Chapter 4
Danny and Clara were frozen for a moment, staring at the unmoving Doctor on the ground. They didn't even hear the boy drop the gun, or how his boots clattered against the forest floor as he ran away. Finally, Clara squeezed the fabric of Danny's shirt, and they both seemed to come back to life.
Clara was the first one to stumble over to the Doctor, praying as she dropped painfully onto her knees beside him. She knew immediately that he was in a bad way.
The Doctor's eyes were staring up, a glaze covering his irises as they darted back and forth across her face. His breathing came in short gasps that half gurgled in his throat as he moaned in pain. Clara touched a palm to his cheek as Danny inspected the bullet wound, a growing red spot on his upper chest.
"Doctor. Doctor, look at me."
Clara tapped his cheek to try and rouse him, but he was already going into some form of shock, practically hyperventilating. Danny unbuttoned his shirt and carefully peeled away the ruined fabric, earning a quick, pained gasp from the Doctor. Danny looked up at Clara.
"I don't think it hit anything major, but we need to see if there's an exit wound."
"Right."
Clara and Danny strategically placed their hands on the Doctor's body and turned him onto his side, just enough so that Danny could see his back, where he found a hole in his jacket just smaller than the one in the front. When they lowered him onto his back again, Danny let out a breath. "That's a relief. But he's losing a lot of blood. We need to get him somewhere safer."
Clara glanced around them, searching for someone, anyone, as Danny pulled off his tie and worked the Doctor out of his coat. Clara turned back to him with tears in her eyes. "Everybody's gone! They won't be back for another bloody month and now-"
Danny touched her arm gently. "Hey, don't panic. It's gonna be fine. I swear to you, Clara."
Her tears stopped for the moment. Satisfied, Danny ripped a piece of fabric off of the Doctor's coat and gritted his teeth. "He's not gonna like this."
Clara took the Doctor's hand in her own, though she wasn't sure he was aware of anything at this point, as Danny pressed the makeshift bandage onto the Doctor's wound. The Doctor screamed, and the sound shuddered through Clara's every nerve. Firmly, she held down his good shoulder as she kept her hand in his.
"It's alright. It's alright, Danny's taking care of you. We're both here."
The Doctor's eyes seemed to focus on her for a moment and she smiled, new tears falling down her face. "Hey. We've got you."
Danny pressed another piece of fabric to the exit wound on the Doctor's back. This time, the Doctor simply groaned, closing his eyes again. Danny turned to Clara with something like fear in his eyes, but he pushed it down instantly.
"We have to get him to one of the caves. It's getting dark."
Clara dreaded their next task. She pushed the thought away and instead watched Danny wrap his tie around the two pieces of fabric, already soaked through. He knotted it tightly and then raised himself to his knees.
"I think I can carry him. You lead the way; you can use your phone as a flashlight."
Clara reluctantly let go of the Doctor's hand and jumped to her feet, fumbling to turn on her phone flashlight with shaking fingers. When she finally managed it, she watched Danny with anxious eyes. "Be careful with his…"
Injury. Clara's voice failed her when she tried to say it. The Doctor didn't get injured. He was never the one who got hurt or needed care. He was always the strong one; the stubbornly hard one. But now he was so vulnerable, as Danny shifted him awkwardly over his shoulder. Clara closed her eyes as the Doctor cried out again. When she opened them and shone her light on the two men in her life, the Doctor was hanging like a ragdoll over Danny's shoulder, hardly making a sound. Danny stated simply, "We need to hurry."
Clara lit and led the way to the closest empty cave she could find, still well over two hundred feet away. It was difficult enough for her in the darkness, she had no idea how Danny managed it while lugging around a full grown Timelord. But when they had made it inside and Danny had the Doctor laid out on the ground, it was all too real to be her imagination.
"Clara, I need some help."
Clara knelt on the opposite side of the Doctor and realized she could see him almost as clear as day. One glance upward told her why: the cave was filled with glowing blue and white diamonds. She threw away the distraction as soon as she could. The Doctor needed her to focus.
Danny pulled off the remaining layers the Doctor wore above the waist and looked at the wound in the light of the diamonds. The bullet had entered just below his collarbone, luckily missing any major organs and arteries. Still, the Doctor had lost a lot of blood and he was eerily silent. Danny knew even from his limited experience with the Doctor that this was beyond abnormal.
"Try to bring him round. He should stay awake as long as he can."
Clara ran a hand through the Doctor's hair and his head tilted toward her palm, face creasing in pain.
"Can you hear me? Don't talk; just nod."
The Doctor's head nodded, ever so slightly, and it was one of the best sights Clara had ever seen. She left a palm on his cheek as she looked over to watch Danny. He was just pressing another ripped piece of his shirt onto the Doctor's chest. The Doctor grunted low in his throat. Danny turned to the Doctor's face as he held the shirt down.
"Just a little bit longer, and then we'll stitch you up and you can rest."
The Doctor opened his eyes under heavy lids. Danny ruffled his hair with one hand while keeping one hand firmly on the staunch. Clara smiled at the small action. Of all the situations that could've brought those two men closer, this would not have been her choice. But now that they had it, she was going to appreciate what little good came out of it.
Danny lifted the red once-white shirt off of the Doctor's chest and noted the much slowed bleeding with a smile. "That's better. Now, ugh, Clara; do you still carry that needle and thread in your purse?"
Clara cleared her throat and gave him a playful smirk. "What respectable person doesn't carry a needle and thread, Mr. Pink?"
Danny eyed her curiously. "Literally everyone except you, I think."
Clara slowly lifted the Doctor's head enough to grab her purse. "Sorry, Doctor, I need to borrow your pillow."
"It's not comfortable anyway," the Doctor groaned, just barely discernable. Clara laughed and lightly poked his good arm.
"Oi! Your first time speaking in half an hour and it's to make some snide remark."
The Doctor's lips twitched into the beginnings of a smile as Clara passed Danny the needle and thread. Then she took the Doctor's hand again, sobered and serious. "You can squeeze my hand if you need to."
He didn't respond verbally, but a moment later, Clara felt her fingers being crushed beneath the Doctor's tight hold. She didn't dare watch Danny work, queasy as she could be sometimes, so instead she stared at the Doctor. His face was still very pale, but at least his eyes were more focused, gazing between she and Danny every so often, when he wasn't simply resting with his eyes closed.
Danny finished up and tossed away the needle, guessing correctly that Clara wouldn't want it back. Then he covered the wound in what little fabric he had left and looked around the space for what seemed like the very first time. Letting the tension leave his shoulders, he rested against the cave wall. Clara joined him, with the Doctor lying on the ground between them.
"Danny?"
"Yeah?"
He looked over at her and his eyes shone brightly in the light of the diamonds. Clara swallowed. "Thank you."
Danny smiled bashfully and looked down, somewhere in between the Doctor's shoulder, now layered in makeshift bandages, and his own leg. "We have to watch over him all night; make sure he's okay."
Clara nodded. "I can take first watch. You've already done so much."
Danny waited until she had assured him three times before letting himself doze off, burying his head in his arms. Clara watched over the two of them sleeping side by side with a smile and a few tears, the shock of the day's events setting in. Softly, she gave them each a kiss on the head. "My boys."
