Chapter 25: Trust Me

"I deeply apologise for the misunderstanding." apologised the man who stood before them.

Clara looked up at the Doctor who was still frowning. His hair was still dripping wet and his clothes were completely drenched. She could easily see where they had been as there was a trail of water on the floor which the Doctor had created as they had made their way back to the TARDIS. No matter how much she tried to hide it, she was slightly amused at the grumpiness displayed on his face which was slowly becoming anger.

"Misunderstanding…?!" he began but stopped as soon as his eyes met Clara's.

She shook her head and begged with her eyes for him to stop. She really wasn't in the mood for him to get into an argument. He'd already had enough of them for one day.

"Just drop it…" she whispered up to him, "Please."

He sighed and forced a smile onto his face when he turned back to the man. Just before he spoke, he took off the remains of his bowtie and squeezed the water out of it.

"I'd love to say it was a pleasure, but it wasn't." he said as he took the TARDIS key out of his inner pocket, "Bye!"

He swiftly unlocked the door and stormed inside. Clara sighed and rolled her eyes before acknowledging the man.

"Bye." she said before heading inside herself.

She closed the door behind her and stood watching the Doctor muttering to himself as he removed his drenched jacket and flung it over the rail. Clara rolled her eyes slightly and made her way over to him. Her smile breaking through amplified his annoyance resulting in him raising his eyebrow.

"Do you think this is funny?" he questioned, "I'm soaked!"

Clara bit her lip in attempt to hide her smile but it was futile. "I can see that Mr Grumpy!" she laughed.

The Doctor gave in and smiled. She was truly incredible. How could he be grumpy when he was with her, no matter how annoyed he was?

He sighed and looked down at his clothing which was creating a puddle around his feet.

"I'm gonna get change." he told her.

Clara nodded. "Well, I'm gonna get a coffee so…" she told him with a smile.

He kissed her forehead and smiled before they both left the control room.

"Oh," he remembered, "Clean up dear."

He rubbed the wall of his beloved TARDIS as he spoke. Clara smiled when she saw the control room behind her begin to heat up, evaporating the water off the floor. She was still completely amazed at the wonder of the TARDIS and she loved the fact that the Doctor truly cared for it. She didn't know why she liked that, she just did.

x-[]-x

Both the Doctor and Clara were eager for a new adventure. The Doctor was fed up of danger and problems which led to him being locked up underwater so this time he was trying to find a nice and relatively safe place.

Although the mystery surrounding the Bronwin person was heavily on his mind and deeply intrigued him, he was hoping for an adventure without her popping up. He just wanted one adventure, that was all, one adventure where it was just him and Clara. Was that too much to ask?

Dressed in dry and clean clothes, he began to dig through the database. Clara had joined him and as he searched, she rested her head on his shoulder. He looked down at her and smiled. Now he had admitted his feelings for her, he didn't feel bad for feeling that way anymore.

"What is it?" he asked, his voice soft and gentle.

"Nothin'." she replied.

He smiled and kissed the top of her head before turning back to the screen.

"Anywhere in particular you wanna go?" he questioned.

She shook her head. "Just take me somewhere good." she told him.

He hit the nearest lever and they both felt the TARDIS land. Clara looked up towards the door and watched as the Doctor whipped on his jacket which was now dry.

"Where are we?" asked Clara.

He shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "No idea." he answered, "Come on."

They both exited the TARDIS into some sort of building. The walls were made of some sort of metal and the corridor they were in was split into open sections. Each section had a camera with a red light above every doorway and a window in the wall to their left.

The Doctor and Clara looked out of the window they had materialised next to. It looked over a lake that had a handful of boat-type vessels floating on it. The water was a bronze colour and the ground around it was light shade of yellow. Apart from the colour difference, it looked a lot like Earth.

The Doctor then began to examine the sky. It was silver in colour and contained three suns. He tried to identify the system they were in but he couldn't pinpoint which one it was. There were at least three he could think of, Triodia Minor, Tanzalor or Cejana.

"So where are we?" asked Clara.

"I'm not sure." admitted the Doctor before looking further up at the sky.

Clara followed his gaze and looked up at the sky which was almost directly over the building. There in the sky was some sort of blue gas cloud. Whatever it was, it was beautiful.

"Oh, we're in the Cejana System." he explained, "That's the Cejanian Nebula. You're a long way from home Clara, four galaxies I think."

Clara smiled. "And what's this place?" she questioned, referring to the metal building they were in.

"Dunno." responded the Doctor, "Let's go find out."

x-[]-x

The pair of them walked down the corridor until they reached a more open part of the building. It was occupied with many humanoid aliens, all crossing the floor while immersed in deep conversation.

"Oh this is Hylamat Station." the Doctor realised.

"Give me a clue." begged Clara.

He laughed slightly. "It's a supply station." he explained, "Like a service station on a motorway."

Clara nodded and looked around. There was a market on the far side of the room and seating areas dotted around the edge. A number of corridors led away from the room, obviously to other parts of the station.

The Doctor looked around. His smile suddenly faded when he saw something which wasn't right. In the corner of the room there was a child, a young girl of about twelve. She was sat alone and the reason it was wrong was because she was crying, silently. She was attempting to hide her tears from the passing crowds but he had noticed.

Clara, who was still visually examining her surroundings, failed to notice him slip away.

He made his way over to the girl who turned her head away when she saw him appear next to her. She didn't run. There was nowhere for her to go.

"Hello." he greeted softly before taking a seat opposite her, "You okay?"

Stupid question really. Of course she wasn't but he couldn't think of what else to say. It had been a long time since he had to deal with children, especially crying children.

The young girl looked down, avoiding eye contact with the man who had actually bothered to ask if she was okay. If she had looked up, she would have realised that she knew who this man actually was.

"What's your name?" he asked.

The girl sighed. "Abby…" she replied in a whisper.

The Doctor smiled. "Abby." he repeated, "Lovely name. Now Abby, are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"

She shook her head. "No?" he asked, "Well I can't help you if you don't."

Abby wiped away another tear which escaped her eye. "You can't help me." she told him, "No one can."

The Doctor leaned forward. "We'll see about that but first you need to tell me what's wrong." he told her before placing his hand on her knee, "Trust me."

I'm the Doctor… he finished in his head which resulted in him smiling to himself.

Meanwhile, Clara had just that second noticed that the Doctor had suddenly disappeared.

"Oh brilliant…" she muttered, "Doctor! Doctor!"

Unknown to Clara, there was someone watching her. He had been watching her ever since she had landed on the station in that strange blue box along with the bowtie wearing man. The beauty of all the cameras in the station was that if he needed to follow someone, all he had to do was click a button.

He watched for a few more seconds before reaching over to a com device on the desk in front of him. His eyes never left the screen which displayed her looking for the Doctor.

"It's her. She's in Main Section 2." he said down the speaker.

"Are you sure?" asked a voice in reply.

"Brown hair, dressed in a black and white polka dot dress and calling for the Doctor," he explained, "Yeah it's her."

"Shall we make a move?" questioned the voice.

The man sighed. "We're under orders." he reminded him, "Try not to raise attention."

"Doctor!" Clara called once again.

As her attention was focused on searching the crowd for him, she failed to notice a group of four men approaching her from behind…

Abby was still composing herself to tell the stranger her problem. She still didn't know who he was, but his voice, she knew his voice… She trusted his voice.

She sighed and slowly raised her head. When her eyes locked onto his smiling face, she recoiled back into her chair.

The Doctor frowned slightly. She had sudden turned white, almost as if she had seen a ghost.

"It's you…" she whispered in disbelief, "Oh my God, it's you…"

The Doctor's frown intensified but seconds later it changed into shock as the young girl pushed off her chair and dove into his chest. He gasped slightly as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He felt very awkward for a moment but he slowly closed his arms around her, gently rubbing her back. Whoever she was, she obviously knew him… and trusted him.

He felt her begin to weep. "You have to help me find them…" she sobbed, "Please."

The Doctor slowly pushed her away as her grip around his neck loosened. He looked into her eyes as she stood there. She looked somewhat familiar… well; her eyes did at the very least.

He smiled and rubbed her cheek. "Of course I will." he promised.

She smiled slightly.

"Now, who are 'they'?" he asked.

"Mum and Emma." she answered, "Please you've gotta help me find them."

The Doctor quickly stood up and grabbed her hand. "Of course." he guaranteed, "I've just gotta go get Clara first."

Abby's eyes lit up. "She's here?" she asked, "Where?"

The Doctor smiled weakly. He still had no idea who this child was yet he felt extremely protective of her.

He looked away from her and began to look over the crowd. However, he couldn't see Clara anywhere. He visually examined the entire room, hoping to see her somewhere but he didn't.

"Oh great…" he muttered.

Abby looked up at him. "What is it?" she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I can't see her…" he replied as he looked over the crowd once again.

"That's what happened to Emma." she explained, "She just disappeared. Mum said she was gonna go find her. They're still not back…"

The Doctor looked down at the child who was gripping his hand rather tightly, apparently rather scared as she was alone. He crouched down next to her and looked up at her bold brown eyes which were watering once again.

"How long has your Mum been gone?" he asked.

Abby gulped. "She went to find Emma three days ago." she answered, "I don't know where they are now."

The Doctor's eye's widened in horror. Three days alone, no wonder she was scared! He gripped her hand as her lip began to quiver.

"I'll find her," he promised, "And Emma."

And I'll find Clara too… he thought to himself.