Now as everyone should have seen I am re-writing this story so its best to start from the beginning again as a few things have been tweaked, cut or added. Hope you enjoy the new turns x

Chapter Four

Clara did not understand what had happened. One minute they had landed in a very peaceful village where you could see aura's – an amazing spectacle of colours hovering around their heads, she'd made a joke about the Sims games that was completely lost on the Doctor. They socialised for a while- but of course the Doctor became aware that something was not quite right, the aura's of the locals where tinged with fear and worry. He'd swiftly ditched her (much to her annoyance) only to shake her awake later that night as she slept in the tent generously loaned to them by the locals and insist that they had to leave, his own aura an angry swirl of red and blue and purple representing emotions she later figured where anger, sadness and worry. They saw no one as they left in the TARDIS and Clara was almost afraid to approach the angry Doctor glaring furiously at the console.

Sure enough when she approached and placed a hand on the Doctors arm he flinched like she'd burned him and stepped away with a wild angry and wary look on his face – like a startled cat. She frowned a little in confusion at his reaction. "Doctor…"

"Don't!" he snarled harshly moving so the entire console was between them. They both felt the TARDIS hum angrily, Clara felt the time machine mentally brush her mind and push her forward lightly not that she needed the encouragement she knew exactly who she was and what she was supposed to do. It had been repetitively repeated into her head so often it was like a motto by now. I was born to save the Doctor – and that's exactly what I'm going to do. She curled her fists now steeling herself for what was probably going to become an argument.

"Why?" she snapped right back in a way she'd never really done with his other face so wasn't too shocked when she saw a flittering of surprise pass through the Doctors eyes. "What happened back there? What made you so angry?"

"Nothing to concern you Oswin." He snapped right back.

"Yes it is."

"No it really isn't, so leave it alone." He glared at her over the console.

"Am I just a stupid travel companion with you now then?" she stalked towards him around the console getting increasingly frustrated when he moved away from her always keeping the console between them though he never did take his eyes off her. "Not worth the time to stop and explain? Does this new Doctor just want a human pet?" she spat the word.

"Don't be stupid girl." He spat back just as angry if not more.

"Then why won't you explain why you just had us dash out of that planet like a bat out of hell?" she had her hands on her hips now and her voice was a tone she'd never used before and she hoped she'd never use again.

"Because I'm trying to protect you!" he whirled around now the red of his coat flashing like the hood of an angry snake about to strike as he suddenly moved so they were barely a hairs breath apart when he'd been so careful previously to keep the console between them. "I am trying to keep you out of danger this time around Oswin, unlike that bow-tie wearing idiot who so foolishly placed you, you who are so fragile, in danger so, so many times…"

"And who are you to decide what danger I should be kept out of?" she hooked an eyebrow at him and tried to cross her arms but found she couldn't because he was standing far to close and they both refused to move out of the others personal space.

"I am the Doctor" he hissed at her, though it was not in an unkind way she noticed. "I am a two-thousand year old timelord and I think that gives me far more than a little experience to exercise some power over a – what are you now, twenty nine? Year old human."

She was a little offended he didn't know her age exactly but didn't mention anything. Hell he probably already knew. Instead she had geared herself up to get just as annoyed with him. "And I am Clara Oswald, the girl who jumped into your time stream and ripped herself apart to save your lives countless times so yeah I might still be human and my body might still be young but my memories are anything but naïve."

"An incident that was also the man-child's fault." He sniffed.

"This is not a competition!" she wanted to hit him but resisted. "I have no idea why you have this sudden desire to upstage your last self but it is getting pretty tiring very quickly. You need to trust me Doctor, trust that I am not about to get myself into trouble."

He gave a harsh laugh "Oh yes trust the inquisitive human not to get into trouble when that appears to be all your species can do…"

She heaved a sigh – the insulting species thing was not really new, but he was doing it more frequently. "Doctor…" she said softly this time raising her hands to his chest, hovering in the air before she actually touched him in case he would jump back again. He didn't, instead he seemed to go stiff under her touch and continued to frown down at her. "What happened out there?"

For a few moments he said and did nothing, she was about to remove her hands as a lost cause when he sighed suddenly and his own hands came up and covered hers holding them tighter to his chest as she felt the rhythmic double beat of his hearts. "They were dying and I couldn't bring myself to care." He confessed without looking at her, staring instead at the TARDIS engine slowly pumping up and down in silence. "And when I tried to help, I made it worse."

Vague and unspecific but Clara got the gist of what had happened and though was still unclear why they had to leave so quickly. She considered words of comfort, but this man did not seem to accept any kind of comfort, and instead tried her best to give him an explanation. "You just changed a few days ago. You cannot expect yourself to be firing on all cylinders already."

"I have done previously, this is no excuse." He retorted, though he seemed distracted and his thumbs brushed absentmindedly over her wrists.

"I do have some memories of those times and you have had help." She retorted, but kept her voice soft. "You need to let me help you. You need to trust me."

"I do trust you Oswin…" he sighed, almost a defeated sound. "I just…" his voice failed him and he just shook his head.

"You're worried." Clara guessed. She also guessed that he was afraid but knew if she voiced that thought he would wheel back to defensive. She was just toeing the line with 'worried' and she knew it. He looked irritated to admit it as he nodded, frown increasing. "You don't have to be – and I don't expect you to take my word for it either. Just… trust me, you'll get better."

He didn't look convinced but he squeezed her hands and nodded. "I trust you Oswin. You're my companion, my impossible girl…"

It took her a second to realise what he was doing when she felt the whisper of something across her mind. The Doctor had not entered her mind more than a handful of times – not even after her memories had been addled by jumping into his time stream and she'd been unable to sort out for weeks what memories where hers or an echoes – waking up screaming every night remembering a thousand of your own deaths. Oddly the one who in the end had helped her to sort through those memories had been the TARDIS – the old ship and managed to dig into her mind and tidy everything away quite neatly. Why she'd done it when she'd been so spiteful to Clara in the past was still a mystery. So when she felt the unfamiliar brush of his alien mind her first instinct was to recoil, build up those mental walls to block her mind from him, but when a name she'd once forgotten flitted through her she was too stunned to continue building those walls and heard herself let out a small "Oh…" sigh involuntarily.

She looked up and saw his meaningful look, the reason why he'd brought that name to the forefront of her mind when all other times he demanded she forgot it. "I do trust you." He insisted, leaning forward to press a brief kiss to her temple. Not once since regenerating had he kiss her head like his old face – but he did keep stealing these almost possessive kisses.

Clara smiled, turning her hands against his chest to squeeze his fingers before she took a step back scared by the sudden desire she'd had to stand up on her tip-toes and kiss him. "I trust you too." she cleared her throat. "Cup of tea?"

He took a step back too, half turning to face the console he smiled too. "A cup of tea would be lovely Oswin."

Weeks went by since that argument about trust and while the Doctor surely was not the same as he once had been, the one with the answer to any problem, he was getting better – but only with her as his moral compass she realised as she lay on her back in the middle of a carpet in the library in front of a roaring fireplace. The Library had many little nooks like this but this one in the far left corner was by far her favourite – probably because the shelves that hid her from the view of anyone else was filled with her favourite books.

She was pointedly avoiding the Doctor after yesterday she'd realised he enjoyed arguing with her. She'd thought he was just honestly that disagreeable this time around but in the middle of an argument she'd noticed his eyes where alight and his lips kept twitching at the corners as if he was holding back a grin and it hit her that he'd deliberately baited her into arguing. Once she'd realised he enjoyed it she'd promptly shut up and left the console room and hadn't seen him since.

She rolled her eyes knowing he was probably sitting in the console room waiting for her to come ask him what planet they'd head too next because she was bored in the TARDIS. Usually it took a few hours – she wasn't ashamed to admit that – but today she was determined to stick out her waiting game.

As If summoned by her thoughts Clara heard the Doctor enter the Library and though she was inclined to completely ignore her presence, the sound of him stumbling and tripping over suddenly and a sudden burst of melodic alien language bursting forth from his mouth made her sit up just to peer over the short bookshelf and see he'd tripped over his own bootlaces.

"What language was that?" she asked, a slight smug grin graced her face when she realised he'd jumped obviously not knowing about her hiding place.

He gave her an irritated look. "So you're talking to me again?"

Now it was her turn to be irritated. "Well now I'm not" and she lay back down again on her belly this time trying to focus on the book in front of her and ignore him.

Of course he couldn't just leave it at that. A slight smug grin tugging his lips as he selected a random book from the shelf and invaded her nook. He had to stop at first, something about the sight of Clara lay on her front in front of a roaring fire on an ancient looking rug was just so domestic that it made him pause, remember that in his life had no real place for domesticity – they didn't tend to hold up well in the run-for-your-life style he inflicted upon himself. He shook himself from those thoughts and pulled a pillow onto the floor joining her on the floor close enough that she had to move over to make room for her – an irritated from on her face as she was clearly annoyed with him still.

Eventually her temper got the better of her – as it always did. "Excuse me but are you trying to sit on me?"

He was momentarily smug that he'd been able to draw out that snapping anger from her again, revelling in the spark it brought to her face – the fire in her eyes when she was truly angry was something he shamelessly enjoyed. "Not my fault if someone is taking up all the space." He retorted without looking at her preferring to concentrate on the book in his hand – he'd read the novel before so it took him half the usual time to skim the page and turn to the next one.

"All the space?" she scoffed "There's a whole library – no wait a whole ship and you choose to sit with me, so I think this has more to do with you wanting some company."

"Or perhaps I was trying to bait you into talking to me."

She turned her head to actually look at him now as she glared – her stare was hard and accusing. "Well I'd be happier to talk to you if you didn't always try baiting me into an argument."

She watched his face carefully but if he was surprised she'd figured out what he was doing during all those arguments he didn't show it, instead he favoured her maybe a second long sideways glance before her turned back to reading impossibly fast through his book. "It's not my fault if you're too sensitive to have a conversation without snapping at me."

"At what point of a conversation with you pointing out all my apparent flaws was I supposed to enjoy speaking with you and not argue to defend myself?" she had completely abandoned her book now, whole attention on him as she tapped a finger moodily on the floor.

"I didn't know you'd take offence to being called a control freak since you are one."

He glared and bit her lip refusing to have the same argument with him. However a part of her could not resist having the final word. "You're an ass."

"I thought I was rude?"

"You're a rude ass."

"Now that's offensive."

"No that is the truth – how was I supposed to know you'd take offence?" she retorted with a raised eyebrow, satisfied when he finally put the book down to glare at her. She eventually sighed looking at the ground before she looked up at him again. "Why did it become so hard to talk to you?"

"I changed."

"I know that. But… you're my best friend still. It shouldn't be this hard just to have a conversation." She released a sigh again that sounded genuinely sad, surprising him.

If he was honest he had noticed his grumpiness, his callousness and the ease of which he threw insults now but he hadn't thought much else had changed. Now that she pointed it out he could see it, the way he pushed her away with every word that came out of his mouth. "I… I'm sorry." The words sounded hollow and ghost like in his mouth – and he saw her frown like an apology was the last thing she expected. He looked away from her, finding her wide brown eyes painful when he realised he'd actually hurt her feelings. "I don't know why I do that. Guess I really am a cankerous old git this time around…"

He moved to stand but she grabbed his hand keeping it on the floor. He looked at her then, surprised especially when he found her expression to be a soft smile. "It's okay. You might be a cranky old git by your my cranky old git." She laughed – seeing him smile too – so she carried on "just if you want to have a conversation why don't you try actually talking rather than just baiting me into an argument?"

His turn to smile now, though it was only on his face briefly. "Because you're a rather formidable opponent during any kind of debate." He watched her take the compliment with surprise and then added "And I'm not entirely sure what to talk about."

She considered that. "Why don't you try asking me a question?"

He frowned, going quite, finally he asked quietly. "If you could see any musician in human history in concert, who would you see?"

She smiled and answered without hesitation "Mozart. I especially liked Requiem."

She could see her answer intrigued him – he'd obviously not pegged her for a classical fan, and though she usually wasn't there was a particular part of her that was fond of that singular piece of music – and she wasn't going to tell him that she had the vague suspicion that one of her echo's had been involved with Mozart somehow.

The TARDIS landed them in a strange new city on one of the several new earths. Clara had promptly teased him about his inability to calculate exactly which new earth this was and now he wasn't talking to her – though he seemed to have gotten his own brand of petty revenge by accidentally spilling some modern aged juice drink all over her jacket completely ruining the white clothing and forcing her to bin it. Now she was left walking around in just her loose white shirt and red skirt.

"I feel under dressed." Clara hissed at the Doctor as she noticed more than a few looks from their peers and how this age seemed to have regressed into Victorian clothing again.

"Yes well you are a bit." He seemed amused. "They probably assume your some kind of… physical worker."

"You mean they think I'm a prostitute?" she was horrified.

He was more amused than horrified and guided her with a hand on the small of her back into a building called 'ye olde pub' which ironically turned out to be something like a cross between a nightclub and a pub from her time. "Tsk, a completely new planet and we still haven't learned that putting an 'e' on the end of words doesn't make them old style?" she asked dryly as she sat in the booth he steered her too. He seemed amused by her assessment though.

There was some yelling form near the bar and they barely had much time to react before one man punched another prickly green looking fellow who – if they had been in her time – Clara would have assumed was on steroids. The man the green one punched was sent flying backwards, tripping through several chairs and causing a bar fight to erupt in which she saw he got punched several more time's by completely different people.

Clara edged as far into the wall as she could casting a look to the Doctor as she worried her lip and was startled for just a second to see he was no longer sitting opposite her – until she felt him slide into the seat beside her, placing himself between her and the increasingly violent fight. Even sitting beside him she could see his blue eyes where train on the fight as if he could see every single movement a second before it happened – maybe he could, she didn't know much of what he could or couldn't do. She saw his lips moving briefly, if she hadn't been staring intently she would have assumed it was a twitch until she realised he was mouthing words – mouthing predicted movements of the fight he was watching. His concentration was amazing, captivating Clara into focusing on him instead of the fight which meant she jumped and screamed just a little when a man was thrown onto his back on their table.

He groaned a little, eyes closed looking stunned. The force of which he hit the wood table would probably have winded him. The Doctor had moved a hand briefly to settle on the small of Clara's back, and he just watched the man on the table with an amused smile – eyes flicking at Clara just once to check she was not too shocked. "Hello Jack. More than a thousand years since I've last seen you and you still cannot go into a bar without causing a fight?"

The man on the table suddenly snapped his eyes open – they were blue just like the Doctors but while the Doctors where cold as ice, this man had warm baby blues, they sought out the Doctor and focused on him with confusion and unrecognition but there was a curiosity there still. When his eyes found Clara peering at him with wary frown that curiosity lit up completely and he gave a flirty wink and smile. "Well, you know me but I am at a loss for who you are – but I think your friend is rather gorgeous." He had a brash American accent, which surprised Clara since by this time in the future most accents had been diluted.

Still she frowned a bit more worried as the man – Jack's – gaze raked her up and down as he sat up on their table the bar fight seemingly forgotten behind him and she remembered the Doctors earlier comment on her apparently provocative dress. "Uh Doctor I assume you know him?" she asked eyeing the stranger once more before flicking her gaze to the Doctor. She'd barely noticed the hand on the small of her back move to drape around her shoulders possessively until she saw the Doctors set jaw and challenging glare aimed at Jack.

Jack stopped his appraisal of Clara (apparently he'd not noticed the Doctors glare) to look at the Doctor now with surprise and delight. "Doctor? Well isn't this just delightful how long has it been since I last saw you?" Jack slid into a seat opposite the Doctor and Clara relaxed a bit, she'd begun to feel uncomfortable under Jacks stare.

"Sometime in the twenty-first century with my tenth regeneration." The Doctor replied and Clara raised her eyebrows at the amount of time passed between the pair – which was when her memories of Jack Harkness returned – though she remembered him as a young adult about to be shot for his cockiness before he echo had intervened, thankfully enough time had passed and the contact between them had been so brief that she doubted he remembered the echo.

Jack didn't fail to catch the Doctors words and asked "So which regeneration is this? Don't tell me I missed a pretty face of yours!"

"My twelfth – but you're lucky not to have met the previous idiot I was. The man wore a bow tie and couldn't walk past a fez without donning the ridiculous head ware." Was the Doctors dry reply – and he didn't look at Clara as he said it, after their conversation in the library he'd become aware that it hurt her when he insulted his past self – but he couldn't seem to help it, some part of him hated the bow tied boy for getting Clara's heart in a way he was sure he never could, even if she told hit it wasn't true. It was a complicated kind of hate, and he tried not to dwell on it too much.

"Yes he replaced that face with this grumpier version." Clara quipped him unexpectedly drawing Jack's attention back to her.

Jack smiled at her, noting her irritation with the Doctor for insulting his past face he made the assumption that she'd travelled with the past face as well as the new one. "Well" he said trying to make a light joke of it. "Regeneration is a gamble – maybe something isn't quite what it was and he's feeling a bit mad about it." Jack looked down at the table where underneath was undoubtedly the Doctors crotch before he looked back and Clara with a wink – and was rewarded with her amused smile.

The Doctor of course was not so amused – he wasn't sure he managed to suppress the blush as he practically growled and turned to Jack with a furious expression. "For your information everything about this regeneration in perfectly fine – better than just fine in fact!"

"I'd like to see that." Jack's gaze lingered in the southern regions flirtily before he raked his gaze back up to the Doctors. Clara had to give the Doctor credit, his furious glare remained unwavering and she knew if it had been her she'd have either slapped Jack, flirted back and faked uninterested or become a puddle under those baby blue's. She'd like to think she could remain as indifferent as the Doctor but knew it was a lie.

"Well as lovely as it was to see you again Jack." The Doctor said moving to leave "I promised dear Oswin here I would show her something amazing or something exciting and since you are neither we really should be going."

Clara thought she could argue that in some ways Jack probably was exciting, and a man who came back to life was defiantly amazing, but she kept her mouth shut knowing the Doctor would not like her input and that she'd only increase Jack's already enormous ego.

"Wait!" Jack called behind them as they tried to get through the now calm crowed of people. "I can show you something. There's something going on around here, bodies showing up after they've been… dissected."

That made the Doctor stop and turn on his heel – a suspicious glint in his eye. Clara had accidentally walked into his back and remained pressed against him as larger people moved around them and she tried to avoid touching someone while there was still hostility in the air fearing she could accidentally cause another fight – the Doctor didn't have such qualms as he stood in the middle of two tables blocking the pathway between the two tables.

"Why should I care if someone is going around dissecting others?" the Doctor asked – the dare was clear in his voice, he was daring Jack to get him interested.

"Well I'm pretty sure it is some alien race dissecting humans – searching for a biological weakness." Jack shrugged, but he looked a little smug seeing the obvious intrigue on the Doctors face – so he continued. "I have heard threats on these streets – not all species are happy that humans are advancing. They'd rather banish us to our home planet, and are quite happy to wipe the humans that 'escaped' earth off their planets."

By the time Jack had stopped talking the Doctor had returned to his seat opposite Jack – dragging Clara with him.