Chapter 3: Home Again

She awoke nearly a week later to the gentle hum of the Tardis and the warm feeling of another hand in her own.

The Tardis had been fixed and now they were cruising quietly in the safety of the Time Vortex. Clara peeked her eyes open against the soft light of the medbay and was greeted by the smiling face of the man she loved most in the universe.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," he chuckled warmly, squeezing her hand in his proudly.

She smiled back, but then furrowed her eyebrows, confused. Why was she in the medbay, and what was this faint burning sensation in her lungs?

"What happened?" she asked simply. His expression darkened.

"There was an accident," he explained, obviously uncomfortable with having to relive the memories of that fateful day. "The Tardis had a malfunction and we got stranded on a planet with nothing but salt, water, and an atmosphere."

"Salinious V, also known as 'The Dead Planet,' or it was anyway. It had always been said that the planet was too salty to sustain any form of life, but obviously that was wrong. There were creatures, living in the sea. Beautiful creatures," he trailed off, staring blankly at all the various tubes and IV lines hooked up to her body.

He took in a deep breath, meeting her gaze again with a serious look. "I let you wander off, which is my fault. I should have protected you. I have a duty of care, after all."

She smiled at that, but did not make a retort. He watched for her reaction for a moment and then continued after a sigh. "The creatures must have grabbed you while I wasn't paying attention and pulled you under. The salinity of the water should have kept you buoyant, but these creatures were adapted to creating these specific underwater currents to force you under."

He passed a hand down his face and then scratched at his scalp, fidgeting. "Now, I don't know if they thought you were one of their own- they were humanoid, after all- or if they were just trying to drown you for food, but they very nearly killed you."

He swallowed thickly, guilt gripping his hearts like a vice. "I had my back turned. I was working on the Tardis. The salt in the air was corroding the wires of the dematerialization circuit, and I just thought that I'd be able to hear it if you got into any trouble. I was wrong. You kept making this splashing noise, but apparently the creatures kept your head mostly underwater so you couldn't call for help. I almost noticed the sound too late."

"When I realized what was going on, I ran to the shore and dove in after you. The creatures attacked me, and I fought them off as best I could until...until..." he trailed off, his voice choking up.

"Until...what?" she asked gently.

"Until I saw you lying there. Floating up to the surface. Facedown. Motionless." He fought back tears. "I screamed and the creatures scattered away. Apparently in an underwater world with no other living things, there isn't much in the way of sound. They communicated by light, see. They had these bioluminescent stripes across their bodies that they flashed at each other. Used to a world of almost complete silence, I must have scared them off with that shout."

"Then I caught you and dragged you to shore where I performed CPR on you and the Ham Lick maneuver."

Her eyes glittered in an obvious 'I told you so' manner. "It's not 'Ham Lick' maneuver, you daft old man," she giggled. "It's Heimlich maneuver. Told you those classes were useful." she smirked, satisfied with herself.

He puffed himself up in indignation at his now ruffled ego and the human responsible. "Whatever."

"Continue," she chuckled, gesturing with her hands.

"Well, anyway, I somehow got you breathing again." He paused a moment and furrowed his eyebrows, deep in thought. "You are one tough little pudding brain, you know that?" he gestured at her vaguely. "You never lost your pulse or let it go into an arrhythmia. If you had, I wouldn't have had anything to work with to shock you back into life. You would have been a goner no matter how much CPR I did. And somehow, somehow, your brain doesn't appear to have lost any function at all whatsoever despite being deprived of oxygen for several minutes."

"Is that why my lungs are burning? It's kind of faint, but I can still feel it." she pointed to her chest.

"Yeah, the high salt content was somewhat corrosive, so I'm afraid that your lungs might be left with some scarring. I've given you a lot of painkillers and some magic Timelord medicine for it, though. The scarring should be minimal and hopefully you'll be right as rain in a few days."

"Takes more than some stupid salty water and glowing fish people to kill the Impossible Girl, I guess," she grinned.

"Impossible Girl indeed." he nodded, still in awe.

He sighed, leaning back against the chair he had pulled up beside her bed and steepling his fingers. "Well, I'd thought I'd lost you there for a minute," he admitted. "But then you proved to be worth your salt."

They stared at each other for a moment with bated breath and wide eyes before suddenly exploding into great peals of laughter. The sound reverberated down the halls of the medbay and drowned out the sounds of the monitors and the Tardis herself.

"That!" Clara gasped out between bursts of laughter, "That is your worst pun yet!"

His laughter died down. "Too soon?"

She giggled and shook her head at him in disbelief. "Oh, I'll just have to kill you for that one."

"Oohhh." he drawled, waggling an eyebrow at her in mischief, "Yes, but then you'll just have to save me."

"Mm-hmm" she hummed cheekily, "and how do you do that again?"

He rose from his seat beside her bed and bent over her body. "Well first," he placed his hands over her heart, feeling its pace quicken under his touch, "you place your hands here and press…" he gazed deeply into her eyes, a spark of playful mischief passing between them. "And then," he kept one hand over her heart and moved the other to cup her face and lift her chin slightly, "you do this."

His lips met hers softly, tentatively, playfully. She closed her eyes and snatched at his lapels, deepening the kiss. He rested his forehead against hers and was unable to suppress the tiniest of moans. Clara's hands moved to grasp hard against his unruly curls, enjoying their softness and enjoying even more the sheer gripability of them.

The world fell away as they became lost in each other. The Tardis carried them away through the Time Vortex. Towards safety, fun, and more adventures to come.

The End.


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