CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Clara sat patiently in her cell, it was relatively low tech and she half hoped that UNIT weren't foolish enough to think that a cell like this would hold the Doctor, low tech or not. Saying that she had once witnessed three of him utterly flummoxed by an unlocked wooden door, but then they might have just been distracted trying to out-do one another with their cleverness.

At least she was alone, no cell mates... no windows either, just harsh fluorescent lights on the 'other' side of the cell behind a huge viewing window; privacy not included it seemed. Her finger tapped at it absentmindedly, it was thick, probably bullet, shatter 'and whatever else they could find' proof. The toilet at least had some form of modesty shield around it in the form of a concrete wall it was nestled behind in the corner of the cell. Wonderful.

So far no one had been to debrief, interrogate or in any way tried to speak to her. She'd only been half joking when she'd asked the soldiers who'd locked her in here if she could have her phone call. Apparently UNIT wasn't big on humour in its soldier training programme, they'd looked blandly back at her before marching away. Probably to stand outside the entrance to the cell block, just in case she got out. Apparently Kate had taken the 'threat' of Clara Oswald more seriously than she'd imagined. Of course that meant she had been here almost a whole day with only a tray of surprisingly decent food shoved through her cell door to give her something to break the monotony. If this really was going to be her future, which right now she wasn't quite willing to accept, then she was going to need something to entertain herself, a book at the very least. But a part of her strongly suspected she wouldn't be in here long, just long enough until Kate and they... whoever 'they' were found some use for her again; or until the Doctor inevitably escaped.

Although in her heart of hearts, she deeply suspected that the Doctor would find some way to escape and probably collect her along the way once he realised she was locked up inside a UNIT HQ somewhere, if he didn't know that already. The question was, would she go with him? She'd made promises, his heartbeat tripped quietly and steadily inside of her mind, a constant reminder of their connection and her promise. Perhaps it was a cliché but she got the impression that this Doctor, this version of the man she loved, needed her more than he ever had. Could she really be cold enough to simply cut him loose when he was so clearly lost? It would be easier if she didn't love him, transferred or not, she loved him, even when she was crying, furious or just frankly terrified because of him, it was still there. Which was frankly disturbing if she spent too long thinking about it. There was certainly no human frame of reference for it, not really; this was embracing the alien side of the Doctor and this life she'd chosen thoroughly. Of course he'd warned her about it, right from the start, and she'd hesitated, of course she had; only an idiot would have blindly agreed to marry the Doctor and put herself through what she had, for what was for all intents and purposes a madman. But agreed she had, because she'd had faith, she'd be damned if she'd loose that faith now just because it had been rocked a little bit.

She glanced around the cell which might become her permanent residence and accepted that perhaps her faith had been rocked more than just a little bit.

Two days later she was starting to go a little stir crazy. She had no visitors, the soldiers who delivered her food seemed to be under pain of something... unpleasant, to ensure they didn't even make eye contact with her let alone speak to her. Of course she'd asked for books, a pen and paper, even a crayon, music, pictures, just something to help her pass the time and every plea had gone unanswered. It was almost like they'd forgotten that she was a human being that may well go out of her mind like this. Or perhaps that was just wishful thinking on their parts.

So it was something of a surprise when on the third day (determined by when the lights cut out) to replicate night, that her outer cell door opened. Clara shot to her feet, all but running to the glass face and staring almost painfully hopefully at the metal door as it hissed open.

Jack Harkness strode in, his expression seemed pained for a moment until his eyes settled on her and it instantly softened into a smile. "Hello beautiful." He came to stand opposite her, his hands in his pockets, looking to the casual observer like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Jack." She replied, surprised at just how croaky her voice was from misuse in just a few days she cleared it and smiled back at him, pressing her hand to the glass. He hesitated a moment before raising his own to match against hers.

"So I finally had the pleasure of meeting the new new Doctor." He offered with a wry smile, "Never thought I'd meet a version of him I couldn't get along with." His expression turned grim and Clara dropped her hand from his, lowering her gaze.

"Don't give up on him Jack." She admonished quietly, hugging herself around her middle subconsciously.

"Give up on him?" he snapped with more than a hint of incredulity, "Clara I don't know who that man is, but he isn't any Doctor I've ever met. Sure he could be cold on occasion, callous and downright alien at times; but he was never malicious just for the sake of it."

Clara sighed. "You only met two versions of him. He hasn't always been a peach." She muttered not sure which of them she was trying to convince.

"Why'd you do it?" he asked, following her as she stepped along the perimeter of her cell, trying to keep her eye line. "You could have just let Kate have the gun, if you were determined to help him there were better ways than this." He indicated her current predicament with clear exasperation.

Clara turned to glance at him, noting the way he was watching her, it was more wary than before, almost like he didn't dare to drop his gaze from anything but her face. "I take it the two of you had a friendly little chat." She asked seeing his eye twitch fractionally.

"Oh yes, lovely little chat. Like I said, wonderful man that husband of yours." His sarcasm was evident, which was ridiculous because a statement like that about the Doctor really shouldn't have to be laced with sarcasm.

Clara sighed. "I said he wouldn't like it." Not that it excused the Doctors behaviour, but it was at least strangely comforting to know that she could still read him. Jealousy had always been a flaw of his, it came with the narcissistic egomania she imagined.

"That you did." He acknowledged, sounding very American in that moment as he managed an uneasy grimace.

Clara eyed him shrewdly, "Why are you here Jack, because I know it's not to bust me out." She knew him well enough to know that he would be cracking jokes and dancing around her with barely suppressed enthusiasm if he had a plan.

He looked her dead in the eye. "The Doctor escaped."

"I'm shocked." She deadpanned.

Clara paused, noting his demeanour afresh, not in the least bit surprised by the news, his eye roll indicated he thought about as much as she had of their 'imprison the Doctor' idea. "So you're here to what, guard me?" It was a sickening feeling to realise that a friend was very possibly turning his back on you.

"Never thought I'd say it, but it came down to a choice between the Earth and the Doc... way he is right now, I gotta pick the Earth." He was almost apologising... almost, but she could understand the sentiment after all hadn't she been forced into a similar choice?

"And me?" she pressed, surprised to find that her voice wasn't wavering. "What about me Jack?"

He smiled that sad little smile again touching the glass between them, "You love your husband. And whatever he is, whether he loves you or not I don't know, but he's a jealous bastard, possessive at a guess; that makes this cell his most likely target."

"His TARDIS would be a better bet." Clara replied with a hint of bitterness that Jack clearly detected if his wry smirk was anything to go by.

"Yes well his TARDIS is where you are. I'm betting he'll come for you before he heads for it." He admitted and Clara suspected he was probably right.

Clara stared hard at him, trying to understand what was going through his head. "You don't want to be between me and him... you know that." She pointed out quietly, recalling the state she'd heard him in after a short conversation with this new Doctor.

"Story of my life." He muttered with a hint of irony. "But seriously Clara, who else are they going to put down here between you and him... I'm an un-killable man. Obvious choice really." He turned away from the glass, facing the sealed metal door.

"Try another one." She warned, "Because I'm not buying it." And she wasn't, whatever Jack was, whatever the Doctor said to him, he'd never really hurt the Doctor, not permanently at any rate... nor be convinced he didn't have some sort of hare-brained plan that this all fed into.

He didn't even look back. "Woman's prerogative I suppose." His shoulders lifted in a shrug.

"You want another little chat with him?" she guessed, and saw him tense fractionally, "Or is it that you don't think he's such a lost cause after all." He dropped his head shoulders slumping, and she smiled despite herself confirming her own suspicions about the great Jack Harkness. "Oh come on Jack don't go all sentimental on me."

"Wouldn't dream of it Beautiful." He murmured straightening up and keeping his gaze firmly on the door as if he expected the Doctor to come barrelling through at any moment. Clara almost wished he would, but she highly doubted that if the Doctor was going to come for her it would be in anything as obvious as a full frontal assault. Certainly not in this face, this one was definitely more into the whole machiavellian plan thing.

She was half right anyway, she saw the gas before Jack did as it seeped in through the grates in the ceiling, fortunately her cell seemed to be air tight and on a separate ventilation system, safely behind it's impenetrable glass and concrete walls... or whatever it was they were constructed of. But she hesitated in calling to Jack in alerting him to the threat, her eyes lingered on the whisp of it as it entered the room, before becoming all but completely colourless.

"Jack." She managed quietly and he turned to look at her, her mouth opened and closed and whatever she had intended to say died on her lips. "Thank you." His eyes widened but she could see it was already too late, his pupils had dilated to the size of saucers.

"Clara." He managed, coughing suddenly, his hands clutching at his chest as if in pain and as his eyes seemed to flutter as he fought for consciousness before he fell hard against the glass between them with a thud, sliding to the floor and surrendering to unconsciousness. God she hoped it was just unconscious, not that it would matter with Jack if the gas had been fatal, but the implication of the Doctor pumping a toxic gas into UNIT's air filtration system was too much.

The large metal door hissed open and she lifted her gaze to the figure that stepped through, his hands in his pockets, the red inner lining of his jacket flaring out and drawing the eye. Her lips pursed as she realised she was more than a little thrilled to see him there, to know he'd come for her despite whatever else she was feeling.

"Miss me Love?" he smirked, those eyebrows of his dancing with amusement, clearly he was having the time of his life outsmarting and outwitting Earth's finest defence force.

Clara crossed her arms defensively, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing she was relieved to see him. "That depends, is he dead or asleep?" she indicated Jack.

The Doctor stepped in letting the metal door seal behind him and glanced down dispassionately at Jack. "Oh he's definitely dead." He replied, smiling dangerously up at her the inflection on the he's telling her enough.

Clara pursed her lips, but she was learning to read between the lines with this him. "And the rest of them?"

His smile widened a little his eyes scanning her she noted, probably looking for signs of damage. She had never been more grateful for relatively gentle kid-gloves the soldiers had used on her. "Unconscious." He admitted, "Even UNIT aren't foolish enough to use a deadly toxin as a redundancy system base-wide... just in the cells for certain eventualities." Clara nodded, deciding not to point out needlessly the fact that he could have easily redirected those fatal toxins throughout the base if he'd wanted. She was just glad that he hadn't.

He stepped up to the glass and his hand pressed to it, almost on instinct she pressed hers opposite, staring up at him. "Would it be terribly inappropriate of me to say just how much of a turn on it is to see you behind bars my dear?"

Clara quirked an eyebrow at the clear glass between them and the complete lack of bars.

"Metaphorically speaking." He laughed lightly, but the intense look he was levelling at her was enough to bring a blush to her cheeks.

"Do you intend to just stand there and admire me, or are you here to break me out?" Clara pressed, aware that dead or not, Jack wouldn't stay that way for long and she really didn't want to hear the vile barbs these two would inevitably sling at one another.

"I don't know, I quite like the admiring plan, it's been three days my dear in solitary confinement. A thousand years before that. A man has needs you understand." His tone was light, but that intensity was still in his eyes and she rolled her own, feeling heat lick at her belly in response; apparently even with a sheet of extremely thick glass between them his effect on her body hadn't lessened. Damn him. "But I suppose escape could be useful." He admitted, pulling out a device that wasn't his sonic she noted with surprise. "They sonic proofed the building." He added at her look. "Had to go for a laser version... wish it had been my idea but they still had the Masters lying around in their laboratories. Careless really, the isomorphic controls were child's play to rework."

Clara could see it then, in the acidity of his tone and the tension in his frame, he was angry, livid even that they'd had the audacity to lock her away. Him he could clearly understand after all he'd pushed them into it. Clara stepped closer to the glass to him as he worked on the lock.

"You know they had no choice. I forced them into this every bit as much as you did." She tried and he didn't look at her, his lips pressing into a thin line with clear distaste that she'd defend them.

The cell door opened and she had a moment to absorb the notion that she was free to go when he reached in and grabbed her hand, pulling her out and without seeming to pause she felt her back pressed against the glass and his lips crashed over hers. The feel of him was as heady as ever as his hands trailed her body, their tongues meeting and sending shocks of electricity through her as she struggled not to simply moan as her hands rose to the back of his head, sliding along the soft hair and tugging just enough to make his breath hitch. She wanted him, angry, scared or disappointed it didn't seem to matter what she was feeling, the want when he was touching her just wouldn't abate. He sighed her name against her lips and she felt her blood pump that little bit faster, her skin tingling at the way he caressed the name.

Pausing she pulled back just long enough to slap him, hard. He was perhaps distracted enough to let her, that or he felt he deserved it, but her hand stung where it connected and his head rocked to the side. His sharp blue eyes found hers and she could see the flicker of pain ignite to full blown arousal with nothing of the contriteness she wanted from him in that moment. Because she was every inch as furious as him, but for entirely different reasons. His grip tightened around her waist and she grabbed the back of his head, tugging him down to crash her lips against his. Relief pushing aside the anger momentarily as she let him hold her, drawing out sensation after sensation with his lips, as they trailed a course down her throat.

And God did she wish it could just be about lust about want, but she could feel the intent behind his every touch and caress as his hands scanned over her, looking for injuries, his mind flickered on the edge of her consciousness and she felt his concern beneath the rage. Clara pulled back desperate for breath as his mouth threatened to reduce her legs to jelly, catching his face in her hands, her anger bleeding away into a quiet heat inside her. "I'm fine." She managed breathlessly realising how badly he needed the reassurance; he stared hard at her with those crystalline eyes of his still whilst his hands slowly rose to brush her arms before settling around her biceps holding firm. She didn't broach the subject of his mind, despite the fact that she could feel it pounding at the edge of her consciousness. Apparently he was a man of his word and she had won their little challenge after all... this was supposed to be her prize, 'access'; only right now she couldn't have been more terrified of knowing what he was thinking.

As she stared up at him she realised he looked a little haggard, his hair was unruly, his skin a little paler than usual and there was the feint darkening of a few days old bruise across his right cheekbone. Instinctively her fingers rose to it brushing over the sensitive skin, she didn't ask him if he was ok, the simmering rage in his eyes wouldn't permit it she realised. Instead she lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the slightly damaged skin, seeing his eyes flutter closed for a moment as he released a soft breath against her, his hand rising to her back to press her softly against his chest. Why was love never simple? She felt the curve of his lips at her unspoken question and she closed her eyes just enjoying the feel and smell of him, of being in his arms and imagining that they weren't in a UNIT facility, running from their former friends.

"Tell me why we're here?" She pressed breaking the moment and pulling back to see his face clearly; he frowned, clearly expecting her to simply take the answer for herself from his mind; the window cracked temptingly for her to peek inside. She resisted. But she was absolutely certain now that there was a reason for all of this, she'd merely hoped before but now she knew that none of this had been the idle doodlings of his bored mind.

Apparently he had no such compunctions about accessing her thoughts and she struggled not to lock them down the way he'd taught her what seemed like years ago now. Maybe it was, it had certainly been centuries for him.

"You're half right. I was bored, took a stroll into their systems... didn't much like what I found." He admitted but that was all she got as he turned to go, grasping her hand and pulling her with him, forcing her to draw her own conclusions.

"They were infiltrated?" she asked as he popped his head out of the cell door and she noted the incapacitated guards on the floor. "How long until they wake up?" she asked nervously.

"Not long, they've been inoculated against the gas, security measure in case they were ever compromised. I had to amp it up just to put them on their asses." He assessed, breaking into a half run and pulling her firmly behind him.

"The TARDIS?" she asked, almost certain she knew where they'd have put it. His look suggested she was right. "How do we get it out of the Black Archive, that place is TARDIS proof?" she questioned.

He glanced back at her before casually dropping to retrieve a weapon from one of the fallen soldiers, her eyes lingered on the offending weapon, on the reminder that his mindset was entirely different now. "Mostly TARDIS proof." He admitted with a wry smirk at her exasperated expression, "Sometimes it's better to let people think they have the best of you, always makes them overconfident. And humans, they do like to feel confident in their abilities to protect themselves, however delusional they may be." There was definite sarcasm there and she smacked his arm.

"Oy, human remember!" She snapped feeling affronted that he'd all but called them, her included 'damn filthy apes'.

"Barely, but if this was the planet of the pudding brains my dear, you would most definitely be the soufflé." He muttered turning away his mind locking down before she had cause to prod the depth of that thought, or determine whether that was actually a compliment or not.

They ran, it wasn't fast enough a bullet ricocheted past her almost taking her shoulder with it, missing her only be millimetres and she felt the Doctor slam her hard into a concrete wall backing them around the corner, pressing her into it and shielding her with his own body as he extended his arm, it took her a moment to grasp his intention before he returned fire around the blind corner.

"Don't." She pleaded, her hand going to his arm, her plea unclear and he didn't look at her, the gun still ready. "Please, don't kill them, it isn't you." She whispered.

He did look back at her then. "They are firing at you love, it is definitely me." The words stirred something primal in her and she saw the look reflected back and she wondered if it was a Time Lord thing, or if it ran deeper than that, if that was just what it was to love someone this foolishly.

Clara sighed, reaching up and taking the gun from him, he relented with some resistance as she tugged it from his fingers. "I'm a better shot." Was the only explanation she gave as she raised the weapon in front of her with a proper grip, just like UNIT had taught her in her extended time with them. She wasn't going to add that she couldn't bear to see him doing the killing, of the two of them she felt her moral compass could risk slipping a little further. Clara peered her head around the corner, noting the downed bodies from his previous apparently all too successful attempt and pressing her lips thin in distaste as she tugged him with her, her eyes not lingering on those bodies as she deliberately stepped over them, because she was certain he hadn't merely winged them. This doctor was nothing if not efficient.

"Tell me." She hissed as he pulled out that laser screwdriver and held it in front of him, she cast a look at it, wondering if it had been the Masters if it was as lethal as his sonic had been safe. He quirked an eyebrow at her, his eyes darting as he took in the layout, knowing it infinitely better than her it seemed as he guided them quickly. "Tell me about what you found in their systems?" she pressed, needing an answer now more than ever as she ducked a hail of gun fire. Her hand extending and returning fire on instinct as she was given a firsthand look at just what the laser screwdriver could do as the soldier right in front of her was hit solidly in the chest and slammed back into the wall and didn't move again, quite dead.

"Do you remember the Great Intelligence?" he asked dispassionately pulling her up to her feet and forcing them onwards. She threw him a look that asked him not to patronise her. "Yes well, it wasn't him, but it wasn't far off. Something more like Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe, of course that turned out to be the Dalek's, but the theories sound." He added seeing her look.

"You have no idea what is infiltrating it do you?" she pointed out.

He glared back. "No not really. Other than that it was malicious and it's been watching, learning for a long long time. Working out the best way to kill the entire human race, by making them kill themselves. Pushing them darker and stupider." He sneered with derision as they dodged another round of gunfire, at least it was only one or two soldiers recovering at a time she noted, managing to take out the gun arm and knee of this one, and shoving the Doctor's hand away as he went to follow up. He didn't comment, just pulled them onwards, his longer legs slowed by her short ones. "Should have realised" he continued, "right about when they started resorting to that ridiculous Osterhagen Key nonsense... or that trick Kate pulled with the self-destruct and the Zygons." He tutted in clear disgust. "Humans." He barked. "Always so trigger happy, never willing to take the hard path, to slug through the dirt to find a different way, too willing to think it is time to throw in the towel and do the unthinkable. Just wanting to wave around the ultimate solution as if it is the only solution. Mutually assured destruction combined with human stupidity... bad combination."

Clara tried not to take offence to his words, after all it was her species he was deriding, but right now she wasn't sure she exactly disagreed with him. "I honestly don't know why I bothered with them for so long." He added and she pulled him up short at that.

"I'm going to take that personally in a minute." She snarled at him, tugging him by his lapels until he was in her eye line.

"Don't." He bit back, stealing a kiss quickly. "My companions have always been the best of humanity." Clara rolled her eyes not entirely mollified, as he grasped her hand and pulled her sharply into a doorway she recognised glancing upwards in concern at the memory wipers situated every few feet.

"Disabled?" she asked hoping he'd taken care of it.

"Retargeted." He supplied with a smirk. "Just don't let go of my hand." He added, curling his fingers tighter around her and pulling her into the length of his body. "Anyone that isn't Time Lord, or who's signature is being masked by one, is going to regress to a toddler for the next few hours, and as delightful as I'm sure you were as a child my dear, I am not the paternal sort."

Clara nodded glancing upwards nervously, her gun at her side as they approached the large wooden door with its multiple array of keys. "Does that thing do wood?" she asked him indicating the more dangerous screwdriver he was gripping lightly.

"Oh yes." He laughed pointing it at the centre of the door and she flinched as the beam shot out and instantly the whole thing seemed to start smoking, burning a whole straight through until it was shaking violently, in moments it was reduced to a pile of ash.

"I'm not sure this Master and I would have gotten along." Clara noted quietly as they stepped over the threshold into the Black Archive.

"Oh I'm sure he would have found you delightful my dear. But then he always wanted my toys, even as a boy... shame I never really learnt to share." He pressed a kiss to her forehead, taking the sting out of referring to her as a toy for the time being as her eyes swept the room.

The TARDIS was inside the sealed enclosure that Jack's Vortex Manipulator had been in before she'd swiped it, the Old Girl looked oddly forlorn and she wondered if she was picking up her telepathic field through the Doctor's joined hand.

"So that was your solution destroy it all to fix the problem?" Clara pulled him to a stop, dragging them back to the earlier conversation, not willing to leave until she was certain they'd fixed whatever the problem had been.

He glanced between her and the TARDIS, clearly itching to free his box, but she set a hand on her hip. He seemed to consider how much effort it might take to just lift her up, throw her over his shoulder and go to his beloved box anyway, but clearly her expression was clear 'just you try it Mister' it screamed.

"Is that what I did?" he challenged. And she opened her mouth to respond before closing it at the smirk on his face as she considered it.

"And what about all those traps you left for me... were they a lie, a show as well?" she snapped, knowing full well the threat had been real and hating him for making her play along.

"What is any rescue without a little challenge my dear." He caught her chin with his thumb and forefinger. "Had to make it look real after all."

"You're an insufferable ass." She told him again, meaning it.

"Yes." He acknowledged without apology, "But the threat was eradicated along with the humans piss poor excuse for a defence system. Then you rebuilt it from the ground up did you not, that lovely little repair job you did should keep anything else out... well anything that's not Dalek at the very least." He added.

"So tell them!" Clara snapped. "Let them know why you did all of this, that you were saving them!"

He snorted. "And what would they have learned then my dear?" he hissed, tugging her forward now and indeed seemingly like he was willing to risk her wrath as he managed to make it to the outside of the enclosure that held his precious TARDIS.

"That you're not the enemy!" she shouted exasperated with him now.

He gave her a withering look. "And that I will swoop in and save the day... save them from themselves?" he sneered. "Better the devil they know. They are toddlers Clara, dangerous toddlers that have found a shed full of the Universes' most dangerous toys. They have been coddled long enough by the idea that the Doctor will save them. It is time they learnt that nothing can save them from themselves if they aren't willing to sharpen up."

"So you what... put the fear of God in them?" she tried not to let it sound like she was mocking him but the way his jaw tensed she realised she'd obviously failed in her tone.

"Better they learn to defend themselves in fear of me... than revere me and wait patiently for the day I won't come to save them." He kept his grip on her one hand firm as he pointed the screwdriver at the panel, its functions swirling until it cycled onto a green panel and the door slid open with a hiss.

"You always save them... us!" Clara snapped, angry at her own slip, at the distance he'd managed to make her put between her and her own people, her own world. And furious with herself that she had barely noticed.

He stared down at her. "Things change." He replied, squeezing her hand and making to step into the room, the TARDIS door swung open expectantly.

"Doctor." She pleaded and he paused, hearing the pain in her voice, seeing the tears that were spilling over her cheeks. "Please this is my world. You're asking me to choose between you."

He met her challenging look head on, her faltering composure not shaking him in the slightest it seemed. "So choose." He bit back unapologetically.

"I'll never see my family again... never be able to come home." She argued, trying to break that stern exterior, his mental walls locked in place so she couldn't even be sure what he felt about her stand-off in this moment.

She saw his eye twitch, his resolve flickering for a moment as he crossed to her, his hands rising to cradle her face.

"This is home." He insisted, lowering his lips to hers for a moment, his touch feather light against her.

"This is family." He added his eyes boring into hers and for one shining moment letting her see into the dark recesses of his mind, letting her feel the love he held for her now, the way it consumed him and his hearts. No longer a hesitant, soft and gentle, barely deserved thing, but something more powerful, something burning so brilliantly that it actually hurt to look at.

Clara let her hand rise to caress his cheek, tracing over his new features, features that she couldn't dislike no matter what she thought of his darker nature, this was her husband, the man she had taken however foolishly into her heart and soul. His love would be like that now too she realised, shaded in a different hue, no longer rainbows and sunlight, more like the break of dawn and the set of dusk, brilliant light dappled with shadows. And she had already chosen.

Her hand found his and she stepped past him, drawing him behind her as she made that final leap, shedding the last remnants of the girl he'd dragged into a Snogbox with the promise of wide eyed wonder and adventure. The TARDIS door sealed behind them and she stared at the new setting, at the rich colours, at the hard lines, the shadows cast by the flickering of the cosmos in the ceiling above them.

For better or worse she was home.