eyes again to finish, "Just make sure she's not alone when she remembers. She's gonna be devastated when she remembers."

The Doctor clenched his jaw, knowing just how right Dave was, and then he nodded and turned back to the stairs, making his way up slowly and going into the spare room to find his jammies folded neatly in one of the drawers. He changed slowly and listened as Dave creaked up the steps and checked in on Clara and then he heard the door to his room close slowly and then the house fell into silence.

Standing, he looked down at his now bare feet, ridiculously large and pale against the carpeting beneath them and with a smile he walked to Clara's room, finding her sitting up in bed, staring down at her legs. He could tell she was in a daze, mind working over some thought, and when he pushed the door open, her eyes blinked rapidly before she glanced up at him, offering an easy grin as he half-closed the door and moved to sit beside her knees, his hand coming out to land atop her right one.

"Does it bother you?" He asked.

Clara's smile faded slightly as she replied, "Does it bother you?"

He turned to look at her leg, understanding that they'd mostly avoided the subject, even when they both had it on their mind, and he lightly let his fingers drift over her knee and then he laid long ways on the bed, leaning on his elbow as his left hand followed the same path his right had until his fingertips passed softly over the scarred tissue a few inches beneath her knee. He smiled and leaned forward to kiss the spot as his hand shifted back to grip the flesh above it, thumb stroking her skin lovingly and when he looked back at her, she was crying.

"How many times do I have to tell you," he uttered quietly, "I love you, not a limb or a memory – not some bit, or even a few bits of bits, but all of you."

She laughed and wiped at her eyes and then nodded to her door and asked, "Could you lock that?"

The Doctor shifted, turning to look at the door that stood slightly ajar behind him, "Lock the door?"

"I want to kiss you," she admitted, "Like before," she added shyly, "But," her nose wrinkled, "I don't want my father walking in."

He closed his eyes to laugh softly before he stood and closed the door quietly, turning the lock and returning to the bed, sitting closer to her and watching the way her breathing quickened. He imagined her heart was pounding in her chest as his were and he raised his palm to place at the open collar of her nightgown, feeling the rough thudding there and he watched her as she felt for his own heartbeats, a smile instant when she found them.

Clara looked him over and he remained still for a moment, allowing her to initiate the kiss as she had before – slowly, delicately, curiously, and then she slipped her palm over his shoulder and pulled him to her. The Doctor's hand fell away, clamping onto her waist and he felt his head spin when her tongue drove past his lips and she leaned up into him with a small moan she immediately quieted. For a moment he remained frozen, feeling his body reacting as her other arm came up around his neck and then he grabbed hold of her and hoisted her into his lap with an exhale of satisfaction.

His fingers kneaded at her waist and he could feel her writhing slightly as he held her in place atop him, the movements causing him to harden quicker than he'd anticipated and when he broke away from her, dropping his forehead to her shoulder, he did so with a pained gasp. He stared down into her nightgown, seeing the curve of her breasts and wanted nothing more than to devour them, but he closed his eyes and when he lifted his head to meet her eyes, he found her smiling.

"You," he teased with a small grin.

"Doctor," she whispered, settling her forehead to his. "I want to do more than just kiss you."

"Clara," he begged, but she silenced him by clamping her teeth lightly over his bottom lip, pulling it up gently and then letting it slide free as he began to tremble with the need to let his hands roam over her body. His breathing quickened and then stopped entirely as her hand dropped down to cup over him, slowly stroking at him as he jerked slightly, his left foot rising an inch off the ground and when he opened his eyes, she was nodding, fingertips drifting to the edge of his trousers to slip her hand past the elastic at the waist, wrapping around him firmly and he saw the flash of a smile she offered before she kissed him again as her palm began to slide over him.

He released her to land his knuckles on either side of the bed behind her, guiding her back onto the pillow as she chuckled into his mouth. The Doctor smiled, drifting back to take in the mischievous look on her face as she dropped her other hand past his waistband, and his face contorted, eyes pinching shut as his brow bent and he found himself meeting the strokes of her hands with slight shifts of his hips, until he pulled back entirely and stood to drop his trousers to the ground before slowly climbing atop her again and spreading her thighs with his own, slipping a hand between her legs to tease at her exposed body as he watched the smile fade from her lips at the sudden jolt of pleasure.

Her own hand came up to clamp over her mouth when he eased himself into her and began a slow pendulum of movement against her, muting his breaths against her shoulder before kissing his way up her neck and nipping at her earlobe. Clara released a shuddered sigh and slipped her right thigh over his, then wrapped her left leg around him, urging him to move deeper and quicker, but he continued to lazily lap at her until she was ready to shout, a tingling sensation rushing inward from her extremities until it gathered just underneath her belly button and exploded around him.

The Doctor's mouth was on hers then, muting the cry she was about to liberate, and his pelvis crushed into hers, a sudden dizzying flurry of motions against her that had her seeing stars as it ignited her body unexpectedly and she couldn't contain the gasp or the low moan of his name. And then she felt him burst within her as his forehead rolled over hers and he drove himself into her deeply while she tried to control the strangled howl of ecstasy, caught in her throat, begging to be set free.

"God," was all she grunted before his lips were on hers again as he shifted back to rolling calmly in and out of her as his mouth moved down her jaw, over her neck and collar bone, and found her breasts through the nightgown. He teased at them before he shifted further, slipping out of her and dropping his head to her abdomen where he remained, thinking about the reasons he'd had for not doing what they'd just done – starting with: he hadn't wanted to chance a second pregnancy before she found out about the first – as he breathed hotly against her stomach until she finally panted, "Doctor? Are you alright?"

Lifting his head slowly, he nodded and stood, moving to take tissues from the dispenser on her nightstand, handing several to her as he cleaned himself and then retrieved his trousers to pull them on before sitting beside her as she crumpled the tissues in her hands and stared at him in confusion. "I'm sorry," he uttered, shaking his head, "I wanted that as much as you – possibly more – but I don't want to hurt you, Clara."

"I firmly believe that's not possible," she told him as she grinned and reached out for his arm, holding him as she turned off the lamp on her nightstand.

Clara pulled him into the bed behind her, nuzzling into her pillow as he arranged the sheets over them and then spooned his body around hers. He wrapped an arm over her and Clara reached up to curl her fingers over his forearm, pressing a kiss into it before she closed her eyes and the Doctor waited until she'd drifted off to lean up on his elbow and swipe the hair out of her face to watch her peacefully sleep.