As he laid his hand down on the floor between them and Clara opened her bottle of nail polish, the Doctor concluded "truth or dare" was the most archaic Earth game he'd ever heard of.

"This seems wildly unfair!" Clara giggled, coating the deep magenta color over his right thumbnail.

"You're the one who chose dare," she glanced up at him, smirking. "You can always say uncle."

With his free hand, the one not receiving a coat of varnish, the Doctor fixed his bowtie. "I don't say uncle."

"Well then," she finished his manicure with a flourish. "They you are! Now you ask me."

The Doctor frowned at his fingernails. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth!"

He frowned even more at not being given the opportunity to retaliate with an equally embarrassing dare. "What's your favorite color?"

"No, no! You're all wrong at this. You have to ask things that I might be embarrassed to share! Secrets, stuff like that." She leaned back on her hands, her legs folded in front of her where they sat on the floor of the control room. The TARDIS buzzed around them, humming gently as they whizzed through space and time as simply as an RV on cruise control. It almost felt pedestrian.

"Okay then, tell me a secret." The Doctor linked his hands and set them in his lap. Clara rolled her eyes but didn't argue with the simplicity of his question.

"Alright, hmm…" She looked around the room, hoping for a jog to her memory but nothing here reminded her of anything that wasn't him. "Once in grade school, I kissed a boy behind the swing set and didn't tell anyone because my best friend had a crush on him."

"You were kissing boys behind swing sets? In grade school!" The Doctor shook his head disapprovingly, which made her grin.

"Did you kiss any girls when you were in school?"

"You didn't say truth or dare."

"Truth or dare?"

"Truth! I'm not falling for that one again."

"Did you kiss any girls when you were in school?" He gave her a look and in return she gave him a cheeky grin. The Doctor adjusted his suit coat.

"Yes, I kissed girls."

Clara gasped dramatically. "Oh la la! How scandalous."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Truth or dare?"

This time she tapped her finger against her chin, pretending to take her time. "Hmm… dare."

The Doctor clapped his hands together triumphantly. "Ha ha! Now you've done it!" She gave him a look.

"Well?"

"Oh, uh…" He looked around, jumping up to his feet as he paced, racking his brain before setting a hand on the console. He turned his eyes down to her, which made her sit up a little straighter. "Do you trust me?"

Clara blinked in surprise but answered immediately. "Yes…?"

The Doctor cracked a smile slowly, taking her hands. "Then I dare you to close your eyes."

Her breath caught in her throat for a moment as his hands clasped hers tightly and helped her to her feet. But she nodded, obliging his dare as her eyes slipped shut and felt one of his hands leave hers. Her free hand moved to grab the wrist of the arm that held her. She heard a few levers creak as he messed with the console quickly but his hand never left hers.

After a few long moments, the control room was quiet again. The Doctor's hand tugged on hers gently and she took a few steps, still holding his wrist. "Where are we?"

"Careful, just take two and a half more steps… okay, stop!" She felt his hand on her shoulder and suddenly a breeze on her face. Clara swallowed hard, her heart pounding in anticipation for what would be waiting for her when she opened her eyes. Her hand was squeezing his firmly and she felt him squeeze back. "Open your eyes."

And she did. Beyond the now open TARDIS doors there was a wide expanse of grassy field. Trees lined either side of the meadow and everything was the most delicate shade of soft pink she had ever seen. Still holding her hand, the Doctor stepped out with her. "This is the Field of Feliri on the planet Alice'i in the Oberon galaxy." He looked down at her but Clara's eyes were wide, taking in the massive expanse of plant life that seemed to go on forever around them. The Doctor continued. "Alice'i is the only planet in the universe with trees that grow sugar leaves."

He was leading her to the edge of the field and Clara was nearly shaking, holding onto his hand as she licked her lips. The Doctor had taken her to a lot of places by now; planets, galaxies, space stations, submarines in the middle of the ocean. But this was different.

Slowly, he took her hand and stretched it out towards a tree right on the edge of the snowy expanse. The leaves shook in the breeze and Clara looked down to realize the powdery pink color on the grass was sugar dust that had shaken off the trees. She could barely breathe with the delicacy of their surroundings. Her fingers touched the branch and she felt the entire tree shiver.

"The field is named after a princess," he continued. Clara could feel her eyes on him as she kept her fingers against the thin pink leaf. "In an old Oberonian legend, Feliri was a princess who kept watch over her planet from the clouds. However, she was only allowed to set foot on solid ground once every one hundred years." The Doctor paused, looking down at Clara as her fingers pinched and plucked the leaf from its stem. "The legend says, out of the whole universe, she would come here."

The leaf glinted between her fingertips and she felt it balance on the edge of death, every second a threat that could crush it into dust. "She was up in the clouds, all alone?"

He swallowed, feeling his throat go dry. "All alone…"

Clara looked up at the tree as it shivered, hearing the incredibly tiny sound the leaves made as they shook against each other. "That sounds so familiar… I don't know why."

Her eyes left the tree to look up at him and he held her gaze for a long moment. The wind rustled around them and stirred her hair around her face. "Truth or dare?"

The Doctor paused for a moment, still looking down at her. "Truth."

"Why did you bring me here?"

He finally broke her gaze, turning and looking out at the field before looking down at his feet. Clara kept her eyes him, the leaf still carefully cupped in her hand. "Because it's something not everyone gets to see, Clara…" The Doctor shuffled before looking up at her, searching her face in his familiar way. "You're special. You deserve to see special things."

Her head twitched to the side slightly but the leaf fell to the grass at their feet, betraying how she flinched. "I'm not special."

"Oh, Clara…" The Doctor chuckled, his hand reaching out for her cheek. She didn't move away, how could she possibly. "You're more special than even I can imagine."

Her tongue slid out over her lips and he didn't move his hand away. He stepped closer, bending over her small frame as he held her in the one field that the princess in the legend would choose every one hundred years, over and over. Standing with him, Clara understood why. In her own way.

"You're being weird again," she let out a laugh to break the tension and his head ducked down but she could see he was smiling.

"I think it's your turn. Truth or dare?"

Clara turned to look out across the field to where the TARDIS was waiting. "Truth."

There was a long silence. "Do you remember playing in the park with your parents when you were little… you hit a man in the head with your ball?"

"What…?" She stepped back a little and her hand pressed his chest. "Why are you…?" He took her hand, the one she had pressed to his chest. Clara shook her head. "How could you…"

"Do you remember how happy you were that day? That's why I took you here, Clara. I wanted to be able to make you smile like that." His fingers intertwined with hers.

"That was you…" She shook her head, staring at their fingers, her smaller hand against his much more elongated one. After a moment, Clara looked up. "I'm still not used to… this. You being everywhere. I've never…" She trailed off, shaking her head again as she swallowed. The Doctor's other hand was on the back of her neck in a moment, pulling her in as he bent down. His lips met her forehead and she closed her eyes. The smell of candy and clean air enveloped them for a instant and she knew in that exact spot in this exact moment in the universe, no one had ever felt like this. When she spoke, her voice was as small as the sugar leaf at their feet. "Truth or dare?"

In his eerie way, he read her mind. "Dare."

Her cheek was pressed against his suit coat and she could smell cinnamon and cold cream and something so ancient and frightening. "Show me something. Something you've never shown anyone."

The Doctor's hand gripped hers and without a word he turned, leading her through the soft pink and sugar coated grass to the TARDIS. Clara followed, the intensity and determination of his stride all but knocking the wind out of her chest and the words out of her mouth. Inside he didn't go to the control room but led her down the stairs and into a hall. The TARDIS breathed with life around them and she knew that, in their own way, it understood the Doctor and he understood her. It was leading him where he wanted to go. Suddenly, she was terrified she would never be able to do the same.

Through a few doors, they got to a hall pulsing slightly with a dull green light and the Doctor paused, the door in front of him not sliding open as the other ones had. He turned to her and she stopped in her tracks, startled. For the first time since they had left the field on Alice'I, he spoke. "You have to imagine something."

Clara cocked her head slightly, lifting a single eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

"Imagine something, something you want with all your heart." He reached out, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Close your eyes." Clara gave him a look, realizing it was the second time he had asked that of her today. He nodded his head slightly, his eyes looking upwards as if to acknowledge that yes, he knew. So she obliged.

Clara shut her eyes and took a deep breath, biting down on her lip. A few things came to mind. Her parents kissing in their wedding pictures. The thought of a graduation. An image of herself sitting in a café in Prague reading a book and sipping a cup of coffee. Her brow furrowed. The weight of the Doctor's hands pressing down on her shoulders made her feel incredibly heavy. She imagined those hands on her chest and felt the energy around them shift. Clara swallowed. She imagined his lips on her neck under her ear, his hands pressing down softly and slipping under the flimsy knit of her jumper. He whispered in her ear, his breath hot. She licked her lips and almost jumped when she heard his voice ring in her ears, solid and actual. "There we go."

Clara opened her eyes to see the door had slid away to let a clear white light shine into the hall. She looked up at the Doctor and he looked down at her, smiling widely. They stepped into the room together.

"This is the TARDIS's oxygen generator."

Clara's gaze swept out over the vast expanse of the room. On either side of them, it seemed to stretch out forever, flat and endless. Above, the ceiling disappeared behind light clouds. Across the entire room there was nothing but tulips. Every color she could imagine. Reds, pinks, teals, chartreuses. A gentle breeze made them all sway in a ripple that echoed out across the rows. When Clara looked down, she could see where grass began to edge up at her toes. It was grass, real grass growing real tulips. In the middle of the TARDIS. The Doctor took her hand.

"You've never shown anyone this?" Clara couldn't let her eyes leave the flowers, her heart in her throat as he led her forward.

"It's quite new, so… no." He glanced down at her as if seeking her approval. "Before I showed up on your door that day, the TARDIS had a bit of a redo of sorts." She felt his thumb rub against hers. "Sometimes she likes to change it up." Clara looked up to see him looking out at the tulips proudly.

"I love it." Her hand held his tightly as they stood at the edge. After a beat he turned and looked down at her. She could see how much that meant to him in his eyes, all over his face. His hand in hers pulled her closer and she stumbled deeper into the room. "I love tulips." Without a second thought, she almost blurted out I love you.

"Clara…" He stopped and she could see him swallowing. Clara's eyes were on his face intently and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. He'd never shown anyone this before. The tulips, the sugar trees… She wondered what else she was seeing that he'd never revealed. It could be everything and she wouldn't know the difference. Clara looked down, her eyes closing. "What's wrong?" His voice was worried, anxious and scared for her in that way he always got. The Doctor's hands were on her face and she put her hands on his wrists with the intention of pushing him away. She couldn't do it.

"Do you always do this? Run into people's lives and—" She shook her head, her voice cracking. He was still cupping her face in his hands and she tugged his wrists just slightly. He didn't let go. "You run into people's lives and show them all these things, all these beautiful impossible things. How could we not fall…" Clara stopped herself, swallowing her words painfully. She forced herself to open her eyes, to look up at him. The Doctor's forehead was furrowed, wrinkled and knitted as he searched her face. She had a split-second thought to move away before his lips were on hers.

Clara stumbled in surprise but his arm caught her, wrapping around her waist protectively. Her lips opened, her eyes squeezing shut as her hands found the lapels of his suit coat and clutched tightly. The Doctor's tongue searched out her bottom lip and she was stumbling again, this time as he knelt down with her in his arms. Her jumper rode up where his arm gripped her waist and Clara felt the cold dirt against her skin. She arched her back, suddenly fearful of crushing the flowers under herself but his free hand came down beside her head and he was pressing against her and she forgot about the flowers.

Her tongue found his and the Doctor let out a moan, her knees falling apart under him as he wedged himself between her legs. His arm left her waist and Clara felt his fingers start on the button of her linen shorts. She tilted her head against his and took his face in her hands, her chest heaving with the weight of her heavy breaths. Before she knew it, her shorts were open and he hand the zipper down. Without thinking, Clara lifted her feet, letting her boots meet at the small of his back. The Doctor's hand left the dirt beside her head and moved to tug her shorts down, his lips leaving hers to look down to watch as they slid down her hips.

One of her hands moved to the back of his head and she looked down, licking her swollen lips as she watched his hands pull her shorts down her thighs and calves. The Doctor sat up, lifting her feet gently before getting her shorts free. He tossed them aside easily and their eyes met. Clara suddenly felt vulnerable, clutching at her baggy jumper as she lay in the tulips under him. She watched his eyes scoop up her bare legs to where her jumper at ridden up to expose her navel. Clara reached to pull it down again but his hand stopped her. He leaned down, kissing her again, gently and carefully. She could feel his fingers slip under her panties.

The Doctor's lips kissed the corner of her mouth and then her jaw. The fabric edge of her panties were sliding down her thighs, then over her knees. Clara stared up at the thin clouds moving across the ceiling and felt the breeze again. The field shuddered around them. He tossed her panties beside her shorts.

Her eyes closed for a moment as he kissed her shoulder, then her clavicle. Her hand found his hair, trailing through the hair on the back of his neck as he started to move down her body. Clara's heart was beating so loudly, she was scared he could hear it as he skirted over her chest. She took a deep breath and felt his breath on her hip bone. Her back arched and she let out the smallest whimper. The Doctor's hands were on her outer thighs, sliding over her skin and rubbing soothingly. His tongue licked her exposed hipbone and she shuddered before she felt it slide to her inner thigh.

Clara's hand gripped his hair in surprise and her mouth opened, feeling him kiss the spot before moving up. In a moment, his tongue licked up through her slit and she let out a moan that caught in her throat, grabbing onto his hair. Light exploded behind her eyes as she felt how hot his breath was against her and he was gripping her thighs and licking at her hungrily. Clara squirmed, her hips jolting at the feel of his tongue but her back arched as he found her clit and sucked it between his lips. "Oh my god!"

She was writhing against him, desperately trying to catch her breath as her thighs squeezed around his head. The Doctor moved his hands to her ass and lifted her hips up as he flicked his tongue with her clit, making her gasp and tug on his hair. That seemed to encourage him and his tongue slid down, teasing at her before dipping inside. "D-doctor…" Clara's head rolled to the side as her eyes shut tightly, her hand holding his head between her legs. All she could hear was the sound of her own moans calling out through the flowers and his mouth against her, making delicious sloppily noises. He was holding her tightly, not letting her squirm away and his tongue curled inside her perfectly.

"Right there…!" Clara's mouth opened soundlessly as her toes curled, both of her hands in his hair, entirely breathless. Her stomach tugged and she felt her muscles contract slowly. "I'm…" She tugged his hair, not sure how to warn him or tell him but he nodded. One hand let go of her hip and splayed flat across her stomach, the length between his pinkie and thumb stretching from her groin to the bottom of her right breast. Clara's toes curled as she felt his tongue rub against her spot again and his nose nudged her clit. Her hand found his on her stomach and she went still for a moment before she completely tumbled over the edge.

"Doctor!" His name echoed out as a breeze caught the rows of tulips again and she shuddered both at the chill and the feel of his mouth shaking against her. Clara almost reached out to push his lips away, unable to take another second. She was panting, slumped amongst the flowers as he pulled back. The Doctor wiped a hand over his chin and sat up on his knees. Clara stared up at him and he looked back. It was a long minute before she caught her breath.

"That was…" His hand was rubbing her calf muscle as he nodded. The look on his face mirrored the tightness in her chest. He looked about as unable to reconcile what had just happened as she was.

It was another minute before he spoke. "Clara…" She hadn't moved from where she was laying.

"Yes?"

His eyes lifted, meeting hers and his hand kept running up and down her leg like a metronome. "I don't want you to think—"

"I don't." Clara licked her lips and pushed up onto her elbows. The Doctor's eyebrows were knitted together and his gaze intense. "I would never…" He hesitated a moment before he leaned over, pressing his lips to hers gently. Clara's hand lifted up to hold onto his neck and she could taste herself on his tongue. "You've done that before." She felt him smirk against her mouth.

When he spoke, his words vibrated off her lips and teased her. "Twelve hundred years and you still manage to find firsts, Oswald. Sex in a tulip field…?" In surprise, Clara let out a giggle. He pulled away slightly, licking his lips. They were both grinning giddily. "Finding a first for me is not an easy task."

Clara cocked her head, her fingers feeling each of the bones on the back of his neck. "I don't think easy tasks were part of our arrangement."