CHAPTER 30

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THE DATE OF DOOM

"Has Danny showed up yet?" Shawn asked Cassiopeia for what she was sure was the tenth time that night.

They were both sitting in a corner booth of a fancy restaurant on the outskirts of London called the Jasmine Bistro where Clara had arranged for Danny to meet her. Unfortunately Clara had insisted that they sit so far away from her (and therefore out of Danny's line of sight) that Shawn couldn't see her at all and Cassiopeia only could if she leaned over so far to the right that she almost fell to the floor every time that she did it.

"No, not yet and it's almost time for him to be here. I really hope that we didn't scare him off yesterday with all of our weirdness," Cassiopeia said with a frown.

"So Jackie actually give him the third degree? I bet that was priceless. I would have loved to see that," Shawn said with a chuckle.

Cassiopeia glared at him causing him to immediately add, "What she did was bad though of course. Very bad."

Cassiopeia's eyes widened as she said, "Oh, please tell me that I haven't become my Aunt Amy. I never wanted our relationship to be like that. I'm sorry, Shawn. You don't ever have to be afraid to speak your mind to me no matter how angry I am, alright?"

"I just don't ever want to see that Oncoming Storm look on your face anymore," Shawn admitted.

She took his hand in hers and squeezed it as she said in a gentle voice, "Even if you do, nothing would ever come out of it. It's just me losing my temper and that's all. I promise. You don't ever have to be frightened of me. I never wanted that. I – I've caused enough people to be afraid of me in my life by being what I am. I never want you to feel that way though. Ever."

Shawn gave her a warm smile as he said, "You've got it all wrong, Cass. I'm not afraid of you. You're actually the only one in this universe that I feel completely at ease around to be honest. I never was afraid at least not in the way that you think. I just didn't want you to get so angry at me that you wouldn't want anything to do with me anymore. I seem to have a talent of rubbing people the wrong way at times with my big mouth. I've even lost friends over it without meaning to by speaking without thinking about it first. I don't ever want something like that to happen to us. I – I'd never forgive myself if I ever lost you because I was being stupid," Shawn admitted in a frightened voice.

Cassiopeia smiled with relief as she said, "Don't worry. It won't. There's no way that you're getting rid of me that easily. If I was going to leave you for acting like an idiot, I'd have left you behind on Marathon Prime the first day that I met you."

"Oh, thanks a lot," Shawn said as he pretended to be angry.

"Finally," Cassiopeia suddenly said with a pleased smile as she looked in Clara's direction.

"Well, I guess he's destined to be with her in this universe after all. I just hope that he doesn't meet the same fate," Shawn said with a shiver.

"Don't say anymore. I don't want to know what happened on the show, Shawn. I've already told you that before," Cassiopeia said.

"Why not? I've already told you that the show becomes almost completely different from this universe in its last seasons. For one thing, the Ponds are still alive and well here. That means that more than likely Danny's not going to have anywhere near as much rotten luck as he did on the show, right?" Shawn asked hopefully.

"Let's hope so. Sometimes I think the reason that this reality is so different was because Mum already knew what would have happened and purposely changed it. I always suspected that she was keeping a lot of terrible things from happening that she never spoke about. Now without her here though it seems like anything could happen," Cassiopeia admitted in a worried tone.

"I'm sure that it'll all be just fine. You can handle whatever comes along until your parents come back, Cass," Shawn said confidently.

"Right," Cassiopeia said in a tone that said that she clearly didn't believe him.

"What are they doing now?" Shawn asked as he tried to change the subject since Cassiopeia seemed to be becoming visibly agitated by it.

"They're just sitting there staring at each other and not talking. It looks really awkward," Cassiopeia said in a sympathetic voice.

It was awkward of course as Clara would have told her if she had been within earshot of her. In fact, she would have told her a lot of things if she had been sitting there because right then she could really use someone to talk with in order to break through the awkward silence that had settled in as soon as Danny had sat down. She could kick herself at that moment for insisting that Cass sit so far away.

What was really bothering her though wasn't so much the silence but the reason for it. She had no idea why Danny wasn't talking. Was he still bothered by what had happened back at her home yesterday? If he was then why did he even come?

What was going on?

"Danny, is something wrong?" Clara finally said when she couldn't stand it anymore.

Danny actually flinched as he said, "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. It's just that . . ."

Clara finally realizing what was happening now and laughed as she said, "I love it. Being in the middle of a war isn't a problem for you, but being on a date with me makes you nervous. Is talking to me actually worse than being shot at, Mr. Pink? I'm curious."

"War isn't something to laugh about, Clara. There's nothing funny about it," Danny said as he suddenly became defensive.

"I wasn't laughing about war. I was laughing about the fact that you're scared of talking to me. There's a difference," Clara said in an angry voice.

"I'm sorry. It's just that it bothers me when people who haven't been there talk about it like it's nothing. They couldn't possibly understand what it's really like and what it does to someone," Danny said.

"Try me. I might surprise you," Clara said knowing exactly what being in a battle was like after having been on Trenzalore for nine hundred years.

"You were in a war? You're a soldier?" Danny asked in surprise.

"In a way, yeah. It's . . . It's something that I'll have to talk to you about later," Clara said as she tried to steer the conversation away from this particular area.

"I never would have pegged you as a soldier," Danny said.

"Well, there's a lesson for you. Don't ever presume to know who or what I am until you actually get to know me first," Clara said.

"That's the problem. I'm trying to get to know you but you won't tell me anything about yourself. That's why I don't know what to say. It's not because I'm nervous. It's because I don't know what I can say and what I can't. What topic can we talk about that you won't immediately switch to something else?" Danny asked in an irritated tone.

"I'm sorry. I know that it's frustrating. It's just that there are things that I don't feel comfortable talking about just yet. I will later on though I promise. I didn't realize that it was bothering you so much. I guess I'm lucky that you came at all then if you feel that way but I'm so glad that you did," Clara admitted.

"I came because I like you. Despite your being so secretive and everything, I like the little glimpses of the person that you really are that I've gotten to see from time to time. That's who I came here to get to know better. The real you not the fake shell that you've put up around yourself," Danny said.

Clara immediately became offended as she said, "I'm not fake! Nothing about me is fake. I'm as real as it gets. Just because I'm not telling you much about myself yet doesn't meant that I'm fake. In what way am I fake?"

"You're always happy all the time and making jokes about everything. It all seems like an act to keep people from seeing the real you until you're ready to let them in," Danny said.

"I happen to be a very sweet and pleasant person who likes a good laugh at times. So what? There's nothing at all fake about that," Clara said in an angry voice.

"Are you ready to give me your order now?" The waiter suddenly asked interrupting her.

"Later!" Clara practically snarled at him.

"Yes, of course," The waiter said as he quickly backed away from her.

"Sorry," Clara said in an embarrassed voice.

"I'll come back in a few minutes then," The waiter said.

"Yes, that will be fine. Sorry again," Clara said with a nervous smile as the waiter quickly left.

"It's a disaster, Shawn. Clara just jumped down the waiter's throat," Cassiopeia said with a grimace.

"It's just like their first date on the show more or less then," Shawn said with a grin.

"You knew this was going to happen? Why didn't you tell me?" Cassiopeia demanded.

"You said not to, remember? Don't worry so much. They don't fight all the time. It does get better," Shawn said.

Cassiopeia nodded and then went back to watching once more as she saw Clara looking at Danny apologetically now.

"Can we start over again? I am so sorry about the way that I acted. Maybe I do try to control my relationships at first but it doesn't mean that I'm in any way fake, Danny. What you see is just one side of me. There are plenty more that you'll find out about if you'll just stick around long enough," Clara said.

"I'll stay as long as you don't look at me like you just looked at that waiter. He keeps looking at you like he thinks that if he doesn't keep a constant watch on you that you'll rush at him at any moment," Danny said.

They both laughed as Clara said, "I did act a bit like something out of a nightmare, didn't I? Sorry."

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have said that to you," Danny admitted.

"I shouldn't have been so careless in what I said. I of all people know better than that. Maybe I do laugh just a little too much. It's the only way I can cope with some of the things that I've been through though sometimes," Clara admitted.

Danny smiled at that as he said, "There's another bit of the real you. That's exactly who I came here to get to know better. I know exactly what you mean though. I saw a lot of things that I'd rather not talk about either. Like the time that I almost shot a child."

Clara looked at him with sad eyes as she said, "What happened?"

"I – I almost shot a young boy by accident. Luckily though a woman appeared out of nowhere and pushed the boy out of the way just in time. I never did know what happened to her. She disappeared right after that. I always wanted to thank her though. That . . . that would have completely devastated me if I had killed that boy. Even though he was okay, that still made me leave the army as soon as I could because I realize that my commanding officer had pushed me too far and almost caused me to make a fatal mistake as a result," Danny admitted.

Clara looked at him suspiciously as she said, "This woman did she have blonde hair and a Cockney accent?"

Danny looked at her with stunned surprise as he said, "How did you know that? She did sound Cockney when she told the boy to duck now that I think about it."

Clara couldn't help but briefly smile as she realized that Rose had been at it again. She must have altered Danny's future. In fact, she was almost sure of it.

"There you go again. It's nothing to smile about," Danny said.

"I wasn't smiling about that. It was something else. Look. Don't start that up again, okay?" Clara said in a frustrated voice.

"Sorry," Danny said apologetically as Clara sighed.

"This is not going so hot is it?" She said.

"No, and I really wanted it to," Danny said.

"So did I," Clara said sadly.

"Clara, we can make this work. I know we can. Let's try one more time," Danny pleaded.

"Okay. This time let's avoid any more talk of war though. It's safer that way," Clara said with a hopeful smile.

"How about we talk about what happened yesterday then? Did that work out okay for you?" Danny asked curiously.

"More or less. I'm taking care of my friends' kids for the time being and I'm running their . . . estate I guess you could call it until they come back again. My roommate is going to help me with that too so maybe it won't be as bad as it sounds. I hope," Clara said.

"They must have really trusted you to leave all of that for you to do. It still sounds like a lot to ask of someone who isn't family though," Danny observed.

"They are my family, Danny, even if we're not related. I'd do anything for them especially after the way that I failed them," Clara said.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked.

"It's . . . I'll tell you about it later," Clara said as she began to tear up.

Danny sighed and said, "There you go again. Shutting me out."

"Do you think that I'm enjoying this? It's just that to get to know me there's a lot of craziness that you'll have to digest first. I'm trying to ease you into it slowly so it doesn't all hit you at once and scare you away. Trust me, Danny. You'll thank me for that later," Clara said.

"Whatever it is I believe that I can handle it. You don't have to treat me like this," Danny said indignantly.

"It's not as simple as you might think. It's . . . complicated," Clara said in growing frustration.

"Everything seems to be with you. Please just open up to me, Clara," Danny said.

"I'm trying to in the best way that I can," Clara said as she became angry once more.

The waiter, who had been just about to approach her once more, immediately turned around at her tone and said to himself, "It's just not worth it. I don't care if I do get fired."

"I want to know what you think is so bad that I can't handle it. I need to know if we're ever going to have a real relationship," Danny said.

At that very moment, several reptilian-like aliens carrying guns appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the restaurant. Clara groaned as she realized that any chance that she ever had of salvaging this date had just gone completely up in smoke.

"Of course they had to pick here and now to show up. Of all the rotten timing," Clara said to herself.

Danny looked at her in surprise as he noted that unlike everyone else she wasn't the least bit afraid of these new arrivals. Who was this woman?

That's what he couldn't wait to find out.

At first the restaurant was filled with chaos as people screamed and ran for the doors. They quickly found that there was no way out however as more of the aliens suddenly appeared and blocked all of the exits out of the building.

One of the aliens soon took charge of the situation as he shouted over the screams of the terrified humans, "Silence! You will be silent immediately and listen to what I have to say. I am Captain Skarr of the Terileptil Army. We are hereby placing this building under immediate martial law until we retrieve who we came here for. Until then you will do exactly as you are ordered to do and nothing else. Any failure to comply with my orders will result in your immediate execution. Am I understood?"

The hushed silence that greeted him made him smile as he said, "Excellent. Now I will finally get to the business at hand and this will soon be over with as quickly as possible I hope. I am here to bring one of you before the high court of Terileptus to answer for several crimes committed against citizens of our world. Once I have this person then we will leave peacefully. Until then, do not interfere and you will not be harmed. Now tell me where is the criminal hidden amongst you? Where is the one called the Matriarch?"

"Oh, no. No, no, no," Clara said in a low voice as she tried to hide her face with a menu.

"Clara, what is it? Do you know this person?" Danny asked as he saw her reaction.

"Sort of, yeah," Clara said nervously.

"I will ask again. Where is the Matriarch? She was seen coming into this building and immediately identified as the person who attacked several of our people during a raid on one of our colony worlds. She then proceeded to steal a deadly weapon from our arsenal. We wish to have our property returned and to make her answer for her assault. Bring her to us now or I will lose all patience with you," Captain Skarr said in a terse tone.

"Great. He's going to start attacking them soon because he assumes that they're protecting her," Clara said in a low tone.

"Protecting who? Who is he after, Clara?" Danny asked.

"Captain, there she is," One of the Terileptils said as he pointed straight at Clara.

"Oh, my stars," Clara said with a frown.

"What?" Danny said in disbelief.

"Come with us now peacefully, Matriarch, and spare these people any further trauma. We do not make war on the innocent after all," Captain Skarr said.

"Uh, I'm afraid that you've got the wrong girl, Skarr. I know that you're not going to believe this but I'm not the Matriarch. I only look like her. I mean she looks like me. I sound like such a nutter right now," Clara said with a frown.

"You have the wrong person, Captain. This is not the Matriarch. This is Clara Oswald," Cassiopeia said as she suddenly approached the Terileptils.

"Isn't that your roommate? What is she doing here?" Danny asked.

Clara sighed and said, "Okay, you win. I'll explain everything if I'm not killed in the next five minutes, alright?"

Danny nodded even as he already wondered if he would believe any of it based on how incredible it already seemed to be so far. Clara might have been right to assume that it would be too much for him after all he realized.

One of the Terileptils then pointed a small device at Clara for a moment and said, "This sensor scan confirms it, Captain. She matches a genetic scan that we made of a cellular sample left behind by the Matriarch and she also matches a description made of her by witnesses on the scene. This is the woman that we seek."

"No, it's not. I'm telling you that you're making a mistake. Just listen to me," Cassiopeia said.

"We will take her with us now. If you persist in standing between us, then you will be immediately executed. This is your last warning," Captain Skarr said.

"No, it's yours. Scan me," Cassiopeia commanded of the Terileptil who had scanned Clara.

He did so after getting a silent confirmation from his leader and then immediately said in a frightened tone, "Captain, this is the Time Lady Cassiopeia Lungbarrow, the assassin known as The Thorn."

"I prefer the Storm these days actually. I don't want any trouble. Leave Clara alone and you can go in peace. If you don't, then I'm afraid that I'll have to show you what war really is," Cassiopeia threatened.

"Enough of this. Kill her," Captain Skarr said in an impatient voice.

Cassiopeia moved like lightning and in the blink of an eye she produced a bow and quiver out of a pocket that was bigger on the inside and immediately shot arrows directly into the gun barrels of every Terileptil's weapon before they could even begin to pull the trigger. Captain Skarr looked at her in a mixture of respect and shock. She had just disarmed all of them in less than a minute.

"Just leave right now. I don't want to hurt anyone but I will if I have to. Don't make me have to for both of our sakes," Cassiopeia said.

"You're certain that this is not the Matriarch?" Skarr asked.

"Yes. I give you my word that she is not the woman that you're looking for. In fact, you realize now that she doesn't even look like her. Isn't that right?" Cassiopeia said in a soft, steady voice as she stared at Skarr and the other Terileptils intently.

"I . . ." Skarr said in an uncertain voice.

"She looks nothing like the Matriarch and your scan came up negative. Isn't that right?" Cassiopeia said as her eyes seemed to blaze with inner fire.

"I . . . Yes, you're right. This is not the Matriarch," Skarr said.

"Well, I'm glad that we're in agreement then. You're going to leave right now and report this to your commanders as a false lead. Aren't you?" Cassiopeia commanded.

"I . . . Yes. We will leave," Skarr said.

"Sounds like a plan. Good bye," Cassiopeia said as she dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

"This is not the woman that we were looking for. Continue with the search elsewhere. The Earth is clean," Skarr ordered.

Suddenly the Terileptils all vanished just as quickly as they came. The frightened people in the restaurant now all looked at Cassiopeia as the Time Lady smiled nervously at them.

"Uh, I hope that you enjoyed our little show here today. This was just a play of course put on for you amusement by the management. No one was ever in any actual danger," Cassiopeia said as she moved her head around quickly in order to make sure that she caught the eyes of everyone present.

"Don't look into her eyes," Clara warned Danny.

"What? What are you talking about?" Danny asked.

"You know this might be simpler if I did let her hypnotize you into forgetting but I don't want to lie to you, Danny. Don't look into her eyes or you'll forget all of this just like everyone else here will," Clara said.

"She can do that?" Danny asked.

"Apparently. It's news to me too. I didn't know that she could do that either believe it or not. I knew her uncle could but not her. It runs in the family it seems," Clara admitted.

Shawn also looked away from Cassiopeia as he had already guessed that she had the Master's ability to hypnotize others just by watching her in action.

Shawn, I'm sorry. I should have warned you. Are you alright? Cassiopeia's voice said in his mind a moment later.

I still remember if that's what you're asking. I didn't know that you could do that. That was just so . . . Shawn replied.

It's horrifying I know. Cassiopeia admitted.

I was going to say cool. Shawn responded.

You would. Cassiopeia replied as she laughed despite herself.

As everyone in the restaurant immediately returned to normal as if nothing had ever happened, Clara and Danny approached Cassiopeia as Clara said, "Well, this was fun. Remind me to punch my other self in the face the next time that I see her."

"I'm sorry, Clara. I didn't mean to ruin your date," Cassiopeia said apologetically.

"You didn't. You don't have anything to apologize about, Cass. You just saved me from probably being executed on a distant planet somewhere. You also kept anyone from being hurt even the Terileptils. I'd say that you went way above the call of duty," Clara said.

Danny meanwhile just continued to stare at all of them like he still couldn't believe that any of this was real.

"He knows now though, Clara. How are you going to explain all of this?" Cassiopeia asked.

"Very slowly and carefully. I just hope that he doesn't run when he finds out the whole truth," Clara admitted.

"He won't," Shawn said with a knowing grin.

"You're too much like River. Do you know that?" Clara said.

"You mean nice and sweet?" Shawn joked.

"I mean smug and annoying," Clara said.

Shawn sniffed with a tear in his eye as he said, "This is . . . I really feel like one of the team now. I just got told off by Clara. This is just so awesome."

"I take it back. He's worse than River," Clara said in disbelief.

Cassiopeia smiled as she said, "Yeah, but I think I'll keep him. He's got his good qualities too."

Shawn stiffened as she put her arm around him and pulled him close to her. Clara meanwhile smiled and flashed Cassiopeia a huge grin that made the Time Lady immediately scowl at her because she knew exactly what she was thinking.

"So those two are a couple?" Danny asked Clara.

"Yep, and don't let them tell you any different either," Clara said happily.

Danny smiled and then became serious as he said, "We have to talk about this."

"We will. Believe me. Let's go back to my place. It's time that I finally told you everything," Clara said.

The Matriarch smiled from where she watched them invisibly nearby. She had just subtly altered the timeline yet again. Now Clara would tell Danny the truth that much sooner. Surely every little change that she made would help to prevent what was still to come.

She frowned though as she realized that it had had little effect on the primary problem. She would have to work harder than ever then in order to change things, and if that still didn't work then she would confront the danger that was coming head on even if it meant the possible loss of her own life.

This time she would not fail.

Meanwhile back on Gallifrey in the House of Lungbarrow, Polly was using a Time-Space Visualizer in a half-hearted attempt to find the Doctor and Rose. She knew that Rose's mother Lily was doing the same thing with her own Visualizer and thought that she'd give it a try herself even though she knew that the odds were heavily stacked against her.

"Is it working, Polly? Do you actually know how to use that contraption?" Jamie asked as he joined her with a curious expression on his face.

"I think so. I watched the Doctor, my first Doctor that is, use it a couple of times so I think that I'm using it correctly. I had to try something, Jamie. I just feel so useless standing around here doing nothing while they're out there somewhere lost," Polly said.

"Aye, I know what you mean. I feel exactly the same way only I can't even do as much as you can. Even Victoria can't find them and she still his her powers working properly. I don't want to admit it but even I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever find them or not," Jamie said sadly.

"No, don't talk like that. We mustn't give up hope, Jamie. If the Doctor's taught me anything it's that. He'd never give up on us so we can't give up on him either," Polly said.

Jamie smiled as he said, "I know that you're right of course. It's just getting harder to have any hope the more time passes. The Doctor was usually back long before now no matter how much trouble that he got into. He's never waited this long to return before."

"That doesn't mean that he won't. After all I never thought I'd see him again after I left him, and then decades later there he was back in my life once again. You should never write him off completely, Jamie. The Doctor always finds a way to survive somehow. You should know that better than anyone," Polly said.

"We certainly got in and out of our fair share of scrapes together alright," Jamie admitted with a smile.

"See? He'll be back. I just know that he will," Polly said in a reassuring tone.

Jamie smiled as he said, "Thanks, Polly. I really needed to hear that right now."

Polly started to smile at him only to have the smile turn into a look of absolute surprise instead as she heard the unmistakable voice of Rose say, "Doctor, that obviously isn't Clara. She has no idea who we are. Let's just go."

"She looks just like Clara though. She has to know us, Rose, because she must be one of Clara's echoes. I just have to jog her memory," The Doctor's voice now said.

Polly and Jamie both looked at the Visualizer in shock as they saw the Doctor and Rose on the viewscreen. They were at what looked like to Polly was a science fiction convention and they were looking at a woman who looked exactly like Clara.

"Jamie, get Victoria right now!" Polly shouted in excitement.

As Jamie rushed off to find Victoria, Polly smiled in triumph. She had found them. Now maybe Victoria could locate the dimension they were watching and get them out of there soon.

Maybe they would be back within the hour.

Those hopes were quickly dashed though as the Visualizer began to lose the image as it slowly faded away. Polly struggled to keep the device focused on the Doctor and Rose, but it continued to fight her every step of the way. It was losing them.

"No, not now when I finally found them. Not now," Polly said in despair as she continued to try to keep the picture from fading by frantically manipulating the controls.

It was all in vain though because the image finally faded away completely, and no matter what Polly did she couldn't get it to come back again. She had lost them.

That was when Jamie and Victoria finally returned at last. Polly was now left to reluctantly explain to them what had just happened.

"It wasn't a total loss. At least we finally know for sure that they're alright wherever they are. We also know that the Visualizer works. If it found them once, then it could find them again. We have to keep trying," Victoria said.

"Oh, I will believe me and this time I won't lose the image no matter what I have to do to keep it," Polly promised.

"So they were at a Sci Fi convention about to meet a Clara lookalike you say? That sounds like the sort of thing that the Doctor would get up to alright. We'll have to tell Clara about it as soon as we can. Maybe she can contact this person. It could be one of her echoes. I should also let Lily know about it. Maybe she could take a look at our machine and find out something that we can't from it," Victoria said hopefully.

"Aren't there any leftover traces of their location that you can get off of this yourself?" Polly asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. Maybe if I had been here when the signal was actually being picked up I could have done something, but now there's no way of finding them. Maybe it'll happen again though. Just keep trying," Victoria advised her.

"I will because there's no way that I'm about to give up now," Polly said in a determined voice.

They had no way of knowing it at the time but this was the first step on the road that would lead to the eventual return of the Doctor and Rose. Soon they would come back just as the universe needed them the most. Would even this be enough to stop the incredible danger that was still to come though?

Next: Clara tells Danny the whole truth about herself. How will he react? Plus the relationship between Cassiopeia and Shawn deepens and starts to become something more. Oh, and the Doctor and Rose may just have a bit more than a fleeting appearance next time around. You never know what might happen.