Chapter 9-March 2015

John was doing his nightly exercises, laid on the floor, doing his 50 crunches. These exercises benefited him, because he got more muscular and less flabby. He had to hand it to himself, he looked good for a man in his 40's. Most importantly, exercising helped John take his mind off things, including the fact that he was being hunted down and away from Clara for almost seven years. It was complete bliss for him. Just then, he heard a knock on the door. John got up from the floor and grabbed the towel to dry off his sweat. He opened the door to see Amy with a smile on her face. Her eyes widened as she saw John's sweaty shirtless frame.

"Well, hello there," Amy greeted, looking at John up and down. "Hope I'm not interrupting your exercises."

"Careful, Amy," John warned. "And I was just finished, so you're not interrupting anything. What's up?"

"Well, I came to give you your wallet."

Amy brought out John's wallet like a magician, making John widen his eyes in shock as he didn't know he left it at the shop.

"Oh, my God, Amy!" John whispered, throwing on his t-shirt and rushing towards her, taking his wallet willingly. He didn't realize that his life would be in absolute danger if it weren't for Amy's quick action.

"You were in such a rush that you left it there," Amy said, with a smirk.

"Thank you so much, you're my savior now," John said gratefully. "Do you know what could have happened to me?"

"I know, good thing I clean the shop all the way through."

Just then Amy's face lit up as she wanted to share something with John.

"Hey, you know while I was cleaning," Amy started.

"Yeah... " John said, urging Amy to go on.

"There was this guy that didn't know we were closed. I was about to say something harsh, but he looked really suspicious, he kinda looked like the English scarface, with that scar on the side of his face, he looked like he was out to kill somebody, so I told him nicely that we were closed..." Amy trailed off, as she saw John turning pale, his green eyes widened, having the fright of his life, as he knew that Sting was in Scotland.

"John, what's wrong? You look scared to death," Amy said, concerned.

"Amy, I have to leave Scotland, by tomorrow morning, I can't be here, he's gonna find me..." John rambled on, taking his bag, stuffing the only clothes he had for seven years in it.

"Wait, you don't mean... oh, my God," Amy whispered, as she knew what John was talking about.

"Yeah, I'm not taking any chances, I have to go back to England," John said, taking the last item of clothing and stuffing it in his bag.

"But will it be hard for you? I mean, that massacre was all over the news, and your wife! You can't hide from her," Amy said.

"Well, if I have to go through that... I don't mind it at all," John replied.

Amy, shaken by the sudden action and John's perseverance, said,

"I'll go buy you a pass to the ferry, so you'll be on your way."

"Thank you, Amy. You know, you did a really good job taking care of me," John gratefully acknowledged.

"Oh, John, stop with the sappy talk and let me get you your ticket," Amy said, with a smirk.


The next morning

John was in the clothing he wore from the first day he set foot in this café. The store wouldn't be open for another ten minutes. Amy went forward and gave John two cards.

"Here's your ticket to the ferry and your bus pass. They're both unlimited so don't worry about spending more money," Amy instructed.

"Thanks. I'll never forget you, Amy," John said, in a lower timbre.

Tears welled in Amy's eyes as she threw her arms around John into a hug. They let go of each other, John kissed Amy on the cheek.

"I'm off now," John said.

"Good luck," Amy said, with a smile.

John smiled a little as he waved to Amy going out the door. Tears rolled down Amy's cheeks as she waved goodbye to John.

As he left the store, he broke into a half run towards the bus stop. He was lucky as the bus came in under five minutes. It wasn't that long until John reached the ferry terminal with destiny to the Mersey in England. He payed his fare, went on the ferry, and was on his way to England.

Throughout this time, John did some thinking on how his friends and family would react to him being alive, most importantly, how Clara would react. All that thinking made John fall asleep on the ride.

The ferry almost reached the Mersey when John woke up. He felt like a hammer was whacking him in his skull. John rubbed his head from the pain. All of a sudden, his vision came from multicolor, to just plain red. He rubbed his eyes to get his vision back to normal. It didn't work. looked around in panic, and he froze in shock to see Sting, with blood on his face with the shovel, dripping with Sting's blood, ready to swing at John. John opened the emergency exit, and jumped out of the boat into the cold water. As John saw that he was almost at shore, he swam with all his strength, his vision still red. After twenty minutes, he reached the Mersey, stepping on English soil for the first time in seven years. He could here the chattering and laughter in English accents. It burned his ears. He felt nothing but pain. In a split second, he found his escape by blacking out.


Clara was in a rush to pick Oswin up from school. Her mind was caught in work, that she forgot that it was a clerical half day of school. She grabbed her car keys and was about to go out the door when her phone rang. She saw that it was Rory calling. She switched to her Bluetooth headset.

"Rory, what's up?" Clara greeted.

"Um, Clara... oh, God, this is going to be so hard to explain," Rory replied.

"Rory, what's wrong?" Clara asked, feeling pain in her stomach from nervousness.

"Uh, a-a-are you standing up?" Rory asked.

"Um, yes, I'm about to get in my car to pick Oswin up," Clara replied with a little chuckle.

"Well, then get in your car and sit down, 'cause this news could hit you really hard," Rory said with a shaky voice.

"Um, OK," Clara said. She rushed over to the car, opened the door, and sat down, shutting the door behind her.

"OK, Rory, what's going on? Is it Oswin?" Clara asked, her voice trembling.

"No, it's not Oswin. Um, someone found a... uh... b-b-body... by the port of the Mersey," Rory stammered.

"Well, what's that got to do with me?" Clara asked.

"Clara, I don't know how to say this but... that body was your husband's," Rory said in a low tone.

At that note, Clara then understood the meaning of "how the world stood still", because she felt herself being frozen in time at the news that John was never dead. She spent seven years of her life thinking John was dead. All Clara saw was blank space.

"Clara, are you still there?" Rory asked.

"John's alive?" Clara managed to ask.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Rory replied.

Clara thought she was going to faint at this sudden news. But she shook it off and refused to believe it.

"Rory, get off my phone with this nonsense about John being alive. I have his ashes in my house!" Clara said.

"Clara, I'm serious, he's right here next to me, we're at the hospital you work at-" Rory protested.

Clara then felt crackling on the line.

"Clara, it's Rose," Rose said through the phone.

"Rose, don't tell me you're in this," Clara said in disbelief.

"Clara, you can't afford to deny this, you've been hurting for seven years! They found John by the Mersey, all wet in that cold weather!" Rose said.

Tears welled in her eyes as she choked out,

"But how could he fake his death? I mean, that week after they terrorized the hospital, some guy in black gave me the ashes in a gold jar and I locked it in a safe. The man told me it was in his will to be cremated, for God's sake, I heard him die while I was running for my life!"

"Clara, he's not that kind of a person to fake his death. Maybe those three bums had something else planned for him and John had to save himself," Rose reasoned.

"But he should have just came back home, and then we would have called the cops, and then they would have been locked up for the rest of their miserable lives, and we would have been happy," Clara rambled through tears.

"I know, I'm sure he'll explain why he was away for so long...oh, my God, he's waking up, I'll call you back," Rose said, her words rushed.

Rose hung up the phone. Clara stared into space, tears flowing freely down her face.


John opened his eyes to a white surface. As his vision became clear and no longer red, he realized he was in a soft bed, in a t-shirt and sweatpants, his headache gone. He tried to get up, until he felt someone lay him back down.

"Oh, no you don't," a female voice told him.

John realized that it was one of Clara's friends, Rose.

"Where am I?" John mumbled.

"You're in the hospital," Rose replied.

"Which hospital?" John asked.

"The hospital you work in," Rose replied.

"Oh," John said, laying back down. "Rose, I must say, I never knew how you got so fat."

"And I must say, you've never changed, but your voice did. Talk about 'all about that bass'...and nice haircut," Rose grinned.

"Oh... thank you," John said, running his fingers through his hair.

"How you're feeling, mate?" another familiar voice called.

John turned to see Rory with a crooked smile.

"Well, after jumping off the ferry, I'm quite fine. I think I twisted my ankle. And you've gotten more uglier than before," John smirked.

"Don't make me call my probation officer, John," Rory joked.

The two of them broke into chuckles at Rory's joke.

"You know, when they wheeled you in, you've caused excitement," Rose pointed out.

"I did?" John asked.

"Yep, crowd of doctors and nurses rushed to see you, they were shaken up, and Dr. Wright came to visit, she fainted when she first saw you... she retired, you know," Rose replied.

"Oh, she fainted? I wish I was awake to see that! Is she alright?" John asked.

"She's fine, they revived her," Rory replied.

"Your parents were joyful about you being alive, and Clara..." Rose started.

John's green eyes widened as he sat up and exclaimed,

"You called Clara?!"

"Uh, yeah, something wrong with that?" Rory asked with a narrowed look.

"Yes, something's wrong with that!" John growled, exasperated.

"John," Rose started sternly. "She's your wife, she deserves to know, she's been through so much."

"I know that, Rose," John sighed, laying back down. "It's just that... I'm not ready to see her, I mean, Clara's gonna hate me. How can I face her? Look her in the eye without her smacking me across the face? She's gonna think I abandoned her and our child, by the way, is my child a girl or boy?"

"A girl," Rory replied. "Her name is Oswin, quite a smart little girl, skipped the first year of primary school."

At that moment, John never felt a burning anger in his life. He missed the first years of his daughter's life, because he was on the run, living in fear. Sting robbed him of his life, because he was in denial. He still is afraid right now. John faked a smile and choked out,

"Oh, must have got it from me... or Clara, 'cause she's brilliant."

"And about Clara, she's not gonna hate you, she'll completely understand everything," Rose reassured.

John sighed. "I hope so."

"John, we know so," Rory said knowingly.

A nurse came in the room and said,

"She's here."

Rose went out the room to see Clara. John's heart started to pound as his wife was right outside the door. His breath was caught in his throat.

"Ready, John?" Rory asked.

John took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah," he replied.

"Rory, tell him he can come out now," Rose called out.


Clara dropped Oswin off at her parents' house and was on her way to the hospital to see if Rose and Rory were actually right about John being alive. Thoughts were circling her mind about John. He was well in his 40's right now, 43, if Clara was exact, which was old in her book. It was hard for Clara to imagine John at 43 years old. What if he didn't age gracefully and looked too old to be with her? What if Clara didn't age gracefully? That's what made a tear roll down her cheek.

She quickly wiped her tears away and continued driving. She reached the hospital now. Clara felt herself shake with anxiety. She took a deep breath, which did no trick to comfort her. She walked inside the hospital, to hear nothing but dead silence. Clara looked at the receptionist.

"Room 405," the receptionist said, like she read Clara's mind.

Clara nodded in acknowledgement and went up the elevator to the fourth floor. As the elevator doors opened, her heart pounded as she was going to see her husband for the first time in seven years. Clara was right outside the door when the nurse saw her and went inside to inform them that she was here. Rose came out first.

"Hi, Clara, how you're feeling right now?" she asked.

"Anxious," was Clara's response.

"Why anxious? You're gonna see him again!" Rose grinned.

"OK. All right. I'm ready," Clara said, her voice trembling.

Rose smiled and nodded. "Rory, tell him he could come out," she called out.

A minute later, Rory came out of the room. He smiled at Clara, and looked in the room, Rose's eyes welling with tears. As soon as Clara knew it, she saw a man in a t-shirt and sweatpants walking with a limp out of the room, that man being John Smythe, living, breathing, alive and well.


A/N: I thought I might just end this chapter here, because I just wanted to be evil :). But other than that, Clara saw John, that counts as them being reunited, right? Anyway, I was so happy to write this chapter because the isolation between John and Clara was killing me. The next chapter will focus on Clara knowing what really happened to John to be away for so many years, and all I can say is that it's going to be hard work for John and Clara to have a normal life again. So, I want to see your feedback on this chapter, so stay tuned and please review!