AN- This is a Whouffle AU. I'm not too sure where I'm going with it, but I hope you like it.
NOTE- the Doctor is human and a completely normal kid. There will be no aliens.
John "The Doctor" is 16
Amy and Rory are also 16
River is 15
and Clara is 15
The day John Smith met Clara Oswin Oswald, was both the happiest and the saddest day in his life.
The Doctor stood outside of his house patently. He listened to the crickets chirp, and watched the glowing lightning bugs fly off into the night. All the lights were out in his neighborhood, everyone was stone dead asleep. Everyone but two.
Earlier that day, he had met Clara, a kind, beautiful girl. She had a warm smile, chestnut hair, and large doe eyes. She explained that she was staying with her cousins while her father was on a business trip.
He wasn't sure why, maybe it was the sad, lonely look in her eyes, it he had decided to show Clara a good time. The Doctor explained to her to met him outside his house at midnight, then the fun would begin.
At first it seemed like a good idea, but the closer it became to midnight the more anxious he became. The Doctor wasn't sure why though. He didn't like her like that. He couldn't. The Doctor was in a happy relationship with his girlfriend River.
Ten minutes before the clock struck twelve, The Doctor pulled out his cellphone and called his best mate.
It only rung twice before a groggy Scottish voice answered.
"Hello?" Amelia Pond asked. A smile crossed The Doctor's lips. Amy never liked to be awakened, he knew she would kill him. Well, she would, if she wasn't in New York.
"Amelia Pond, how is America?" The floppy hair boy joked with is friend. He knew, absolutely, without a doubt, she loved it there. Her boyfriend, and The Doctor's good mate, Rory, had spend nearly two years to save the money to fly them both to New York to see a broadway show. Amy had talked about wanting to see one ever since she was seven, the same age she was when she moved across the street from The Doctor.
"Amazing," she squealed. He could almost hear her jumping with joy. "The show starts in a hour, and I'm trying to stay awake with theses stupid time differences." She paused.
"Hold on? It's midnight back home, why are you calling me?" Amy wasn't scared, but curious. The Doctor sighed, he wasn't exactly sure what to tell her, after all, he was dating her step-sister. And although he knew he did not fancy Clara, it still didn't explain why he was so nervous.
"Oi, Doctor, I'm your best friend, you can tell me anything," the Scot insisted over the phone.
"Do you remember that Oswin girl?" He asked.
"You mean the girl that hacked onto the police department building?" Amy asked. The Doctor smiled at the memory.
Amy, Rory, and himself were on their way back from a movie when they notice the sound of sirens coming from their neighborhood.
Curiosity had gotten them better of them and they ran to see the police outside of their neighbors house.
The Doctor scoffed. Of course it would be them, he thought to himself. Amy had asked one of their neighbors what had happened. They had explained that, 'Oswin had hacked the police'.
Just as he had said that, everyone had heard a loud high pitched voice yell, "I don't wasn't you I wasn't Mum".
The three friend had watched as a brown haired girl ran from the house and didn't look like she ever wanted to stop. The friend never saw her face though, only heard her voice. And what a sad voice it was.
"Yup," The Doctor answered.
"What about her?" She asked in a subjective tone.
"We'll she was new to the neighborhood and is leaving in the morning," he pause, "and well... I wanted to she her a fun time." He stated innocently.
"John Smith, are you cheating on my baby sister, and with some who is related to a Dalek" Her angry voice yelled in his ear.
The Dalek's were not only The Doctor's neighbors, but his worse enemies. Ever since there were kids the four boys in the Dalek family, Thay, Jast, Caan, and Sec, had made it their life goals to make his life a living hell. At times, they succeeded. The boys were no better then their single father, Davros. An old cruel man who wanted his sons to do his ever bidding, and they did. The Doctor hated every single stinken' Dalek on the face of the Earth.
As for River, The Doctor could never cheat on River, he lo-CARED! Cared about her too much to ever cheat.
"No!" He had yelled back, "I don't like her like THAT" he insisted. Her heard Amy talk to someone else over the phone and she yelled back at him, "Oi, we'll talk about this later, right now me and Rory had to go see the play, The Last Centurion"
"See you then, Pond" The Doctor replied smiling. Amelia Pond could always find a way to make him smile, even when he was feeling that nervous. He hung up his phone and placed it back in his pocket.
A few more minutes passed, Clara was no were in sight. She probably forgot. This was a bad idea anyway.
The Doctor turned around to walk back into his house when he hear the melodic sound of her voice.
"Oi, Chin Boy, I thought we had a date?" She teased. The Doctor turned around. He had a large boyish grin on his face, but then he realized what she said.
Clara Oswald wore a knee length, dark blue dress, which was cover with small red roses. She had black tights on under her dress, and black boots. Completed with her brown leather jacket and bright red purse, her whole outfit screamed 'Ready for an adventure'.
"What, no. Not a date at all. Just us two friends," Clara giggled when she saw him blush, "shut up" he said after straitening his bow tie.
"Down boy, I was only joking" she insisted with a smile, "so, John, where are we going?" She asked trying to hide her excitement. The truth was, she was nervous.
"Don't call me John, no one does," he said. When 'John' rolled off his tongue, he scrunched his face like he had eaten something sour. The Doctor hated the name 'John Smith', it was so common, too common, the thing The Doctor was everything but.
"What should I call you then?" She asked confused. The Doctor smiled at the pouting face Clara made when she was confused.
"I'm the Doctor. Well, they call me the Doctor; I don't know why. I call me the Doctor, too. I still don't know why." He rambled to Clara. Before She could ask another question, 'The Doctor' was already walking away.
"Everywhere in the neighborhood, where do you want to start?" He asked, but kept walking away.
"I don't know" She yelled as she ran to catch up with him.
"Of course you don't, you have only been here a week and are leaving in the morning." The Doctor stated as Clara caught up to him. "So I'm choosing where we go," he explained. Without another word he took her hand and started running. At first, Clara was shocked not sure what to do other them be half dragged, but then she started to run with him. A genuine smile was plastered on her face, for the first time in a long time.
The Doctor had taken them to Dorium Maldovar's house, which was only a block away. He ran to the side of the house, only to be greeted by a fence. At first Clara was sure he was going to turn around, but much to her shock, he did the opposite. The Doctor climbed on top of Dorium's trash bins, and, using his long giraffe like legs, climbed over the fence. He jumped down and disappeared behind the gate.
"Doctor?" She asked, "it's a good plan and all, but how am a supposed to get over?" She yelled to him. She waited a moment before the fences gate swing open.
"You just take the door," he replied as if it was the simplest answer in the world. A grin returned to Clara's face as she walked into the back yard.
Instantly, she was shocked by the crystal clear, blue watered pool in the middle of the yard. It was gigantic, and she saw a little steam come off of the water. Her eyes grew wide as she got closer.
The Doctor, rather then sharing Clara's amazement, hurried to something right next to the pool. I was a telescope. An expensive one at that.
"Over here, Oswin" he called. She turned and glared at him. She had already told him she hated being called that. She told him that, only hours ago.
It was her uncil Davros' idea for the boys to take her on a bike ride, probably because he wanted us out of the house, she guessed.
Jast and Thay were pedaling as fast as they could, almost in a silence race, while Sec and Caan were staring back and forth at each other. Both had mischief gleaming in their eyes.
Clara new they had done, or were about to do something. She began to petal faster, hoping to escape what ever plan they had.
The five family members biked in silence and peace, until they had traveled around the block and returned to their house.
Clara slowly began to push on the brakes. She didnt slowdown the least bit.
She for able pressed the leaver as hard as she could, only it still wasn't working. She looked at her handlebar to see the brakes had been cut. Panicked filled Clara. She was going so fast, how was she going to slowdown.
Clara looked over her shoulder to see Sec and Caan with victorious smirks on their faces. When it was time to stop their bikes, Clara kept rolling. She took a sharp turn onto the grass, hoping to would slow the bike down.
She had under estimated how sharp of a turn she had made. Clara flew off her bike and fell strait on the curb. Luckily she had placed her arms in front of herself, so she had only gotten a few scraps and cuts on her hands a knees.
Clara stayed on the ground a minute, not sure if the fact that she was mostly fine would anger, or relieve her cousins.
That's when she heard Sec's unbelievably high pitched voice.
"That's for making a fool of our family, Oswin" he hissed as he hurried back to their house.
She refused to show any sighs of pain or sadness until all of the Daleks had left.
She lifted her hand and blow on it. The cuts stung but weren't an unbearable pain. Suddenly something had stung her heart, and an unbearable pain filled it. When she was little, her mother would always kiss her cut and scrapes.
But not anymore, she couldn't.
Tears pooled in her eyes and a sob escaped her lips. Clara would never see her mother again, she would never hold her, her mother would never see her get married or have kids, Ellie Oswald would never see her daughter turn 16, it was only in a few months anyway.
Tears streamed down her face and Clara suddenly found it hard to breath. It felt as if a weight was on her chest, the same one that was there when her father had yelled at her for hacking the local police database. In a fit of rage she had asked for her mother. But she never came.
"Are you alright?" A kind voice asked. Clara looked up to see a strange boy around her age, if not a little older. He had soft emerald green eyes that hide a pinch of darkness, soft brown hair that was shaped like a wave, an incredible large chin, not to mention his ears. The oddest thing was his clothes. He wore a light brown tweed jacket, and a bow tie. At first she wasn't sure if he was just odd or going out to a costume party.
"I'm alright," she replied, quickly wiping the tears away. Clara looked away from the boy in hopes that he had not seen she had been crying.
"You know, when I say that, it normally means 'really not alright'" he said sympathetically.
Clara said nothing.
"Was it the Daleks?" He asked sneering their name. She understood why he would hate them. Hell, they were her own cousins, and she hated them.
"Their just being jerks" she answered, standing onto her feet. The boy looked like he could kill them when he saw the bleeding cuts on her legs.
"What happened?" He asked with no emotions in his voice. Honestly it scared her a bit how the boy could go from kind to cold so fast.
"Just a biken' accident that's all," she said trying to calm him. Clara could almost see smoke coming out of his ears, she knew if he knew what really happened he would lose it. He seemed to calm down a bit after hearing that.
"I'm John, John Smith" he greated. Once again he had changed demeanors. He had returned to the kind boy he had first been.
"Clara, Clara Oswin Oswald" she said proudly. Her mother had named her that, and she would be sure to use it for the rest of her life.
The smile disappeared from his jolly face.
"Are you their...cousin?" He asked, almost disgusted by it.
"Ya," Clara said defensively, "got a problem about it?".
John stared at her confused. "how can someone so nice, be related to... Them?" He asked bewildered.
Clara smiled, John had seemed nice enough, and he was funny too. "I don't know," she replied, "I guess I got lucky"
John smiled. "So, Oswin, I CAN clean those cuts for you, I got some supplies in my house-"
"Can't wait to get me alone can you," Clara joked. A blush appeared on Johns face.
"No thanks, Chin Boy, and don't call me Oswin, no one does" she added with a smile. Clara was shocked, a minute ago she was crying but after talking to John she was fine. It was odd.
"Alright, Clara Oswin Oswald-"
"Just Clara" a smile landed on the boys face.
"Well, justClara, since you'll be staying in the neighborhood for a while, was wondering if you would like to do something, sometime?"
Clara was taken back. "Are you asking me on a date?" She asked both shocked and confused. Random guys don't just ask people out, at least not to Clara.
"No!" He yelled a little bit too loud, "I meant as friends, we can have an adventure" he explained. A giggle escaped Clara's lips. It had been so long since someone had treated her like a normal human being and just wanted to hang, rather then see her as the poor broken girl who lost her mum.
"Can't," she said sadly, "I'm heading back home in the morning," she explained.
"Then meet me back here at midnight," he said with a smile. Excitement gleamed in his eyes. Clara hesitated. She would be running of into he night with a strange boy she had only met. It was hardly her MO.
"I'll think about it" she vaguely replied before grabbing her bike and returning to her cousin's house. Although she had given him no real answer, she knew, in the back of her mind, she was going to join him.
"Just Clara, Chin Boy," she said as she moved next to him.
"Oi, what is wrong with my chin?" He asked with a pout on his face.
"Careful dear, you'll poke someone's eyes out," Clara flirted playfully. The Doctor frowned and looked back into the telescope.
"Where are we anyway?" She asked looking around. It was an incredibly astonishing place, the person that owned the place spend nearly a fortune to keep the yard as beautiful as it was. It felt like a whole new planet.
"This house is owned by Dorium Maldovar. He owns a pawn shop in London. Personally, between you and me, I think he works a little in the black market, that how he's so rich" The Doctor explained, "he is never here on week nights, so sometimes I come out her to clear my head. Look at the stars"
Clara watched The Doctor he looked so much more at ease in the yard then when they had first met outside his house. In the starlight, he looked younger, like a kid with so much hope and love. Sadly Clara knew, when morning came, the blissful peace that he felt would disappear. But would once again return by nightfall. The young man smiled at her.
"Take a look at this," he said, excitement filled his voice. Clara looked through the telescope to see that he had focused in on one especially bright star. Upon closer examination Clara saw that it wasn't a star but a planet.
"That's Venus," he explained, "only planet to be named after a woman."
"Good for her" Clara mumble to herself. She continued to stare at it until her eyes began to hurt.
"It's..." She started but the Doctor interrupted.
"Oo! Its so completely is. But wait there's more!" He said squealing like a young child.
"More what?" Clara asked amazed. What else could be as beautiful as the stars.
"Wait, wait, wait. In about five... Four... Three... Two..." As The Doctor counted down Clara looked trough the telescope once again. Just as he reached one, she saw a silver streak in the sky, then another.
Clara watched in amazement as what looked like hundreds of stars started to fall from the sky. She felt her mouth fall open in shock from its beauty.
"It's a meteor shower, it's too far to see down here on earth, but with a telescope, it's the most beautiful thing in the world." Clara didn't see but the Doctor was starting directly at her when he said the last part.
"It is," she agreed. Clara looked up at the Doctor, his brilliant green eyes shined in the moon light. The two teens eyes locked under that starry night. The Doctor had a soft smile on his face.
"I'm glad you decided to join me," he said out of nowhere. As soon as the words left his lips he mentally slapped himself. Why did I say THAT? She probably is freaked out now!
"So am I," She replied with wide smile. Clara felt herself lean a bit closer to The Doctor, but was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing.
The boy fumbled in his large pocket for his cellphone. Honestly, sometimes it's like their bigger on the inside. He thought to himself as he found the phone.
"Pond," he greeted cheerfully. Clara listened to the Doctor speak to his friend, only she wished she didn't.
"It's Williams," Rory groaned over the phone. A smile crossed the Doctor lips.
"It will be once you and Amy get married," The Doctor said, only half joking.
When Amy had moved into the neighborhood, the Doctor and Rory, who was visiting, were the first to greet her. After listening to her complaining about how 'rubbish' the town was, The Doctor had invited her to play with them.
By then end of the day, Rory Williams was smitten by the glorious Pond. It was only after she left to return to her aunt that Rory had promised his friend, 'that one day he would marry her'. Over the past nine years, that plan had never changed.
"How was the play?" The doctor asked, trying to diverse him from the question he had called to ask.
"Greet, but that's not why I called." A groan escaped the Doctor lips.
"Amy says you're on a date with Oswin," he said, waiting for the Doctor to confirm the claim.
"It's not a date," The Doctor exclaimed, louder then he meant to. He had his back turned to Clara, so he didn't see the look of pain in her face.
"I would never cheat on River," he added, for good measure.
As the words left his mouth, Clara felt like she had been stabbed in her chest. He was dating someone. She felt like an idiot.
The only reason he had invited me was 'cause he pitied me. She though.
"Rory, can we talk about this later," The Doctor said to his phone.
He paused.
"Yes, she is here with me. Alright, will talk about this when you get back. Bye" The Doctor hung up his phone.
"Sorry 'bout that, just some friends" he explained. That's when he saw the look of pain in her eyes.
"Are you alright?" He asked. Clara nodded, trying to keep calm.
"It's late, and I just remembered I forgot to pack," she lied. Clara had had sure to pack early so that she could spend more time with The Doctor. But, that was the last thing she wanted to do at that moment.
"Alright, I'll walk you home," the Doctor offered, seeing her discomfort.
Clara shock her head. "No it's fine," she insisted, "you keep an eyes of for more meteor showers."
Before the Doctor could say about her word, Clara had already dashed out of the yard. She ran as fast as her short legs could take her. Clara felt her eyes sting but refused to let the tears fall. She had done enough crying in a life time. When she had reached the Dalek residence, she made no attempt to her sneaky and ran in through the front door. She hurried to her temporary room and flopped on her bed. All she wanted to do was to stay there for the rest of her life.
Clara was, absolutely, completely, utterly heartbroken.
For some unknown reason, that Doctor felt guilt. A part of him had felt like he had made Clara so upset, but he wasn't sure how. Things were great, at first, then somehow it spiraled down hill so fast, no one could stop it.
After he had locked up Dorium's, The Doctor walked back to his house in silence. There was no need to be sneaky as he walked into his home. It wasn't like his family was there anyway. The Doctor's parents were workaholics. At time they would invest so much of their time into their work that that Doctor wouldn't see them for days. Both of them were scientists, and made enough money to give their son anything he wanted, and they would too, if he asked. The Doctor never wanted any of their money, he was happy having only a few things to call his. It was a simple and lonely life, but it was his life, and The Doctor wouldn't want it any other way.
As he laid in his bed, trying to get some sleep, he thought back to Clara, seeing the hurt looked in her eyes.
He had liked Clara, it pained him to see her so hurt. The Doctor knew that even Rory and Amy would have loved Clara. He had just wished that they had met sooner.
After what felt like hours, the young man drifted off into a deep sleep.
When he awoke in the morning, something felt wrong. The Doctor felt jumpy (more then usual), and like every atom in his body were telling him to run, that there was danger nearby.
At that moment, his phone vibrated. A smile crossed his lips when he saw it was a text message from River. He once again felt the fear that something workable had happened when he read the message.
'We need to talk - RS'
AN2- I think we know what's gonna happen next. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Back stories will be explained later.
Next time- River will reveal shocking news. Clara say goodbye. And the Doctor loses everything.