When Elise woke up in the morning, the Doctor was gone and she was bundled up in the covers. Had he...had he tucked her into bed just as he used to do when she was a child? She sat up and looked around the room.

The window was open and there were equations on the floor.

Elise ventured out of the room, her red curls a mess. She needed some coffee. She ran into Clara on her way to the kitchen.

"How are you doing?" Clara asked Elise.

Elise shrugged and sat down on the stairs.

Clara put an arm around her shoulder.

Elise normally would have shrugged it off, but she accepted this comforting gesture. Gone was the sweet man who had raised her since she was a child and in his place was a grumpy old man who could care less about her. Their relationship would never be the same.

Never let him see the damage.

"Oh, Miss Elise! You're up", Jenny said, "Come with me. We'll get you all sorted." Jenny picked out a lovey blue dress for Elise and helped her into it.

Elise traced her rose tattoo. She remembered seeing it for the first time right after she regenerated herself. She'd still yet to understand why she had it.

Jenny handed her a scarf to cover her neck.

As Elise was coming down the stairs, she ran into Madame Vastra.

"Why Elise, you look marvelous!"

Elise blushed, still not used to compliments. "Madame Vastra, I was wondering if I could speak to you about something."

"Of course, dear." Madame Vastra looped her arm around Elise's and they walked to her chamber. "What did you wish to discuss?"

"Do...do you ever worry about losing Jenny?"

"Because she's human and I will inevitably outlive her?"

"Yes."

"I try to enjoy the time we have together. What's brought this on?"

"There was someone on Trenzalore. I..."

"You fell in love."

Elise nodded. "He was so sweet. I didn't even realize I loved him until he died fighting. I just...I just want someone. Someone I can have forever and not have to worry about losing."

Vastra sighed and played with one of Elise's curls. "Those are few and far between, little one. But if the universe is willing, it will give you someone."

"But when?" Elise asked.

"When you least expect it."

"Madame Vastra!" Clara yelled, bursting into the room, "Look." She held out a newspaper.

"Advertisements, yes. So many. It's a distressing modern trend," Vastra said.

"No, look. Look." Clara pointed out an advertisement that said, "Impossible Girl. Lunch on the other side?"

"Elise, fetch Jenny. The game is afoot. We're going to need a lot of tea." Vastra rang a bell.

They met in the sitting room and Strax poured them all tea.

"There appears to be nothing of significance in the rest of the newspaper. Not even in the agony column," Vastra said, examining the newspaper.

"We can't know it's from the Doctor," Jenny told her.

"Of course it's from the Doctor. The Impossible Girl, that's what he calls me," Clara said.

"He says lunch, but not when or where?" Vastra pondered.

"On the other side? The other side of London?" Jenny suggested, "Bit vague."

"The other side of regeneration, perhaps, once he's recovered?"

"So what am I supposed to do, guess where we're meeting?" Clara asked.

"Perhaps that's the point. Perhaps you're supposed to prove that you still know him. Think what that must mean for a man who barely knows himself."

"It doesn't makes sense. He doesn't do puzzles. He isn't complicated. Really doesn't have the attention span."

Elise cocked her head to the side.

"What? What is it?"

"On the other side."

"What are you on about?"

"On the other side!"

Clara grabbed the newspaper and looked on the other side of the newspaper, finding an advertisement for a restaurant in London. Clara smiled and grabbed Elise's hand, pulling her out of the house.

Elise, who normally would have pulled away, allowed her companion to lead her through the streets of London.

Wait a second. Her companion.

Since when did she consider Clara her companion?

Clara and Elise sat in a curved booth by themselves.

The other customers in the restaurant were quiet. Almost too quiet for Elise's liking.

The Doctor slid silently into the booth across from them. He was wearing his nightclothes and a coat.

Clara coughed and fanned herself with the paper.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know. Maybe the smell?" Clara snapped.

"I know. It's everywhere."

"Where did you get that coat?"

The Doctor cleared his throat. "I bought it."

"From where?"

"Er, a shop?"

"No."

The Doctor looked down at his hands. "Might have been a tramp."

"You don't have any money."

"I...I had a watch."

"No. That watch was beautiful."

"It was my favorite."

"You swapped your favorite watch for that coat. That's maybe not a good deal."

"Well, I was in a hurry. There was a terrible smell."

"Okay."

The Doctor smiled and started laughing.

"No. No, don't. Don't. Don't. Don't smile. I will smile first and then you know it's safe to smile," Clara told him.

"Are you cross with me? Elise isn't cross with me."

"I am not cross. But if I was cross it would be your fault and. Yes, I am cross. And how do you know she's not cross with you?"

"Because I know her."

Elise's hearts started beating quickly. He was still in there! He cared for her, despite all their arguing.

"I am extremely cross."

"And if I hadn't changed my face, would you be cross?"

"I would be cross if I wasn't cross."

"Why?"

"Why? An ordinary person wants to meet someone that they know very well for lunch. What do they do?"

"Well, they probably get in touch and suggest lunch."

"Mmm hmm. Okay, so what sort of person would put a cryptic note in, in a newspaper advert?"

"Well, I wouldn't like to say."

"Oh, go on, do say."

"Well, I would say that that person would be an egomaniac, needy, game-player sort of person."

Clara sighed happily. "Ah, thank you. Well, at least that hasn't changed."

"And I don't suppose it ever will."

Clara laughed a little. "No, I don't suppose it will, either."

"Clara, honestly, I don't want you to change. It was no bother, really. I saw your advert, I figured it out. I'm happy to play your game."

"No. No, no. I didn't place the ad. You placed the ad."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you placed the ad, I figured it out. Impossible Girl, see? Lunch." Clara handed him the newspaper.

"No, look, the Impossible. That is a message from the Impossible Girl."

"For the Impossible Girl."

The three of them shared a look.

"Well, if neither of us placed that ad, who placed that ad?" the Doctor asked.

"Hang on," Clara said, "Egomaniac, needy, game-player?"

"This could be a trap."

"This most certainly is a trap," Elise said.

"That was me?" Clara asked.

"Never mind that," the Doctor told her.

"Clara, shut-up!" Elise snapped.

"Yes, I am minding that," Clara said.

"Clara," the Doctor interrupted.

"You were talking about me?"

"Clara, what is happening right now in this restaurant to us is more important than your egomania."

"Nothing is more important than my egomania."

"Right, you actually said that."

"You never mention that again!"

The Doctor scratched his head. "It's a vanity trap. You're so busy congratulating yourself on solving the puzzle, you don't notice that you're sticking your head in a noose."

"Hold up. I didn't solve the puzzle, Elise did. And what are you doing?"

The Doctor pulled a hair from his head.

"That isn't the only grey one, if you are, er, having a cull," Clara told him.

"What, do you have a problem with the grey ones?"

"If I got new hair and it was grey, I would have a problem."

"Yeah, I bet you would."

"Meaning?"

"It's too short." He reached over and pulled out one of Clara's.

"Ow!"

"Sorry, it was the only one out of place. I'm sure that you would want it killed."

"Ooo. Are you trying to tell me something?"

"I'm trying to measure the air disturbance in the room."

"Right. Moments when you know you are boring."

Elise started to catch onto what he was doing and looked around the restaurant discreetly.

"There is something extremely wrong with everybody else in this room," the Doctor said.

"Mmm. Basically, don't you always think that?" Clara asked.

"Look at them."

Clara turned her head to look.

"Don't look!"

"You just said to look!"

"Look without looking."

Clara glanced at a table diagonal from them. "They look fine to me. They're just eating."

"Are they?"

Clara looked more closely at the people.

The people's motions were very robotic in nature.

"Okay, no. No, they're not eating."

"Something else they're not doing." The Doctor pulled another hair from Clara's head and dropped it to the floor. "Breathing."

"What do we do?"

"Well, you don't want to eat, do you?"

"Hmm. Slightly lost my appetite. Ahem. How long before they notice that we're different?"

"Not long."

"Anything we can do?"

"How long can you hold your breath?"

"We could just casually stroll out of here, like we've changed our minds."

"Happens all the time."

"Ha. Course it does."

The three of them stood up.

The other customers stopped moving and stood up as well.

Elise, Clara, and the Doctor took a step forward and the other customers moved towards them.

"We could take another look at the menu," Clara said.

They sat back down and the other customers returned to their tables.

"What are they?" Clara asked.

"I don't know. But don't worry, because that's not the question," the Doctor said,

"The question is, what is this restaurant?"

"Okay, what is this restaurant?"

"I don't know."

They glanced over their menus as a waiter appeared at their table.

"No sausages? Do you...? And there's no pictures either. Do you have a children's menu?" the Doctor asked.

The waiter shined a small green light from his pen at the Doctor.

"Any specials?"

"Liver," the waiter said.

"I don't like liver."

"Spleen. Brain stem. Eyes."

"Is there a lot of demand for those?" Clara asked.

"I don't think that's what's on the menu. I think we are the menu," the Doctor told them.

The waiter pointed his light at Clara. "Lungs. Skin."

"Excuse me." The Doctor reached up and pulled off the waiter's face.

There was a metal mesh behind it.

"Okay. Robot in a mask," Clara said.

"It's a face," the Doctor told her.

"Yeah, it's very convincing."

The Doctor placed it on Clara's face. "No, it's a face."

She screamed and threw it down on the table.

"Yes," the waiter said.

"Yes, what?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, we have a children's menu."

Restraints shot out of the back of the booth, holding their arms and legs.

The booth started moving down and Elise tried to keep herself calm. She still hated elevators and tight spaces.

"You've got to admire their efficiency," the Doctor said.

"Is it okay if I don't?" Clara asked.