Prompt: A place from the past.


I'm Always Okay

"I need a proper holiday!" Clara snorted, "after a whole year in rainy London, I deserve to just lie down on a sunny beach and dive in a crystal blue sea!"

"What's so good about sweating, having sand in your mouth and salt in your hair?" the Doctor exhaled.

As usual, they were fighting over the next destination of their endless journey in time and space, moving around the TARDIS console as if they were engaged in a dance of some sort.

"Just give me some beach!" Clara complained, exasperated.

"If you insist," the Doctor sighed, resigning. In the end, he didn't mind to let his control freak friend win.

He pressed a few buttons on the control console, checked the monitor, and let the TARDIS decide. He pulled a lever, and in a moment the spaceship landed making its familiar wheezing noise.

"There you go," the Doctor said, swinging his arm towards the door to encourage Clara to have a look outside.

She rushed to the door, smiling like a child at Christmas, and opened it. She stepped outside, putting her feet in the sand. A blast of cold wind hit her, ruffling her brown hair.

"Is this a joke?!" she cried out, disappointed. "Where are the beach chairs and umbrellas? Where are the people? Where's the sun?!"

Clara was indeed standing on a beach, but it was not exactly how she imagined it. The beach was completely deserted. It was dark, probably late at night, and it was terribly cold. A freezing wind was blowing from the sea. It smelt like roses.

"You've done this on purpose," she grumbled, shivering. "Admit it, you're just too shy to wear your swimming costume."

The Doctor reached her and stepped in the sand. He looked thoughtfully at the sea, frowning.

"I let the TARDIS pick the destination, choose a random beach," he replied, dryly, "I should have know it would have brought us here."

"And where is 'here' exactly?" Clara asked, pushing her hair away from her face.

"Norway," the Doctor explained, "about fifty miles out of Burgen."

"Norway. Right. The perfect holiday destination to get a tan," Clara said, sarcastically. "Are you deducing the location from the wind or have you been here before?"

"I've been here before," the Doctor nodded, "I've got a link with this place. It's a place from my distant past, actually. It's called Dårlig Ulv Stranden."

"Dalek?"

"Dårlig," the Doctor repeated, "it means Bad Wolf Bay. Last time I was here, I said goodbye to an old friend."

He moved towards the sea, and Clara followed him. They started walking together by the water's edge, listening to the calming sound of the waves crashing against the shore. But the Doctor still looked very tense.

"Was she nice, your friend?" Clara finally asked with a knowing smile, staring at the footprints they were leaving in the sand.

The Doctor didn't reply. She raised her gaze to him. He was looking afar at the vast sea, the waves reflecting in his blue eyes lost in thoughts.

"What happened to her? Did she..." Clara was trying to be delicate, but she needed to know.

"No, she's alive," he quickly clarified, shaking his head and coming back to reality, "she just went to a different universe."

"Oh," Clara gasped, "that was awful of her."

"I suppose so," he shrugged, "I've never really thought about it that way."

"Not somebody special, then."

"No," the Doctor lied, looking down.

But Clara was used to read through his lies. They kept walking on the seashore in silence for a few minutes, the Doctor's jacked blowing in the wind.

"Hold my hand," Clara then suddenly said, lending him a hand.

"Why?" he was confused.

"Because you're not okay," she replied, "I can feel it from here."

"Oh, Clara," he smiled softly, grasping her hand tenderly and holding it tight, "I'm always okay, when I'm with you."

Their fingers interlaced as they were strolling along the shore, and the Doctor felt how cold Clara's fingertips were. "Are you cold?" he asked her, "do you want to go back to the TARDIS?"

"No," she answered. Despite her initial disappointment, she had to admit that this beach had a special atmosphere to it. It was awaking something deep in her guts. It made her feel happy and sad at the same time. "This place his magical," she said in a dreamy tone, "I've never seen the sea like this."

"Yeah, I know," he agreed, "it makes you feel as if you're drowning even when you're out of the water."

The Doctor stopped walking and let go of Clara's hand. He then took off his jacket and laid it on the sand.

"Take a seat," he told Clara, while he bent down and sat on his coat.

Clara hesitated for a moment, then sat down on the coat too, just a few inches from the Doctor. He stretched his legs towards the sea, the waves lightly brushing against his boots half-dug in the sand. They stared at the ocean, trapped in an endless loop of waves constantly hitting the shore, lapping on the beach, and repeating the same movements. In the night darkness, the water was reflecting distorted copies of the stars, doubling their number. The sky and the sea were indistinguishable, and melted in a new, indefinite entity that extended to the borders of the universe. Clara didn't know what the Time Vortex looked like, but she thought it must have looked like that. It was a hypnotic vision that made her fell equally reassured and sick. The Doctor and Clara's breaths synchronized with the music of the waves.

"What are you thinking about, Doctor?" Clara finally broke the silence. "Tell me."

He breathed in deeply, as if resurfacing from thoughts too deep to dive in. "This place means ending and closure to me, and I can't help thinking... Where will I see you for the last time, Clara?" he whimpered, "where will our final goodbye take place? What place will I remember forever as the one that brought you away from me?"

Clara's breath died in her throat. She swallowed deeply, her gaze frozen on the Doctor's profile. Was he crying?

She slid her arm behind his back, touching his cold, creased shirt with her fingers, and rested her head against his shoulder. "Don't worry," she whispered, "I'm not going anywhere."

They both knew it was quite not true, but it was nice to pretend. They kept looking at the stars reflecting on the ocean, while two other stars made of water fell from their eyes.


A/N: Hope you liked the story, thank you for reading. Reviews, opinions, and constructive criticism appreciated.