Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
The Snowmen – Part Two
Strax crawled under the carriage, trying to catch the escaped Memory Worm. Clara sat on the edge of the carriage, lips quirking in amusement. "Well, can you see it?" the Doctor asked Strax impatiently. "I think I can hear it" the Sontaron replied. Clara giggled, and Romana commented "I'd have thought you'd have run away by now".
"Why would I run? I know what's going to happen next and it's funny" Clara grinned, and the Doctor looked at her in confusion. "What's funny?" he inquired. Clara nodded at Strax's legs sticking out from under the carriage. "Well, your little pal, for a start. He's an ugly little fella, isn't he?" she joked.
"Maybe. He gave his life for a friend of mine once"
"Then how come he's alive?"
"Another friend of mine brought him back. I'm not sure all his brains made the return trip!" the Doctor snapped irritably. He just wanted to go back to the TARDIS and spend time with his family, not deal with a curious human for once. "Neither am I" Romana admitted to Clara with an amused smile. She really didn't see what the Doctor was so upset about; Clara seemed like a nice girl, she just wished she could figure out why the young barmaid sounded so oddly familiar. "I can see it!" announced Strax from under the carriage. "Ooh! Can you reach it? Have you got it?" the Doctor asked quickly.
There was a pause. "Got what, sir?" asked Strax, and Clara held up a pair of thick gloves. "Because these are the gauntlets, aren't they?" she asked with an amused smirk. The Doctor resisted the urge to face-palm when Strax cried out "Sir, emergency! I think I've been run over by a cab". Romana and Clara both giggled as he told Strax to get out from under the carriage and snatched the gauntlets from Clara's hand, going to fetch the Memory Worm himself.
Romana took a jar from under the seat in the carriage. The Doctor emerged gripping a large, white, grub like worm. "There you go. One touch and you lose about an hour of your memory. Let it bite you and you could lose decades" he explained to Clara, stuffing the worm into the jar. "Thanks, dear" he said gratefully to Romana, screwing the top on tight, before looking at Clara. "You're still not trying to run" he noted. Well, he had to admire her persistence at least.
Clara folded her arms stubbornly and replied "I don't understand how the snowman built itself. I'll run once you've explained".
"Clara who?"
"Doctor who?"
"Ooh, dangerous question"
"What's wrong with dangerous?"
Behind the Doctor, a sharp toothed snowman emerged from the ground, making both Romana and Clara stiffen. "The snow emits a low level telepathic field" the Doctor began to explain, oblivious to the snowman, and to Clara's murmur of "My snowman".
"It seems to reflect people's thoughts and memories and because it's unusual, somehow it carries a previous shape and"-
"Doctor, the snowman" Romana cut him off, pointing at the icy, creepy white blob. "Ah! Interesting. Well, were you thinking about it?" he asked Clara, who nodded and answered "Yes". Then another snowman appeared, and another, surrounding them. "Sir, we are under attack!" Strax barked, lifting up a large weapon. "Strax, put that down!" Romana scolded in her 'mum' voice as the Doctor called it. He turned to Clara and said urgently, "Well, stop. Clara, stop thinking about the snowmen!"
One of the snowmen opened its freezing maw and breathed snowflakes on them. "Get down!" the Doctor cried, ducking and pulling the other two down with him. He grabbed Clara by the shoulders. "Clara, listen to me. The snow's feeding off your thoughts".
"I don't understand!"
"You're caught in their telepathic field. They're mirroring you. The more you think about the snowmen, the more they appear. Imagine them melting. Picture it. Picture them melted!" the Doctor instructed insistently; Clara shut her eyes tight, and a few seconds later they were splashed with ice cold water as the snowmen around them burst like bubbles. The Doctor wiped his wet fringe out of his eyes and asked Romana if she was okay. She nodded. "Well, very good. Very, very good. Ha!" he grinned, pleased they were safe.
"Is that going to happen again?" Clara asked, and the Doctor smiled. "Well, if it does, you know what to do about it" he pointed out…but then Romana reminded him "She won't if she forgets this ever happened". The Doctor looked from her to Clara, and sighed in defeat. "Can you find your way back to where we met you from her?" he asked Clara, who thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Good. Go home, and forget about us, understand?" he warned her.
"What about the snow? Shouldn't we be warning people?" asked Clara, but the Doctor just pulled her over to the carriage and ushered her inside. "Who'd believe us? Merry Christmas" he said, shutting the door on her. "Take her back where we found her" he ordered Strax, before turning to Romana and offering his hand. She hesitated and then took it, walking with him back to the TARDIS. She knew Clara was probably following them, since there were two doors in the carriage, but she didn't mention anything to the Doctor.
Clara followed the couple to a park, watching as the Doctor lifted Romana over the railings and then vaulted over himself. She smiled as she watched the Doctor spin his wife around, dancing with her beneath the moonlight. Then her eyes widened in amazement when he jumped up and grabbed a ladder, which came down from what looked like thin air. First the Doctor, then Romana climbed up the ladder and disappeared from sight. There was a clunk sound, and the ladder rose back up into nothingness.
Curious, she hurried over and jumped for the ladder, but didn't manage to grab it until her second attempt. "Come on" she smiled eagerly, pulling the ladder down and climbing up it. There was a platform at the top, and she could see people walking by. "Hello?" she called, waving…nobody heard her, or saw her. "Invisible" she murmured, looking up at the spiral staircase stretching up into the sky, "An invisible staircase".
It wasn't long before the rooftops of London were far below her. Clara stopped a couple of times, to admire the view and also to make sure the Doctor or Romana didn't realise she was following them. When she reached the top of the staircase, Clara was surprised to discover it ended at a cloud, with a blue box on top of it. The cloud seemed to be supporting the box's weight; cautiously, Clara stepped onto the cloud, relieved when it didn't fall out from under her.
She walked all around the box, trying to figure out how those two strange people and their daughter could fit inside something so small. She pressed her ear to the door; she knew it was wrong to eavesdrop but her curiosity was just too insatiable. Through the wood she could make out laughter, and what sounded like…running? "I'm gonna get you!" she heard the Doctor cry, sounding much happier than he had earlier. "No, I'm going to get you!" said another man's voice, one Clara didn't recognise. Blimey, how many people does he have in there? She wondered.
The wood beneath her cheek hummed, and Clara pulled back. She got the strangest sense that the box was looking at her, and it unnerved her. Even though she really wanted to knock, and find out what was going on once and for all, something made her turn back and hurry down the staircase.
Meanwhile, in Simeon's laboratory, more snow was being poured into the large globe. "Tonight the thaw" the snow intoned, "Tomorrow the snow will fall again, yet stronger. The drowned woman and the dreaming child will give us form at last. Tomorrow the snow will fall and so shall mankind. She is coming".
/
The next morning, Clara left the Rose and Crown carrying a Gladstone bag, looking around at the damp but snowless ground. "Look at that. Must have thawed in the night" she commented to the landlord, Mr Chilcott, who had followed her out. "I'm begging you, Clara. I'm on my knees" he told her; she'd only offered to work there for a short time, but with it being the Christmas season, he was at his wits end trying to keep all his customers happy.
"Elsie is back this afternoon, and I was only helping out. I've got my own work to get back to" Clara reminded him. "What work? Why won't you ever tell us?" asked Chilcott, but Clara just smiled mysteriously. "You'd never believe me" she told him, paying the driver of a carriage and climbing inside. Then she drew the blinds, opened her bag, and began to change her clothes and hairstyle. It wasn't an easy feat in a moving carriage, and the result was rather impressive, if she did say so herself.
The carriage drew up outside of Darkover House, and Clara stepped out, dressed neatly in a light grey dress and coat, her hair done up beneath a fancy hat. "Alice, how smart you look today" she said in a very prim and proper accent, as the maid opened the door. "The governess should enter by the back door, unless accompanied by the children" Alice reminded her, but not in a disapproving way. "And how are the children? Excited about tomorrow?" Clara inquired.
"Francesca, same as ever. Digby says he missed you every day. Captain Latimer wants to see you" Alice informed her. "Of course; every day?"
"Twice on Saturdays"
"That's better" Clara smiled, before she stepped into her employer's study. "Captain Latimer" she greeted politely. He turned from his desk to look at her. "Ah. Miss Montague, you're back" he said, sounding rather relieved. Clara smiled and nodded. "In time for Christmas. Apologies for my brief absence. Family illness is so unpredictable. You wanted to see me?" she inquired.
"Francesca has been having nightmares"
"Young girls often do"
"Every night this week, she says. Won't tell me about them"
"Perhaps if you asked her in the right way, there's no one she'd rather tell"
"Children are not really my area of expertise" Latimer admitted, looking uncomfortable. "They are, however, your children" Clara pointed out, wishing she could convince the captain to spend more time with his children, really get to know them; but it would be improper for her to say such things. "You have, if I may say, a remarkable amount of wisdom in these matters, for one so very pretty, Miss Montague" Latimer commented, before quickly adding, "Young, I mean".
Now it was Clara who felt uncomfortable. "I'll see to the children now" she excused herself, and he waved her away. Upon entering the garden, a young boy and his older sister ran up to her with eager smiles. "Miss Montague!" Francesca exclaimed happily. "Miss Montague, you're back!" cried Digby. Clara held up a hand to stop the clamour. "Ah, ah, ah!"
The children calmed down and politely shook hands with her, saying one after the other, "Good morning, Miss Montague".
"Good morning, Francesca. Good morning, Digby. Christmas Eve is the most thrilling day, don't you think? Now, what have you two been up to while I've been away?"
"I did seven drawings and we saw a dead cow" Digby informed her. "Well, how exciting" Clara smiled, a bit forced, not sure how else to respond to that. "Do your secret voice" Digby begged, so she beckoned for them to come closer, and then said in her normal accent, "'Allo, mates". The children giggled. The three of them sat down on a bench, and Clara turned to Francesca with her best comforting smile. "Now then, your father tells me you've been having nightmares" she began.
"They're not exactly nightmares. Just dreams" Francesca told her, not wanting to make a fuss about them. "About our old governess, the one who died" Digby added, "She's haunting Frannie from beyond the grave" he teased, and Francesca scowled at her little brother. Before they could start bickering, Clara inquired, "Haven't you spoken to your father about this?"
"You can't talk about things like that to Daddy" said Franscesca. She missed her mother; she'd been so easy to talk to, if only she hadn't died from pneumonia. "You could try" Clara told her gently, but Francesca was reluctant. "Do you want to see where she died?" asked Digby, sounding happy about something so morbid, which was just typical of him. He led Clara to the frozen pond, and pointed at it. "She fell in there, and then it froze. She was in the ice for days and days. I hated her. She was cross all the time. In Frannie's dream she's still down there, waiting to come back" he explained.
Clara looked at the pond and frowned, suspicious. "Everything else has thawed, but this pond is still frozen" she murmured, remembering the Doctor's warning about how the snow fed off of thoughts. Something occurred to her and she quickly turned to Francesca. "Frannie, this is important. You dream about her. What do you dream?"
"She's cross with me. She says I've been bad, and she's going to come out of the pond and punish me" Francesca explained nervously. Then Clara asked her when the governess in her nightmare said she'd be back, and Francesca replied "She said she'd come back for Christmas. Tonight".
"I think Frannie's gone mad, don't you? I think she needs a doctor" Digby said unsympathetically. A Doctor…and his wife thought Clara. At lunchtime, she informed Latimer that she had a pressing errand to run in town, but she would definitely return as soon as possible. The children begged her not to leave. "Now, now, I'm not leaving forever. I'll be back at, let's say, three? Yes, three o clock at the latest" she nodded firmly, stepping into a hansom cab.
At her request, the driver dropped her off near the park where the invisible staircase was hidden. Clara looked around to check the coast was clear, and then jumped for the ladder. She couldn't reach it. Clara tried again, and again, not realising she was attracting an audience. A hand on her shoulder made Clara jump, and look round at a young woman with neatly combed black hair. "You're making a bit of a scene, miss" she said, and Clara felt rather embarrassed when she noticed all the people staring at her.
"I'm looking for the Doctor, and Romana. Do you know about them?" she asked. The other woman looked at her curiously and asked, "Doctor who?" Clara smiled and introduced herself. "I'm Clara".
"I'm Jenny. Come on, I can take you to them". She led Clara to a stately looking home, where they were met by the little bald potato man from the previous night. "Do not attempt to escape or you will be obliterated! May I take your coat?" Strax inquired. Clara glanced at Jenny, who nodded, so she took off her coat and handed it to the Sontaron. He bowed and set about hanging it up.
Jenny showed her into a conservatory, filled with exotic foliage; Clara was glad she'd removed her coat, since it was very warm; and also very crowded. Seated in a peacock chair was a woman with green, scaly skin and a cool, piercing gaze; on her right sat a woman a few years older than Jenny, with black hair done up in a neat bun and a gold and red dress, as well as a man in a casual suit lounging in the chair beside her; and on the scaly woman's right sat Romana and the Doctor; the latter was staring at her, but the former was smiling.
On the floor in the middle, playing with some toys knelt a little girl, younger than Francesca and Digby, with long blonde hair and a little blue dress. "Hello!" she said brightly, looking up when Clara and Jenny entered. She jumped to her feet and walked up to Clara, holding her hand out to shake. "My name's Emily" she introduced herself, and Clara smiled. "I'm Clara. Your parents spoke very highly of you the other night" she told the little girl. Emily beamed… "Wait a minute!" she exclaimed, marching over to the Doctor. "You made a new friend and you didn't tell me? Bad daddy, bad!"
"What? No, I didn't…we're not friends, not really, we barely talked, I don't even know her surname" the Doctor protested in a ramble, trying to fend off his daughter poking him in the stomach. "I don't know yours either; but if you must know, my surname is Oswald" Clara informed him. Oswald? Thought Romana, like…no, it couldn't be…could it?
The other man stood up and offered his own hand to shake. "I'm the Corsair, and this is Flavia. We're Emily's godparents. Oh, and that's Madame Vastra, she's a Silurian" he explained, before offering her his seat. "I prefer to stand up anyway" he assured her. Clara took a seat, and Madame Vastra held up her wine glass. "There are two refreshments in your world the colour of red wine. This is not red wine" she told Clara, a hint of a warning in her voice.
"Is it cranberry juice?" Emily asked from her father's lap. Clara tried not to laugh; she'd already guessed what the liquid really was, but it was still amusing to see the awkward expression on Vastra's face. "Ah…yes, it is. Now" she cleared her throat and turned back to Clara, "you must have come here for a reason. State it" she said bluntly. Clara decided her best option was to be completely honest and straightforward; Madame Vastra didn't seem like the type to appreciate beating around the bush.
"Okay…I don't just work at that tavern; I'm also a governess for the Latimer family. There I'm known as 'Miss Montague'. The children's old governess drowned in the pond, which then froze over. The thing is, it's frozen now and the rest of the snow thawed last night; also, Frannie's been having nightmares, about the old governess coming back tonight and punishing her. You said the snow mirrors people's thoughts, so I wondered, what if the ice did the same thing? I need your help" she told the Doctor.
"We will give you all the aid we can" Vastra informed her; the Corsair, Flavia and Romana all nodded in agreement. Only the Doctor shook his head. "No, no, I don't want to get involved! It shouldn't have to be our problem, I just want a quiet Christmas, is that too much to ask?"
"What are you talking about?" asked the Corsair, "we've had plenty of quiet Christmases before this. To be honest it was getting kind of boring" he admitted. Emily tugged on her dad's lapel, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "But daddy, you always help people. Please help Clara, please" she begged. The Doctor screwed his eyes shut, trying not to look at her puppy dog eyes. "Please, daddy. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please"-
"Oh, alright! Alright, I give in! I'll help" he cried in defeat; Emily gave a delighted cheer and hugged him tightly. "I believe I know the perfect place for you to start investigating" smiled Vastra.