"We need to talk," Chris said when she next saw Clara, which was after the third class of the day had gotten out, just before lunch.
Clara nodded before leading Chris to a place where they could talk privately. She waited patiently for Chris to start, not that Chris knew where that would be.
Suddenly Clara was hugging Chris who was crying into the other woman's shoulder. Clara rubbed Chris' back and made hushing noises, doing her best to comfort the younger woman.
"Sorry," Chris said pulling back and wiping at her eyes, "I just- what you said hurt, Clara. It hurt really bad and that's not how I want to start our relationship. That's not how I want to look back and see the first time I really got to interact with Clara Oswald."
"I'm so sorry," Clara said, wiping at her eyes as well, "I was so angry with The Doctor and I was scared and I took that out on you and that was unfair of me. I've never met a you that was this young."
"I'm only three years younger than you," Chris told the woman, "at least right now I am. I guess in the future I might be older than you."
Clara hummed, "can I give you another hug?"
Chris answered by pulling Clara into a hug.
"Be careful what you tell a person when you're scared, Clara," Chris said, "my mom used to say that thoughts shared when scared are worse than thoughts shared when angry."
"I really am sorry, Chris, what can I do to make it up to you?" Clara said, furrowing her brows.
"You're already forgiven," Chris said with a shrug, "nothing to it."
"Seriously?" Clara asked confused, "how come?"
"If I held grudges against my friends every time they hurt me I'd have no friends left," Chris said matter-of- factly, "now if you'll excuse me I have a doctor's appointment."
Chris slowly made her way through the halls, looking for The Doctor. She had thought a lot during the night about why she was angry with The Doctor and realized quickly that it wasn't worth it. Sure, what he said was uncalled for and frankly she wanted to kick him in the shin at least five times for it, but right now there were children in danger and that took priority.
She also needed to come clean to The Doctor, let him know that while she knew the gist of what happened on this adventure she couldn't remember anything specific. The only thing she could come up with were cones in the school gym. She couldn't even remember what kind of alien it was they were trying to take care of.
Maybe a future her had told The Doctor why it was that she didn't remember much from these episodes. Maybe he understood already, maybe he was just forgetful. She'd been going through a rough patch and while Doctor Who had helped her she just hadn't been that into it at the time. She'd have the episodes playing in the background as she tried to sleep, not really watching them.
Something she was sorely regretting right now.
"If I were The Doctor where would I be," Chris mused before making her way to the Tardis.
The Doctor was fiddling with a metal watch when Chris walked in. He looked up at her and set the watch down before walking over, leaving a few feet of space between them.
"Chris, I just wanted to say that I really am truly sorry," The Doctor said, "what I said was uncalled for and if I could take it back I would. I'm just not used to a you this… young. In your future you would have just shaken it off. I'm not trying to excuse what I said but I'm not good with… emotions."
"It's okay, Doctor," Chris said, obviously surprising the man, "I still need space and a little bit of time but it's okay. I need to work on being proactive rather than reactive."
"How is it that you get less forgiving as you get older?" The Doctor questioned with a head tilt.
"I wouldn't consider myself forgiving, Doctor," Chris said with a shrug as she walked past him, "I just know when to pick my battles and while what you said hurt, on a scale of one to ten for how much it's worth it I'd say this is about a two."
"Oh," The Doctor said before heading to the console and picking up the watch again, "so what you mean is this isn't the worst thing I've said to you."
"It's not," Chris said, "and I've forgiven you for that as well. Anyways, I wasn't being fair either. I'm exhausted and I overreact when I'm grumpy. "
"Alright," The Doctor said, nodding, "do you want to help me then?"
"That depends," Chris said with a grin, "do I get a watch too?"
The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a watch, identical to the one he was working on, and tossed it to Chris. She quickly put it on and pressed the button to activate it, right as Clara walked in.
"This is awesome," Chris said, hitting the button so that she'd phase back in, "can I keep it?"
"Of course not," The Doctor said, grabbing it back, "you're a menace without it."
"Darn," Chris said, "can I at least prank Clara with it when she inevitably shows?"
The Doctor thought for a moment before handing the watch back to Chris. She put it on but didn't activate it yet. The time lord went to the other side of the console and started to fiddle around with the scanner.
"Okay. Now we're in business," He said as the Tardis started to glow green, "Let's see the lie of the land. Time to see what's going on."
After hearing what sounded like a door opening Chris turned on her watch and peaked out of the Tardis to see a student in the caretaker storage.
You've got a visitor, Rain informed the time lord as Chris stepped out, careful not to bump into anything.
"Hello?" the student said, approaching the still glowing Tardis, "Oi. What are you doing? Are you in there?"
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the most dangerous of them all?" The Doctor said from inside the Tardis as the green light started to fade.
"There's been a spillage in Geography, I need some paper towels," the student called as The Doctor came out of the Tardis.
"Can't you read?" He asked shortly
"Course I can read," the student, Courtney is Chris was remembering correctly, she was in one of her drama classes, said indignantly, "Read what?"
"The door," The Doctor said, pointing to the door, "It says, Keep Out."
"No," Courtney disagreed, "it says, Go Away Humans."
Chris was trying very hard not to laugh and blow her cover. She could feel The Doctor glaring in her general direction as she watched the awkward exchange.
"Oh, so it does," The Doctor nodded before giving Courtney some advice, "Never lose your temper in the middle of a door sign."
"What was you doing in there?" Courtney asked, ever the curious kid, "What's that box?"
"The caretaker's box," The Doctor said uncomfortably, he was not good with children, that was Chris job, "Every caretaker has their own box."
"It says Police," Courtney said.
"Exactly, there's a policeman in there, in case of emergencies and children," The Doctor said before grabbing paper towels and handing them to the annoying child, "Towels, there, g-g-go."
"What was that green glow?" Courtney asked, "There was a green glow coming from in there. What was it?"
Gotta admit, she is persistent, Rain noted
A nice quality for a lady to have.
Will you two be quiet? The Doctor snapped, causing Chris to stare at him in shock.
"Of course there was," The Doctor said as though he wasn't talking to Chris. "What's a policeman without a death ray?"
He grinned as the bell rang and ushered the human out of his shed, "Oh, listen, there's the bell. Off you go. Haven't you got shoplifting to go to?"
"I'm going to tell the Headmaster," Courtney warned.
He knows who you are? Chris asked Rain.
Evidently. Rain said, blocking The Doctor out, Though I don't know how he can hear you.
Do we ask him about it now or wait until after the school is saved?
After.
"Oh, yes, fine," The Doctor said, not worried at all. After all, what would the human say? "Well, cut along, you're running out of time."
"For what?"
"Everything," The Doctor said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Human beings have incredibly short life spans. Frankly, you should all be in a permanent state of panic. Tick tock, tick tock."
"You're weird," Courtney said.
"Yes, I am," The Doctor agreed, "What about you?"
"I'm a disruptive influence," Courtney said, almost proud.
"Good to meet you," The Doctor said.
"And you," Courtney said, holding out her hand which The Doctor shook
"Now get lost," The Doctor ordered.
"Okay," Courtney agreed, nearly running into Clara as she left, "Hello, miss. Love to the Squaddie."
"Sorry, what did you say?" Clara asked but Courtney was already running back to her classroom, she turned to The Doctor, "What was she doing in here?"
"Paper towels," The Doctor told her, "Now, I imagine you have many questions. Fire away. I won't answer any of them."
"What were they like?" Clara asked
"What were who like?" The Doctor wondered, startled by the question.
"The others before me. Did they let you get away with this kind of thing?" Clara wondered, "This school is in danger."
"Well, it's lucky I'm here, then," The Doctor said, going about his business, pulling out his own watch and tweaking a few things.
"From you,"
"Me?"
"You wouldn't be here if there wasn't an alien threat nearby," Clara pointed out, "Your strategy for dealing with it involves endangering this school."
"You don't know that," The Doctor argued, almost hurt by the accusation.
"I don't know anything because you haven't told me anything, which means I wouldn't approve, which means you are endangering this school." Clara said, pausing when The Doctor used his sonic to reveal the globe that was earlier turning the Tardis green. "What's that?"
"It's a scanner. I'm scanning," The Doctor said, staring at Clara, "Why do I keep you around?"
"Because sometimes Chris isn't here to be your conscience," Clara quipped, "Scanning for what?"
"Any alien technology in this vicinity should show up," The Doctor said before turning to Clara, "I used to have a teacher exactly like you once."
"You still do," Clara said, "Pay attention."
"This is boring," Chris said suddenly, making Clara jump and whirl to wear her voice was coming, "oh shit, sorry, still invisible."
Chris hit a button on her watch and suddenly was visible to Clara and The Doctor.
"Sorry, I was going to prank you Clara but honestly, being invisible is a lot more boring than it would seem," Chris said as she went to the scanner which was displaying a creature that seemed to be sitting in a wheelchair, "oh, what's that?"
The Doctor and Clara both looked at the scanner to see what Chris was talking about. The Doctor looked angry and Clara looked both scared and confused.
"What the hell is it?" Clara asked.
"A Skovox Blitzer," The Doctor explained, "One of the deadliest killing machines ever created. Probably homed in here because of artron emissions. You've had enough of them in this area over the years. There's enough explosive in its armory to take out the whole planet."
"Then leave it alone," Clara said.
"Sooner or later it will creep from its hidey-hole and some military idiot will try to attack it," The Doctor said as he turned off the image, "The world is full of PE teachers."
The three of them were in the tardis, Chris sitting on the stairs and Clara and The Doctor standing around the console. Chris was watching with interest as the two talked about how The Doctor was going to save the school.
She realized then that she'd never taken the time to just watch The Doctor interact with his companions. Of course, she knew that her being there was going to change things but she'd never really focused on how it would change the dynamic between The Doctor and his companion.
Chris had a hold of the bag that The Doctor had brought in and was tempted to go through it but wasn't sure if that was a good idea. She was pretty sure the contents of the bag were highly dangerous and she probably should not even be handling it.
"So, your insanely dangerous plan is?" Clara asked, eyeing The Doctor suspiciously. The Doctor held up his watch, which he'd just finished working on, "A new watch. Tiny bit disappointed."
"This is a very special watch," The Doctor said before pressing a button and disappearing from their sight.
"Doctor?" Clara called before reaching up to cover her nose, "Oi! Ow! Did you just flick my nose? You're invisible. Ha, ha! Oh, my God, that's incredible."
"Correct. I am invisible and I am incredible," The Doctor said, still invisible. He went over to Chris and tapped her on the shoulder, grunting when she swung her arm out and hit him with a smirk, "It's simply a matter of reversing light waves. Hang on, I'm coming back."
"Alright, where are you?" Clara asked as The Doctor reappeared by Chris, rubbing the arm she had hit. She stood up and walked over to the console with The Doctor following her.
"So, I give the Blitzer a tiny whiff of non-threatening alien tech," The Doctor said, "I lead it back here, but I don't want it to scan me, hence invisible."
"So you're, you're leading the thing here?" Clara asked indignantly, "To a school? My, my school?"
"My school? Oh, that is telling," The Doctor said, "This is the only suitably empty place in the area. I've set up a circle of time mines around the school. Chronodyne generators. Bit unstable." He tossed one to Clara, "I switch them on, the Blitzer gets sucked into a big old time vortex, billions of years into the future. It's dead easy. Tiny bit boring. I'll need a book and a sandwich."
"And me," Clara argued giving him the Chronodyne generator back, "You're not doing this alone."
"I don't need you this time. I've got Chris," He said, wrapping an arm around the woman's shoulder and leading her towards the stairs, "I'll see you tomorrow. We'll go somewhere nice. Ancient Egypt. Crocodilopolis. They worship a big crocodile there, so the name is a useful coincidence. Go and canoodle with your boyfriend," Clara raised an eyebrow at that, surprised that The Doctor knew who she was dating, "Come on. I wasn't born yesterday. Far from it."
"You did recognize him," Clara said happily.
"Possibly from 1997 reminded me of a certain dashing young time traveler," The Doctor said.
"Oh, of course, you recognized him," Clara shook her head, "I. Sorry. Stupid. I, I underestimated you."
"It's easily done," The Doctor said with a shrug, "There's a lot to estimate."
"And you, you like him?" Clara asked hopefully.
"Yes, I like him very, very much," The Doctor said distractedly, "Go home and canoodle. Doctor's orders. Come on."
"Just this once, I'm doing what I'm told," Clara said as The Doctor ushered her out of the Tardis.
"Oh, sing hosanna," The Doctor quipped.
"Ah," Clara grinned happily as she left. "So easy."
"Alrighty then, Doc," Chris said once the door was closed, She handed the green bag to him, "I do appear to have a class this period so I'll be off."
"Be careful," The Doctor said, taking the bag. It looked like he wanted to say something else but he shook his head and instead said, "and make sure you get your dates right. Clara thought Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice in 1797."
"But she was too busy then," Chris said with a grin as she opened the door to the caretaker's shed, "I remember some things, Doc."
Chris watched as Danny Pink opened the door to his classroom. She had stayed back after classes had ended to work on the sub notes, making some changes here and there. Deciding that reading two Shakespeare plays in one week was a little overkill. Whoever Mrs. Smith was she obviously had very high standards.
Danny paused just outside the door at the sound of beeping and Chris watched as he walked up to the fire alarm which was holding one of The Doctor's gizmos.
"I wouldn't do that," Chris said as he was about to remove it, "mysterious flashy green thing that beeps in a school hall in the middle of the night? Yeah, I wouldn't touch it."
"Ms. Wesley," Danny said, hand still raised to grab the device, "what are you still doing here?"
"Oh, I was finishing paperwork, switching some sub plans around," Chris said with a shrug, "and you can call me Chris, y'know."
"What do you know about this thing?" Danny then asked, pointing to the device.
"Not much, actually," Chris said, "I kinda tuned The Doctor out on accident when he was talking about it."
"The Doctor?" Danny said, turning to Chris.
"Oh yeah, John Smith, he prefers The Doctor though," Chris said with a nod, "only you're allowed to know that though."
"Only me?" Danny's eyebrows furrowed, "what are you on?"
"An adrenalin rush," Chris said with a shrug.
"Who are you?" Danny asked, this time backing away from Chris, "Who is this 'doctor'?"
"My name is Chris Wesley, and I can explain everything later but we need to move," Chris said before ushering Danny down the hall. She was surprised when he allowed her to.
"You see Danny boy, this school is in danger. In fact, this entire planet is in danger," Chris explained as she led Danny to the gymnasium, pointing out The Doctor's gizmos along the way, "and those things that are beeping are going to help The Doctor save us all."
"but -" Danny said but Chris shushed him and kept talking.
"But you see, if you removed those and the circle had been broken then the Skovox Blitzer would have only been moved seven two hours off, not billions of years," Chris explained, "of course I'm only just now remembering this and seeing as how you've stopped walking you obviously don't believe me."
Chris waited as Danny turned around and she frowned when she saw a beeping red Chronodyne generator in his hand.
"But the other ones were green?" Chris said confusedly, "when did you even have the chance to grab it? Where did you grab it from?"
Chris turned as she heard The Doctor's voice from the direction of the gym.
"Welp, it's too late now," She said as she grabbed Danny's hand and tugged him after her, "We've got to get the Chronodyne generator to the gym or the Skovox is going to blow up the planet."
She felt Danny tug on her arm and she turned to glare at him, "now is not the time, Mr. Pink."
He seemed to understand as he let Chris pull him towards the gym at a sprint. She threw open the doors and cringed as she got the attention of the Skovox before turning to Danny.
"Danny, throw the Chronodyne generator on the ground," She ordered.
"What?" Danny asked.
"Just do it!" Chris yelled and thankfully Danny listened as The Doctor shouted behind them.
"Get back!" The Doctor yelled but Chris ignored him as she watched the Skovox in horror as it started to shoot at her and Danny.
Danny, luckily for them both, was quick to react and knocked Chris on the ground and out of the way. She felt her head hit to floor and groaned as she pushed herself up, careful to not move too fast. She reached up to feel the spot and sighed as her hand came away with blood.
"Problem solution destroy," The Skovox said and Chris groaned
"No!" Danny yelled, picking up a chair to attack the Skovox, "Get away from us!"
The Doctor then activated his screwdriver which opened up the temporal vortex around the Skovox Blitzer and Chris sighed in relief.
"Temporal disrupt," The Skovox said as it struggled against the vortex, "Warning warning. Temporal failure."
Chris looked over with blurry vision as Clara ran into the room. She immediately ran to Danny and grabbed him, trying to pull him away from the vortex, yelling at The Doctor the entire time.
"No! No, no, no, no! Doctor, stop! Doctor!"
"Warning system failure," The Skovox said as it entered the vortex, "Abort. Abort."
The Doctor let out a relieved sigh before turning on Danny with anger. He had worked very hard to place the chronodyne generator and was very upset with the human for ruining his work and endangering the planet.
"Oh, oh, well done, PE, brilliant work. What's this?" He said harshly, brandishing the gizmo, "A chronodyne generator? I'll just deactivate that, shall I? I've got a swimming certificate so that qualifies me to meddle with higher technology. Never mind that some people are actually trying to save the planet. Oh, no. There's only room in my head for cross-country and the offside rule."
"Danny, what are you doing here?" Clara asked, glaring at The Doctor before turning her attention to her boyfriend.
"I was checking up on him. He's been up to something, fiddling with the electric, but what the?" Danny said before everything suddenly sunk in, "No. What? Did you see that thing? Tell me you saw that thing."
"I saw the thing, yeah," Clara assured before looking to The Doctor, "Doctor, are we safe? Is the planet safe? It's gone?"
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, for the moment," The Doctor said before glaring at Danny, "But the thing is, you see, the chronodyne generators have to be precisely aligned to generate the vortex. But the sergeant here, he went and moved one."
"She knew about it," Danny said, still in shock, as he turned to Chris, "she tried to get me to leave it alone." he turned back to Clara, "how did she know?"
Chris watched them talk, feeling faint as she pulled her hand away again to see more blood. She wasn't sure how long she could put off throwing up but she knew that if she tried to move at all that was what she was going to do.
"But the chronodyne worked," The Doctor said, ignoring Danny for a moment, "It's gone."
The Doctor used his sonic to measure how much time they'd have and frowned. He wasn't sure if he could pull off a miracle in three days.
"But not far enough," The Doctor explained, "The vortex will open here again, but not in a billion years."
"Then when?" Clara asked.
"Er, seventy four hours," The Doctor said, reading the scan, "Three days? Three days to think of something new because now it knows what to expect. Now it has scanned me and it will kill me on sight, thanks to PE here."
"Clara, why are you talking to him like that?" Danny asked as The Doctor walked off a bit, needing space so he didn't blow up at the human, "Why are you using words like chronodyne? Was that thing a space thing? Oh. Oh, my God, you're from space. You're a spacewoman. You said you were from Blackpool."
"Doctor," Chris called weakly, gaining the attention of the time lord and the two other humans.
"Chris," The Doctor said urgently, slamming his notebook shut and running over to her, "why didn't you say anything?"
"Gonna throw up," Chris said before doing so, surely getting some vomit on The Doctor as he turned her to the side.
"Oh dear," The Doctor said, eyeing the blood that was coating Chris' hair. He could feel the rage toward Danny building and was going to give the human a piece of his mind for endangering Chris when the woman grabbed his hand.
"I can feel you getting angry," She said lowly, "he's good for her. Don't ruin it."
"But he endangered the entire planet," The Doctor argued, just as quiet, "he got you hurt."
"I got me hurt," Chris said, "Danny saved me from getting killed."
The Doctor closed his eyes briefly before picking Chris up, ignoring the looks he got from Clara and Danny who were going on about plays and calling the army as they followed him. He cradled Chris to himself as he brought her to the med bay in the Tardis.
"Twice I've been here since I met this you," Chris said with a small smile, "please tell me I don't make a habit of it."
"You don't make a habit of it," The Doctor said distractedly as he pulled the materials he needed from various cupboards and cabinets.
"You're lying," Chris said, "oh, I have the worst headache right now."
"Stop talking," The Doctor ordered before he grabbed a tube of some past from the planet Grast which had the best medicinal herbs in the universe and used it on Chris' head. "This is gonna sting a bit."
Chris winced at the sting but immediately started to feel better. She blinked up at The Doctor as her vision started to clear and then grinned. He held her down as she started to sit up with a frown before he jabbed her arm, making her cry out.
"What was that for?" She demanded incredulously.
"The Fretria plant is poisonous to humans," The Doctor explained as he put a plaster on the shot site, "this is to counteract the toxins."
"Oh brilliant," Chris groaned as she started to feel hot, "I've got a fever now, thank you very much."
"I know," The Doctor said as he covered Chris in a blanket, "now sleep, you'll feel better in the morning."
"Fine," Chris said before doing as he said.
Chris woke feeling much better, like The Doctor said she would, and went off in search of her room and a shower. Once she was sure she got the blood out of her hair, as well as the ointment The Doctor had used, she changed into a clean pair of black pants, a checkered black and white flannel, and a pair of black converse. She shouldered her bag, which she'd neglected for most of her time with twelve, and went off in search of said Doctor.
She found him, Danny, and Clara in the console room and grimaced, knowing that no one in that room was happy with anyone else.
"Right away, sir," Danny asked sarcastically, "Straight now?"
"Yes," The Doctor said in the same tone.
"Am I dismissed?" Danny asked again.
"Yes, you are!" The Doctor snapped.
"That's him. Look at him, right now," Danny said to Clara before leaving, "That's who he is."
"On balance, I think that went quite well," The Doctor said after taking a calming breath.
"Danny, it's not time to go home yet," Clara said, following Danny out with a last look at The Doctor, "It's parents' evening."
Chris walked down the stairs and into the console room to see The Doctor looking at the contraption he made with frustration.
"You're up," He noted, turning to look at Clara, "and you've had a wash."
"I tend to have those when I can, yes," Chris said before joining The Doctor in his contemplation of the contraption, "two days, yeah?"
The Doctor nodded.
"You can do it," Chris assured him, "and Danny's wrong, you're so much better than he could ever imagine."
"Thanks, Chris," The Doctor said, taking Chris' hand and giving it a squeeze before getting back to business.
"Ah, guess it's too late to ask about Rain," Chris said as she started to glow, the nausea she felt every time she left somewhere arriving, "looks like I'm off."
The Doctor turned to Chris and nodded, a sad look in his eyes that made her heart squeeze.
"You got this," She assured one last time before she suddenly found herself in a small bedroom on some kind of ship, facing an older man who was singing along to a walkman.
"Oh, hello," She said waving at the surprised man. "You wouldn't happen to know where I am, would you?"
"Chris?" He asked with furrowed brows, "you said we'd meet again but you never said it'd be here."