A/N: Wow, 46 followers already! Thanks to all!

Enjoy this chapter of The Cracks In Time!

Chapter 7

Interlude: Bookshelves

I didn't know what was happening. My mind went blank as I realized that I was no longer in the Valliant. I was falling through the sky, the foggy mist blocking my line of vision from all angles. Right then I thought I was really going to die. My family would never know, nobody that I knew would. I was so scared, but I knew that it wasn't going to be a painful death. It would end quickly. And even that thought sent shivers down my spine.

But then the TARDIS materialized and the doors flew open, catching me as I fell. I was basically crying with tears of relief when I saw the Doctor. I hugged him so tightly that I was probably suffocating him. For some reason he didn't hug me back, though, as I would have wanted him to.

"El, you alright?" the Doctor asks as he turns a couple knobs on the time rotor and looks back up at the monitor.

I quickly glance up from my distracted state, "Yeah, fine."

He turns away from the monitor and looks at me, "You don't seem alright."

I lock my gaze back down to my sonic screwdriver that I am now fiddling with in my hands. "Wow, Doctor. You know me so well," I say in mock amazement.

"Ellie, tell me what's wrong."

I sigh, "Well, for starters, I thought I was going to be killed by Missy. Again. And then, the next thing I know I'm falling through the sky, thinking that I was finally going to die. I thought my life was going to end, just like that. Doctor, I was so scared. I just… I just don't want to ever go through that experience again. To think that you're going to die any second from now…" I trail off, leaving my sentence hanging. I don't want to say anything else, I don't want to sound like a baby. I know I am being one, though, so I tuck all of my sentimental emotions away, and replace it with a forced smile. "Never mind all of my babbling, though. Go on," I gesture my hand to to door of the TARDIS. "Go get Clara, stop the Cybermen, and for everybody's sake, stop the Master."

He finally looks away from me and turns a few more knobs and pushes a few more buttons. He glances back up at the monitor. "We've landed." He eyes me again. "And Eleanor, I'm sorry. So sorry for everything that's happened. I'll be back with Clara in tow. Now you stay here, and don't touch any of the controls! Don't want you taking us to some distant planet again."

I give him a confused look, "So that's happened before?"

He grins and takes a step forward, putting his finger to his lips. "Shh… Spoilers."

"Hmm… That's an adventure I can't wait to have. Sounds very me to be playing with the console controls…" I smirk and raise an eyebrow.

"No, Ellie. You're not doing it again! Just… stay here. You can go in any room the TARDIS hasn't locked, I'll be back." He walks over to the door and opens it, stepping out. Once he closes it, I squeal excitedly. Wow, okay, where to start?

I touch the railing of the stairs in the console room and run up them, gazing at the large book case. I pull out a random book and realize that the cover is in Gallifreyan. I smile and open up the book, skimming through the pages. Nope, no translating. Why would the TARDIS, alive and all, want to translate Gallifreyan writing for me when I'm not even a Time Lord? I sigh, a little disappointed, and walk forward, taking a right. There has to be something I can do until they return, I ponder. I walk down a straight corridor and pass several doors, looking for my room. But then a thought occurs to me, once I find my room, or if I find my room, what if it's locked?

"You're being ridiculous," I say to myself. "The TARDIS wouldn't lock my own room so I couldn't get in."

All of a sudden a set of double doors catches my attention, and walk over to it with interest. The wooden doors look ancient, with beautiful carvings strewn across. I carefully pull on the handle, and my eyes widen with excitement at the sight.

The Library.

I slowly put my foot in front of the other and gaze over everything that's before me. Wow! This is amazing! Rows of bookshelves are lined up after another. The floor is shiny and clean, my shoes squeaking with every step I take. The room smells ancient, like time, and… Well, books.

I let my fingers slide against the bookshelves as I pass them, scanning the book aisles. Science fiction… Nonfiction… Romance… Wait, romance?

I quickly back-track to that aisle and stop, furrowing my eyebrows. It's gone. The romance aisle is gone. The bookshelves, everything. It's just a big empty spot in the middle of the floor.

I feign to laugh, patting a nearby bookshelf. "Seriously."

But when I turn back around, all of the bookshelves are gone. The whole Library is empty.

"I guess I'll come back… later?" I say aloud uncertainly. I don't understand why the TARDIS did that, I muse, but it had to be for a reason.

I start to turn around to exit, but realize that the double doors are also gone.

"Uh, hi, TARDIS. I kinda want to leave now..." I say to the ceiling.

Nothing.

"Can I leave now…?"

Nothing.

I stare at where the doors used to be, glaring slightly. "Fine, I'll just wait then." I drop to the floor and sit crossed legged, prepared to wait for a while.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I continue to stare at the spot where the doors had previously been, my vision starting to waver from my strained eyes. It has felt like that I've been here for hours, but I have no way of telling since time is irrelevant in space, and also because there's no clock. I even tried to look for some sort of watch or pocket watch in my dimensionally transcendental bag, but, of course, there wasn't one.

I played with my sonic screwdriver a little, trying to find a setting that could make the doors come back, but the TARDIS didn't allow that.

So I'm officially stuck in here, eating apples since they're the only food in my bag, and tugging at the leather on my vortex manipulator. This is still kind of hard to believe, being transported into one of my favorite TV shows, but all in all, it's been quite the adventure. Even though I've almost died over four times, I could say that I haven't felt this good in my entire life.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

I snap my head to the right, noticing for the first time that the set of double doors have returned. And somebody's pounding on them.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

I get to my feet in an instant, slight fear written across my features.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

I slowly walk over to the door, putting my ear up against it. The banging stops, but all of a sudden the doors barge open, causing me to stumble backwards in startlement.

I quickly glance up to see Clara Oswald standing in the doorway.

"Hello!" she greets cheerfully, pulling me into a hug. I think I stop breathing because of what shock I'm in.

She pulls back while I stumble on my words, "But… but… but..."

She grins at me, "The Doctor said this is the first time you meet me. Must be kind of strange getting hugged by somebody you don't even know."

I shake my head, "I-I kinda know…"

Clara gazes at me while smiling softly. "Know what?"

I press my lips together. "Nothing. Aren't you leaving soon, though? Because of…" I quickly trail off, telling myself to shut up.

She looks down at the ground, but then back up to me. "Yeah, I think I've had enough travelling. I mean, I love it, I really do. But he's still not like my Doctor. The Doctor I fanc-"She cuts herself off. "And Danni… I just can't anymore."

Pieces of the episode flashes through my mind, and I then remember what happened to Danni. He got turned into a Cyberman, was a dead man (literally), and had to travel to another universe with the rest of the Cybermen in control just to get rid of them. Wow, how she must feel horrible right now.

"I'm sorry," I say quietly with sad eyes. I couldn't save him. But I couldn't even if I wanted to, there was no way. It would change events, and I know I'm not an expert or anything, but I couldn't risk it. If I did, I would have no clue of what would happen next, and I don't like not knowing, just like the Doctor. I wouldn't know if something bad was about to happen, and I know the Doctor counts on me to know the things that would happen in the future.

"Yeah, me too." She looks back up at me with hope in her eyes. "But the Doctor said that the bracelet that was used to control the Cybermen could make it possible to travel from one parallel universe to the other. Maybe if Danni knows that, then he'll come home. I don't know what I'll do without him." She's on the verge of tears, and I brace her with a hug of reassurance, even though I know that he's not coming home.

"Don't stop hoping," I encouraged, speaking quietly into her shoulder. "He might already know, and he might even be trying to get home as we speak." We let go of the hug, and she gives me a small, trusting smile. Gosh, I feel so bad.

She wipes her eyes with the end of her sleeve, "Yeah, you're probably right."

I smile at her. "I know something that could get both of our minds off of things."

She giggles, sorrow wiped from her expression, "And what would that be?"

I cross my arms, "What's anything better to do than kick your feet up, relax, watch a little TV, and sip some hot steaming tea?"

She grins at me and grabs my hand, "You know, you're right. I need something to take my mind off of things."

I grin back. "Kitchen first?"

She nods and faces me, "Definitely."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I pour the contents of the tea into a mug and walk over to a Keurig single coffee maker, putting the mug under the water spout. I had one of these at home, and I never knew how much I needed one till now. I click the 10 ounce cup option, and watch as the hot water fills the cup before turning back to Clara, who's sitting on the counter next to me, her legs crossed with a book in hand. "Good book?" I ask, interrupting her from reading.

She glances up at me, "Yeah, this is my fourth time reading it in a row. Never gets old." She gets back to reading while the Keurig makes its usual gurgling sound, me turning back towards it and picking it up to bring it over to Clara.

"Here," I say, snapping her out of her thoughts of her book.

"You probably think I'm an idiot for not making my own tea," she mutters, giving me a slightly embarrassed look. "But I can't stop thinking about Danni. Reading and tea are usually the only things that help me through whatever situation, but I don't think that they'll even cover it." She puts down the book face down next to her, sliding off of the counter and standing next to me. "How's your shoulder?"

I shrug, "Fine, I guess. I haven't really been paying attention to it, I'm too used to how it hurts every single second."

Clara gives me a smile of understanding, "The Doctor could always give you a shot for that one."

I stare at her and shake my head, "No, that's okay. I don't really do needles."

She walks over to one of the three tables and sits down, "Yeah, me either. But when the Doctor brought you in when you took that bullet, he-" She's suddenly cuts off as she falls to the floor, her chair that she was sitting on vanishing from sight.

I stare at the sight of where her chair was as she gets to her knees to stare at it with me. "I forgot," I say to her. "The TARDIS doesn't like you very much… nor me, apparently."

She gets to her feet and dusts off her skirt, "I know," she mutters. "Stupid Snogbox."

I laugh, "Maybe if you would stop calling her a Snogbox, she wouldn't do those things to you."

She grins and walks over to me, "Never." She continues to stare at me, almost like she's calculating something.

"Is something wrong?" I ask.

She looks down and shakes her head, "No." She looks back up at me, "I just never noticed how young you looked out in the TARDIS's corridor, but now I can really see it."

I laugh and get out a mug and hot chocolate packet from the cabinet above me, "Like I've never heard that one before."

"No, but really. It almost looks like you don't have experience, like you can't even believe what's happening around you."

I turn to her, "Clara, this is the fifth time that I've met the Doctor. I really don't have any experience, and I still can't believe how this is even possible."

She takes a sip of tea from her mug, "Remember what the Doctor says, nothing's impossible until you can prove it to be."

I frown while putting the contents into my mug, "Yeah, and there's no way of proving it."

She sits up on the counter again. "Before I actually met the Doctor, a woman in a shop gave me a phone number that I thought was the cable companies." I nod, knowing where this is heading. "But it wasn't just an ordinary number, it was the Doctor's phone number, specifically the TARDIS's. I didn't know it then, and when the Doctor told me about how Missy had set us up, I couldn't believe it. All this time, the Master was keeping us together." She turns away, "But why? The Doctor already told me, but it still doesn't make sense. 'Cause she's perfect' as Missy said isn't enough." She looks up at me with a disbelieving look on her face. "And did she seriously call me a 'control freak' as the Doctor said?"

I laugh a little, but it dies down from the look that she's giving me. I clear my throat, "Uh, yeah, from what I can remember from the ep… I mean, from what I can remember." Once the water is done filling up my mug, I stir it around, taking small sips of it.

She stares down at her tea, "I'm going to have to have a word with him." She takes another sip of her tea before putting it down by her book. "Actually, right now. And you're coming with me."

I almost choke on my scathing hot chocolate from what she just said. I don't want to be in the middle of an argument! "Uh, I think you'll do fine without me. From what I've seen, you're pretty good with arguments."

She shakes her head, dragging me out of the kitchen with her. "I don't care, you're defending me."

I sigh, letting her drag me to the console room. "Oh, this isn't going to end well."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

We enter the console room after what felt like forever of trying to find it. I pointed out to Clara that she should know the way by now, but she said that the TARDIS keeps switching the orders of the corridors. They really need to work on their relationship problems.

She lets go of my hand and walks over to the Doctor, who's currently reading a book up on the higher level of the console room, sitting in a comfy chair.

Once he sees that she's standing right next to him, he looks up, noticing her and also me. He smiles, "Oh, so you two got acquainted then?"

Clara gives a tight smile in return, "Yeah, we most certainly got acquainted."

I play along and pull off a smile myself. "We just… talked about… stuff." Wow, nice job playing it smooth.

She glances at me, and then back to the Doctor. "We have something to discuss, Doctor."

The Doctor closes the book in his lap and stands up, stepping down the steps to the lower level, "About what, Clara? I'm far too busy to be listening to you mourn over P.E. right now."

I giggle from the Doctor's rudeness and Clara just rolls her eyes, "This isn't about Danni, Doctor. It's about Missy calling me a 'control freak'. Am I really?"

He looks at her like it's not such a big deal. "Clara, you have to get over that fact. It's just who you are, you can't help it."

She just stares at the Doctor, and I can almost see the the steam radiating off of her. The Doctor rolls his eyes, "Oh, come on Clara, don't give me that look. The other thing that I was going to mention is that you ask too many questions. It takes the fun out of everything."

She slaps her hands down on her sides, "Okay, Doctor, think what you like. I probably got the controlling part from you anyway." And with that, she storms off, probably going back to the kitchen to get her tea and book.

The Doctor leans against the console, while I stand by the stairs, thinking of what to say or do next. Not Clara, leave her to her tea and book. The Doctor, well, I don't know. I wouldn't really know what to talk about, and if I did, it would most likely result in me being embarrassingly awkward. Maybe it's the best time for the manipulator to place me somewhere else now. Wow, I never thought that I would actually say that.

But it won't listen.

Dammit, universe! Why won't you just listen to me this one time?! I'll do anything! Whoa… Maybe not anything...

"Ellie, what are you doing?"

I quickly glance up to see that the Doctor's staring at me strangely. Oh… Was I cursing to the vortex manipulator out loud?

"Let me see it." He points to the manipulator.

I walk towards him and hold up my right arm, "Why?"

He doesn't respond and holds up my arm, looking at it for something. What could he possibly be looking for? It's broken!

"It's always cracked," he explains. Well, sort of. "You've always been a paradox, even this young."

"What do you mean?"

"It means without you, the universe would die. There would be nothing if you didn't come to this universe. And you couldn't prevent it anyway, it was always meant to be. It was your destiny, and it still is."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there. My destiny? No, that can't be it. It has to be something else, something that he's missing… My eyes widen and I suddenly look down at the ground. "Bye, Doctor. See you in the past, or future. Never know which one of yourselves I'll end up with." I smile nervously. I can basically feel when it's coming now.

He looks surprised, "You're leaving?"

"Uh, yeah. Problem?"

"No, it's just usually you leave later than this."

I smirk, "Well, I think I made a bet with the universe. And I'm going to fulfil it."

The Doctor laughs loudly, "A bet with the universe? You?"

I just nod and smile before disappearing with a flash.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I land on wobbly feet, quickly putting my hands out in front of me to prepare for a painful fall, but it doesn't come. I keep my eyes closed and head down, not returning to my normal position until my breathing returns to normal. Once it does, I slowly open up my eyes reluctantly. And stare at the ground. Oh, whoops. My head is still in a lowered position. I laugh out loud at my idioticness and look up, adjusting my eyes. A… green metal wall. Wow, I didn't expect anything else, I think sarcastically. My hands that were out must have stopped me from falling and instead acted like a stand to keep myself upright on the wall. I sigh in relief and take my hands off of the wall, only to fall on the hard, dusty ground. I put my hand up to my head to relieve my lightheadedness. "This is the worst landing yet," I mutter, wincing at the occasional pain.

"Looks like you need a relief patch, love. No charge," I hear a familiar voice say.

I put my hand down and squint to see who the woman who just spoke was. Somehow she sounded familiar. And a relief patch? What's that about?

The sun is bright, surprisingly, but the woman's image is clear. A vendor lady… Oh, no... Not this episode. Gridlock, I think? The lady at the vendor with the short strawberry blond hair is motioning me towards her. Should I? Wait, maybe she has pain killers…

I slowly get to my feet with great effort, swaying a bit from dizziness, and trudge over to the vendor lady. She smiles at me briefly before taking out a patch that says 'relief' on it. I stare at it warily. "This helps with any pain you've got, emotionally or physically. No charge needed, my love. It looked like you really needed it when you landed, and I can still see that you do." She hands it to me and I cautiously take it, looking it over. I do still feel sick from the time travel, maybe this'll help.

I laugh quietly, "What could possibly go wrong?" I stick the patch on my neck and give a small thanks to the woman before heading out the door ahead of me, about to search for the Doctor.