Chapter 3

Clara had been trying to accept with the new face, the new behaviors, the new everything for so long she'd lost track of time. And now, there was this. The shooting, the running, the yelling… She huddled behind the Doctor while he fiddled with his sonic sunglasses.

"I think…" He stopped. "No. That's not it."

Behind them she heard the familiar sound of the TARDIS and looked over her shoulder. It was appearing behind them, right where she'd convinced the Doctor to call it to. She grabbed his arm.

"Come on!" Clara said.

He pulled away from her, still fiddling.

"DOCTOR, COME ON!"

"I have to stop the—"

Someone shooting a laser or plasma or whatever it was shot past her and something exploded behind them, showering them with shrapnel.

Clara begged, "Please, Doctor. We have to leave now."

He gave in and they ran to the TARDIS. Clara hurriedly unlocked the door with her key and they bolted inside. The Doctor stood just inside the door, staring at it. Outside they could hear the fighting getting closer.

"We have to leave, Doctor!"

He didn't do anything.

Clara ran over to the controls, quickly getting them off the hostile planet. Suddenly a word appeared on the screen: SARA. Clara nodded a couple times and made the adjustments. The TARDIS quickly left this place, heading for someplace much calmer, quieter, and with the one friend she and Clara desperately needed right now.

-#-

Sara sat on the log, poking a stick in the ground. She heard the TARDIS approaching and stood up. It materialized and then nothing happened. Sara looked puzzled.

"Is something wrong?" she asked it.

The door opened and Clara walked up to Sara, throwing her arms around her. Sara was surprised, but she held her anyway. And found Clara trembling slightly. She looked past her at the old man who appeared in the door of the TARDIS.

"Where is this?" he asked. Then he disappeared back inside without waiting for an answer.

"I am so glad to see you," Clara said.

"I am glad to see you, as well. What is going on?"

Clara stepped back and revealed tears. "I'm stressed out. Really, really stressed out. I just needed to go somewhere I knew was safe and catch my breath. You don't mind do you? I didn't even think we'd make it at the rate we were going, or that you'd get the postcard in time."

Sara shook her head. She looked at the hologram of TARDIS when she appeared next to the women.

"You both look frazzled."

"I would also request tactile support if I could," TARDIS softly said. "Clara, he's trying to leave. You need to stop him."

Clara went back inside.

"What is happening here?" Sara asked TARDIS.

"The Doctor lost his memories when he regenerated and he has been extremely difficult to deal with as they've returned. We both just needed somewhere safe and quiet to pull ourselves together."

Sara cocked her head. "I don't know what you mean by regenerate. How does a person regenerate?"

"He isn't a person, a human, if you'll recall. His kind regenerate every so often, or when they die, and usually they retain their memories with their new body. That did not happen for him this time, and I don't know why."

"That old man is The Doctor now?"

"He is the twelfth regeneration of him, yes."

The Doctor stormed out, straight up to Sara and stopped. Clara jogged after him.

"This is Sara," Clara said.

He snapped his sunglasses on, looking her up and down, then turned to Clara. "She's human. This is Earth. Why are we here?"

"We were just about killed. I thought a bit of calm before we ran off to our next brush with death was in order."

He turned back to Sara. "I don't know you. Why don't I know you?"

Sara was frank with him. "You have no memories, would be my guess."

"I should know you?"

"Aye."

"You're Irish."

"Aye."

"This is the United States."

"Again, aye."

"This is the strangest place to come for calm. Do you have any idea what's happening here right now?" he asked Clara.

"Here? In the United States?" she asked.

"In the world. There's a war happening. We should go fix something there." He strode back into the TARDIS.

"Can't you just block him or something?" Clara asked TARDIS.

"I am trying too, but he hasn't forgotten the controls."

"What about the safety feature you've been working on?"

"I'm still working on it," TARDIS said with exasperation.

Clara grabbed Sara's hand. "Let's go on an adventure."

"You know I don't adventure like you, Clara."

"Just one. It'll be fun!"

"Your adventures are not my belief of fun."

"You can stay with me when they go," TARDIS offered.

Sara slowly sighed. She could see both really wanted her to go.

"And what of him?"

"He probably won't even notice you're there," Clara answered. "He barely notices I'm there."

Sara heaved a slow sigh. "Very well, but—"

Clara was pulling her into the TARDIS before she could finish her sentence.

-#-

Sara stared at the chess board, considering her move. She reached out and moved a holograph piece, then tapped the holograph of a clock sitting on the edge of the bistro table.

"How long have they been gone?"

"Two hours," TARDIS answered. She sat across from Sara, studying the board for her next move. She moved a piece and tapped the clock. "Check."

Time drifted while Sara considered her next move. She reached out to make it when the door flew open. In came Clara and The Doctor. They were both were dirty. The Doctor was still zipping around with an abundance of energy, but Clara looked like she could drop where she stood and fall asleep before she hit the floor. Clara sat down on the bottom of the stairs, watching the Doctor rush around the controls, fiddling with a toggle, lifting a lever, pushing buttons, moving the monitors back and forth.

Sara turned back to the game and moved her piece. She noticed TARDIS flickered when the Doctor set them off to some new location.

"You said—" Sara softly began.

TARDIS nodded. "When he's turned away I'll reset the course. You'll be home in time for supper."

Sara smiled, then looked back down at the chess board.

"Well, that was worth setting things right," the Doctor announced as he turned to Clara.

Clara just stared at him. Sara glanced at the two, then tilted her head slightly to the side. "Did he change coats?"

"Yes. They were gone for nearly two months in the time outside," TARDIS replied.

"And that's why he changed coats?" Sara asked, looking back at the chess board. She moved a game piece.

"I would imagine so."

Sara shrugged. TARDIS made a move.

A hand reached between her and TARDIS and began moving the pieces at a fast pace. She looked up, glaring just slightly at the Doctor. He quickly ended the game and then stared back at her with his dark, brooding, scowl.

"That was impolite," Sara informed him.

"You were about to lose. I won for you."

"That was impolite," she repeated.

"You're ungrateful."

"I hold no candle to you, Doctor number twelve," Sara haughtily snapped back. "This new incarnation of you is rude, dodgy, malice, and an overall ass. Where can we get the old you back; I liked that bloke. He was thoughtful, considerate, and funny. If you had to tell a joke to save your life, you'd die."

Behind them Sara saw Clara stand and walk toward the stairs that led up to the two. She stopped mid-way, cautiously watching the two. Perhaps she was expecting a fist fight to break out, or something worse. Sara didn't care. She only cared about this asshole that was trying to intimidate her.

The Doctor leaned in, scowling harder. Sara held her composure under his contempt, returning it with an equal amount of anger.

"You know, Sara O'Dwyer, you aren't exactly been a ray of sunshine! You haven't even left the TARDIS since you joined us because you too scared, scared of what - peril and danger is it? Peril and danger are everywhere, every day! Get over it! You are equally rude, scared, and waste our oxygen! Perhaps you should go home now."

"You won't have to worry about that after this last one. I am going home."

His scowl gave way to surprise. "You're leaving?"

"I am."

"I told you that yesterday, before we blew things up," Clara informed him.

"Yes, well, I didn't think you were really leaving. Parasites often stick around until they're eradicated."

Sara smiled in the face of his taunt. She decided it wasn't worth giving into. "Then aren't you overjoyed that I'm leaving."

He stood up, then turned to face TARDIS. "And I supposed that means every now and again you'll strand us," he crossly asked her.

"I will not strand you if I believe you to be in danger, Doctor. You know that."

"I know nothing of the sort. You've left to gallivant across the universe with this one since the first time we picked her up." He hiked a thumb at Sara.

"We're friends. We do that."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

"Which you don't."

"Oh, I will." He walked away.

Sara watched TARDIS. She was trying very hard to remain calm.

"You will not," her voice boomed from every audible source inside the machine.

The Doctor stopped. He turned to find she had moved from the chair to right behind him. She glared at him.

"I have been patient, as patient as I can be. I do not belong to you. You belong to me. If I say I will go someplace, you will allow it. If you stop me, I will stop you."

"Stop me? How?"

"Think very hard, Doctor. Think very, very hard before you ever make a threat like that again." And the hologram disappeared.

He scowled at Sara. "You need to leave. She has been mouthy ever since we first met you."

"Before, or after you became this person you are now?"

"I am not a person."

"Aye. That is a fact." Sara got up and walked down the nearest steps. She crossed the control area toward the door.

"And what does that mean?" he demanded, leaning on the railing.

She stopped and turned to him. "The Doctor I know would never threaten to hobble TARDIS the way you just did. He would be happy for her to spend time with her friend, not be jealous."

"I'm not jealous."

"Not being able to admit when you are jealous is the first clue that you are." Sara walked out of the TARDIS.

He turned to Clara and bellowed, "I am not jealous!"

"Yes," Clara calmly told him, "you are."

He stormed off into the TARDIS. Clara sighed and walked out of the TARDIS into the grove. It was a chilly autumn night, and she wrapped her arms around her for warmth. Gold and red leaves crunched on her feet as she walked over to the log and sat next to Sara.

"Sorry I made him angry," Sara told her, "but he had it coming."

"He needs to be made angry. He needs to be made jealous. Something has to bring him back to us."

"That would be you, Clara. Only you can do that."

Clara smiled. She sat down beside Sara. "We're off again. I guess we'll see each other later."

"Don't make it too much later. I might get awfully lonely. Take good care of Tara."

Clara smiled. "I'll never be able to call her that."

"She likes it."

"Clara hugged Sara and stood up. She waved as she went back inside.

The TARDIS began to disappear. "And you take care of yourself, TARDIS. Don't let him push you around too much. Friends don't behave like that to each other; least not the good ones."

And the TARDIS was gone.