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Chapter 5

Their bodies seemed to have merged into one, twisting and turning in the hotel room bedsheets, moving to the same rhythm neither of them could hear. It was as if the caresses from his hands or whispers from his mouth never ceased, forever burning in her skin as well as in her mind. She even dreamed about it when a not so gentle knock on the door roused Clara from her sleep. The serenity and peace of last night faded when she found the other side of her bed empty and her head throbbing in pain with a massive hangover. The knocking continued.

"Clara, open up. It's Ruth!" came a female voice from the other side.

It took her a moment to put her thoughts together. Ruth, her friend, who had dragged her to a stupid world's end party. Where she had met the Doctor. The Doctor. . .Oh, what had she done?

"Just a second," Clara grabbed the robe and covered her naked figure before she opened the door.

Her friend was smiling at her and Clara hated Ruth just a bit for being such a cheerful, good looking morning person, when she herself was probably looking like hell.

"What time is it?" Clara asked, a yawn escaping her mouth.

"It's 10 am, honey. Time for breakfast!"

The pure thought of it made Clara sick. "I think I'll skip that, thanks. Not feeling so well. I should probably go home."

"What's wrong with you? You look like you've been partying all night. I could have sworn I saw you leave before midnight."

"I went back downstairs. You were already gone," Clara explained.

"Aaaaaaand?" Ruth pressed, her eyes widening, "Clara Oswald, have you met a man?"

"Can we please talk about this some other time? I'm really not at my best right now."

Clara turned around and started collecting her clothes from the hotel room floor, throwing them into her bag.

"Oh my stars, you have met a man!" Ruth stormed into the room and closed the door behind her. She let herself fall on the bed and stared at Clara, grinning. Clara tried her best to ignore her friend, but that grin was just too annoying.

"Yes, I met a man and yes, I've slept with him. And I will probably never see him again," the last part was the hardest to admit. Now that it was morning and she was sober, she couldn't understand her own actions anymore. She was not the type to sleep with a random stranger, no matter how attractive and mysterious he might be. But the memories of last night were still fresh, still magical in their own, odd way that she felt her stomach twitch when she thought of the Doctor. Clara had hoped he would be there in the morning, but she hadn't really expected him to be. It was a wonderful one night stand, one she would probably never forget, and she prayed the Doctor would remember her, too.

"Why the hell not? Was it. . . bad?" Ruth wanted to know.

"No, no, no," Clara shook her head, "It wasn't bad. At all. He was very. . . well, he definitely knew what he was doing."

"That doesn't sound very convincing to me," her friend raised an eyebrow.

Clara sighed and sank down on the unmade bed next to her. "Ruth, seriously? I have no idea why I did it. I was drunk and he was so," she was looking for the right word, but couldn't find it."

"Good looking?"

"Good looking, attractive, sexy, mysterious, Scottish. And his hair was just perfect. I did what I've never done before. I just went straight for it, you know?" Clara buried her aching head in her hands, "It was so damn good and I don't even know his real name. Why did I do this? That isn't me, I don't just walk up and ask a man if he wants to sleep with me!"

Ruth burst into laughter. "You walked up to him and asked him? Seriously?"

"Well, kind of."

"Ah, Clara, stop thinking about it. You had a great night. You had sex, you did better than me and that was what I actually came here for," Ruth tried to comfort her.

"You're probably right."

OOO

"You're a bloody coward!" the Doctor shouted at his own reflection on the TARDIS screen.

There had been no need to leave her like that. He could have waited for her to wake up. He should have waited. Now Clara Oswald probably thought him to be the biggest asshole in the universe. Beautiful, clever, enticing Clara Oswald. The Doctor had never meant to take it that far, but they way she had kept staring at him, the way she had spoken and the way she had moved, they had gotten the better of him. And the loneliness, it had been too long. He hadn't felt this alive in centuries and he was on his way to screwing it up again. But it wasn't too late yet. He could still go back.

His hands worked the switches on the console before he had even made up his mind and the TARDIS landed in a corner of the hotel corridor. It wasn't too far from Clara's room and he rushed over to knock.

"Come in," called a strange female voice from the inside. It wasn't Clara. Her voice he had memorized after the first words she had spoken.

As the Doctor stepped inside, he found another young woman sitting on the bed.

"You're not Clara," he uttered, confused. Was he too late?

"That's right. Who are you?" the bold female wanted to know.

"The . . . Doctor," he replied hesitantly, "I want to speak to Clara."

"Whatever for?"

Gosh, that woman was infuriatingly nosy. "None of your damn business!"

She stared at him for a moment and a flicker of recognition seemed to appear in her eye.

"Clara!" she suddenly called out, "Clara, you naughty girl, move your bum out of the shower. There's a silver fox here for you!"

The woman got up and eyed him further, completing her inspection with a wink. "Well, I'll better leave you two alone. Behave, this is a five-star hotel."

It took Clara only seconds after her friend had left to appear in the bedroom, her hair wet and tangled and only dressed in a rather short towel.

"I apologize for everything my friend said!" she immediately said, a little nervous. Seeing her so jittery reminded him suddenly of why he was here at all and his own hearts began to beat a little faster than usual.

"Have you heard everything?" he asked.

"No, but I know Ruth. There's a lot to apologize for."

"Actually, it's me who should say sorry. I bailed on you this morning, that wasn't. . . how it should have been."

His gaze wandered over her body and stopped at her bare legs. Those legs he had caressed only hours ago and suddenly he was tempted to touch her again, to explore her like she was a newly born star he had never seen before, marvelling at the wonders of her.

"You came back," she simply said. He now realized that she had caught his wandering eyes and must know what he was thinking about.

"I don't know how to deal with a situation like this. I've never been in it before," he confessed with a shrug.

"Neither have I," Clara almost cried out in relief and quickly blurted on, "I don't usually do these kind of things. One night stands. I don't know what's gotten into me last night."

"Do you. . . regret it?" he asked, his own insecurity suddenly showing more than he would like.

"No, absolutely no. Last night was nothing to have regrets over."

The Doctor couldn't keep standing there, listening to the both of them talk about it. It was right and it was also absolutely wrong and he wanted it. He stepped forward, took her head in both his hands and pressed a kiss to her lips. He could feel her hesitation at first, he had probably surprised her, but she got over it rather quickly. It occurred to him that if neither of them usually did one night stands, they shouldn't start now.

OOO

"Will I see you again?" Clara asked absent-mindedly as her fingers circled over his bare chest. She felt him take a deep breath beneath her hand.

"I don't know, Clara. I travel a lot," the Doctor replied.

"So you keep saying."

"It doesn't mean that I don't want to see you again. It just means that it might not be that easy, or that often," he explained to her and Clara was about to ask details, but something in his eyes held her back. She felt like he didn't really want to talk about it.

"Just promise me one thing, even if we never see each other again."

"What thing?"

"Remember me," she said simply.