Chapter 1 - Time Crash

Clara Oswin Oswald

"Where are we off to today?" I muse aloud, studying the Doctor as he tries to manage flying the TARDIS. I can still remember learning how to fly a TARDIS at Time Lord University from when one of my fragments was a Gallifreyian.

"How would you like to go and see the Big Bang?" The Doctor asks as he dances around the TARDIS flicking switches and pushing buttons.

"Isn't that a little far back in time for this Old Girl?" I wonder, as she secretly pushed a button to stop the TARDIS from rocking back and forth as the Doctor flew through time and space.

The TARDIS console flashes angrily (if an a light in the middle could flash and look angry).

"Hey, the TARDIS is not an old girl." The Doctor chastises me.

"She's the same age as you are! That's what, 2000 and something odd years old?" I pull a lever to turn off the parking brake and stop the TARDIS from making its loud wheezing noise.

"I'm only 1946, for your information." The Doctor corrects me as I roll my eyes at him. "Can you stop fiddling with my TARDIS? That is my job. It makes me look clever."

"What are you talking about? I haven't touched the console." I lie crossing my fingers behind my back.

The Doctor looks at me in the eye. "Liar. I can see you crossing your fingers and the TARDIS isn't making its noise."

I sigh, caught in the act. I decide to play dumb, just to annoy him and say, "What noise are you talking about?"

"You know the one when it takes off and lands? It goes oo wee oo, oo wee oo. You know the one that I'm talking about! You hear it everyday."

"Oh, that one. That's only because you leave the parking brakes on."

"Yes I know I've been told by my wife." The Doctor whined. "Now turn it back on for landing."

"No."

"Clara..."

"No. The TARDIS is like a manual car. You do not leave the parking break on when you drive a manual car do you?"

"No I do not, but I leave the parking break on in my TARDIS because it is my TARDIS and you can't control it because you aren't my wife!"

Not yet, Clara thought, she could almost picture them getting married. It would be lovely, her bouquet could be TARDIS blue and so could the bridesmaid dresses. Unfortunately, the Doctor didn't seem interested in her. Only in River Song.

"Well Chin, the total screaming genius in me thinks otherwise." I snap

"That was very Oswin Oswald of you." The Doctor mumbles, he doesn't like it when I channel the attributes of her fragments.

"Thank you."

"I don't like it. It makes you seem very cocky."

"Sorry, next time I'll try and find a modest way to say I was a total screaming genius that was just a tiny bit sexy." I say sarcastically rolling my eyes.

The Doctor stared me right in the eye and I glared at him right back.

Do. Not. Blink. I think as I concentrate all of my efforts on winning this staring contest.

We both break into spiels of loud laughter before anyone can be declared a winner.

I wipe a tear from my eye as the Doctor fixed his hair, he could stand if there was a single cowlick, and being doubled over in two, it's kind of inevitable.

"I need a fez, like I really need one." The Doctor states, his face deadpan and one hundred percent serious.

"No you really do not." I retort.

"I want one though." He moaned.

"If you wear one, River is going to come back from the dead and shoot every fez that you wear. Just like she said she would." I inform him solemnly before I break into giggles again.

I compose myself and ask, "ETA?"

"Five minutes."

"Wow, we must be going way back in time, the TARDIS usually just disappears and reappears instantaneously." I say.

"Well like you said, way back in time, to the big bang, but not before because then we would be stuck there with the Kin. A monster who doesn't really like me. He's waiting for the world to begin so it can take over the universe but since he is the second before the big bang. It won't exactly happen." he explains.

I look at him as if he had three heads. "Okay, then."

The Doctor smiles at me and pulls the parking brake on.

I sigh as she took a seat. There was just no way to win against him. After a minute of silence (well, as silent as it can be with a TARDIS and a Doctor running around to press buttons), I ask, "Why do you want to see the big bang if you have seen it already?"

"I figured you would want to see it." he replied with a shrug.

"I find everything inside and outside this spaceship." I said, adding especially you in my head. "Still, why the big bang and not some foreign planet that you haven't visited yet?"

"I've visited every planet." the Doctor declares.

I scoff, unbelieving. There were probably a billion billion planets there was no way he had seen them all.

"Okay fine, I haven't seen all of them. Just most of them." the Doctor corrected.

"You're avoiding my question Doctor."

"Okay fine. I wanted to take you back to the big bang so I could look all clever when I was explaining everything that happened and what it would cause."

"Trying to impress me then Chin?"

He huffs, "No…"

"How much longer?" I whine, like a child. I wasn't used to having to wait to go somewhere in the TARDIS. Usually, I would just say 'I want to go here' and seconds later they would be there. "This waiting sucks."

"Oh Clara, the waiting has only just begun. You have a lot of waiting still to do."

I raise an eyebrow at him, "What do you mean?"

"Well my explanations tend to be very longwinded and boring."

"Oh so you admit it yourself." I chuckle. I was well aware of this fact but I found it comical that he knew too.

"Of course, I know that I can be boring. What do you think I do when I am bored. I talk to myself."

"Crazy person." I mutter under my breath.

"I heard that." He says pushing one last button before swirling around to face her.

The TARDIS shook and fire blows from the centre of the console.

"Oh my stars we are going to die." I screech, grabbing on to one of the poles around the outside of the TARDIS.

"My TARDIS!" The Doctor screamed.

I shake my head, nice to know he cared more about the TARDIS then himself or his companion..

The TARDIS impacts the ground with a large bang, that sends the two of us flying.

"Doctor what happened?"

"I don't know. I think that the TARDIS fell through the sky."

"You mean into the void."

"Or through it." the Doctor mumbles.

"What's out there?" I ask tentatively.

"Could be anything, the only way to know would be to open the door." the Doctor says before turning the handle.