"Give her back. Set her free now and I could consider sparing your lives," the Doctor commanded, turning on the communication monitor, hands tightly grabbing the edge of the console, his knuckles white. He was trying to hold back the waves of anger that kept shooting though him, but he didn't even know why he was holding back.

"Request denied," the Cyber-Leader on monitor answered. "You will not dare to act against the Cybermen until we keep your companion prisoner."

The Doctor took a deep breath. He would never forgive himself for this. The Cybermen had kidnapped Clara, and he hadn't been able to stop them.

"Why? Why kidnapping her?" he asked weakly. His mood was changing constantly from furious to hopeless. He wanted… he didn't know what he wanted. He felt guilty, because once more he had been too reckless and given things for granted… but this time he had been with Clara and Clara had paid for him.

"We need your… assistance."

"Assistance? This isn't assistance. This is called blackmail."

"You can not refuse, or your companion will be killed."

"I've understood that well enough. What do you want?" he asked coldly.

"You will give us your TARDIS-"

"Why didn't you just kill me and took it?" the Doctor interrupted.

"We would need months to gain the knowledge to use your ship… knowledge you can give us, sparing us weeks of researches."

The Doctor frowned. He didn't like where this all was going, so he started to draw a plan in his mind. He still didn't have all the variables, though.

"The Cybermen have never been interested in time travel. Why now?"

If Cybermen had emotion, the Cyber-leader would have smirked, content to know something that the Doctor didn't suspect.

"That is not of your interest. But you must know, Doctor, you are the living proof that emotions, emotions make you so blind. So irremediably blind. The universe is changing, things of a long-forgotten past are coming back, and you still do not realize it."

Those words hit the Doctor deep into his soul, and he didn't know why. They made sense with the strange feeling he had been having since Victorian London, a few weeks before. He couldn't help but wonder if there was some truth in them… but now he had to focus on how to save Clara, not on some silly bluff the Cyber-leader was trying to build.

"Show me Clara. I want to know if she's safe. Then I will consider your offer."

The Cyber-leader stepped aside and gestured at two other Cybermen. "Bring here the human," he commanded.

The Doctor felt relieved as, a few minutes later, he heard Clara's voice, loud and strong.

"Let me go! …Doctor!" the girl looked at the image of him in the monitor, trying to stare into his eyes and hoping he would notice it even though their eyes couldn't really meet.

"Clara. You're okay."

The sole sight of her filled his hearts with bravery. He could do anything for her. He quickly regained all his calm and self-control.

"Yes… Doctor… whatever they ask you to do, don't accept. Please, I'm not worth anything they could want from you… and please, please don't risk your life for me as you always do-"

"As if I could leave you like this. Don't be silly, Clara." He turned his attention to the Cyber-leader. "I accept your conditions. I'll be there soon."

"No, Doctor! Don't-"

He turned off the monitor and adjusted the controls of the TARDIS, which was orbiting around the Cyber-ship. Then he looked at the monitor again:

"Cybermen. You have just made the biggest mistake of your miserable life. The last mistake of your life."

~oOo~

The Doctor entered the room with his hands placed on the back of his neck, glaring at every single Cyberman around him.

'You will regret this,' he thought. But it wasn't true. He wouldn't even leave them time to regret anything.

"Search him," the Cyber-leader commanded.

Two Cybermen palmed every inch of his clothes, looking for anything that could seem hostile to them.

"I have nothing. Not even my screwdriver."

"What is that object in your hand? Show it!" the Cyber-leader demanded.

"This?" the Doctor asked innocently, revealing the small piece of metal in his hand. "It's the TARDIS key. I intended to give it to you."

"Your spontaneous and obedient collaboration is appreciated, Doctor." The Cyber-leader made a pause. "Now, give me that key."

The Doctor's voice instantly became cold and steady. "No. Let me see Clara, first. As soon as she'll be by my side, I'll give you the key." The Cyber-leader didn't answer, as if considering his offer. "I showed you well enough that I don't have any intention to attack the Cybermen, I just want my reward."

"You did the least you could do. However, I do not see a reason why I should not satisfy your request." He gestured at two other Cybermen. "Bring her here."

The Doctor waited patiently, forcing himself to breathe slowly and stay calm. He was mad with anger and wanted to just see this over as soon as possible, to hold Clara securely in his arms and never let her go.

"Doctor!"

He was ready to wrap his arms around her when Clara ran to him. She hugged him tightly, almost desperately.

"Clara," he whispered.

"Idiot," she whispered back, voice broken. "Why, why have you risked so much for me again?"

"Oh, Clara. This time, I haven't risked anything."

Holding her wrist firmly, he pressed the button on the small device he had placed on his TARDIS key. A second later, they were in the console room.

"What have you done?" she asked, stunned.

He grinned. "This key, it's part of the TARDIS. It's a piece of her. This little thing just allowed me to strengthen the process that you could normally use to call the TARDIS using the key… and reverse it so we could be teleported here instantly."

He left Clara's hand to search for another small device on the console: when he pressed its button, the explosion made the walls quake.

~oOo~

"You shouldn't have done that!" Clara shouted angrily.

"Why? Give me just one good reason why I shouldn't have blown up that Cyber-ship," he asked as he set the coordinates to take her home.

"Because you didn't even give them a chance!"

"A chance of what? Attacking first?"

"No!" Clara interrupted him, "a chance to escape, to promise-"

The Doctor interrupted her this time. "Promise? Promise what? That they would be good boys in the future? Let me tell you one thing, Clara Oswald: I know the Cybermen, they're emotionless and heartless and promises mean nothing to them, they don't know what mercy is."

Clara turned his back at him, her arms crossed. He had a point, she knew that, but these had never been his ways, never, and she still couldn't accept this part of this him.

Clara didn't look at him again, and the Time Lord kept staring at her back. He couldn't see her angry with him, and his voice softened as he spoke again:

"Why do you care so much about them?" he asked, stepping closer and reaching out to touch her shoulder.

She turned abruptly and caught his hand. "I don't care about them! I care about you!"

He could just stare at her and blink, stunned. Clara continued:

"I can't stand the sight of you being so… so… like this. I just can't." The Doctor noticed that her eyes were bright now. "I can't accept you being so… cold, so rational-"

"Why? I can't understand why, Clara! The way I behave, it has nothing to do with you! It's just my choice! Why does it… hurt you, when I do what I do?"

"You, stupid… idiot! Because-" tears started to roll down her cheeks. "Because I love you, you idiot!"

She slapped him, hard.

He was quite sure that his hearts had stopped. "…Clara…"

"No! Shut up! I don't want to hear your pitiful words! I know I'm just a silly human girl and I mean nothing to you and you will never love me, I just want you to stop behaving as if you cared about me in that way, because clearly you don't!"

With that, she waited for his reaction for a second, then turned to walk towards her room. She had embarrassed herself, she knew that, broke their friendship forever and everything. She knew that, but she couldn't bear it anymore and her feelings had just found a way to come out. She couldn't bear him behaving like that, being so merciless and vengeful, when she knew that he was capable of so much good.

The Doctor was frozen, utterly stunned. The realization of how thick he had been crashed over him with the power of a thousand waterfalls. He had spent months holding back and waiting for a sign that she felt something for him, not realizing that she wasn't showing her feelings because of him. Because she feared that he didn't feel the same.

His cheek hurt. Now he knew how much he had deserved that slap. As she began to walk towards the corridors, he inwardly promised that he would never miss another chance, that he would never hold back again.

He ran after her and roughly grabbed her wrist, forcing her to face him.

"Clara, wait!" He locked his eyes with hers. "I love you too," he breathed.

He abruptly pulled her close and pressed his lips against hers.