The story continues from where I left it...
Later on that evening a slightly tipsy Clara returned to her TARDIS, where Twelve was gloomily staring at the console screen.
"You should have joined us, you clearly need a break."
"That's ok, I'm fine here. Work to do, things to consider."
"Amy was disappointed you never came over. And so was I, even if it was nice to have a girl to girl chat!"
"How was my predecessor?"
"Fine, I'd forgotten he doesn't drink, I'll have to start calling him Fanta boy, especially when he insists on using his special straw!"
"It does work by the way, a remarkable increase in the fizziness."
Twelve then looked at Clara directly before continuing.
"Amy has her Doctor; I'm just a stranger from the future Clara."
Clara came over and gently held Twelve's arm.
"I have my Doctor as well. And when the others come over tomorrow evening, you'll be here with us."
Clara laughed.
"No pretending to be busy, no fiddling with the TARDIS wiring, your presence is requested. Oh, and another bottle of that vintage you gave me earlier."
"Is it me or the wine you're after?"
"Both!" exclaimed Clara as she started exiting the console room, before pausing. "Oh, and another thing."
"Yes…" replied Twelve carefully.
"Amy and Rory have much larger and more luxurious living quarters than I do."
"Well they spend longer on the TARDIS than you do; you're the one who insists on being returned home after every adventure. Maybe the TARDIS doesn't feel you need a bigger bedroom, seeing that you spend as little time on board as you have to, though to be fair, with your wide face I can see why you'd feel cramped in your small room."
Clara glared at him as he continued.
"Besides, it's not their first living quarters on board; they got upgraded after they'd been around for a few years."
"Don't I deserve an upgrade?" queried Clara, as she slowly approached him.
"I'm sure it will happen in due course, think of it like a long service award. Or one for good behaviour, something like that."
"Hmm, well that shouldn't be an issue, I've always been a good girl haven't I Doctor?"
"I'm happy to give you a reference Clara, but it's not my decision!"
Twelve smirked at his TARDIS console while Clara raised her eyebrows and exited.
The next morning, Clara emerged to find Twelve scribbling on a blackboard.
"And how are we this fine morning Clara? Ready for a 30 mile walk to find the kittens?"
"Ready for a black coffee actually."
"Feeling a bit frail?"
"A touch. After breakfast I'll check out what the others are planning to do."
Amy and Rory were in a similarly lethargic mood in the other TARDIS.
"You can go off looking for the kittens Rory" suggested Amy, "I'll be tidying up here."
"Oh I couldn't possibly let you stay behind" Rory replied with a slightly smug expression. "After all, I thought you wanted to be the Doctor, and today is the perfect day for it! You and Clara bravely leading from the front, while us boys follow on behind."
"I think in the circumstances, it might be better to leave that for another day. Clearly, time is pressing, and we need to find the crack as soon as we can, so better leave it to the experts."
"Yeah, I think so."
"In the meantime, can you make me a bacon sandwich, I'm starving!"
The five eventually reconvened outside.
"We've been thinking" announced Eleven, indicating the other Doctor, "And we decided that it would be better if we put our heads together, and thought about a solution to the missing kittens, rather than all of us traipsing around the locale randomly."
"And what about us?" asked Rory.
"Have the day off!" replied Twelve with a cheery smile. "Relax, enjoy yourselves, chill out."
"Now those are two words I never thought I'd hear you say!" exclaimed Clara with a laugh.
"Don't worry Clara, there won't be any chilling out in the future. This is an exception, but seeing that there are two of us we thought we'd pool our knowledge and intelligence."
"I know when we're not wanted" replied Clara in a mock hurt voice as she walked over to Amy and Rory.
"It's not that you're not wanted" replied Eleven, "It's just that when you have two Time Lords together, or rather two versions of the same Time Lord, it makes sense to make full use of our superior brain power, as opposed to your human brain power which while no doubt impressive by human standards is a teeny bit less than ours."
"A lot less" added Twelve.
"A bit less. Besides it would be boring for you, this is a nice planet; you could go and relax by the lake over there or er play Twister or something."
"Yeah, it might be better to give you two a wide berth" replied Clara with a smile. "Especially when you'll both want to be in charge!"
"Clara" replied Eleven, "We will be a shining example of teamwork in action."
Clara exchanged knowing glances with Amy.
"So do you fancy the lake, it looks quite nice?" asked Rory.
"Why not" replied Clara. "Give the dynamic duo a bit of space. My turn to pack us a picnic."
"Excellent, it'll be nice to relax for change, do a bit of reading."
"That sounds too much like hard work" replied Amy stifling a yawn. "Rory, bring out some deckchairs, I fancy a nap!"
Back in Twelve's TARDIS, Clara prepared a picnic.
"It'll be fun for you to work with yourself" laughed Clara as Twelve walked past. "None of us pudding brain humans holding you back."
"I'm not bothered whether it's fun or not. We just need a solution to this problem, and urgently as we are all currently stuck here, which isn't very good really."
"There are worse places to be stuck. At least we're not in danger."
"True, but there are so many exciting planets out there for me to show you, and you're stranded here instead."
Twelve peered over at what Clara was preparing in the TARDIS kitchen.
"That looks fairly edible, I almost wish I was joining you for the picnic."
"You do?" Clara's eyes lit up.
"Not really, but at least your sandwiches have proper filling in them."
Outside Clara met Amy and Rory, and the three of them wandered over to the Lake, Rory carrying three deckchairs.
"It seems quite strange, having a day off like this" commented Amy. "I can't remember the last time when we basically had a day to ourselves on some weird planet, with no enemy waiting to kill us, and the Doctor not wanting to show us things."
"Yes, it does feel a bit odd" replied Clara. "I do feel that I should be doing something to help."
"Maybe we're helping by not being there" added Rory. "If the combined intellect of two versions of the Doctor can't find a solution, then we're unlikely to be able to add anything."
"Yeah, you're probably right" replied Clara. "I've got some marking to do anyway, so I've brought it along. When you're flying around visiting amazing planets and seeing extraordinary things, somehow marking Class 10L's essays on Great Expectations seems a bit of a chore."
"One good things about my job" replied Rory with a smile, "No chance of taking work home! I am theoretically on call, in case there's a real emergency at the hospital, though they know better than to ask me!"
Rory looked around.
"It's a lovely spot here. Got a good book, and a comfy deckchair, things could be worse."
After an hour, Clara had finally finished her marking, though she had found it hard to concentrate on marking essays on the motivations of Miss Havisham when there was a real life situation to investigate. She wondered how the Doctors were getting on, two Doctors together; it brought back memories of the three Doctors who had been there when they re-wrote the end of Time War. That had been amazing, whereas now instead of being with the Doctors as they did brilliant things, she was marking English homework by a lake.
If Clara had been with the Doctors, then she wouldn't have felt so left out. At first they tried working independently, Twelve adapting his TARDIS scanners to scan the planet for a crack, while Eleven racked his brain for an alternative solution. Eventually Eleven gave up and came round to Twelve's TARDIS.
"Found anything out there?"
"Nothing. Any bright ideas?"
"No. This is disappointing" continued Eleven as he paced around Twelve's TARDIS. "There are two of us, surely we should be able to solve this problem."
"Sometimes even we are defeated."
"But what can we do? It surely isn't right to fly off; we can't leave a damaged planet behind!"
"We've saved so many, I guess there has to come a time when we ruin one instead. Actually, if we were to fly off, you would forget about it all anyway, and I doubt Amy and Rory would remember much, seeing that this all happened out of sync in your Time Stream."
"Clara would remember though."
"Yes. That wouldn't be good" Twelve replied somberly.
"Is there any way of wiping her memory of this whole sorry affair?"
"It would be terribly dangerous, and there's a side of me that doesn't want to hide my failure from her anyway."
"You want her to know about our failure?"
"Well not yet. Obviously we won't tell them that we've failed straight away, we'll tell them that we've found a solution and that tomorrow, by flying off, we'll be bringing the kittens back."
"You want to lie to them?"
"Don't give me the moral lessons please!" Twelve exclaimed. "You've lied before, rule number one and all that."
"But that was different; I lied because that was the only of getting something done. Here, you want to lie to cover up our failure. Will Clara believe you? Surely she'll want to come back here, and see that the kittens have returned?"
"Well if she does, I'll have to confess that I lied."
"But she'll be distraught!"
"Livid actually."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Clara has her whole life to live, and some difficult decisions to make. Maybe seeing me like this will help clarify what she chooses. Maybe it'll do her good to realise that I am not a hero."
A slight tone shift at the end of this Chapter. Are the Doctors about to cut and run?
Thanks for the reviews! ThePurpleFrockCoat will recognise Fanta Boy :-)