Title: Magic Of Love
Pairings: River/11. Rumpelstiltskin/Belle.
Summary: River's dead. Belle is now Lacey. The Doctor is hurting so he and Clara take a visit to see Rumpelstiltskin to make a deal. However, Regina and Tamara are working together and are planning something dark and dangerous in StoryBrooke that will put everybody's lives at peril and only the Doctor and Emma Swan can stop it.
"Are you okay?" The Doctor looked up to find Clara hovering over him, her arms across her chest as she leaned against the consoles.
"Of course I'm okay, I'm the king of okay." He lied and he ran his hand through his hair before gulping slightly. All ready, he missed her and his hearts yearned for her to be near by. He knew this day could come back and haunt him though. Everything caught up with him in the end no matter how hard he tried running away from it.
Clara raised an eyebrow at him. "Before I travelled with you, I was a nanny and worked with kids and I know when children are lying to me and by the looks of it, you're lying. Of course your not just lost your wife." She sat down next to him, making him budge over and he looked at his hands, couldn't bear to look at her. "What's up?"
The Doctor gave a heavy sigh. "River." He replied honestly. "I'm missing her."
Clara's eyes softened and she put her arm through his, offering comfort. "The moment she stepped into the very same room as you, I could tell that the pair of you were very much in love. I'm sorry you had to lose her." The TARDIS gave a gentle soothing hum and Clara looked at it thankfully. The TARDIS still didn't like Clara but she was starting to warm up to her and the Doctor was right, Clara realized. The TARDIS was just like a cat and Clara hoped that one day she would earn the TARDIS's trust.
"Of course I loved her very much. She meant everything to me and possibly knew more about myself than I ever did. But the worse thing is, I knew she was going to die long before we got married."
Clara looked at him with wide-eyes. She couldn't believe her ears. "But then, why didn't you try and stop her death?"
"Come on Clara you should know. Paradoxes! But I think she had a feeling she knew something was going to happen to her too when I took her out on our last date..." He put his head in his hands. "Unless..."
"Unless what?"
The Doctor got up and began to dance around the console and began to press buttons and pull triggers without even looking and he looked up and grinned at Clara. "Unless we can find a way to save her."
Clara loved the Doctor. Really, she did but sometimes the Doctor could be impossible and utterly ridiculous and she got up and walked up to the console. "But Doctor, you said so yourself just then! If we save River, there could be a paradox!"
"But what if I could stop it? Mmm?" He looked at her sternly. "What if I could save River and stop the paradox from happening?"
"You can't play God Doctor." Clara looked at him warily. "You may be a time lord but you are certainly not a God."
He barked out a harsh laugh before pulling down a lever and Clara had to hang on tightly to the rails as the TARDIS twirled around the vortex and she heard the Doctor laugh.
"Where are we going?!" Clara yelled over the noise that the TARDIS made as she clung to dear life. Her hair was whipping at her face and the Doctor turned to look at her with a big grin on his face.
"Somewhere magical."
Clara opened the doors and stepped out and looked around her surroundings. From what she could see, they arrived in present day and in what appeared to be a small town filled with people that were busy going about from their day to day lives and the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and raised his hands at the view before them.
"Ah ha! We are here!" They began to walk forwards, Clara at his heels.
"And where is here exactly?" She looked through the passing shops and they went by a cafe called Granny's which actually looked very cosy and she hoped that she and the Doctor could go in their later to take their mind of things for a little while.
"We are in a town called StoryBrooke and everybody in this town is a fairy tale character."
Clara stopped in her tracks. "What, you mean like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?"
The Doctor nodded. "Yup. For instance, that women there," The Doctor pointed to a women with dark brown hair with red high-lights in who was putting out a sign. "Is Red Riding Hood. Marvellous women I tell you and she really does make fantastic Iced-Tea. And that man who is walking the dog over there," The Doctor pointed to a man with bright ginger hair and rimmed glasses. "Is Jiminy Cricket."
"Wait! I thought he was actually a cricket." She turned him, narrowing her eyes. "Is this some sort of trick where you hired actors or actresses to pretend to be fairy tale characters or something?"
"Nope. All perfectly real." The Doctor looked at his watch. "Actually, I need to speak to Jiminy right now and if I got my timelines correct... Come on!" He dragged Clara by the hand and walked up to Jiminy who stopped suddenly in his tracks, looking startled. "Hello!" The Doctor said rather cheerfully."I'm the Doctor and this is Clara. We're new in StoryBrooke." Then he looked at Clara and frowned before looking back at Jiminy. "Well I'm not but she is."
"Oh!" Jiminy put his umbrella in the hand that was occupied by the lead and held out his hand for the Doctor to shake who shook it gratefully and gave him a kiss on each cheek. "I'm Archie-"
The Doctor waved his hand. "No you're not. You're Jiminy Cricket. Don't worry, Clara and I know who everyone else is here and actually, we need to see someone important right now."
Clara tip-toped to the Doctor and whispered in his ear before looking at Archie. "We do?"
"Yes we do." The Doctor replied.
Archie's hand went back down to his side, looking completely baffled. "How do you know who everyone is? Nobody should know who we are-"
"Let's just say it's all wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff." The Doctor guested with his hands. "Anyway, I'm here to see someone."
"Who?"
"Rumpelstiltskin. Last time I came here he was known as Mr. Gold."
"Oh. Well, he can be called by any name but here in StoryBrooke he is mostly known as Mr. Gold like I am known as Archie." He sent Clara a friendly smile and she smiled back, stroking his dog. "He's should be in his shop by now but if not, he'll be with his son."
"Oh fantastic! Has he found Baelfire then?"
"Yes he did, with the help of Emma Swan who I'm sure you'll meet very soon. You know the direction to his pawn shop don't you?"
The Doctor nodded. "Of course! Lovely to meet you at last!" The Doctor furiously shook Archie's hand once more before he set of in the direction of Rumpelstiltskin shop, Clara following him.
"Did we just meet Jiminy Cricket?" She asked breathlessly.
"Yup."
"And we're going to meet Rumpelstiltskin? As in the one who can spin a wheel and make hay turn into gold?"
"The very same one." The Doctor sent her a grin and looked up to see Rumpelstiltskin shop in front of them.
"Okay. Anything else I should know?"
"The mayor of the town is the Evil Queen." He pushed open the door and stepped inside.
"Wait, what?!" Clara questioned, hurrying inside. The Doctor walked up to the counter and began to ring the golden bell.
After pressing it for about nearly a minute, the Doctor was about to press the button again and shout for Rumpelstiltskin when something knocked the bell out of his hands and the Doctor looked up to see an angry Rumpelstiltskin knocking the bell out of his reach with his cane.
"Yes that is quiet enough don't you think?" Rumpelstiltskin questioned and he limped towards the door before locking it. "Doctor, it has been a long time."
"It has! Last time we saw each other was just before the curse has been set. I hope things are fairing." The Doctor leaned across the counter and Clara took a look around the shop, examining the many items that Rumpelstiltskin had. "Must say, this new look suits you better than the one in the Enchanted Forest."
"What are you here for Doctor? As you can see, I am in no mood for one of your chit-chats." Rumpelstiltskin hissed.
"No, I suppose not." The Doctor straightened up. "As a matter of fact, I'm here shall we say...for business."
"Now we're talking." Rumpelstiltskin smirked. "What sort of business are you inquiring to Doctor?"
The Doctor took one quick glance at Clara who was looking through a book before looking back at Rumpelstiltskin and he leaned in to whisper. "You brought someone back from the dead once. Is that correct?"
"With the help of Frankenstein yes, who is also here in this town. Why?" Rumpelstiltskin cocked his head to the side, wondering where this was going. He knew that the Doctor would never ask for such request unless it was absolutely necessary and he could tell in his friend's eyes that he was desperate.
"My wife just recently died and I am here to bring her back." The Doctor said darkly. "Whatever the price."