Dark Water: Loss
Clara was sitting in her flat, on her sofa, her one leg bobbing in anxiety as she clutched her mobile to her, staring across from her at a wall with a massive amount of sticky notes on it, waiting for Danny to call. She'd spent the better part of yesterday jotting down her notes and then trying to organize them into something that made sense. Maybe she should have shifted them a different way? Put them in order of history instead of her own timeline and…
She nearly jumped when her phone began to ring, quickly answering it, "Danny!"
"Hey," he answered, and she could vaguely hear the sounds of kids laughing in the background, so he was passing the park. Alright, he'd be there soon.
"Everything alright?" she asked, tense, getting up and moving over to her notes, feeling the 'crunch time' feeling that came when you realized you were so ill prepared for something moments before it was set to happen.
"Yeah," he chuckled, "I'm on my way."
"Right, good," she nodded to herself and began to pace, hoping to burn off some nervous energy.
"Everything alright with you?" he asked, likely hearing the jitters in her voice.
"Fine, fine, everything's great, a-ok," she winced, she was certainly NOT sounding anything like that.
But she couldn't help it! Danny had called her the other day and…asked to talk to her about the travels with the Time Lords.
She may or may not have been shocked enough to have dropped her mobile.
He'd said that she'd really given him a cliff-notes version of events and there had to be more to it than the rush of words she'd poured out before. So he asked if it would be ok to stop over on the weekend and just…talk. Take time to really tell him everything about her adventures, the places she'd been, things she'd seen, stuff she'd learned.
She'd had to ask what brought about such a change from not even wanting to hear about it to genuinely curious.
He'd given her a number of excuses. That last time showed him it wasn't all danger, but HOW dangerous were the scary bits? That it was something clearly important to her and, as her boyfriend, he should learn about it. She sat through stories of his army days, even though he knew she wasn't a fan of fighting or wars, it was only fair. And…he didn't want to form his opinion of the Time Lords, of her family, on just two meetings with them and a handful of stories. There had to be more to it.
She'd been genuinely touched and asked for Sunday since she'd need all of Saturday to organize her thoughts and make sure she wasn't skipping on details or forgetting something, she really wanted to be honest with him, completely honest. She wasn't going to go so far as to hope this might be a sign he'd want to travel with her one day, but that he was at least working on being accepting of it and her family, and that meant more to her than anything.
She'd agonized over how to get into it, how best to tell him the more…tricky and dangerous parts of her adventures. She didn't want to upset him, but she didn't want to lie. So she'd settled for being matter-of-fact about it all, like when she was teaching, for those bits, and allowing more emotion in when it was the better adventures.
Then came the trouble of what order to tell it in. She'd thought to start with the most recent trip and work backwards, but that would be a bit hard for him to follow. Then she'd considered maybe going in chronological order of the events, like talking about the Caliburn house before the Cold War submarine, but what about the alien planets that happened largely in the same time span, or the times where more happened in the present? She finally decided to start with her own timeline, her first trip and work through to now. But maybe one of the others would be better?
"I'm glad you're willing to talk with me," Danny spoke, pulling her out of her spiraling thoughts, "I know I haven't made it easy, before…"
"It's fine," she cut in, "Really. I get it, it can be a lot to take in at once. Anyone would need time to process."
"I should be there in a couple of minutes, so..."
"Right," she nodded, though he couldn't see, "I love you."
"I love you, too."
She smiled at his response, "And…I just want you to know, no matter what you decide after you hear everything. I just…love you," she just felt like she had to let him know that, part of her was still so scared that once he really heard it all, he'd decide even SHE was too much to handle and not just the adventures and the travelling, "And I'll never say those words again. Not to anybody else, ever. Those words, from me, are yours now," she waited a moment for a response, but none came. She pulled the phone from her ear to check if he'd hung up before she'd spoken, but the call was still connected, "Danny? Hello? Are…are you ok? Danny, please speak to me. Hello!"
"Hello?" a different voice spoke up, an older woman by the sound of it, "Hello, is someone there?"
She frowned, "Hello? Er, yeah, who's this?"
"I just picked up the phone," the woman told her, "I'm sorry. I found it."
"Oh. Um, ok. Er...can you please just put me back on the phone to Danny? I was talking to Danny."
The woman was silent for a moment, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Ok," Clara swallowed hard, her heart starting to pound, "What are you sorry about? Could you please just pass the phone back to…"
"He was crossing the road," the woman's voice broke, "I found the phone, it must have just got thrown..."
Clara's heart stopped.
"The car, it just came out of nowhere. I'm so sorry."
Clara dropped the phone and turned, running out of her flat like she was being chased by a Dalek, now able to hear sirens down the street, only two blocks away. She raced in that direction, only to skid to a stop at the sight beyond.
The police were already there, taping off the scene, there was a woman standing on the pavement, clutching Danny's mobile…and there, lying in the middle of the road, an ambulance and its team surrounding him…was Danny, unmoving…
Clara dropped to her knees and screamed.
~8~
Angel smiled as she leaned against the console, a mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream and strawberry syrup in hand, watching the Doctor and Tailor racing through an equation MK9 had supplied. They both seemed to treat recreational mathematics as more competitive mathematics than anything. The Doctor won more often than not, but she had noticed her daughter beating him more times than she had when she'd been younger. Her daughter was brilliant.
She inhaled lightly, moving to take a sip of her drink…when she felt that odd sensation again, like the room around her was muting as it had just before Maebh had appeared, accompanied by a feeling as though something cold had spilled on her head and traveled down her spine. She blinked, straightening as she pushed off the console and looked around. The room around her began to fade, another area forming. It wasn't as ghostly as it had been with Maebh, still transparent, but a little more solid this time. She could see a hallway, dark, with two swinging doors with round windows…
She glanced back at the Doctor and Tailor, still able to see them working away, the Doctor so caught up in the round he didn't seem to notice.
She turned, moving over to the doors she could see and reached out as though she wanted to touch them, when a heavy stomp behind her had her spinning around.
She blinked and frowned, seeing a woman in a purple gown, Edwardian in style, smirking as she walked towards the doors, large tanks of water discernible behind her, skeletons sitting on chairs within.
'...3W, death is not an end. But we can help...' echoed around the room.
The woman didn't notice, just kept walking, barely missing her as she disappeared through the doors. She moved to follow the woman, not quite pushing the door open, but as though she stepped through it, and gasped, seeing a pit of lava all around her, Clara before her with a TARDIS key in her hand, before the girl threw it into the lava.
"Clara..." she whispered, stunned and confused, about to approach, when a horrendous screeching noise rose.
She spun around again, the scene changing, seeing trees, a road, a car desperately trying to brake…and Mr. Pink, crossing the road on his mobile, being struck and flying into the air before landing with a horrifying thump.
Someone screamed and she knew in her hearts it was Clara…
"Mum!" Tailor's voice broke through the vision.
And Angel blinked, realizing tears were falling from her eyes, the mug she'd been holding had fallen from her grip and shattered on the floor, and her hands were shaking as the vision faded.
"Angel," the Doctor was at her side in an instant, gripping her elbows and shaking her just slightly from her shock.
"Mum, what's wrong?" Tailor took her hands, clasping them tightly, so worried.
"Clara…" Angel breathed, "We have to go to Clara, now."
The Doctor didn't stop to ask why, only leapt into action, dashing around the console to send the off as Tailor hugged her shaking mother.
~8~
Two days later would find Clara standing in her flat, staring at a large amount of flowers and cards set up around it, all for her as the partner of Danny Pink.
She had stayed at the park till the woman on the mobile noticed her, making the connection to her sudden appearance and breakdown to the woman she'd been on the phone with. That woman had comforted her, stood by her as the police asked questions about Danny and how she knew him, why she was there.
She'd wandered home in a daze, went to bed praying it was a nightmare she'd wake up from. Only to go to school the next day and be confronted with the headmaster gathering the staff together to give the terrible news. She could remember what he said, word for word, even through the haze she'd been in waiting to wake up.
"By now, I'm sure you've heard the rumors and it is with great sadness that I must confirm them to be true. I have gathered you all here today to say that Mr. Pink, that Danny Pink has sadly passed away. I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing his family and friends our sincerest condolences. Mr. Pink was an inspiration to all of those who knew him. A soldier, a teacher, a friend. It was no secret that he had a close relationship with Miss Oswald. And our thoughts and prayers are with her too."
She couldn't bear the other teachers trying to offer her sympathies and left, let someone else cover her classes, and went home to sit on her sofa, clutching her phone and hoping Danny might call…or that the Time Lords might appear, with Danny in the TARDIS, paradox be damned, to have saved him.
Nothing happened.
By Tuesday, all evidence of the accident had been scrubbed from the park entrance, save for a small remembrance shrine the teachers and students had set up, with pictures of Danny and notes, flowers and plush toys from the kids.
Her gran had tried to stop over, but she'd told the woman not to.
She wasn't psychic by any stretch of the imagination, but she understood now, how Angel and Tailor could be so sure of something even without feeling it or seeing it happen, but just believing it. Because she knew the Time Lords, and she knew they would be there for her, if she just waited a little longer, and she didn't want her gran to see them appear in their blue box in the middle of her flat…
She gasped and spun around, the buzzing that had been a constant in her ear fading with the sound of a very familiar wheezing noise behind her.
Her bottom lip trembled and the doors were thrown open, Angel rushing out and nearly crashing into her with a cry of, "Oh, Clara!"
As soon as Angel's arms were around her, that was when Clara broke down in tears, slumping to her knees, Angel going with her as she buried her face in the Time Lady's neck, sobbing for her loss, for her heartbreak, for the future that could have been and would never be…
Another pair of arms wound around her, smaller than Angel's but no less comforting, Tailor, on her other side, "We're so sorry, Aunt Clara…" the girl murmured, squeezing her tight, sniffling herself, not out of any pain she could feel off Clara, unlike her mother who was visibly upset, but for the pain she knew her aunt was in.
"Yes," the Doctor spoke, moving around them to hug all three of them from behind her, "We came as soon as Angel felt it happen…"
"You felt it?" Clara sniffled.
There was nothing in her that raged about it.
There was nothing that screamed how Angel should have seen it coming and stopped it.
There was no accusation that it was the Time Lady's fault for not saving Danny.
Because she knew already, she'd seen it happen on more cases than one, where something escaped Angel, where the Time Lady didn't see everything. She'd seen how devastated Angel was when she was too late to save someone, or didn't see it coming. She wouldn't put that on her sister-in-law.
Angel nodded, "It was jumbled," she murmured.
Clara nodded to herself as well, the Doctor had told her about how Angel's visions had been affected by the Boneless. She still got glimpses of the future, still heard whispers of it, but it was like she saw it all happen at the same time, like she was standing in the middle of the room watching portions of it…and there was no sense of time to it, not that Angel could make out. It was, he'd said, like how a TARDIS might see the world, happening all at once, so there was no way to tell if something had happened already, was happening, or would happen.
"I could feel your pain, though," Angel spoke, taking a deep breath to hide a sniffle, not wanting to break down while Clara was already so hurt, "And I knew it had to be happening now."
"We tried to get back to you," the Doctor added, "Follow the timeline still in the matrix, the fastest route to find you, and it brought us here…" he tried to check his watch.
"Two days," Clara answered for him.
"We're so sorry, Aunt Clara," Tailor hugged her tighter, "We should have been here."
"You're here now," Clara was able to get out, before the tears overwhelmed her again, taking comfort in the arms of her brother and her family, "Danny's dead."
~8~
It was a solemn, sorrowful setting, Clara lying in her bed, on her side, her face streaked red from the tears still swimming in her eyes. Tailor was on top of the covers, behind her Aunt, hugging her from behind, hadn't stopped hugging her or let go of her since they'd touched down really. Angel was kneeling at the side of the bed, reaching out to hold one of Clara's hands, while the Doctor sat with his back to her dresser on the floor, his head turned to face her, his hearts breaking at the pain she was experiencing.
They had all lost someone they loved, even Tailor had lost her aunt and uncle. But only he could relate to the pain Clara was feeling, even if part of him told him she was not and never could feel as much of what he had that time when he'd genuinely thought Angel had died. Angel always had that little inkling whenever he came close to death, that he'd be ok in the end, survive, live on. He didn't have that luxury.
He'd had to watch her die slowly at the Master's hands, then die all over again with no promise of regeneration. But she'd still been alive then, still fighting.
And then came River, and the lakeside, and he'd truly thought she was dead.
That pain…
Nothing and no one would ever feel that much pain losing their love than he had, not even Clara's pain was on that level.
But he understood it, he felt it in his hearts, to lose the one you loved with everything you had? He would never wish it on his worst enemies, never would wish it on his own sister.
And yet here she was, in pain and devastated, in mourning and lost, and he felt powerless to help. He was a Doctor and he couldn't make this better, not even Angel could take this pain away.
Clara sniffled a little, looking up at him, "It's a little funny and sad," she began, "To want to hope, but know something's too impossible to bother hoping."
"Lost," the Doctor frowned at her, "Cheat sheet?"
Clara almost laughed, but it was a painful sound, "I've lived as a Time Lady, I've lived as a Time Agent, I know the laws of time as well as anyone now," she sighed, clutching Angel's hand tighter, "And I want to hope, so badly, that there's some way to save him, to fix it, change what happened and bring him back. But there's not," her voice broke, "Time can be rewritten, but not this time."
If it didn't just break all their hearts all the more to hear her say that. She was hurting so badly, and was rationalizing a way to not-hope. She had that hope, that brief glimmer, and was doing her best to take it away from herself. That was, quite likely, an even worse feeling than grief.
"Because if we change it, and save him, then there's no reason for me to be here, wanting to save him. And it'll happen again, a paradox loop."
"And the timeline disintegrates," the Doctor had never before hated to agree with her as much as he was right now, "Your timeline."
"And that's one rule you'll never break," Clara nodded, resigned in her understanding. She was too important to them to risk, even for this. Her face scrunched as a wave of pain hit her, "I wish I didn't care about the rules," she admitted, "I wish I didn't give a damn about paradoxes."
But she did. Every life she'd lived, every part of her that wanted Danny back screamed about it, to say to hell with it all and save him. But the two that were loudest, most reasonable, were her first and last life, telling her how so many other people could die if she saved Danny, and he would never, ever want that hanging over him or her.
He was a soldier, through and through, he protected life…if she did something that made all other lives jeopardized because of him, he'd never forgive her.
"I love him so much," Clara began to weep again, Tailor wiggling to hug her once more.
As the Doctor watched her break in her grief, he reached out to take Angel's free hand, his own hearts shattering at the pain his sister was in. He looked at his Mate, the woman at the center of his entire being, the one he loved to the end of the Universe and back…and he thought about the lakeside, about the paradox he himself had created just to try and save her.
It wasn't just the Mating instinct that drove him to extremes when it came to her, it was his own love. He loved her more than anything and there was no limit to how far he would go to keep her safe…
There was no limit to how far he'd go to get her back if he ever lost her.
He'd proven that over and over.
The only difference between himself and Clara…was that he had the resources to do it, and he wouldn't care about the timelines or paradoxes.
Amy Pond had once ripped time apart to be with Rory Williams, he had to wonder, how far would Clara have gone for Danny Pink…
An image formed in his mind, and he knew it came from Angel, of Clara, surrounded by lava, throwing the TARDIS keys into it.
His gaze snapped to Angel as she gave him a sad look, now understanding what that part of her vision had been, a could-have-been moment that never-would-be.
If they had been anyone else but her family, if she'd had even the slightest different relationship with them than she did…he knew that would be a future to come. Angel had seen it, seen a possible future, if they hadn't gotten to Clara when they had, if they hadn't realized what happened…Clara's grief would have turned to anger and resentment and rage and desperation.
He had to look away, he wouldn't have faulted Clara for it, he'd done far worse to get Angel back, to keep his daughter safe.
And it wasn't fair, was it? That HE could and would do that for his Mate, and Clara couldn't for the man she loved.
'I'm with you, my love,' Angel's voice spoke in his mind.
He knew it was to say that she would stand by him if the mad thought that had filtered past his mind was something he wanted to try. But it also reminded him of why he should try it, because she was there, with him, right now, and Clara's love was not.
He lifted Angel's hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it like she so often did to his scarred knuckles, and nodded, "Anyone up for a trip to hell?"
"What?" Tailor gave him an odd look, that had come quite out of nowhere.
He looked over at them, "Perhaps not the best word," he conceded, not only would Angel never end up there, nor would Tailor (not that they would ever die on his watch to find out), but he doubted Clara would want the association that her boyfriend had gone below instead of above by human theology, "How about…wherever it is people go when they die. If there is anywhere."
"What?" this time it was Clara who spoke, blinking at him.
"Wherever it is," the Doctor turned to her, and reached out to put a hand on her arm, "We can go there and find Danny."
"Are you serious?" Clara breathed, blinking rapidly as she sat up with a start, before she looked at Angel, "Is he properly serious?"
"We can try," Angel offered with a nod, "We can try to find him and bring him back. Because you're right, we can't save him from the accident, the paradox would rip everything apart. But there might be a…"
"Loophole!" Tailor gasped, jolting up to sit on the bed beside her aunt, her hands covering her mouth in shock, her eyes wide as her mind raced to see if there was any temporal or spatial laws that would prevent such a thing.
"Almost every culture in the universe has some concept of an afterlife," the Doctor added, "I always meant to have a look around, see if I could find one…"
"You're…you're going to help me save him?" Clara breathed.
"You're my sister, Clara," he said, serious, "If I was going to bend the rules for anyone beside Angel or Tailor, who else would it be?"
Clara half threw herself off the bed to hug him, a bit awkwardly as she was still half on it and he wasn't expecting the move, "I don't care if you're not a hugger, you're getting one!" she sniffled, latching on.
"Clara," Angel reached out to gently touch her arm, causing her to pull back, "This will be very dangerous," she warned her, "We don't know where this will take us or if it'll take us anywhere. We need to know that you want this."
Clara nodded, looking at the three of them as she took a breath, "Will you help me save him?"
She should have known, she really should have, as she watched all three of them nod, that this was all she had to do. Just ASK them. They had never denied her before, and they could never abide seeing her in pain without wanting to help. They just needed to know she was serious, that she accepted the consequences, that she was ready to face any danger that came up…and that she would be ok if this went nowhere. And so she asked them that, so they would know she wanted it, she was willing, and she was ready.
~8~
The Doctor took a deep breath as he stood in the console room of the TARDIS, looking up at the rotor as both Tailor and Angel argued with the old girl. The box was very protective of her sister, her niece, and her pilot, and going where they planned to go would not go well if the TARDIS fought them at each turn. They didn't want to fight the box to go where she didn't want to, they respected the old girl too much to do that, but this was an unusual circumstance.
Angel glanced at Clara, before sighing and reaching out to touch the rotor, her eyes closed.
The Doctor had to swallow and look away, doing his best to mute the emotional tie he had to Angel just for a moment. She was feeding Clara's grief and pain into the box, so it would understand why they had to do this. While Idris would protect them to the death, she also had a soft spot for their strays, their family, and when one was hurting the box did too.
Angel smiled, hearing a reluctant and resigned groan, "Thank you, Sissy," she whispered, opening her eyes and pulling away, nodding over to him that the TARDIS would do her best to help them.
He took a breath, "This is it, Clara," he turned to the girl as she stood beside him, her arms crossed, shifting on her feet, worried the box would refuse, "One of those moments."
"What moments?" Clara asked.
"The darkest day. The blackest hour. Chin up, shoulders back. Let's see what we're made of," he moved to the console with Angel and Tailor, all of them beginning to get to work.
"Switching off the safeguards," Tailor called, sounding a little too excited to get to say that and do that.
"And turning off the nav-comm," Angel added.
The Doctor moved Clara over to a grate in the console, "Remember, we did this before. We plugged you into the TARDIS telepathic interface."
"We ended up all over Danny's timestream," Clara recalled.
"Because you and he are linked, strongly linked," he nodded, confirming a theory Angel had had earlier, "Your timestreams are intertwined. So if he's anywhere at all, that link will hold."
"It should still be there," Angel added, "We piloted Sissy to come straight to you. We should have been there right when it all happened. But the timeline was still woven to Danny's…this may be the day the two timelines reconnect."
"Give me your hands," the Doctor turned to her, moving to lift the grate to give her a clearer grasp.
Clara looked at the three of them, "I don't deserve friends like you," she told them, tears in her eyes at what they were doing, what they were risking, for her.
Angel smiled, "Maybe, maybe not, but you do deserve family like us."
Clara smiled and nodded, taking a breath, before she pushed her hand down onto the interface.
"Think about Danny, Aunt Clara," Tailor called, "It's going to hurt, but…think about the man you lost, and LET it hurt. Let yourself feel everything about it, about him."
"Don't ask, why him, why me?" the Doctor continued as Clara closed her eyes to focus, "Forget all that. Ask one question. Just one."
"Where is Danny Pink right now?" Angel told her.
A moment later, the TARDIS began to power up.
"Well..." the Doctor took a breath, "The TARDIS thinks he's somewhere."
He wasn't sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, he wanted to help Clara. But on the other hand, this was truly going to be ridiculously dangerous, one of the most dangerous, if not THE most dangerous thing he'd ever done…with his daughter and Mate right there. He'd hoped that they could TRY to help, and in the act give Clara closure…this…this he was not expecting.
~8~
Danny Pink jerked awake to find himself in a stark white office of some sort, his head having been resting on the top of a desk. He blinked a few times, disoriented, and looked around to try and get his bearings. He was seated, before a desk, pens in a holder on top of it, with a stapler and an in/out tray beside it. A nameplate that read 'Seb' with the company name 'Nethersphere' resting right at the edge of the desk.
He frowned and looked around the room for some clue as to where he was, when the door opened and a young man in a suit entered, likely this 'Seb' individual.
"Has anyone offered you a coffee?" Seb asked before Danny could even speak.
"Um..." he frowned, glancing behind him as though the man might have been speaking to someone else, but there was no one, "Well, no."
Seb sighed, and turned to lean out the door, calling, "Could we have some coffee along here, please?" to someone beyond, "The good kind. We've got a new one," he shut the door, offering Danny a smile as he headed for the desk, "Five minutes, tops. Best to wait for the good coffee."
Danny eyed the man as he sat, "Where am I?"
"Sometimes it's just the instant, oh..." Seb cut himself off, having thought Danny might ask what sort of coffee it was.
"Where am I?" he repeated.
"Well, big question," he chuckled a bit, "Try to take that one slowly. We have been trying to contact family members, but really there is so much admin..."
"I wasn't here," Danny frowned, getting a bit frantic now that he might have been kidnapped, "I was..."
…and then it came back to him: the road, the car, the impact, the blackness that followed.
He let out a sharp breath, his eyes wide as he realized there was no way he'd survived that accident.
He was dead.
Which meant this...
THIS was heaven?
A/N: With how different Clara's relationship is with the Time Lords, with how Angel's abilities function, I honestly could not see her doing what she did in the show. Not only did I not think that Angel wouldn't see it coming, but I couldn't see Angel appearing THAT late or not being aware of what happened. As I was writing this, Angel kept saying she'd have been there as soon as it happened and she'd know, she'd feel it, if Clara was in that much pain. And, with Clara's own knowledge and belief that all she ever has to do is ASK the Time Lords and they would do anything to help her, it didn't make sense for that moment to happen with the keys. Don't get me wrong, in the show it was dramatic and it tried to show how important Danny was to her, how far she'd go to help him, and also how strained her friendship with the Doctor had become that she felt that was the only way to get him to agree, but it wasn't needed here. Because the Time Lords know already and have spent all this time crafting a different relationship and friendship with Clara than in the show :(
I also tried to flesh out the Doctor's agreement to try and find Danny a bit more, make it make sense in the context of this story where Clara is more in mourning and not demanding they save him, for him to offer what he does. Here, he's empathizing with Clara and thinking about his own actions trying to save Angel, his own experiences losing her. HE altered a fixed point in time to save her, after that he sort of has no right to deny anyone else a chance to try and save someone they love when it's possible to do it in some way. He offered the alternative of the afterlife, because the Paradox wouldn't work. I don't think he honestly thought it would go anywhere, but that it would be more of a 'we tried everything we could' to help give Clara closure that she did her best and tried everything to save Danny, so he was genuinely surprised when the TARDIS took them somewhere physical.
I didn't really fully get or agree with the Doctor in the show, to give in and help Clara after what she threatened to do with the keys. Only because it reminds me too much of when I was a barista, and how people would demand to speak to the manager to get their way and all it did was reaffirm that they could continue to behave badly and get what they wanted :/ Clara is an adult, she should have suffered consequences for what she was fully prepared and willing to do to the keys to the Doctor's home. Even if it didn't actually happen, because it was a dream, I felt like it only sort of foreshadowed her doing bad and reckless things and expecting forgiveness and support during it which wasn't healthy either :/
So I tried to work around it and have it make sense to come to that same place of going to find Danny, but in hopefully a more understandable way :)
And final quick note, I'm going to be resuming updating my AO3 account and stories, but guys, I have a request because of everything that's happened recently. While it's not impossible to copy stories off of FF, it's easier to do it on AO3, so please, if you see a story or someone who has taken my content, please don't hesitate to bring it to my attention. If I post on AO3, I'm risking people being able to steal my stories in an easier manner than on FF. You guys have always had my back before and I know you'll have it in the future because you are all amazing people and I love you all to pieces, just please keep a teeny eye out if you see anything going forward. I get nervous enough posting on FF, AO3 opens another can of worms, but I'm gonna hope for the best.
Some notes on reviews...
I was hoping Angel's hearing the Hear less than Maebh would come across like that :) Time heals all wounds, but I imagine with Time Lords having such long lives, some things take longer for them, especially permanent death given their regenerations. Angel lost her mother so young, then lost her father and sister in the war, she was in mourning for quite some time for all three. But as the Doctor healed through his companions (and Angel) she healed through him and them too. It will never go away, that loss, but she has at least begun to heal from it while Maebh's had only just happened. Another teeny weeny part I snuck in was Danny and how he took time to wait and hear Angel out. I like to think it was an echo or a remnant of when he was a child, how Angel told him that she could her things others couldn't sometimes, like a tiny glimmer of that stuck in the back of his mind and when he heard them all talking about how Maebh could hear things they couldn't, something told him to wait and see what that 'thing' was :) I'm glad you liked the chapter :)
I struggled with Danny too so I really wanted to try and do for him what I did with Rose in this particular series, delve deep into his mind, explore his fears and thoughts, put words to the things he doesn't say and maybe, just maybe, he'd be a bit more likable :) I agree, the relationship seemed forced, maybe because we didn't really get to see them just being together without the Doctor around, or see Danny join Clara on trips like Rory did. I wasn't a big fan of Amy and Rory at first either, mostly disliking Amy and feeling Rory could do better, but they gave us time to see them together, to watch them grow and realize things together, and it worked. We missed that with Danny, only seeing him on the side, and so, to me at least, Clara's off the deep-end reaction to him dying and her burning the TARDIS keys seemed too OOC for me and made me dislike Danny more for how Clara acted about him :( I wanted to try and add some original takes to his being there, maybe show some growth, so when Clara mourned, also in a different way due to different circumstances, we really feel his death in her grief instead of feel irritated with him for how Clara acted after. I hope it worked out :)
I'm glad you liked Angel and Danny's moment :) I feel like she would be the sort of person you feel like you can reach out to and talk to without them getting irritated (like the Doctor) or getting their hopes up (like Clara) or have them pry a bit into your life (like Tailor might, because it's her Aunt Clara and she has a right to know! lol). She'd be the person Danny would speak to and trust her to be honest with him, and not make him feel bad for the things he's decided. Lol, sorry if the winky faces were too much :) I can say that Angel did touch her stomach on purpose as she was thinking of her own experience being pregnant and having Tailor and Tailor has wanted a baby brother for quite some time now lol. It hasn't happened, but she lives in hope and likes to tease her parents to work on that ;)