Heyyyy, here's the next chapter... It's kinda chilled, well as chilled as Clara and Danny's life can be anyway ;)

2 years in the future...

Life as a Pink

"Mummy, mummy, mummy!" Ellie shook Clara's shoulder until she slowly opened her eyes before sighing and shutting them again. She groaned, realising that she had a banging headache again. "MUMMY!" She yanked the bed cover off of her and Danny which then woke him up with a start. Clara sat up a little bit and rubbed her eyes.

"Yes darling?" Ellie jumped up and down whilst grinning excitedly. Clara soon knew what she was going to say next.

"School today! I'm going to school!" She climbed on to the bed in between them both, her pink stripy pyjamas clinging off of her as they were a few sizes too big. The Doctor wasn't very good with sizes but it was the thought that count. He had bought them for her birthday which she was ecstatic about.

"Are you excited?" She nodded her head and began to grin even more so that they could see her little white teeth. Her hands were clenched and being waved around in excitement. Danny and Clara couldn't help laughing, she looked so happy. "We can get your uniform out in a bit!"

"Yayyyyy!" She stood up and started to jump up and down. Danny stuck his arm out to trip her up so she fell on to his chest laughing happily. He brought her into a tickle which sent her off in fits of laughter. Clara watched on in complete happiness.

After they had picked her uniform Ellie insisted that she wanted to get ready all by herself. Clara obviously agreed to this so went to wake up Lily instead. Although she was coming on for three years old now she still slept like a baby. Waking her up was agony. Clara could only wonder what it would be like when she turned into a teenager, leave that one for another day eh. Once she had stopped protesting she finally got up. She crawled along the floor over to where Clara was folding up some of her clothes.

"Morning honey." She stood up, or rather stumbled up and used Clara as a rest, and yawned. "Aww that was a very big yawn for a little girl! Shall we go and get some breakfast?" She nodded so they left the room with her in Clara's arms. Danny was already downstairs with breakfast set out and ready much to Clara's delight.

"Morning monkey!" Lily grinned and leant away from Clara so that she could be picked up by Danny.

"Morning daddy." Her voice was so cute at the moment. She was beginning to talk more but most of it was muttered and couldn't be understood. Some words came out well but most didn't which made them all laugh. Danny began to pour Lily's favourite cereal but was stopped when Ellie came prancing down the stairs.

"Look look!" Clara walked over to straighten things up as her skirt was the wrong way round and her polo shirt was wonky. Danny got his phone out ready for pictures.

"You look amazing!" She grinned and went to get her schoolbag to complete the image.

"I did it all myself!" Her hands were placed behind her back and she was swaying backwards and forwards with pride.

"Good girl! That's really good Ellie!" She walked over to get her breakfast leaving Clara and Danny watching her proudly.

Once they were all dressed and ready to go they left for the car. Danny sat down on the front seat heavily and pulled his tie down from his neck. Wearing a suit for the first time in six weeks wasn't a nice feeling. Clara saw his expression and understood the feeling.

"Hey, it will be fine, there's no getting out of work you know." He laughed before starting up the car.

"True, I suppose we will just have to bare it." He winked at her and they left off the drive. The first stop was Lily's nursery. As they rolled up they heard Lily begin to whine from the back of the car. Quickly clutching her head she got put to grab her. To everyone's surprise Clara took her in reasonably easily, she was slightly resistant as normal but it wasn't a problem. She got back into the car to hear Ellie and Danny laughing hysterically. She frowned.

"Oi you two! What's so funny?" Danny looked back round at Ellie and put his finger in front of his lips to tell her to not say anything. She giggled as Clara looked at her suspiciously. "What? Come on tell me!" Danny shook his heads and they giggled again. Ellie tapped Danny on the shoulder and whispered to him.

"Can I tell her now?" He smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, go for it!" Clara looked round to Ellie.

"Daddy said that you looked like the moody secretary at your school when you took Lily in to nursery." They all laughed, especially Ellie who was giggling hysterically.

"Did he now!?" Clara looked over to Danny. "I'll have to tell him off for that later!" She winked at him and they headed off on to the next part of the journey.

Once they got to the school carpark Ellie had spotted her friends. They parked the car and went to meet the other parents.

"Hello, how are you?" Clara started to talk to Ellie's best friends mum, Claire.

"I'm good thank you, you?" They both looked down at the girls who were playfully chatting and sharing their excitement with each other.

"Well I'm definitely more nervous than they are!" They all laughed. A few seconds later the doors opened for the children to enter. Ellie took her bag off of Danny who had crouched down to her level. He pulled her forwards and kissed her head softly.

"You have an amazing day yeah? And be a good girl!" She nodded and kissed him on the cheek. Clara then hugged her and said her goodbyes before letting her run off with her friend. As they watched her go Danny placed his arm over Clara's shoulder and pulled her close. He looked at her face and could tell that she was nervous.

"She'll be fine you know, she'll love it and will make us so, so proud." She sighed and looked up at him. He kissed her on the head whilst moving a stray piece of hair out of her face.

"I think so... That doesn't stop me worrying about her though." He chuckled a little.

"I know but it gives us a bit of reassurance anyway..." They waited until the doors closed and then headed back to the car. "Come on, let's go and teach some stroppy teenagers eh?" She laughed and they headed to Coal Hill.

Clara didn't say a word for the whole journey which was highly unusual as she was normally quite the chatterbox. Usually Danny would have to tell her to be quiet as she talked so much.

"Are you okay?" She turned her head from the window and smiled at him. A fake smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" He shrugged.

"It's just that you haven't said a word the whole journey and normally I can't stop you from talking?" She sighed and looked at him reassuringly.

"I'm fine honestly! Just tired." She hid the truth from him as it was easier that way. Actually her head was throbbing and her vision kept going a bit blurry but that was only going to worry him. To her disappointment, Danny didn't buy it.

"What? So it's not about Ellie? Because she'll be fine you know."

"No! It's not, I promise." She didn't look at him as he spoke which told him to leave the conversation there. She obviously wasn't in the mood but she definitely had something on her mind.

The sound of school children was not particularly welcome as they got out of the car. They walked to the main doors next to each other as usual but obviously were met with some of their more challenging students on the way who still thought that it was hilarious that two of their teachers were married and had kids together. A few that were huddled round the doors spoke up and laughed.

"Morning Mr Pink... And Mrs Pink." Danny shook his head and smiled at them.

"Morning Jodie, if you would kindly get to form as quickly as you can that would be much appreciated. Thank you." Jodie looked away and shrugged. That wasn't the reaction that she wanted. Nevertheless she started moving in towards the school. Danny signed and looked over to Clara. "Was it just me or did you just feel a huge sense of déjà vu?" She laughed slightly in agreement.

"It's like the Courtney situation all over again."

"God help us all." They laughed and headed into the staff room.

Break couldn't have come around quick enough. The first day back was always the hardest. Clara had a new year seven tutor group so that always proved tough. As much as they listened they were still hard work. Danny had had two year eleven classes in a row which was even worse because they were all stressing after their introduction assembly that started the countdown to their GCSEs. Both of them had had enough already and it was only two hours into the year. As normal Danny headed down to Clara's room where she was sat typing some lesson plans on her computer. He knocked on the door and waited for a reply.

"Hello." He chuckled and walked over to her.

"Wow you sound like how I feel." Now she looked up at him and smiled. She still didn't say anything though. "What you doing there?" He gestured towards her laptop.

"Just some plans for next week."

"We'll do you think you can stop for a bit and come to get a cuppa with me?" She sighed and continued to look at her laptop.

"Sorry I need to get this done." He looked at her with concern. What was wrong with her today? He walked forwards and kissed her head to get her attention. "Danny not now. I'm not in the mood." He stood back, getting the message.

"Come on, what's wrong? Tell me?" Clara stood up and went to the shelf on the other side of the class giving him a stern look on the way. As she walked she felt another shooting pain through her head which added to her frustration.

"Nothing! I'm fine!" He gave her a look, he didn't believe her. "Look, I just need a while to think something through okay." He held his hands up standing up from the desk.

"Okay, I'll see you later then I guess." He left without her saying another word. Once he was out of sight she sat back down and signed. She really needed to talk to him. She couldn't do it on her own.

After two more stressful lessons lunch rolled around which Clara wasn't as excited for as she had expected to be. She got up and started to clear up some of the tables, as usual the year nines had left their papers all over the class. She bent down to pick up a book when another pain seared through her head. Wincing, she got up and leant against the table. Just as she was recovering Danny walked in. The king of bad timing as usual. He noticed her and ran straight over to her side.

"Clara?" She sighed again but didn't say a word. She tried to walk away but he didn't let her. This was getting stupid now. "No, you're going to sit down for a minute and talk to me." She went to protest but he shushed her. "No arguments. Sit. Talk." Clara looked down at her lap where her hands were trembling. She felt so nervous to speak to him but she didn't know why. Usually she could tell him anything but this felt uncertain.

"I think there's something wrong with me..." He looked at her in confusion but then knew she meant it when her eyes started to water. "Over the past few weeks I've been feeling really weird and I don't know what to do." He held her hands to stop them from shaking and looked her in the eyes.

"In what way? What feels different?" With a deep breath she spoke again.

"I keep getting really bad sharp pains in my head and then I go all shaky. It happens about five or so times a day but only lasts about two minutes... I'm scared." He hid his concern and smiled reassuringly instead.

"Hey, it's okay. It's probably nothing, right?" She nodded. "But we can go to the Doctor and see what they say just to check, yeah?"

"Okay, will you come with me?" He laughed a little at how she ever thought that he wouldn't.

"Of course I will! We'll do it together, I promise." He kissed her softly and looked out to the corridor where kids were starting to gather for form time. She smiled gently and walked to the door after him to usher her form inside.

At the end of the day Clara walked to Danny's classroom as she happened to be ready before him for once. She knocked quietly and entered. He looked up in surprise.

"Oh hello! This doesn't normally happen?" She grinned.

"I know, you normally come to me but I was ready so I thought I'd come to see you." She went to sit on the front table but stopped to look at him as she did it. Giggling, he replied.

"And I bet I can tell you the reason why you got ready so quickly." Clara sighed at how obvious she was.

"But it's her first day! I need to ask her how it went and give her a huge hug! Come on, you can't blame me for that!?" Danny sighed in agreement.

"True, I can't wait to see her either. I'm sure she loved every second of it."

They got to her dads noise and were greeted to a very smiley Ellie at the door.

"Hello sweetie! How was your day?" She started jumping up and down with excitement.

"It was soooo fun! We did painting and reading and dancing and we made cookies!" The biggest smile appeared on Danny and Clara's face. The fact that she enjoyed herself gave them one less thing to worry about.

"That sounds amazing El!" Barely stopping for breath she continued to tell them about her day. As they walked into the door Danny picked her up and hugged her tightly as they walked into the living room.

"I made a new friend! She's called Grace and she likes dogs! And there's another girl called Louise and a boy called Ben and a boy called Oliver. They're all in my class!" Clara smiled again and kissed her head before tidying up her hair that had failed to stay in the clips she had put in earlier on in the day.

"Lots of friends then, that's good! Is your teacher nice?" Ellie pulled a strange face which made them all laugh.

"She's okay. She's very bossy and she didn't like painting. But I told her that my mummy and daddy are teachers so she likes me more now." Danny and Clara grinned at each other. At least their job was good for something at the moment.

"Well that's lucky then isn't it!" She nodded and wiped her hair out of the way again.

"But I can't say her name... It's like Mrs Witch or something." Clara laughed.

"I'm pretty sure she's not a witch... It's Mrs Winchester honey."

"Ohhh, that makes more sense now." They all chuckled at her randomness. Danny put her down and suddenly looked round the room.

"Hang on, I'm sure I had two daughters when I last looked?"

"Lily is at her play scheme thing remember?" He nodded.

"Oh yeah I totally didn't forget that, I mean pffffttt, I knew that." Clara laughed and hit his chest. He winked at her and smiled cheekily. He then went to sit down with Ellie giving Clara time to talk to Dave in private.

They walked into the kitchen where they couldn't be heard by Ellie.

"Can I ask you a massive favour?" He looked at her, intrigued.

"Yeah of course, what do you need?"

"Can you have the girls tomorrow after school and give them some dinner?" He shrugged, not really understanding why.

"Yeah, that should be fine. Why? Work stuff?" She hesitated but then decided it was better to tell him the truth now than later.

"No, actually... I've got a doctors appointment which Danny is coming along to." His expression changed from confusion to concern.

"Oh. Are you okay? It's nothing serious right?"

"No, no. Well I hope not. It's just that I've been getting really bad headaches recently, like shooting pains..." Both of their expressions turned down as they thought of the same thing.

"Oh no, it's not like your mum-" She stopped him not wanting to hear the rest of the sentence.

"That's what I need to go and find out but I'm praying that it's not..." There was a moment of silence in which Dave tried to process the information. "Dad I'm so scared, what if it is? What will I do?!" Dave placed his arms on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"Look, it will probably be nothing so don't worry yourself too much. But if it is then we will cope with it. We always do, eh?" She smiled weakly at that. "Does Danny know?"

"He knows about the headaches but not what it could be and about mum. I'll tell him soon. I promise." She smiled before speaking again. "Oh but can you tell the girls that it is work stuff? I don't want to worry them." He nodded before hugging her.

"Yeah, of course. Good luck."

"Thank you." She kissed him on the cheek and collected up Ellie's stuff.

The next afternoon Clara had resumed cleaning up her classroom as usual at the end of the school day. She found her self subconsciously taking it easy and going slowly which surprised her. Usually she would go at full pace at things and stop when she felt pain not beforehand. Once again her thoughts were broken through by Danny entering the room.

"Hey, you ready to go?" She nodded unenthusiastically before sighing.

"Not really but it needs to be done." He smiled and watched her gets her stuff together slowly. He could see the worry in her eyes and noticed how her body language was hesitant. There was something more than what she was saying but she was doing a good job at hiding it.

They walked down the corridor and out of the school. It was surprisingly cold for the start of September. As the air hit Clara she shivered slightly. Danny placed his arm around her and held her within his coat as they headed to the car. For the whole journey Clara sat looking out of the window without saying a word. Her leg was jogging up and down constantly to keep her mind at bay. Of course Danny noticed this and had to say something. It was so unlike her to be this nervous.

"Clara... I know that you hate going to the doctors and that you just want to get the all clear but-" He paused to configure the right words. "I can't help but think that there is something else? What's wrong? And I don't mean for you to sugar coat things again, tell me the truth." For a second she didn't say a thing. Eventually she looked round, no longer being able to hide the tears that were falling down her cheeks. Danny looked at her, alarmed, and immediately glanced across the road for a place to pull over. He soon stopped the car and took his seatbelt off to turn to look at her. "What's wrong?" She continued to sob.

"I don't know what to do Danny." He leaned in and took her hands.

"With what? What's wrong Clara?" He was getting really concerned now.

"My mum... She had it... When she was ill and..." She didn't want to finish the sentence.

"Had what?"

"The headaches and shooting pains... Like me." His eyes widened as he clocked on to what she was saying.

"What did she have?" He asked a little too interrogatively.

"It was a rare form of meningitis..." His eyes widened.

"Wait, is that why she-" She nodded her head to stop him from saying the words.

"What if I have it Danny? What if I've got it too? I can't-"

"No, no, no, stop right there. You don't know of it is the same thing yet. It might be nothing, you never know!" She took her heads back and wiped her eyes.

"But it could be!" He looked down at his hands.

"Yeah, you're right. It could be but if it is we will deal with it! We always do." She didn't answer, she just continued to cry as she looked away from him again. He sighed as he realised that she was going to take more persuasion than that. "Look, if you do have what she had then that is the worst case scenario but think about it. Technology has moved on and things have changed..." He paused to think of what else he could say to her, he needed to tread carefully. "What happened to your mum was awful, the worst thing ever. I won't let that happen to you, I promise. What ever it takes, how ever long it takes, it will not happen." She slowly turned round and looked at him sadly.

"Do you really, really promise?" He took her hands again and kissed her on the head.

"Cross my heart, stick a needle in my eye." He placed a lose strand of hair back behind her ear as he spoke. That seemed to comfort her.

"Okay, let's go." After a nod of reassurance they got back on the road.

Thankfully the doctors wasn't busy so they got straight into the room. They walked down the corridor hand in hand stopping just before the door. Danny kissed her head again and smiled.

"You'll be fine. I can feel it... Want me to come in with you?" She looked down and shook her head.

"No you're okay. No offence but it will be easier if you aren't with me."

"Okay, whatever suits you. I'll wait in the reception." They smiled at each other before going their separate ways.

A while later she emerged from the corridor. She paused as she walked round the corner, not sure how to act. Danny immediately stood up when he saw her.

"So?" He tried to stay calm although his heart was pumping furiously inside of him.

"I told her about mum and she said that she doubts that I same thing but I need to take it easy. I've got a prescription too. It's probably stress and tiredness mostly." Putting his hands on her shoulders, he smiled with relief.

"That's good news right?" She nodded gently, not as enthusiastically as expected.

"I don't really know... I mean yeah it is, of course it is, but... I don't really know how to feel. All of that worry has come to nothing." She looked down at their feet like she was ashamed. He put his hand under her chin and lifted up her head.

"That's okay, worrying isn't bad. It's just good that we've got it all sorted now yeah?" She sighed.

"But I just feel so stupid... Getting all upset, making you worry, stressing out my dad. All for nothing."

"Don't you worry about that, you had every right to get uptight. What you went through with your mum is bound to have an effect on you. Honestly, it's fine. I'm glad that you told me and we sorted it together. Don't feel ashamed, you did the right thing." She smiled gently as she looked up at him. Danny kissed her head and took her hand. "Come along, lets go and relief your dad from our darling children." She laughed a little as they headed back out of the door hand in hand...

Phew that was a roller coaster... Sorry it took me so long to write this, I don't really know why it didn't come together quicker. Thank you for reading, standby for the next chapter hopefully very soon!x