A/N: I'm so glad you all like this story! This is the last chapter I have planned, though there is a possibility I might keep adding more since I've enjoyed this story so much and apparently everyone else has too. Either way, never fear! I have another 12 and Clara story planned which will be more like one of their extra adventures somewhere in the middle of season 8 (meaning a much longer fic).
Please continue to review, follow, and favorite! You all are awesome! :)
Beep beep beep.
The Doctor hopped up the stairs from underneath the TARDIS console. "Yes, what is it?"
The time rotor whirred. Bo-beep boop.
"I wouldn't expect her to be sleeping well." He dug his hands into his pockets and strolled toward the controls. Ever since he had changed, the TARDIS had begun to especially care about Clara for some strange reason. It wasn't the first time she had voiced concerned about his companion, but he didn't know what she wanted him to do about it.
Boop beep boop boop.
"Seriously?" he laughed. "You want me to go in there? Did you see what she would have done to your keys?" He waved a hand as he bent over the controls. "She's like a ticking emotional bomb, just waiting to explode." His fingers absently fiddled with the controls, though his mind was really dwelling in the past. "Maybe once I would have," he added, softer, "but this is a new me, a new face. Domestic is really not my area."
The console heated up impossibly fast, burning the Doctor's fingers. "Ouch!" He pulled away from the controls and furrowed his brow at the rotor. "What was that for?"
Beep!
"I'm not being unreasonable, I'm just being me. Or have you forgotten who I am now?" He smiled bitterly to himself. "A grouchy old time lord with no hope of ever finding home. What help could I be to her?"
Boop boop.
He sighed and leaned forward, cautiously tapping the console to make sure it was cool and then leaning his elbows on the edge. Running his hands through his hair, he remembered the terrible, hopeless feeling overwhelming him enough that he would hurt his TARDIS. The first time this version of him had ever shed any tears. The one time he shouldn't have hoped.
"Yes, that was me a few days ago, but she's lost her boyfriend, not an entire planet."
Beep beep bo-boop!
The Doctor straightened and clenched his jaw. The question was an insult. "Have I…forgotten?" Forgotten everyone he had lost? How could he ever, ever forget? "You, who have seen me at my darkest moments; you, who have seen every version of me; you, who have always been there for me; how could you even ask that question?"
Beep boop.
"Just because I told her she wouldn't be alone it doesn't mean I have to comfort her every waking moment. I'm letting her stay in the TARDIS, but I think I've been emotional enough for one day." The Doctor stepped away from the console, expecting another outburst from the TARDIS.
Beep.
The Doctor shook his head and sighed again. "Of course I remember when I needed her," he muttered.
The TARDIS' noises grew softer. Beep boop boop.
You still need her, and she needs you. The translated phrase echoed in his head. However much he didn't want to admit it, it was true. Who else could understand him like she did?
The Doctor rapped the TARDIS monitor with his knuckles, resulting in a shocked noise from the TARDIS. "Why do you always do this to me? Maybe you should be the Doctor instead." He turned and made his way toward the hallway door and called over his shoulder, "Then you'd be the one having to face a human girl with raging hormones." He walked out the door before the TARDIS could say anything back.
The clopping of his footsteps seemed to echo for miles in the endless TARDIS hallway. The Doctor walked at a slow pace, his mind racing, trying to think of what to say to Clara. He was no good at this, the whole comforting thing. Why the TARDIS thought he could make Clara's sorrow any better, he had no idea.
Clara's door came up on the right and the Doctor slowed, listening to the creaking of his shoes as he stopped. With slow, hesitant movements, the Doctor tapped his knuckles on the door.
"Clara?"
He waited a few moments, but there was no response. He started to turn away, but then the door slid open on its own. Growling at the TARDIS under his breath, the Doctor walked into Clara's dark room. The door closed with a soft whoosh behind him.
"Clara?" he asked again in a softer voice, walking to the edge of her bed. Her trembling form was curled up underneath a blanket, facing away from him.
She rolled over after a moment, revealing her puffy eyes, disheveled hair, and blotchy cheeks. She sniffed again as she looked at him, her eyes expressing gratitude at his presence though there wasn't even the faintest shadow of a smile on her face.
"Quite a mess, aren't you?" The words slipped out of his mouth before he could even really think. Again, proof that this visit would only make things worse.
Clara didn't say a word, but she blinked, and tears tracked down her face. She breathed in a shaking breath and just looked at him, waiting.
Maybe, just maybe, there was one thing he could do.
The Doctor turned his back to her and walked a few paces away from her bed.
"What are you going to do?" she asked in a strained, pitiful voice, bitterness coloring her tone. "Leave me?"
"No." The Doctor turned on the spot and opened his arms open to her.
Clara stared at him for a few seconds, her eyes narrowing like she didn't believe it.
"Well come on," he urged, waving her forward. "I'm not going to stand here all day."
Her expression softened. She pushed away her comforter and jumped out of bed, running into the Doctor's arms. Hugging him around the neck, she held him tight.
Just this once, the Doctor returned the embrace.
"Please," she said with a crack in her voice. "Please don't leave me, Doctor."
"Well I'm not going stand here and hug you all night, if that's what you're thinking."
"No, wouldn't dream of it," Clara replied, some of her normal, playful tone reviving in her voice. "I just…need you here."
She needs you.
He could never refuse that cry for help.
"Okay."
Clara pulled away from him, hanging onto his shoulders as her dilated pupils stared at him. "What?"
"Have you lost your hearing too? I said 'okay.'"
She sighed and swallowed, looking infinitely relieved. "Don't suppose you'd be up for another hug, would you?"
"I think two in one day is enough."
"Fair enough." She squeezed his shoulders. "Look, Doctor, I know this isn't your thing so…thank you."
He shrugged. "It's not like I have to sleep anyway." But really he didn't mind, because he was beginning to wonder if what the TARDIS had said was true.
You still need her.
"Doctor?" Clara's voice strengthened even more, bringing his attention back to her. She looked into his eyes, her brow furrowed in concern. "I've been so focused on myself that I didn't even notice."
The Doctor forgot, sometimes, how well she knew him. "Notice what?"
"Your eyes." Her eyes flicked back and forth between his. "The same eyes you always have when something's wrong."
The Doctor let out a long breath through his nose, remembering how much he had wished Clara was there with him when he hadn't found Gallifrey. Maybe it wasn't too late.
"Missy was lying," he said slowly, gauging her reaction. "Gallifrey is still lost."
Clara's eyes widened and a look of defeat and sorrow came over her expression. "Doctor…"
He let her hug him again because this time he was the one who needed it.
"I know it doesn't even begin to cover it," she said quietly into his ear, "but I'm so...so sorry."
"I'm starting to think I'll never find it. Shows how helpful I was in saving it in the first place," he said with a heartless chuckle.
"Hey." Clara pulled away from him, her red-rimmed eyes determined. "You told me to have hope. I think you need to take your own advice, Doctor."
The Doctor shook his head. She could never understand completely, but he also knew that she knew that. "But I'm still alone."
"Well." Clara crossed her arms over her chest, smiling just the smallest bit. "You've still got me."
"Yeah." He allowed himself to smile, only a little. He didn't know what he would do without her. "At least I've got you."
