"But I've got a dentist appointment, Doctor. Sorry, alien weather events are going to have to wait."
Clara Oswald picked up a pillow from the floor of her living room and tossed it onto her couch. Falling into it's softness, she clasped her hands behind her head and looked up at the grey-haired man that towered over her. "I have to leave in five minutes."
"Dentist?" The grey eyebrows flew upwards. "Your teeth look perfectly fine to me, Clara. Come on, come on, purple rain only happens once in each century." He crossed his arms. "Trust me, you don't want to miss it."
Clara laughed and sat up, smiling at him. "Sorry, Doctor, I actually don't want to miss it. But I should be leaving. Like right now."
"But it's a time machine?" He insisted, motioning toward the old blue box that sat in the corner of her living room. "It can go anywhere and be back seconds after you left. I'm pretty sure I've told you that before."
She laughed again and tilted her head up to study his pleading eyes. "Yes, you have told me that, Doctor, but what if the Tardis gets it wrong? That has happened quite a few times."
He cast her a look of mock annoyance. "Get it wrong? Me and the Tardis get it wrong? That is a highly intelligent machine. She won't get it wrong. Now look, you've insulted her." He patted the side of the humming wooden box with a gentle hand.
"What else is new?" Clara stood and pushed him playfully toward the doorway of the Tardis. "Go and enjoy your planetary phenomena, Doctor. I have to be on my way."
"How about if I just go with you?" He asked, holding up a hand to stop her. She looked up at him incredulously and burst instantly into laughter.
"Doctor! You go with me? I don't need a chaperone."
He straightened his long black jacket and smiled chivalrously down at her. "Clara Oswald, I would be honored to be your unnecessary chaperone. You pudding brains travel with them all the time. Limos, chauffeurs."
"It's sweet of you, Doctor, but no." She patted his arm. "I don't need you there, and I definitely don't need you driving a limo in London. You will only get me or yourself, or both of us, into some kind of awful trouble. Hang on, is there an alien at my dentist? Are you on a case? Is that really why you are here?"
He frowned patiently at the mischievous eyes. "I am not a detective, Clara, I am a Doctor. Doctor, Sherlock Holmes, easy mistake. And me get into trouble? If I recall correctly, I am usually getting you out of trouble."
She tilted her head, smirking up at him. She knew him well enough to know when he was up to something. He really just seemed to want to go with her. "Okay, fine, Doctor. But no interfering. I don't want to have to answer awkward questions about the bean pole that is scaring everyone with his monstrous eyebrows."
"I will be a model Doctor." He replied in that gentle tone that he used when he was being kind. But she could see a strange sparkle in his eye. "I won't even look at my sonic."
"Doctor, are sure you aren't worried about me going?" Clara shook her head at his childlike happiness at the idea of accompanying her and threw on her jacket then began looking around for her keys. "You really don't have to come with, you know." She tossed all the pillows back onto the floor in her slightly frantic search, and finally turned around again. "I promise I will be fine on my own. Been a few times, just myself, you know."
"But you don't really want to go." He said suddenly, quietly, thoughtfully stepping toward her. She raised one eyebrow at the annoyingly perceptive tone he was using.
"And what makes you think that?"
"You're stalling." He replied mischievously, holding up her keys. "Coffee table, by the way."
She rolled her eyes at him, grabbing the keys, and turned to walk out of the small, cheerful flat. "No, Doctor, I an not stalling."
"Yes, you are!" He called after her. She stopped in the doorway and half-turned.
"I am so not. Now Doctor, are you coming with, or am I peacefully left on my own?"
He smiled broadly and hurried after her. "As you wish, Clara Oswald."
"I didn't wish." She replied darkly, giving him a push out the door.
"Did." He replied, smiling down at her, as he waited for her to lock the door behind them.
"Oh, you are so full of yourself. Get over it. I did not wish for you to come along, and the dentist is only a few blocks away." Clara replied through clenched teeth. She wasn't sure this was going to be a good idea and she was starting to feel ill with nerves.
"Well, get over it," the Doctor replied smugly. "I am here, and I'm not going away."
"You might want to when you get there." Clara replied bluntly. She honestly really hated the dentist and she was glad that the Doctor had come with her. That purple rain was sounding better with every step she took away from the Tardis. But she wasn't about to say that to him!
Clara hurried down the busy street, purposely trying to focus on the sidewalk instead of the task at hand. She quite felt like she was going to her own execution. Why had she turned down the chance to run away? Because it was not the adult thing to do. She hated drilling cavities, needles, x-ray machines, even the smell of the toothpaste they used made her want to gag.
"Clara, something's wrong with your face." The familiar gravelly voice spoke to her left and she started visibly, then tried to cover it up by stepping around a puddle. "It's gone a bit – green."
She frowned up at him, trying to be annoyed, but her stomach was in such knots all she could do was set her jaw firmly and keep walking. 'Now is not the time to be clever, Doctor.' She desperately wanted to say it aloud, but her throat was so tight that she did not think it would come out threateningly at all. The last thing she wanted to do was squeak insults at those intelligent eyes. He would give her that crooked eyebrow smile and she would feel foolish for not being strong enough to banter properly.
An arm settled around her shoulders, warm against the cold chill running up her neck. Long fingers wrapped around her shoulder and slightly pulled her into the towering black figure. She was grateful for the support, as her knees were wobbly by the time that they had reached the front door of the dentist office.
She turned to look up at him, and was startled by the concerned, smile-less face that gazed down into hers. The grey eyes roved over her face, clearly worried about her. She gave him a gentle, quivering grin. "Right, Doctor, no strange questions, and definitely no sonic."
He nodded again, still emotionless, and pulled the door open for her. The long arm left her shoulder, allowing her to walk in on her own, and the coldness left behind sent a shiver through her body. She immediately missed the comfort as she walked up to the reception counter.
"Good morning, welcome to Elleven Dental Wellness. Do you have an appointment?" The bright, smiling lady at the front desk looked uncertainly from the dark-haired girl to the tall grey-haired gentleman who was eyeing her suspiciously. Clara stepped forward, putting her purse on the counter and digging in it for her appointment card.
"Yes, Clara Oswald, 9:15 appointment." She glanced back at the Doctor with reproachful eyes, and he smiled quickly and innocently. He clasped his hands behind his back and nodded politely at the receptionist.
"Riiiight," The lady studied him for a second, then dragged her eyes back to the large round ones looking over the counter at her. "Please take this," she handed Clara a clipboard and motioned to a row of chairs. "And someone will call you back shortly."
Clara nodded and moved to sit down, the Doctor right at her heels. She studied the clipboard and started filling in her information, the scratch of the pen resounding in her ringing ears. Family history? What family? Her throat tightened a little more and her eyes stung for a moment. She had not realized that a barely audible whimper had escaped her lips until the warm, long arm settled calmly around her shoulders again. The weight of it, although slight, grounded her unraveling emotions and she scribbled in the blank line 'None'. The clock on the wall ticked loudly, and the busy street outside sounded a long way off. The stoic silence of the man next to her finally caught her attention and she looked to see that he was eyeing everything and everyone with a critical eye, his brows knit in thought.
"Stop it." She muttered, elbowing him in the side.
He jumped and frowned down at her. "Stop what?"
"Stop that thing you are doing!" She replied whispering sternly, giving him a matching stare.
"What? What am I doing?" He asked defensively, now half turning to look at her.
She rolled her eyes. "Stop looking around like you are expecting a Dalek to pop out of a wall. You're scaring the receptionist."
He glanced over to where the lady at the desk sat, looking at him in concern. He smiled and nodded politely and clasped his hands in his lap.
"Sorry," He whispered, looking away. "Old habits."
Clara's face softened and she returned to her clipboard smiling to herself. The daft old fool was worried about her, even though he would never admit it. As she scribbled down the last of the information that the form requested, she thought about how he never seemed to go to the doctor or dentist himself. He probably knew what it was all about, as smart as he was. But with all the running and aliens and explosions and chaos, a simple dentist appointment must be an unusual experience for quiet compared to his everyday life. If only her own stomach felt that was twisting in knots. Her stomach's knots also had knots.
Just as she finished the clipboard and returned it to the receptionist, a door swung open to her left, and a young man stepped out in grey scrubs.
"Miss – Clara Oswald?" He called out professionally, glancing at his own clipboard.
Clara picked up her purse. "That would be me," she responded, in a slightly quieter voice than usual. She missed the Doctor's concerned frown as he stood from his chair.
The young man smiled over enthusiastically. "Right this way, Miss Oswald, straight ahead and to the left, Room 3."
She nodded and walked past him and continued down the long hallway where the room waited. The smell of toothpaste and disinfectant hit her senses immediately and she felt the nausea creeping up inside. She swallowed hard, and took a deep breath.
"Just take a seat in the chair and you, sir in the chair over there by the window, and the hygienist will be right with you."
Clara turned quickly to see the quiet black figure taking a seat on the small square bench in the corner. She fixed him with a wide-eyed stare. "Doctor! What are you doing here?"
He raised one eyebrow calmly. "I walked to this strange place with you. Do you not remember that? Forgetting already. You sure you're okay, Clara?"
She opened her mouth and closed it. "N- No, I didn't forget. I'm asking why are you in this room?"
He raised the other eyebrow. "Mr. Scrubs and cheap perfume and enormous amounts of hair gel – seriously, why? -he just called us back here? Honestly, how do you not remember that, Clara? It just happened."
"He called me back here, not you." She replied in a stage whisper, leaning toward him. "You were supposed to wait in the waiting room. That is why they call it that. It's for - Waiting!"
He nodded condescendingly. "Yes, Clara, I know what it is called. Now you had better go sit down like they asked you to."
"Ugh!" She huffed, throwing up her hands, and turned to go sit down in the uncomfortable monstrous chair.
However, at that moment, a red-haired hygienist came into the room, a whirlwind of white, disinfectant and smiles. "Hello, Miss Oswald. Hello, sir. My name is Karen. I will be cleaning your teeth and assisting you with the x-rays today. We will be doing a full panoramic scan as well as bitewing scans, as it appears your last ones are three years old."
"X-ray?" The Doctor leaped to his feet in agitated surprise. "Why an x-ray and why that many? You have no further advanced technology in this place than bombarding her head with radiation particles in a pudding-brained attempt to photograph the inside of her skull? Why, that's very ancient tech and dangerous too! It can cause all kind of harm to soft tissue and-"
Clara turned and smacked his arm as the hygienist gazed at him with an open mouth.
"Ow!" He growled, looking down at the large, brown eyes.
"You said you would be good." She hissed under her breath.
"I am being good! I am trying to protect you!" His eyebrows knit together as he took in the mixed emotions flooding her face. She still looked a bit green too, in his opinion.
"Well, please don't help. Now is not the time. Sit. Down. And be quiet. This is London, Twenty-first century, there are still x-rays, and you need to calm down."
He huffed and quietly sat in his chair again, eyeing the hygienist warily. His mind was wandering back to a place long ago, where he had seen chairs like these. She was there - his Rose- as well as someone else who turned on them, and it was cold, and strange, and the chairs were a bad thing. Then the memory passed, and he was left uncomfortably frowning at Clara, realizing by her face that he had missed what she had been saying to him.
Clara heaved a sigh and turned back to Karen. "Thank you, Karen, sorry about that. He's – never been to a dentist before. Right, let's get those scans done." She stood and headed for the door. Turning halfway, she pointed at the Doctor who was studying the ceiling. He flashed her a guilty smile.
"You, stay right there. Don't move, don't wander off."
This story has been so much fun to write! It was a blast. I personally hate dentists and I have a nervous breakdown every time I go...fun fact, I have a gum disorder where my jaw bones grow differently than they should, called Tori, and it makes those bitewing scans so painful! And don't even get me started on fillings...only had one but my goodness, have you seen the needle they use...
There will be two more chapters, posting tomorrow and the next day. Let me know if you catch the 'Easter eggs' in this story! if you're stuck, let me know! There should be three, not including the name of the dentist office, which is actually a place in London!
Also, who can tell me what adventure the Doctor is remembering? XD
As always, read, review, and try to be nice, but always be kind!