DAY SEVENTY-SIX

Clara

A TARDIS Breakfast II

Clara and Oswin had been sat for about an hour watching property shows and waiting for anybody to return, the former of them being very careful to monitor her sister's state and how she was doing. Clara had already been trying to figure out where she even stood on helping Oswin, because they technically weren't sisters, so Clara was at a loss to if she had any solid authority as a caregiver (which she so direly needed), and she didn't know if Oswin was even able to decide what was best for herself or if Clara was going to have to do things on her behalf. One thing she decided though was that Oswin should not be left alone, somebody was going to have to stay with her, be that herself or Adam Mitchell, whenever he decided to wake up and come looking for her. If Oswin was allowed to be on her own, no doubt they would all be in for another one of her apathetic slumps where she didn't move or speak for days on end – and they weren't healthy. But at least Oswin was making quips about the amount of money the people on Escape to the Country had to spend, and even remarked some weird things about the geographical locations of some of the houses Clara didn't understand the relevancy of. Which was only a good sign, as the anxious waves swept over Oswin repeatedly, though they were weaker with every tide.

Thankfully, it was about then that the Eleventh Doctor's quiet knock sounded through the room, announcing his return, but when he opened the door, the Tenth Doctor pushed past him first to fawn over Clara's sister, though Oswin tried to ignore him initially when he asked her if she was alright.

"She's fine, it's all fine," Clara told him firmly, standing up and shaking a little from being sat in one position for so long, having to steady herself on the side of Oswin's bed. Eleven walked in holding something then, which Clara could only presume was the infamous 'spare leg'. What it looked like was a bunch of sticks with balls stuck on them, but apparently it was a leg. Clara remembered what Oswin had said about it being incomplete due to lack of resources. There was one ball on the end about the size of an orange and coated in some sort of gripping material, like rubber possibly, then there was just a long, metal rod going up to another, larger ball, which Clara assumed worked like a knee. Then a shorter rod, and the bit on the top was like a bowl, but it was uneven inside and filled with something that looked like goo. Eleven passed it to Oswin, and then he trapped Clara's shoulder and handed her a coffee and she smiled graciously at him.

"How does it work?" Eleven asked, crossing his arms, "What's the goop?"

"The 'goop' is sort of like glue, it just moulds and sticks," Oswin said to him, "There are animatronics in the rod-thing." Clara didn't really know how that wasn't painful if it was stuck to her, or how it stayed on in the future, but maybe three-thousand years in the future they'd made some huge advancements in artificial limbs.

"You don't need any help to stand up?" Clara asked, not knowing if she was being too intrusive or patronising. Oswin had been grimacing for the last hour though, and her expression didn't change, so Clara still couldn't tell.

"You don't forget how to walk," Oswin said, pulling herself to her feet, ignoring the Tenth Doctor who was standing by awkwardly, as though waiting to catch her if she fell. Oswin sat back down on the end of the bed though, staring at the floor where she'd spent the last five hours or so. "You should probably go get…" Oswin waved her hand instead of saying a name, in the direction of the opposite wall.

"Adam?" Clara suggested, and Oswin nodded, "Okay, we'll go get him, the Tenth Doctor will stay." Oswin wasn't looking as Clara pulled Eleven out of the room with her and shut the door, and as soon as she did, she left the coffee mug hovering in the air and threw her arms around his neck to hug him, which was a habit that had not yet failed to make her feel better.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, hugging her back.

"I am fine," she said firmly once she'd let him go, but he bent down a little and moved his hands to her waist, "Just tired, and hungry." She smiled and pushed his hands off her, and he straightened up.

"You can't go back to bed, it's the morning, and Rose is looking for your sister, I'm not sure why," Eleven told her, "And you won't guess what the Tenth Doctor's done."

"Tell me after I send Adam Mitchell into her room," Clara said, going over to his door, thankful that it was only the next one along on the right. She knocked loudly, in case he was asleep, and she really didn't want to go in (she was convinced his room smelt bad, even though she'd never been into his room). When he didn't answer after a few seconds, she kicked the door.

"Whaaat?" he groaned when he opened the door, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Then he noticed it was Clara and the Doctor there, and apparently didn't know what to think, "What's going on?"

"It's complicated," said Clara, "But you're gonna go spend the day with your girlfriend, and under no circumstances leave her."

"Why? What's happened?" he asked seriously then, waking up straight away.

"Her leg, it, um… Fell off..?" Clara said, not knowing how to concisely explain what happened. She looked at the Doctor, and he just shrugged, "Whatever. She has a fake leg. Don't ask her about it, don't make a huge fuss, she's in a really bad state right now. She'll tell you about it on her own."

"Thanks," he said, shutting the door and pushing past both of them into the next room. Clara sighed, and started heading back to her own bedroom. If she wasn't allowed to go to sleep, the least she could do was fix her hair and face and get dressed.

"What did the Tenth Doctor do?" she asked him, yawing slightly.

"He went out to Sarah-Jane's house yesterday and tried to steal K-9, only, Luke wouldn't let him take K-9 to fix because he didn't believe he'd bring him back. So now Luke Smith is staying on the TARDIS – apparently temporarily," Eleven told her, seeming annoyed about this. Clara was quite surprised as she searched through her wardrobe for anything to wear, "Half of your clothes are on the floor, Coo."

"Yeah, I know, I'll wash them later…"

"You always say you'll wash them later, and you never have," he said. She said nothing in her own defence then, since he was right, "Shall I do it, then?"

"No," she said, "I will do it later. Today. But after I have breakfast and find out what Rose wants Oswin for," he sighed behind her, "Promise," she added.


Rose, Tentoo and Martha were sat at one of the large, bean-shaped tables, the one closest to the kitchen on the left-hand side when Clara walked in with her coffee, completely exhausted but unable to sleep.

"Oh, Clara?" Rose called over, and Clara drifted towards the two girls as her husband went off to the kitchen to make her breakfast since she was still incapable of cooking. She'd tried to learn, but it was impossible. She thought that her refraining from cooking was undoubtedly for the greater good. "Where's Oswin? I have to talk to her."

"About what?" Clara asked, glancing around the room for either River or Nine (who'd probably tell her Clara had been saying anything about her, if it came down to it, though she was trying to be the bigger person in the hologramic feud).

"She said she wanted to look at the dimension cannon at Torchwood whenever I went back to get Tanya," Rose explained, which made sense.

"Oh, okay," Clara said, "I don't think she's coming out today."

"Why..?" Martha asked. Clara hadn't managed to spot either of Niver as she examined the room, and she knew Rose and Martha were definitely going to find out what was going on at some point, just like everyone else on board the TARDIS. And if they found out beforehand, it would save her sister from any horrifically awkward, unpleasant questions. So Clara sighed, and explained as best she could about the loss of Oswin's left leg, repressed memories and biologically locked computer viruses.

"No way," said Rose, disbelieving.

"Yes way," said Clara, "I've been in her room with her all night trying to get her to calm down. It was so bad the emotional link woke me up."

"Well then, what should we say when we see her?" Martha asked, "Should we ask if she's alright?"

"I don't know," Clara shrugged, "I guess… I don't think you should stare at it or anything? I mean, it's really weird, she said it was half-finished. It works, but it doesn't look like a leg. But then if you act like it's not there, she'll just know I told you not to ask, and that might be worse…" Clara thought for a few moments, "I'll get back to you." The Doctor sat down next to her then, sliding a plate of toast in front of her, which she welcomed gratefully.

"River though," Tentoo wondered, "River. I wouldn't expect it."

"I don't think she's gonna leave her room today, so… Be tactful."

"I'm going to sort out everything with Tanya today though," Rose said, "I don't know if there'll be another chance to go visit home and Torchwood."

"Well then… Then I'll go," Clara said.

"Will you?" Eleven asked her, puzzled.

"Yes, if there's anything important, she can project. You know, astral-ly. It's complicated," Clara said. She didn't actually understand it. Although she could do it, but, it was weird, "Or if she wants to be really weird she can search my memories."

"But you don't know what you're looking for," Rose pointed out, "Or what Oswin's looking for, specifically."

"That's true…." Clara sighed.

"Take Luke," Eleven suggested.

"Sorry?" Rose frowned.

"Luke Smith."

"Bit random," Rose commented.

"No, he's on board," Eleven pointed out with a mouthful of toast, "Tenth Doctor brought him while he fixes K-9. Luke wanted to make sure nobody nicked him. I don't think he has much else to do. Plus he's a genius."

"We know a lot of geniuses. What level of genius? Are we talking Adam Mitchell genius, Time Lord genius, Oswin genius..?" Rose asked.

"Why does she get her own category!?" Tentoo demanded of his wife, but Clara thought it was a little funny.

"Oswin level," Eleven admitted to her, begrudgingly, "He might be the smartest boy in all of time and space. Although, technically he was grown as an archetype of perfection by the Bane, so I don't know if he technically counts in the 'human' category…"

"And here I was thinking it was just going to be a quiet visit home…" Rose said. Tentoo didn't look too bothered by these additions to he and Rose's party though.

"Can I come? I've never seen the Torchwood on your world," Eleven said, "Don't you still use Canary Wharf for it?" Rose nodded at that, but didn't accept his plea.

"Are you two going through one of your phases where you refuse to be separate?" Rose asked them.

"We've just been apart for six days, give us a break," Clara said defensively, "And anyway, he's clever too. He can look at the cannon-thingy."

"'Cannon-thingy', great, I have so much faith in your ability to tell your sister what's important," Rose grumbled, "Fine! I can't really stop you. It's not like either of you are gonna break anything."

"I don't know about that, Clara hasn't slept. She's weird when she hasn't slept," Eleven told Rose.

"I won't touch anything," Clara said, "Properly or telekinetically. No superpowers. I'll be careful. And - you're all forgetting that before I got banned from computers two and half months ago, I was basically a computer genius. And am. If I'm allowed to use any. A privilege of being downloaded by wifi."

"Well, this should be fun…" Rose grumbled.

"I'll go find Luke…" Tentoo offered, getting to his feet and loping off.

"Oh, yeah, I'll go let Oswin know about all this," Clara said, snatchinng the last slice of toast out from her husband's fingers, to his obvious annoyance. She was sure he slid off to make himself more though, as she went to tell Oswin what was going on.

The Tenth Doctor had been evicted from Oswin's room in the last forty minutes, it seemed, but Clara was just counting her lucky stars at the fact she hadn't walked in on anything "private." He was just muttering quietly to her on the bed, holding her hands, as she stared at the floor. But they both looked up when the door opened.

"Rose is going home to visit and sort Tanya out today, and I'm going too, with the Doctor, to see the dimension cannon - do you want me to tell you when we find it so you can, y'know, project yourself and look at it?"

"I'm not an invalid, Clara," she said coldly, "I can walk fine to come look at it."

"No, you're staying on the TARDIS," Clara said, "Until you calm down, and get out of your slump. Don't argue with me."

"You're not my mother."

"No, you're right, because unlike your mother I'm actually really worried about you. And I'm not gonna let my favourite daughter run herself into the ground just to be unnecessarily defiant," Clara said, and couldn't tell if she quite got a weak, flicker of a smile from Oswin at the 'favourite daughter' line or not, "Stay with Adam, listen to what he says, if you need me to come back just ask. Okay?" No response. "Oswin. I said okay?"

"Fine," Oswin snapped, and Clara knew that was the best she was going to get, and shut the door on her way out.