A/N: Guys, I am so sorry for such a long wait for an update. Uni work has really taken over, but I finally managed to get this chapter finished for you lovely people. Sorry for the long wait again.
Kari rolled over in the bed, her arm suddenly coming into contact with something warm and soft. Her eyelids were still heavy from the sleep she was only just awakening from, but she eventually managed to get them opened. Truth was, she didn't even remember going to bed, so she was more than just a little surprised at the sight she saw.
"Morning, sleeping head." The Doctor said from beside her, his eyes gazing into hers.
Kari let out a groan and tried to roll away, so that he couldn't see her face, but he stopped her, putting his arms around her tightly and holding her close against his chest. "I must have been tired. I don't even remember going to bed." She finally mumbled.
"Uh, actually, how's your head this morning?" The man beside her asked, running his hand through her soft, golden hair.
"It's fine, at least I think it is. Why? What happened?" She asked him curiously, completely lost as to what had happened and why he would be asking about her head.
"Well, you and Martha did managed to drink a rather lot of wine last night." The Doctor told her, making Kari twist her body and neck so that she could look at him. There was a slight frown on her face, because she wasn't sure she could remember it. "The pair of you were dancing around to the sound of the Beatles, and you did stumble over and hit your head."
Kari suddenly remembered what had happened the night previous. They were celebrating, well Kari was at least, the fact that she had a house and the Doctor and Martha were both there. The Doctor had decided to take some time to be nosey in her library, and Martha suggested a few drinks. Well, a few drinks turned into a few bottles, and it was the Doctor that had to bring their little party to an end. But he did let the pair of women enjoy themselves for some time, until Kari became a little unsteady on her feet and decided to fall and hit her head.
"Sorry, I haven't had that much to drink in a very long time." She admitted, replying some of the dancing she had done with Martha in her head.
The Doctor couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Well, it was mildly amusing. You were enjoying yourself, you were happy." Kari could hear the change in his tone then, and it worried her.
"Doctor, I'm always happy. Even more so when I got you around me." Kari told him, before leaning over and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. Only, the Doctor wasn't going to settle for just a quick little peck in the morning, and he pulled her back and kissed her deeper.
When they finally broke apart, Kari was, as always, blushing furiously, which only made the Doctor smile some more. "Come on, we have work to do." He said, placing a light kiss on the top of her head.
"Really? Work?" Kari asked him, being just a little bit stubborn and not yet even thinking about getting out of bed. "Work is boring. You go work, go make your timey wimey detector thing that goes ding when there's stuff. I'm going to stay in bed for a few more hours."
The Doctor just glanced at her as he got out of the bed, a sly grin making its way onto his face. "And you honestly think I'm going to let you stay in bed all day? If you have a bad head, then you only have yourself to blame." He warned her.
"I'm not scared of you, Doctor." Kari told him, pulling the covers higher, burying her head underneath them. She could have sworn she heard him chuckling a little, but before she had the chance to peek out and look at him, the soft and warm duvet that was keeping her cosy was ripped away. "Give me back my covers!" She cried, reaching out to pull them back to her.
It looked liked the Doctor was actually going to give it back to her, but at the last possible moment he yanked it away from her reach. "No. You need to help me with this timey wimey detector that you seem to know all about."
Kari let out a groan as she threw herself back onto the bed. "I don't know all about it, I just know it goes ding when there's stuff." She told him, before watching him walk into the bathroom, taking her soft duvet with him. "And can boil an egg at thirty paces." She mumbled to herself.
Eventually Kari did manage to pull herself out of bed and joined the Doctor and Martha in the kitchen. Martha was busy making the tea while the Doctor was pulling apart the toaster. "Couldn't have waited until I had done my breakfast, could you?" Kari moaned at him, looking at the mess he was making on her table.
"Well, you should have gotten up sooner." The Doctor told her, stopping what he was doing and giving her a peck on the cheek. "Maybe next time you'll listen to me when I tell you to get up." He said, before getting back on with is work.
Kari just rolled her eyes at him, knowing that there was no point even trying to argue with him, it wouldn't make any difference. She knew that he needed to build the device, and she also know that it meant he would have to destroy a lot of her kitchen appliances for parts. "How you doing this morning, Martha?" She decided to ask, noticing that the woman seemed to be flinching when anyone spoke.
"Oh, my head is pounding. Why the hell did we drink so much last night?" Martha almost whispered.
All Kari could do was grin. "We were having a house warming party, that's why. And now, we get to go out and look for jobs." Suddenly she felt a little less enthusiastic about the whole day. "I have no idea how long we're going to be here for, and I'm not exactly sure what my funds are like."
The Doctor just looked at her, as if she was mad. "What do you need to get a job for?"
Martha could only roll her eyes at him as she took a sip of the strong black coffee in her hands. "Uh, for food?" She said, before taking another sip. "We are going to need to eat, you know. Food doesn't just magically appear."
He looked over at Kari, she was trying to hard not to burst out laughing. "Oh, yes. Right, well then, the pair of you had better get cracking with finding jobs." The Doctor said, before grabbing everything off the table and taking it with him to one of the bedrooms.
"I am so not looking forward to this. Knowing our luck it's going to be working in some greasy café or a bar or something." Martha moaned, while Kari poured some cornflakes into a bowl.
"Neither am I, but needs must." Kari said, before grabbing the milk and pouring it over the golden flakes. "Really wish my brother had left me with some cash."
Martha looked up at her over the rim of her mug. "Well, why don't you call him and ask for some?"
Kari shrugged her shoulders at the woman who was gazing at her. "He's away on business, he is going to be absolutely no help what so ever. I should have asked him last night, or this morning before he left."
"So, what's your brother doing in 1969 then?" Martha asked, clearly curious about Kari's big brother.
"He's working, hanging around and waiting for someone to show up." She told her, crunching away on the crispy flakes. "We both have complicated lives. We never know when we're going to see each other or just bump into each other. But we manage."
"Think there is a chance I will get to meet him? You're always getting calls from him, and the pair of you seem really close." Martha wondered. There was actually a lot she didn't know about Kari and her big brother, such as his name or where he was from. She already knew that they weren't blood related, but that Kari was still his little sister.
Kari looked at the woman sitting across from her, a small smile slipping onto her face. "I think, that maybe one day, so far away from now, you might just meet my big brother, Martha Jones. Now come on, we need to do some job hunting." She said, putting her empty bowl in the sink and leading Martha into the living room.
"How is this even going to work?" Martha asked her, looking through the wanted adds in the local newspaper. "I mean, no one is going to give us a job, we don't have an identification on us."
Rolling her eyes, Kari reached into her pocket and pulled out her psychic paper. "Oh really, Miss Jones? We have psychic paper at our disposal, should make the task a little easier."
A few hours later, and both the women were sitting on the sofa, completely exhausted from their job hunt. The Doctor had been kind enough to not destroy the kettle and even offered to make them both a nice cuppa. "So, how did it go then?" He asked, plonking himself down next to Kari after handing out the tea.
Kari and Martha shared a glance, before Martha looked at the Doctor and opened her mouth. "Well, I tried the paper shop on the corner, the clothes shop in the high street, the florist and the café."
"So, no luck then?"
Martha smiled behind her mug. "I start at the café tomorrow morning."
"And I start work in the bar in the high street tomorrow night. So you will never be left alone while you are taking everything apart." Kari told him, giving him a little nudge as she did.
Suddenly the Doctor's head snapped towards Kari, his eyes slightly wider than they had been a moment ago. "You're working where?" He asked her in slight shock.
"Uh, a bar. It's a nice place, a bit more upmarket then what you're thinking, mister." She replied, knowing that he was probably concerned about her working in a bar. "It's going to be fine, okay? I know how to look after myself and you can always come and meet me to walk me home."
He seemed to relax at that a little, letting a small smile spread across his face. "Lovely. So, who's hungry?" The Doctor said, planting a kiss on Kari's head before taking a swig of his tea. Kari was please to see that he had accepted where she was going to be working. She had worried that he would not allow her to go, that he would demand that she find something more suitable like the place Martha was working at. All she could do was put it down to the fact that he trusted her, and her offer to have him walk her home probably helped as well.
Both Kari and Martha headed to bed early. Martha had an early start for work in the morning and wanted to make sure she was fully rested for it. The reason Kari had gone to bed so early was because she was starting to get a little nervous. She wasn't actually tired, and she didn't really need to sleep, but her mind kept running over more things than she would handle.
Kari was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to get her head around everything. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even hear the door open and the Doctor step in, sitting down on the bed beside her. "I just got a very interesting message." He told her, holding out his black leather wallet.
She took it from him, still lying down, and looked at the message. "Hope you and Martha are having fun. Try not to damage 1969 too much. I'll be seeing you soon x." She read from the psychic paper. "Oh lovely, I'm currently at Kathy's with Sally." Kari told him, passing it back over to him. "And then I go and make myself look even more crazy by talking to the screens." She mumbled.
The Doctor just smiled to himself, as he glanced down at the paper before putting the wallet back in his pocket. "Is everything okay? You seem a little distracted." He asked her, deciding to lie down beside her.
"Yeah, everything's okay. Haven't seen this you for a while, and a lot has happened since the last time I did." She told him, thinking back to when she saw him for a few minutes before he regenerated into her bow tie wearing Doctor. "I really missed you when I was with Sally. And when I got here, even if I did have Jack waiting for me."
"Well, I'm here now." He told her, opening his arms and inviting her to move closer towards him. Kari did so without hesitation. "And you're stuck with me for a while it seems."
"Hey, I like being stuck with you." Kari told him, lightly whacking his chest. "I love being with you, and I wouldn't want to any other way."
The Doctor couldn't help but chuckle a little. "And neither would I."
This time it was Kari's turn to chuckle. "Good, because I'm still quite early in my complicated and messed up time line. I still got a lot of catching up with you to do." She told him, snuggling up closer towards him, her eyes closing as she breathed in his scent. "But I can't wait for it all."
"So many meetings, so many adventures." The Doctor told her, gently stroking her hair. "The whole of time and space. So many people and planets to save."
"Hmm, so much flirting with Captain Harkness."
"Oi!" He protested, frowning at her a little.
"Oh, hush you. You know Jack is my big brother and nothing more. That flirting was just to annoy you, and it always worked as well." Kari told him, a smile on her face.
"And how is big brother Jack?" He enquired, knowing that she had very recently seen him in this time zone.
"Same old Jack." She replied. "Still waiting for you, to kick your backside no doubt. You did abandon him after all, knowing what had happened to him."
She heard the Doctor let out a groan as he stopped playing with her golden hair. "You know something that I don't, don't you?" He asked her, watching the smug grin spread across her face. "Oh, I should have known."
"Yup, you should. Me and my all knowing power, it's a not a force to be reckoned with." She told him, tugging at the lapels of his suit jacket, straighten it out for some reason. "Anyway, how's the timey wimey detector that goes ding when there's stuff coming along?"
"Where exactly did you get that name for it from?" He asked her curiously, his hand going back to playing with her hair.
Kari shrugged at little, not really bothered about moving. She was comfortable, and happy, just lying there with the Doctor. "It's what you would have called it anyway. I was just saying something that I heard you say, that's all."
"Right, well it's coming along nicely so far. I might need to go out a get a few other things if I can find them, and test it out a little." He wasn't going to probe her about her hearing him call it that, because he knew that she wouldn't tell him.
"Hmm. Good for you." Kari mumbled. She wasn't falling asleep, but she was completely relaxed and at ease. "So, are you going to be working on it any more tonight?"
He paused and thought about it for a moment. "No, I want to spend as much time as I can with my beautiful, brilliant Kari." The Doctor told her, once more kissing the top of her head, making her smile.
"Good, because I want to spend time with my extremely sexy Doctor. Especially since we have some time to kill before saving to universe again. Or chasing monsters." Since her eyes were closed, she didn't get to see the grin that formed on the Doctor's face, nor the fact that a red tint had taken over his cheeks.
The pair of them stayed lying on the bed throughout the night, even though neither of them was sleeping. Occasionally there were small conversations, Kari telling the Doctor what she had been up to with that version of him, while he told her about some of the adventures she still had to come, even though she already knew about them.
It wasn't until they heard the door to the other bedroom on the same floor open that they finally decided it was time to move. Martha was awake now, and they both wanted to see her off before she started her first day of work at the café.
"And you'll call me if anything happens?" Martha asked Kari as she pulled on her jacket.
Kari couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Yes, Martha, I will call you. But nothing should be happening, at least not yet. Just go and have a good first day at work, okay? And remember, this is 1969, slightly different to back in your time."
The woman nodded at her, taking the set of keys that Kari had given to her out of her pocket, as she checked once more that she had everything she needed. "Right, you two behave. Doctor, no blowing things up, and Kari… just… behave and keep an eye on him." She said, before turning and heading out of the door.
"I don't think Martha is too happy about having to get a job." Kari mumbled, walking back into the kitchen with the Doctor in tow.
"I'm not too happy about you getting a job." The Doctor grumbled, sitting down beside her. "Why did you have to get a job as well?"
"Because it wouldn't be fair for Martha to have to work each and every day while I got to hang out with you." Kari told him, setting the mugs on the counter as she turned the kettle on. "Even though I would have loved to spend every minute with you without having much to worry about. It just wouldn't be fair."
"Are you sure you still want to work at this bar?" He asked her, for the hundredth time since they had ventured out of the bedroom. "You don't have to, I'm sure there are other jobs out there if you really do insist on getting one."
She sighed and turned to face him. "Everything is going to be fine. I don't know why you are so worried, Doctor. It's just bar work, something that I have actually done before."
That caused him to frown at her. "And when was this?" He asked, not actually recalling her ever telling him about working in a bar before. Now he was even more determined to stop her from working.
"When I was at university. I got some bar work to help pay my bills. Student loans didn't really cover anything apart from the fees from the university." Kari told him, before dropping a mug, causing it to smash into pieces when it hit the floor. "How do I remember that?" She managed to whisper to herself.
The next thing she knew, the Doctor's arms were around her and holding onto her tightly. He didn't say anything, just like she didn't cry. Kari was just shocked that she had actually remembered something, considering she couldn't even remember when her birthday was. "Go sit on the sofa, I'll clean this up." He whispered to her, gently nudging her out of the kitchen and to the living room.
Kari just sat there, staring into nothing as she tried to remember something else from her old life, anything at all. It was just a blank, apart from her dad, and the day she met the Doctor. She had managed to forget her own birthday so quickly, and everything else was just a blur. That thing about the bar work wasn't even something she had thought about, it just came out of her mouth.
"Hey, here you go." The Doctor said to her gently, passing her the steaming mug of tea. She didn't say a word as she took it from his hands. "Kari, come on, it's nothing to worry about. Everything is fine, yeah?"
"Yeah, fine." Kari mumbled, her eyes still fixed on the same point of the coffee table before her.
The Doctor just let out a sigh, knowing that her mind was still running over what she had said and why. "Kari, I know that there are things I still don't understand, but everything really is fine." He said, trying to assure her once more.
"I know." She whispered in reply. "I just didn't expect to remember something like that. It's not like it was anything important, you know, like my birthday."
"Ah, well if you knew when your birthday is, then you wouldn't get all those birthday surprises throughout the year from your friends and Jack, would you?" The Doctor asked her, a small grin on his face as he tried his hardest to cheer her up.
Kari looked up at him, noticing that stupid grin he was wearing. "I guess not." She told him, before finally deciding to take a sip of her tea. "So, uh, what's the plan until Martha get's home? You got much to do with the timey wimey device until it's ready?"
"It's coming along nicely. Just need to do a little bit of testing to it, but it's looking good so far." The Doctor told her.
She nodded at him a little as she drank what was left of her tea. "Well I have no idea how long it's going to take for Billy to get here, he was about to be taken when I left, but stupid time travel makes it hard to know how long that's going to be from the time that you arrived."
"That doesn't matter. The longer it takes for him to get here, the more time I get to spend with you." He replied, still with a huge grin on his face. Kari couldn't help but grin back at him, she was looking forward to spending time with him as well, even if she did have to work in the evenings.
They didn't really do that much for the rest of the day, just sitting around in the library and drinking some tea. Martha was welcomed home to the smell of dinner cooking. Kari had been in the kitchen, working away to make the perfect meal for the three of them for when she returned from work.
"Oh, what is that smell? It smells gorgeous." Martha said, hanging her jacket up in the hallway and heading into the kitchen where Kari and the Doctor were waiting for her.
Kari looked over her shoulder and at the woman. "That would be dinner, Miss Jones, which shall be ready in a few short minutes. So while the Doctor finishes setting the table, you can sit down and relax with a nice glass of wine." She told her, as she handed a wine glass to her friend.
"Set the table, right." The Doctor mumbled, before grabbing everything he needed before heading to get the table ready for dinner.
"So, how has he been today? Not caused too much trouble?" Martha asked, taking her first sip of wine.
Kari just smiled as she took something out of the oven, quickly swapping whatever was in there for something else. "Yeah, he's been rather good. We spent most of the day going through the books in the library."
"Has he said anything more about you working at that bar?" Martha asked her curiously, knowing that he was still probably very against the idea of letting Kari go there.
She shook her head in a little in response. "Nope. He's walking me there later and then coming back to walk me home." She told her, making sure to miss out what had actually happened when she suddenly remembered something from her past.
Martha nodded and took another sip of wine. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Nah, I got this covered. Go and sit down, make sure the Doctor isn't making a mess in there. I'll bring the dinner in as soon as it's ready." The woman nodded at her, picked up her glass, and left for the dining room where the Doctor was behaving and setting the table perfectly.
Dinner passed by, and it was soon time for Kari to head out to her own job. She was nervous, for more than one reason. She was going to be working in a bar, with people she didn't know, in a time that wasn't her own. The Doctor wasn't going to be with her, he was going to be back at the house with Martha. Now that the time had come, she was starting to have second thoughts about working in the bar.
"Hope you have a good first day." Martha said, giving Kari a quick hug. "We're only a phone call away if you decide to leave early."
Kari couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Martha, if you have to work, then so do I. I'm not going to let you earn the money that feeds all three of us, that just wouldn't be fair." She told her as the Doctor helped her to get her coat on.
"Come on, we don't want you to be late now, do we?" He told her, opening the front door and ushering her out. "Are you sure you want to be doing this?" The Doctor asked her, holding onto her hand as they walked down the street.
She just turned and smiled at him. "Of course I'm sure." She said, not wanting to admit that she had been having second thoughts about it all. "I need to work, we need the money. Like I keep saying, we have absolutely no idea how long it's going to take for Billy Shipton to get here."
"But do you have to work in a bar?" The Doctor moaned at her, and not for the first time either. "Why couldn't you try somewhere else? There has to be something else out there."
Kari let out a sigh. "Doctor, it was the best I could do right now. Look, how about we give it a week, see how it goes, and then, maybe, I will look for something else." She said, trying to get him to relax a little. "How does that sound?"
She could see that he was thinking about it, the expression on his face told her that. "Okay." He said, letting out a sigh. "One week. But that is it."
A small grin spread across her face as she reached up and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Thank you."
It was a rather short walk to the bar, and the Doctor was refusing to let go of Kari's hand. "Please?" He whined like a small child asking for sweets.
Kari shook her head and laughed a little. "Nope. Now let go, I need to go to work. I can't be late for my first shift now, can I?" The Doctor just pouted at her a little more. "Doctor, I have to go. Now, you know what time I finished, and you better be here waiting for me. You got that mister?"
He nodded at her. "Yeah, I'll be here. Have a good shift." The Doctor told her, before taking her by surprise and capturing her lips. Kari grinned to herself a little, knowing that he was worried and really didn't want to let her go.
"Right, I am going in now, Doctor. Behave, do not cause Martha too much of a headache, otherwise you will be sleeping in the spare room." She said, making sure to keep the grin on her face.
He let out a sigh, nodded his had, and gave her another quick kiss before watching as she walked into the bar. Straight away she smoothed down the black skirt she was wearing, trying to overcome the nervous that were surfacing.
"Ah, Miss Conner, right on time." A chubby man in a suit said to her from the side of the bar as she walked further into the room. "This is Cherrie, she's going to be taking you under her wing, training you up. Any problems, just ask her." He said, pointing to a blonde woman who was cleaning glasses behind the bar.
"Will do, Mr Stubbs." Kari replied brightly.
The man chuckled a little. "Call me Ken, Miss Conner."
"Well then, Ken, you best just call me Kari." She said, before he lead her over to where Cherrie was still working away.
"Cherrie, this is Kari. You look after her tonight, you hear?" Ken told the woman, causing her to roll her eyes at him. "Any problems, I'm in the office." He said, before walking away from the two women.
The blonde woman stopped what she was doing, and turned to Kari. "You working in a bar before?" Kari nodded to the woman, feeling a little uncomfortable with the way se was looking her up and down. "Right, well tonight is usually a rather quiet night. We get the usual's, a few students but mainly office workers." Cherrie told her, causing Kari to nod at her again. "So, just stick with me for a while. And relax." The woman said, letting a smile spread across her face. "I don't bite."
After that, the evening seemed to pass by pretty quickly. Cherrie had been right, and it really hadn't been all that busy. Kari had been shown the basics around the bar, and where everything was. Cherrie had let her take care of the customers, who seemed pretty eager to leave tips in the jar.
It was getting closer to closing time when a young woman with brown her rushed into the bar. Cherrie was the first to notice her, a smile spreading across her face as she approached the bar. "Clara, what are you doing here at this time of night?" The woman asked her curiously.
"Well, I wanted to see how well the new girl had handled everything." The voice was strangely familiar to Kari, and she couldn't help but look over at the woman who was speaking. Her eyes widened as recognised who was standing there.
"She's not done too bad, actually. Customers liked her, filled up the tip jar." Cherrie said, a grin on her face. "Kari, come meet Clara, she'll be working with us tomorrow night."
Kari bit her lip and walked over to the two women. "Hey, I'm Kari Conner." She said, holding out her hand.
"Clara Oswald." The woman replied, a smile on her face as she took Kari's hand and shook it.
That was when it happened, when Kari saw flashes of things to come, of her adventures with the Doctor. But there was something different, Clara was there as well. Of course Kari already knew who this woman was, a future companion to the Doctor. But there really was so much more to her than just that, and only Kari knew the truth about it all.
Kari just forced a smile on her face, trying to shake the thoughts and images from her head. "Well, I certainly look forward to working with you tomorrow night." She managed to say.
"Ah, my two favourite girls." Ken called, coming out from the office and spotting Clara there as well. "And how has your first shift been, Kari?"
"It's been great. I loved it." She replied, keeping the smile on her face.
He smiled back, and nodded at her. "Well, you might as well head off now. Not much else left to do, Cherrie and I can handle the cashing up." Ken told her.
"Are you sure? I really don't mind hanging around and helping out." Kari said, knowing that it would be a little while until the Doctor came for her.
"No, off you go. You've worked hard tonight, I'm impressed."
Kari just nodded at him. "Okay, well if you're sure. I'll see you all tomorrow then." She said, smiling at him as she grabbed her coat and put it on and said her goodbyes.
She just had turned away from the bar, starting her walk home, knowing that she would probably come across the Doctor on her way, when a voice called her from behind. Kari spun around and saw Clara rushing towards her.
"Hey, mind if I walk with you?" Clara asked her, finally catching up.
"Er, no, I don't mind." Kari said, slightly surprised that Clara was asking to walk with her. It was a little odd for her, knowing who Clara was but knowing that she had no idea who she was, nor who the Doctor was. She hadn't even thought about meeting Clara, she had been so wrapped up with just being with the Doctor that she never really thought about who the companions were that they travelled with. Kari knew that she had to be careful, she couldn't say too much. She just wished that the Doctor were on his way there already to walk her home.
A/N: Bet you didn't see that one coming now did you? I've had a lot of requests to do an episode with Clara in it, but I thought I would give you this little taster. Don't worry, there is more Clara to come.
So, a big thank you to everyone who has stuck by my, even when I've just dropped off the face of the Earth (and that's not thanks to the Doctor coming and whisking me away either). I always want to thank everyone who has favourited/followed. And finally, a massive, gigantic thank you to all you lovely people who have reviewed. You guys are just so totally awesome.
I'm already working on the next chapter. Once I started this one, I didn't really know where to stop, as you can probably tell. Again I am sorry for the long wait and I really will try to hard for the next one not to be as long.
Pippa.