It was the Doctor’s idea.
“Let me get this straight.” Clara glances around the TARDIS console room, then looks up at the Doctor and frowns. “You want to try hugging again, but I have to stand on the steps to do it?”
“You’re too short.”
“Seriously?” she raises an eyebrow, unconvinced. “We hugged before without needing a stepladder. Besides, I can’t help it if you’re a giant stick insect.”
“Clara,” he sighs, exasperated. “Please just do as you’re told.”
“And why should I do that?” she folds her arms across her chest.
He looks down at her and takes a deep breath before speaking again.
“I want to look into your eyes,” he says, his voice low. “I need to see your face.”
Never trust a hug. It’s just a way to hide your face.
Oh. Well then. “I see.”
“Do you?”
She glances down, ashamed, then lifts her chin up to look him straight in the eye.
“You need to know I’m not lying or trying to hide something from you.”
Me and Danny, we are going to be fine.
“Yes.” He sighs, hanging his head. “And I want you to see me, too.”
I’ve found Gallifrey.
“I owe you that much,” he adds.
She thinks about this for a moment, and nods. “Yes. You do. Fair enough.”
Clara hops up onto the bottom step of the TARDIS console room stairway, the one that leads up to the ornate scrolled bookcase. He stands one step below her, on the main platform.