Listen: Rupert

The Doctor and Tailor walked down an empty hallway of the children's home, his sonic held in his hand by his side, buzzing and ready should they encounter anything less than savory. He was not about to risk the safety of his daughter. Not after what she had experienced in a children's home herself. He knew that, for as brave as his daughter was, as curious as she could be, there were some places and some things that just brought back horrible memories for her. Children's homes being one of them, spacesuits another, and the eye drives. This was one of the last places in the universe she would want to be, but he was so proud of her for being there with him. She knew, somewhere in here, a child was having a nightmare and she wanted to help them, just like her parents. His daughter was fantastic.

He paused when they came to a door that was opened, glancing in cautiously to see it was an empty office, a TV was on, playing in the background. He stepped in closer, seeing another doorway to an inner office that had a voice coming behind it. Just as he had noticed that fact, the door opened and a man walked out, stopping short when he saw the two standing there.

"How did you get in?" the man frowned at them.

"Your door must be faulty," was all the Doctor said as he led them closer to the inner office, holding up the psychic paper for the man to read.

"An inspection?"

"Health and Safety!" Tailor cheered, remembering that story from one of the many bedtime tales her father had told her, how he and her mother had infiltrated an Adipose breeding facility with the guise of being Health and Safety.

"It's two in the morning!"

"You can never be too healthy or safe," Tailor shrugged with a smile, stepping forward, "Taylor Smith," she reached out to shake his hand.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at the pleasantries, but offered, "John Smith" himself.

"Er, Dwayne Rogers?" the man eyed them oddly.

"Do you always work here nights?" the Doctor asked as he put the psychic paper away.

"Most nights, yes."

"Ever end up talking to yourself?"

"Dad..." Tailor sighed. Granted she didn't know much about actual human health and safety departments, but she felt like that was probably a question not normally asked on a routine inspection.

"All the time," Dwayne nodded however, "It's this place...you can't help it."

"What about your coffee?"

"...my coffee?" Dwayne shook his head, glancing over at Tailor who was shaking her own, before he finally looked over at his full cup of coffee resting on his desk.

"Sometimes do you put it down, and look round, and it's not there?"

Dwayne shrugged, "Everybody does that."

"Human beings are often quite forgetful," Tailor added, trying to offer some more logical reasons for the occurrence, hoping it would help calm her father down, "Too many memories, too small brains."

The Doctor just hummed in thought at that, only to look back towards the other room when he heard the television turn off, "Who turned your telly off?"

"It does that," Dwayne shrugged, not sounding very concerned about it, but the Doctor seemed deeply perturbed, already moving into the other room to examine the television, "Look, it just goes off. Are you going to be examining the the wiring, too?

Tailor considered that for a moment. It did explain why the TV turned off, if there was something faulty in the wiring it would make some of the electronics short circuit. It happened in the TARDIS all the time whenever her father tried to fix something and didn't quite manage it just right. It really was not out of the ordinary, but she could see her father heading for the hallway, a purpose in his step, clearly he thought otherwise.

She shook her head when she caught up to him to see him drinking Dwayne's coffee, and rolled her eyes. He had put the suggestion in Dwayne's mind about how sometimes he put down the cup and it disappeared, and now HE was doing it to prove his point, creating the outcome he wanted.

"Right," the Doctor set down the empty coffee cup on a nearby hall table they passed, "We just need to catch up with your mother and Clara, find out where they are, and then we can really get this investigation on the road."

'I'm upstairs, my love,' Angel spoke in his head as though hearing his words, which she likely had, 'There seems to be a little boy here frightened of something under his bed.'

The Doctor's eyes widened at that and he reached out to take Tailor's hand, starting to run down the hall to get to the stairs and help Angel. He should have been there with her to investigate this little boy, not so far behind.

~8~

Clara followed only slightly behind Angel as the Time Lady led the way through the upstairs hall of the children's home, leading them directly to Rupert's room she assumed. She had come to trust Angel and her sensations implicitly over the time spent with the Time Lords. Wherever Angel went, she was sure it was safe to follow, Angel always seemed to get them wherever they needed to go. Right now they needed to go to Rupert, the child was clearly scared out of his mind. She honestly wasn't sure how much she believed of the monster under the bed that the Doctor seemed to think was real. Angel and Tailor seemed to be of the mind that the Doctor was losing his, that whatever was under the bed was just a result of the human condition, of a natural fear of the dark, of so many little details that just created the same sort of nightmare. But the fact that the Doctor was investigating this so thoroughly, that he was creating this whole adventure based solely around this creature under the bed, it was making her more than a little wary.

And now they had a scared little boy who was feeling there was a monster under his bed right now.

She looked up when Angel led them right to a room that had a crack of light coming from under the door. The Time Lady gently knocked on it in question to enter, pushing the door open just a bit to see inside where Rupert was. A moment later she was stepping into the room, Clara following, to see Rupert was sitting on the floor, looking at his bed.

"Hello Rupert," Angel greeted, moving to sit beside the boy and put her arm around him in comfort. Whether the monster under the bed was real or not, it mattered little when Rupert himself was genuinely frightened of creatures he couldn't see but believed were there. It was a little more true for her, she could sense such creatures even when others couldn't see them. But right now? She wasn't sensing anything in this room other than the three of them, "Alright there?"

Rupert gave a small nod, glancing up at Clara, "Hello."

"Hi," she offered, looking around room. If this Rupert Pink was actually Danny pink, or perhaps some family member of his, this could be a chance to actually get to see what it was like where he grew up. She couldn't help hoping that Rupert would find a family to call his own sometime very soon, children should always be with a family who loved them, "Nice room. You know, you should have more than one chair," Clara added when she moved to sit at a small desk chair, "What do you do when people come 'round?"

"The floor is quite comfy actually," Angel teased, nodding at where she and Rupert were sitting.

"Sit on the bed," Rupert answered after moment.

Angel glanced over at the bed, "And you don't want to sit on it now, because of the thing under it, right?" she asked him as gently as she could. Humans were a bit funny like that, he was sitting on the floor where he could see the bed, he was sitting on the floor where the creature, if there was one, under the bed would be moving along. If it had been her, she probably would have been sitting on top of the desk or the chair like Clara was.

Rupert nodded.

"Hey..." Clara spoke to him in a soothing tone, seeing a flush of embarrassment spreading across his cheeks that he was afraid of something under the bed, "Everyone thinks that sometimes. That's just how people think at night."

"Why?"

"People are always afraid of what they can't see, what they don't understand," Angel offered, stretching out her legs just a bit to cross her ankles, "I've been scared like that before."

"You?" Rupert looked up at Angel, glancing between her and Clara when he saw the other girl nodding as well, "I thought adults don't get scared."

"We get scared loads of times," Angel replied, "Getting scared is...kind of like a superpower, makes you more careful, and one can never be too careful."

"I'm always careful getting out of the bed," Rupert mumbled.

Clara frowned at that, "Did you have a dream, a hand grabbing your foot? You have, haven't you? You've had that exact dream."

"How did you know?"

"Do you know why dreams are called dreams?"

"Why?"

"Because they're not real," Angel told him with a nudge to his side, smiling down at him to get him to smile back at her.

"If they were, they wouldn't need a name," Clara agreed, pushing herself up off of the chair to go walk over to the bed.

"What are you doing?" Rupert frowned, snuggling a little more into Angel's comforting hold the nearer Clara got to the source of his fear.

"I'm going to check under the bed," she told him simply.

"But you can't! That's where it is!"

"I think it's safe," Clara told him, "And do you want to know why"

"Why?"

"Cos Angel's right there," Clara nodded over at her friend, "Nowhere safer in the universe to be than right there with Angel."

"You are almost as bad as the Doctor," Angel muttered.

"One of the rare cases where the Doctor's actually right," Clara teased back, moving to get on to her knees and look under the bed, "Do you know what's under here Rupert?"

"What?" the boy tensed, thinking she saw something.

"Me!" Clara cheered, crawling under the bed to peek out at him, a smile on her face, "Come on! It's perfectly safe."

Rupert hesitated, so Angel squeezed his shoulders, "Go on, if you're safe with me you're safe with Clara."

Rupert looked between the two women, before he got up and made his way to crawl under the bed with Clara, who was now lying on her back, staring up at the mattress. Angel moved over, closer to them, kneeling on the floor and crouching under to observe them, there wasn't enough space for three people.

"See?" Clara smiled, "Nobody here. Except us."

Rupert was silent for a moment, before he let out a long sigh, "Sometimes I hear noises."

"Me too," Angel told him, reaching out to take his hand, sensing that this was something difficult for him to admit out loud, "Sometimes I hear things no one else can."

"Does it scare you?"

"It used to."

"What did you do?"

Angel smiled gently as she thought back to the first few visions she'd ever had, "I found a Doctor to help me, I've never been afraid since then."

"Do you think I need a doctor?"

"I think everyone could do with a Doctor."

"Oh I don't know," Clara spoke up, not sure if the boy would feel better or worse for those words, as comforting as they were to Angel and herself, "I think I would hear noises here, too. It's a house full of people, of course you hear noises."

"They're all asleep," Rupert reminded her.

"They're all dreaming."

"Can you hear dreams?"

"Sometimes," Angel agreed.

"If you're clever enough," Clara offered Angel a smile at that, "But they can't harm you. You know, sometimes we think there's something behind us and the space under your bed is what's behind you at night. Simple as that. There's nothing to be afraid of."

Just as Clara finished speaking, the mattress above them began to sink down, springs squeaking as if someone had sat down on the bed.

"Who else is in this room?" Clara whispered.

"Nobody," Rupert answered just as quietly.

"Angel," Clara turned her head to look at the woman who didn't seem on edge or tense at all, "Who else is in the room?"

"It's just one of Rupert's friends," Angel reassured them, she had sensed and heard someone entering the room, she wasn't getting any kind of threatening sensation off of it, there was no danger she could feel.

"But I don't have any friends here," Rupert murmured in response.

Clara slowly got out from under the bed, moving on to her knees to look at the top of it, where someone was sitting, covered by a blanket. She reached down towards the bed to help Rupert out even as she spoke to the being, "Hello? Who's this?"

"It's one of the other children," Angel spoke, moving to stand and help Clara up even as the person on the bed made no sound.

"Playing a trick, are you?" Clara frowned at the child, "A little trick on Rupert here? Well, it's not funny this, you know."

"You gave him quite a fright, and that wasn't very nice," Angel added, a scolding tone in her voice.

Just as she reached out to pull the blanket off of the child, so that Rupert would at least know which of the other children was being mean to him, a light turned on above them and she felt herself being tugged back by the Doctor, who was moving in front of her as though to guard her from the child.

"You're late, my love," Angel teased him, though she leaned up to give him a kiss on his cheek, "Alright, beautiful?" she turned to Tailor, moving to put her arm around the girl's shoulder, sensing a discomfort from the girl.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Tailor smiled at her mother, "Won't be sad when we leave, though."

Angel nodded at that, understanding, she herself did not have very fond memories children's home from their past, "It won't be long now, I'm sure your father has everything handled."

That brought out more of a smile from her daughter.

"Are you the one?" the Doctor asked, backing up just a little more to give enough space around the person on the bed, his question was directed at Rupert, "You're the one that had the dream?"

Clara nodded, "It gave him quite a fright."

"Good, he should be scared, are you scared now?" he moved to lean over so he could look Rupert in the eye, "The thing on the bed, whatever it is...look at it. Does it scare you?"

"Yes," the boy whispered.

Clara looked over at Angel, frowning at how the Doctor seemed to be making the child more afraid, but Angel was just smiling softly and shaking her head, nodding at the Doctor as though she should give it a moment longer.

"That's good," he continued, "Want to know why that's good?"

"Why?"

"Let me tell you about scared," the Doctor began, straightening up and moving around the bed from one side to the other, observing the blanketed person, "Your heart is beating so hard, I could feel it through your hands. There's so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain, it's like rocket fuel. Right now, you could run faster and you could fight harder, you could jump higher than ever in your life, and you are so alert it's like you can slow down time. What's wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower..."

"That's what the angel lady said," Rupert murmured.

The Doctor glanced over at Angel and smiled, winking at her, "Best thing you could ever do is listen to her," he told the boy, "Cos she's usually always right. Psychic."

"Thief," Angel shot back.

The Doctor let out a soft laugh, looking back over at Rupert, noting the boy seemed a little less scared now. And that was good. Despite the fact he didn't appear to be quite as invested in the humans as his earlier selves had been, this was still a scared child in a children's home. He couldn't help but think about Tailor and her time in one, he would have given anything for someone to make his daughter feel less afraid, "Being scared is your superpower. There is danger in this room and guess what? It's you. Do you feel it? Do you think he feels it?" he nodded over to the person on the bed, "Do you think he's scared? Nah! Loser! Turn your back on him."

"What?" Rupert shook his head, only just barely being able to keep up with what the Doctor was saying.

"It's alright," Angel told the boy, "That child is only doing this because he knows he can scare YOU by doing so. As soon as you turn your back, you can't see him, you can't be afraid of him any longer. All the fun and excitement is gone and, perhaps, he won't do it again because he'll know it won't work again," she said the last part more pointedly to the bed.

"Yeah, turn your back on him, come on," the Doctor encouraged, "You too, Clara," he moved over to the window, looking out of it, Angel gesturing for Tailor to go with him while she focused on getting Clara to join them, "Clara, your back, now. Do it, just do it now, turn your back. Do it now, turn your back. Lovely view out this window."

Angel reached out to Rupert to lead him over to the window with them, looking out of the sky with a small frown at the Doctor. For a moment she thought he was going along with this because of what she had said, that by turning his back he would be telling the child on the bed he couldn't scare Rupert anymore. But it appeared that the Doctor still felt the person on the bed wasn't actually another child but whatever creature was usually hiding under the bed.

"Now," the Doctor continued as they all looked out the window, "There are two possibilities. Possibility one, it's just one of your friends standing there, and he's playing a joke on you. Possibility two, it isn't."

"One of the children," Angel stated.

"You saw it walk in here and put the blanket over him, then?"

"No, I was talking Clara with Rupert, but I know it is, Doctor. There is no danger here."

Doctor swallowed hard, wanting to believe her, wanting to trust her sensations as he always had in the past. But he hadn't been here when the thing on the bed entered, and Angel hadn't seen it happen. This was far too important to him to not have it be 100 percent fact.

"I need to know," he emphasized, reaching out to take Angel's hand and squeeze it in apology, "I need to."

Angel let out a sigh, but squeezed his hand back, understanding this was one of the very few circumstances where the Doctor needed to see it with his own eyes to believe it.

"So, plan?" Clara asked, "Plans are good."

"Well, dad's probably got a thing," Tailor offered.

"You on the bed," the Doctor called out, "I'm talking to you now. Go in peace. We won't look. Just go. If all you want to do is stay hidden, it's ok. Just leave."

"Is it gone?" Clara asked after they heard the springs of the bed moving.

"Don't look round, not yet," the Doctor warned, putting a hand on Rupert's shoulder to keep him from looking.

"I can't hear anything," Rupert remarked.

"Don't look 'round."

"He's standing behind us," Angel told them, "Really, trust me, it is one of the children playing a joke," she looked down when she felt the Doctor squeeze her hand even tighter.

"What if it's not," the Doctor swallowed hard, "Imagine a thing that must never be seen. What would it do if you saw it?"

"I don't know," Rupert whimpered.

"Neither do I," the Doctor looked over at Angel, "And that's why I can't risk it," he told her before looking at the others, "Close your eyes."

"What?"

"Close your eyes. You too, Clara, Tailor. Give it what it wants. Prove to it that you're not going to look at it. Make a promise, promise you're never going to look at it."

Angel sighed but closed her eyes as he requested, humoring him. Right now, with that person behind them, the Doctor was in too frantic a state to see reason. If she tried to argue with him now, he would just get more flustered and worried. The sooner the child realized they were not playing this game with him, the sooner he would leave and the sooner she could see what the Doctor was really going on about.

"I promise never to look!" Rupert called out, quickly closing his eyes tight.

"The breath on the back of your neck..." Angel frowned as the Doctor began to mutter more to himself than anyone else, "Like your hairs standing on end...that means don't look 'round!"

"He's leaving," Angel told them only a moment before the door to Rupert's room slammed shut. Clara, Rupert, and Tailor all turned around to look.

"Gone?" Clara looked to Angel.

"Gone," she nodded.

Rupert, however, frowned, "He took my bedspread."

Tailor laughed and patted him on the back.

The Doctor merely rolled his eyes, "Oh, the human race, you're never happy, are you?"

"Am I safe now?" Rupert looked to them.

"Nobody's safe," the Doctor remarked as he eyed a toy robot, "Especially not at night in the dark, anything can get you, and you're up here all alone..."

"My love," Angel cut in with a gentle scold to her voice.

"Yes?" he looked at her.

"Might I take over now?"

He hummed, moving closer to the door to rest his body weight on it, making sure whatever had left wouldn't come back, "Be my guest."

Angel rolled her eyes at that but smiled at his protectiveness, moving to Rupert's side to guide him to the bed, "As scary as the dark may be, Rupert, there's something very important you always need to remember."

"What's that?" the boy asked.

"There is always a light to be found somewhere," Angel smiled, before glancing over at Tailor, "What do you think sweetheart, fireflies or a star."

"Fireflies," Tailor beamed, excited to see it.

Angel nodded and threw her hand in the air, causing sparkles of the Vortex to form above them, lightly drifting in place as though fireflies in the night.

"Whoa!" Rupert gasped, reaching out to touch one and laughing when it burst into a small firework, tickling his skin.

"And even if the light goes out," Clara continued, making her way over with a small box of toy soldiers, "You'll still have something to protect you."

"Like what?"

"Like this, see what I'm doing?" Clara began to line some of the toy soldiers up around the bottom of the bed, "This is your army."

"Plastic army?" the Doctor scoffed.

"No poking fun at Uncle Rory," Tailor warned her father, knowing he was probably about to remark on how much that wasn't protective at all. But her Uncle Rory was the most protective and best person she had ever met besides her father, with her Uncles Jack and Mickey tying for third. She missed him terribly.

"They're going to guard under your bed," Clara stated.

Tailor smiled and joined her on the floor, helping her set up of soldiers on the other side of the bed, "This one can be Rory. Ooh, and these two are Jack and Gray. We've got Owen, Ianto, John, Major Mickey, he's in charge of this side..."

"And this one's the boss one," Clara cut in gently, before Tailor ended up naming every single soldier in that box after her uncles, "The colonel. He's going to keep a special eye out."

"It's broken, that one," Rupert pointed out, nodding at how the plastic soldier was somewhat melted, "It doesn't have a gun."

"It better not!" the Doctor shouted, "No guns around my girls!"

"And that's why he's the boss," Clara ignored him.

"A real soldier, a real hero, wants to end the wars, not just fight in them," Angel told Rupert softly, "And someone who wants to end a war that badly will find some way to do it without hurting anyone."

"He's so clever he doesn't need a weapon," Tailor agreed, "Because this," she tapped her head, "Is the greatest weapon anyone could have."

The Doctor just smiled softly at his Mate and daughter for their words, knowing they were in reference to him, knowing that, despite how he had been a soldier, he had fought to end the hurt, not to win the war.

Clara nodded, "He can keep the whole world safe. What shall we call him?"

"Dan!" Rupert shouted, seeing Tailor about to open her mouth to name that soldier too, but if he was going to name even one of them he wanted it to be the commander.

"Sorry?" Clara seemed startled by that name.

"Dan, the soldier man. That's what I call him."

"Good," Clara swallowed, "Good name."

"Yeah."

"Come now," Angel murmured, moving to hold up one side of the bed sheets, "In you go, time to sleep."

Rupert shuffled under the sheets, letting the nice lady tuck him in, "Would you read me a story?" he looked to the three adults, "It'll help me get to sleep."

Angel smiled at that, "Oh I have something even better than a story."

"What?" Rupert look to her.

She reached out, gently running her hand through Rupert's short hair, softly beginning to sing, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."

Rupert must have been truly exhausted after the time he'd had, for he'd fallen asleep before she even finished one round of the lullaby.

"I remember that song," Tailor said gently, her voice low so as not to wake Rupert, "You used to sing it to me all the time, mum."

Angel looked up at her and smiled sadly at the memory, "Of course I would," she stood and moved to Tailor's side, cupping her face with both her hands, seeing the tears that were gathering in her daughter's eyes, "You were, and will always be, my sunshine."

"Our sunshine," the Doctor walked over to hug his two girls to him.

He knew the significance of the song, he had seen it in Angel's memories, how she used to sing that to her stomach when it was only just starting to swell. He saw how she had begged to the universe not to take away her sunshine, to not take away her daughter. The universe had been cruel, and then it had been kind by giving her back to them. Tailor truly was there sunshine, she brought the brightness back into Angel after his bout of amnesia, really she'd brought it into both their lives.

And he would never, ever let anyone take their sunshine away again.

That was why this was so important.

~8~

Back in the TARDIS, Clara was sitting on a small set of steps that led up to a chalkboard, watching as the trio of Time Lords moved around the console to fly the TARDIS away from the children's home.

"So...it really was just a kid in a bedspread?" she asked, something about the entire situation putting her on edge. She had seen the Doctor freaked out before, but usually always with a good reason, it made her feel like there must have been an actual creature under that bedspread and not a kid, but if Angel said it was a kid, she wanted to believe that very much.

"It's...possible, yes," the Doctor could admit, rubbing his head, unable to help but feel like there had to be more to it than just that but also feeling grateful that it didn't appear to be the case. Still, he wasn't sure and that was what was setting him off.

"What I don't understand is why we ended up there with him instead of you, Aunt Clara?" Tailor asked, looking at her Aunt.

Clara shrugged as she stood, "I got distracted."

"But why that particular boy?" the Doctor asked, "You don't have any...you don't have any kind of connection with him, do you?"

"No. No, no, no, of course not. Why do you ask?"

"The TARDIS was slaved to your timeline. Theoretically, there should have been some connection."

"Well if that's the past of a person she knew or knows," Angel began, trying to pick her words carefully, knowing how overprotective the Doctor would likely get about someone dating his sister if it ended up being serious enough where her timeline had latched onto theirs, "That would be enough of a timeline touching hers that it could, theoretically, bring us to their timeline too."

"Will, um...will he remember any of that?" Clara wondered.

"He might," she remarked, "But it was one night for barely an hour, years and years ago."

"Too many memories, too small brain," Tailor repeated, "He may not."

Clara moved over to them, biting her lip, her expression so clearly anxious and concerned that even the Doctor noticed.

"...are you ok?" he asked.

Clara took a breath and faced the trio of concerned faces, "I am sorry to ask, and I realize this is probably against the laws of time or something, but...um...could you do me a favor?"

Angel smiled, as though knowing what Clara was about to ask before she actually asked it, "Anything for family."

~8~

Tailor cautiously peeked out around the door of the TARDIS, looking up and down the street that they had landed on, calling back over her shoulder, "All clear."

Clara shook her head the girl's antics, but was appreciative of it when she stepped out to see herself down the street, in the process of walking away from her date with Danny. It would have been very awkward to walk into herself as she opened the door when she'd wanted to.

"Is that what I look like from the back?" she asked, eyeing her figure.

"It's fine," the Doctor shrugged, misinterpreting her words as a question of if that was really her and wanting to reassure her that it was safe for the timelines to go back into the restaurant.

"I was thinking it was good."

Angel laughed and moved to Clara, putting her hands on the girl's shoulders to nudge her back to the restaurant where she could see a man with his head on the table appearing just as regretful a date had ended badly as Clara had been when they first picked her up, "Go on," she urged, "He's just as sorry for how it went, trust me," she winked as Clara looked back at her.

"So that's him?' Tailor asked her mother as Clara entered the restaurant and moved to sit in front of the man.

"I believe so."

"Who's him?" the Doctor asked, but the two women just laughed and moved back into the TARDIS. The Doctor shrugged, unperturbed and followed them in...

~8~

Clara took a breath as she sat back down in front of Danny, hoping he wouldn't notice her change in footwear like he had her outfit change that one time. But he looked more stunned to see her back than anything.

"Sorry," she said quickly, just wanting to get it out.

Seeing his past, or part of it, seeing that little boy, Rupert, who she was pretty sure was actually Danny now and not a family member, it reminded her she didn't know much about him. She didn't know what made him tick and she didn't know what happened in his past. Her joke to her was just a joke, but to him it clearly upset him and it was insensitive of her to brush off the why. She owed it to Danny to really get to know him and his past.

"Hey," Danny began to smile, though it was cautious, as though he were afraid to say anything and risk it being the wrong thing.

Clara just held out her hand to him, "Hello. I am Clara Oswald. I'm a bit tricky sometimes, a bit up myself, and I don't like my surname, but I think that's basically everything you need to worry about."

Danny nodded, reaching out to shake her hand in return, "Hello, I'm...I'm sorry..."

"Also, I mouth off when I'm nervous," she added, not wanting him to apologize when they both had been a bit in the wrong, "And I've got a mouth on me. Seriously, it's got a mind of its own. I'm worried it wants to go solo."

"I don't know what to say," Danny chuckled lightly, pulling his hand away.

"Don't say anything. Or say something nice."

"I like your name."

"It's a start," Clara smiled.

"Oswald. It suits you."

"Drifting now," she warned him teasingly, recalling how he'd latched onto some topics earlier and not let them go.

"It's better than Pink," he argued lightly.

"No, Pink...Pink is nice. I like Pink."

"You can have it."

Clara felt herself blush, sure that he hadn't meant it the way she had instantly taken it, but felt a bit flirty herself, so she replied with, "Oh, a bold offer, Mr. Pink."

That seemed to cause Danny to realize how he'd phrased it, as though he were offering her his last name in terms of marriage, "I meant..." he began to stammer, "No..."

Clara reached across the table to put a hand on his, "I know, I know."

He sighed, shaking his head, mentally beating himself up for the state he was in, "Why can't I speak today?"

"It's that foot you're keeping in your mouth," Clara joked, though she knew she was just as guilty of doing that herself.

Luckily Danny took it in a better stride than earlier, "Is that where I put it?"

"Anyway," she chuckled, "Clara Pink? Too much."

"Yeah, it is a bit much," Danny agreed with a small laugh, though his face flushed in a way that told Clara he didn't think it was THAT much after all.

Clara struggled to find a safe topic to move to from surnames, and first names seemed a reasonable change that might help get them off names entirely soon, "Mind you, RUPERT Pink!"

Danny froze entirely, his expression fading from a smile to instant defense and suspicion, "Sorry?"

"Rupert...Pink?" Clara started to laugh nervously at his reaction, now honestly not sure if that WAS his name…perhaps the little boy was a twin? "It's not good."

"Rupert?"

"Yeah…that was your name, yeah?"

"Who told you that?" Danny demanded, sounding a little outraged.

Clara floundered for an answer that would make more sense than from time travel, which was just about every excuse ever thought of, but she went with the one that made the most sense to her overall, "Um...someone in the school?"

But Danny was shaking his head, "No, I haven't used that name for years."

"I cannot remember who it was, er..."

"Are you making fun of me?!"

Clara shook her head fiercely at that, "No! No, no, no, no way!"

"Is this a joke?"

"Danny," now she was starting to feel a little hurt and defensive herself at his reaction and what he thought of her, "Nothing about this is any kind of joke!"

She looked away, trying to come up with some way to salvage the situation…only to spot someone standing in a doorway near the back of the restaurant…wearing a spacesuit. Clara was going to kill the Doctor and then demand to know why Angel hadn't kept him locked in the TARDIS!

"Where's your coat?" Danny asked, pulling Clara back to her current, somewhat more pressing, situation with Danny.

"My what?"

"You put your coat on when you left."

Clara silently cursed how observant Danny was. She'd been worried he'd notice the change in her shoes that she'd completely forgotten she'd taken her coat with her and dropped it on the floor of her flat when she'd entered. She glanced over at the spacesuit, still standing there, but gesturing for her to follow it, starting to draw attention and knew she'd have to come up with something before Danny noticed, "I'm really sorry. Danny, um...there is something I should probably be honest about."

"How about everything?" he scoffed.

"Everything, in my case, is actually quite a lot."

"Well, that's weird."

"No, it's not weird, not really..." Clara frowned when Danny took a leaf out of her book and threw his napkin down on the table, getting up, "Where are you going?"

"I don't do weird."

"Don't go."

But Danny just leaned over to look at her, "Then do something for me, tell me the truth, because I know when people are lying to me. However weird this thing might be, just tell me the truth!"

Clara shook her head, "It's not weird…" she glanced over at the spacesuit to see that, thankfully, it had turned to move into the kitchens and not approach her table, "…exactly."

Danny didn't seem to appreciate her distraction, "I've had enough," he told her before turning to leave.

Clara huffed at that, debating, for just a moment, whether to go after Danny or deal with the Doctor. But if he was there and Angel hadn't stopped him…it had to mean something bad, yeah? So she took a breath and quickly strode across the restaurant to the kitchens…

~8~

It was very clear that Clara was NOT pleased with the situation as she stormed into the TARDIS after the spacesuited individual, "I am trying to have a date!" she was shouting at the man, to the confusion of the three Time Lords standing by the console, "A real life, inter-human actual date! It's a normal nice, everyday, meeting-up sort of thing, and I would just like to know, is there any other way you can make this any more surreal than it already is?"

But the moment the man took the helmet off to reveal a somewhat older black man, who bore a striking resemblance to the man from the restaurant, Clara fell into stunned silence.

"Hello?" he offered.

"Ah, Clara!" the Doctor cheered, rushing over, "Well done, you found her."

"I still don't see why I couldn't go get Aunt Clara," Tailor sighed, "I was going to dress up like a waiter and everything."

"Clara…you alright?" Angel asked, seeing Clara still gaping at the man.

"Danny?" Clara pointed at him.

"What's gone wrong with your face?" the Doctor asked before Angel or Tailor could answer, seeing Clara's eyes were impossibly wide, looking at the man, "It's all eyes! Why are you all eyes? Get them under control."

"Who's Danny?" the man shook his head.

"This is Colonel Orson Pink," Angel introduced.

"He's from about 100 years in your future, Aunt Clara," Tailor eyed her, mildly suspicious as to why these men...well, boy and man...kept appearing in her Aunt's timeline.

Clara just laughed nervously at the girl's tone, "Orson Pink?"

Well, it certainly was more surreal now.

A/N: I almost started crying during the 'You are my sunshine' bit :'( I was having flashbacks to all the angst Angel endured during her pregnancy :'( But at least this time it had a better memory behind it :)

I can say that Angel is very keen on her belief that the thing on the bed was one of the other kids, but the Doctor, in a rare show, is having trouble trusting her sensations 100 percent. There's a good reason for it, considering he's always put faith in her abilities in the past. But we won't find out what it is till the next chapter ;)

But lol, Tailor and her toy soldiers :) She probably could have named all of them after family hers is large enough :) Poor Clara though, I felt like this episode, if it had been handled a bit better would have made me really LOVE Danny paired with Clara. He's a cute stuttery mess around her which is adorable, but he keeps jumping to conclusions and getting super defensive, and then getting mad at Clara later for not being 'normal' and it just made me sad :/ Like someone who wants you to give up something you love or gets upset and insulting the way Danny did won't be good long term. But, then again, there was so much potential for him to learn about the time travelling and come to understand it and Clara's part in it that I felt like the last episode was on a low note :( I couldn't quite see how Clara could jump to 'I love him!' so quickly given what we saw of how Danny acted, so it's something I'm really going to be looking into and exploring in this story. What might change with Angel and Tailor around and reacting to Danny instead of just the Doctor? :)

Some notes on reviews...

It is intentional that I show the Doctor having a sleep routine :) In the normal course of the show, I can imagine him not needing as much sleep. But I know from experience that when I'm constantly worrying about someone, it's draining. Here, the Doctor doesn't just watch out for himself and Clara, he's always worrying about Angel and Tailor too, those spikes of fear for them translate to actually needing rest at the end of certain adventures :) That and I'd imagine parenting in general is very exhausting sometimes :) I think the time between episodes is up for interpretation, sometimes to the Doctor it's five minutes, to the companion it's 3 weeks like in Into the Dalek. Other times it may be 3 months for the Doctor and 1 week to the Companion :) Because we don't see what he gets up to when he's not travelling with Clara it gives the freedom to imagine or write in he was having other adventures with his Mate and Daughter :)

Very understandable. I'm not so much afraid of the dark, but I am a little hesitant to do anything with deep water or being in water with creatures who aren't dolphins :/ IDK if you've played the original old Mario game on Nintendo, but there's a level in a castle that's almost entirely underwater and I could not bring myself to play it because of the creatures under it :/ I can do the ocean up to my waist, but snorkeling, scuba, anything else is a no-go for me :) I'm so sorry you had to experience those moments :( My sister was terrified of something being under her bed so my brother and I saved up and surprised her with a new bed frame that, instead of an under the bed, it had a complete base with drawers under it. That way nothing could get under the bed and she controlled what was in the drawers, we even got little lights to put in the drawers so she wouldn't have to fumble in the dark :) But it's not strange at all. I can watch horror movies like you would not believe but I can't do haunted houses at carnivals or anything. Watching is fine, being IN one is another story ;)

Lol, we'll have to wait and find out if Angel is or isn't ;) I feel like, having been before she'd notice if she was sooner than last time, but then again a large part of last time was not having the Doctor's full attention and affection directed at her which gave her more time to herself. We'll definitely need to wait and see ;)