YES. FINALLY UPDATING THIS STORY. GOSH DARN IT. I feel like it's been two months, when really, it's only been...what, about twelve days? *gasp* TWELVE DAYS! AND THEN THERE'S THE TWELFTH DOCTOR! WOW! (I know, that's a bit of a reach...XD) Speaking of which, I am in love with Twelve. Of course, I miss Eleven tremendously, but I've got a good feeling about Peter being the Doctor. XD And who else has conflicted feelings about Danny Pink? He seems like an awesome character (such a dork - slamming his head on the desk...) but gosh darn it, stop flirting with Clara! Clara, stop flirting with him! GAAAH!

Aaand I'm calm - enjoy!

"It's the unexpected that changes us."

Chapter Eleven.

She blinked once, twice, three times at Amy before asking, "So?"

Amy frowned. "What do you mean, so? Aren't you worried? John's going back to England, Clara."

Clara shrugged. "I heard you the first time," she replied coolly, and she was unimpressed with the news. If anything, she was angry – she wasn't going to act shocked or surprised or, heaven forbid, sad over the announcement, even if Amy expected her to be. Clara didn't understand what this was supposed to mean now – was she supposed to be sympathetic for John now? He was going back to England, fine. Fine. Fine. If he was going to act like a pouty, whiny teenager about it, then Clara wasn't going to acknowledge this little factoid.

"Hello, England? The country across the ocean? Your friend is going back there and the only thing you're going to say is so?" Amy asked incredulously, flapping her hands over Clara's face. "Aren't you even a little bit worried or disappointed or – or –"

Clara stood up, planting her hands on her hips. "He gets to go back home – big deal," she said. "That doesn't exactly excuse him from giving me the silent treatment." She glared at Amy. "And for the record, I really, really wouldn't call John a friend. Not after shutting me out like that."

Amy bounced to her feet, looking just as annoyed as Clara. "What, like you've never shut John out before?" She asked indignantly. Clara flung her hands up in the air. "That doesn't count," she shot back. "First of all, John and I knew each other for a few weeks and those shut-out periods only lasted for hours or days at a time. This is different."

Amy held her glare at Clara. "You're right," she said. "It is different. And you know how?"

Before Clara could respond, Amy rolled on, "It's different because this reason is much, much bigger. I'm sorry that John's been giving you the cold shoulder, but what he's going through is so much more stressful than why you shut him out. Show a bit more sympathy, will you?"

Clara stared at Amy, her arms slowly crossing themselves. "And what is so stressful for him that he'd be acting so different?" She asked steadily. Amy puffed out a small sigh and looked up at the sky, as if it was going to speak for her. However, after a few seconds of silence ticked by, the ginger answered, "There's a reason why Rory and I aren't back in England yet."

"How is that related to –" Clara started to say, but quickly quieted as Amy went on, "We were forced to come here."

The brunette's eyes widened at the Scot before her. Amy was chewing down her lower lip, shifting her weight from foot to foot with such an uneasy look over her face that Clara couldn't quite decide whether to be angry with this new declaration or not.

"Not that Rory and I didn't want to see John! God, we missed him, we really did – and I wish that we could have left for him earlier to escape this mess, but –"

"When you said that Rory was looking after John because you might aggravate him…" Clara's voice drifted as Amy nodded her head, her eyes saddening at her words. "Rory and I had a job, Clara," Amy said softly. She looked down at her shoes. "You know, it's not really my place to tell you all of this, but I think most of the cat is already out of the bag, right?" She let out a weak, humorless laugh.

"John has a great-aunt named Idris," Amy said slowly. "And while John and Idris had always gotten along fine, they weren't always on…good terms. In the last few years, they fought a lot – John wanted to become a photographer, but Idris wanted him to do something else. Become a lawyer or something like that." She snorted and shot Clara a side-long glance. "Can you imagine John being a lawyer? He'd be bloody awful."

When Clara didn't laugh, Amy cleared her throat and continued, "Anyways, after John moved out to the states, Rory and I were just returning to England from our honeymoon. We were excited to go see John and we had already exchanged a few letters and…that was when we learned about why John left England so quickly." Amy wrung her hands, looking back up at the sky. "Rory and I were talking about seeing John in the states – and we were also trying pretty hard to keep our heads down. We know Idris, you see, and when those two fight…" She grimaced. "Let's just say that things get messy and people always, always, always get caught in the middle, whether you like it or not."

"Soon enough, Idris found Rory and me – she started telling us to bring John home. We didn't have much of a choice," she added. "Trust me, Rory and I didn't want to go see John just to drag him back to England – back to Idris, who didn't have a lot of respect for his own opinions – and then Idris told us that she was going to send us or David and River Song."

"River Song?" Clara asked, lifting an eyebrow. "Who's she?"

Amy pressed her lips together. "Our friend," she replied quietly. "The one who dated John. The one who…isn't exactly John's favorite person in the world right now, mainly because she's agreed to helping Idris bring him back to England."

Clara's nose wrinkled distastefully and Amy nodded with a grimace. "I know what it sounds like," the Scot muttered. "River is a great person, really, but she can be – um – aggressive when it comes to certain topics. John is one of them." She sighed. "That's probably one of the many reasons why they broke up, anyways."

Clara shook her head. "Right," she murmured. "So…this is a lot to process."

"Well, of course it is." Amy replied and gripped Clara's arm. "Can you come back to the apartment with me? Rory can explain the rest better than I can."

"Wouldn't John be there?" Clara asked. "Because frankly, I don't think I'm his favorite person in the world right now, either." Amy waved away Clara's sentence with a wave of her hand. "No, Clara, he's completely fine with you – this is…just his way of coping." Amy looked down at the sidewalk. "He gets lonely inside, even if he's surrounded by people who love him. He doesn't tell anyone – he just shuts down. And when he does wake up, he'll be angry. Just very, very angry."

Amy looked back at Clara. "And that's when you know he's been lonely for too long." She said quietly.

Clara chewed on the insides of her cheek and turned to the apartment buildings. "Right," she simply said. "John's, here we come."

However, before Clara could even take the first step towards the complex, Amy held her back. "There's another thing you should know," she whispered. Clara sighed. "Isn't there always?" She asked tiredly.

Amy's lips twitched into a small smile, though it didn't have much happiness put into it. "I know you got really annoyed about how Rory and I kept talking about how you should…uh, hook up with John. I'm really sorry about that." She cringed. "You see, Rory and I both thought that if Idris knew that John had a…girlfriend or a lady friend, Idris would change her mind. That was stupid thinking on our part." Amy gave Clara a crooked grin. "Er…so, forgive us for that?"

Clara blinked. A strange, bewildering muddle of emotions was slowly whirring inside her, though she couldn't bring herself to say anything about it. She swallowed and managed a small bob of a nod. "Yeah, of course," she replied in a soft whisper. "I forgive you two – I can…see why you'd hope something like that."

Amy shook her head and started to lead Clara back to the buildings. "Yeah, well, again – stupid thinking on Rory and my part. Idris wouldn't have given a damn thing about John having a girlfriend or not. She'd probably say something like, girlfriends only last for a while or bring her with you." Amy made a small pfft sound with her lips. "And let me tell you, Idris always gets her way, no matter what."

"Obviously not," Clara replied lightly and when Amy turned to her in confusion, she went on, "well, you told me that John managed to get away to the states to become a photographer, right?" Amy smirked in response.

"That was something of a miracle, Clara – I'm actually surprised that John was able to stay away for this long." Amy replied. "And besides, look at how well this is turning out now."

Clara looked around the complex and sighed. "You're right," she agreed. And she was – this was turning out to be one big, chaotic mess and Clara wasn't even sure about where she stood in this friendship anymore.

xXx

Rory seemed warmer than ever when Clara and Amy walked into John's apartment room, though the brunette could already tell that there was something different in him. The atmosphere was woven with such a thick tenseness that Clara was surprised that it wasn't a real, tangible thing. John was sitting on the couch, fiddling with his phone. To Clara's surprise, a strange, hurting pang went through her heart when he didn't look up to see her.

"So glad you could come, Clara," Rory said kindly as she sat down in one of the armchairs. She fiddled with the armrest and replied, "Well…I couldn't exactly stay away – not after Amy explained most of the situation." Rory winced. "Ah," he replied. "That."

Clara bobbed her head into an awkwardly-shaped nod. "Right – well – what else is there to tell me?" She asked. "And why am I being told this?"

Rory looked over at Amy, surprised. "You didn't tell her that part yet?"

Amy rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "Well, I did say that I wasn't good at explaining things!" She shot back indignantly. Rory sighed and turned back to Clara. "Amy and I didn't want to drag you into this – really, we didn't. But after the recent turn of events, we thought that this…"

Clara nodded slowly. "Understandable." She paused. "Wait, so does that mean that Amy was originally going to tell me about –"

Amy cringed. "I didn't tell her that part, either," she whispered. There was another resounding sigh (even from John) around the room. Rory clasped his hands together and leaned against the wall. "Yes, Amy was going to see you – she was actually about to go see you in your apartment room and we…assumed that John already told you about England – it would make the explaining a bit easier, you see, but I suppose he didn't…and now we're all here." He said quietly, flicking John a sideways glance.

"You have to understand that we didn't want to be a part of this mess," Rory continued. "If anything, Amy and I were all for John moving away from England and traveling the world. That's what he likes to do! Idris shouldn't be able to argue against it!" He puffed out a sigh. "But we got caught in the middle, like we always do. And –"

"Amy already explained to me about the entire business with why you're here. And…what she said if you weren't going to come." Clara said quickly. Rory looked relieved at those words. "Good," he said, rubbing his hands over his face. He looked over at John again, who still hadn't stirred from his position.

"Since we hadn't been able to persuade John into going back to England by now, Idris sent word that she was going to…send David and River." Rory said quietly. When Clara didn't speak right away, he added, "I'm assuming you already know who River Song is."

Clara nodded halfheartedly. "The aggressive ex-girlfriend, yup," she plowed carelessly. Rory winced at her wording, though he replied, "She's still a friend of ours."

Clara nodded again. "Mm-hm," she murmured. She looked up at Rory and Amy. "So now what? David and River are coming here to pick up John and persuade him into going back to England – what would happen if he doesn't go back?"

"Then Idris will get herself over here," Amy said quietly. "And this entire thing will blow up in our faces."

"This Idris woman is beginning to sound more and more like a bundle of laughs," Clara mumbled under her breath. Rory wrung his hands. "I know this all sounds incredibly sudden, but we need you to…help with this." He said slowly. Clara lifted an eyebrow. "How am I supposed to help out?" She asked. "I know this looks bad but I'm still not seeing my place in this situation."

"All you have to do is make River and David think that John is better off here." Amy replied. "And to be honest, River and David were always Idris' favorites." She added, wrinkling her nose. Clara frowned. "That's it?" She asked doubtfully.

"That's it," Rory confirmed with a bob of his head. "You can still do what you usually do, just…act like you're a very, very, very good friend of John's and this might actually work out."

Clara made sure not to look at John when she heard those words. Instead, she asked, "When are David and River coming?"

"In a few days," Rory replied. "Amy and I will be the ones to pick them up."

Clara drew out a long, heavy sigh and stood up. "You know, I always did have the feeling that the next weeks were going to be…different when John first moved in here." She said quietly. "Guess I was right." Clara fiddled with the buttons of her jacket and went on, "I'll do it. Go on with the plan, I mean."

Rory and Amy beamed at her. "Thank you," Amy said, smiling. "Really – it means a lot."

Clara shrugged and replied, "I don't think I have much of a choice, to be honest." Leaving the three at that, Clara strode out of the apartment room.

The minute she was outside, she headed towards her door and started fumbling for the key. She hadn't realized that her hands were shaking until the key was actually in her fist. Clara sighed again, resting her forehead on the door. It was odd, wasn't it? How one day, everything seems to be perfectly fine and then the next day, a few simple words could shatter everything else around you.

I wouldn't call it shatter, a small part of Clara's head whispered. More like…ripping off a few bandages.

"Ripping off a few bandages and reveal how bad the situation is, right," Clara mumbled to herself, shaking her head. She didn't care that her forehead was repeatedly thudding against the door, or the fact that she probably looked like an insane person from the security cameras in the hallway.

"I've got work to do," Clara said aloud. "Hold all this off until tomorrow morning – then you can actually think about it."

Feeling better with that arrangement with herself, Clara pushed open the door to step into her little home.

xXx

The rest of the day, surprisingly, was rather uneventful. Clara managed to edit nearly ten thousand words of some of her clients' stories, not to mention that she logged in a neat one thousand words into her own story. Again, she wasn't quite sure what she was writing. She had ignored the part about the boy tossing rocks at the protagonist's window completely, (in other words, she just kept it on the screen but didn't really add onto it…) and went onto more pressing topics in the story. (Why was the protagonist locked up in her room? Should she include magic in the story? To be honest, Clara felt like weaving magic and evil antagonists would be a bit over the top, but…)

Clara was convinced that there were other evil sources lurking outside of the protagonist's window, too – and they all wanted her to come out and do what they wanted.

"Leave me alone!" She shouted furiously, backing away from the window. A crowd of dark, demonic faces crowded around the glass, their teeth bared into a vicious, fierce smile. "One day," they all crooned. The sound of their voices sent chills up the girl's spine. She didn't want to do anything except crawl under her bed and cover her ears to avoid the creatures.

Oh, how she wanted to run!

Clara kicked herself back in her desk seat and stared over that piece. She had the oddest feeling that her subconscious was trying to tell her something – who was this protagonist? Who were the demons crowding at her window? Why did she keep holding off the boy?

"Well, whatever you want to tell me will have to wait for later," Clara muttered, quickly going back to her edits. "I'd rather not solve riddles that are thrown by my own self, thank you very much."

Clara didn't bother going to bed until nearly three in the morning – by the time she finally buried her head under the covers, her eyes felt dry and incredibly tired from staring at a luminescent screen all night. All-nighters weren't really something that Clara wasn't used to by now, but for today, Clara felt more tired and worn out than ever. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to indulge herself in sleep and forget about the things of today. Or yesterday. Whatever. She was too sleepy to think about the concept.

However, just as Clara was about to drift off, her phone chimed. She groaned, resisting the urge to throw her phone across the room. Clara managed to drag her phone off her nightstand and bring it to herself from under the covers. She opened her eyes and was about to click the phone back to silent mode when she noticed the text message floating on the screen.

To be specific, River and David are coming over on Saturday. And it's Wednesday. Just wanted to let you know that. – John

"Oh, so now you text me," Clara grumbled under her breath. She considered texting back (and giving John Smith a mouthful of her own opinion on the matter), though she thought better of it and shut her phone down. Flopping over on her side in the bed, Clara whispered, "Goodbye, today. And good riddance."

A/N - Since tomorrow will be my very first day of high school, (eeek!) I'll be updating (nearly) all of my stories today before I can get walloped into the dark, black hole known as homework and tests and exams. *groans* And I'm sure that many of you have either started school already...or are already in high school and therefore, I probably look like some over-obsessive freshman. Which I am. In a way. GAK.

Reviews are always nice! Constructive criticism is allowed, but flames are not!