New story! This contains slight spoilers for series eight, from the pictures that I have seen. Or I might have deleted that bit. I don't know. Also contains slight whouffle between Capaldi's and Coleman's characters. I don't know how shippable this is, as I have not read the script leaks and don't plan to.
Clara's POV
"Doctor?" I asked, a thought popping into my head.
"Hm?" He replied in a crisp, Scottish accent. He didn't use to look like this. And up until recently, he'd had one of the biggest chins I'd ever seen, which strangely complemented the bow tie, and occasional fez that he wore, (not that I would have ever told him that.) Now, however, his facial features were better proportioned in an older fashion, with bright bluish/green eyes, and a short crop of curly greyish/silver hair.
"When we were on that sub..." I began.
His lips showed the barest hint of a smile. He continued fiddling his ship, not looking at me. Eventually, he replied. "Yes?"
"I saw something. Well, I saw a lot of things."
He finally stopped tinkering and looked up from what he was doing. "Yes, we did."
"But..." I hesitated, my bottom lip caught between my teeth.
"But." He encouraged, stepping away from the console to stand on front of me.
"This is going to sound weird." I apologized.
He grinned. "I invented weird."
"Now, I know you weren't really in your right mind in your last body." I started, ignoring his last comment.
He shrugged, as if to say, 'What can you do about it?'
"What was that Barbie doll that you had in your pocket?" I finally blurted.
His face looked torn between amusement and embarrassment. Finally, he settled on amusement and let out a big, booming laugh.
I grinned, unsure of what to do next."Clara Oswald." He finally managed to get out. "You never cease to amaze me."
"That's good, right?"
He nodded, still chuckling. After a few seconds, it slowed down. "Come on." he held out a hand to me, which I gladly took. "Let me show you something."
We were walking along the TARDIS halls a few minutes in a semi-comfortable silence. After a while, though, I couldn't take it any more.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"My room." he replied, looking straight ahead.
I jerked to a stop. "What?"
"What? Oh Gallifrey, not like that!" he removed his hand from mine, which he then used to run through his hair. "Why do you guys always assume the worst?" he addressed me.
"Oi, mind out of the gutter Doctor. I wasn't thinking anything like that!" I protested.
"Oh... good for you. What, I mean..." he took a deep breath, regaining his composure. "Why did you stop?"
"How many companions have seen your room? I asked, resuming the walk.
"Five." he replied. "Susan, Romana, Rose, River, and Amy. Well, six, counting you."
"Why did they get to see it?" I questioned.
"Hm? Oh the people who did get to see it. Okay. Susan because she is my granddaughter, she had rights. Very limited rights, but still. River and Amy because they were curious, stubborn and wandered off when I specifically told them not to. Romana because she was curious about something and was nosy. Rose..." he faltered for a second, then cleared his throat and continued. "Well, Rose just asked." The Doctor's eyes never left mine the whole time.
"But why do I get to see it?"
"You asked why I had a Barbie doll with me." He reminded.
"Well... yes. Is it in your room?"
He gave me a melancholy smile. "I have a lot of things in my room."
I hadn't realized where we were. The walls weren't blue and silver, like they usually were. Instead, they were covered in round things.
"What are the round things?" I asked.
"No idea." He stopped in front of a double door. "After you."
I pushed on the left door, sliding it out and away from me.
I gasped as the doors opened far enough for me to see inside. The Doctor's room was bigger than the console room alone. And the console room was HUGE. Well, huge-ish. That was the first thing I noticed. The second thing I noticed is that the walls were round, along with the ceiling. Like we were in a big bowl. I took a closer look at the walls. I gasped quietly. I was right. The wall was covered in moving stars.
"They're animated," the Doctor said, walking up to me. "This is the constellation of Kasterborous, where Gallifrey was located." He looked over to me, with an expression that I couldn't quite place.
I started. "Well, it could still be there. Right now. If you would just-"
"No." His face hardened. "If I go free them, then it has GOT to be the crack on Trenzalore, and if I go there and let them out, they will be killed in even more brutal ways than just exterminated by daleks. No. Until I find a safer way to get them out, they are staying there. They are safe."
"For how long?" I asked quietly.
"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" he yelled, his chest heaving. "BUT IT'S A DAMN LOT SAFER WHERE THEY ARE NOW THAN WERE THEY WILL BE!"
I had backed up away from him in terror, accidentally knocking over a glass jar of musty jelly babies that was on an old student's desk from the sixties.
His face went white, realizing what he just did. "God, Clara. I'm sorry."
I stayed away, but asked him, "Why am I here? You said that you had a lot of things in here. Where's the Barbie doll?"
He made a move towards me, but I flinched, making him keep his distance. "It's behind you." He sighed, still ashamed. I turned around, looking down on the desk. Sure enough, there it was. I smiled softly, picking it up.
"Who is it supposed to be?"
"Rose," he replied. "She... she said she would be traveling with me forever, and now she is."
"You turned her into a Barbie doll?" I asked, curious. I looked back at him to make sure he was keeping his distance. Thankfully, he was.
He scoffed. "No! It was a one night thing." He said more, but was mumbling the rest.
"Sorry, what was that last bit?" I questioned.
"It was a one night thing in my tenth regeneration involving alcohol, Rose, and a Barbie factory," he said louder, his cheeks aflame.
"What, you can get drunk?" I giggled, imagining that.
"Wha- no! Don't even try. Stop thinking about it! I mean it!" he said, his cheeks even brighter. "I don't want to think about it!" He looked away, head down in embarrassment. I just laughed harder, looking around the room, spotting his bed.
I squealed, dropped the Rose doll on the desk, and did a flying leap onto his bed, giggling. To make matters worse, the Doctor stayed where he was, giving me a disapproving look.
"What?" I laughed. "It's so soft!" I touched the TARDIS blue fabric, and the many pillows on the bed. When I finally decided I couldn't take it anymore, I stated making a pillow fort on the large, circular bed, carefully avoiding the Doctor's glare I could feel burning a hole in my head.
"I made that bed up this morning, you know," he said.
I stopped. "What, you slept last night?"
"I tend to do that every once in a while." He no longer looked mad, just tired and worn out. And for a split second, I saw the Doctor as he really was. A 2000 year old survivor, who sometimes wishes that he wasn't alive anymore.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" he muttered, turning around.
"Hey." I patted the bed, inviting him to come closer. He shook his head.
"No."
"No?" I raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
He changed the subject. "You haven't seen my closet, have you?"
"No, obviously not. Stop trying to change the subject!" I protested. "Why are you not okay?"
He sighed, giving in, walking up to his bed, and sitting on the edge. "Sometimes, I know Time Lords live too long. I have definitely lived too long, Clara. All of the wonderful, strange, strange creatures and planets out there, I just can't see it anymore. It breaks my hearts, but it's gone. There is absolutely nothing out there that amazes me anymore. I've been faking it. For you. But you see it. And I try so hard to see it. But I really believe that I have seen all that I can," He confessed to me, looking down at the comforter.
My head was spinning. "What? Doctor? What? How can you even say that? It-but-what?" I was gasping. I took a deep breath. "So you think that you know everything? Have seen everything? Experienced everything? Well, I'm telling you that you haven't." I said firmly, subtly grasping a pillow with two hands.
He finally looked up. "What do you-" He was cut off by a pillow in his face.
I grinned, hoisting the pillow up above my head. "Ever had that happen to you before? Unexpected pillow in your face?"
"You did not," he whispered. "I know you did not."
My grin got wider. "Oh, but I did."
"On Gallifrey, if you smacked an important person in the face with a pillow, you got killed," he said with narrowed eyes.
"What, you're gonna kill me for starting a pillow fight?" I asked.
"No, I'm just gonna smack you back," he said, grabbing a nearby pillow.
"Gotta catch me first." I scrambled out of my pillow fort, running as fast as my legs would carry me out through another door.
"Oh, it's on, Oswald!" He leaped up and followed me. I soon figured out that I was in his closet. I wanted to stop and marvel at all the clothes he had, but then I heard the rapidly approaching footsteps of the Doctor behind me. I ran forwards, only to see a four way intersection. Following instinct, and something that an echo overheard Rose tell Donna, I turned left, running down that corridor full of clothes. And as if the four way intersection wasn't enough, there was a staircase that went both up and down. Peaked by curiosity, I went up, anxious to see just how big the ship really was.
We had been playing hide and seek with pillows for about two hours, and I was nowhere near stopping. With a grin on my face, I turned another corner, pillow still clutched tightly in my hands. I was officially lost, but I knew that The Doctor would find me when he got really worried. Then I paused. What if he never found me? I pushed the thought away. He did once, he would do it again. I continued walking down the corridor until I saw another door. I opened it to reveal a room bigger than a high school, and inside that room was a bouncy castle. Not a little one. Imagine the biggest bouncy house you can imagine. Now forget that, because it's even bigger than that. I dropped the pillow by the entrance of the bouncy castle, took off my shoes, and went inside.
Inside, it was, if possible, bigger on the inside. When I first entered, there were tunnels so that I had to crawl. It was like a tunnel, round walls and ceiling flattish floor. It was a bouncy house, after all. Next thing I noticed was a choice of going either left or right. Deciding that left had been too good to me, I went right. I had gone maybe twenty feet when I ran my head into a hard, thin tube of plastic. I looked up. Sure enough, it was a latter. I grinned, and started climbing up.
When I got to the top, I started to climb off, officially exhausted. I had been climbing that latter for what seemed like an hour. I laid down at the top, my lungs heaving. After a few minutes, I rolled over, was actually able to stand up, and continued walking. After a few minutes, I reached this huge cavern. I ran inside, curious as to what was in it. I paused for a second, then, when I tried to move my feet, I couldn't. A quicksand like substance was absorbing my feet into the plastic. I struggled, sinking faster. After a few seconds, I couldn't take it anymore.
"DOCTOR!" I screamed, starting to thrash around in a blind panic, sinking much quicker. I was now up to my neck. "No no no no no no no no no!" I reached for anything that could help me.
The Doctor's POV
I ran quickly after Clara, knowing full well this was my closet. By the time I was in there, however, there was no sign of her. When I came to the four way intersection, I went straight, thinking that all reasonable humans would go straight. However, three hours later, I was thinking that I had went the wrong way.
"Don't wander off," I muttered under my breath. "That should be my new rule. Again," I huffed, and moved the pillow to my left hand, having it clasped in my right hand this whole time. I guess that I had been wrong. Even though the universe had lost its fancy appeal to me, there was so much that a human and my TARDIS had yet to show me. This is why I needed to travel with someone. All that had to happen was a little help. I could have done this much earlier, if only I had asked. I was a stupid old idiot who did not deserve the friends that I have had.
Suddenly, most of the hallway lights dimmed, except for a few. "What? What is it?" I asked the TARDIS. "Something is wrong... presumably with Clara. Okay, But where is she?"
The TARDIS sighed, exasperatedly, the few lights that were on glowing brighter. I started running towards the lights, following the pattern, until I was back in my wardrobe at the four way stop. The pathway of lights turned right, which meant that Clara turned left.
"Shit!" I cursed. I was running, probably faster than I had ever ran before, up the stairs, winding around hallways, passing the courtyard that I didn't know I had. Eventually, I reached a huge room that was completely filled up with a bouncy castle. My eyes were quick to see Clara's forgotten pillow and shoes at the entrance. "Shit. Oh shit. Not this again." I kicked off my shoes, threw my pillow to the side, and dove inside the castle. I went straight, a way most people didn't know was there. Maybe because the TARDIS made it only visible to me. A few feet in, I stood up, and punched the elevator button. It made a dinging noise. The music began to play.
Do you have a girlfriend? (do you have a girlfriend?) /Looking real cool (looking real cool)/ Can I have your number?/ We don't have a thing to lose
"Turn it off," I growled at the TARDIS. "Just take me to Clara. Quickly." As requested, the elevator shot up like a rocket, nearly squashing me to the ground. "Did she really climb up this far?" I asked as soon as I could breathe again. The elevator doors dinged open in response.
I was cautious as I walked in, knowing that if I went too fast, I would sink in faster. So I took it slow, knowing this was like quicksand. "Dear, can you harden this floor for me?"
Only if you want Clara gone forever, was her reply.
"So, she's gone. Sucked in," I said, spotting her ring on the floor. I picked it up, then pocketed it. "How can I get her out?"
Go after her. Idris said.
"There really isn't any other way. Oh God. This is suicide," I groaned, starting to slowly sink down to retrieve Clara.
If you struggle, you'll go faster, Idris suggested. I grunted, obeying her, then slightly panicking as the tarp went up to my neck. I desperately took one last breath as it went over my head.
The first thing that I noticed was that I couldn't breathe. Crap. I thought. Clara could already be dead.
After a few seconds, however, I fell in a free fall, arms flailing. I was too shocked to even scream.
When I finally hit the bottom, I blacked out.
When I finally came around, I was almost 100% sure that I had broken every bone in my body, having landed feet first. "Ow." After laying there for a few minutes, getting my bearings back, I finally determined that I just had sprained my left ankle. I sat up, stretched a little, then looked around, and saw Clara, unconscious, a few feet away.
I limped over to her. "Clara?" I called, kneeling down, then examining her pulse. It was weak. She didn't even stir. "Crap." I looked up, hoping to see something over than the tarp of the bouncy castle. No such luck. I picked her up, balancing precariously on my right foot. Any way I can get out of here? I asked.
All you need to do is ask. Idris reprimanded.
"Get me out of here, please?" I grunted, my ankle screaming in agony. A few seconds later, I was in the elevator.
After having to go through the elevator music again, I was glad to be out of here. When I stepped out of the bouncy house, the TARDIS seemed to know that I was not in a playing mood. I was walking down the hall for maybe ten minutes when I was miraculously back at my room. I set Clara down on my bed, tucked her in, and left for the infirmary.
Once there, I found a splint for my foot, strapped in on, and sighed in relief when it was secure. I then limped over to a cabinet, got the necessary medical supplies for Clara, then headed back for my room.
When I arrived a few minutes later, I saw her pale face in comparison to her normal pink, or sometimes tan, face. "Oh my god," I gasped. I knew, somehow, that she was dying. I threw all the medical supplies behind me, ran over to her, and scooped her up in my arms, trying to be gentle. The weak gasp of pain told me I had not succeeded. "I'm sorry, my impossible girl. I'm so, so sorry," I said, trying to hold myself together. Because I had to. For her, if no one else.
Once in the infirmary, I got to work.
Clara's POV
"Clara?" I heard, as if the voice was far away. "Come on Clara, you've had enough pain medication in you to knock out a horse." The voice sounded exasperated, but worried, too.
I groaned, shutting my eyes tighter and covering them with my hands to protect them against the bright white light. "Ow."
"Sorry, did you just say 'ow'? Clara, no," the voice said, removing my hands from my eyes, then grasping them in his hands. "You need to wake up now. You should have enough pain medication in you. No, don't cross your arms! You'll get your tubes tangled up." The Scottish voice sounded vaguely familiar.
"Tubes?" I muttered, "Where'm I?" My eyes were still shut against the invading light.
The hands holding mine tightened. "The infirmary in the TARDIS."
"The what?" I finally attempted in opening my eyes, only to shut them again.
The voice was silent for a minute. "The TARDIS – my time and space machine."
"Are you high or something? That- those don't even exist." I finally succeeded in opening my eyes, squinting. After a few seconds, I could make out a worried, older male face looming above mine, with black circles under his eyes. "Who are you?"
"I'm the-" The man paused. "I'm a friend of yours. I'm a doctor. I-I found you knocked out after you ran away when we were playing hide and seek. You fell from a great height, suffered from a concussion, and half your ribs are broken and have punctured your left lung."
"Bull shit." But as soon as I tried to sit up, there was a really sharp pang in my left side, and I closed my eyes and laid back down, my vision swimming with black dots dancing behind eyelids.
"Clara? Clara, are you okay?" The man said, but his voice was already fading.
"Dammit Clara! Hang in there, please!" The voice begged. "Don't die, oh Rassilon, don't die on me again! Breathe, breathe please."
I tried to do as he said, but ended up choking on some sort of liquid in my chest. I tried over and over again to inhale, failing each time.
"Okay, stop, you're only making it worse!" The voice was nearly shouting, trying and failing to stay calm. After a few seconds of not being able to breathe, and nearly passing out again, there was a sort of regulator pressed to my mouth. "Bite," he instructed. "This is most definitely going to hurt. I am going to have to go ahead and try to get the liquid out of your lungs, just try and stay calm. The gasses should help you go to sleep." Even as he said that, his voice was fading again.
Then, they came back with crystal clear clarity. "Is this supposed to happen?" I asked, my head clear.
"I sure as hell hope so, because you've been on and off death's doorstep for about a week now," the Doctor said, sitting next to my bedside in an unfamiliar white room. "How much do you remember?"
"How long ago did you get the fluids out of my lungs?" I countered.
"Three days ago. And that was only temporary. You're in a hospital in Cardiff, twenty minutes away from your house."
"Does that mean you're leaving me?" I asked.
"Only if you want it to mean I'm leaving you," he said softly. "Do you remember having amnesia?"
"No. You would die a thousand times without me, and I had amnesia?"
"Yeah. Right when you first regained consciousness, about four days after the incident, you didn't know what the TARDIS was, and didn't know who I was." He was looking out of the window across the room, avoiding my gaze.
"Oh." I whispered. "I honestly don't remember that."
He looked back at me and smiled, taking my hand. "I know." Our little moment was broken by my dad walking into our room. The Doctor quickly let go of my hand.
"Clara!" my dad exclaimed. "Oh God, you're okay!" he ran up to the side of my bed, grasped my hands that were just abandoned by the Doctor a second ago, and then leaned down to kiss my head. I tried for a smile. A movement in the corner of my eye caught me. I looked up just in time to see the Doctor's jacket disappear around the corner and out of sight.
"I'm not sure about the 'okay' part. My head feels like a dinosaur with a monster truck has run over it. And my chest doesn't feel much better."
My dad leaned down and kissed my head again. "You'll be out and about in no time."
****A few months later in the TARDIS*****
"Doctor?" I asked, a thought popping into my head.
"Hmm?" he replied from the console, tinkering away as usual.
I laughed. "Just like old times." I grinned and walked up to him, then kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for coming back for me."
"Why wouldn't I?" he muttered softly under his breath.
"Good point."
Thanks for reading everybody. I know it's been I while since I put anything up, and I am sorry about that. Thank you to my beta calgarry for beta'ing this. Also please review! And let me know if you caught the Billie Piper reference. One more thing. If you want me to write that one shot with Rose and ten I definitely could.