Looking over the TARDIS at the elderly Scottish doctor with his angry eyebrows looking angrier than ever she grabs hold of a bar as the TARDIS begins throwing them around.
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"that look? Your eyebrows could burn holes through a Dalek"
The doctors brow deepens. "That's impossible"
"It's a figure of a speech… sort of" They suddenly come to a complete standstill. "Is that it? Have we landed here?"
The doctor looks out of his little scope. "I…don't think so" he opens the door and Clara has a look.
"Well… this is definitely NOT the rings of Saturn"
"No. I think we are still in England but that's not the question"
Clara groans "it's never the question. So Doctor what IS the question?"
"It's not where we've landed. It's when". they look around but the place is deserted. Clara finds a fluttering news paper front page that's been discarded from the rest.
"1876? Why are we here?"
"There is always a reason but that is also the question" the doctor says cracking an attempt of a smile at his assistant/carer person. "Finally you are getting me"
It's true he may not be the man she fell in love with but since that day he rang her from Trenzalore she's been trying harder to get along with him and she gave him her word that she'd look after him. The same however could not always be said for him. Sometimes it was fairly tiring trying to care for this doctor. The madness this doctor posses is not quite the same madness that she fell in love with her doctor. That's what she always called him, not out loud but when thinking about him to herself. The young, chinny doctor with the rocket fin ears she so enjoyed teasing about. He was completely different to this man who went by the name "doctor". He was so much more.. Serious and the fun times were so few and far apart that sometimes she often felt like giving up. She never could bring herself to do it though. Her doctor was in there somewhere and she couldn't bare the thought that he'd be watching her with those sad puppy dog eyes as she turned her back on him. She just couldn't. So each day she stayed and as time went on she got more acquainted with this doctor.
Clara doesn't realise she's zoned out until the Scottish man waves in front of her face shouting "Clara! Have you seen this?" he says suddenly jabbing his finger at a bit of the front page.
"Sorry? Oh no I haven't, what's wrong?"
"Deaths"
"Death happens, I forget that you don't tend to die you regenerate"
"Hush Clara I know about death, I may not have died but death… I have seen it many time before. Rose… Rory. Even my Amelia" it's his turn to zone out now, he goes misty eyed at the thought of Amelia/Amy Pond but Clara has become quite used to this now. He refuses to talk to her about how it happened or who she was apart from another companion but as for why he remembered her the most and with such particular fondness was a mystery.
"Doctor?" Clara says softly after a moment or two.
"Huh? Oh right the deaths. So I guess we should go find the cause"
"Ok but where to begin? The doctor says aiming his sonic screwdriver around. Suddenly there's a loud high pitched scream "How about over there?" he says waving his sonic in the direction of the scream.
"I'm guessing that's a good place to start. Come on!" Clara says running ahead of him.
Clara arrives first but can't see a person anywhere. All she sees is a stone statue with it's hands over it's eyes. She gazes deeply at it so much so she doesn't realise the doctor has caught up until she can hear his voice sternly say "Don't blink Clara!"
She turns to him "Why?"
"Look back now!"
She looks back at the statue and much to her surprise it's moved. It's hands are no longer of it's face. It looks scary instead of the tranquil statue it had been a second ago. She goes to turn back around to the doctor.
"Don't! Don't look away from it, don't even blink, blink and you die"
"What is it?" Clara says keeping an eye on it. Not that she wants to it's creeping her out. She blinks for less than half a second and it's moved closer to her.
"It's a weeping angel"
Suddenly Clara has a flashback to just before she lost her doctor. The stone through the snow that grabbed her foot. Of course she had no idea what it looked like as it was almost entirely covered in snow but now she realised what it was and what the doctor said. She looks at it in the eye. Only for a split second, it was so fast she doesn't even know if she's done it.
Her eye itches. It's almost as if there's grit in her eye. It's so painful she rubs it some more. Her back is to the doctor so he can't see what's happening. At every blink the weeping angel moves closer. The doctor does his best to focus on it to help.
"Whatever you do Clara don't let it touch you and never look directly into it's eyes"
"What happens if you do?" Clara says gulping a bit.
"You turn to stone."
Clara doesn't say anything because she's not sure if she actually did make eye contact with it or not. Her itchy eye is driving her mad though so she continues to itch it. She looks at her hand and gasps. Something that looks like stone dust is on the hand she just itched her eye with.
"So what exactly would be able to be done if I did say I looked at one, which I'm not saying I did"
"Well if you didn't then you'll be fine."
"yes but what if I did?!" she getting a bit annoyed with him now.
"Then there's not a lot I can do. I mean I once managed to save Amy by keeping her eyes closed and…" the doctor says trailing off.
"And?"
"That was different" he says snapping shut.
"I'm scared"
"Why Clara? Just don't blink and we'll be fine"
"I'm human I need to blink and…and.. I think I looked one in the eye ok?"
"You think?!"
"Yes I think! I don't know ok I looked at a part of it I wasn't paying attention and now my eye itches and there's all this like rubble and help me"
The doctor aims his screwdriver at it and nothing happens.
"Amy just keep looking until I can destroy it" he says protectively stepping in front of her.
"I'm Clara"
"That's what I said… Clara. I may be old but I'm not going mad!"
"Not the time for an argument!" Clara says her eyes heavy with effort.
"Don't blink. Almost… got it!" he says waving his sonic screwdriver and watching as the weeping angel explodes. "I did it! You'll be ok now Clara" he turns around to face her. "Clara?"
She's lying on the cold, hard ground barely moving.
"No, you can't do this to me!"
"Doctor?"
"I'm here Clara" he says resting her head in his lap.
"Can't you save me?"
"I'm so sorry, it's too far along. You're… turning into stone"
Clara closes her eyes momentarily and remembers the first time she ever saw her doctor. Young and handsome, she remembers the day he came calling for her, she smiles a little as she remembers the monk outfit he was wearing when he first buzzed on her door. She remembers every little detail of him. She tries to reach her stiff hand up at the doctor but can't move. She really is turning to stone. The doctor strokes her hair. "Who's Amy?"
The doctor holds his breath before starting "Amy was my assistant. Her and her husband Rory they were… killed by those things. One got into her eye once but I was able to help her. There was more than us two to keep an eye on the angels you see so they couldn't move but even though I saved her that time I couldn't save her the day she died."
Clara closed her eyes and she had more flashbacks. Every moment with her doctor to this very second with this new doctor. She felt her body stiffen and go cold. Just as her breathing became laboured her doctors face was in front of hers. She realised that she loved this new doctor too but she loved her doctor all the more. She thought about all the times he had saved her. Would she be inches from death if the doctor hadn't changed? She looked into the eyes of the older yet new doctor. She looked deep and saw that beneath the scary, angry eyebrows were the soft gentle eyes that looked at her with the same gentleness that her doctor always did. She might have promised to look after this new doctor but she knew that he never would let her die if he could prevent it. Even though he was new he was still the same man she fell in love with.
Her final words were a struggle but just as she took her final breath she whispered "My doctor" and as her eyes glazed over slowly a tear seeped from her left eye and trickled down her cheek.
The doctor sat on the cold hard ground stroking her head, telling her stories about his memories he had with her. He already said goodbye once he couldn't do it again. He hated goodbyes so. He never wanted things to end.
