The melody had danced across your mind for hours.
Like a single loop stuck on replay. Clear and precise. An echo in the wind.
You had heard it before. Clara's TARDIS loved it's sweet melody. Whirling with enjoyment when the twelfth Doctor's guitar rippled through her speakers. A telling story of a girl he long since forgotten.
Eventually, you found yourself humming the tune. Calming the empty quiet. Silencing your burning fear. Lulling your screaming mind to sleep. And just like that, another part of Clara Oswald became part of you.
It was half a year later when Rose Tyler came aboard. Welcomed instantly into your tiny crew and immediately getting on with Clara. Like they had know each other for centuries. At moments, it felt like they had.
Rose had taken a little longer to warm up to you. Not that you gave her much of a chance. Hoping that blowing her off in the nicest way possible would get her to take the hint. If she got it, she never heeded. And the steady stream of glares from Clara left you feeling worse than before.
"Don't be rude." She scolded. Her inner teacher rising to the surface as she wiggled her finger in your face. Eyebrow raised in contempt, adorably so.
You heeded her warning nonetheless and made your apologies to Rose. But you still kept your distance. Even from Clara.
Then Rose found you, hunched over your guitar on the gathering room's leather sofa. Your fingers dancing across the frets as an all too familiar melody sounded in your ears.
You weren't sure how long she'd been standing there. Her shoulder pressed against the door frame. Hazel eyes glued to your fingers. "That's gorgeous." She whispered after you had finished. "Did you make that up?"
You shook your head in response. "The Doctor did."
"The Doctor plays guitar?"
"S'pose so." You answered dully. "He wrote it for Clara. Or about her. Not really clear on which."
Rose cracked a smile. You watched her push herself from the door frame, finally entering the moonlit room. Before she perched herself next to you.
"Well, it's gorgeous." She repeated. Then, with a sly smile she said. "And, Clara definitely loves hearing you play it. 'Saw her lingering outside the door when I came in. Is there something going on with you two?"
Your entire body tightened at the thought. You and Clara seemed like such a distant thought. An entirely impossible feat. Especially now. Still, you managed to shake your head. Ignoring the words lodged in your throat.
"Not anymore." You managed, avoiding Rose's curious gaze. "Things are-" you paused with a sigh. Fingertips ripping through your curls in frustration or angst or whatever the hell you felt anymore. "It's complicated."
"I get that." Rose murmured. And your couldn't help but believe that she actually understood. "I was in love with the Doctor and I was stuck in a parallel universe while he was here. Moving on." A sad smile slipped across her lips, but it faded as quickly as it appeared. "Though, I suppose, being in love with someone literally frozen in a moment between life and death is a whole other challenge."
Your gaze snapped to Rose's. Wide and incriminating. But Rose didn't seem bothered in the slightest. She merely shrugged as if to say that she and Clara had already had this conversation.
Though, the thought didn't do much to relax you.
xXx
"You should tell her." Rose whispered into the cone of your ear a few months later. The two of you hunkered down in an alien debris field. Clara and Bill Potts not two paces to your left.
