The Doctor halted, his face frozen in shock. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He looked between Dr Wentworth and Clara, glancing first at her face and then at her stomach, before coming to a stop staring at the scientist.
"What?" The Doctor asked, staring disbelievingly at the other man.
"Umm..." Wentworth seemed at a loss for words. "She's pregnant." He stated again, his voice quivering. "Would you like to... uh... do you want to see?" He stuttered. The Doctor nodded silently, and walked around the bed until he stood next to the scientist, facing the scanner. Wentworth pointed to a specific reading on the monitor. "This here says-"
"I know what it says." The Doctor interrupted harshly, though he made no move to apologise. Wentworth seemed taken aback, but didn't say anything. The Doctor's eyes examined the results, reading all the information thoroughly. He occasionally passed a look at Clara, before returning his focus to the readings.
"How do you know these are correct? How do I know you're not lying?" the Doctor asked, turning to Wentworth and giving him a distrustful look. Wentworth gulped, looking back at the Doctor before spinning to take in the monitor.
"Well, I could run another test..." the scientist began, but seeing the look on the Doctor's face, he continued "...or you could." The last phrase sounded more like a question than a suggestion, and the Doctor nodded, before beginning to press buttons on the control panel mounted on the stand. Wentworth moved to the other side of the room and flicked the lights off, before the beam of light appeared out of the scanner again and rained down onto Clara once again; however this time the beam was a dark green colour and was focused mainly on Clara's stomach, emitting a low humming sound.
The scan took more time to complete than the last one and after a few minutes the lights were turned back on and the monitor began to scroll downwards, submitting the results. Once it had finished, the Doctor stepped to it and began to read through the data. His eyes widened once more and his grip on the bed tightened as he fought to keep himself upright.
"Scarlett, come here." The Doctor shakily asked the girl, who had previously been stood against the far wall. She moved forward tentatively, and came to stand beside the Doctor, watching his reaction. He looked as though he was about to faint. "What does that say?" The Doctor asked, pointing towards a section of the report with a trembling finger. Scarlett scanned through the data before replying.
"It says that Clara's pregnant." Scarlett clarified, shifting nervously from foot to foot. She watched while the Doctor composed himself before he twiddled some of the dials on the side of the monitor. A blurry picture appeared on the screen, replacing the text that had been there moments before. After a bit of fiddling the Doctor managed to focus the image. It looked vaguely like the photo Scarlett remembered being shown in one of her lives. An ultrasound image.
The Doctor stared at it for a few moments, before moving to Clara's side and gently placing a hand on her cheek; admiring her. His expression was clouded; some parts were dark but it was dominated by his worry and care for her.
No way. This is not happening; I refuse to believe it. She can't be pregnant! It's... well it is possible, but... No. Just no. She can't be pregnant. I mean; it was only once, and we took precautions and... Wait. She was pregnant when they beat her up. She was pregnant with my child when she was beaten up. My child, barely a blip on a screen, could have been erased from existence by these... monsters. They nearly killed her; if that punch that broke her rib was any lower, I would be without a child. If those beasts hadn't... No. This is my fault: all my fault. I shouldn't have brought her here. She was weak after Trenzalore as it was. I should have just dropped her off at the Maitland's and given her time to rest. We haven't even had a proper conversation yet!
How am I going to tell her? I can't just randomly say: 'Oh, and by the way Clara, you're pregnant.' No way. But I have to tell her; she's the one carrying a baby Time Lord!
And it had two hearts. It had two hearts, which means I'm not alone anymore! I won't be the last of my kind, and I'll have a child again! A child that I can raise properly – teach them everything I know – protect them, care for them; love them. And I'd have a constant companion. Someone who would be nearly impossible to kill, who I could take on all of my adventures! But not the dangerous ones. No, I wouldn't let my child go on a dangerous adventure. I wouldn't risk them getting hurt, or being taken from me. I would always keep them away from harm; as far away from anything that could hurt them as possible.
"Can I wake her up?" He asked, turning to Dr Wentworth.
"Yes, I believe so. Um..." Dr Wentworth spun towards the door. He frowned, then looked around in confusion, but didn't find what he was looking for. "Where did they go?"
"Who?" The Doctor asked, confused.
"The Clerics guarding the door." Scarlett replied, spinning in a circle. "They've just disappeared."
"They can't have; we'd have noticed." The Doctor replied.
"They could have left when the lights were off." Scarlett suggested, moving towards the door. "But why did they leave?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Wentworth murmured, his voice filled with dread. "They must've gone to tell Madame Kovarian about her." The Doctor turned from watching Clara, his expression thunderous. If looks could kill, Dr Wentworth would have been erased from the universe countless times.
"Wake her up. Now." The Doctor demanded, and Wentworth didn't argue. He scurried to one of the black boxes and pulled out a syringe filled with a thin white liquid. He walked to Clara and inserted the needle into her arm. He pushed down in the syringe, squeezing the liquid into Clara's body.
Suddenly, Clara gasped, her eyes flicking open and darting around the room. Wentworth removed the needle from her arm, and she looked at him fearfully, shuffling backwards. The Doctor's hand came to rest on her hair and she jolted away, before seeing that it was him and sitting up, throwing her arms around his middle and burying her face in his chest. He stroked her hair for a moment, before pulling away slightly and pushing her chin up.
"Clara, we have to run. They're after us because..." The Doctor trailed off, crunching his eyebrows in thought. "Well, they're after us and we need to get away. They want to hurt you."
"Can he get us out of here?" Scarlett asked, gesturing to Dr Wentworth, then shrunk back when she felt both the Doctor and Clara's eyes on her.
"Good thought Scarlett. Dr Wentworth, how do you get out of here?" The Doctor asked, his mood having shifted now that Clara was awake; he couldn't let her know just how much danger she was in.
"I have a clearance tag for the science labs. I just scan it and-"
"Right, well give it here please and then we'll leave." The Doctor interrupted.
"But... they'll kill me." Wentworth stammered.
"That's your problem." The Doctor said darkly, his mood changing once again.
"Doctor" Clara's small voice was scratchy, but she continued. "We can't just leave him." She looked up at him from the bed, her eyes questioning.
"Clara, he's the reason we have to run." The Doctor replied.
"I'm willing to bet he's also the reason I'm still alive." Clara countered, staring at the Doctor defiantly. "He's coming with us."
Scarlett watched the exchange from the foot of the bed. She saw the small interaction between her parents – the authoritative look from Clara – before the Doctor nodded and began to lift her from the bed. He placed her feet on the floor, and she released her grip on him; walking forwards a few feet before turning back.
"Are we getting out of here or what?" She asked rhetorically, and the Doctor smiled, then turned to Dr Wentworth and grabbed the key card from around his neck. He ran to the inside door panel and swiped the card. The door opened with a hiss, and the Doctor and Clara stepped through, holding hands. Scarlett stayed a few feet behind them, avoiding Clara. Wentworth was the last one to exit, and the door closed behind him.
A.N: Hello People! This chapter took some serious re-writing (3 times!) and I'm still not completely happy with it. I tried to incorporate everyone's ideas into it; but I think it just failed. I got to the point where i was just like 'stuff this' and wrote a monologue for the Doctor. I think that's the only reason I'm posting this today instead of next century (when I finally procrastinating about it).
Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter, and I hope I did the Doctor's reaction even a bit of justice. Please review, and the next chapter should be up sometime over the weekend.
-Weird :)