Well… I don't really know what to say… enjoy this.
The other Clara took them through everything. The daleks had invaded only a few weeks before and they'd already taken so much. Clara seemed to be this universe's version of Kate Stewart but she had much harder decisions to make. The more she spoke the more Clara realised what they'd done, and what they'd lost. She kept sipping at her drink, the shock of this becoming more stressful every moment.
"There's one thing I don't get?" Clara finally asked when she'd finished and they nodded for her to ask. "Where does Danny actually fit in to all this? I mean I get your role that's perfectly clear but what about him?" The other Clara looked to her Danny who looked back, they shared a moment but Clara recognised that look. There was a short pause before anyone spoke.
"He wouldn't let me do this alone." She finally said. Clara could see she was angry he'd come and she could see that Danny regretted nothing. She could also see something else.
"He's not actually a UNIT soldier is he?" Clara asked and their faces gave it away. She looked closer at her other self's face, she could see something else she recognised. "Oh gosh you…"
"Oh for goodness sake are we having a reunion or saving a planet here?" The Doctor finally butted in, pushing through and looking at the table they had set out. "Because I'm pretty sure you've missed something very important here." They all looked round to him, expecting him to say something useful, but then he just pushed over the table before turning around to face them. "This is all a load of rubbish. You two up here? What a load of rubbish. How are you ever going to help with a few maps and a radio? Look down there! There are people fighting for their lives. You really think if you come out here and summon the daleks they'll all come running away and you can somehow stop them from half way up a hill? How rubbish are UNIT here anyway? That's the worst plan I've ever heard." He ranted away.
"I know." Clara and the Doctor looked to the other Clara, trying to understand what she meant. "I know we can't stop them. But we can distract them for long enough, fool them for just a couple of minutes and get people safe. We have a plan, we can get everyone out in less than 3 minutes. This will work for long enough and I have to get it working so can you PLEASE get out of the way." She squared up to the Doctor until he moved. "I let people down even letting this start, I will not let anyone else die." The look on her face was one Clara had seen before, she'd seen it many times, she knew what it meant.
"You killed someone." Clara blurted out, she wasn't expecting to speak the words and she definitely wasn't expecting the following slap. It was a little odd being slapped by yourself, but that wasn't the thing to focus on right now. "I didn't mean it like that but it's good to know I can still cause pain in this life." Clara held her cheek a little, regrouping before looking up. "You have deep regret for whatever happened and this is how you're trying to get over it. I get that; believe me I get that… but this isn't the way. You dying? That isn't what I came here for. Actually I didn't come here for anything but that kinda changed. When you say nobody is dying, you don't mean it. I on the other hand fully intend to leave with nobody dead." Clara went to have another drink before realising it was empty and sighing.
"You need water?" Danny asked, Clara tried not to laugh. He handed a bottle over and she smiled a thank you. "So is there a plan to this or…?" He asked. Clara looked up to the Doctor, waiting for him to give her something. He wasn't looking at her, he wasn't looking at any of them, he was looking out over the town below.
"Do it." He said simply. "Bring them here." He replied again and started walking back to the TARDIS. Clara shook her head and started running after him.
"I'll be back. Start working on it." She told them and followed the Doctor back up and in to the TARDIS. "We are not leaving! You are not doing this." Clara stopped him from touching the console, her anger evident.
"I'm not going anywhere. You are going home." He said calmly, moving around her to go back to what he was doing but she pushed him away.
"You are not sending me home. I am helping here, certainly doing more than you've done! Don't go all damn protective on me right now." Clara shouted at him, waving the unopened water bottle as she did.
"I'm not just protecting you, I'm protecting everyone." He stated very matter of fact, moving her out the way and pulling the right levers, but Clara pushed them back. "Clara STOP!" He shouted at her, shocking her in to stopping still. "You are a danger right now! I don't know what is going on with you but have you seen yourself?! You're shaking!" He pointed to her hands holding the water. Clara looked down and almost cursed herself for being so obvious. "You're being reckless and foolish; you don't know what you're doing. I'm going to stay; I'm going to help, because I have no choice now. We should never have been here, and you're going to go before you cause any more trouble." He'd not been this blunt with her in a very long time. Clara wasn't having any of it.
"You can't make me go anywhere, you don't get to do this and I'm not letting you!" She went straight for the door and walked out before he could take off, slamming the door shut behind her and running back down to join the others. Clara heard him follow but didn't look round, only stopping when she got there. "How's it going?"
"We're nearly there. Probably about 3 minutes. Do we have a plan yet?" Danny asked, looking to her.
"Yes. There's a plan. Leave it all to me. Get them here and run to my ship, I'll do the rest." The Doctor spoke. He was angry with her, Clara could see that. "Clara you take them there. Straight away, no hesitating or we'll all be screwed." He glared at her and she nodded, arguing wasn't worthwhile now.
"It's ready." The other Clara stood up, looking at them. "Are you?" Clara and the Doctor both nodded. "Then we go. There's no time to waste." She turned back and pressed a few buttons before standing back and looking out. "Any moment now…" They watched. Nothing happened straight away but after a couple of minutes there was a real movement. Hundreds, maybe thousands of daleks rose and started moving towards them.
"Clara. GO!" The Doctor shouted at them and she nodded, grabbing the hands of the other Clara and Danny and running towards the TARDIS. She kept looking back; she didn't know what he was going to do, but she kept running. They got in to the console room and she shut the doors, pausing a little before moving away from them and looking to the two others in with her staring at the inside in disbelief.
"It's…" The other Clara started.
"Yeah I know. Don't be going outside to check will you? Just stay in here. I'll be back." She told them, running through to the TARDIS kitchen. She searched through the cupboards but kicked one as she couldn't find what she was looking for. "Dammit Doctor where do you keep it?" She muttered, going through to another room. It took a bit of searching, but she finally dug a bottle of wine out, not bothering with the glass and simply gulping some down before taking a deep breath. She left the rest of the bottle on the side and made her way back through, grabbing the console screen and looking on.
"What's he doing?" Danny asked. "How is he still alive?"
"He's clever. Really damn clever. But also so very stupid." Clara sighed and watched closely. "Once the daleks knew him so well. They were scared of him, though they'd never admit it. They'd fight him, killing him was their main aim. But then they forgot." She said, still not looking away from the screen.
"How did they just forget? You don't just forget your main enemy." The other Clara asked her.
"I made them forget. Well, not me, one of my echoes. Long story, she was a dalek too, just in denial. Once they'd have shot him on sight, but now he can play them more." Clara still couldn't work it out. He was just stood there, talking to them? Just talking to the daleks. Nothing was happening. Why hadn't they tried anything yet? Then she looked again. "Oh yes he's clever. So clever. I retract any statement about stupid." She grinned. "I'll be back." Clara pushed the screen away a little and ran back out, down to him.
"Clara no! Back inside!" He shouted, her presence suddenly exciting the surrounding daleks. "I don't have time for this!"
"Relax. I know I'm safe. You shouldn't be out here alone." Clara stood beside him. "Don't stop on my account." She looked at him but he shook his head.
"This human is with you?" Clara looked around, trying to work out which of them was talking. "She is not necessary." Then she spotted him… was it a him? That probably wasn't the best question to be asking right now. Clara kept smiling, not in the least bit bothered right now. The Doctor was though.
"Clara get back in the TARDIS now. I can't hold them off much longer I need to get this over. You are not helping." He scowled as quietly as she could so she could still hear.
"Doctor relax you know they can't get to us." Clara looked around at the distance they were kept away.
"They can't no." He sighed, clearly not wanting to tell her anything. "Clara you're not safe. You're putting us both in danger, GET BACK INSIDE!" She stepped back, holding her hands up and rolling her eyes, starting to walk back to the TARDIS but she was quickly shocked by the shot that came from above. It missed her, just, but she looked around to the Doctor who was clearly trying to formulate a new plan as quickly as he could. She couldn't stand still now, Clara found herself dodging shots and by some miracle she made it back inside the TARDIS. Only when she was inside and could stop did she finally breathe. She ran over to the screen and looked at it, shaking her head at what was now going on outside.
"Oh no no no…" She watched, rubbing her head a little and then looking up to the other two who were both staring at her arm. "What? There are much more important things than…" Clara looked to where they were staring and saw the burn on her arm – she hadn't noticed the pain. "Oh."
"How are you not dead?" Danny asked but the other Clara hit him. It was a valid question.
"The field must have only weakened their shots… damn that's gonna be a bit of a giveaway isn't it." She spoke almost to herself and looked back to the screen. "He's in trouble."
"What did you actually do out there?!" The other Clara asked sounding very unimpressed. "That is not what was meant to happen." She grabbed her gun and started heading for the door.
"No! The guns won't work! Don't go out there you'll just get yourself killed…" Clara ran over and grabbed her arm.
"Well what do you suggest we do?! No wait, don't you've already screwed this up enough. Danny! We need to get out there. I've watched one person die at my hands recently, an innocent life that should never have been taken, I'm not even going to be partially responsible for this." Clara could only watch as they left the TARDIS. She stared at the door but shook her head, wincing a little as the pain from her arm suddenly started to hurt. Clara didn't know what to do, her head was swimming and she couldn't do anything, she'd caused this mess and she couldn't get them out of it. Kicking at the TARDIS she ignored it's groan and stormed off to find the bottle of wine she'd left earlier.
She finished off another glass and put it down, suddenly realising all the fighting she could hear had stopped. Clara stood up from where she'd slumped down on the floor, steadying herself a little before walking back out to find the 3 of them stood in the console room. She studied each one – they were all fine.
"There you are! Beginning to wonder where you'd got to. You got your wish eventually, nobody died." He started typing coordinates in. "Just going to drop these two back at their HQ, save a walk." Clara nodded, not looking over.
"Hey listen I'm sorry about earlier…" The other Clara made her jump as she had moved round to stand beside her. Clara looked up now, smiling a little.
"You were right. No need to apologise. Thanks for helping." Clara looked over to Danny as well and he nodded back at her.
"Enough of the sentimentality, we're here." The Doctor spoke. The other Clara and Danny grabbed their bags.
"You saved our planet, thank you." She said to the Doctor and smiled, taking Danny's hand. "We owe you a lot."
"Just another day, you've got some credit to take, go enjoy it." He nodded to them and they smiled back before leaving.
Clara stood in silence at the side, refusing to look up as she didn't want to know what he was thinking. She knew he'd take her home now so Clara sat down, just waiting, but he didn't take off again.
"Are we going?" She asked, staring at the floor.
"Clara…" He started, but she didn't want this conversation going any further.
"Just take me home okay?!" She raised her voice but still not looking up. "I need to get my arm sorted I'll be back." She stood up and walked out, going to find the bathroom and the first aid kit – forever grateful she persuaded him to put one on board.
Clara looked at herself in the mirror, looking at the burn on her arm and then straight in to her own eyes.
"What a mess…" she whispered, not entirely sure what she was referring to.
Clara only went back in as she heard them land. She grabbed her bag and went straight for the door but it wouldn't open, she sighed and turned around to look at the Doctor, waiting for him to say whatever he wanted.
"How's the arm?" He asked, looking to it. "You're lucky."
"I'm pretty aware of that. It'll be fine." Clara replied. "Can I go now?"
"Clara you nearly died out there! I had no idea if that field would work. I really thought…" Clara rolled her eyes.
"Don't get all emotional on me. I'm alive, you're alive, everyone there is alive, now can I go I need to work." The Doctor didn't open the door; instead he walked over to her and got up close, inspecting her. Then he got the sonic out, Clara pushed it away. "What're you planning on doing with that exactly?!" Sadly he'd already pressed it and he had a look.
"Well you're still you, so I have no idea what's going on with you." He stood up again. "For crying out loud talk to someone Clara." Finally the Doctor opened the door. "Oh and by the way, it's morning, we missed a little." He added as she left, but she just shrugged and shut the door. "See you soon then…"
Clara went in through the back door as he'd dropped her off in the garden. She looked at the clock and saw she was back before they needed to leave for the girls' respective sporting practices. She went upstairs, hearing them all getting up and dressed and managed to get in to the bedroom without any of them seeing her, but of course there was someone waiting for her in there.
Danny didn't speak straight away, he just looked at her. Clara put her bag down and went over to the bed, sitting down beside him. Danny spotted her arm, going to touch it but she pulled back, wincing a little as she did.
"Clara what happened? This is… it looks…" Danny was concerned, but she could see the anger lying underneath too. "Why did you go?" He asked, standing up and walking away from her now.
"I was going to be back last night it just didn't… we missed and… everything went wrong I just… I needed to get away. This wasn't the plan." Clara stood up and went over to where Danny was now stood, carefully taking his hand from behind. "Danny I'm sorry, I didn't plan it this way." She placed her other hand on his arm, hoping he would turn around and ignoring the pain as she moved. "Please don't…"
"Don't what? Ignore you? Go all quiet or pretend I haven't heard? Disappear in to another room? Run away with an alien?!" He turned around now and looked at her. "Shower and get changed, I'm dropping you at your Gran's on the way to the pool." Danny dropped her hand and walked out, going to sort out the girls.
Clara watched him leave, wrapping her slightly shaking arms around herself and staring at the door he'd gone through for a moment before heading to the bathroom. She knew exactly what he meant by what he'd said, and she knew why he was taking her to her grans too. Clara sighed and got in the shower, knowing she needed to work out her answers to the expected questions to stop any suspicion.
Once she was out of the shower and had changed and redressed her burn, she finally left the bedroom, and was immediately approached by Ellie.
"Are you okay Mum?" She asked, hugging her. Clara hugged her back carefully, realising how tall Ellie was beginning to get. She kissed the top of her head gently, not replying immediately but eventually speaking.
"I'm fine darling, are you alright?" She asked, accompanying her downstairs. "Paige is picking you up right?"
"I'm okay. And no, Paige's Mum is. Paige can't drive she's 11." Clara smiled just a little at Ellie's response and nodded.
"Right my bad, sorry. Well you have a good morning then sweetie." She replied as Ellie went to pull her shoes on and Clara went the other way in to the kitchen where she was quickly jumped on by the twins.
"Mummy!" Faith called and hugged her.
"You're back!" Chloe added and attached herself on the other side.
"Where did you go?" They asked together, looking up at her for an answer. Just at that moment Danny walked in, looking at her.
"I had to sort something with Uncle John. We went on a bit of an adventure, but I'm back now. Are you two ready for swimming?" She asked and they both nodded. "Alright then, go pop your shoes on sweethearts and we'll be there soon." Clara smiled and they both ran out.
"Nice cover." Danny spoke as he went over, picking up his mug and finishing off what was inside. "And luckily the same story I gave Ellie." He added, putting the mug in the sink. "Let's go." Danny went to walk out but Clara grabbed his arm.
"Danny I'm sorry, I'm really sorry I didn't mean to do any of this it. I know I've been pretty useless recently I just…" He placed a finger on her lips.
"Don't give me any excuses Clara, just go to your Gran's house and talk to her. I've been trying for weeks." Clara nodded, blinking away a few emerging tears. Danny removed his finger. "I'm doing this because I love you, because I'm worried about you and because you need help. When you want to tell me everything you come to me, but until then your Gran is the right person for this. You can confide in her more, I know that and I understand that. If you want to do something for me then talk to her, tell her what's going on, what's making you like this because if I'm honest Clara, you're scaring me." Clara could see the fear in his eyes as he spoke and she nodded gently. "Good. Come on, we'll be late." He went to walk away but paused, turning back around and kissing her gently before they went out to the door and left.
Clara climbed out of the car outside her Gran's place and waved to Danny and the girls as they carried on to the pool. She turned to go up to the door but stopped, biting her lip a little and looking around to the shop at the end of the road. It was the main reason her Gran had chosen this place – not far to the shop. She looked between the two places, shaking her head and walking up to the door, going to knock, but she couldn't do it. Clara hated herself for it, but she walked away and went down to the shop.
She did eventually make it to her Gran's door, half an hour later than planned. She knocked, quickly zipping up her bag to hide the contents.
"Clara!" Her Gran opened the door, smiling widely as she generally did. "Come on in come on in, I'll get the kettle on." Clara went through the door and shut it behind her.
"Oh no Gran let me do it, you go and sit down I'll bring the tea through." Clara smiled and gave her a quick hug before going in to the kitchen, calling back. "How're you doing?" She asked, boiling the kettle.
"Oh same old same old, I'm fine. And you?" Her Gran replied. Once the kettle had boiled Clara poured out the tea, standing against the side waiting for it to brew.
"You know, the usual life stresses, but I can't complain much really." She carefully finished making the tea, pulling a bottle out of her bag quickly and adding a little dutch courage to her mug before putting the bottle back away and taking the tea out, being careful to get the right one to her Gran.
"Thanks love, but if you're so alright why is your husband so concerned?" Her Gran asked as Clara sat down. She sipped at her tea before replying, immediately feeling a little calmer.
"I don't know I've just been feeling a little down recently I guess? Since Mum's birthday… I think it hit me a little. But I'm getting through it, I'm okay." She smiled, sipping more of her tea.
"Oh Clara I wasn't born yesterday, far from it. Danny told me everything last night when he called, and he's right to be concerned. It's not like you to just disappear, or to withdraw in to yourself so much. Even your teaching style has changed, kids are starting to pick up on it, this is beginning to affect more than just you and Danny and it's bad enough that it's affecting even you two." She leant forward and placed a hand on Clara's knee. "Darling we're worried about you, everyone's worried about you. Talk to me."
Clara looked down at where her Gran's hand sat and then to her own hands which were holding her mug tightly. What was she supposed to say? She'd already seen the pain in Danny's eyes and she didn't want to look up and see her Gran's face right now. It was only when a tear fell in her tea she realised she was crying. She watched as her Gran took the mug from her hands, placing it on the table before taking Clara's hands in her own.
"Clara you're shaking…" Her Gran gripped her hands a little tighter and Clara could feel her trying to gain eye contact. "Clara please talk, you need to talk. What's happening?" But Clara shook her head, tightening her lips and carefully pulling a hand free to grab her mug and sipping at her tea once more. Her Gran looked at her hand again and then up to the tea. "Can I see your mug?" Now Clara looked up.
"Why? It's just a mug. Tea isn't going to give you all the answers." She kept a tight grip on it; quickly realising she'd brought it right under her Gran's nose.
"I think you know tea is going to give me at least one answer." Her voice had gone sterner now. "And if I'm right I think we've just found an answer to more than one question. Give me that mug Clara." Clara pulled her other hand away and slammed the mug down on the table.
"Fine! Have it! Do whatever you like with it!" She stood up, grabbing her bag and storming out.
"Clara!" She heard her call, but ignored it and walked off down the street.