The first night passed quickly. As they were all confused and tired they found bedrooms in the guest hallway quickly and got settled in even quicker.
The next morning the Doctor found himself awoken by a knock at the door. Usually he would have only slept an hour or so, but this place had a tranquilizing effect, he had slept nearly a full three hours. His shirt was no longer tucked into his pants and his hair was the literal definition of a hot mess.
At the sound of a second knock he rolled from bed and strode towards the door. There a tall woman holding a long piece of white cord in her hand. She gave him a wide smile before speaking. "Good morning Doctor, I am here to collect your measurements to make your suit for tonight's ball."
"That's really no necessary, I'd rather wear my own," He stated going to fix his bowtie, he quickly found it was not there.
"Please Doctor, we would like to share this piece of our culture with you,"The woman was not pushy, but she was eager, as most people had been around him as of late. People in this place were so excited to be around him, it was not something he was used to. It made him feel like they were keeping something from him, of course he knew this was unlikely, but he wasn't going to trust them. However, he understood why they were so eager to be around him and why they felt the need to share their conducts with him. So he stepped back from the door and let the woman in.
"If you could stand here please," The woman tapped a part of the floor and a small circle rose out of the floor. It seemed to not be supported by anything and yet it looked as steady as a chair. With caution the Doctor stepped onto it. No matter how much his arms waved as he circled on the thing it seemed not to move. He had seen this sort of contraption before, but where he had it had not been used for such frivolous things as taking measurements.
"Please keep still," Asked the tall woman. With him on the platform their heads were level, suddenly he thought about how if Clara stood on the platform they would likely be the same height also.
Always Clara. His thoughts always seemed to veer in that direction, to Clara. Things that had no relation to her whatsoever suddenly became about her. And when he was thinking about her it was impossible to get her out of his head. Impossible, just like she was. If there was a Clara in the universe for every hour he spent thinking about how Clara could possibly exist; there would be far more Claras than there would be Doctors.
"Can you raise your arms?" The tall woman snapped him out of his thoughts and he quickly raised his arms for her. She quickly wrapped her silver cord around his waist and grabbed the cord where it met itself. Releasing it a silver circle suddenly feel around the Doctor's feet. Where he saw there were a few other circle, she must have already started measuring. He then saw her stretch out the silver cord again and went on measuring his chest.
The measuring did not take long, perhaps ten minutes. After which the Doctor stepped off of the platform (which lowered itself to the ground), and the lady ran her palm over the circles. She too had the ethereal, metal design on built into her hand. Slowly the circles rose from the ground and created a almost human form. The lady compared it to the Doctor, after tweaking a few things she seemed satisfied. Giving the Doctor a smile she told him. "My partner will bring by the suit before the party," and left.
She was hardly gone long enough for the Doctor to breath before Rose rushed in. In her arms she held Kayson, wrapped up in knitted blanket that looked softer than baby penguin feathers. Taking a seat in one of the many plush chairs scattered across the Doctor's room she told him. "They came to measure me to, did you get a visit from Arthur yet?"
"No, who's he?" the Doctor asked taking Kayson from Rose to walk her around the room. He smiled at the small girl and bounced slightly as he walked.
"Claire's husband, he came to chat with Clara and I already, he must have gone to see Jack." Rose stated and strode over to a spot on the floor, reaching her foot forward she gave it a tap. From the floor rose a circular crib, what was the floor had twisted and became the bottom of the crib, a covered piece of padding was already there. "He showed us how to do that."
The Doctor suddenly wondered if there were things like that all over the room. Settling Kayson down in the crib he took a few paces away from it and tapped a random part of the floor. Out from it rose a small, waterfall like thing that had a few goblets resting beside it. The Doctor, unsure of how to get it to go down, started to gently tap it all over until he smacked the top of it with his palm and it went down. Looking around the Doctor decided he would have to be more careful with where he stepped if he didn't want these things to pop up randomly.
"This place is perfect," Rose said quietly. "But do you know how to get back?"
"Not exactly, I might know how to get off of this planet," He stated, it was implied that he did not know how to get back to her universe. He had not the faintest clue. If he had that figured out he would have been there a long time ago.
"Do you mind if I leave Kayson with you? I was thinking I should talk to Claire, she had mentioned something about needing our help." Stated Rose brushing her thumb over Kayson's cheek. The baby grabbed Rose's finger tightly.
Now that Rose mentioned it the Doctor did remember Claire saying something along those lines, it had easily slipped his mind what with everything else that had happened. The Doctor was quick to agree. "Of course, she can stay with me as long as you need,"
"Thank you," Rose gave Kayson a quick kiss before take two steps to her right and tapping the floor. Up rose a shelf like thing with what appeared to hold a pap boat filled with a black liquid, cloths accompanied by pins, and a few, wooden toys. "Arthur showed us this as well, the black stuff is safe for her to drink."
The Doctor stepped towards it and scanned it with his screwdriver. Looking at the readings he discovered that it was a milk like compound that had been harvested from an unknown species. It contained many compounds that would he knew to be very good for human children. He decided he could feed it to her with his mind at ease now.
"Wel, I'm gonna go, I'll see you again soon," Rose remarked before leaving.
The next hour the Doctor spent dotting over Kayson. Playing peekaboo with her, very quietly telling her bedtime stories from his homeworld, changing her diaper, and gently rocking her in his arms. A smile was present on his face the entire time, and that smile was mirrored on Kayson's face. Kayson and the Doctor were laying on the floor facing one another smiling, he reached forward and booped her gently on the nose. Kayson giggled and tried to reach forward to boop the Doctor on the nose.
"Well, you two look rather adorable," Remarked Clara leaning on the frame of the door. The Doctor's face turned to her and he smiled at her.
"Baby Kayson here is rather entertaining to hang out with," The Doctor explained standing and reaching over to pick up the baby. "But I think someone is getting tired now,"
The Doctor, supporting Kayson's head with his hand, set her down gently in the crib. After running his hand quickly over her head to smooth down her small hairs he moved a chair beside the crib and sat down. He used his hand to slowly rock the crib and gestured towards another chair to Clara.
Clara pulled over the chair and sat down slowly, trying to move in the dress she seemed to have been given. It was lilac in colour and had only a few clear gems on the corset. Her hair was simply down, loose curls hung over her shoulders and was secured out of her eyes by small lilac pins. Those eyes. . . those eyes, they had haunted his sleeping and awake hours. He was certain that he could stare into those eyes for an eternity and never get bored. However, at the moment they had that look. Like Clara was picking apart a puzzle in her head and you were the puzzle. It was a look that he had not often seen directed at him. Usually he got the big-eyed, happy look that was accompanied by a sideways smile on her face. But now he was being given the same look that Clara usually gave their enemies, it made him slightly nervous. Clearing his throat he asked with a hushed voice. "Clara. . . what is it?"
"I don't know what it is Doctor, it's just . . . Rose." Clara paused a moment her eyes shifting to Kayson, who she gave her usual smile. "Who is she?"
"Rose is. . ." The Doctor smiled to himself at the simple fought of her, but it wasn't the smile that he got when he thought of Clara. This one was accompanied with a bit of sadness; even with her back the pain of her loss lingered. "She was my companion, my closest. . . human being."
"You love her?" Clara asked in a curious tone. Not a jealous or spiteful tone as though he knew her less might think she would have. Her tone was merely curious, as she generally was.
"Yes," Drawing his eyes away from Kayson for a moment he showed her that sad smile. The smile of someone who was too familiar with loss, the smile of man whose heart had not been broken but shattered many times over.
The Doctor could see the smile on Clara's face waver for just a moment and her eyes flickered to the ground for a second. She slouched just a bit and the Doctor suddenly realized how that might sound, opening his mouth he started off on a small tangent. "But it's not in the way you're thinking Clara. I love Rose, I have for a long time and will. . . forever. There will never be a time in my life that I do not love Rose Tyler, just as there will never be a time when I do not love Jack Harkness, Harry Sullivan, Grace Holloway, Ben Jackson, and many many more. And the love I had with Rose was . . . unique. It was overpowering, it was everything I was in a previous life, it was everything I felt. Still I have a lot of love for her, but. . . that doesn't mean I don't have room for others. Clara, I am a timelord, we live long lives and generally we fall in love more than once."
Clara looked at him with those eyes and that quirky smile, when had she started smiling? He must have gotten too caught up in his own words to notice her facial expressions change. The smile quickly faded as she seemed to process his words more and more. "Doctor. . . are you saying that, perhaps, you are falling in love with someone else?"
Utterly shocked the Doctor pinched his lips together and focused his eyes back on Kayson, who slept like a rock. The Doctor was not used to his companions being so forward about asking his feelings, except maybe Amy, he didn't know what to say. He didn't know how he even felt. All he knew was that when he looked at Clara he wanted to show her everything. He wanted to take her from the start to the finish of the universe just so he could see how she reacted to it all. There was thousands of galaxies that no human eyes had ever touched before and he wanted to show each and every one of them to her. He wanted her to know that he cared for her extremely, that he would do anything to keep her safe because she was his impossible girl. Did that mean he was falling in love? Maybe it did or maybe it didn't. He was never very good at figuring those things out by himself. Looking back to Clara he answered simply. "Possibly."
"Alright then," Stated Clara with a smile he hadn't seen yet before. A hopeful smile, one where she tilted her head to the side and seemed to stare so intensely at him he worried there was something in his teeth. Then she got up, smiled at him then Kayson, and left.
The Doctor barely got a chance to breath before Claire entered the room. It was so strange seeing both of them. And just seeing Claire in general, she was just too different from Clara and Oswin. She didn't have their fire or curiousity. For what need did she have for them? There was no need for her to have fire for she had always had anything that she had ever needed readily available. And what need has anyone who knows seemingly everything for curiosity? Plus it also irked him that she had a husband and children, did he know why that made his skin crawl? Of course he did he's a timelord he knows almost everything, but he would suppress the feeling until it made him explode. Claire approached and took a seat in Clara's chair. "Sorry I do not mean to disturb you but I need to ask you a question that I thought you might prefer I ask in private."
"No worries you're hardly a disturbance," The Doctor smiled and wrapped two of his fingers around Kayson's hand as though he were holding it.
"Have you and Clara made your other companions aware of your relationship yet?" Claire questioned with a completely straight face, if the Doctor had been drinking something he would have choked on it.
"You must be confused, Clara and I aren't-" The Doctor started.
"Do not lie to me Doctor, I have spent years watching the people around me, I know lovers when I see them" Claire said with a rather large smile that didn't suit her somewhat harsh words. "Clara and you share the same strong feelings for one another,"
"But we are not together," The Doctor told her, regret or something similar hanging in his words.
"Why not?" Claire asked raising an eyebrow.
"Because. . . I can't watch Clara grow old and wither away, when I can't do it with her," The Doctor couldn't get into it more, he couldn't think about it. Because the more he did the more he thought about her having to leave him as she inevitably would someday. Whether she died or simply left to live a normal life there would be a day when he saw Clara Oswald for the last time, he wasn't ready for that day.
"Okay," Claire got up and started to leave, seeing that the Doctor needed some time. "But think about this Doctor, would you rather enjoy the time you have with Clara or make the same mistake that you did with Rose?"