It was a bright and early Wednesday morning, and Clara was still in bed. The Maitland children had the day off school so that the teachers could have meetings, so they had all decided to sleep in a bit. She sighed happily and stretched before turning over. She snuggled deeper into her sheets and closed her eyes, prepared to doze off again.
That plan was interrupted when she heard a loud banging downstairs. Realizing that somebody was at the door, she threw her robe on and rushed to answer it. She wasn't surprised to see it was her alien friend, the Doctor.
"There you are, Clara!" he declared with a wide smile. "Why aren't you dressed? It's already a quarter till nine. It's not like you to sleep so late in the day"
She almost rolled her eyes. Of course he would this time of day was late. He probably hadn't slept in a week. The last time they had met, he was trying to teach some frogs he had fetched from the local pond to yodel.
"The children had the day off, so I saw no reason to get out of bed before noon," she answered. She stepped back so he could see inside the house better. "Would you like to come in, Doctor?"
"Of course!" he answered cheerily. She laughed softly and followed him as he made his way into the kitchen. He quickly made himself at home as he started pulling out the tea kettle and the eggs from the fridge.
"Sit yourself down, Clara, and I'll take care of breakfast. You need to rest up for what we're doing today."
"And what's that?" she asked as she sat at the table.
"Wellll, I wanted it to be a surprise, but since you asked, we're going to the thirty fourth century. They have the absolute best restaurants there. They actually serve fish fingers and custard! Of course, I had to special order it, but it's still fantastic!"
She carefully watched him cook, making sure he didn't try and get "creative". But it looked like plain, ordinary scrambled eggs. "Sounds...fun."
"I just have to be sure we land on the right day. Some people have taken to serving a species of fish they just discovered. If it isn't cooked properly, it can be deadly to eat. But I suppose that's humans for you. Their own stupidity can sometimes be their downfall," he said in a casual tone. "You do like honey in your tea, don't you?"
She raised her eyes at his comment. It wasn't like him to blatantly insult the human race like that.
Angie and Artie took this moment to make their appearance. They were still in their sleepwear and appeared groggy.
"What's with all the noise? It's too early for this," Angie grumbled.
"Good morning, Clara. Good morning, Clara's boyfriend," Artie greeted, slightly more chipper than his sister. "Why are you making breakfast?"
"Good morning, Maitlands!" the Doctor greeted. "I'm making sure Clara here has plenty of energy for the day. It's just about done. Care to join us?"
"Sure," Angie said as she took her place at the table.
"I'm just going to get changed right quick," Clara declared as she rose from her seat. She wouldn't put it past her energetic friend to drag her out the door as soon as they were done with their meal.
"Wear sturdy shoes. We're also be going to a few parks," the Doctor told her as he gathered some plates.
She nodded and headed back to her room. She was almost to her door when she heard Angie cry "Why the hell are there pickles and chocolate sprinkles in the eggs?"
XxxxxxxX
Clara gritted her teeth and clutched at her aching knee. She tried to focus on the Doctor rummaging around for some bandages.
The day had been going well. The Doctor had eaten his odd dish(it had even been put on the menu and named after him) and she had sampled a very tasty pastry made of apples and bacon(much to her companion's disgust). After that, they had gone to a beautiful park that was full of elaborate water fountains. The water would take different shapes, like horses, or mermaids. Once, it even turned into the Doctor in his fourth regeneration, or so he claimed.
Yes, it had all been going well until they had been there for about half an hour. She hadn't been paying much attention to her surroundings, but she had noticed some commotion off to her left. Next thing she knew, she was being shoved to the ground and there were several people yelling. Automatically, she assumed it was something horrible, like Cybermen or some other scary alien. But no, it was a simple case of some lowlife stealing a lady's purse, and she had been shoved out of his way as he ran away.
The thief was apprehended quickly, by the Doctor, of course, and everything was peaceful again. Except for the large gash on her knee, of course. The Doctor had rushed her back to the TARDIS to get it patched up.
"Don't worry, Clara, ti's but a scratch," he said as he came back to her side. He was carrying disinfectant and gauze with him.
She playfully groaned and shook her head at his stupid joke. But her good humor turned sour as he sprayed her knee with the disinfectant.
"Come now, Clara, you're tougher than that," he said in a cheery tone. He stared intently at her still bloody wound for a few moments too long before carefully cleaning it and wrapping it. "This should be fine in a day or so."
"Good. I don't think I could manage with only one leg," she joked. She tried to cover up the fact that she saw The Look in his eyes as he observed the cut, and it unnerved her. It reminded her of the time she watched her neighbors cat watch a bird for a while before finally pouncing on it.
"Oh, I hope it doesn't come to that," he joked along "because next week I thought we could visit ancient Greece and see if they'll let us participate in the Olympics."
"I would ask if you're being serious, but I know you are," she stated.
He laughed and kissed her forehead. "Let's get you back home. I'm sure Angie and Artie could use a proper meal. Really, there was nothing wrong with those eggs..."
She let out a laugh. Everything was an adventure with the Doctor. He made everything a little better.
XxxxxxX
Clara noticed the Doctor had been looking at her strangely, as of late.
Of course, he always looked at her with many different expressions. She had seem him happy, ecstatic even, whenever she stepped aboard his TARDIS to go on some insane adventure. She had seem him angry and confused when he couldn't figure something out about her. She had seem him scared when he thought she was in danger, and apprehensive when she was making soufflés.
But the look he had been giving her lately, when he thought she wasn't looking, was one she had never seen before. It was a calculating look, as if she were some broken piece of equipment and he was wondering how to fix her. His eyes would be full of light, but not in the usual way. It made her feel like she was a moth being drawn toward a flame. For brief moments, she could see something brewing behind those eyes. Something composed of fear, longing, apprehension, and regret. It sent a chill down her spine whenever she saw it.
But The Look never lasted long. Well, at least she didn't think it did. The Doctor would always return to his usual energetic self, suggesting they visit places like eighteenth century Vienna or planets where they had festivals every day.
On one such occasion when she was pretending not to notice his piercing stare, he suddenly murmured "Humans are injured far too easily. No wonder you all die so quickly. Dust in the wind, as they say."
"W-what was that, Doctor?" she stammered.
"Hm? I didn't say anything. Are you sure you're not hearing things, Clara?" he asked, looking every part the concerned friend. "Here, let's go see that hot air balloon race I was telling you about. Some fresh air should clear your head."
She tried to put it out of her mind. It was probably nothing.
XxxxxX
Sometimes, the Doctor just wouldn't be himself. He would go for a long time being his usual energetic and enthusiastic self, but then he would just stop, as if he were ill. Of course, he would immediately take her back to the Maitlands on those occasions, murmuring apologies and promises to soon return.
"Are you sure you don't need me to stick around?" she would ask. "You look so sick." He really did. He looked very, very pale. It seemed like all of his energy had left him, and his mood was much more somber.
"Yes, yes, I'll be fine, Clara," he would assure her. "You just take a few days to relax while I recover. Go make your soufflés and help Angie and Artie with their school work. I just need to take my medicine and everything will be fine."
This time was no different.
"I'm curious, Doctor, what kind of medicine do you take? Do they make special medicines for Time Lords?" she asked while they stood on her charges' front lawn.
He flinched at her question, as if she had caught him in a lie. "Oh, I-I-I-I make my own." he stuttered. "They don't call me the "Doctor" for nothing, you know."
"Right," she said slowly. "I hope you get well soon, Doctor."
"I always do," he responded with a smile that looked a bit strained, as if he were trying not to grimace. He suddenly gritted his teeth and covered his mouth and nose with his hands.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" she demanded. Was he trying not to sneeze, or was it something worse?
He managed to compose himself and quickly turned back to the TARDIS. "I'll be fine. Say hello to the children to me!" he called as he speedily made his way to his home.
"I will," she promised, her tone confused. What was that all about? She stayed and watched as he disappeared into his hateful box and disappeared to who-knew-where.
Angie and Artie were waiting for her by the door. They were always eager to hear about her travels with her "boyfriend".
"Clara," Artie greeted "where have you and the Doctor been this time?"
She let out a laugh at his straightforwardness. "We were visiting a system of planets that had lakes and trees that change color. Although, we only got to see two of them. The Doctor came down with something so he brought me back here for awhile."
"Is that why he was looking so pale?" Angie asked. "He always was pretty white, but jeez."
"You could notice that from the window?" Clara asked.
"Anyone could see that from a mile away," the girl stated. "It's kinda creepy looking."
"Hey, now," she scolded, even though she thought that Angie did have a point. She suddenly imagined her friend giving her The Look while being so eerily pale. The thought of it unnerved her.
She turned to her charges with a strained smile. "Let's take a look at your homework."
XxxxxX
The Doctor returned a month later. She was in the kitchen, trying to decide between juice or tea, when she heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS engine. With a smile, she quickly fetched a jacket to guard her from the chilly autumn air and went outside to greet her friend.
The Doctor stepped out of his box with a wide smile at his face. He looked much better than when they last met. He had a spark of energy in his eyes and his skin tone was back to normal.
"Clara!" he cried when he saw her. He quickly bounded over to her and embraced her tightly.
She returned his hug enthusiastically. "Doctor! It's good to see you looking well. I was beginning to worry."
"I told you I would be fine." He released her from his arms but kept his hands on her shoulders. "I've missed you so much, Clara!"
"I've missed you, too, Chin Boy," she replied with a smile.
She tensed when the grip on her shoulders suddenly tightened. "Not as much as I've missed you, I bet." He was looking at her with an odd look on his face. Before she could ask what was wrong, he was smiling brightly at her again. "Now, let's get going! I've got a special tripped planned for us." He grabbed her hand and started to pull her toward the TARDIS.
"Wait a moment," she protested "I need to say goodbye to Angie and Artie!"
"Oh, they're watching us from the window. Just wave." He paused to search his jacket for his key.
She turned, and saw that the Maitland children were indeed watching her, looking amused. She hastily waved before the Doctor pulled her into his box. It didn't take him long to rush to the console, pulling at levers and pushing buttons seemingly at random.
She calmly walked closer to him. She kept a bit of distance, though. With the way he moved, he might accidentally end up elbowing her in the stomach. "So, Doctor, where are we going?"
He finished fiddling with the controls and made his way toward her, stopping to do that spin of his halfway. "Well, Clara Oswald, we're going to a planet called Umbra, where there is only sunlight for a few hours a day. Despite that, it has a decent sized population and the most interesting wildlife. It's actually where I've been for the past month."
"Did you go there to recover?" she asked. The planet didn't sound exciting enough to catch the Doctor's attention.
"Oh, yes," he replied. "And we're going there so I can finish."
"You mean you're still sick?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "Did why did you come and get me?"
"Oh, I'll be perfectly fine in a day or so," he insisted. "Besides, it's a nice spot for a little vacation. A good place to rest. You could you a vacation, couldn't you? Of course you could."
"I-I suppose..." she said hesitantly. Actually, she had been a bit busy when he showed up. Artie's class was having a Halloween party and he was expected to bring some sort of baked good, and she was supposed to help. And Angie's friends were having some (hopefully supervised) party at one of their houses. Clara was supposed to help her put together a costume. But the Doctor could always take her back to the same day they left.
"Good, now how about some tea?" he suggested. "I'm a bit thirsty."
"Sounds pretty good," she agreed. "I hope you got something that's actually from Earth this time. I honestly have no ideas how those weird alien ones are supposed to be prepared."
"Oh, no, no! I'll take care of it. You go and make yourself comfortable." He gently pushed her towards the left. "It'll be done soon."
"Alright, then." She decided to wander around a bit. Hopefully the TARDIS wouldn't purposefully get her lost for the next few hours. But as she wandered for a bit, she became aware of the TARDIS'...mood, if that was the right word(the Doctor would probably say it was). She could usually feel hostility coming from it, but the feelings it was giving off now were different. It felt a bit sad, and perhaps apprehensive. The feeling made her uncomfortable. As she walked, she noticed that lights above her would slowly flicker before completely going out. There was a sudden chill in the air that made her wish she had a thicker jacket. And she could have sworn that she heard a few creaks and groans like the ones old houses produced. Honestly, was this box trying to scare her?
She turned to the door closest to her and ducked inside. To her relief, it was the library. The room always gave off a warm and comforting feeling. Surely, she could escape those eerie feelings in here.
She grabbed the first book in English that she saw, and settled into a comfy looking chair. She opened the book and let her eyes roam over the printed words, even though her mind didn't actually register them. Her thoughts were far away. A feeling of unease was beginning to grow in her stomach. She didn't understand why, though. So far, this trip wasn't very different from the other ones she took with the Doctor.
She didn't dwell on this long before the Doctor burst in through the door with two teacups in his hands. She jumped a little. She hadn't expecting his sudden entrance.
"Here you are, Clara!" he declared. "I was beginning to wonder where you'd gotten off to." He quickly made his way over to her and handed her one of the cups.
"Thank you, Doctor," she said with a small smile. Perhaps the warm tea would soothe away her irrational worries. But when she took a sip of the beverage, she almost spat it back out. The taste was familiar, but it was very strong. It was also extremely sweet.
"Do you like it?" the Doctor asked hopefully. "I'm trying a new method of brewing."
"Uh, of course, Doctor. It's delicious," she lied. Gathering her courage, she forced herself to take a larger sip.
Suddenly, she seemed to lose all feeling in her body. She lost her grip on her cup, and it broke into pieces on the floor, causing the tea to spread over it. As she began to lose consciousness, she felt the Doctor begin to lift her up.
"Don't worry, Clara. Everything is going to be alright."
XxxxxxxX
When she finally came to, it took her a full minute to open her eyes. Hey eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. Her vision was blurred, so she tried to use her other senses to figure out what was going on. She could tell she was lying on something soft, but judging by the clinical-like smell in the air, she wasn't in her room. After a few more minutes, some of the heaviness left her body. She tried to move her limbs, but found that she couldn't. A sense of dread came over her as she realized that she had been strapped down. Just as she began to panic, a familiar voice spoke to her.
"Please don't try struggling, my dear. You're not going to be able to escape those bonds of yours." The Doctor came into view then. He smiled at her sadly and gently stroked her cheek with his thumb.
"D-Doctor?" she gasped, her voice high-pitched from fear. "W-w-what's going on? Where am I? Why am I tied up?"
He shushed her and moved to stroke her hair. "Please don't be afraid, Clara. You're in the medical ward. But don't worry, everything is going to be fine. I just can't have you struggling through this."
"What's going on? Tell me!" she snapped.
The Doctor sighed and ran his hand over his eyes. He stared at her for a few moments before sighing again. He opened his mouth wide and pulled his lips back from his teeth. She watched in horror as his canines suddenly grew into long, sharp looking fangs.
"You-you're-a-a-" she stuttered.
"A vampire?" he finished. "Yes, dear, I'm afraid I am."
"What?" she gasped. "How? When? Oh God, please don't kill me!" This would be the ideal situation to eat her. She was somewhere in space and strapped down, completely defenseless. That poem about the spider and the fly came to mind.
"No, no! I would never want to kill you, Clara!" he insisted, as if shocked that she would come to that conclusion. "I can't bear the thought of anything happening to you. That's why I'm doing this."
"Doing what?" she demanded, her voice starting to grow hoarse.
His face pinched, as if he were about to start crying with her. He ran her hand up and down her arm and kissed her forehead. "I'm so, so tired of being lonely," he whispered. "You don't know what it's like. I'm the last of my species. Sure, you humans come along once in awhile to take the loneliness away, but you never stay for very long. You either decide to leave, or you die. I don't think I can bear to see that happen with you, Clara."
He looked her square in the eyes and said "So that's why I'm going to make you like me."
"Make me like you?" she echoed. "You mean, a vampire?" He stayed silent, which she took as a yes. "No. No, you can't! I'm perfectly fine with being human!" She was panicking again.
"I like you being human, too. But I can't risk you dying, Clara. I can't lose anyone else," he said quietly.
"Please, think about this, Doctor!" she pleaded. "This is crazy!"
"Oh, I have thought about this, my girl," he stated. "I've thought about it long and hard. I spent over a month on Umbra thinking about it. And I have decided that this will be the best for us both."
"This is definitely not good for anyone, Doctor!" she shouted, growing ever more desperate. "Wait...on Umbra, what were you doing besides 'thinking'?"
He smiled fondly at her. "Ah, my Clara, always so clever," he said warmly. "Yes, Umbra is an ideal planet for ones such as me. Always nice and dark, and a nice food supply. You'll like it there."
"'Food supply'?" she repeated incredulously. "Doctor, please, this isn't like you at all. Let me go!"
He sighed again. "Yes, I usually am quite good at repressing this part of myself. But sometimes it just has to come out." He suddenly smiled and rubbed his hands together. "But enough of this chatter. I say it's time we got this show on the road, eh?"
"No, Doctor-" she started.
He stuck his hand over her mouth and shushed her again. "Everything is going to be fine," he again insisted.
He gently crawled on top of her, supporting himself on his knees and elbows. She let out a sob as he turned her head to the side, exposing more of her neck. He rubbed it gently and placed a small kiss on it. "I'll be as careful as possible, alright? Just try and relax."
She couldn't help but cry out as she felt his sharp fangs slowly sink into her flesh. She could tell he was trying to be gentle, but it was hard to make sucking blood out of somebody not painful. She felt so helpless as this happened. She could do nothing to stop her friend from slowly draining her of blood. Her eyes widely ran across the ceiling, counting the small cracks in it as a way to distract herself. She shuddered when he let out a small moan, obviously enjoying the taste of her blood. She prayed that this would end soon.
Surprisingly, it did. He couldn't have been feeding off her for more than a few minutes, but she felt completely drained. She grimaced as he licked the leftover blood off of his lips and teeth.
"Don't worry, Clara, we're almost done," he soothed.
He lifted up his wrist and used one of his suddenly sharp nails to slice it open. If she had any strength left, she would have struggled like mad when he lowered it to her mouth. He gently pried it open and laid his bleeding wrist on it firmly. She gagged as the hot, metallic blood quickly filled her mouth. Using her remaining will power, she forced herself not to swallow any of it. Noticing this, he lifted his other hand to her throat and gently squeezed it, forcing her to swallow. She began to sob softly. Now that she had drank that mouthful, she couldn't seem to stop. She wished she could find something to focus on besides the Doctor's smiling face or his blood sliding down her throat.
"It's going to be fine, Clara, you'll see," he insisted. "You're going to be thirsty when you wake up, but there will be plenty for you to eat on Umbra. And you'll be so much more durable. You're senses will also be so much better. And don't worry, you'll still be you. You'll still be Clara Oswald, my Impossible Girl. And I'll be right here to teach you everything you need to know. We'll have so much fun together. Now, we can spend centuries together! You've always wanted to travel, and now you'll have all the time in the world to do it."
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally pulled his wrist away from her. Pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket, he wiped the blood off of her lips. He smiled at her again and climbed off of her. He spoke to her again as her eyes began to droop. "It's just like going to sleep, Clara. It won't hurt you at all. And I'll be right here when you wake up."
She groaned pitifully and shut her eyes.
"Don't worry, Clara. I'll never let anything happen to you."
XxxxxxX
A/N: Yay, my first Doctor Who fic and my first vampire fic! Much, much thanks to Thy Name Is Black for beta-ing and giving me advice.
I didn't intend for this to be Whouffle, but I guess you can take it that way if you want.
Thanks for reading!