The Doctor, Beside Coaxer
Author Note: All familiar ideas stem from Russell T. Davies, not me. All the Eleventh and Clara fans that are reading this, the dynamic is a bit unclear - my pure Whoufflé muse might strike, it might not. Bits and bobs just came randomly when I was noting this one down.
Sitting upright suddenly, Clara's eyes flashed open as she woke up in a cold sweat, moistening her white dressing gown, scarlet and cyan walls being the first thing around her. She promptly screamed. Flashes of several faces and black voids...
"DOCTOR!" she gasped, a shiver passing through her body. Tears ran down her face. Luckily, the madman had heard her from the console room, and dashed in.
"Clara!" he breathed, at which point, her silent tears flowed harder. "Oh, Clara... my impossible girl... no worries, I'm here..." he soothed, sitting on her duvet and putting his giraffe limbs around her slight frame. She appreciated it and snuggled into him.
"N-n-nightmare..." she squeaked. "Doctor, save me." And at that, part of the Doctor's resolve broke. It was very rare Clara went to pieces like this. And if he could help her, then come Gallifrey or high water he would. "So scared..." she mumbled.
"It's OK, Clara. I'm here, always here." he kissed her forehead, and looked into those brown orbs he cared for so much. "The Doctor's here, and doctors help." he grinned.
A shaky laugh shook his companion's slim body. His chin gently nuzzled her hair.
"A good use for it." she mumbled contentedly, but he looked down and noticed a stray tear. Worried green met watery brown and the Doctor cupped her face.
"My lovely soufflé girl, I'm going to tell you something. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant. So I'm sure that nightmare can be calmed." he smiled - that advice seemed to trigger a calmness in Clara and he felt it in the way she hugged him. She looked at him and a zillion emotions crossed her face.
"I - I - I was dying." she muttered. "But it was weird. You know the old thought about how human lives look back as they die?" The Doctor nodded, and didn't like where this was going. His Clara did not deserve this level of nightmare tremors.
"Well... that thought was in reverse. I was me, mid-twenties, but fast-forwarding." There was a crack in her voice, and tears flowed again. "N-next thing, I-I'm in the blackness of a c-c-cold gr-gr-grave." she was properly sobbing now, dampening the Doctor's purple cashmere coat. The Doctor didn't care though - his lovely companion was going through pain and he had to stop that. Clara paused with a sniff as she realised the softness of the cashmere. "S-s-sorry." she breathed, her fingers lingering on the coat. "Doctor?" she asked quietly, for an odd look had come over his face.
He could regenerate, so whatever his nightmares were, he could never draw a comparison to Clara's, and it bugged him. He couldn't imagine that gloomy pitch-blackness, that all-encompassing dread. Right now his empathic skills were wasted. A muscle twitched in his face. He ran his hands on the dark-blue duvet, a contrast to Clara's pale skin and dressing-gown. "What's on your mind?" she asked.
"You are. I want to help." he said, earnestness in his green orbs. Clara smiled weakly. "And I think I know how to help." he smiled down at her, wiping away the tear tracks.
"I-Is this going to b-be one of your s-surprise planets?" Clara hiccuped, a delayed bubble caught in her throat. The Doctor stroked her hair and nodded.
"Yes. Oh there there, by the time I'm done, you'll be fine. Tell you what, go to the fifth room on the left and have a lie-down." he breathed, kissing on the forehead. "Rest that worried little brain." he said compassionately. Clara did so and the Doctor straightened his bow-tie, pulled the wibbly lever down and promptly set off for one of his favourite planets. He was determined to rid his companion of her shock.
AN: Uh-oh, the straightened bow-tie! He means business! A short chapter - especially by my standards - but I mean for the story to fall thick and fast. And yes, I re-used Clara's bedroom design from my fic 'Rom-coms, but The Doctor's Way!', but that's how I imagine it.