Sorry if there's spelling mistakes I uploaded this straight after I finished it. Enjoy.

Chapter 14 Apology

Lauren woke groggily. Her eyes felt heavy. After a moment of struggle she managed to open her eyelids, only to immediately shut them again due to the blinding bright light in her vision. She heard a voice somewhere above her. It was muffled, as if the voice was far away but close by at the same time. She couldn't make sense of what the voice said but whomever was speaking sounded familiar. Lauren heard a faint hum in the background and felt vaguely the brightness of the room turn down behind her eyelids. She sighed in relief.

"Doctor?" She asked sleepily.

"Here." The voice of the Doctor replied much clearer than before.

"What happened?" Lauren asked, eyes still closed, her mind drawing up blanks. The last thing she remembered was arguing with him.

"You fainted," his voice directly above her now. Lauren finally opened her eyes.

She blinked several times as the grey haired, owlish face of the Doctor came into focus, staring down at her.

"Hello." He said.

"Hi."

"How are you feeling?" The Doctor asked in a professional tone.

"Like I'm coming down with something," Lauren mentally checked each part of her body while remaining still laying on the med bay table. She felt her muscles and limbs ache; a sore and heavy ache. Her head was fuzzy but on the whole much better.

"Yes, you will feel like that for a while." The Doctor waved a hand gesturing to her form as he explained. "I've got you pills for the headaches and sickness. And you'll be happy to hear I've cleared up the wound on your neck, looks more like a bruise now more than anything."

"Better not look like a hickey," Lauren remarked under her breath.

Hearing her comment the Doctor scoffed and rolled his eyes dramatically. "Humans," he mumbled, "Got your priorities sorted I see." He mocked her. The girl didn't reply, merely narrowed her eyes at him looking slightly embarrassed. "You'll be thankful to know it doesn't look like that, rather as if you got bashed."

"Thanks," Lauren said dryly. That didn't do anything to comfort her needs. She yawned and rolled over to her side, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. Sleep was bliss.

"Don't fall asleep yet," she heard him say as he brandished something under her nose. Lauren cracked an eye open to peek at what he was annoyingly waving in her face. "Take these first, they'll help," the Doctor said holding tablets and a cup of water. "They'll help with the muscle pains you're likely beginning to experience, and sickness," he added.

She tried to down the tablets and water as quick as she could, handing the now empty plastic cup back to him before laying back on the table pulling a blanket that she didn't remember being around before she fainted. She was asleep in a matter of minutes, her breathing evening out.

The Doctor noted her apparent case of tiredness adding it to the list of possible symptoms and side effects she was experiencing. He also double checked her temperature, it seemed fairly normal at the moment but he needed to keep an eye out, any rise or decease could mean trouble.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was a Friday night. Lauren jittered around her bedroom ensuring she had everything she needed and packed. After checking for the sixteen time she finally let herself sit down. In the early hours of the morning she will be travelling to board a plane to England to start her new life at university in Liverpool. And she was nervous as hell. Lauren wanted nothing more than to leave Ireland and now that she was going to be away for months on end her wish come true she was suddenly getting a tiny bit scared. Hopefully she enjoy this course better than her other one. It was saying goodbye to her family for now, especially Theo that was the worst.

Theodore being her brother, more specifically her twin brother. Her family. Theo whom which she was meant to be spending time with currently if only he'd hurry up with mum from the chip shop he requested to go to after he finished work. Eventually after what seemed an age to her she heard the front door open and footsteps inside the hall along with the sound of rustling bags.

"Lauren! Foods here!" Theo called.

Lauren made her way down stairs only realizing now she was hungry. Thank god they decided to get her something as well because she didn't ask for anything. In the kitchen Theo and mum were setting the food out.

"You guys took your time," Lauren said.

"There was a queue, that chip shop is always busy," mum said.

"Hey you," Lauren smiled at Theo. She had not seen him for a week. She missed him.

Her twin Theodore Raven looked exactly like Lauren, except a male version. They had the same unruly black hair, same light blue eyes and facial features. Apart from being the opposite gender Theo was also a good amount taller than her.

"Hi," he smiled back. "Everything packed?"

"Yup. I've got everything packed." She took a chip taking a bite and realizing it was too hot.

"You mean I packed everything ages ago and you've been fussing over it ever since." Her mum corrected before moving to the living room with her portion of chips on a plate.

"Ok, ok, I've been fussing but can you blame me?" Lauren laughed.

Theo smirked. Typical of her. "Do you wanna watch Doctor Who in my room while we eat?" he asked. That should distract her for a while.

"Yes!" Lauren beamed excitedly. "Anyway we're meant to be spending time together now. We agreed."

"That's why I asked." He replied. "An episode from Tennant's era?"

Lauren nodded. "Tennant's era tonight. And Capaldi's second series, series 9 will debut in a week. So excited. We're going to have to Skype after every episode to discuss it together. " Lauren was insisted they still have their post episode discussions afterword, it was one of her favourite parts. They had a bond as twins but their bond for Doctor Who was just as strong. No one else could understand their obsession as they understood each other's. After everything they went through only they could understand each other.

In a sudden wave of affection she hugged him. "I've missed you. We've never been apart for longer than a month in our entire lives so far," she murmured into his chest, shuttering at the memory of when they were separated.

"I wish you didn't go," he whispered. Lauren froze. His voice sounded odd. Sad, almost as if talking to himself and not to her. But the way he said it, past tense, like she was already away.

Suddenly she felt nothing. Her arms enclosed air rather than her brother. She gasped and looked up startled. He was gone. Disappeared. The room when dark, the food gone, the place silent.

"Theo?!" She yelled trying to hold back her hysteria. She looked wildly around her, was this a dream? "Theo! Theodore!" She ran down the hallway to the living room. Her mum was gone too. The room was dark like the kitchen, the whole house was dark, and it was as if it was alive. Crawling and consuming. The TV was off, there was no sign of life. Everything untouched.

"MUM!" she screamed. Tears sprung in her eyes, she was sobbing and gasping for air. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she ran back to the kitchen were last she seen Theo.

"THEO!" Lauren screamed again. "THEODORE! COME BACK! PLEASE COME BACK THEODORE!" Lauren screamed until her throat hurt.

Her brother, her mum.

Her twin was gone, her world ended.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next time Lauren woke she was confused. Her ears were met with various different noises, and the room wasn't sterile and white. The lights flared and buzzed around her, the place hummed and whirred. It was a stark contrast to the bright lights of the med bay although Lauren was rather happy with that. The console room, she realized as she lay looking at the ceiling was where she was.

Lauren sat up abruptly, confusion evident on her flushed face. Why was she suddenly in the console room? She could have sworn she fell asleep in the med bay. She was lying on a small make shift bed beside the console and the railing.

What the…?

"Hello. Sleepy head," the Doctor called from where he lay on his back stretched under a panel of the console he was currently working on. It was his tinkering and metallic banging that woke her up.

Wires laid tangled around him and a fist full in one hand, his trusty sonic screwdriver in the other. He grabbed onto the underside of the console, sonic still in hand and pushed himself out from under to peek his head out from the mess of wires and panel to look at her. He was sporting a pair of googles to protect his eyes from the sparks though his hair was an untamed mass of curls and frazzled looking. The Doctor had the sense to discard his coat before working on his ship, leaving him in his shirt which was an odd sight for Lauren. Not that she was complaining, on the contrary, but it just looked slightly weird to see him in less layers even if it's just his coat he took off. This Doctor had a thing for layers.

"I fell asleep in the med bay?" She asked.

"Yes you did." He removed the googles from his eyes and rested them on his head.

Lauren gave him a look. Prompting him to continue. "And I moved you here while you slept on."

"Why?"

The Doctor waved the hand holding the sonic, "I got bored of having to walk between rooms so I moved you here so I could keep a better eye on you while I worked. It's been seven hours." He clarified.

I've been asleep for seven hours?! What day is it?

"Um, okay." Lauren tried to imagine him carrying her to the console room. "But where did the bed come from?"

"The TARDIS is resourceful," the Doctor patted the rotor fondly. The pair fell into silence as he wiped his hands on a cloth and dusted himself off.

Lauren groaned realizing how awful she was beginning to feel. Her nose was stuffy, her throat was sore and scratchy. She felt both warm and cold. She pushed the cover back relishing in the contact of cold air until it provided too much coolness so she brought the cover back up deciding to be overly warm rather than overly cold. Lauren suddenly started coughing, light coughs quickly turned into a coughing fit lasting for five minutes. When she finally finished, eyes watery and body wrecked she groaned in discomfort trying to bury herself under the covers.

Lauren looked utterly miserable. The Doctor couldn't help feeling slightly sorry for her. He pointed the sonic at her and scanned. The green glow and screeching pitch caused Lauren to clamp her hands over her now burning, sensitive ears.

"Doctor! Will you stop that?"

He stopped shortly his scan was complete anyway. He huffed at the results. Her temperature was steadily going up and her pathetic immune system was slow in fighting against the attack even with the aid of superior tablets from the future. She was cocooning herself under the sheets which she needed to stop doing.

"Right. Remove yourself from the sheets you need to start cooling yourself down," the Doctor ordered walking the few feet to her small make shift bed. Lauren grumbled under the sheets but didn't make a move to do as he said. If she doesn't see him and ignores him maybe he'll go away, she thought lazily.

The Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes at her uncooperative behaviour. He was looming over the bed now. Right, he thought as he grabbed the coverings and yanked them off. Lauren yelped and tried to pull the sheets back.

"Give…It…Back!" Lauren demanded, teeth gritted in effort trying to wrestle them from his grasp.

It turned out trying to pull the covers back was harder than expected from a sick and fairly small human girl but then being sick meant she was in a bad temper and greatly determined for cosy warmth.

"Oh no you don't," the Doctor grunted finally pulling the duvet sheets away from her reach as the physical effort took its toll on her quickly.

Lauren immediately curled herself into a ball to retain heat while growling her frustration at him. "Doctor!" She whined.

The Doctor ignored her and disappeared from her view, moving to the other side of the console. He hoped to reduce the oncoming effects of her fever. Her face was noticeably pale and flushed, cheeks tinted a soft pink, and she was becoming sticky with sweat.

"Who's Theodore?" The Doctor asked out of nowhere.

Lauren froze. A hot flash ran through her body making her shiver as if it was a cold flash.

How could he know that name?!

"You were shouting that name. Over and over while you slept earlier." The Doctor silently moved around the console yet remained on the other side of her. "Was going to wake you up but you eventually calmed down." The Doctor looked at her earnestly now, he was generally just being curious.

"Someone I used to know," Lauren said sharply which implied 'drop the subject immediately'. Saying those words out loud hurt. Thinking or mentioning his name hurt.

The Doctor wisely didn't ask further and got back to his work under the panel taking a mental note on fever potentially inducing bad dreams. The sound of tinkering and banging continued, and the occasional hiss of pain from him as he slipped up.

Lauren remembered bits and pieces of her strange dream. Theo and mum. She felt like she was dreaming then and was right. It started fairly normal until they disappeared and everything went dark. That was scary. Emotions were always strong in her dreams. Feelings. Even if she didn't remember the dream she would remember fragments of emotions; impressions of feelings felt within a dream or nightmare lingering as she woke, sometimes present throughout the day. It was weird though, sure she had dreams of her old life since she was on the TARDIS but they were beginning to be replaced with aliens, planets visited and the Doctor. Sometimes the monsters she'd seen were nightmares, other times it was bad memories of her childhood shared with Theo, and their father and mother and everything else that followed from that one day.

The dream wasn't exactly accurate anyway, some details were wrong in conversation and events but was the disappearance of Theo and mum a representation of the fact she was the one to disappear on them?

"Sorry," he said after a while, taking off his googles. Lauren, brought out of her thoughts, sat up and stared at him, eyebrow raised in question. The Doctor coughed clearing his throat. "I would…like…to say sorry," that was clearly a difficult thing for him to admit.

"About what? You need to be specific," Lauren gave a half smile earning a brief glare from him.

"For my behaviour on the moon. I realize I didn't achieve what I wanted…and it wasn't a very nice thing to do either."

That will have to do, Lauren thought. She smiled gently at him. "Accepted Doctor. And I'm sorry too for shouting and vomiting over your shoes."

The Doctor nodded from his position.

"Will you apologize to Clara too?"

The Doctor stopped in his movements. He got up from under the panel. "She won't want to see me." He said finally.

"You don't know that. Anyway she would probably like an apology."

"She'll be angry if I set foot in her flat again. She told me to go far away and don't come back."

"People say things they don't mean in anger," Lauren reminded him. "I'm sure she misses you."

"You think?" Against his will he sounded hopeful at the thought.

"I know you miss her and don't protest!" Lauren said as he looked like he was going to argue, "Anyway the least you can try is go back and apologize and if she still feels the same way about never wanting to see you again, well, then you know for certain. You can say you tried." Lauren finished her words of advice.

Lauren always wondered who broke first. After their argument on the show who was the first to contact the other one. The Doctor or Clara? Asking to meet up, briefly discuss the situation and friendship then settle on the idea of a last hurrah as they called it. Clara was the most likely one to have since the last hurrah was her idea, maybe she called the Doctor to explain to him her plan so they could part on better terms and he agreed? Clara mentioned in the Mummy episode that she 'hated' him for weeks after the moon event so she had weeks to think over her friendship and come to what she thought was a good ending for them and get on with her life. Or so she thought. However at the same time the Doctor could have eventually gotten lonely of travelling by himself and went to Clara's, it then weeks later for her. The Doctor was rather obsessed over Clara.

But what would the Doctor have been doing if she wasn't here? Lauren wasn't meant to be in this world and the Doctor shouldn't be looking after her. Would he be trying to get over Clara and on adventures right about now, one after the other until he realized adventuring in time and space was better with two?

Of course Lauren was already changing things by being here and currently being sick preventing the Doctor from doing much else than waiting for her to get better. She'll never know who came to who first in the show, but now Lauren was determined in this reality he went to Clara. Especially since she has become a companion therefore the Doctor could continue on without Clara even if they missed each other because he isn't travelling alone. On that trail of thought she had to ask him that.

"Would you really just let her go?"

The Doctor turned his head, "What?" He said even though he had a fair idea of the question she asked him.

Lauren cleared her throat then to her embarrassment it turned into another coughing fit. The Doctor waited until she stopped coughing up her lungs. "I mean after I get better would it just be you and I travelling?" She finally got out.

"Well, yes." He answered as if it were obvious then considered her question again. "Clara made it clear, I, well," He sighed, tugging at his hair and scratching his chin. "If she wants to come back she would call maybe. But she makes the first move, not me," the Doctor explained.

He made his way back this time sitting crossed legged by the panel and heaps of wires, fiddling with some. "Would it be a problem if it was just you and me travelling on adventures? After what I did would you want to?" he frowned at the wires not looking at her.

"No," Lauren replied quickly. The Doctor still concentrating on his repair work, quirked an eyebrow. He seemed to be showing indifference now. "I mean no it wouldn't be a problem, I'll happily travel with you," Lauren clarified. "But at the same time I would feel bad since you and her parted like that…and I suppose…I just don't want you to look at me and think of Clara, that she should be beside you not me." Lauren lying back on the bed looking anywhere but the Doctor.

There was a pause.

"I wouldn't think that…" he said after a while.

"I don't think you'll mean to," Lauren sighed. She was now feeling really warm despite having no duvet. Her head felt fuzzy again. Sleep it off, she thought.

Everything then became a blur to Lauren. She kept going in and out of sleep and she hardly remembered the times when she did wake up however briefly they were. All Lauren knew was that she was burning. She felt as if she was on fire. Her skin was hot and sweating until the point of she was conscious enough to know her T shirt was soaked through and so was the bed sheet with sweat. She kept getting flashes of images. Some of her old life, some perhaps of dreams, maybe she was dreaming at points. She got flashes of the Doctor, his hands fussing over her, she felt something cold pressed to her forehead, his voice frantically talking above. Maybe that wasn't a dream. Did he sound scared, or was it annoyed? Maybe concerned, yes that one, and comforting he sounded.

At points it felt hard to breathe. Lauren would have described it as having a heavy rock on her chest slowly crushing the air from her body. She was gasping at points, short shallow pants not enough air getting through. Then suddenly breathing wasn't a problem, something went over her mouth and nose and seemed to breathe for her. The room was white again. She was in the med bay if she remembered correctly. It could only be so bright.

She tried talking. Stringing an intelligent sentence together. In fact she thinks she didn't stop talking, or rambling. Fever induced of course. Most of what she said didn't make sense.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Doctor continued to bring her fever down. He used a cold compress on her forehead and wiped it across her face and neck every so often. He tried to get through to her, clear the fog in her mind that had settled over it preventing clear thought. He muttered words of encouragement at times, telling her she could get through it OK, and that she was fine, or going to be fine was the correct term of phrase. She was having dreams, talking in her sleep again but that was more the fault of the fever. Lauren probably never talked in her sleep normally. The Doctor had moved her back to the med bay, gotten scans, when she started having trouble breathing he panicked. He got an oxygen mask and placed it over her, relaxing slightly when it helped her breathe more normally rather than struggle. The Doctor used advanced medical treatments that seemed to be starting to make some improvements on the fever.

She kept mumbling, grabbing at him subconsciously, the Doctor assured he was here for her. He couldn't help but be curious at some of the stuff she said, delirious fever ramblings or not.

Lauren repeated the name of Theodore. Sometimes laughing, crying or sad. Clearly this Theodore was important in her old life. She may have made a reference to casual drug use though he wasn't certain. Other times she shouted. 'Don't leave' 'Come back' 'Why am I here Doctor?' To which the Doctor replied he didn't know why she was here but assured if he could he would bring her home. Lauren went silent for a while after that.

Other of her talk was amusing, when she wasn't in a worse state and more conscious of her surroundings but still clearly under the effects she made jokes about him.

Mainly making fun of his appearance, calling him an owl, a grumpy owl, an angry Scotsman with an Irish companion how that was a great combo. The Doctor had laughed and joined in some jokes of himself. It made her laugh hysterically and that was good.

She said he was one of her favourites whatever that meant and hugged him at several points.

"Mummy on the Orient Express!" Lauren shouted suddenly giggling to herself removing her oxygen mask much to the protests of the Doctor until he frowned at what she said.

"Clara, Doctor, Orient Express!" Lauren beamed at him deliriously. "You have to go there."

"Go to the Orient Express?" the Doctor was confused.

"Ya and a Mummy too. Doctor, Clara go stop it," she slurred slightly.

Now the Doctor was more confused. He's heard of a mummy loose on an Orient Express train in space before. Even got a phone call about it. But how did Lauren know anything about that? She wouldn't be referring to that. Was this just fever talking?

The Doctor tried to reason it was just fever talking even if it was weird. "We could go when it was first in service in the late 19th century?" He asked gently not mentioning that Clara wasn't here. Don't make her upset, no more crying.

Lauren frowned. No that's not right. "No silly the space one!"

Ok now the Doctor didn't know what to think.

"Where's Clara?" she asked. The Doctor groaned.

"She's not here. Go back to sleep." He ordered. She didn't instead she started shouting Clara's name over and over until the Doctor shushed her.

Eventually the girl calmed down, about to fall asleep again. "Have to say sorry sometime," she whispered to him eyes closed. The Doctor didn't say anything. "66 seconds," she mumbled before falling asleep again.

"What?" the Doctor asked. 66 seconds? What does that mean? More fever talk he sighed shaking his head.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Throughout the following days her fever went down to a shimmer. Her body was making improvements, the meds working fast. After another two days she was back to being fairly normal. Lauren was up and walking, changed, showered, and had food. Apart from a slight cough and fuzzy head she was fine. The Doctor finally gave her clearance.

The Doctor also didn't mention the stuff she said and did when she was delirious with fever when it became apparent she didn't remember a word she said during that time. She would probably die of embarrassment if he did bring it up. He filed it under as something she must explain later. Lauren decided to bring up the topic of Clara again and after a brief discussion he finally agreed.

The Doctor sent the TARDIS through the vortex all the way to Clara's flat. Hopefully he's got the timing right. He landed in her flat so that was good. The Doctor was first to peek his head out the door, he had landed in her bedroom again. His eyes then fell on the only other person in the room.

Clara stood with her arms crossed and a stern expression, though he was pleased to note her eyes gave away her relief at seeing him again. She was standing by the bedroom door which was wide open so she wasn't in the room when he landed.

The Doctor stepped out of the box nervously. He's faced a fleet of Daleks and Cybermen, been to the end of the universe and yet he was terrified of a 5ft'1 human female.

"Clara. Um, Sorry…Hi." The Doctor smiled timidly.