This takes place before series 7, Clara is a nanny and hasn't met the Doctor yet.
.o0o.
Clara walked through the forest, her scarf masking half her face to protect her both from the cold and the branches. The woods were dense around here, even if all the leaves had fallen off.
She could make out the shape of Jenny's shuttlecraft, lodged between two large maple trees and covered with moss for camouflage. To anyone else, it might look like a big rock.
She peered through a bit of uncovered window and her stomach dropped.
"Oh my stars! Jenny!"
She hit the window with one fist while frantically pressing the button to open the door.
"Jenny! Wake up!"
The door finally slid open and Jenny's eyelids moved weakly. She was shivering under a thin blanket, her teeth clattering behind blueish lips.
"You can't spend the night in here anymore, it's getting too cold."
She stepped into the pod and removed her coat to drape it over her friend's shoulders. Rubbing Jenny's hands between hers, she blew warm air over her fingers.
Thanks to Clara's ministrations, the alien girl regained full consciousness.
"Are you alright? Can you walk?"
Jenny nodded and stood up slowly. Clara wrapped her scarf around her own shoulders, thankful she'd put on a wool dress today, and they started walking through the forest, arm in arm.
By the time they'd reach the main hiking trail, Jenny was already walking faster and when they emerged onto Esmond road, they flat out ran to the house.
Jenny's face had returned to an almost natural colour but that didn't stop Clara from insisting she took a hot shower. She stayed by the door, biting her nails. Worry still pulsed in her veins. She had no idea if Jenny's alien physiology could even survive Earth's winter climate
What if she died before finding her dad? Before seeing all the other worlds she dreamed to explore?
Clara shook her head to chase the thoughts away. She decided to put her anxious energy towards something that would actually be helpful. She went through her closet and selected warmer clothes for Jenny: knit leggings, a long green jumper and wool socks. This made her want to trade her own outfit for sweatpants and a polka dot Henley.
She entered the steamy bathroom, placed the clothes on the toilet lid, and informed Jenny she would be waiting for her downstairs.
Jenny came in the kitchen, fixing her ponytail. She looked much better and Clara was so relieved, she hugged her immediately.
"I'm fine... Thanks to you," Jenny said with a smile that was not quite as bright as usual.
"You're sleeping here tonight," Clara declared, handing her friend a mug of hot chocolate.
"I just need to find a plasma carburettor and I'll be able to keep the pod warm at night."
"You haven't found any of the other parts you're looking for. What makes you think you'll find this one before freezing to death?"
The spaceship had had a rough landing. It still worked, but just enough to sustain its inhabitant, and not enough to leave the planet's atmosphere. She was stranded on Earth until she could find the components she needed to fix it.
Jenny pouted and Clara offered a sympathetic smile.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to bum you out. We'll keep looking and meanwhile you can stay here at night. How does that sound?"
"But, what about the family?"
"It's only temporary. We'll be quiet. Besides, there's no one here during the day and their bedrooms are on the other side of the house. They won't know you're here."
Clara wasn't too worried about them finding out, Jenny was the stealthiest person she'd ever met. She'd startled Clara countless times. After all, she was created to become a soldier, it was part of her genetic program.
Clara cleared the clutter off the brown couch. They settled on it, carefully holding their mugs while sinking into the overstuffed cushions. Seeking warmth, Jenny slipped her feet under her friend's legs and placed a chenille blanket over them.
Clara liked this room the best because of its large windows overlooking the garden and all the light streaming in before noon. Even on this cold day, the sunrays were hot on their skin, and they basked in it like a couple of cats.
"Remind me to take a box of these with me when I leave Earth. It tastes sooo much better than the powdered food in my pod," Jenny said before shoving a handful of colourful marshmallows in her mouth.
"And you should take Jammie Dodgers too."
"Oh yes and pizza!"
Clara knew then that her friend had fully recovered.
She had such a childlike wonderment about everything— she would never forget her face the first time she'd tasted bubble tea when they'd taken a stroll through Chinatown— and yet, sometimes, she could be wise beyond her years. She was fascinating to Clara and not only because she was an alien.
"And… if you don't mind," Jenny continued, "when I leave, I'd really like to take Little Women with me too."
"Of course, I can always get another copy."
They'd taken turns reading that book to each other on a stormy day last week, sobbing and smiling through the March family's ups and downs.
Clara ran her finger around the bottom of her mug, collecting the extra cocoa powder to eat it. Jenny imitated her, grimacing at the sugary taste. Once the mugs were completely empty, Clara placed them on the coffee table and picked up her laptop.
"So, what should we research today?"
Jenny wiggled her nose the way she did when she was pondering something.
"We could try looking for my dad's spaceship. It's a blue wooden box."
She hadn't seen the TARDIS herself but had learned about it after leaving Messaline. Indeed, the inhabitants of the first planet she'd visited had met the Doctor. They'd been willing to trade that knowledge for her help getting rid of a parasite killing their six-legged horses. They knew little about the Time Lord himself but, being a transport-oriented culture, they'd filled her in on his spaceship.
Clara typed "Doctor blue box" in the search engine. The first result was an old-looking website. Under the title "have you seen this man?" there were various pictures of a bloke in a leather jacket with close-cropped hair. Jenny discarded it immediately, but Clara wasn't so hasty. There was that strange sensation in her mind again, like an echo: she could feel it reverberating in her skull but couldn't make out the original message.
She'd felt that sensation for the first time this summer, when Jenny had ran into her—literally— and shoved a picture in her face.
"Hello!" she'd said, smiling in a way no self-respecting Londoner would ever dare to on a Monday morning. "Do you know these people?"
It looked like it was taken from a security camera, there was a tall man in a brown suit with two women, one black, one ginger.
Clara was certain she didn't know either person on that photo, yet she hadn't been able to shake off a feeling of déjà vu. After days of this sensation nagging her, she'd decided to find Jenny and befriend her. Becoming her friend had turned out to be quite easy. Not only because Jenny was one of the most amiable person Clara had ever met, but also because she was lonely on this strange planet.
However, despite Clara's offer for help, it had quickly become obvious that Jenny was reluctant to share whatever she knew about the people she was looking for. The man was called the Doctor, Donna lived in Chiswick— the same area as Clara— and the other one was named Martha. That was all she would say.
As weeks went by and Clara proved to be open-minded and loyal, Jenny had revealed her incredible story. Clara had taken it all in strides, the existence of extra-terrestrial life was just good sense as far as she was concerned. Seeing the spaceship hover and hearing Jenny's two heartbeats had just been icing on the cake.
"Let's call that Clive," Clara suggested, already dialing the number displayed on the screen next to a fax number that betrayed the age of the website.
As it turned out, Clive was dead, murdered by a shop dummy a few years ago. Clara spent the next half hour on the phone consoling his widow who blamed herself for not taking his conspiracy theories seriously.
"You call the next time," Clara declared throwing her phone on the couch.
She rubbed her reddened ear, sore from holding the phone to it for too long. They resumed their research for the TARDIS. Unfortunately, it didn't yield much results but they did learn an awful lot of trivia about police boxes.
For the first time since they'd met, Jenny looked dejected and she had every right to be. Since arriving on Earth, she'd knocked on the door of almost every Donna and Martha in the phone book without any luck. She'd met half a dozen other aliens who weren't able to or didn't want to help her. And most of the people who had claimed to recognize the Doctor on the photo only wanted to take advantage of her. She'd used her fighting skills more often on Earth than on any other planet she'd visited before. Yet, up until now, she'd always been cheerful and optimistic. Almost freezing to death must have been the straw that broke the camel's back.
Clara gently squeezed her friend's hand.
"Tell you what, let's have lunch and then we can do something fun, we deserve a break."
After a meal of beans on toasts, Clara loaded the washing machine and let Jenny pick a movie. For some reason, she was fascinated by American high school movies and this time she chose The Breakfast Club. They settled on Clara's bed with a big bowl of popcorn and her laptop propped up on a stack of books.
Jenny watched intently while Clara, who'd seen the movie many times before, simply rested her head on her friend's shoulder, enjoying her reactions as the story unfolded.
Halfway through the movie, she moved the washing to the dryer and, after the credits had rolled, they danced to Simple Minds while folding the clean clothes.
"Don't you, forget about me," Clara sang, using rolled up socks as a microphone.
Jenny, as she often did, imitated her until they couldn't contain their laugh and fell on the bed.
A few remaining bubbles of laughter escaped their chests and they rested on their backs, looking up at the star stickers on the sloped ceiling.
"I wonder if I could put on lipstick like Claire did," Jenny said after a moment.
"Well, there's only one way to find out."
Clara sprang to her feet and grabbed her friend's hand to pull her along.
They stood together in front of the vanity, each with a tube of lipstick tucked in her cleavage. So far, the results were inconclusive. In fact, they both looked like the Joker (she had to explain that reference to Jenny who thought it was a Time Lord's name).
"I bet Molly Ringwald herself couldn't do it," Clara grumbled, wiping the red cosmetic off her mouth for the third time.
"I did it!" Jenny declared.
The pink on her lips was perfectly applied.
"Oh my stars! You did! This shade looks really good on you, by the way, you should keep it."
Jenny took a closer look at her face in the bathroom mirror and her proud smile faded.
"Am I pretty?" she asked.
Clara didn't even have to think about it.
"You're very pretty."
Jenny beamed.
"Thank you! I think you're really pretty too."
"You do?" She blushed and looked at her reflection too. "I think I'm very… blah, you know? Ordinary."
"You're not ordinary to me," Jenny said before kissing her friend's cheek. "Oops, lipstick." She rubbed off the stain with her thumb.
Clara's cheeks burned under the light touch and she shuffled on her feet before making an excuse to leave to bathroom that suddenly felt too small.
She looked over the recipe on the fridge and pulled out the necessary ingredients. She was washing her hands when Jenny joined her, a spring in her steps and still incredibly pretty with glossy pink lips.
She sat on a stool at the counter and studied the way Clara was slicing the vegetables. After a minute, she picked up a knife and a carrot and did the same. They worked in silence until all the vegetables were chopped.
"Erm, Clara, in the movies, why is it always a girl with a boy?"
"How d'you mean?"
"At the end, the boy and the girl kiss, it's never a girl with a girl or two boys. Why is that?"
Clara puffed up her cheek with a deep exhale of air.
"Look, I'll explain the basics but I need to cook, so you'll have to look up the rest."
"Okay."
It wasn't the first time that she had to teach earthling's mores to her alien friend but this certainly was the most awkward. In order to explain heterosexuality, homosexuality and all the declinations in-between, she first had to explain human reproduction. Jenny was bewildered by the idea of a woman carrying a child in her womb ("but what are babies for?"), after all, she had been extrapolated from a DNA sample and generated by a machine.
"Heterosexuality is only necessary for reproduction, right? So, what about love? I don't see why the other person's gender matters," Jenny said, as candid as ever.
"I don't know, that's just how it is." Clara replied evasively.
She poured rice in a measuring cup thus avoiding the inquisitive look her friend was surely casting her way.
She shouldn't be so curt with Jenny, not when she'd once asked herself the same questions. Clara had accepted the fact that she was attracted to both men and women. But she wasn't ready to openly discuss it. At least, not right now, not when it might lead to other questions she wasn't ready to answer.
Jenny started setting the table but from the frown on her forehead, Clara knew there were more questions coming. She placed the last fork and sat back at the counter.
"Do you love someone?"
Clara laughed but it was purely for stress relief.
"Me? I— I don't know."
"How can you not know?"
Jenny glanced at her askance and Clara averted her eyes by fiddling with her ring.
"It's complicated," she replied.
She turned towards the stove, unnecessarily adding salt to the boiling water.
"Complicated how? What symptoms do you have?"
"Can you not talk about it like it's a disease?" Clara turned back to her friend and placed her hands firmly on the counter. "Look, I think it's time you leave, Angie and Artie will be back soon."
They'd decided that Jenny should get out of the house before dinner and come back when everyone had gone to bed. That way she could get all the running and fresh hair she needed— she was unused to staying inside for long periods of time— and they minimized the risks of getting caught. After that, she would climb up the garage and enter through the bedroom window.
She picked a parka from Clara's closet and put on her boots. She hadn't said another word but she looked like she wanted to.
"Are you cross with me?" she finally asked.
"No, no, not at all, your questions caught me by surprise is all."
Jenny nodded and finished putting on all the winter gear. She paused before opening the door.
"I think I'll look it up while I'm out."
"Look what up?"
"The symptoms— I mean, the signs, that you're in love."
Clara chuckled.
"Yeah you do that. Come back before midnight, alright?"
During dinner, Clara could barely keep track of the conversation and she was no help at all when Artie and Angie did their homework. She couldn't stop thinking about her afternoon with Jenny and all the questions she'd asked. She'd spent days in the girl's company many times before, but today it felt like they'd taken their friendship one step further. Further towards what, she didn't know.
At 11:59, her heart skipped a beat when she heard a light tap against her window, she pushed it opened and in climbed Jenny with rosy cheeks. Clara offered her a pyjama with pink sheep on it that delighted her. She put it on right away, leaving her clothes on the bedroom floor.
"Climb in," Clara said, lifting her quilt.
The single bed was not ideal, but it would have to do for now. She turned off the bedside table and the star stickers glowed above them.
The tip of Jenny's nose was still cold, and she pressed it playfully to Clara's cheek who giggled in return. She'd read somewhere that outer space smells like geraniums and sometimes she thought she could smell that on her. A lemony-green fragrance, faintly floral, that lingered on her skin and in her hair.
They faced each other and Jenny nudged her knee between her friend's legs.
Jenny always seemed to seek physical contact with her. Whether that was an alien thing or a Jenny thing, Clara didn't know. And she didn't mind either way. In fact, she enjoyed it.
That closeness sparked something in her, a need for companionship, for affection. A need she'd forgone over the last year because of her dedication to taking care of Angie and Artie.
She draped her arm over Jenny's waist, index finger tracing idle circles over the soft flannel of the pyjama.
"So, did you look up the symptoms of love, then?" Clara whispered.
"I did, at the library… you were right: it is complicated."
"Yeah… but it's worth it."
Jenny only nodded and cuddled up closer to Clara.
