Chapter 6

Surprisingly, it was the Doctor who was the first to wake from their group nap. His arm was still bent across his chest, resting immovably in its sling, and his chest ached when he tried turning to look at Clara and Danny. As the wind blew in from the cave entrance and ran across his chest, he realized he wasn't wearing a shirt. His face contorted into a frown, but lightened up as he felt Clara shift on his good shoulder.

Her big eyes looked up at him and she smiled before saying sleepily, "Hello Doctor."

"Hello Clara."

His voice was almost back to normal, only carrying a trace of his previous exhaustion. Clara kissed his cheek softly.

"I was worried about you, you daft old man."

The Doctor's eyes flitted down to his bandaged chest. "What-this? I'm not going to let a silly human with a gun finish me, Clara Oswald."

Clara's eyes grew stern. "Don't test it again though, eh?"

"Got it, boss."

"Ah, she's your boss. I was wondering what your relationship was."

Clara and the Doctor turned to the newly awakened Danny, who eyed Clara playfully. Then his expression turned a little more serious as he turned to the Doctor. "Are you alright?"

The Doctor waved him off. "Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Unless you have a shirt I could borrow."

Clara found the Doctor's jacket lying in a heap on the floor beside them, all crumpled up with a piece ripped from the bottom. She wrapped it around his bare shoulders. "Sorry about the jacket, Doctor."

"Ah, it's fine. It died honorably. Saved my life."

"Ugh, I though I did that?" Danny said. The Doctor's smile faltered.

"Yes. That you did, P.E.."

Danny smiled at the nickname, but he Doctor seemed to lose his humor, his face turning slightly solemn as his companions helped him to his feet. When he was finally up, he leaned heavily against the wall and waited until the others started forward before following shakily. He didn't speak again for a few minutes, as they made their way out of the cave and through the ruined festival grounds. When they hiked through the forest, Clara fell back to walk with him, her arms crossed.

"Are you brooding again?"

The Doctor watched his feet as they walked. "I'm...thinking."

Clara shook her head. "That's what you always say when you get quiet like this. What are you thinking about?"

The Doctor bit his lip but didn't respond. They had reached the TARDIS by then, so Clara left his side and unlocked the doors for them, shutting them when Danny and the Doctor were inside.

The Doctor went to the TARDIS control panel and dialled in a few numbers, moving slower now that he was typing one-handed. Danny scratched his head as he looked around the space again. "I seriously will never get used to this."

Clara smiled at him, and then held her hand out. "If you think that's amazing, you should see the showers. Come on, we better get washed up."

The Doctor waited until they had gone before letting himself sit down, grunting in pain. Then he peeled the bandages off checked his wound. Satisfied, he went to the underside of the Console and took out his medical kit, from which he pulled out proper bandages and a real sling.

Finished with that, the Doctor ambled slowly down to the TARDIS wardrobe, scanning the aisles for wherever the machine had put a new magician jacket.

As Clara separated from Danny, going off to her own shower room, he turned to the mirror and stared into it for a long time. His shirt was a wrinkled mess, three buttons undone and the collar half up. Worst, though, was the dirt and blood staining half of his shirtsleeve, and caking his arms and hands where he hadn't had the mind to wash that morning.

The sight of the red plasma brought back too many memories, not just of the Doctor, but of the wars he'd been a part of, and the soldiers he'd fought beside. Friends and enemies and strangers.

Danny turned the sink on high and washed the grime off of himself, feeling tears prick into his eyes as he watched it go slowly down the drain. Then his face crumpled, and he let the tears fall as they will. His hands gripped the edges of the sink as he tried to calm himself, but only the sudden touch of a warm hand on his back brought him round again.

He turned toward Clara and wiped at his eyes, but then he choked on another sob and let her grab him into a hug, shushing him and rubbing his arm with her hand.

"Hey, it's alright. It's alright. Do whatever you need to."

A few minutes later, Danny pulled away from the hug, and laughed awkwardly. "Hey."

Clara stroked a wandering tear off of his cheek and smiled up at him. "You okay?"

He leaned back on the sink, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, it was just...it was a day, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

They both stared into space for a moment before Clara stepped back into the hallway. "I'm gonna go wash up, yeah? I'll see you in a little bit."

"See you."

Danny turned back to the sink and finished washing his hands, taking a few deep breaths when he felt some of the memories resurface. Then he took a shower and washed off the awful day that was finally catching up with him, going over everything in his mind while simultaneously trying to forget it.

When Danny, Clara, and the Doctor next stood in the Console room together, all three were washed up and dressed. Apart from the sling still holding the Doctor's arm against his chest, it was impossible to know they'd been anywhere other than this clean, bright room chatting. Clara hugged the Doctor one last time, but now the Doctor was feeling better, he wasn't as keen to accept it.

"Clara, you don't have to-"

"Shut up."

He let her keep her arms around his neck for as long as she wanted, in this case half a minute. When Clara finally let go, she gave him a smile and went out the door into her flat. Danny followed close behind, but stopped at the threshold when he heard his name called from behind him. He turned to the Doctor, who stood a few feet closer than he had been, looking at a spot beside Danny's head awkwardly.

"Thank you, again."

Danny shook his head. "Nah. It was nothing."

The Doctor met his eyes. "Maybe," he said, "there's a bit more to modern soldiering than I know."

Danny smiled. "Yeah?"

The Doctor returned the smile. Danny watched him for a moment. So much had changed in so little time. Just a week or so before, Danny had wanted to wring the Doctor's neck for letting Clara hurt her wrist on Mars or wherever. Now he saw the man in a very different light. They both did. "Goodbye, Doctor."

"Goodbye, Mr. Pink. Teach them some geometry for me."

Danny took hold of the door handle. "Will do, sir."

He shut the door and went into Clara's flat, leaving the Doctor pensively staring at the doorway for a good five minutes.

Clara was on the couch, shoes already off and two wine glasses in hand. Danny sank beside her and took a large swig, making Clara laugh. "So what did you think?"

"Of our trip? It was...a bit more stressful than I expected."

Clara swallowed thickly. "Yeah," she paused to take a sip of her own wine. "That one was more stressful than most. He doesn't usually get hurt. Not like that, anyway."

Danny tilted his glass and watched how the wine rotated around the bottom of the cup. Then he felt Clara's head on his shoulder. "Thank you for helping him."

"It was sort of automatic. Training kicking in. Old habits."

Clara looped her hand through his arm. "Even so. You're amazing." She turned up to him and smiled. "Doctor Danny."