Chapter 6: Happy to be Home

Stepping out of the blue box into the heart of London and to be greeted by gloriously sunshine felt like a dream. Although she loved travelling through time and space, she found it brilliant to be back home… almost.

Clara had been so tempted to ask the Doctor to take her back to Darchester but she knew that would only result in heartbreak and confusion on her part. After all, although the village physically existed, it wasn't real and she mentally couldn't deal with all of that on top of her recent health problems.

Clara loved London, she always had. She loved the sight of it, especially looking over it from the top of the London Eye. When she was younger, she had often visited it with her school. The entire city had so much to offer: St. Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Canary Wharf, the River Thames, The Shard, The West End… enough to keep someone happy for a lifetime, well, she thought it was enough. However, after meeting the Doctor and seeing that the entire universe was in her reach, the Earth didn't seem as big anymore.

She felt so privileged to be able to actually travel to all the planets in universe. Just to travel between the stars was enough to make any girl happy, time travel just added to the adventure. Anyone would agree that she was a lucky person, after all, she had the opportunity to see things no other humans had seen and probably never would.

"Right!" began the Doctor, snapping her attention back to him, "Fish and Chips?"

Clara, who had been looking over the Thames, turned to face him and nodded.

"Yeah." she agreed, "You go get 'em and I'll meet ya back 'ere in a few minutes."

The Doctor frowned. "Why?" he asked, "Where are you going?"

Clara shrugged her shoulders. "Just to 'ave a walk 'round." she told him, "I don't wanna wait in a queue."

The Doctor smiled and softly and nodded. He could see that she did have some ulterior agenda but he didn't bring up the subject.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" he queried.

Clara nodded. "I'll only be a few minutes." she pointed out, "I just wanna take a walk 'round the block."

The Doctor nodded once again. Part of him didn't want to leave her alone, especially as she was hiding something from him. However, London was her home so he knew she would be safe there.

"Alright." he agreed, "I'll be back here in a few minutes."

They quickly exchanged a kiss before the Doctor departed her company and headed down the street.

"Don't forget ya need money!" she called after him.

He clicked his fingers and pointed when he turned to face her. He smiled and winked as gratitude for the reminder.

"Thank-you!" he expressed, "Money…"

Clara watched as he headed towards the local high street in search of a bank. She knew he had been to London countless times before but she did wonder how many times he had actually been there and just relaxed. Probably not many times as danger always seemed to follow in his wake…

For a moment or two, Clara just enjoyed the atmosphere around her. She wasn't afraid to admit it, no matter how much she loved travelling, there was no place like home. Despite all the places in the universe, there wasn't any other place which she loved as much as London. The only exception was probably the TARDIS… that was her home now.

Clara took a deep breath before casually heading down the street parallel to the Thames. She knew exactly where she needed to go but that didn't stop her enjoying her time being back in the city.

When she reached the mouth of the high street, she followed the crowds and integrated herself into it. It was a rush and although there were people desperately trying to get past, she found the ambience quite calm. Compared to the times she had experienced with the Doctor, all the running and the hiding and the weaving between crowds, this 'rush hour' was nothing at all.

Clara smiled to herself as she began to watch what was happening around her. It was incredible to notice all the beauties of everyday life once again, beauties she herself didn't get to experience or see much of anymore. There were business people walking down the pavements, coffees in one hand, documents in the other and hands-free Bluetooth devices sticking out of their ears. There were busy mothers attempting to control their children and keep them from running away in different directions, some succeeding, some not. Then there were the 'leaflet-givers' as Clara like to call them. They were people who stood all day, every day handing out masses and masses of leaflets, only for the receivers to deposit them on the floor a few yards later.

As she walked further down the road, a sudden tremor flew down her spine, almost as if someone had dropped an ice-cube down her back. The shivering sensation was over in seconds but it made her pause momentarily as her body tensed. The feeling soon passed so she slowly continued walking. With her hand she slowly began to massage the back of her neck in the hope to relieve the muscle tension. A sigh slowly crept up on her and as her neck muscles relaxed, she slowly lifted her head.

In a split second she stopped dead in her tracks when her eyes fell onto something, a woman on the other side of the road. The road itself was slowly crawling with traffic due to the volume of vehicles on the road but she didn't notice. As soon as her eyes fell on the woman, her entire world seemed to slow down. She blinked a couple of times and even through the rest of the city was moving around her, she just paused. All the noises merged into nothing, almost as if she were disconnected from reality.

Clara watched intensely as the woman waited for a young lad to catch up to her. He was smiling wildly while carrying a small plastic carrier bag containing what looked like a hardback book. However, she couldn't keep her eyes off the woman herself. She looked near enough the same age as her and full of energy. Her smile was beaming and it only increased as she wrapped her arms around the two children she was with, the lad and a girl who appeared to be a few years older than him. She was dressed in a white blouse and black three-quarter trousers, topped by a light grey cardigan. It was nothing too spectacular but it wasn't the clothes which had caught Clara's attention, it was the woman herself. Her hair was dark brown, equal in length to her own and as for her features, they were exactly the same. Both of them, both Clara and that woman were identical in every physically aspect. Although there were hundreds of people passing them, only Clara herself noticed. Everybody else just passed without a care in the world. No-one barring Clara actually noticed and it wasn't long before her doppelgänger and the two children disappeared in the sea of people.

It took her a moment to compose herself. Not even identical twins were that similar to one another…

After her initial shock passed, she managed to reintegrate into the swarm of people and continue on her way. Had she just seen another version of herself…?

x-[]-x

The Doctor had been snacking on his chips for the past ten minutes. He was sat alone in the control room, waiting for Clara to return from their room. She had popped down in the hope to wash her hands before eating her chips. However, ten minutes was a long time to take when washing your hands, wasn't it?

On numerous occasions he had considered popping down to check if she was okay but he couldn't pull himself away from the chips. It had been a long time since he'd had some and he was rather enjoying them. Yes, it was bad to admit that he was choosing them over checking on his wife but he just couldn't help himself…

He sighed as he ate yet another one, the salt and strong tang of the vinegar making his eye sting slightly. Once the taste had passed, his gaze turned to the doorway which led off to the other rooms in the TARDIS, their bedroom included.

"Come on, Clara!" he called, "Your chips are going cold!"

After a moment he heard her mumble something back. He had absolutely no idea what she said but he went with it.

By the time she actually returned to the control room, he was on his last handful of chips. He could see her smiling, not a 'happy happy' smile but a somewhat relieved smile. He would have mentioned it but he didn't want to spoil the moment, it had been a while since he'd seen her look that genuinely happy.

"See ya didn't wait for me?" she stated referring to the almost empty chip paper in his hands.

He licked the salt off his lips and winked down at her as she retrieved hers off the little shelf on the console.

"Sorry…" he apologised as she began to lick his fingers, "Too tempting."

Clara rolled her eyes and unfolded her pack as the Doctor handed her a tiny wooden fork. She giggled as she took it off him before stabbing into one of the nicely cooled wedges. Subconsciously she blew it before placing it in her mouth. The Doctor smiled at that action and it increased into a laugh as he saw her face change as the tangy vinegar took its hold on her.

"My God…" she moaned after a moment, "'ow much vinegar ya put on these?"

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno." he admitted, "The woman did it."

Clara giggled once again before continuing with her meal. Now she had adapted to the tang, it didn't have as much affect on her face.

The Doctor sighed and leant back on the bar, just admiring her beauty… his beautiful wife, his beautiful, young and innocent wife. Subliminally, he began rub his fingers together but he didn't feel any metal on his finger which immediately caught his attention. His wedding ring… where was it?

He gulped slightly as he looked around the floor from where he was stood. It didn't take Clara long to notice.

"What's up?" she queried.

The Doctor shook his head slightly before looking in the direction of the doorway leading away from the control room.

"Back in a mo." he told her before swinging down the steps and heading towards their room.

As soon as he reached the room, he immediately dashed inside and searched the floor.

"Come on ring…" he though aloud, "Where are ya? Where've you gone?"

He searched the entire bed by jumping on it, ripping off the covers, everything. He then searched the floors and underneath the bed. To be honest, it could have been anywhere. For all he knew it could have been in London…

He actually could have killed himself. How do you lose a piece of jewellery, especially a piece as important as your wedding ring?!

"Come on… where've you gone?" he said aloud once again, "Clara's gonna kill me if I don't find you…"

His search progressed into the en-suite. The tile-like flooring in there was bright white so it shouldn't have been too hard to spot a golden band wedding ring…

"Oh, there you are!" he exclaimed as he spotted it sitting just underneath the sink.

He immediately crouched down to pick it up before forcing it back onto his finger. He sighed as he twisted around a few times until it felt right.

He released a sigh he hadn't realised he had been holding. He then raised his eyebrow and looked down at it sat comfortable on his finger.

"Don't ever do that to me again!" he warned it almost believing that it had a mind of its own.

He was about to stand up when something caught his eye, something which had fallen out of the once standing bin. He frowned slightly and reached for the crumpled and slightly ripped cardboard box. His eyes never left it and once it was in his hands, he realised there was something inside. He knew exactly what it was, it showed him clearly on the box but that didn't stop him from undoing the end and retrieving the object.

Once it had been removed and was firmly in his hand, it took him a few moments to ingest the sight of it which caused his muscles to tense. Scary… it had been a long time since he had seen one of those devices let alone have to worry about one…

He tapped it against the palm of his hand, once, twice, three times before daring to look at what it said. The muscles in his back and neck slowly relaxed when he saw what it said. Despite that, he still needed a word with his wife. Why had she kept something that important from him…?