Chapter One - The Aftermath

Clara opened her eyes slowly, but still she would not make out where she was; her vision was impaired. "Where am I?" she tried to ask in her usual demanding yet sweet voice, but what came out was just a tired voice. She quickly rubbed her eyes until tears fell and cleared her vision. "I'm in the Tardis?" she said unsure of how she got there.

The last thing that she remembers was seeing an old face. No, actually she saw only his silhouette and then she fainted. She remembered the Doctor's hands catching her and lifting her, but that was it. Who was that man? she thought. "There is only me in here, that's the point," the Doctor had told her just before she collapsed, but she did not understand, not even a hint of what he was trying to tell her.

Now Clara was in the console room, sitting on a futuristic looking chair. She stood up slowly and carefully and that is when the Tardis doors opened and in came the Doctor with his long coat, his big chin and his funny looking hair. In his hands he held two cups of coffee.

"Doctor, what happened? How did we get here?"

"You saved me," said the Doctor smiling, "that's what happened … To the second question, I'm just going to answer with the words, timey-wimey stuff."

"But who was that man? I only saw your eleven faces there, how could there be someone else?"

The Doctor's face changed, his smile was now gone completely. "Please, Clara, don't ask. I cannot tell you."

"You can tell me," she corrected him as she walked towards him, "but you wish to keep everything a secret … Just like your name."

"Exactly! Glad you understand! Coffee?!" His smile was once again on his face and he held out one of his hands offering her a cup of coffee.

She rejected it. The last thing she wanted was coffee because she was feeling her insides like they were melting.

"Good, because this one is empty," he said whilst looking at the cup of coffee he offered her, "and this one I really would like to drink. I love your coffee."

"So where are we?" Clara did not wait for an answer. She just walked to the doors and opened them, hoping it was her home she would see. And surprisingly, it was.

"I thought you might need some rest. After what you went through, you'll need it," the Doctor explained himself.

"Thank you," she said, even though she wasn't thankful. She did want to go home, but she was hoping to find a bizarre planet waiting for her. Finding her ordinary life waiting for her without asking where she wants to go just seemed like he wanted to get rid of her for a few days. Was he so blind for Clara's feelings? The more time she spent with the Doctor, the more she felt attracted to him. No, Clara, she told herself, stop thinking things like this. He's just looking after me. That's all.

And like he was reading her mind, the Doctor said, "Don't worry. I'll be back soon; maybe three days from now."

"I know," Clara replied, assuring herself that the Doctor was taking care of her. She stepped off the Tardis and just before she turned to wave goodbye it was already gone.

From above, Kronn, known also as The Lone Planet, looked like it was made out of shades of blue. It was something to look at for those spaceships that would be passing by. But today the four ships that were hovering above it were not amused by the colours. They were waiting, to attack and take everything, for these ships were Dalek ships.

"We are ready to attack!" the Dalek commander said. "Destroy all. Take every life. Exterminate!"

The commander's monotonic voice was being transmitted to all four ships and when they heard it, all four thousand Daleks replied, "Exterminate! Exterminate! EXTERMINATE!"

Dalek supreme didn't even bother to send more ships because they knew that the Kronns would not fight them. They were not technologically advanced, in fact to the Daleks, the Kronns were primitive.

The Daleks came out of their ships in groups of fifty and descended onto Kronn without fear, without anger, only with hatred and with the thought of ridding the universe from all life forms which are not Daleks.

Clara went straight to bed after the Doctor dropped her off. She wasn't hungry or tired, she just needed some quite time for herself to think; that is why her bedroom was the perfect room for her.

The Doctor, she thought, forcing herself to think, but it seemed like her mind was exhausted and didn't want to help her figure things out. The Doctor, she started again, should I tell him? … Should I just go up to him the first time he comes back for me and tell him, Hey, Doctor, I know you're an alien and what not, but I really like you. What are we going to do about it?… Nah, that sounds terrible.

Clara kept thinking and thinking, until she was too tired and fell into a deep sleep, without even knowing.