AUTHOR'S NOTE: So the rumour is that Shona from the Christmas special could be becoming a new companion alongside Clara. And I know I'm not the only one who's been seeing a subtext between her and Clara. Anyway, whether or not Shona stays on, here's a fun little hypothetical exploring where she could go...
Shona pinged the cash register open and shut a few times to liven up another boring day. It was a Sunday, too. Sundays in particular always seemed to suck the life out of her life. At least she got to leave early.
There was a song whizzing round and round in her head. That Christmas one by Slade. It'd been stuck there for weeks now, bringing all its festive fun well into January with her. Kept her spirits up through the rainy days.
Hmm. No one in the shop, five minutes from closing time...
Yeah, she could get away with it.
A quick dash to all that techie stuff in the back room, and the song was blaring out all through the shop.? She'd been told she danced like a dad, sometimes even worse than a dad, but she'd never cared. She was too busy having fun.
So much fun, she didn't notice the two customers coming in, the tall skeletal one snooping around the shelves and the short cute one strutting about like she owned the shop. Not until the cute one bounced up to the counter and called her name: "Shona!"
Shona snapped out of her blissful boogie and stared at the woman in front of her. "How d'you know my name?" Her face, in addition to being cute, looked really familiar for some reason. Maybe she'd come in here before or something. Didn't feel like it, though... oh, yeah. "Name badge, I got a name badge, that's how you know my name. Forgot for a second there. Sorry!"
"Yeah, that, and..." Clara trailed off, the excitement on her face turning dimmer.
Hang on. Forget Clara knowing Shona's name. How come she suddenly knew Clara's?
Alright, this was really puzzling her. She had to know what was up here. "Do I know you from somewhere?" Shona asked.
"Well." Clara hesitated, head tilted, then whirled around to call her friend over: "Doctor! Look who I've found!"
Doctor? Hang on, she recognised him too! Skeleton in a magician's costume, that was him alright. Mind you, she still hadn't the foggiest how she knew him or Clara.
"Clara? Clara! Are you in danger?" The Scottish skeleton raced over and stared at her across the counter. "Are you endangering my friend? Oh..." He reeled back a little. "I know you. I know you, or you know me. Do I know you?"
"I know how you feel, mate," she muttered.
"Come on, Doctor," Clara said, irritated. It's Shona! From the dream! Remember?"
The Doctor squinted at Shona. All of a sudden those tremendous eyebrows shot up his face; he finally seemed to know what Clara was on about. And still leaving Shona clueless. "From the dream?" she thought out loud. Still staring at Clara, she kept trying on some level to place her face but mostly just got distracted by how nice that lipstick looked on her. Girl of her dream, huh?
Clara kept trying to break through: "We were going to hang out, weren't we? Oh, Shona, you can't have forgotten..."
"Yes, she very well can have," the Doctor corrected her. "Humans! How do you deal with the lack of memory? I have to keep..." (he waved his hand around his head a bit) "... deleting things to free up space in mine, the human memory must be insufferable in comparison!"
"No! Shona, you-" Clara froze mid sentence. She looked up at the speaker on the ceiling, from which the song was still blaring. A smile dawned upon her eyes as she began to sing along:
"So here it is, Merry Christmas..."
"Everybody's having fun!" Shona joined in. "I know it's not Christmas any more, but that song has been stuck in my head for ages!"
"Oh, yes?" The Doctor bent down to look at her eye-to-eye. "Since when, exactly?"
"Since..." And finally she realised too. "Since the dream."
Clara smiled widely, dashed behind the counter and took Shona's hand. "Weren't we going to hang out? Have a curry?"
"Yes, but..." But it was a Sunday! For once, Sunday meant something good: "I get off early today! Like, now! Shall we have that curry?"
With that, Shona and Clara bounded off together.
"What about the-" Realising he was about to get left behind, the Doctor reluctantly sprinted after the two.
Look to the future now. It's only just begun...