The Impossible Wardrobe
Poetheather
A/N: Takes place after Nightmare in Silver but before The Name of the Doctor. Some slight spoilers for The Name of the Doctor.
A/N 2: I had a fun idea and this is the result. Have an enjoyable read.
Owned by the BBC and the really clever people who have created these characters both classic and modern. Like anyone pays me for this.
"Come on Clara!" yelled the Doctor as he hustled towards the odd looking, smoking wardrobe lying on its back in the middle of the rocky wastes.
After landing on the third moon of Althazar due to the TARDIS forcing them there and throwing open the doors, the anomalous and impossible wardrobe had caught their eye immediately, as it appeared to be part rock in appearance and part eighteenth century woodwork. A funny colored smoke rose out of it and from the way light flickered within the smoke a fire possibly burned inside. In front of the wardrobe a figure lay on the ground, hidden under voluminous red robes with gold trim.
They scrabbled over the scree, sliding a few times on the loose shale until they came to a rest on the flat that held the wardrobe and the figure. The Doctor paused to catch Clara as she slid the last little bit, her arms were windmilling in an attempt to keep her from dropping on her butt. Clara grumbled, obviously displeased, "Flats and a dress are not exactly mountain climbing clothes Doctor."
Checking on the readings from his sonic screw driver, his face screwed up in confusion, he answered absently, "Right, right, you're absolutely right."
The sky rumbled overhead and a flash of lightning lit some of the shadows that had been deepening as the clouds rolled in. The crash was closer than they wanted. The sonic screwdriver hummed out again and he snapped it up looking at the readings with even greater confusion. He muttered out, "That's impossible…"
Clouds continued to gather overhead and the sky darkened quickly. Lightning was getting closer, leaping from cloud to cloud and sometimes lashing mountaintops, and wind began to blow, gaining speed. Scampering the last little bit up to the figure, the Doctor turned them over and when they saw their face he scrambled backwards away from them, falling on his rear, eyes wide, "No… no it can't be. It can't be."
Clara moved closer, turned the figure, what appeared to be a young woman, the rest of the way onto her back. She had blond hair that spilled free of a ridiculous looking hat which looked like it was made out of circles standing upright and her face was scrunched up in pain. There was a scalp wound that was still bleeding, changing the color of one eyebrow and some of her hair. Looking over her shoulder towards the Doctor who was quite aghast, she frowned and shook the girl gently by her shoulder, "Hello? Hello? Are you alright?"
"No Clara, come away. She's not… she can't… come away. Please." The Doctor stretched his hand out to her, beckoning her to him.
"Doctor she's hurt. We can't just leave her," snapped Clara. She tried to read his eyes and what she saw there was pain and old pain at that as well as fear and confusion. What was going on?
"I… Clara, we can't. Let's go." He got to his feet unsteadily, never taking his eyes off the robed figure. His kept trying to find some moisture in his mouth so he could swallow but that eluded him. She just couldn't be here. The last he had known she had been on Gallifrey just before he had ended the Time War and trapped his people forever behind the time lock. She had been President even though that had apparently not held true to the very end. But this, this simply could not be.
Clara turned and looked at him. Droplets of rain began to fall and the lightning began to strike closer, bringing with is the rumble and crash of thunder, making her raise her voice, "We can't leave her."
Moving forward again, he reached out and touched the woman lying on the ground, and he felt that she really was solid, was actually there under his hand. This wasn't a ghost. The readings of the sonic screwdriver had been correct. He struggled to control her turbulent emotions. "Right. You're absolutely right Clara, we can't."
It was awkward, as this regeneration was all gangly and not as muscular as other earlier ones had been but he was able to pick her up in both arms. She felt light, lighter than he remembered and that worried him. Walking quickly to the half rock half wardrobe he yelled down in vain hope, "K9! K9… are you there?"
He didn't know if the robotic dog still traveled with her but he had to check and see. The robotic dog had traveled with Leela and Leela had been with her. If he left her dog behind he would never hear the end of it. "K9?"
A weak and somewhat warbly sound rose up from the depths, "Master?"
"K9 can you make it up here?" He called down into the smoke.
"Affirmative." The robotic dog did not sound sure to him, but how could he doubt K9?
"Hurry!" The rain started falling faster, heavy fat drops and the storm that had to have come up due to the crash of this TARDIS was building faster than he had expected.
Slowly the metallic form of K9 lifted free from the smoke, managing to make it out of the ship. "Master."
"K9, we need to get to my TARDIS, do you think you can make it?" The Doctor looked at the scorch marks, missing ear, bits of exposed wiring and winced internally. This might not be pretty. He thought he might have the parts to repair him… maybe. After having survived a crash like that he hoped he could save the brave dog.
"Affirmative."
"Right. Good dog. Let's go. Clara, lead the way." The Doctor followed Clara, trying to balance his load as he climbed up the unstable tumble of rock. It was getting harder to see thanks to the rain and he made sure to set his feet well before stepping. He even had to catch Clara somehow while juggling the body. And he hadn't fallen. He was quite impressed. They were soaked to the skin by the time they made it inside the TARDIS.
The Doctor wasted no time heading towards the medbay, calling out over his shoulder, "K9, heel!"
Clara stared at the robotic dog and followed along behind, unsure what to say as this was a bit outside her experience, remarkable as it had been already. When she got to the medbay, the Doctor had pulled the soaking robes from the girl and was trying to check on her. She could hear him muttering over and over to himself, "Come on Romana, come on."
"You know her Doctor?" asked Clara, looking between the blond girl on the bed, who looked smaller now without the robes, and the tall, gangly dark haired man.
Not taking his eyes off the unconscious Time Lady, the Doctor said, "Yes, her name is Romana and she is from where I'm from. There's more to it of course but that's all you really need to know right know and she'll probably tell you the rest later when she wakes up. She and I used to travel together a long time ago."
Clara furrowed her brows trying to figure that one out, "How long?"
"Very long. That's… that's not important right now. What is important is that she is here which shouldn't be possible as she was trapped so here's the question, how did she get here?" He turned to look at her.
"Why don't you ask her?" asked Clara, shrugging slightly.
"Why don't I ask her? Clara how can you ask someone who is unconscious things? Be serious." The Doctor was clearly wound up and glared at her.
"Doctor?" a weak, shaky voice asked from behind him, a voice that shook him as it felt like it was from beyond the grave.
Clara smirked at him just before he spun around, arms in a near flail. He yelped out in surprise and delight, "Romana!"
"Is… is it really you?" She raised her hand slightly towards him.
He took her hand affectionately and held it lightly, "Yes, it really is. How did you get here?"
Romana sighed and said in a voice filled with exhaustion, "There was a moment, just one hope of escape, when Rassilon was reaching out towards the Master. I knew that you would be there, how could you not be, it was so very you, so I refused to stay and deal with that madness. Thus while all of the Panopticon was there trying to help force Gallifrey through the Time Lock I ran for a TARDIS. K9 followed me and Leela fell trying to get me through the guards trying to keep us in. Once I was in the ship, I managed to make it through the tiny gap that had been created but there was so much turbulence generated by the Lock and the TARDIS was knocked out of control. I couldn't regain command over the ship and it started breaking up just before we crashed. That's when I got injured badly. Then this happened. I don't recall getting out of ship at all but I must have."
The Doctor stared at her with a look of awe on his face. "You made it out through a tiny pinprick of a collapsing hole with a speeding TARDIS in the middle of a War? Romanadvoratrelundar you are positively brilliant."
She smiled faintly. "Thank you Doctor. Coming from you that really is something. I feel a bit odd, like my teeth aren't right."
The Doctor's face fell. What now? "Romana, what Regeneration are you on?"
"My third."
"And your hair?"
"Black."
"Romana, you look like your second Regeneration," said the Doctor, staring at her in surprise. "You look exactly like your second regeneration."
The blond on the table blinked at him a few times and then sagged down. "Well then, I guess I'm on my fourth regeneration. That does explain why I feel so exhausted. Besides, I always did like that body so I don't mind going back to it."
"I must admit that I did prefer this you," said the Doctor with a smile.
"Thank you Doctor. I… I also wanted to let you know that I am sorry about your mother. She was trying to stop Rassilon and all that madness there at the end and the Panopticon turned on her. It was another motivating factor in my leaving. I am sorry I could not rescue her."
The Doctor's smile wavered slightly. "Thank you. Though she did her best to save me."
Clara moved closer. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Romana blinked at her in surprise, starting slightly, reaching out at her, as if towards a ghost, "Os… Oswin?"
The Doctor snapped his head around to look at Clara and then back at Romana, trying to figure out the connection. "You know Clara?"
"Clara? You mean Oswin?" asked Romana, unsure what he was asking.
"You know me?" questioned Clara, clearly surprised that this stranger knew her.