CHAPTER ELEVEN

Clara's eyes shot open in time to catch the Doctor as he collapsed over her, her legs clutched around him and she struggled to breathe against the sudden crushing dead weight of him. "Doctor." She hissed in confusion, blinking sharply as she tried to return her focus. She'd only been out mere moments, she was sure of it. But apparently the Doctor was going to be out a little longer. Her arms went around him and without much choice she pushed him off her, trying to slide off the console and cushion as much of his fall as she could.

He looked slighter perhaps, but he still had that Time Lord density that seemed to confound her with its strength and the most she could do was cradle his head as he crumpled to the floor, his eyes were closed and moving rapidly behind the lids. Clara crouched down beside him, listening to the sounds of his laboured chest as he drew in a ragged breath and expelled another a moment later that was laced with gold vapour.

"Oh God." Clara mouthed quietly, her hand clutching his face which was definitely hot to the touch, almost feverish. "Doctor." She tried to shake him lightly, knowing even as she did it, it was futile, the TARDIS let out a sound and redirected her attention to the scanner that flared to life. "I know, I know, regeneration sickness." Clara muttered. "Should have known when his memories were all scrambled." She huffed, realising that neither of them were exactly in the most dignified of positions right now; with care she shimmied him back into his trousers covering his modesty. Her own clothes were in a crumpled heap on the floor, grasping them she hurriedly shoved her arms into her bra and hastily with shaking fingers did up the blouse, tugging her skirt back into position and leaving her heels where they had fallen, not caring about her bare feet on the cold metallic grating.

Her entire body was still trembling she realised as she brushed her hands through her hair trying to take deep calming breaths as she simply stood there for a moment, eyes closed, trying not to think too hard about what had just happened, the things he'd said... the way he touched her or the way she'd responded, even in her uncertainty he'd pushed aside her grief with entirely different sensations.

Her body calmed and she chanced a look at him again, his heartbeat despite her worry was strong, it's rhythm pounding out its drum beat in her mind so she turned to the TARDIS, her hands going to the scanner to see where exactly on Earth it was the Box had landed them after that small crash. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and she patted the console fondly. "Sorry about that Dear." She offered slightly apologetically, after all it hadn't exactly been her idea to deface the Old Girl... again. The emergency landing protocol had activated she noted quietly, "Returns you to the last safe location you've been." Clara spoke aloud before dropping her head realising what that meant. "That would be the Torchwood Hub... where you collected me, correct?" the TARDIS made a sound that she took to be positive.

"And all that crashing was you trying to get through the shields that Jack & Mickey have probably been tweaking since the last time you tried it." There was a slightly more irritated sound and Clara sighed. "Well Martha will at least know what to do with him more than I can." She turned to glance at what she hoped was the simply sleeping Doctor, although she suspected his state was more comatose than anything else. Keeping busy was key she realised as the sudden silence was filled with a crushing weight in her chest.

"Do you have records on this condition?" Clara asked dragging herself and her eyes from his unfamiliar face as the TARDIS displayed data for her. "Seriously what is it with him and Christmas?" She bit out staring at the information the TARDIS was presenting about the 'heroic' face in the sandshoes who'd experienced a somewhat difficult transition too. "Different situation," Clara sighed wondering what the Old Girl was getting at "he was trying to cope with an overload of temporal..." she trailed off. "Oh." She felt a grin curving her lips. "Oh you are good. Very good." She pressed a kiss to the view the screen hoping the Old Girl could feel it. The situations weren't quite the same, but the overload was excess regeneration energy... in this case a whole new batch of regenerations probably packed on hell of a punch. "Sleep, tea and time." Clara listed off the things he'd probably need as she sighed in relief hoping they were both right as she turned back to the Doctor and crouched down beside him to brush the sweat that was already forming on his brow. She dropped a feather light kiss to that same forehead, not wanting to consider the idea that he might never wake up.

Her eyes caught onto a scrap of fabric lying innocuously, discarded on the floor that had the power to make her heart ache and eyes sting; she retrieved the bow tie sliding the well worn cloth through her fingers and dropping beneath the centre console to open a panel. "Keep it safe would you Old Girl." She pressed a kiss to the material and sealed up the panel, it wasn't much of a burial, or even a goodbye, but she'd have time to grieve properly, now wasn't it.

Steeling herself Clara pushed open the TARDIS doors and wasn't surprised to find three very wary looking faces staring back at her which split into genuinely relieved smiles at seeing her.

"Do I want to hesitate a guess as to how long it's been?" Clara asked hopping out of the box and embracing Martha.

"You didn't say goodbye!" The other woman gripped her around the shoulders firmly as she pulled her in for a hug and she could feel the strength in her hands as she bit down, clearly as angry as she was relieved, the height difference between them obvious now with her in bare feet, but she didn't care as she clutched Martha to her like she could fix everything.

"I think the Doctor's been wearing off on me." Clara muttered by way of apology as Martha pulled back for Mickey to give her a small nod and grin of approval. Jack on the other hand enveloped her in a hug that made her feel just a tad uncomfortable... the man could smell sex a mile off.

"What happened?" Jack grasped her face, Clara slid out of his touch slightly apologetically. If there was one thing she understood about the Doctor, in whatever form he was in, he wouldn't like how familiar she and Jack had become.

"He died..." her voice broke over those words and without even meaning to she was in Jack's arms again, her legs collapsed under her and she was sobbing into his chest. "Oh God Jack he died... I tried to save him, to get them to save him." Her words choked away as he rocked her, cradling her head as he offered her quiet words.

"Is he dead, dead?" he whispered, clutching her closer as she hesitated, her eyes opening as she locked eyes on him; he of course was familiar with just how much a Time Lord could survive.

"No." She breathed. "Maybe." She countered, trying to compose herself as she wiped at her eyes, standing up straight. "He should be. I know that much, he... we" she corrected "broke some serious rules with this regeneration. He got a whole new set and it's," Martha's eyes were wide as saucers and Clara focused on her, "well it's kind of kicked the crap out of him, he needs some place to rest and recover."

"Anywhere, anywhen and you picked here?" Mickey sighed shaking his head, "You need to have a word with your travel agent."

"Come on now." Jack slipped an arm around her waist rubbing her back gently. "Why the hell not here? We're family, right Clara?" his grin was megawatt but she wasn't buying it one bit, the idea of having a new Doctor was freaking him out as much as it was her, and she was at least up to speed, Jack was quite literally a thousand years or more out of touch with the man. But then she wondered what was a millennia between immortals?

"He's inside." She cocked her head to them. "Please help me carry him, the TARDIS can't keep him on board much longer, she needs to repair and the regeneration energy is leaking damaging her further." Jack frowned not understanding, "Plus I think she took a Dalek blast or two that might have dented her outer casing somewhat... she's a little pissed at the whole situation." She winced looking directly at Jack, knowing he'd understand the sentience of the TARDIS as only those that had felt it's lash could. "That and he forgot her." Jack winced, Clara shared the sentiment, it had no doubt stung them both.

"Forgot?" Martha piped up, stepping into the doors, Clara waved Mickey and Jack inside and followed them in.

"Yes, forgot. Forgot how to pilot her, forgot pretty much everything personal, half forgot himself I think." The idea terrified her but she chose not to share that with them right now, they were going to have difficulty enough taking in an unknown untested Doctor without her adding her own concerns that he might not even be the Doctor anymore.

"You too?" Jack gave her a sidelong sympathetic look and she tried not to let her lip tremble.

"Initially." She added cryptically, because he certainly seemed to remember some things about her all too well, but she didn't see the need to elaborate on that titbit. "I'm hoping it's just all a bit scrambled for now, it'll come back when his neural pathways have had a chance to reform and the energy has finished bleeding out of him." If the others thought she was sounding overly optimistic then they didn't call her on it, just approached the fallen form of the man she sincerely hoped was still the Doctor.

Martha's fingers went to the Doctor's neck needlessly, Clara could have tapped out the drumbeat of his heart for her; if it faltered she'd know. They also didn't comment on his latest appearance, though she could see it in their expressions clear enough, after all they'd only ever known a young and vibrant Doctor, his last three faces had hardly prepared them for this.

"He's silver." Mickey broke the silence, bending down beside Jack to shuffle the shirtless Doctor up onto their shoulders between them, his booted feet dragging on the floor. "Heavy though." He huffed a little as if not expecting it which she could understand given his slight, angular frame now.

Clara nodded. "Yeah, Time Lord remember, he just looks human, don't be fooled." She added quietly, aware she had crossed her arms almost protectively around herself as she watched them. "His first face was silver." She added seeing their concerned expressions flickering to her. "I wondered if that was what this was, a full reset... back to factory settings."

"Was his first face the Doc we knew and loved?" Jack grinned as he and Mickey gently manoeuvred him past her towards the doors.

"More or less. Had a lot to learn about humanity... bit of an arse if I'm honest, kidnapped a couple of schoolteachers his first trip to Earth." Clara added almost offhandedly her memory supplying her with the information with almost cool detachment.

"Sounds like a charmer." Martha quipped, not sounding amused as they got him out the doors and headed out into the Hub; her hand slid into Clara's halting them both and she stared down at their interlinked fingers. "Clara, we'll take care of him," she promised and she felt her grip tighten keeping her attention, "but you need to take care of you, I understand that he's still the Doctor... but you just watched the your husband die. You're not okay."

Clara looked up to see the concerned eyes of a friend and nodded, she didn't have the strength to hold it all back much longer as she let Martha lead her by the arm out of the TARDIS and in the opposite direction of the Doctor and the boys, towards the dormitories where she knew there would still be a bunk made up for her. She just hoped she could sink into a dreamless sleep.

Clara shifted in her seat beside his hospital bed, she'd long since turned the heartbeat monitor off, finding the duel sounds as it competed with the one inside of her head distracting. He slept fitfully, his eyes moving rapidly as his body twisted and writhed, his muscles pulling taught at times and falling relaxed at others. Hesitantly she brushed her fingers across his forehead, still surprised and grateful when her touch seemed to soothe him.

"I'm here." She promised him quietly dropping her forehead to the back of his hand and feeling the incredible heat coming from him burning against her cooler skin. "Come back to me." She pleaded gently, meaning more than simply seeing him wake.

"You should take a break." Jack's voice startled her and she lifted her head from its position to glare at him.

"I slept." She bristled.

"Two hours. Hardly what I'd call restful. You heard Martha, his vitals are stable, the energy is stabilised, he's not in a coma just deeply asleep, he'll be fine." He meant it to be helpful, she was sure, but she felt a hitch in her throat at the idea of him waking up.

Her eyes dropped back to his sleeping form. "He's so different." She whispered, hating the hesitation in her voice as she took his hand once more, stroking her thumb across the skin and finding new patterns in it that left her uneasy, but of course it was the differences beneath his skin that prayed on her worries most.

"Oh I don't know, that big eared, shorn headed Northerner I met turning into the cockney pretty boy with all that hair was something of a shock... this is almost an improvement. I saw the last faces chin in the archives. He could have taken your eye out with that." Clara couldn't help but smile as she glanced back at him, the memory of her saying something similar in another life drifted over her and she sighed pushing it away.

"I'm not worried about how he looks Jack. I'm worried about what's going on in here." She swept her fingers across his brow and realising it was also baking she reached over for the cool washcloth and gently dabbed across trying to make him comfortable.

Jack's hands landed on her shoulders and she dropped her head. "You said it yourself, he's always the Doctor, that won't change. And trust me, he'll love you no matter what's going on inside that head of his." His thumbs brushed the skin of her neck and she sighed and let her head drop back against his stomach, staring up at him, whilst he tried to ease the tension he no doubt felt pooled along her neck and shoulders.

"I'm just worried." She admitted quietly not choosing to elaborate, she didn't need her team looking for signs of the Valeyard emerging too, she'd be doing that enough for the rest of them. Jack leant over and pressed a kiss to her forehead giving her shoulders a squeeze.

"If you won't leave his side, then at least try and sleep in the cot Martha made up next to him." He indicated the gurney on the opposite side to the chair she'd chosen and nodded.

"I will, I promise." She sighed wearily as Jack moved away back towards the door.

"I'll hold you to that Clara. If I come back in here and you don't look all cute and sleep rumpled you won't be getting the coffee I'll have brewed especially for you." She smiled giving him a mock salute as he slid from the room, but the concern never quite left his eyes and she stared at the empty space he'd been for a moment, wondering if he knew more than he was letting on about her worries for the Doctor.

In the end she did as Jack requested, mostly because she kept dropping asleep against the Doctor's chest, which wasn't helping his laboured breathing any. She shoved the bed a bit closer until it was pushed against his and she hopped up onto it, lowering the railing so that she could reach out and clasp one of his hands in hers as she dropped her head to the pillow. His mind was quiet inside of hers, that more than anything frightened her; she was so used to being able to feel something from him when they touched even asleep, his absence only increased her concern. Of course it wasn't something she'd felt she could share with the others, as far as she knew she'd only ever mentioned it briefly to Jack in a highly fraught conversation that her mind had become linked to his... give the nature of that conversation she highly doubted he'd ever repeated it to anyone and she didn't want a possible weakness like that being used against the Doctor; or her. Heavy with exhaustion she fought her eyes until they eventually closed and her breathing evened out to match his as she fell into a fitful sleep.

Her eyes shot open instantly aware something was wrong as they landed on his empty bed beside hers. It took her a moment to shake the sleep from her foggy brain as she rolled off the bed, her hands going to the sheets and finding them still warm, wherever he'd gone, it hadn't been long. Feeling only a slight fluttering of panic in her chest she left the medical wing and followed her instincts, the sense of him whilst muted now was still there and it lead her forward into the central Hub which was eerily quiet, her eyes fell on the clock and realised that Jack was probably asleep at 3am and Martha and Mickey would be long gone. The TARDIS was alight and humming, the doors open a fraction, invitingly. Clara hesitated, torn between stepping inside and finding him... to leaving the relative safety of the Hub.

But his heartbeat was erratic in her mind and she swallowed her fear and pushed open the doors, stepping inside and closing them firmly. She wouldn't put her team at risk, and if the Doctor was in trouble, or if she was she had enough faith in the TARDIS now to think she would let them in if needed.

"Doctor?" she called out, stepping into the familiar console room, her eyes scanning the area and finding nothing out of place. She went down the steps to the lower level, the unmistakeable sound of his heartbeat drawing closer. "Doctor." She spoke again, quieter this time, trying not to startle him. It was darker down here, emergency lighting throwing gloomy shadows over everything.

"Clara." His voice and that accent was still jarring when it said her name and she spun, startled to find him inches from her, his slightly taller frame towering down at her. Her eyes latched onto his form, he'd changed his clothing she realised, taking in the long dark coat, the white shirt with conspicuously absent neck piece, the heavy black trousers and thick soled boots.

"You changed clothes." She managed to get out feeling ridiculous but not sure what else to say.

He shrugged, but his eyes were intent on her, sparking in the low lighting. "Well I could hardly stay in those ridiculous tweed things, now could I?" If he was provoking her it was working, because she felt something vice like clutch her stomach, but she merely pursed her lips in response, letting her concern for him come to the fore, after all the last time she'd seen him he'd been unconscious and with his snarky mouth closed she hadn't been able to suppress the love she still had for him. However ill advised that might turn out to be.

"How are you feeling?" she pressed reaching up to touch his cheek, he blocked the movement catching her hand deftly in his own and holding it there, his grip too tight to be idle, but she noted it wasn't still as hot with fever as when she'd last touched him.

His lips curled up into a half smile that did something not entirely pleasant to her stomach. "Better." He replied and she stilled as he stepped into the space between them, lowering his head to hers until his lips brushed her ear. "Although I feel I must apologise my dear, for leaving you so abruptly." Clara blinked, trying not to shiver at the way his warm breath slid over her skin as she felt his arm wrap tightly around her waist; as she remembered just what it was they had been doing when he'd 'left'.

"It's okay." She managed to get out, noting the way his fingers pressed against the pulse point of her wrist as he drew that hand towards his mouth, his eyes holding her attention as she struggled to read them.

"Oh I think it was better than okay." His voice sent a shiver down her spine in remembered pleasure and her breath caught as his mind deliberately brushed hers provocatively. She tried to pull away, still not certain who she was dealing with. He didn't let her and she tried not to pout up at him, fear and excitement in equal measure spiking her pulse.

"Do you remember now?" she found the courage to ask staring up at him through her lashes using the only tool she knew for certain she had against him at this point.

"Oh yes. I remember much, much more than the Chin ever did; poor boy was so desperate to forget it all, was the devil of a game to retrieve it." His grin was wide and she wondered what all the quirks of his lips meant, which ones were real and which ones were a mask.

"And?" she pressed hesitantly, holding her breath and waiting for an answer she shouldn't have to elaborate on.

"You mean am I the thing he feared becoming... that monster that did such terrible and depraved things to the Universe and to his dear, sweet, human companion," his eyes bored into her with and intensity that made her want to squirm "to you?" Clara startled at the shiver he set loose in her with those two words and she tried to pull away again as his fingers tightened their grip on her wrist and his hand on her waist drew up her spine until she was pressed against his chest.

"Would it matter if I was?" he whispered, lowering his head and hovering over her lips.

Clara stared up into those steel blue eyes, wondering if he was testing her or if she was really looking at her undoing as she considered his question, not wanting to think too hard about her answer because she didn't like it one bit herself. A dark suspicion grew as she felt the brief presence of his mind brush against hers whether he meant to or not.

But two could play at this game and she needed answers from him. "Why did he send you back, why did he make you change this... us?" she asked, certain this version of him would have an answer now, whether or not he was the same man they'd glimpsed, he was closer to it than she'd have liked.

"Such a clever girl." He rasped, his eyes not dropping hers as she felt his hand trace patterns down her spine, her body responding to his touch in a way she wasn't comfortable with. "Why do you think he did it?" The air around them seemed to crackle with intensity and she struggled to draw in a shaking breath that wasn't choked with their mingled scents.

But she hesitated in her response, his hands were so keen to touch her that she felt the need to take something back, to touch him as she reached up with her other hand and traced his completely normal chin with her thumb, missing the last one and yet relieved that he wasn't here to see this. "I think he set a trap." She admitted quietly the suspicion that she had quietly harboured for a very long time.

"Oh?" his eyes danced with something like pride, for her. "And do you think it worked?"

Clara closed her eyes listening to those instincts she wasn't so certain of anymore as she lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his, dropping back down before he had the chance to respond. She kept hoping that he might reveal something more in his kiss, that his mind might lower its defences but all she felt was the wall between them. "I think it's difficult to set a trap for yourself... the most you can do is trap each other."

His grin was sly then and she felt her heart rate sky rocket, as he leant down and captured her lips himself all hesitancy abandoned as his tongue swept into her mouth, stealing her breath before he pulled back as abruptly as she had. "Ah yes, human biology, ever unpredictable. I don't believe either version expected you to take quite so well to the bonding. Or to be so affected by it themselves."

Clara dropped his gaze, wanting to be away from his touch that was clouding her thoughts, he obliged for once, seemingly as aware of her subtle changes as she was unfamiliar with his. She slid out of his grasp and turned her back on him, holding her arms around herself and trying to steady her breathing. It was one thing to suspect, it was another to be confronted by it; something had never sat right with the idea of him sending himself back to seduce her; he could have changed so much else, why that? And the Doctor blindly agreeing without planning ahead, making his own moves and countermoves. It was a chess game against two equally matched players, the outcome could only ever be a stalemate, unless one of them made a mistake. Her Doctor had counteracted whatever the other had planned by marrying her, binding them together and forcing his feelings so thoroughly into his future self; making it impossible for him to become what he'd clearly hoped to be.

"He was just supposed to seduce me... acknowledge his feelings, am I right?" she glanced back at him. "Then walk into his death regardless." Clara snorted. "They both underestimated how selfish you can be my Doctor."

He cocked his head at her, "Or how greedy, how reckless." He admitted a touch of anger colouring his words that surprised her as she watched his eyes narrow with familiar self loathing. "That chinned fool gave himself years, years in which he played dice with the Universe, not caring if it cracked on him again so long as he got to have you. To have what he had been denied for too long."

Clara eyed him. "So that's it." She admitted, "You didn't expect him to walk away, you knew he couldn't, you expected him to destroy it all, to defy his own timeline and what... end it all in a reckless act of selfishness?" Her expression fell as she realised she'd said 'you'. 'You expected'. Like she was acknowledging that the man he would become was the man standing before her, the man that had set all of this into motion. Of course he noticed; he was behind her in two long strides, his chest crushed against her back as his arms wrapped around her, holding her fast as his lips dropped to her hair.

"Oh believe me I am thrilled with this turn of events, after all we had no idea we could actually succeed, it never crossed our mind to even try." He smirked. "The Universe hates me too much to allow it you see; to give me something so impossible, something I can keep."

Clara shivered at the utter venom in his voice, it was as if he'd fixated all the loathing, the anger inside of him on the Universe itself. "No." She bit out, turning in his arms and forcing his eyes onto her as she clutched the lapels of his jacket. "No, I don't accept it." She hit his chest hard with both of her fists. "You are not him, not that monster! You are the Doctor." She bit out half pleading with him to snap out of this and wishing she could push the conviction into his mind.

His smile was almost sad in that moment. "Oh my sweet girl," his thumb brushed her lips, "Don't you see, that is the tragedy of it all... there never was a monster, a Valeyard. There was only ever the Doctor."

The Doctor watched as she fled from him, her feet carrying her deftly up the steps until he could hear her flying against the doors of the TARDIS, her fists pounding against them as she realised they weren't opening. The tell tale sounds of the sonic he had given her mixed with a cry of frustration as that too failed. He sighed, listening to her desperation as she spun to the console, trying to force an override.

The memories had been slow to return, but they had returned, with force and he was a better pilot now, a better engineer, a better Doctor. He could fix things his previous self could never have conceived of. Including any overrides the sentient machine could attempt to yank control back to the autopilot instead of his more than capable hands. He retrieved the container he had taken great pains to create, eying the swirling regeneration energy. It hadn't been easy in the limited time he'd had before Clara had found him, less than ten minutes to create the impossible. But he smiled, apparently his wife had rubbed off on him too, because he was holding the impossible. He stowed it away carefully beneath the lower console, sealing it away from prying eyes for later.

One calm foot in front of the other he strode up the stairs to the console to find her on the opposite side of it, her beautiful doe eyes wide and accusing on him. The look pained him, which was a concern in itself, he wasn't sure his resolve would hold against that look, or the tears that blossomed in her eyes. Or the conflicting part of himself that found he almost enjoyed it.

"So is this it... is this what you'll do, lock me in here too?" she snapped, her strength only lessened by the tremor in her voice; after all she'd seen what his future self had done, what the man he supposed was still a part of him, had done to her.

"That depends, why were you trying to leave?" he asked curiously.

Her eyes widened and her hands went to her hips, fear seemed to be replaced by anger and she slid around the console until he felt the full force of that glare. All 5ft nothing of her giving him pause. "Because I'm furious and frightened I don't want to look at you right now." She all but snarled at him.

He considered it. "Fair enough." He clicked his fingers and the doors swung open, his eyes never leaving her slightly startled expression. Her eyes slid to his and then to the open door in clear suspicion. "I won't stop you my dear. I merely wanted to continue our conversation, but if you are not amenable to it, then by all means..." he stepped aside, waving his hand at the door and inviting her to leave, mildly hoping she wouldn't.

Her foot tapped irritably and he noticed the way her thumb itched with her suppressed desire to bite her nail in a nervous gesture as she tried to decipher him.

"Just like that?" she pressed.

He laughed quietly at her, clearly he hadn't been clear enough in separating himself in her mind from that future version. "Of course Love." His use of the endearment startled her more than the doors opening had and he realised with a start he rather enjoyed surprising her, the way her heartbeat hitched and her breathing caught, the slight flush to her cheeks and the way it bought a fleck of gold to her dark eyes.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" she accused and he couldn't help but be surprised himself that she was already beginning to read him, but then she was his wife, clearly that came with an innate intuition about him.

He felt his lip curl up fractionally. "It's fun isn't it?" he insisted, "Getting to know someone again, learning all those little quirks and tells of theirs," he drew closer to her until his lips could brush her ear, her scent distinctly different to him in this form, far more enticing he noted with satisfaction; "so unpredictable." He whispered against her, his voice a low rumble, enjoying that for him at least she was like a well worn page on a book, he knew every crease, every line, every syllable, the familiarity was comforting after so much change.

"This isn't fun." She replied with conviction, but he could see the way her pupils dilated a fraction and her breathing quickened, her pulse tripping at the combination of his proximity and the idea he planted. He smiled as she stepped around him, she was so delightfully responsive; his fingers all but itched to touch her skin again, to slide into her waiting warmth and feel her come apart beneath him. He hadn't exactly been at his best the last time, and the experience was still a little muddled. But he realised as she threw him a sharp look over her shoulder that he enjoyed arguing with her almost as much; she was delightful in her fury. He watched her stalk from the TARDIS, her head high, hips swaying in a way he was certain she didn't know she did as she left his sight.

His eyes fell on the console and he smoothed his hand over the Old Girl. "All that worry," He laughed at himself, "all that energy he spent trying to stop me and here I am anyway." He patted the console when she gave a subdued noise of response. "Not to worry Sexy, I've retained more of him than he'd like... that was the part of all this that really scared him you see, that he knew he wasn't so far off me." He danced around the console. "But a new man needs a new theme. Why don't you cook me up something different, I'm tired of this look, it's been this way for a millennia, lets see something new and exciting." He pushed a few buttons and stepped back. "Surprise me Dear." He laughed before stepping out of the TARDIS himself and closing the doors firmly, giving her time to finish cooking.