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Chapter 2

Clara wiped the counter for the third time in an hour even though it still wasn't dirty and no customer had come in since. She liked doing that at times, just opening the diner to strangers, listening to them, hearing their stories. It often made her feel less lonely, made her forget about everything and the next day when they were wondering where the diner had gone Clara was back on her own, travelling through time and space. She had loved it once, a long time ago. Now all she felt was weariness and the desire to rest. Maybe even forever. She could feel it pull at her like a nagging thought that just wouldn't go away.

327 years and yet there was no wrinkle on her face, no grey hair on her head and there never would be. Frozen between one heartbeat and the last, not dead and not alive either. Maybe it was time for her to return to Gallifrey and face the raven at last.

How did the Doctor even stand it? He was over 2000 years old and still going on and on and he would probably never stop and Clara just felt like she had run out of any will to go further after only 299 years. If she was honest there was now only one reason keeping her here and that reason was fear. Clara hadn't been afraid to die back then, it had made sense, she had brought it on herself but the longer she had gone on the less she had felt like dying. While she wasn't afraid of death itself she was afraid to go back to Gallifrey just to change her mind at the last minute when it was already to late. That once she stepped back inside the extraction chamber something would come to her mind, a place she hadn't seen, a person she had yet to meet and she would regret her decision. No, she would make it 300 years. Then she would think about returning to face the raven.

The little bell above the door rang and tore her from her thought and when she looked up Clara thought that for a moment her heart had started to beat again. She swallowed hard. Oh, why did the universe feel the need to test her when she was already at rock bottom? Why did it tempt her so much?

"Hello," the Doctor greeted her reluctantly.

He didn't know her. Clara needed to remind herself that he didn't know her and she couldn't possibly run towards him and throw her arms around a stranger even though she had never wanted anything so badly. Why on earth did their paths have to cross again?

"Hello," Clara forced herself to smile, "Can I get you anything?"

She inhaled sharply, fighting back tears. 299 years and she had thought about him every single day. 299 years. . . but he wore the same clothes, the same dusty shirt under the velvet jacket she had laid out for him. Could it be that for him only hours had passed?

Clara waited for him to say something but for the longest time he just stood there, motionless and wearing a sad smile on his face. She was growing increasingly nervous and she knew she couldn't fight it forever. Unless he said something very soon she would give in to temptation and tell him who she was.

"I'm closing in an hour. You have to decide what you want," she told him, trying to cover up her nervousness with a giggle.

"Clara."

She gasped at the mention of her name, the tears now filling her eyes for real and before she knew what she was doing Clara had closed the distance between them and thrown her arms around him in a hug. She never wanted to let him go ever again and for once he didn't even fight the embrace.

"You remember," she whispered against the fabric of his velvet coat. Oh, how she loved the velvet. How she loved him right now. Her Doctor had come back for her when she had needed him most.

"I remember," he confirmed, carefully closing his arms around her and for a while they just stood there holding each other.

Suddenly a thought crossed her mind and Clara struggled free from his embrace to look at him. "But," she argued, her voice taking on a stricter tone as she gave him a soft punch, "Why did you come back? We're the hybrid. We can't stay together. That was the hole point of the memory wipe and you know that, Doctor."

"Yeah," he made a grimace, "I'm not entirely sure about that. See, a thing happened and-"

"What kind of thing?" Clara asked warily, cocking her eyebrows at him.

"Best come back to the TARDIS with me and you'll see."

She frowned. "But what about my TARDIS?" she asked. This place had been her home for the last three centuries and leaving it behind just didn't feel right. But then, had it really felt like home without the Doctor?

"It will wait here, trust me. People will just assume it's a closed diner and walk past it. Now come on, and bring Ashildr!" the Doctor gestured for her to follow him as he turned back towards the diner exit. Clara looked around the diner one more time – and then made her decision. She wouldn't leave the Doctor again.

"Ashildr is gone," Clara sighed while she followed him outside.

The Doctor seemed surprised. "Gone? Where? Why?"

"She met someone while we stopped in Cardiff, an immortal. That was 200 years ago. I visited them from time to time, they seemed happy."

Suddenly the Doctor began to chuckle. "I see she met Captain Jack Harkness after all. I knew they'd get along."

When she spotted the blue box parked just a few metres away Clara couldn't help but smile. The diner had never really been a home, not with Ashildr, not with any of the other people she had picked up along the way. The Doctor was her home, he always had been, and she was filled with pure joy when she thought of travelling with him again. Yes, she would have to face the raven eventually but that could wait for another 300 years.

However when she stepped though the wooden door a surprise was waiting for her inside the TARDIS and Clara's mouth fell open at the sight of her.

"Doctor," she began and reached out to touch his arm but at the same time Clara couldn't keep her eyes off the girl that looked so much like her it was almost scary.

"Oh, right," he cleared his throat, "Clara, this is Elsie. Apparently she is going to travel with us 13 years in the future."

"U-huh," Clara uttered, still gawking at the girl. She was around 12 or 13 years old and she had her eyes and nose. The exact same eyes and nose. Hadn't it been for the curly hair Clara might have confused her with her younger self. There was absolutely no denying that they were related, "13 years, you say?"

"Yes, that's what Elsie told me," the Doctor explained while the girl smiled at them, "She is our future companion and she needs our help."

Clara kept prodding his arm, not taking her eyes off Elsie until the Doctor finally stopped talking.

"Clara, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost. Have you seen a ghost?" he asked.

"Doctor, look at her," Clara said, pointing towards the girl, "Take a look!"

The Doctor frowned, exchanging glances between Clara and Elsie over and over but apparently without coming to a conclusion. Clara raised her eyebrows at him.

"What?" he asked.

She shook her head as she walked up to Elsie to stand next to her so the Doctor could look at them both at the same time and Clara watched as the realisation was beginning to dawn on him. His mouth fell open like hers had done and he pointed at them, even though it took him a moment to find the right words.

"Clara didn't save your life, she gave you life," the Doctor realized, still looking as dumbfounded as he had been before his realisation, "Elsie is your daughter!"

Clara turned to look at the girl again, this time under a different light. There was no way she could ever deny it – Elsie was her own flesh and blood but there was something else. Something about the way she smiled, about her posture, about that unruly hair on her head. It took her a moment but eventually Clara knew. The longer she looked at Elsie the surer she became.

"Doctor," Clara said carefully, clearing her throat, "I think Elsie is our daughter."