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Chapter 11

The Doctor sorted the last scroll back onto the shelf and sighed to himself. Some days, he wondered how he had ended up here in the library and even though helping Stonix with his experiments was exciting, most of the time his work here was really quite dull. His mentor had said that he would find his place on Gallifrey, but the more time the Doctor actually spent on this planet, the more he doubted it.

Behind him, the Doctor noticed his mentor lock the dimensional shift bomb into his safe and even though the didn't need it any longer, his sudden distrust somehow bothered him. No matter how dull the work was, his mentor was a good man and the Doctor liked him.

"Don't worry," he said quietly. "I'm not gonna take it again if that's what you're afraid of."

"That isn't what worries me," Stonix replied in a sombre tone as he straightened himself up and looked at the Doctor. "I still don't know why you took it in the first place."

"I told you, I was just fixing the invisibility setting."

His mentor's gaze fixed on him and for a long moment he said nothing at all, but it was plain as pikestaff that Stonix didn't believe a word he said. The Doctor was beginning to grow a little nervous.

"I don't know what you're planning, Doctor, but you need to be careful," his mentor warned him.

"I'm not planning anything," he argued in response, but his mentor quickly silenced him with a gesture.

"And above all, stop asking questions about the Lord President."

The Doctor inhaled deeply and opened his mouth to respond, but Stonix cut him off once again.

"He suspects that you're sneaking out of the capital," he told him. "He asked about you a while ago, about what you're up to."

He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard his mentor say these words and frowned. Not for a moment did the Doctor believe that his mentor would tell on him. "Does he know for sure?"

Stonix shook his head. "But you should stay away from him and his personal business."

Technically, the Doctor wasn't the least bit interested in the President, just in his daughter. The rest, well, as long as Vankath didn't have proof, nothing would happen to him and he doubted that any Time Lord would be brave enough to actually follow him through the Cloisters. The Doctor shrugged. "Alright," he replied. "I can do that."

His mentor eyed him with suspicion, but the Doctor didn't want to stick around to hear the rest of the lecture. He quickly excused himself and headed outside.

The Doctor was careful when he made his way towards the President's mansion and glanced over his shoulder more than once. It was silly. He wasn't being followed, the Doctor was sure of that when he hadn't seen a single person in over a minute as he closed in on the dead-end street. Once he had arrived, the Doctor stuck his head through the wall and instantly spotted Clara sitting on a large stone.

"Hey there," he said happily and stepped through.

Clara jumped up from her seat and greeted him with a bright smile. "Hello Doctor," she replied and pushed herself up on tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

She had done that last night and it somehow made his hearts flutter when her lips touched his skin, but in a strangely positive way. His smile widened at the sight of her.

"Where are we gonna go today?" she asked excitedly and in response, the Doctor held up a basket.

"We're gonna stay right here. I've brought picnic stuff," he replied.

The hint of disappointment in her eyes didn't slip his notice and he quickly went to justify his decision to stay inside today.

"Well, I figured that you'd want a more quiet evening after yesterday's shock," he explained. "And I've brought Murdis."

Finally, Clara smiled at him. "Sounds like a great idea."

They moved into the forest and soon found a suitable clearing where the Doctor went to spread the blanket he had brought over the red grass and Clara sank down with a sigh. Instantly, she bent over the basket and went through its contest to see what else he had brought and only a few minutes later they were leaning back and munching the food.

"This is nice," Clara remarked and turned her head towards the sky. The suns were setting and the first stars had already come out. It was a warm, wonderful night.

"Agreed," he mumbled in response, his mouth full. "But tomorrow I'm going to show you around the Citadel a little more."

"You'll come back tomorrow?" Clara enquired as if she hadn't been sure he was really going to come back on a regular basis.

The Doctor swallowed his food and looked at her, studied her for a moment. Even when she was smiling, Clara seemed sad and the Doctor could only imagine how lonely it must have been for her up until now with no other company than her father and the servants.

"Of course," he said. "Of course I'll come back. Why do you think I blew a hole in your wall?"

He chuckled and Clara uttered a small laugh with him, but quickly glance away, pretending to focus on the Murdis.

"I'm sure you have other friends," she remarked almost absent-mindedly.

The Doctor sighed. Maybe he should tell her, just to clear his own thoughts about the matter because there were some things about Missy he would really like to get off his chest. "Missy," he said. "We've been friends since we were children, his father owned a big estate that was surrounded by large fields of red grass. We used to run through them. I thought we were the same."

Clara raised her head and the tiniest frown appeared on her face. "It sounds like you're no longer sure?"

"Missy is, well-" the Doctor broke off, exhaling sharply. "I don't know what she is. She's still my friend but it's different. She's. . . different. I'm not sure if we still care about the same things. It was so much easier when we were young, when we both didn't really fit in."

Clara nodded understandingly, but the Doctor knew that she couldn't possibly understand what was going through his head. She had probably never had a friend like Missy. Or maybe she had. There was only one way to find out.

"What about you? Did you really spend all of your life on your own?"

The question seemed to take her by surprise, the Doctor could tell by the startled look in her eyes as if he had suddenly awoken some memories she would have loved to keep buried in her mind. Clara seemed even sadder than before.

"I had a tutor once," she said and swallowed. "I never went to the Academy, my father wouldn't allow it, but he insisted that I got a proper education, so he hired a tutor who came to my house every day."

The Doctor smiled at her in an attempt to encourage her to continue and finally, he coaxed a smile from her in return. Or maybe it was the memory of her tutor that made her smile. The Doctor thought he preferred the first option.

Clara chuckled. "He was mad. He had only just graduated from the academy himself and I'm not sure why my father picked him to be my tutor, he seemed like the least likely choice. But he was my friend, the only friend I ever had," she confessed and the sadness had returned to her voice. Somehow the Doctor got the impression that their friendship hadn't ended well. "He was so clever and kind and he always made me laugh."

"What happened to him?" the Doctor found himself asking. He couldn't quite explain why, but the idea of her tutor bothered him a little. It was as if there was an unspoken competition between him and another Time Lord Clara didn't even seem to be in contact with any longer. The Doctor wanted to be the one to make her laugh and he would certainly make her laugh more than her tutor had.

Eventually, Clara continued her story. "One day he decided to take me out into the city," she explained. "He said a young Time Lady like me shouldn't waste away in captivity, that I should go out and see Gallifrey for myself, not just read about it."

"I assume you father didn't take well to the idea?" he asked carefully.

Clara lowered her head. "He used a neural block and erased all of his memories of me. I never saw him again. He doesn't even know who I am any longer," she admitted and for a moment the Doctor thought she was going to cry. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since the loss of her friend, but he realized that Clara hadn't forgotten about it and maybe she never would. Her father had taken her only friend from her and what was probably worse was that he was still out there with no idea who Clara was and what he was missing out on.

"Well, he's an idiot," the Doctor determined.

Clara's head shot back up and she frowned at him. "Excuse me?"

"First of all, he shouldn't have asked your father's permission, he should've just stolen you," he reasoned.

Luckily for him, his remark made Clara chuckle. "You say that as if I'm property to be stolen."

"Second, he's an idiot for forgetting you," the Doctor said and granted her a smile. "I don't think anyone in his right mind could forget you, neural block or not."

Clara smiled at him in return.

"Third, you've got a new friend now," he said. "And I sure as Rassilon's damnation won't ask your father for permission before I take you out into the city tomorrow. Who knows, maybe we can find out what became of your tutor."

"You could get caught," she reasoned. "And I think my father would do worse things to you than erase your memory."

"I don't care," the Doctor insisted firmly. "I am your friend."

All of a sudden, Clara reached out and took his hand, squeezing it softly in her own. "Thank you," she replied with a smile.

Her grateful smile was all the confirmation the Doctor needed. He didn't care about how much trouble he would be in if he was caught. He wouldn't get caught and even if, Clara was worth the risk.