Let's all say it together now, Doctor Who is not mine.
"Well how about that? I'm soufflé girl after all." Clara said lightly, stepping forward towards the light but the Doctor could hear the subtle wavering in her voice. She was frightened and why wouldn't she be? What she was about to do, it wouldn't just kill her once, it would kill her over and over again, millions of times as she was scattered across all of time and space never quite being real enough to grasp her situation. And all for a stupid old man. He wouldn't let her do this, he wouldn't lose his impossible girl again. Gritting against the pain, while at the same time being thoroughly reminded of River's poisonous kiss in Berlin which was not helping things at all, he reached out to Clara.
"No, please." He gasped out pathetically, the Oncoming Storm indeed. She wouldn't even look at him; she just took slow deliberate steps towards his flickering time stream. No, not his Clara. He wouldn't put her through that and not for someone like him. He was no innocent after all, maybe all this agony was punishment for everything he'd done wrong in his life. He'd muse on that later before he was horrifically killed and after he stopped Clara from making the biggest mistake of her life.
"If this works get out of here as fast as you can. And spare me a thought now and then." His shaking grasping fingers reached for her again, no Clara, you can't. But already he could feel his strength returning a little as the uncertain future became firmer the closer she got. The Dalek Asylum, Victorian London and a billion other little moments became that much safer with a guardian angel to watch over him.
"No Clara!" She probably could do it. Time could be re-written after all. River had taught him that, but the cost River had suffered for her meddling had been far too high. He wouldn't let Clara do the same, she wouldn't sacrifice her wonderful, unique self for a bitter old man like him. Not like River at the Library... He resisted the urge to look over his shoulder for the comfort only a Pond could give.
"In fact, you know what?" Clara turned to him with a smirk, it was filled with fear and false bravado but determination. Dear God she was really going through with this. "Run. Run, you clever boy. And remember me." No. But just like that she was gone and the change was felt immediately. He gasped hoarsely as the pain suddenly ended as if it had never been there and a strange sense of peace fell upon him. He staggered to his feet as Strax and Jenny were restored and they began to bicker with Vastra over something silly.
But they weren't important now, only she was important, only his impossible girl.
She had saved him, saved him time and time again without fail. He swallowed as he got his bearings about him again. How many little moments in his life had he been near death, with no hope left and suddenly things had turned his way? He'd chalked them all up to coincidence but maybe it wasn't luck but a girl from Lancaster that had saved him each and every time. The implications were, well, staggering.
Well he would return the favor. The Time Winds would have certainly ripped apart the Great Intelligence but they just might preserve Clara. They would recognize her as friend and maybe, just maybe if he was really, really lucky, it would keep her whole while her echoes worked silently throughout his time stream.
After twelve hundred years of having her there, helping him, guiding him, saving him, well he could only imagine the debt he owed her. Now the trick was to get her back in one piece so he could repay that debt. And he would if it was the last thing he did. For the first time, the Doctor would save Clara Oswald.
Okay, thought it was time to unveil this. This is a mini-series I'll have within this one-shot collection. It's called Saving the Doctor and it looks at specific moments in time with each Doctor showing Clara saving him. Some are silly, some are sad, some just are weird but in all cases Clara comes to the Doctor's aid in some way, shape or form. I've got one per Doctor and I may write more chapters for each Doctor if people like this and ideas come upon me. Hope you all are enjoying reading these as much as I do writing them. Reviews are always appreciated.