"He'll wake up, right?" Clara asked, watching nervously as the Doctor placed Danny on a chair in the console room.
"Of course he will," the Doctor grunted as he stood up. "Blimey, he's heavier than I thought."
"If you had let me give you a hand…"
The Doctor looked at her, a bit incredulous.
"Fine, whatever," Clara said. "When will he wake up?"
"Soon," the Doctor said, turning to pilot the TARDIS away.
"And you destroyed the memory worm?"
"I sent it somewhere safe, yes," the Doctor said. "We don't need to jump straight to destruction."
Clara stood over Danny, watching him, with her arms crossed. "That was the biggest one I'd ever seen."
"There was something…more about it," the Doctor said. "I've never seen them knock someone out before."
"That is not comforting."
"It wasn't intended to be," the Doctor said. "Whatever was done to it was meant for me. I've got a lot more memories than a human does, and I've got a different brain chemistry altogether."
He flipped the last switch to send the TARDIS flying through time and space. Clara wasn't prepared and knocked, hard, against the railing.
The Doctor looked over. "Let me get you a chair, with a seatbelt. Or a helmet. Or something."
"I'm fine," Clara said, standing up. She nodded toward the TARDIS console. "Can't you scan him, or something? Figure out what's happening?"
"I was just about to."
The Doctor moved the scanner over and aimed it at Danny. Clara stood back and tried to read the monitor, but it was all in Gallifreyan.
"Does that say forty-eight hours?!" Clara exclaimed.
The Doctor looked over at her, then back to the screen. "You read Gallifreyan now?"
Clara nodded. "I've been trying to learn, yeah."
The Doctor frowned a bit, but looked back at the monitor. "Yeah, it does. It looks like it'll be forty eight hours until he has his memory back."
"What?" Clara asked. "That's not how it works. You don't get your memory back with memory worms, you just lose it."
The Doctor shrugged. "The aimed it specifically for a timelord brain anatomy and physiology. They wanted me to forget who I was for a few hours, and since it got to human Danny here, it was amplified in his inferior brain to more like forty eight hours."
Clara frowned. "He won't know who he is?"
"I don't know," the Doctor said. "We won't really know until he wakes up. If only I know what they wanted from me, then we'd have a better idea."
"Well, what have you learned or done recently that you'd be more useful to them not having learned or done?"
"We have different definitions of recently," the Doctor said, to which Clara rolled her eyes. "Though I have been here before, when I wasn't even the me you met yet."
Clara took a second to understand that sentence, then nodded. "So, what does that mean? How long ago was that?"
The Doctor thought for a bit. "About…a thousand years? Maybe a bit less."
Clara was wide-eyed. "Danny can not lose a thousand years of memories. He barely has thirty-five."
The Doctor looked at his watch. "What year is it for you?"
"2018," Clara said slowly.
"That me who was there, I went in 2014," the Doctor said. "Maybe they knew they couldn't erase a thousand years of memory, so they tailored it to whoever I was in 2014 in that place."
"So Danny's going to lose four years of memory?"
"We won't know for sure until he wakes up, but-."
The Doctor was cut off by the sound of a startled yell.
"Danny," Clara said, quickly going to his side. She kneeled a bit, so that she was at face level with him.
He sat up a bit more, looking terrified. "Miss Oswald? Where am I?"
"Do you know what day it is?"
"The ninth of September, 2014," Danny said.
Clara inhaled, surprised.
"What happened?" Danny asked. He looked up at the Doctor. "Who are you?"
The Doctor looked at Danny. "You haven't met me yet?"
Danny shook his head. "No. Where am I?"
"I'm the caretaker," the Doctor said, extending his hand to Danny. Clara rolled her eyes a bit. "I'm John Smith, but they call me the Doctor."
"Who is they?"
"Clara here," the Doctor said. "Or, Miss Oswald."
"I don't understand," Danny said.
"You hit your head," Clara said. "You fell and you hit your head when you were leaving work today. You stayed so late that I was the only other person here and the nurse had gone home, so I brought you to the Doctor."
"Is he an actual doctor?"
"Sort of," Clara said.
"Yes," the Doctor said at the same time.
"He used to be," Clara said. "He can help."
"Where are we?"
Clara wasn't sure how to answer that and looked up at the Doctor.
"My shed," the Doctor said. "It's bigger on the inside."
"No, I was just here the other day," Danny said. "It did not look like this."
"I redecorated."
Danny looked from him to Clara. "Did you get a haircut? I could've sworn your hair was longer this morning."
Clara blushed a bit. "Paying a lot of attention to my hair, were you?"
Now Danny blushed. "What? No. I wasn't. It looks nice," he stammered.
"Thanks," Clara said, smiling.
She put her hand on his knee, to try to comfort him a bit.
Danny looked down at it and wasn't smiling anymore. "Oh, are you married?" His tone sounded surprised and a bit bummed, but he tried to play it cool.
Clara looked down and her face dropped. "Oh," she said. "Uhm…no." She spoke slowly.
Danny laughed at how she was uncomfortable, even if he didn't understand why. "Okay. Good."
Clara cocked an eyebrow at him. "Good? It's, like, your second day at Coal Hill, yeah?"
Danny opened his mouth, like he was going to say something, but he couldn't pick the right words.
"Right," the Doctor interrupted. "If you two lovebirds are done, I need a word with Clara."
Clara patted Danny's knee and stood to talk to the Doctor.
"So, can I go?" Danny asked.
"No!" the Doctor and Clara both said.
"You may have a concussion," Clara said. "Just, stay put for a bit so we can keep an eye on you."
"Do I need to go to a real doctor?"
"I am a real doctor!" the Doctor protested. "But no, you're fine here. I've got plenty of medical equipment."
"…In the caretaker's shed?"
The Doctor nodded. "Rule number one of caretaking, always be prepared."
Danny accepted that, at least so much that he saw they weren't going to let him leave.
Clara shot him an apologetic and supportive smile and then went to the other side of the console to talk to the Doctor.
"What are we going to do with him?" Clara asked. "He thinks it's 2014. We haven't even been on our first date yet."
"He'll probably ask you out, seeing as you're not married," the Doctor said.
Clara scoffed. "What was I supposed to say? Yes, I'm married, to you?"
"Tell him you're pregnant with his child, too. That'll really blow his mind."
Clara smacked him on the arm. "Not helpful!" She sighed. "What are we going to do with him? We can't keep him here for forty-eight hours."
"Of course we can."
"No," Clara said sternly. "We can not. That is kidnaping."
"It's not though, is it?" the Doctor asked. "He's probably going to remember who he is and understand and forgive and forget and that whole lot."
"Probably?!"
"What's the alternative?" the Doctor asked. "We can't have 2014 Danny wandering around 2018. We can't send him back to 2014 and let him wander there."
"Fine," Clara admitted. "I see your point. But how will we keep him here?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Maybe we should tell him."
"You're joking."
"I'm not," the Doctor said. "I don't see a whole lot of other options."
"Can't you, like, fast forward him forty eight hours?"
"Fast forward him? He's not a VCR."
"A VCR?" Clara asked. "Really?"
The Doctor glared a bit, but let it slide. "You should take him to your place."
"And do what with him, exactly?" Clara asked. "Keep him tied up for two days?"
"If that's how you usually spend your weekends."
Clara was not amused.
"Keep him occupied," the Doctor continued. "His memory will come back gradually over the next two days. As you go along, it'll start to make sense. He can't be too far off from remembering meeting me."
Clara sighed. "Yeah, and how well did that go?"
The Doctor shrugged. "I'm sorry this happened, I am. But the options are keep him here or take him somewhere you can keep him."
Clara had her hands on her forehead as she thought. "I know, I know. Sorry. Just…that wasn't exactly the best time for me and Danny. It'll hurt him to relive it."
"You made it past it before, you'll do it again," the Doctor said.
Clara nodded, collected herself, then went to go back to Danny.
"Wait," the Doctor said. Clara turned back. "He's been eying you for this whole conversation. You may want to cover up a bit."
Clara looked down at her bump and sighed a bit. It wasn't very big, only about four months, but Clara was so small usually that it was noticeable.
"Pregnant, unmarried, and inviting Danny Pink home," the Doctor said. "This is how workplace rumors get started."
"Oh, shut up," Clara said. "You still have your jumper bin downstairs?"
The Doctor nodded and Clara went downstairs.
-DW-
"Nice jumper," Danny said.
Clara looked down. She was wearing one of the Doctor's old jumpers, which was baggy on him usually but huge on her.
"Thanks," Clara said.
"It's very nice of you to let me stay over, Miss Oswald, but I really don't think it's necessary," Danny said as Clara drove to her apartment.
"No, it's alright," Clara said. "I want to make sure you're okay. And I think we're at the point where you can call me Clara."
"I appreciate that, but…" Danny trailed off and Clara looked over at him. "It's my first week," he said. "It may be a bit early to start sleeping over at coworker's places."
Clara laughed, with an intonation that Danny didn't quite understand. "I think it'll be okay."
"Really, I can just go to see a doctor, if you're worried about me," Danny said. "But, I feel fine. Though I do feel like I'm missing something…"
"There's no need to see a doctor," Clara said. "The Doctor said you'll be fine, just that someone should keep an eye on you. You live alone, so I'll keep an eye on you."
"Well, thanks," Danny said. "Wait, how do you know I live alone?"
"You mentioned it," Clara lied.
"Oh. Well, could we stop at my flat? I should pick up some things."
"I have things you can use," Clara said. "Clothes, toothbrush, all that."
Danny chuckled nervously. "Why?"
"Always be prepared?" Clara offered.
"For your coworkers to hit their heads and need you to babysit them?"
"It's not babysitting," Clara said.
"Why haven't we officially met yet?" Danny asked.
"Officially?" Clara laughed.
"Yeah," Danny continued. "I've been here a few days now and I don't think we've ever been introduced."
Clara shrugged, thinking back to . "It's a big school. We're in different departments. I'm sure we would've met eventually."
"Are you planning on going to Kathy's retirement party tomorrow?" Danny asked.
Clara thought back. "Sure. You?"
"If you're going, I might," Danny said.
"Oh!" Clara said. "I remember now. Mr. Armitage told me that he'd introduce us to the new maths teacher at that. He must've meant you."
Danny laughed. "Is there another new maths teacher?"
"No," Clara said quickly.
There was a silence then Danny spoke.
"Wait, did we already go that party?" Danny asked. "Or you did, at least. I didn't, because I was nervous about-." He cut himself off.
"Nervous about what?"
"About asking you out," Danny said finally. "But then you came to find me and you asked me out. Did that already happen?"
Clara looked a bit stoically at the road. "Yes," she said finally.
"Blimey, I must've hit my head harder than I thought," Danny said. "Have we gone out yet?"
Clara cocked her head a bit. "If you don't remember it, we must not have."
Danny furrowed his brow. "So today isn't ninth of September?"
Clara pulled into her parking spot and turned the car off. "Let's get you upstairs, okay?"
-DW-
"So it's not the ninth of September," Danny said as Clara opened the door to her flat.
"No, it's not," she said. She let him in and led him to the living room. "Sit down, I'll make tea."
Danny sat and Clara happened to look over at the bookshelf and remember the pictures she had there of the two of them. She rushed over and tried to hide them behind the books or wherever she could, so Danny wouldn't see that they were hidden.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah," she said. "I just wanted to show you this book." She grabbed the first book she could and handed it to him.
"You're a big fan of birdwatching?"
Clara nodded. "Avid." Danny nodded, thinking about it. "I'll be right back."
"Okay," Danny said, actually looking through the book.
Clara quickly went into other rooms and tried to hide any and all evidence of her relationship with Danny. It was good that he was starting to remember things, but she didn't want to freak him out. She thought that if he go freaked out, he'd leave, and she couldn't risk that. He may try to go to his old flat, and he hadn't lived there in quite some time.
She came back with a mug of tea.
"Thanks," Danny said. "How'd you know how I like it?"
Clara shrugged. "I guessed. Are you hungry? I can make real food."
"No, I'm fine," Danny said.
"Well, I'm hungry," Clara said. "You're welcome to join me, if you'd like."
"I think I may just go to sleep, if that's alright."
"Of course," Clara said. "The bedroom's right across the hall."
Danny made a face like he was surprised and scandalized and a bit amused.
"I'll sleep on the couch," Clara added. "Obviously. Let me get you a toothbrush and some clothes."
"Thanks," Danny said, watching her leave.
-DW-
Clara put the last just-cleaned dish on the dishrack and sighed. It'd been a very long day. She sat down to do some marking, figuring she'd get some work down and then check on Danny after a bit.
But, he interrupted her.
"Clara?" came a voice from the doorway.
She looked over. "Hello," she said. "How are you?"
"What's going on?" he asked. "I just had the strangest dreams. I remembered our first date and our relationship at the beginning and meeting the Doctor. I remember the Moon and you fighting with him and then us fighting about him and then the trees all over the world. And then I died?"
Clara clenched her jaw. She was not looking forward to this.
"It felt so real," Danny said. "Not like a dream, like a memory. It feels like I should be dead right now. It feels like I am dead right now, and I don't understand." His voice cracked and one of the tears building up in his eyes fell. His hands were shaking and his eyes were unfocused.
"Hey, you're alright," Clara said. She quickly stood and wrapped her arms around him. "You're okay. You're alive, I promise. Give it some time, you'll feel it. Just give it some time."
"I don't understand," Danny said. "What do you mean, give it some time?"
Clara pulled back from the hug but still held his hand.
"Yesterday, you were travelling with me and the Doctor," Clara said. "You touched a memory worm meant for the Doctor, and it took away a lot of your memories. They're coming back, as you experienced them."
"So I'm dead," Danny said. "Or I was dead. Oh my god."
"But you're not anymore," Clara said. "I promise, you're fine. You'll remember soon but you got out. You got out and you came back to me and we…you came back. You're fine. I swear, you're okay."
"We what?" Danny asked. "Why didn't you tell me this yesterday?"
"I thought you wouldn't believe me," Clara said. "We hadn't even been seeing each other yet, and you didn't remember knowing about the Doctor. I thought I'd wait until you remembered some of that to explain this."
Danny shook his head. "I still don't understand. I'm dead, Clara." She felt tears roll down her cheeks at that. She knew he wasn't anymore, and hadn't been for years, but it still hurt to talk about. "That's where I am right now. I feel like I'm dead."
"You're not, though," Clara said. "I know you feel like you are, but you aren't, I swear. Here." She took his hand and put it over his heart. "See? Feel that. You're alive. Everything you're feeling right now, all the pain you're in, it isn't real. It's just a memory, a memory that will fade. It's not happening right now."
"I was crossing the street," Danny said. "I was on the phone with you and you were going to tell me something…what was it?"
"That I was going to say?" Clara asked. "I was going to tell you the truth. You knew I'd been traveling behind your back but you didn't know everything. I was going to tell you everything."
"What is everything?"
Clara swallowed the lump in her throat. "I never got the chance to tell you," she said. "At least, not then."
"Because I died."
Clara nodded and took her free hand to wipe her tears.
"But I'm not dead."
"No," she said, quickly and surely. "You're not, and you won't be again for a very long time."
"How much memory did I lose?"
"Four years."
"Four years?!" Danny repeated. "How long was I dead for?"
"A few weeks, we think," Clara said. "I'm not sure. I don't know how time passes where you were."
"Where was I?"
"The Nethersphere," Clara said. "We haven't talked about it much, but we talked once while you were there. I tried to save you, Danny. I tried so hard to save you and it took so long and I thought…"
"Yeah, I thought so, too," Danny said. "The last thing I remember is being told that my conscious is still connected to my body."
There was an expression on Clara's face that Danny saw and was intrigued by.
"Then what?" he asked. "You know what comes next, what's next?"
A few more tears fell. "You become a cyberman," she said quietly.
"A what?"
"Missy, she's another timelord, like the Doctor, but a bit more bent on evil and chaos," Clara said. "She used the Nethersphere to make a cyberman army. You were one of them and you stop them."
"I stop them?"
Clara nodded, a look of pride in her teary eyes. "You stopped them to save me. The rest of the world just got lucky, is what you told me after."
"Who is Missy?" Danny asked. "What happened to her?"
Clara clenched her jaw. "She's the one who put me in touch with the Doctor in the first place. The Doctor was supposed to kill her the day the cybermen came but he didn't. He just sent her away."
"Then what?"
"I don't know," Clara said. "I know she didn't die and she got into it with the Doctor a few times, but I wasn't there. I stopped travelling."
"Why?"
"Travelling lost me you," Clara said. She shook her head. "I decided, never again."
Danny's eyebrows raised a bit. "So, how'd I get back?"
"The Doctor gave me a bracelet that Missy had, that connected the world to the Nethersphere," Clara said. "It could bring you back from there."
"And this Nethersphere, that's where every person who has ever died went?"
Clara nodded.
"And the bracelet could only bring me back?"
Clara nodded again, starting to see where this was going. "Yes."
Danny had a tortured and pensive look on his face.
"I know what you're thinking," Clara said. "You tried to save him, you tried to send him back, but he wouldn't go. You'll remember soon, but he said no to you trying to send him back."
"Why would he do that?" Danny asked, crying harder now.
"You said he told you there wasn't anything for him where he was from," Clara said. "It had been years since he died and he wasn't sure where his family even was. He didn't want to go back." She paused. "He told you that he didn't want to go back, just for what happened to happen again."
Danny let out a surprised sob, and Clara wrapped her arms around him.
"I am so sorry," she said into his chest. "I'm so sorry." She just repeated this and held him.
-DW-
"How'd you get him to come get me?" Danny asked.
"The Doctor?" Clara asked. It was a little while later. Things had calmed down but they were both too strung out to do anything, like marking or going back to sleep.
Danny nodded. "Yeah. How'd you get him to try to save me from dying? Seems like beyond the limits of time travel."
Clara laughed, a bit bitterly. "It was," she said. "But I, erm. I kind of blackmailed him into doing it. I took all his TARDIS keys and locked us out of it, then told him that I'd destroy his keys and he'd never step inside his TARDIS again if he didn't save you."
"You tried to kill the Doctor?" Danny asked, a bit amused and mostly amazed. He was pretty unfazed and past the point of really feeling how dark and sad this all was. He knew, it was there, underlying this whole conversation.
"I guess," Clara said. "I didn't think that far, really, because I would've died, too. But I was serious. I wasn't thinking about anything other than saving you. I was ready to destroy all his keys if that's what it took."
"And that's what it took?"
"Sort of," Clara said. "It played out in a dream state, though I didn't know it at the time. I tried to put a sleep patch on him so I could take his keys and get him outside the TARDIS, but he put it on me. Turns out it was a dream patch and my whole plan only played out in a dream. It worked, though. He saw how far I was willing to go."
Danny shook his head. "That's too far."
"It worked, didn't it?" Clara asked. She sat back in her chair, hand over her stomach without really thinking about it. "I'm not in that place anymore. I'm never going to do anything like that again. But, it worked, and that's what matters."
Danny exhaled for a long breath. "Do you have anything to drink?"
"Like, drink drink?" Clara asked, a little suprised. Danny nodded and Clara chuckled. "Yeah. Beer or something harder?"
"Something harder," Danny said.
Clara stood and grabbed a glass. She put in two ice cubes – Danny noted that he always took his drinks with two ice cubes, and noted that she knew that – and poured some whisky. It was his favorite brand and it wasn't a new bottle.
She put the glass on the table in front of him.
"You're not drinking?" Danny asked.
Clara shook her head.
"What year is it for you?" he asked. "I'm on, what, 2015 now?"
Clara nodded. "Yeah, that sounds right."
"And you said I lost years."
Clara nodded.
"How many?" Danny asked. "Come on, I figure if you can tell me all that, you can tell me all this."
Clara readjusted herself in her seat, thinking. "That was the worst of it," she said. "Once you make it later into 2015, things are pretty much all looking up."
"Oh, are they?"
Clara nodded, smirking.
"You aren't going to tell me, are you?" Danny asked.
"Spoilers," Clara said. "Besides, this could actually be kind of fun now. What's the last thing you remember?"
"I remember being a cyberman," Danny said. "I remember the cemetery, I remember Missy. I remember flying away."
"So you'll remember being back soon," Clara said.
"Looks like," Danny said,
"Do you want to talk about it more?" She looked like she was about to reach for his hand but thought better of it.
"No," Danny said. "I think I'm okay."
Clara smiled genuinely. "Good."
"I do want to play a game, though."
"What, like, Monopoly?"
"A drinking game," Danny said.
Clara laughed. "Danny, you are-." She stopped herself. "We are adults. We do not play drinking games."
"Come on, neither of us are going to go to sleep for a while," Danny said.
Clara made a face like she saw his point.
"Do we have work tomorrow?"
"No," Clara said. "It's holiday."
"Do we still work together at Coal Hill?"
Clara squinted at him. "Spoilers."
"I'm going to remember it all, anyway."
She leaned forward on the table. "What exactly does this drinking game of yours entail?"
"Well, I can't drink alone…"
Clara laughed. "Sure you can. I'm not drinking."
Danny cocked an eyebrow at her.
"You've got rubbish taste in whisky."
"So that bottle was in your flat especially for me?"
The corners of Clara's mouth twitched. "Maybe."
"How about this," Danny asked. "I'll ask questions and for every one you answer honestly, I drink."
"What does this accomplish?"
"Well," Danny said. "The more answers you give me, the sooner I'll be too drunk to continue this game."
Clara laughed. "Okay. But I propose a rule change."
"Of course."
"Only yes or no questions," she said.
Danny nodded. "A twist. I like it."
Clara laughed. "Okay. Go."
"Are you from 2015?" Danny asked.
"No."
"2016?" Danny asked after taking a drink.
"No," Clara said, laughing as he took another drink. She stood and got the bottle, and put it on the table. "Are you going to keep going like that?"
"Am I close?"
"Yes."
Danny took a drink. "Good enough for me." He paused, thinking of a good question. "Is the queen still the queen?"
Clara laughed. "Pass."
"Do you live here alone?"
Clara bit her lip. "No."
"Are you married?"
"Yes."
"Am I married?"
Clara cocked an eyebrow at him.
Danny raised his hand. "I've been wearing a ring. Which, I may add, seems to match yours."
"Yes," Clara said. "You are married."
Danny took a longer drink, thinking.
"Am I married to you?"
Clara wasn't smiling. "For you, we've been together for less than a year. Is that an answer you really want?"
"Yes," Danny said. "I'm going to know tomorrow, anyway."
Clara shrugged. "Yeah, we're married." She was trying to read Danny's expression. "Are you happy with that?"
Danny hadn't taken his drink yet. He was processing that answer. He had guessed as much, but it was still strange to hear. He broke a smile. "Yes, I'm happy with that. I love you."
Clara smiled. "I love you, too."
"Have we been married for very long?"
Clara frowned. "How long is very long?"
"Have we been married for more than a year?"
Clara nodded. "But not much more."
"Are we happy?"
"I am," Clara laughed. "Yes, we're very happy," she said, when she was done laughing.
"Did I muck up the proposal? Or did it go really well without me being terribly awkward?"
Clara laughed. "No."
"Why is that funny?"
"You didn't propose," Clara said. "I did."
Danny laughed. "Of course you did."
"Hey, you said yes!"
"I would," Danny said. "Did you get me a ring?"
Clara shook her head. "I thought about it, but the proposal was kind of spur of the moment, though. I didn't have a whole lot of time to plan."
"Why not?"
"You'll see."
Danny thought about that. "Do you still travel with the Doctor?"
"Yep."
"You said you'd stopped after I…"
"I did," Clara supplied, so he wouldn't have to finish that sentence. "I didn't for a while, but he gradually came back into my life. You played a big role in it, actually. You knew he was my best friend and helped me build a better relationship with him."
"You said I travelled with you yesterday."
"You did," Clara said. "You do. You don't come with us every time, but sometimes you do."
Danny nodded, thinking about it.
"Do I enjoy it?"
"Yeah, I think so," Clara said. "The Doctor isn't the same person you remember."
Danny thought about that. "Do you work at Coal Hill still?"
"Yes."
"So I don't," Danny said, thinking about her earlier answer. "Do I?"
"No." Clara was smirking but trying to hide it.
"What do I do?"
"That's not a yes or no question."
Danny groaned. "Am I still a teacher?"
"No."
Danny looked surprised. He was about to take a drink when Clara spoke.
"Not really," she added.
Danny took his drink and looked at her, thinking. "What does that mean?"
Clara smiled and shrugged.
"Am I working as-."
"No."
"What?"
"No, you're not working," Clara said. "Again, not really."
Danny looked really surprised. "Then what am I doing?" he laughed.
"You like what you're doing," Clara said. "I promise."
Danny thought about that, then something clicked. "Am I back at school?"
Clara nodded. "You're getting your PhD, in order to lecture at a university."
"Really?"
Clara nodded. "And you do have a part time job, just for some extra money for…" she cleared her throat. "Just for us, you know. Nothing wrong with a little extra money."
Danny squinted at her.
"Surely you're a little drunk by now," Clara said. "You've had, like, four glasses."
"I think it was only three," Danny said. "But it feels like I haven't had a drink in ages. Is that true?"
Clara nodded.
Danny hummed, thinking. "Why would that be?"
Clara shrugged.
"Does it have to do with why you're not drinking?"
"Yes," Clara said after a beat.
"Is it a good reason?"
"Yes," Clara said, smiling a bit to herself.
Danny laughed. "Are you going to make me ask it?"
Clara half-chuckled, half-sighed. "I'm pregnant," she said. "Four months gone, now. The present you knows and is very excited and overprotective and cried when I told him. And also when we went to our first scan." She laughed. "You're so screwed for when this kid gets here, he's going to have you wrapped around his finger."
"He?"
"I'm guessing," Clara said. "I kind of figured, with Orson Pink, we have at least one son."
Danny looked very confused. "Wait, who is Orson Pink?"
Clara laughed. "You know what, I think I'm going to leave that until you remember. It was bad enough trying to explain it the first time. You'll know soon, though."
Danny reacted to that but then his face suddenly fell. "I met your mom," he said.
"What?" Clara's face lost all emotion.
Danny nodded. "I'm sorry. I just remembered. After the cemetery and before I came back, I met your mom."
"You've never told me this," Clara said.
"I don't know why…" Danny trailed off, trying to put together the pieces of memory he had coming in. "Oh, she told me not to."
Clara laughed a bit but could feel tears pricking her eyes. "Why?"
"She didn't want you to be sad," Danny said. "We talked about you, mostly. She knew who I was. People who are connected are kind of drawn to each other down there, so when I was there we were drawn to each other because we're connected to you. I updated her on how you have been and she's so, so proud of you. She's so happy with who you are and who you've become."
Clara let herself cry. She missed her mother every day since she died, but it had been fifteen years. She had it compartmentalized and stowed away pretty well by now.
"She's been meeting people you knew," Danny continued. "She and Mrs. Maitland are bezzie mates, weirdly enough." Clara laughed. "Mrs. Maitland is really grateful that you took care of the kids."
"They're great kids," Clara said. "She did really well with them."
"Your mom is great," Danny said. "Truly, meeting her was incredible. She's so much like you."
Clara smiled through her tears.
"She didn't want me to tell you because she doesn't want you to be caught up in missing her," Danny said. "She knows you were, for so long, and it held you back. She wants you to be happy and live your life. She said you didn't need to hear her saying all these things because you already knew."
"I've been thinking about her so much lately," Clara said. "I used to be sad that she never met you, but that seems a rather moot point now. I'm sad she won't be here for the baby, though."
"She knows, though," Danny said. "I wasn't in the Nethersphere for long but there's a way to keep tabs on your loved ones. It tells you big life updates, like moving houses, or getting married, or having kids. She sees this. She's happy for you."
Clara did take Danny's hand over the table now. It wasn't her Danny, not yet, and there was still a lot that he didn't know. But there was a lot he did know and he still was Danny, even if he wasn't hers. He took her hand.
-DW-
The next day, Clara was finishing her marking when Danny walked in.
"Hi," she said. "Are you alright?"
"We have a great-grandson? And you met him?!"
Clara laughed. "Ah, so you've just remembered Orson Pink."
Danny shook his head in disbelief. "That's why you were so weird on our first date."
Clara nodded. "Yeah, it was a weird night."
-DW-
Clara was reading the newspaper. She was worried about letting Danny read it, because he wouldn't know anything that was happening, but he still gave it a try.
Suddenly he stopped and looked up.
"You proposed to me in the middle of nowhere in Derbyshire?"
Clara looked over at him and nodded. "Yep."
Clara thought back to that memory. They were driving up north to see her family when their car unexpectedly broke down. Danny had made a joke about them dying there, in the middle of nowhere, and one thing led to another and Clara ended up proposing.
Danny thought about the memory, too, again piecing it together as it came. He remembered going to her Dad's house and talking about it and everyone being excited. Linda brought up planning and offered to help and then-.
"We got married the next day?"
Clara laughed. "We did."
There was no point in waiting, they had decided. Clara's family was all there and Danny didn't really have a family. They wanted to be married so they got married there.
"That was fast."
"Having second thoughts, are we?" Clara laughed.
"No, of course not. Just…wow."
"Well, you're the one who offered me your name on the first date," Clara said. "We've never really been good at taking it slow."
Danny laughed. "You know what the best part of this is?"
"Of what?"
"Of losing my memory."
Clara shook her head.
"I get to remember you all over again," Danny said. "I get to fall in love with you all over again. Remembering how we got married made it feel like we were doing it all over again."
"Well, I'd marry you all over again in a second," Clara said.
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
-DW-
"You're not going to let me leave the flat, are you?" Danny asked as they sat on the couch, watching television.
Clara laughed and shook her head. "No, not until you're back."
"I'm nearly back," Danny said. "What kind of shenanigans could I get into?"
"Plenty of shenanigans," Clara said. "What's the last thing you remember?"
"The trip to New York," Danny said. "I also seem to remember a certain red outfit that you wore…"
Clara blushed. "Well, enjoy it. It's going to be a while until I wear it again."
"You're beautiful," Danny said. "Now, then, always."
"No, it's not that," Clara said. "The New York trip was approximately four months ago…"
"Oh," Danny said. "Oh!" He laughed.
"Yeah."
"So I'm very nearly back," Danny said.
Clara nodded. "Seems like."
"I remember some of the adventures we've been on," Danny said. "With the Doctor, I mean."
"Well, he took us to New York."
"And saved us a fortune on airfare, I remember," Danny said. "But also took us to Ancient Rome, future London, and other planets entirely."
Clara laughed. "Yeah, that's sort of how travel through time and space works."
"And he took me to your childhood."
"He did."
"Seemed only fair, seeing as you were in mine," Danny continued, to which Clara nodded. "But I think that was the first time it was just me and the Doctor."
"As far as I know, yeah."
"Did you know that there was an alien invasion in Blackpool in 1994?"
Clara laughed. "Yeah, you two told me. I vaguely remember strange things happening, but not the whole thing."
"Speaking of remembering things, I remember what you like for dinner."
"It's taken you that long to remember that?" Clara chuckled.
"I'm going to start cooking," Danny announced. He leaned over to kiss Clara's cheek, then went to the kitchen.
-DW-
Clara ended up joining Danny in the kitchen. She had been getting better at cooking, but Danny still did a lot of the cooking. She liked to sit on the counter and watch him, when she had the chance. Their schedules had been so different, lately, with her working and him working and going to school. She tried to spend time with him when she could.
Danny knew that, too. He remembered applying for school and getting in and then starting. He remembered the shift in schedules that made this sort of time together so valuable to them.
So, Clara sat on the counter, watching him, making conversation as they went.
Suddenly, Danny sort of laughed to himself.
"What?" Clara asked, a bit nervous.
"You told me I cried when you told me you were pregnant, you didn't tell me that I fainted."
Clara burst out laughing. "It's funny now, but it gave me quite the fright. You were out cold for a little while there. I had to pour water on you to wake you up."
"Oh really? I seem to remember I was already awake when you poured water on my face."
Clara shrugged. "It all happened rather fast."
"It feels like when you first told me," Danny said. "I can feel my heart pounding."
"If you faint again…"
Danny laughed. "I won't, I won't." He crossed the room so he was standing in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her lower back and she put her arms around his neck. "It feels like I've never been so happy in my entire life. It feels like I've never been so in love with you in my entire life."
Clara kissed him. "The feeling is mutual, I assure you."
Danny grinned as he kissed his wife again.
-DW-
"I think I'm all the way back," Danny said over dinner that night.
Clara looked at her watch. It wasn't forty eight hours yet.
"Yeah?" she asked, unfazed. "What day is it?"
"It is," Danny began. "Tuesday…"
"No."
"Wednesday…?"
Clara squinted at him. "What month is it?"
"August."
"Okay, that's a start," Clara said. "Listen, I know it's frustrating since you're so close but give it some time. The forty-eight hours aren't up yet. I'm sure in the morning you'll have it all back."
Danny groaned. "It is really frustrating."
"But you're right, this has been nice," Clara said. "To go through all of it, all of us, again. You know we haven't been seeing as much of each other lately as we'd like to, so these past couple days, once we got past the initial shock of them, have been nice."
"I've only got another year or two until I'm done with school."
"No, I know," Clara said. "And I am so, so proud of you. I know things are rather hectic right now but I wouldn't rather them be any other way."
Danny smiled at her from across the table.
-DW-
"Good morning, beautiful," Danny said the next morning as he walked into the kitchen. He walked up behind Clara and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheek.
She giggled. "You're in a good mood this morning."
"Well, it is a lovely day, this August the sixteenth."
Clara turned around, grinning, and kissed him. "I'm glad you're back."
"Me too."
Clara was about to say something but was cut off by the sound of the TARDIS landing in her living room.
She and Danny exchanged a look then headed over there.
"Are you decent?" the Doctor asked, poking the door open a bit.
"Yes," Clara said tiredly.
The Doctor opened all the way and the Doctor popped out. "Hello, Pinks."
"Hello, Doctor," Clara said.
"Good morning," Danny added.
"How are you feeling, Danny?" the Doctor asked, whipping out his sonic and scanning Danny, walking around him in a circle to do so.
"I feel great," Danny said. "I've finally got everything back."
"Good to hear."
"What happened with you?" Clara asked. "Who sent the worm to you?"
"I've taken care of it, it is all sorted," the Doctor said. He made a face. "Is something burning?"
"Oh, no," Clara said. She turned to rush out of the room. "No, no, no!"
"Care to stay for breakfast?" Danny asked the Doctor.
"Sure," the Doctor said. "If there's any edible bits of it left."
"I can hear you!" Clara called sternly from the kitchen.
Danny and the Doctor exchanged a look, then went to give Clara a hand in the kitchen.
So that's the end of that. I haven't written in a while but please let me know what you think!