"Where are we? Where are they?" cried Clara.
"It looks like the TARDIS just took us into the planet's orbit. I can try and get her to go back for them, but she's going to fight me."
"Well, try! We can't just leave them!"
"I am trying, Clara!" The Doctor was frantically pressing buttons and throwing the lever. The TARDIS was groaning. Refusing to budge from their current spot.
"Where the hell are they anyway?"
The Doctor looked at her with a face of guilt. "Well, apparently, I took us to the wrong garden."
"And?" Clara said in an irritated voice.
"Well, we ended up on the galaxy's first best garden and not the second best. The second-best is actually the first best because the first best is actually the worst because…."
"Goddammit, Doctor, just spit it out!"
"The planet is known for luring unsuspecting species into thinking they're going to see some pretty flowers when in fact the inhabitants ARE the so-called pretty flowers and the lured species are well, for lack of better words, the plant food."
…
It had been nearly an hour since the TARDIS took off without John and Citana. The Doctor was still frantically trying to return to the proper time and place to pick them up, but the blue box was being stubborn.
"Dammit!" he cried as he punched the console. The stressed Time Lord immediately regretted his actions as he drew his hand back. He'd hit the console so hard that his knuckles were bleeding.
"Doctor!" cried Clara. "It won't do anyone any good if you start taking your anger out on the TARDIS. Or your own fist, mind you. Let's just take a step back and try to figure out why the TARDIS isn't cooperating."
The Doctor held his hand to his chest as he let out an exasperated sigh. He shook his head and spoke. "You don't understand, Clara! I've failed him again! Them again! I've already abandoned John and gotten the Ponds basically killed. And now Citana is with him, and it's like losing them all over again!"
Seeing that the console still wasn't responding, the Doctor stormed off to his room.
Clara was rooted to her spot, in shock with how harshly he'd just spoken to her. When she finally composed herself, she slowly made her way to the console.
"Hey, old girl," she said softly. "I know you, and I don't always see eye to eye, but please. Give me something," she pleaded.
Still nothing.
Clara let out a breath and made her way to her room. Before reaching her destination, she noticed the door to John's room was slightly open. She pushed her way inside and saw the Doctor sitting on the bed, holding a picture frame. Clara sat down next to the Doctor.
"I forgot how little he was," said the Doctor without taking his eyes off the photo.
Clara could see the picture was of the Doctor and John when the tiny Time Lord was around three or four years old.
"You're wrong, you know," said Clara in a gentle whisper.
"What do you mean?"
"You said I didn't understand."
The Doctor winced. He hadn't meant to be so cruel. Clara took the picture from him and studied it.
"You know, sometimes I get flashes or have dreams of some of my echoes," she said as she set the photo back on the nightstand. "I remember meeting him."
The Doctor cocked his head.
"He wasn't much older than in that photo," she paused and closed her eyes, trying to bring up the distant memory. "I was a barmaid…Victorian London, I think," she gave a small smile.
The Doctor watched Clara intently as she continued to speak with her eyes closed.
"I remember I'd just finished my shift and stepped outside to walk home. It was cold but not quite winter yet. I…I remember hearing a strange noise coming from behind some crates," she took a breath. "Thought it might have been a stray kitten," she smiled but then frowned. "But when I looked, it turned out it was a stray toddler."
The Doctor wiped a tear thinking about when he'd found out that John had first started wandering the streets of London at only four years old.
Clara opened her eyes and continued. "He was crying. Huddled in the corner. Poor thing was in quite the state. He looked so scared," she said sadly. "I don't know how long he'd been there, but he'd wet himself. I think he thought I was going to punish him for it. So, I just scooped him up and told him I was there to help. Said it was okay." She paused again as her voice started to break. "You know what the first thing he said to me was?"
The Doctor just shook his head, not sure if he wanted to hear anymore.
"Mummy." Clara was crying now. "And…and I asked him, 'you want to find your mummy?' and he just looked at me like he was confused. Then he simply said, 'I want Amummy." She huffed a pitiful laugh. "He'd run away simply trying to find a mum."
"I'm so sorry," said the Doctor, now in tears. It was easy to forget all the trauma John had faced as a small child, given he usually seemed so carefree and unbothered by his strange upbringing. But, he also shared DNA with the Doctor and most likely shared his ability to hide his pain. Maybe even better than the Doctor ever could.
Clara gave a quick smile as she wiped a tear from the Doctor's cheek.
"Stop apologising for things you can't control," she began in a stern voice. "… and let's go get those crazy kids back."
…
Two excruciating weeks had gone by while the Doctor worked on the TARDIS. He'd sent them into the vortex so that once he solved whatever was happening, he could easily pop back to only a few minutes after the TARDIS first left the terrible planet.
It hadn't taken long for the Doctor to figure out that it wasn't actually the TARDIS that was preventing the ship from staying on the planet for more than five minutes. It was the planet itself. Like the Doctor told Clara before, the planet was designed to lure unsuspecting ships to procure "plant food." Once a ship landed and the passengers stepped foot out of the safety of their craft, some kind of sensor would go off, and the planet itself would interfere, sending the vessel out into orbit. The Doctor was working tirelessly in hopes of bypassing the sensor.
On the other hand, Clara had been spending the past few days in bed. At first, she thought she may have gotten heat exhaustion. She'd been so fatigued that napping halfway through the day was becoming the norm. Usually, the Doctor would have been fussing over her, but he'd been so preoccupied with the task at hand that Clara just told him she was swimming or simply reading a book in the library when she was actually tucked away in bed.
Having just woken from a nap, Clara made her way to the console room to find the Doctor staring intently at the console screen. He was wearing Amy's circular glasses that were now sliding down his nose.
"Doctor?" questioned Clara.
"Hmm?" answered the Doctor without even looking over.
"When was the last time you ate?"
No answer.
"Or showered?"
No answer.
"Or slept?"
Once again, no answer. Clara rolled her eyes with a small sigh. She was frustrated but not angry. Knowing that he was doing everything in his power to save John and Citana left her feeling proud. She just felt bad for how hard he'd been working with not much progress. Clara slowly made her way next to where he was standing.
"What's that?" she asked. The Doctor had been reading something over.
"Huh? Oh, I'm trying to figure out the location for the source of the interference. If I can locate the source, I should be able to simply disable it with my sonic, but…" he began typing. "… it's impossible to find!" he yelled in exasperation as he roughly pushed the screen out of the way. Unfortunately, the push was hard enough to cause the screen to swing the entirety of the console, giving Clara just enough time to move out of the way and allowing it to crash right into the Doctor's left arm.
He hissed at the pain before his shoulder slumped, not from being hit but simply in defeat.
"Maybe I don't need to locate the interference," he whispered to himself. The Time Lord was in such deep thought he hadn't noticed where Clara had gone. It wasn't until he felt her fiddling with his trouser fasten that he looked down and saw she was on her knees slightly under the console in front of him.
"Um, Clara? What are you doing down there?"
She simply smirked up at him and grabbed onto his still flaccid penis, quickly working him over to get him to harden.
"Cl…Clara," he gasped as he gripped the console. "You…you don't have to do…" her mouth was on him now. "That," he grunted. Clara smiled as she took him in, now feeling his hand on the back of her head, contradicting his previous statement.
The Doctor forgot about his current worries just long enough to let go and actually enjoy what Clara was doing for him. Clara sat back and looked up at the Doctor moments after he came. He was still trying to control his breathing as he pulled up his trousers and tucked himself away. Clara was once again standing next to him.
"Better?" she asked with a grin. The Doctor chuckled.
"Yes, actually. Much better. Um, thank you…for uh, that," he said as he adjusted his bow-tie and jacket. "And I think I've actually figured out a way to get John and Citana."
"How?"
"Instead of trying to disable the entire planet, we can still land the TARDIS long enough for them to come aboard. I just have to locate them. Once I know where they are, the TARDIS can materialise on the planet where we'll have a window of five minutes."
He once again turned his attention to the screen. "Now, let's just hope they're not too far from where we originally materialised. I can do a grid search from there as a starting point."
"Brilliant!" said Clara excitedly. She then made a face like she was in pain.
"What's wrong?" asked the Doctor. He quickly turned his attention to her. She was now covering her mouth.
"I don't know. Just feel really nauseous all of a sudden."
"Oh, do you need to lie down? Maybe it's from stress?"
"Maybe," she said as she turned and ran to the nearest loo. The Doctor followed her, knowing it may take a while to locate John and Citana. He wanted to make sure Clara was okay before diving into another few days of trial and error.
Sure enough, the Doctor found Clara hovering over the toilet. He quickly ran a flannel under the tap and brushed her hair aside as he placed the cool rag on her neck.
"Maybe I ate something bad," she said with a groan.
…
Another week passed with no sign of John and Citana's location. Not to mention Clara had been sick every day, which also took up much of the Doctor's time. They were now in the med bay as the Doctor read over the results from a scan he'd just done on Clara. She was sitting on a small bed while the Doctor stood to the side.
"Well, for starters, you're dehydrated."
"Not surprised," grumbled Clara.
"Looks good. Looks good. Looks…" he paused. "Positive," he said in barely a whisper.
"Positive? Positive for what? Vortex flu or something?"
The Doctor looked up from his readings to face Clara. He got closer to her, placed his hand on her abdomen, and let out a small giggle.
"Positive," he said again, only with more confidence.
Clara made a face of confusion for a moment before it hit her.
"Oh," she said in shock as she placed her hand over his. She huffed a laugh, "positive."
…
"Ding dong!" exclaimed the Doctor.
"What? Have you found them?" asked Clara as she ran up to the console.
"I believe I have!" he then turned to Clara. "I'm 99 per cent sure…well, make that 80. Solid 78 per cent."
Clara laughed. "Well, that's better than the 43 you gave me the last five times. Ended up being two rabbit type creatures. And I think they were trying to make more rabbit type creatures by the time I got eyes on them," she laughed.
"Well, Clara. I'm 76 per cent certain that these readings are not rabbits and are, in fact, the crazy kids we've been trying to locate for nearly a month!"
"76? What happened to 78?" she laughed as she grabbed the sonic.
"Not sure, to be honest." He readied the TARDIS. "Okay, Clara, you know the drill! See you in less than five minutes!" Pulling the lever, the TARDIS landed with a jolt as Clara threw open the doors. She ran right up to the strange wooden house and used the sonic to open the door without even thinking about what might be on the other side.
When she saw that it was, in fact, John and Citana, she couldn't help gasp in relief.
"Oh, thank god!" She then used the communication device the Doctor had given her. "I've got them!" Then, turning back to John and Citana, she motioned to follow. "Hurry up. The Doctor can't land the TARDIS here for long. We need to go now!"
…
The TARDIS crew was now all sitting in John and Clara's flat. Well, everyone except Clara, who'd just run to the kitchen to vomit.
"Pregnant?" said John in shock. "Wow, um. Okay. I…I didn't realise you'd uh, mix."
Citana immediately swatted his arm. "That's rude. Just be happy for them!"
"I am happy for them! It's just…if the Doctor can have children with a human…then that means," he stopped and mumbled. "I just never thought I'd be able to, but I mean," he paused. "We've got the same stuff."
"Well, humans and Time Lord biology aren't all that different when it comes to, uh, that," said the Doctor with a blush on his face. He then pointed to the kitchen. "I better go check on her." With that, he got up and made his way to Clara.
...
"The…the bananas," Clara began. "Get them out of here!"
"What? Why?" asked the Doctor while grabbing them. A few of the mushy ones fell right off the bunch when the Doctor lifted them. One landed right near Clara with a splat. She immediately heaved in the sink again.
"The smell! It's making me sick. I don't know why but the smell of overripe bananas is about the worst thing for me right now." She heaved again. "In fact, just thinking and talking about overripe bananas is making me sick."
The Doctor placed the offending fruit in a plastic bag and then put the bag in the bin.
"Better?" he asked.
Clara nodded. "Yes, but I think I need to lie down again. I'm so tired."
The Doctor guided Clara back to the TARDIS but stopped to speak to John and Citana first.
"I need to take Clara somewhere to make sure everything is alright. Her pregnancy shouldn't be any different than if I was human, but you can never be too careful. I was going to wait to take the TARDIS, but she's really sick and I…."
"Just go!" said Citana with a laugh. "I think we'll manage. Right, John?"
"Oh, right. Yeah, take care of your woman, Doctor. She's carrying your child now," he paused. "Wait, does that mean I'm going to sort of be an uncle? Since we decided we're, well, brothers?"
The Doctor smiled. "You'll make a great uncle," he chuckled. He then waved goodbye before disappearing into the TARDIS.
The Doctor knew of only one place he was comfortable enough to take Clara. She was carrying a part alien baby, which meant they couldn't go to a regular hospital on Earth. And since the alien part was Time Lord, that narrowed down the number of people the Doctor would trust with this information. Luckily, he had some friends with medical training who he trusted with his life and Clara's and now their future child.
...
Clara and the Doctor stood outside, waiting for the door to open. They couldn't help smile at the familiar face that greeted them.
"Doctor? It's always a pleasure when you grace us with your presence. And you've brought Miss Clara with you! How are you feeling since Trenzalore? You gave us quite the scare." Vastra ushered them into the house. "Jenny is in the middle of making some breakfast. I believe she's even acquired some…."
Suddenly, Clara ran off, holding her hand over her mouth.
"Bananas…" Vastra looked at the Doctor in confusion. "Side effect from your time stream?"
"Eh, well…" he rubbed the back of his neck as his cheeks began to turn red. "More like a side effect from um…my uh, our… our baby."
Vastra raised her brow. "Ah… a different sort of Time Lord stream, then," she chuckled.
The Doctor gaped at the Silurian. "Vastra!" he leaned in. "Did you just make a sex joke?" They were both laughing now. "I think you've gone a darker shade of green," he added.
"And you're redder than when you encountered the Crimson Horror," she laughed.
"Excuse me, madame. But, a boy is expelling some sort of biological goo onto the shrubbery," said Strax as he entered the room. "Jenny is with him now...oh, hello, Doctor."
"Hello, Straxy. Good to see you! And that would be Clara. Unfortunately, she's a bit...ill at the moment."
"Ill? Shall I examine her? Is it serious? How long do you think she'll be afflicted?"
The Doctor hobbled back and forth on the balls of his feet with his hands in his trouser pockets, pretending to think it over.
"Oh, she should be better in about 9 months…giver er take a week," he said with a grin, now looking at Vastra.
Strax looked at the two aliens warily. "Is it contagious? Should I be worried about catching her disease?"
The Doctor placed his hand on Strax's shoulder. "I think you'll be just fine."