AN: I'm posting a day early because I'm going out of town over the weekend and I won't be able to post tomorrow. Yay for you!
Rachel hiked up the hill next to Clara. They hadn't spoken much, and Rachel was very interested in how Clara came to be with the Doctor. "So..." Rachel began, "you and the Doctor, huh?"
Clara blushed. "Oh, no. We just travel together, nothing else,"
Rachel raised her eyebrows. "'Just travel together'? Alone? The two of you? I refuse to believe nothing has happened between you two in your time together."
"No! Not a thing!" Clara insisted.
"Was that a hint of disappointment in your voice?" Rachel grinned.
"No! Of course not! Psh-what-" Clara babbled.
"Ah, you forget that I can tell when people are lying. Heartbeats never lie!" Rachel teased.
"Except the Doctor's, he has two," Clara mentioned.
"Hey, no changing the subject!" Rachel said. "How did you come about traveling with him?"
Clara exhaled loudly, causing the Doctor to look over at her. She waved, and he waved back. Rachel nudged her, and Clara slapped her elbow away. "Knock it off! It's kind of a long story, with multiple me's and many many deaths. My deaths."
Rachel groaned. "Fine. But we will continue this later!" Rachel promised.
"Oh, all right," Clara grumbled, secretly glad she could share her feelings with someone. The Alphas and Aliens were twenty feet away from Central Warehouse 11.
Dr. Rosen stopped the group, and they formed their plan of action.
"Gary and I will stay out here, and possibly...Clara?" Dr. Rosen said.
"No, I'll be going in too," Clara said, not wanting to be separated from the Doctor in case his life needed saving.
"Right. Bill, what do you suggest we do, being the FBI agent?"
"Hey!" Kay complained, putting her small hands on her hips.
"You're FBI trained, not an agent," Bill reminded her. Kat huffed. "Gary, can you bring up the blueprints of this warehouse on, uh...this?" Bill asked, snatching Kat's phone from her. Kat breathed out loudly, annoyed.
"Yeah, of course Bill, that's what partners do!" Gary complied. He promptly handed Bill Kat's phone, with schematics on them.
Bill studied the plans for a moment. "Ok, Hicks and I will go through the west door, over here," Bill pointed. "Nina, you and Rachel will enter through the east door, on this side of the building. Kat, you can go with Clara and the Doctor through the ventilation system. This says that the vents are five feet tall, so you and Clara won't have a huge problem navigating through. Doctor, you might have to bend over. We'll meet back here at...seven. That gives us two and a half hours to scout out this warehouse. Remember, this is just a scouting mission, not a bag-and-tag. Stay hidden. Okay, people, move out!" Bill commanded.
The Doctor, Clara, and Kat wandered over to the big ventilation shaft that was on the side of the warehouse. It was five feet tall, like Bill had said.
"Well, this should be fun!" Said the Doctor, always ready for adventure. He took his sonic screwdriver out of his left jacket pocket. Pressing the button, he moved it over the screws that held the grate onto the wall. They unscrewed by themselves and dropped neatly into his hand, which he was holding under the holes. The Doctor then tugged the grate out of the wall.
Kat ducked in first, followed by Clara and then the Doctor. It was very dark in the vent, and Clara shivered.
"Are you cold?" The Doctor whispered in her ear, making Clara shiver even more.
"I'm fine," she replied. A resounding CLANG filled their ears, followed by a string of swear words from Kat.
"Sorry, tripped over something metal," Kat told them through gritted teeth. The Doctor shined his sonic at the object. It was a metal hand, and looked very similar to that of a...
"Cybermen," the Doctor said, bitterly. "Just as I feared." Clara gasped, and the Doctor felt the urge to pull her close, but he resisted.
"What're Cybermen?" Kat asked, a bit freaked out at the fact that she had kicked a metal hand.
"They're robots with human brains. Can't feel anything, don't remember who they were, just brains with metal bodies. They live forever." The Doctor said, faintly.
"They must have come from the parallel universe when-" He cut off abruptly.
"When what, Doctor?" Kat asked.
"Nothing! It's not important!" The Doctor barked.
Clara put a hand on his shoulder, which was hunched over because of the small space. "Rose was very important," Clara said gently.
The Doctor looked at her with a look of such sadness that it almost brought tears to Clara's eyes. "I know," whispered the Doctor, barely audible.
Kat, oblivious to the touching scene, continued to ask questions. "Rose? Is that a person? Your dog? Parallel universe? What are you talking about?" She had picked up the mechanical hand, and was inspecting its wrist, where wires were poking out.
"Rose was a girl, a companion like Clara, and I lost her. She was taken into a parallel world because of the Cybermen and the Daleks, and I can't ever get to her. I loved her." The Doctor said, simply. "Very much." He reached up and laid a hand on Clara's, which was still on his shoulder.
"Oh. That's terrible. I'm so sorry, I had no idea." Kat said sincerely. "So this means you two aren't...?" Kat's eyes went from Clara to the Doctor, and then to their hands.
The Doctor and Clara whipped their hands away. "Oh, no, of course not," the Doctor scoffed, scratching his reddening head.
"No, we would never..." Clara said, speaking at the same time as the Doctor. I wish... Both Clara and the Doctor thought. The Doctor grabbed the metal hand from Kat, and scanned it with his sonic.
"Huh. It was never activated. This hand," the Doctor proclaimed, "has never been alive!"
Clara frowned. "Then how did it get in here? Didn't it come off of a Cyberman?"
"But guys... Why would a Cyberman need to be in a ventilation shaft?" Kat asked.
Tucking the hand into the right pocket of his tweed jacket, the Doctor said, "Well, we'll find out, now won't we?" The trio kept going through the small tunnel, but little did they know that they were not alone...
AN: And how about that Christmas Special?! I was so sad...