Scene 31

The Doctor wandered slowly back towards the console room.

Clara's fear and emotion still on the edge of his consciousness.

It affected him deeply.

She had been so afraid. So alone. And it was because she was with him.

How long would she be able to endure that? To make it worth staying with him?

She was strong, she was resourceful, but it wouldn't be long before it would eventually break her.

He knew.

He knew because as his bow-tie self, it had almost broken him, and he was infinitely stronger than any human.

Hadn't he known that falling in love would open him up to all this pain and doubt?

It was too late now.

Clara was seared onto his very soul.

Every fibre of his being yearned for her.

Being one with her mind, he had seen...seen how intensely his feelings were reciprocated. Through all the horror, there was never one tiny moment when she hadn't imagined him coming for her. Not one moment. Complete faith.

That was a powerful thing.

She trusted him implicitly, with her life.

He could never let her down.

Jack was nowhere to be seen, when he returned, but as he turned towards the stairs, he spotted him.

In the leather armchair, on the mezzanine.

He was slumped there. Head resting to one side.

His face read anguish. Streaked with dried tears. Not relaxed in repose, but strained.

He realised then, that since they'd arrived on the planet, Jack had barely slept.

No more than a cat nap.

He was completely wrung out. Emotionally and physically shattered.

He'd taken all the anguish on to himself, and the Doctor knew he'd done it to spare him.

All those lives, the children, the pain of it.

He'd have to learn to live with that all over again, somehow he would have to carry on, continue with a life that he knew couldn't end.

No respite and no relief.

With each regeneration a Timelord was reborn, and although memories were retained, it was a new start, a fresh face, a new life.

Jack did not have that luxury...he just continued...on and on...into eternity.

It was a sobering thought.

Finding a tartan rug from a shelf behind the chair, the Doctor covered him, tucking the edges around him, and placing a pillow under his head.

Instinctively Jack drew up his knees, curled himself into a ball, hugging himself, murmuring something unintelligible ...

The Doctor left him to rest.

God knows he needed it.

He guided the Tardis away from the 456 planet. Away from everything.

Just floating. Drifting.

While they all tried to mend as best they could.

Scene 32

Hands folded neatly in his lap, the Doctor sat.

The Tardis providing a calming influence around him. Trying to surround him with an atmosphere of serenity, warmth, quiet.

He breathed slowly, in...out...in...out.

Doing his best to relax.

His eyes were closed. Sitting cross legged.

Meditate, rest the mind.

Suddenly he felt a soft brush on his left shoulder.

Her little hand touched his cheek, very gently.

Opening his eyes, looking up into hers, still weary, dulled, not bright and expressive as they usually were.

She came around in front of him and he uncrossed his limbs. He'd taken his boots off, just in socks.

She sat down on the floor, between his thighs, his legs either side of her.

She leaned back against his chest. Not speaking.

He encircled her with his arms, nuzzled her neck. Sighed deeply.

"Clara, my Clara." He murmured.

She turned sideways then, as a small child might, curling round, bringing her legs together and draping them over one of his. She buried her face into his woollen jumper, arms around his middle, threaded under his coat.

He stroked her hair, combing his fingers through it, with a tenderness, she had never felt before.

"You will heal Clara. It'll take time, but you will heal."

She still said nothing, a sniffling noise was all he heard.

"Shhhh! You're safe now. I'm here. I've got you."

"Doctor?"

"What is it?"

"I want to go home. Take me home. Please."

His hearts stilled.

"Oh God! She didn't want to do this anymore. She wanted her old life back. She'd had enough. This adventure had been too much. What they'd done to her, so horrific, so scarring. He hadn't expected her to leave him quite so quickly. Not now he'd finally really found her."

He hardly trusted his own voice, so broken.

"Whatever you want."