She takes his hand

"It's quiet uptown."

Forgiveness. Can you imagine?

Forgiveness. Can you imagine?

If you see him in the street, walking by her

Side, talking by her side, have pity

They are going through the unimaginable

-It's Quiet Uptown by Lin-Manuel Miranda

It was inevitable.

Clara had known that from the beginning, of course, but she had tried to hide the fact deep in the back of her mind where only a shadow of the thought would cross her consciousness every once and a while.

Almost unknowingly, she had worked up an immunity to her past. She had guarded herself so carefully against thoughts and memories that she could think about them now with almost no emotion. They seemed like a dream, something that had happened in another life.

She never once reminded herself that it had been real. She never once remembered the feeling of security as she held his hand. She never once thought of the adrenaline pumping through her veins as they ran.

So if the inevitable moment were ever to come, she would be ready. She just knew it.

That is, until it happened, and then she knew only one thing:

Nothing could have prepared her for this.

It was like a stab in her gut, like somebody kicking her in the chest, like the breath being knocked out of her. She had never thought that the sight of somebody could be so painful.

Even more painful was the choice she had to make. The option she had to choose.

Turn. Turn and run, she directed herself, and yet her feet didn't obey her commands.

"No." She clenched her hands into fists, her fingernails biting into her skin. Her eyes stung like she was going to cry, but she knew from experience that the tears would never come in her body's frozen state.

"I can't," she told herself, voice trembling. Yet she took a step in his direction. He was standing across the road. Standing. When was he ever standing still? Of course it had to be now.

It was inevitable.

Her control slipped. She took another step. She pressed her lips together, the name she had been dying to call out resting right on the tip of her tongue.

Then his eyes met hers. His gaze almost swept past, but then his piercing eyes locked onto her. He froze.

He smiled.

And she knew.

There wasn't time to ask questions, to try to maintain control. Clara ran to him, her tearless sobs forcing her body to shake. As she grew closer, she saw that his eyes were glassy. His arms were open. Somehow, impossibly, he knew.

She crashed into him, relishing the feel of his warm embrace. He sighed, the breath ruffling her hair.

"How long?" he rumbled.

That voice, that voice.

It all came rushing back to her in a flood of memories, so very real. How long. Her mind, always on the same frequency as his, knew exactly what he meant.

"A hundred and one years," she responded between sobs. She told herself she hadn't been counting, but she had been. It had been inevitable.

His arms constricted around her. "Clara."

She swallowed hard, trying to calm her breathing. That was the thing she had missed the most: the way he said her name.

It was there, ready to burst forth from her lips. She hadn't dared to speak or even think the name, really, in so long. In a hundred and one years. "D—" A sob interrupted and she tried again. "Doctor."

He gently pushed her away, his expression etched in sadness. "Clara." He took a deliberate swallow. "I'm sorry."

She could read the rest of it in his eyes, the things he couldn't say. I took your life into my hands. I went too far. This is all my fault.

He was right, this was his fault. But a long time ago, on the blackest day of her life, when she had entirely betrayed his trust, he had looked at her and said with complete conviction, Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?

Clara smiled. She reached for one of his hands, hanging limp by his side, and held it in both of hers. She looked straight into his eyes.

"I know. I've always known."

His eyes softened. "I never deserved you, Clara Oswald."

Clara sighed, and it was a release. The inevitable had happened. And though it couldn't last and they would be forced to go their separate ways, they still had this moment, right now.

Clara nodded down the street. "Have time to take a walk?"

He nodded, his hand still in hers.

And they talked, occasionally finding one of their hands in the other's grasp as they strolled through the town. They both knew the next inevitable moment was coming, but for now, it didn't matter.

They had each other. And suddenly, it wasn't so quiet anymore.