The days passed slowly since Clara last saw the Doctor. He was off no doubt to his home planet, living his life there. Nothing strange had happened on Earth and the school year quickly came to an end. Clara stood in the court yard as the last students said their goodbyes and went on their way. Some making plans for the summer, other not being able to decide what they are going to do first.
One of her students came up to her. "Miss Oswald, What are you going to do during summer break?"
Clara looked down with a smile. "A teachers job is never done, not even during summer break. I have next years agenda I need to plan, also I need to come to school for meetings with other teachers."
The student frowned at her. "That Sounds So boring. You should take the time and go out and look for a new boyfriend." The child had slapped their hand over their mouth to stop the words, but it was to late. "I'm sorry miss Oswald, I didn't mean it like that."
Clara gave a soft smile. "Thank you for caring about me. You should run along, you have all summer to have fun." The student waved her goodbye and Clara never stopped smiling until they were put of sight. A heavy sigh escaped her. "Oh I forgot my papers." Clara turned on her heels and made her way to her classroom. She stopped when she got up to Danny's room. The room was bare. The janitors had already come by and started cleaning the rooms. All the desks were lined up out in the hall with the chairs stacked on top. Clara slowly pulled herself away and finally found herself at her classroom. She makes her way over to her desk where the papers she is looking for are sitting on top. "Here they are." Clara places her hand on the bottom of the top page. She slowly slips to her chair, tears make tracks on her face. The loss of Danny was fresh in her heart when she passed his old classroom.
"Oh Clara. Clara, Clara, Clara, my impossible girl, don't cry." Clara looked up to see the Doctor's previous incarnation in front of her. She had to pause for a bit. She So desperately wanted to see him and hear his voice, all she could do was imagine What it would be like if he were there. The Doctor crouched beside her and took her hand in his. "What could possibly have you So upset? I hope you're not still crying over me."
He didn't know, how could he know. He was gone, blissfully unaware of all that had transpired after he left. "I met someone. Someone I thought that I would spend the rest of my life with, but he's gone now." Fresh tears accompanied her broken words.
"Oh Clara, I'm sorry." The Doctor leaned forward to give her a hug. It was an empty hug that couldn't be filled with a memory alone. He pulled back and looked her in eyes, "Don't be sad anymore. You're So smart and clever." He booped her on the nose, which granted him a smile. "See, now there is the girl I know. Now, No more tears."
"Yes please, I don't even know how you do that with your face." His voice came into her mind like a harsh sound. Clara looked up to see that he was leaning on a desk in the back of the room. His hands were in his pockets in the casual manner that he always had them. 11 rose from his place in front of Clara. "And what's he doing here? Are you still going on about him?"
Clara glared at the Doctor. "What us your problem with him? He is you after all!"
"No he is nothing like me, just look at the way get dresses, and that hair, no man should have hair that long." The Doctor walked over to his old self. He leaned his face forward into his a bit. "How come you don't have any eyebrows?"
11 threw his hands up over his forehead. "At least my eyebrows don't look cross. Do you wake up in the morning and stare at yourself angrily?" He turned to Clara and pointed at his predecessor, "Look at how cross his eyebrows are."
"Don't point at me. Do you not have any manners?" Suddenly he glared at Clara. "Is this What you think of me? Is this really what you think of me?"
Clara has a blank stare on her face. She closed her eyes to try and think. No doubt if they every got in a room together, the conversation would go something like that, but Why would she let her mind wander to that? Clara looked down at her desk again and noticed the papers and how there were dried up wrinkles circles from where she had cried. She was trying to get her mind off of Danny, but she could feel the knot forming in her throat. "Whose Danny?" 11 asked as he sat on the edge of her desk.
"Oh that was after your time. She met a little solder and fell in love. Although, I don't know why the thought of him makes you sad." The Doctor was sitting on the edge of the desk opposite himself. He turned to give her a curious look. "Did you to break up after all that you put me through to get him back? Or..." he rose from his seat and moved around the desk to where she was. He placed his hands on the armrests of the chair. "He didn't come back did he?" Clara had a guilty look on her face. "You lied to me." The Doctor pulled away from her.
"Clara, you've picked up lying?" 11 had a shocked look on his face.
"Oh she's picked up a lot of things like betrayal to get What she wants. She tried to knock me out and thow away every copy of the TARDIS key into a volcano until I agreed to bring Danny back." The Doctor had his arms crossed.
"Clara, you would betray me?"
"No not you!" Clara rose out of her seat in protest.
"No, of course not you! You would go to the ends of the earth to give your impossible girl what she wanted, but not me, I knew better?"
"You never liked Danny! Even after he turned into a Cyberman, you still didn't want to except him. You knew better? Oh no, you were glad he was gone, out of the way so that I had no reason not to drop everything and run off with you!" Clara could feel her face burning. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in the back of her mind. She looked over at 11, who was sitting on a desk I'm the back corner of the room.
"Clara." His eyes lifted to meeting her gaze. His eyes were sad, tears pooling in the corners. "I knew that one day you wouldn't need me the way you needed me. That you would find a reason to leave, but how could you be so...selfish."
The words ripped into her heart with a white hot pain. She looked over at him as he slowly stood up. He walked up to the front of the room with 12 and took his place next to him. "I wasn't the one being selfish, it was him." She pointed an accusing finger at 12.
"Clara, by blaming him, you're blaming me. Did you forget what it was like to be with me? We had so much fun. You were my impossible girl." His eyes fell. "But I left you alone. I trusted you to understand. I needed you to stay with me. I let you down and I'm sorry for that." Clara watched as he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. For a split second she could feel his warmth, but then it was gone. Clara opened her eyes and he was no longer there. Something pulled at the back of her mind. She slowly turned her head to where the Doctor had been standing. There he was with a lone desk.
"I wasn't being selfish Clara, I was trying to help you." The Doctor crossed his arms. "And it wasn't that I didn't like Danny, I just wanted to make sure he was good enough first you. He even said it himself, you were there." He brought his hand up to his face. "I guess you were lost in your own thoughts of loosing him. He was already gone, turned into a Cyberman." He moved his hand away and looked at her like her was trying to figure her out, like she was a problem he needed to solve. "What do you think of me Clara?" He got up from his seat and walked over to her desk. The room felt like it was getting smaller.
"I...I..." the words failed to come. Clara put her hand up to her chest like she was trying to fight back the pain that was growing there. "I just wanted you to care. You stopped caring and that's why you needed me around, to care for you."
The Doctor narrowed his eyes at her. "I never stopped caring about you."
"You made me do things I wasn't comfortable doing! Made me make decisions that were hard and could have ended horribly!" Clara slammed her hand down on the desk. "Those are not the actions of a man who cares!"
The Doctor flipped his jacket as he put his hands into his pockets. "I did those things because I believed in you, because I knew you were strong enough to do the right thing, to make the right decision. Clara I never stopped caring, I needed you more and more because I was afraid. I knew you were gonna leave, I could see it. I wanted you to be strong so when the time come you would be strong enough to make the right choice." He pulled hands our of his pockets and walked over to where she was. He slowly wrapped his arms around her. Clara could feel his warmth. In that moment she didn't know what was real anymore. "No more sadness. Not another Amy and Rory, River, Donna, Rose, or any of the others. I wanted to be OK when you left. I wanted you to be OK when I wasn't there anymore."
Clara wrapped her arms around him as tight as she could. She wanted it to be real, she wanted him to be there so she could apologize. She wasn't ready to let go. "How can I be OK when your not here?" Clara slowly slipped into her chair. She was alone in an empty room. Hot tears where fresh on her face. Her hand trembled as she looked at the papers on her desk. They still had the stains from her tears. Clara took as deep breath. He was right, she needed to be strong, not just for her, but for him. She stood up and wiped the tears from her face, straightened herself out, and put the paper in her bag. She was about to leave when she noticed something on the desk in the back of the room. She slowly walked over to it. On the desk was a key. She was trying to figure out what the key was for, she had all her keys. She turned it over in her hand, then it hit her.
Clara ran down the hall with a smile on her face. She got to the court yard and only heard the faint whooshing as the TARDIS faded. She couldn't help the overwhelming feeling in her heart. She put the key in her pocket and made her way home. On the TARDIS the Doctor looked at the screen on the control column. A small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.