On the Hands of a Broken Clock

Chapter 3: Baring Souls

"Do you feel it?"

They're both in the control room the next day. Amy's unsure whether the Doctor's become more accustomed to the idea of her being different yet, but at least he's stopped glancing at her out of the corner of his eye when he thinks she's not looking.

"Feel what?" Amy narrows her eyes.

"The fire. Running through your veins, like a catechism. Guiding you, defining you." He takes her by the shoulder, inches from her lips like he's whispering into her soul. "Do you feel the rage, and the passion, and the perfection of the stars themselves?"

"I feel... you?"

The Doctor breaks away, his eyes lightening. "Ah. Yes. I suppose you would."

"Can you feel me?"

"I can hear when you call to me. It's like a kind of rudimentary telepathy." The Doctor shifts somewhat awkwardly. "Before the War, the Time Loop on Gallifrey would interconnect all of us; but the Vota can only recrate that to a certain extent. I can't sense you, not properly, not yet."

"...If you wanted to, could you?" She doesn't want to sound too hopeful.

"Well. We'd have to try and do it sort of manually."

Amy stares at him. "Meaning what?"

"Meaning we'd have to conjoin." At her expression, the Doctor bites back a laugh. "It's not as bad as it sounds, it's not like, human stuff." She raises his eyebrow as he flusters. "It's more-"

"Extra-terrestrial?"

"Ha. I suppose." The Doctor sticks his hands underneath his braces. "We'd have to start by..." He runs a hand through his hair before looking deep into her, offering a phrase in a language Amy can't begin to understand. "I believe the English translation is; Baring Souls."

Amy watches in amazement as he shuts his eyes for a moment, concentrating on something she can't even see. He holds his hands out in front of him and they turn bright gold, flooding with stardust like the very first night they met. She has no idea what he's even about to do to her.

"Amy, listen to me." The Doctor starts, stepping closer to her with all the magnetism in the world. "I promise you; this won't hurt. The Time Loop is like... a connection, between the two of us, linking us together wherever we are; in in our minds, throughout the whole of time."

Amy stares. What he's offering her, it sounds nothing short of extraordinary. She knows Time Lords are born from the dust of the universe, but this... this sounds far too poetic to be true. It's all just as impossible and preposterous and ridiculous as he is.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, with her twin heartbeats hammering like mad, the Doctor catches on to her train of thought.

"Are you sure about this?"

He's about to stop and she can sense it. He's about to back away and let the starlight fade in fear of hurting her, in fear of scarring her soul. But before he can even hold that thought, Amy steps up to him, locking with his gaze with as much intensity as she can muster. This close, the regeneration energy feels like fire.

"You know I am."

"Well then." The Doctor smiles. "I haven't exactly done this in a while, so bear with me. You might even have to trust me."

Without warning, the Doctor brings his glowing hands to her cheeks, his fingertips lost in her red hair. He's got fire in in his eyes and a kiss on his lips, a kiss which he presses onto her mouth like there's no tomorrow, spreading warmth into her soul. He's melting his mouth onto hers, parting their lips and letting the golden glow engulf her, the glass floor disappearing from underneath her feet.