The kiss lasted a few moments, and as they parted Clara could just stare into his eyes. As the Doctor saw that she didn't refuse him, he kissed her again eagerly, closing his eyes, holding her resolutely and pressing his body against hers. He had longed for this, for months now.

Clara didn't kiss him back, at first. She was still shocked and angry with him, even more now that she knew he had loved her for all this time and had done nothing about it. But then she remembered how much she had wanted this to happen, she felt his lips soft against hers and his taste, like lemons and dark chocolate, bittersweet just like he was. She closed her eyes and buried her hands in his hair, letting him steal her breath with a bruising kiss.

"Clara…" he murmured against her mouth, before dropping a series of passionate kisses on her face and neck.

He could kiss her forever. He pressed her firmly against the console and ran his hands on her outer thighs, disappointed that she was wearing stockings, slipping his hands under her skirt as he kissed her ardently. Her touch, her lips, her scent set his every nerve on fire.

"Doctor. Wait." Clara could easily tell where this was going, and she didn't like it.

He froze and pulled back, resting his hands on her hips, looking at her questioningly.

"I'm still angry with you," she stated. "We… we'll take this slow."

He felt frustratingly disappointed, but he should have seen it coming, he guessed.

"Okay," he said, smirking. Then he attempted to kiss her again.

"I said I'm still angry with you!" she protested, pushing him back lightly. With the certainty that the Doctor loved her, she felt part of her boldness coming back to her.

"That means I can't have another kiss?" he asked, trying to wear a pair of puppy eyes as he often did in his younger face. He wasn't any good at it now, and this made Clara giggle.

"No, you can't!" she answered.

He looked at her lovingly, not able to pretend he was angry, not now that he knew that she loved him and he felt so perfectly happy. She was smiling. Her eyes hadn't been so bright in months. She was as happy as he was, he could tell. He caressed her arms and took her hands in his.

"My Clara. My Impossible Girl."

"Doctor," she replied.

She moved her hand to fondly stroke his hair. She liked when he let it grow a bit, like now. She had dreamed to touch him like this, with that different level of intimacy that holds a world of difference between friendship and romance. His curls were soft under her touch. Then she rested her fingertips on his cheek, where his usually cool skin was slightly warm for her slap. He pressed his face against her palm and chastely kissed her hand.

"Are you sure I can't get another kiss?" he asked hopingly with a little half-smirk.

She thought about it for a second, then grinned.

"There's a condition," Clara stated.

"Anything for you, beautiful girl."

An old charmer, he was. But she wasn't going to melt for him now that she had regained some control. Again, she felt that she was finding her past self-confidence.

"Say it again."

"What? …oh." He smiled. "I love you, Clara."

"Close your eyes."

The Doctor obliged, a blissful, stupid grin on his face.

She stood on her tiptoes and brushed her nose against his. They shared a breath for the shortest of moments, lips almost touching. Then Clara intentionally pressed a very light, quick kiss on his cheek.

"See you next Wednesday," she whispered, walking past him, inwardly giggling.

"You fooled me!" he exclaimed, indignant.

"Yes!"

She swiftly closed the TARDIS doors behind her. As he ran after her, the last thing he saw was her small figure disappearing behind the door of her house.

"Oh, very funny! Really! I'll remember this one day, you know!" he stated.

He shook his head in resignation. In the end, he loved this side of her, and he had missed it.

"Impossible. Truly impossible, you are."

But the Doctor had always had a thing for impossible.

~oOo~

"Ah! Not today, damned alien scum!" the Doctor exclaimed as he rapidly pulled levers to see if he managed to jump some time tracks. The walls quaked.

He was alone in the TARDIS. He had dropped Clara home after yet another Wednesday and he had gone back to his ship happily smirking to himself, with the taste of her still on his lips and the wonder for how he seemed to fall for her more and more everyday still making his mind foggy. He had started the engines, not really having a particular destination in mind… and then it had happened. A mauve alert and someone chasing him, the adrenaline suddenly rushing in his veins, excitement building. He loved a good challenge. But his excitement had turned into worry as he had realized he just didn't manage to leave the other spaceship behind. He had scanned it to discover who was chasing him… and his eyes had widened. The Family of Blood.

"C'mon Old Girl, I know you can do it!"

A small explosion lighted up the console and the walls started to tremble constantly, with increasing intensity.

"No no no no! What are you trying to do?" the Doctor asked, hurriedly moving around the console, flicking switches. "You can't land now! Do you want me dead?" He paused to try to find an answer. "I met them in the past and they were alive, so I don't die now? What are you talking about, silly old ship? My past, their future. I can die now… and kill them in my past. At least I get revenge, don't I? No! Don't! You can't land here!"

The readings on the monitor were clear: Earth, dangerously close to 21st century.

2118… the numbers fluctuating madly.

2079

2050

2023

2014…the numbers were slowing down. 2013. 2012. 2011.

The TARDIS landed with a loud *tud* and her usual noise. A cold chill ran down the Doctor's spine as he read the coordinates:

2011. Earth. Great Britain. Leadworth.

He had to leave as soon as possible. He could meet himself or mess up his whole timeline.

"Doctor!" a long-forgotten voice exclaimed, as the TARDIS doors opened.

Too late.

"Who are you?" the red-haired girl asked, stunned.

"For God's sake, Amelia, leave immediately! No time for questions!" the Doctor answered, desperately trying to start the engines. The Family had lost him, but the instruments stated that they were tracking him again.

"How do you know my name? …oh my God, it's you! You regenerated!" She laughed and pointed at him. "You're old now!" she exclaimed. "Can't believe I snogged you…" she added in a lower voice.

"Oi! Shut up! Amelia, just leave and forget me! And never talk about this! I'm busy now."

"Oooh, I see! You're Mister-Grumpy-Face permanently, now! And since when do you call me 'Amelia'?"

"Amelia Williams, yo-"

"Seriously?" -she interrupted him- "Williams? I thought you'd never stop calling me 'Pond'. And why do you sound Scottish, by the way?"

"Your bloody fault, obviously!" he roared, still tinkering with the TARDIS controls.

"Are you going to at least look at me in the eyes? C'mon Doctor, what's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Just that I'm risking a paradox, or worse, I'm chased by deadly aliens who want to dissection me to discover the secret of regeneration, this stupid ship won't work and there's a silly human girl in my TARDIS, annoying me with pointless questions, after all the time I spent trying to forget you and your family, Amelia! This is what's wrong with me!" he shouted, having given up the controls, staring into her eyes, very close, noses almost touching, his hearts pounding violently in his chest.

"…what happened to you?" Amy whispered. She was worried, but also scared. He could read that in her eyes.

He turned his back to her.

"I stayed alone," he answered simply, mouth dry, knowing that Amelia would understand. She always did.

She didn't reply.

"Amelia. Leave."

"Y-yes."

She slowly made her way to the doors, glancing back at him at each step. She wanted to help, she didn't want to leave him like this.

As she reached the doors, they closed abruptly and the engines suddenly came back to life. The floor quaked and Amy almost fell on the ground.

"Doctor! What's happening?"

He tried to gain control of the ship, but he failed. "The TARDIS, she's taking us somewhere. She wants us, this me and you, in some place. And I can't understand why!"

"Do something!"

"I can't! She doesn't let me!"

The TARDIS landed with a louder sound than usual, almost a crash, which shook the walls and threw the Doctor and Amy on the floor.

He slowly stood up to read the coordinates: this time, he grinned.

"You can stay calm, Amelia."

"What? The TARDIS forces us to land in some random place and you tell me to stay calm?"

"Precisely," he said, still grinning. "I know exactly what to do. More or less. I have a plan in progress."

"You're lying. You never have a plan."

"I've changed, Amelia."

She stared at him for some seconds, as if to study him or to understand if he was speaking the truth, then asked:

"Where are we?"

"Ah, that's the point! Pompeii, six months before 'Volcano day'."

"And why should be this okay?"

He turned his back at her and turned towards the corridors, giving for granted that she would follow him. Amy sighed in resignation and reached him, and he started to talk as they walked.

"Some time before I met you, in another face, I was here with a friend and we met someone who looked exactly like this me. I hadn't realized at first, as I regenerated, but now I know it was me. And do you know how I know? Because now that I think about it, I think I also remember a member of a certain Sisterhood who looked exactly like you. I only got a glimpse when I was in the temple, but I think you had been ordered to watch after me."

They had reached the TARDIS wardrobe. Amy frowned.

"No. Wait. I'm not following you at all."

"It was me, a human me. I turned myself into human. To run from the Family. I 've done this before, it's just logic."

The Doctor started to roam through the many clothes, looking for something.

"Turned yourse-" she paused. "Can you really do that? And what's this family you're talking about?"

"Chameleon Arch, yes. A Time Lord trick." He picked a white toga of his size and nodded. "The family of Blood, aliens, want the secret of regeneration. Chasing me." He grabbed a red robe. "They can smell a Time Lord, so to fool them I need to not be a Time Lord. Oh, this will do" he stated, as he pulled out a long toga of her size.

"You're kidding!"

"Amelia, don't whine. We are in Pompeii, what do you think you should wear?"

Amelia made a face. He put another red robe in her hands.

"What are we going to do? We can't simply walk in there and substitute ourselves to those people, can we?"

He headed back towards the console room after picking some sandals.

"Yeah, I don't think I just kidnap Caecilius and that girl and put them in a cupboard. No, first we have to discover what happened to them. I assume they left for a journey or… or died a few days ago. A good perception filter will hide their… sudden return." He stood pensive for a second. "I think Caecilius moved to Rome after Pompeii was destroyed… a little change to Emergency Program One and the TARDIS will materialize there…she'll find the right place by herself, no doubt. I'll turn myself human and the Old Girl will provide me a temporary memory to use. And you… I'll need to erase yours."

"What? Erase my memory? Why?"

"Just temporarily!" he exclaimed. "I will return it back to normal when we're done. I need you to act as a Roman, Amelia. I'll give you a temporary memory with what you need to know and a fake past. I can't allow you to make mistakes and break our cover. There are things going on in Pompeii now, I don't have time to explain but we can't be discovered."

"Wait, let me get this straight, if you are human and have a fake memory, how are you supposed to return Time Lord?"

They had gotten to the console room. He picked up the phone and started to dial the number.

"We'll need some help from a… friend." He paused. He waited for the *beep* and started to talk:

"Uh, Clara, it's me. I'm doing a thing, and you won't like it."