The next time everyone awoke was to the sound of bloodcurdling shrieks.
Clara was screaming in her sleep, and the Doctor had absolutely no idea what to do about it.
A whirlwind of activity surrounded her as Jenny and Vastra attempted to restrain her, while convincing Strax to put-the-grenade-launcher-AWAY. Clara thrashed in her sleep, obviously in the throes of some nightmare. Her face shone with sweat, wisps of dark hair curling against her face from the moisture.
Clearly Clara was NOT recovering from the events at Trenzalore. For a while she'd seemed to function, there hadn't been time for deep examination while dealing with the Daleks and Zygons, much less his darker self. He'd allowed himself to believe that she might survive the leap into his timestream unscathed.
And then the unspeakable had happened, and he'd lost his Souffle Girl again... no.
The Doctor gamely waded into the fray, and gathered Clara up into his arms. She immediately quieted down, though her slight body still shook.
"Doctor," Vastra spoke into the sudden silence, "She cannot continue this way." It was true. Clara hadn't spoken to anyone since...since returning to the TARDIS, and it didn't appear she'd been eating, either. The Doctor himself was a bit unsure how much time had passed, since he'd been wasting an unusual amount of time in sleep himself, but she'd clearly lost weight she couldn't afford to lose.
"I know." The Doctor wiped his face with one hand.
"What's wrong wi' 'er, Doctor?"
The Doctor didn't know. What damage had he caused? Leaping into his grave, scattering herself along all his timelines. He hadn't gotten a straight answer out of her, over what exactly happened to her before she had found her way back to him, what she remembered, if her mind had been as broken as her body... The realization came unwilling to him, but he couldn't fight it. He was a danger to her. He would take her home, to the Maitlands. But first-
"Strax, fetch the memory worm." It would take a bite, he was afraid. Thousands of lifetimes gone in an instant, but no human brain could handle...
The Doctor was unprepared for the blow across his cheek. He was even less prepared when he realized it was Jenny's hand that dealt the blow, or the sudden fury that flashed across her face.
"Oi- what are you doing?!"
"No! Y' can't take away 'er mem'ries Doctor! It's 'er choice, Doctor! 'Ers!" Color rose in her cheeks but she stood her ground, chest heaving. Vastra stared at her in amazement.
"Jenny-"
"No!" Jenny stepped away from both of them. "Don't y' see, Doctor. Her mem'ries, you said it yerself, 'er stories, they're ev'ry thing she has, ev'ry thing she will be!"
"But she'll die. Again," the Doctor barely choked down the sob that threatened to break through. "I can take her home, she can live a normal life..." Without me, went unsaid.
"That's 'er choice, then, i'nn't?" Jenny stared the Doctor and Strax down. "Li'l human girls, nice to keep as pets, but can't think for themselves... well, we don' need protectin' and we got a right to make our own decisions- don' cheapen 'ers."
"Oh Jenny," breathed Vastra. The Doctor averted his eyes, and studied the face of the now quiet Clara. She lay so very still.
Vastra's voice startled him from his reverie. "There is something further to consider, Doctor." She and Jenny seemed to have resolved whatever tension was between them. "Returned to the Maitlands, with no memories of what has transpired will leave Clara particularly defenseless." That the Doctor's enemies could hardly be unaware of Clara's existence was left unsaid.
"Very well." The Doctor gently laid Clara back down, and stroked the hair out of her face. "Strax! Put the memory worm away!"
"What memory worm, sir?"
A/N Prompts and reviews are very welcome. Jenny's voice is hard to capture for us American folks, I tried to give enough of the dialect to get the flavor yet still have it intelligible. The next update might take a bit of time as I need to do some research on a few classic Who characters.