Hello! This is my little FanFic about Clara Oswald's wiggle room with Ashildr. I really miss Clara, and though i know many people disliked her, i thought I'd let myself enjoy writing this for myself and anyone who cares to read it. I hope you Enjoy my tails about these to beans traveling through time and space! Please excuse any flaws. feedback is always welcome. (Side note: this first chapter is a little silly, i wrote it on a long road trip and later decided it was good enough to continue with more chapters.)

-Skwick


Chapter 1 The Intruder with the Ghastly eyes:

"Clara! There's an intruder in the TARDIS!" Ashildr called over her shoulder to her friend in the control room. Her hands were full with a stack of her journals which they had just rescued from being burned somewhere, somewhen, by the end of the universe. She took a cautious step towards the small creature that stood on four legs in-between Ashildr and the TARDIS door. It must have gotten into their TARDIS within the last few minutes, because Ash had just gotten back with the last load of books, and it wasn't there before.

She had to lean down to examine the furry beast, and she scowled at it when instead of cowering at Ash's superior height and size, it simply squeaked at her, showing small fangs in its pink mouth.

"What was that, Me? Did you say intruder?!" Clara pocked her head out of the console room to pear at Ashildr. Her voice was worried- both of them knew that nothing gets into a TARDIS.

"Yes." She addressed the other woman with a dismissive tone for interrupting her interaction with the strange animal.

"State your name, species and reason for entering our establishment. We are time-travelers from far beyond the stars and you are in one of the most powerful ships in the universe. Tread carefully." Ashildr spoke with the brisk authority she used whenever she needed to be in charge of a situation. She eyed the furry creature with suspicion as it ignored her and wandered around the diner.

"Me…." Clara came up behind Ashildr and brushed passed her. Approaching the animal with a bemused look on her face, she continued "...Me, that's a cat."

"A cat...? like the earth animal known for having taken over ancient Egypt? That's what cats look like?" Ashildr straightened and set her stack of books on the diner bar.

"Taking over Egypt?" Clara scoped up the cat, who protested loudly before realizing being in Clara's arms entailed chin rubs and being fussed over. The younger woman turned back to her traveling companion and smirked at the still unimpressed look on her face.

"You've seen cats before! You are an ancient immortal who has lived on earth for most of its life- I'm sure in in all that time a cat has crossed your path." Clara pointed out.

"Well we are on an alien planet! How am I supposed to know cats hang about places other than their home planet- the are not exactly a world-conquering species! ...are they?" She pauses for a moment before shaking her head and continuing. "How did it get here, and furthermore, how did it get in the TARDIS?" she puzzled with hands on her hips, hiding how silly she felt for having been concerned over earth pet-animal. Although, her journals did say that cats had taken complete control
of Egypt very easily…

"And yes," she added grumpily as Clara snuggled the intruder "of course I have seen cats before. …Apparently-" She glanced at the last stack of book that still waited to be carried into her new library. "I have encountered them many times. Just not in the last hundred-fifty years, which is about how long I can keep an image of such an unimportant thing in my mind. Re-reading my experiences with them, I see I hadn't done a very good job of capturing their ghastly, sharp gaze, and killer claws." Ashildr noticed the claws she was referring to as they dug into Clara's thick sweater-sleeve as a result of her pets and baby-voicing.

"Don't listen to her! You don't have ghastly eyes. You are just a big sweetie, aren't you?" Clara spoke to the cat, but aimed her words at the shorter Immortal. Ashildr crossed her arms and glared at the animal who held her companion's affections. She took a few steps closer to the two and sighed at the mock hurt Clara showed in her eyes that was accompanied by a pouty lip. (From Clara- not the cat.)

"Are you sure it's not an alien that just looks like a cat?" Ashildr still felt the need to defend her over-reaction to a cat in the TARDIS. And, as Clara couldn't stop sing-songing, 'except the unexpected!' She wouldn't take chances on the security of their ship or the safety of Clara. "How, I ask again, did it- "

"Not it Me, he's a he." Clara corrected. Ashildr rolled her eyes.

"How did he get in here? Not even most creatures that actually HAVE HANDS can, unless they have a key." As she spoke Ash reached into her leather jacket and wrapped her fingers around her TARDIS key that lived on a chain around her neck. She kept it there to remind her of the silent promise she'd made to herself, and to Clara, the moment she'd agreed to accompany her on her (rather long) journey to Gallifrey. A promise to stand by Clara, and protect her as she had once not been able to do so long ago when she had told the doctor she would. It was Ashildr's power that had lead to Clara's death. Even though she didn't all together blame herself for her inevitable fait, she would always carry some guilt for her part in it, and her inability to keep her away from harm as she had said she would. Holding the key in her hand, Ashildr wondered about how long she would get would get to spend with Clara, and worried about what would happen if she again failed to keep her safe.

Fixed points could be re-written, even if it means the universe collapses on itself, they could. Which, Ash dreaded to think, meant Clara could still be hurt and even affectively killed before she faced her last heartbeat.

Clara's immortality was that of an all-together unique flavor, very different than her own. Ashildr didn't know how much it would take to kill herself, but over her wild and extraordinarily long life she'd had enough close calls that by now she assumed it would take no less that decapitation to kill her well enough that the Mire medical chip couldn't repair her.

Un-aware of her companion's morbid thoughts, Clara continued their conversation still holding the cat. Now a little more wary of him from Ashildr's remark about alien cats, she said "I- I guess we DON'T know it's a real cat… I mean," she placed the cat on the ground, and he sat, looking up at the two women. "It could be a look-alike..."

"Yes- exactly." Ashildr was snapped out of her thoughts at Clara's words, and she fell back into action mode easily. "The TARDIS might have let him in if she saw him as no threat, and wants us to help him find his way home." Maybe it wasn't a threat. "Isn't that our job now? To serve and protect all creatures of the universe?" she said almost seriously. Clara spat a mock glare at her for the way she made TARDIS adventures sound silly.

"Don't say it like that! I thought we left the mocking air at Deltaray-Joy's third moon a few days ago?" Clara said with a teasing smile. It was Ashildr's turn to glare. Clara was wordlessly bringing up the incident that lead to the unwanted loss of Ashildr's superior air around Clara. Which, in fact, had happened during their fourth adventure together when Ash was forced to recognize her friend's ability to handle not only herself, but also aliens that wanted to eat the two young women who'd shown up at their doorstep. That was the day Clara had earned a respect from Ash that was more powerful than the amount she had been granted through the many re-readings of Ashildr's adventure with the mire so very long ago.

"Mrow?" came a soft purr from the third being in the diner, breaking up the glaring contest that had filled the space between them. The two women giggled, all thoughts of imposter cats and human-eating aliens put on hold so they could share that moment of joy. Ashildr had done more laughing, (and running,) since she had started traveling with Clara than she had done in a very long time. The women who had shown her what it was to be brave when Ashildr was just a child, had now re-taught her what it was to be happy after so many billion years of being alone.

Clara's giggles had finally subsided into a wide smile that challenged Ashildr to add anything to her remark about their adventure on Deltaray-Joy's moon. If she'd had a good comeback then, she would have used it anyway, despite not wanting to cause an argument, but she didn't, so she just bit her lip and tilted her head at Clara in defeat. Clara raised her chin, proud of herself, and Ashildr noticed that she was blushing a little.

Satisfied that she had won that round of teasing, Clara turned her attention back to the animal that was rubbing its body on her legs. "So, I think- "

A loud "Knock, Knock, Knock!" sounded at the diner door causing Clara to jump. (Not Ashildr though- she had gotten over spooking at noises a long time ago.) She felt her body shift ever so slightly into the familiar fighting stance from lessons she had long ago forgotten. She was confident after so many years of practice that no one could tell the difference in her Posture, or the slight relaxing of her shoulders that meant she was on high alert.

Clara had already whirled around at the sound, and Ash turned her head to the potential threat as well. The Cat at Clara's heels hissed at the figure standing outside their door.

It was a tall person, dressed in a dark cloak and baggy jeans. The person was presumably male, and presumably an alien native to… whatever planet Clara had brought them to since the collection of Ashildr's journals.

Nether immortal moved, both expecting the other react first. With a quick glance to Clara she saw that her companion wasn't going to start the conversations. "Hello?" Ashbegan. She made no effort to move toward the glass door as she was sure by the giant ears atop the alien's head that he'd be able to hear her from her spot next to Clara.

"Yes- hello! Ladies, I think you have my beastie!"

By Clara's estimate, she and Ashildr had been traveling for a little over two weeks, and that time, The Doctor was the only other person who'd stepped foot in their diner. How had the cat gotten in? she looked up at the TARDIS's ceiling where she always did when trying to work out the young spaceship's intentions. "What have you brought us this time?" she whispered, shaking her head as Ashildr greeted the man at the door.

"This is your cat? it just showed up in the diner." Ash seemed wary of the alien so Clara walked a little closer to her and continued "We didn't know there were cats on this planet." The man stood stiffly, towering over the two time-travelers and paying them no attention at all. He pushed past Ashildr and walked up to Clara's new feline friend. Clara noted that Ashildr let the man's rudeness go, and continued on as if he hadn't pushed her.

The tabby growled at him as he approached and Clara would have stepped over to help the man fetch the cat, but Ashildr shot her a glance and shook her head. Clara didn't get why Ash was acting oddly, but she trusted her enough to deal with their guest and so she let her do just that.

"Yes… my cat." said the man in a silky voice.

"your pet?" Ashildr walked back over to the feline who stood its ground in front of her, still quietly growling at his owner. Clara wondered what this alien had done to earn such fowl language from the cat.

The way the alien growled back made Clara think that the relationship between the tabby and man might be less friendly and more… like prey and hunter. "Um…" she trailed off, not knowing what to say to an alien whose dinner looked like Clara's childhood pet.

"We don't mean any trouble, you can just take it and go." Ashildr held her palms out in front of her and looked back at Clara as a warning to 'Leave it, Clara,' when she saw that the taller woman was about to protest. Clara stocked up to stand by Ash's side and she crossed her arms as the man tried, and failed, to pick up the cat.

Clara did just that, and the Cat seemed happy to be closer to eyelevel with his opponent. "Give it to me." The man spoke in short, snarling sentences, and Clara decided his species was not one of great intelligence. She actually didn't know what planet they were on, she had set the TARDIS to random for an adventure after collecting all Ashildr's books.

Clara didn't want to give up the cat to the man, she was not convinced he would survive the day if she did. She turned to Ashildr with a pleading look. Ash Sighed, and Clara smiled, knowing she'd won. "What are you going to do with him?" Ashildr started to casually round the Alien as Clara spoke, keeping its attention.

"Soup. Beastie got away before." He licked his lips and reached for the cat. Clara stepped back but he grabbed her arm painfully hard. She struggled and before she could say anything Ashildr hit him in the back of the head with one of her big Books. Clara jumped out of the way as he fell face first onto the ground, out cold.

"Thanks, I- "

"You are NOT keeping a cat in the TARDIS!" Ashildr cut her off before she could suggest such a thing.

Clara scoffed." You won't even let me thank you for saving this innocent cat from the pot? I wasn't going to suggest that we keep it…"

"Like heck you weren't!" Ash put down her book and crossed her arms in front of Clara.

Clara just smirked because, yes, she had been about to suggest just that. She stepped closer and plopped the Cat in Ashildr's arms.

"Look at that face, Me! He just wants to travel through time and space! Is that so much to ask?" Clara pleaded. Ashildr put down the cat and it wandered over to one of the booths, hoped up onto it, and curled up on the table. He watched with one eye open as the two ladies talked.

"You," Ash Pointed at the cat, "we'll get to you later." Clara hid her smile, knowing she'd be keeping the cat.

"We should get the TARDIS out of here before he wakes up. We can dematerialize and leave him behind." Clara said turning back to Ash who had picked up her stack of books again.

"Yeah. I'll get us out of here." She started to walk back to the control room.
"Alright, I'll make us some tea- those were a lot of books!" Clara walked behind the counter. "You are SO British!" Ashildr teased over her shoulder before disappearing inside the back room.