Chapter 2: Here We Go Again

The Doctor's eyes widened. Pregnant. Clara was pregnant. The sound of singing in the background could be heard clearly since neither of them said anything. Finally, Clara spoke up. "Doctor, please say something. Are you happy? Are you annoyed? Please say something- anything!"

The Doctor's mouth opened and closed for several long seconds before he did something that surprised Clara. He lunged at her, lifted her, and twirled her around with a shout. When he set Clara down, she led him to the bathroom. A look of confusion was clear on her face. "Pregnant." the Doctor said, a stunned expression on his face. "You're pregnant!"

"Doctor, this shouldn't be possible." Clara said with a frown.

"Of course it is." the Doctor scoffed. "We've done it before."

"No, I mean, I didn't get morning sickness until I was at least three weeks along. We haven't had sex in two months!" Clara said. She threw her hands into the air and continued frustratedly, "I mean, unless your sperm somehow travelled in time to a point when I was fertile..."

Clara glanced at the Doctor, who seemed to be rather awkward. He looked at Clara and held back a nervous laugh before he said in a serious tone, "Well, that's exactly what happened."

"What?" Clara said, confused. "How?"

"Time Lord, Clara." the exasperated Doctor said. "We also live in a time machine. Sometimes the laws of physics are a bit iffy as far as these sorts of things are concerned."

Clara let out a chuckle. "Time-travelling sperm." she said with a half-smile. "Now I've seen everything." Clara then looked up at the Doctor and asked, "Well, what do we do now?"

The Doctor shrugged and replied, "Well, if you still want it, you can just have the baby. I know I want it."

"I want it, too." Clara said with a smile.

The Doctor awkwardly returned that smile and gently placed his hand on Clara's still-flat abdomen. Clara placed her hand on top of the Doctor's and happily said, "We're going to have a baby."

The Doctor nodded and said, "Round two, then. We'll be ready this time."

The Time Lord removed his hand from his partner. "Let's go back to the TARDIS." he suggested. "John will be thrilled!"

Clara rolled her eyes and said, "John already knows. He's the one who translated what Simon told him."

"Well, I suppose that finishes up the list of people who need to know about your pregnancy." the Doctor said with a shrug as he and Clara headed back to the TARDIS.

"Well, we still need to tell my family." Clara replied.

The Doctor groaned and asked, "Do we have to?"

"Doctor, my family deserves to know." Clara said, reaching out and giving the Doctor's hand a gentle squeeze. "No amount of whining is going to change that."

"I'm a Time Lord, Clara." the Doctor scowled. "Time Lords do not whine."

Clara sighed and said, "Whatever it's called, it's not going to stop me from telling them."

The Doctor groaned and asked, "Can you at least wait until you're further along? That way, if your father murders me this time for getting you pregnant again, I'll re-learn responsibility sooner after I regenerate."

Clara followed the Doctor into the TARDIS and closed the door behind them. "Doctor, my father is not going to murder you." the impossible girl sighed. "But fine, I'll wait a few more weeks before I tell him."

"Good." the Doctor replied. "I'll just make sure to stand close to the door so I'll have a head start in case he comes after me with something stabby."

Clara groaned and facepalmed.

oooooooooooooooooooooo

Week 6

It had been roughly two and a half weeks since Clara had discovered that she was pregnant. Already, the Doctor was working on a nursery. He had bruised his thumbs with a hammer more times than Clara could count trying to put a crib together. John was reading every book he could find on how to be a good big brother. As for the expectant mother, she was busy trying to keep her food down and attending her cravings. Interestingly enough, she found herself craving peanut butter, bananas, and jelly babies and was repulsed by pears. She couldn't even look at a pear without nearly vomiting. She couldn't get enough peanut butter and banana sandwiches, though. They were simply wonderful.

True to her word, Clara hadn't told her family yet. Part of her was anxious and part of her looked forward to it. She knew that her father would be thrilled to have another grandchild and her grandmother would feel the same way about getting another great-grandchild. She didn't really care about how Linda felt about it- she still didn't like John and the feeling seemed to be mutual. Clara also decided to wait a while to tell Jack, Amelia, and Pavarti. Jack was very busy and the Hernandez-Patil household was still adjusting to their discovery that Pavarti was going into early menopause and the older, forty-something Amelia had decided that it would be unwise to bear children at her age. Clara felt kind of sad for them. She knew that they had wanted children. At least they were happy to be aunts to John.

The Doctor and Clara had both decided to go to an alien hospital that was familiar with human hybrid pregnancies. There had already been enough of a close call when John was born on Earth. Clara was anxious to arrive there and was pleased when the TARDIS landed on the planet Gaga, which was known for having some of the best obstetricians in the known universe. The Doctor led Clara out of the TARDIS, a hand gently placed on her back. The impossible girl shrugged her partner's hand off and rolled her eyes. "Doctor, I'm not made of glass. You don't need to treat me so delicately."

"I don't want you to get hurt." the Doctor protested as he hailed down a taxi- they would have to take it to the hospital since they couldn't land the TARDIS there.

"Doctor, I'm pregnant. I'm not made of sugar." Clara groaned as she got into the taxi.

The Doctor followed her into the taxi and closed the door behind him. They both made sure to buckle up. "I'm just being careful." the Doctor argued. "Anything could happen."

"Oh," Clara asked as the taxi began to head towards their destination, "like what?"

"Well, this vehicle could crash." the Doctor argued.

"Doctor, this taxi driver is excellent at what he does." Clara argued back. "If anything, we'd have to worry about other drivers and you told me that drivers on Gaga are very safe drivers."

"I did say that." the Doctor admitted. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am worried about nothing."

Just as Clara smiled at the Doctor and was about to reassure him once more, there was a flash of blue speeding towards the side of the car. There was the sound of metal ripping through metal as the vehicle collided violently with the taxi. Then there was nothingness as everything faded to black.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Clara woke up in an unfamiliar bed. The air was filled with the scent of cleanser, like that used in a hospital. She was sore all over and it felt like her insides had been scooped out. A green-skinned alien in a white coat was standing in front of her, holding a tablet in his hands. "Good." she said happily. "You are finally awake! I'm Doctor Flazen."

"What happened?" Clara asked groggily.

"Your taxi was hit by a light truck." the alien doctor replied. "You and your partner were both injured, but you recieved the worst of it. You've been in a coma for three days."

"In a coma?" Clara questioned, still feeling a little dazed. Suddenly, a thought hit her and she was fully awake. Panic in her voice, she asked, "Is my baby okay?"

Doctor Flazen smiled and said, "Your body was injured to the point which you could not carry the pregnancy. You also lost a lot of blood. We had to perform a transfer."

A transfer? They must mean a transfusion. Clara could feel herself crumble as she buried her face in her hands. Three years of trying and finally succeeding, only to lose her baby. Clara did her best not to cry, but a few tears still escaped. She sniffled and removed her hands from her face. In a choked voice, Clara asked, "What about the Doctor? Is he okay?"

"The man who was with you?" Doctor Flazen asked. When she saw Clara nod, the green-skinned physician replied. "Yes. He's recovering nicely from surgery. Thanks to the nanite injections, both of you will be ready to be discharged tomorrow."

Clara swallowed audibly and nodded. She was still quite upset about losing her baby. It would take her time to come to terms with it. At least the Doctor was okay. She didn't know what she would have done if she had lost him, too.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A day later, Clara and the Doctor were both discharged. The Time Lord tried not to scratch at the healing wound on his abdomen. He looked down at Clara and asked, "Are you okay? You and the baby?"

Clara swallowed and clenched her eyes shut to hold the tears back. She took a deep, deep breath and exhaled before saying, "I'm fine but... I lost the baby."

The Doctor made a wheezing sound and asked, "What?"

"They said that my injuries made it impossible for me to carry the pregnancy." Clara whispered. "They said that I had lost so much blood that I needed a transfusion."

"You're lucky they had human-compatible blood." the Doctor said awkwardly as he reached out and squeezed Clara's hand.

Clara sighed sadly and asked, "What are we going to do now?"

The Doctor lifted Clara's hand and kissed the back of it. He then said, "If you want, we could try again."

Clara frowned and said, "I need to think on it. I mean, if we do, I'd like to wait a while."

The Doctor nodded and replied, "Take as long as you need."

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Week 9

It had been three weeks since the accident and Clara and the Doctor had both recovered, at least physically. It would take a while before Clara recovered emotionally from the miscarriage. Of course, the Doctor had to choose then to get sick. He was currently in the bathroom, emptying his stomach contents into the toilet. Clara quietly got out of bed and walked over to the bathroom. Once she was next to the Doctor, she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and asked, "Do you need to go to the med bay?"

The Doctor shuddered and replied, "No. I know what this is."

"What?" Clara asked. "Some sort of alien disease?"

"Quantum botulism." the Doctor replied. "A truly vile disease."

The Time Lord then lurched into the toilet, vomiting once again. Clara knelt down and gently rubbed his back. When the Doctor finally regained control over his stomach, he said, "There's not really anything I can do about it. The symptoms can show up years before or years after I catch it. The symptoms should go away in a few weeks. I'll just try to stay hydrated."

"I'll take good care of you until then." Clara replied with a smile. "You've taken care of me enough over the past two weeks."

"You needed it." the Doctor said with a weary smile.

"So do you." Clara replied. "Please, let me take care of you."

The Doctor was silent for a while before he nodded and said, "All right."

"Things have really changed." Clara sighed.

"Change is part of life." the Doctor replied. "You've changed, become stronger. I can feel something changing, growing inside me."

Clara rubbed the Doctor's back again and asked, "Like what?"

"I don't know," the Doctor said with a shrug, "but something tells me it's going to be big. But first, I need you to do something-"

The Doctor was interrupted by another wave of nausea, which overpowered him and sent what little that remained in his stomach heaving into the toilet. Once he was done heaving, he looked up at Clara. She laughed gently and said, "I'll get some anti-nausea medication."

ooooooooooooooo

Any guesses as to what happens next?