A/N: Ok. This story is for/dedicated to all those beautiful fanfictioners who wish to ship The Doctor with everyone, like everyone. Alright, I think I just dedicated this story to myself ;) but you guys too!
Oi! Yeah: all FLASHBACKS will be in italics, the chapter's going to end during a flashback: don't be confused :P
The Doctor lay on the crisp sheets of a queen size bed, the quilt tossed to the side next to his wife. Yet, he wasn't sleeping, oh perish the thought, no, he was thinking. As soon as it was morning, he would fly his phone box right to Wednesday. Where to take Soufflé Girl? Maybe to meet a famous human from earth's past? J.R.R. Tolkien was always an interesting fellow. Perhaps head towards humankind's future? He hadn't been to New Las Vegas in a while. Or perhaps somewhere completely alien? Stop! The Doctor yelled at himself, shaking his head with a frown. Why was he thinking about Clara? He should be thinking of River; he promised her his attention.
River Song turned over, still asleep, her eyes were heavy, her lips sunken in. It suddenly hit him; she looked exactly like she did in….the library. The Library. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes. No, he wasn't going to think about it, it wasn't time for that. Not Yet. He'd know. He blinked a few times and looked around; he was walking toward the TARDIS, which was smack-dab in the middle of River Song's bedroom. He opened the door with a snap of his fingers and started to walk slowly inside.
River stirred, "Where are you going, sweetie?" there was pain in her voice, and she looked tired. The Doctor jumped in the TARDIS, looking back at the swinging door behind him, why was he leaving? Her death was imminent. He couldn't look at her without seeing her die all over again. He would head off, off to see Clara. The girl who lived a thousand lives for him. But he wasn't excited, he just needed to get away: he was setting the coordinates on the cold control panel when he heard River call him, "Doctor, please listen to me, I need to tell you something important."
He couldn't. The Doctor couldn't take it. He pulled a lever, staring down. Unfortunately, he wasn't seeing his colorfully eccentric control panel. No, he was reliving River's death, over and over again.
"Goodbye, see you soon!" he called, trying to sound cheerful, as if he hadn't heard her pain and simply felt like jumping through the universe. But no: River's death was coming soon and that was the one important secret he had to keep from her.
TARDIS [] TARDIS [] TARDIS [] TARDIS [] TARDIS [] TARDIS [] TARDIS [] TARDIS
The Doctor stood stiffly in the TARDIS holding onto a silver colored handle, trying to force himself to run outside and gleefully pull Clara into his time machine to take her to see the stars.
He couldn't. River: He should go back, figure things out, hold her and tell her he loved her more than anyone else. No, it was fine: whatever she wanted to tell him could wait. She made him wait all the time. Spoilers. Well, he'd let her keep just a few more of them until next time.
It'd be fine, he thought bitterly, strutting out to the Maitland home. Looking at the door he remembered it would be his first adventure with Clara since Trenzalore. They'd been lucky to get out alive (technically, he was still dead there, of course) he recalled the incident it was as if it were just last week…which it was, at least in Clara's earth time:
The Doctor stood uprightly, staring at the back his former self down. A flush of memories struck him: the destruction of his entire planet…his entire species: Every single Time Lord.
"What I did, I did without choice." His old self called.
"I know." The Doctor replied simply, a plan of escape attempting to form in his mind.
"In the name of peace…and sanity." The younger, although seemingly older, version continued. He recalled saying those exact words to comfort himself once, so long ago.
"But not in the name of The Doctor!" he exclaimed turning, refusing to look into the eyes of a man who did such horrid things: his own self. He gazed instead at the rough orange-tan rocks.
How to get out of his own time stream? It was simple enough to get into it. He tapped his fingers nervously against Clara's thigh, holding her close to his chest. He began to walk away as if there was some distant hope that there would be an unattainably simple solution to escaping this. In reality, he wanted only to escape the possibility of continuing the conversation between himself and…himself.
The Doctor slowly circled around the foot of a dusty mountain, shouldering the weight of Clara.
"Doctor," Clara mumbled, her eyes closed, her head shaking.
He stopped in his tracks, slipping her gently onto the ground in the hopes that she would awaken.
Her body shook furiously, in an almost a seizure-like way, murmuring, "No."
"Clara…" He began softly.
"No," she muttered, still shaking. She suddenly stopped, and for one fearsome moment the Doctor thought she was dead. Then completely still, with her eyes still shut she said, "Run, you clever boy."
He pulled her up, holding her tighter, and began running as fast as he could through his time stream. He passed himself dressed in many colors, then in a scarf, followed by a former regeneration in a leather jacket. The Doctor stopped in his tracks when he came upon a figure with long dirty blonde hair and feminine clothing standing upright, staring forward with her back turned to him.
"Oh, for God's sake," he aloud, not realizing he had done so, "I regenerate into a girl later on: as if I wasn't having a bad enough day!"
The woman spoke, laughing a bit as she did, without moving, "No, don't worry: you don't."
That cockney accent, could it be-
The woman spun around, The Doctor immediately recognized the olive-brown eyes, fat lips, and long dirty-blonde hair.
"Rose?" He questioned, nearly dropping Clara in shock, but managing to retighten his grip around her.
"Yeah…" Rose trailed off, gesturing for him to come closer. As The Doctor started to do so, Rose turned before he reached her, and began running again, waving for him to follow.
While running across the hard ground, Rose began yelling to him, out of breath, "You have to get out of your own time stream: you'll do more damage than the great intelligence ever did. The TARDIS is around here: if we can fly into the exact moment after your entering the time stream but outside of your grave, you'll be fine."
The TARDIS? What? The Doctor tried to speak, but he simply trailed her as she jumped into the police box. She pressed a few blinking buttons as The Doctor carefully placed Clara in a safe position.
He looked up to see not only Rose at the controls, but River as well. They began to talk quietly to each other then simultaneously stared at The Doctor and then at Clara.
What was happening? A few choice human words were going through his head. He wasn't sure whether to holler at Rose and River to explain or to pleasantly ask how Rose and Meta-crisis were doing.
He finally turned his attention to Clara's body lying on the cool metal floor of the TARDIS. He checked her vitals with his sonic: Clara's heartbeat was quick but began to slow down as he scanned her. She may have just fainted and considering the shock she had just been under: that would be a small miracle. Anyway, her vitals were fine.
After a few minutes of River and Rose whispering and The Doctor trying to remain calm, Clara stirred. Her eyes flittered around the room, instantly locking onto Rose and River then hollering, "What in bloody hell is going on?!"
The Doctor gaped at her, his mouth open, then smiling before gazing over towards the two other women in the room.
Rose spoke, "So, that's The Doctor then?"
A/N: And end of chapter #1: I was originally barely going to mention Trenzalore, but then I thought, whatever. When developing the story in my head, it became a semi-vital part of the story. How Rose, River and the TARDIS got in the time stream will be explained in the next chapter :)
