Chapter 24

"Clara," the Doctor blurted out and rose from his seat. He didn't need a lot of imagination to read from her face that she had overheard more than enough. There was no way to play it down any longer, there was no lie he could tell her.

"Doctor," Clara began carefully, "What's going on?"

Amy threw him a glance before she retreated into the living room, leaving the two of them alone to talk. Talk. The Doctor had no idea where to begin. He opened his mouth a couple of times but closed it again, finding no words that could make it easier for Clara. She had a right to know, yes, but he would have liked to tell her under different circumstances. Not like this.

"What was that about my mother?" she demanded to know. There was a fierceness in her voice that the Doctor had already witnessed on some occasions and, if he was entirely honest, it frightened him a little.

"Your mother's car crash," the Doctor paused. He had to say it. "It wasn't an accident. Someone had arranged it. Your father spent years trying to figure out who did it, who was trying to harm him, but he never found out."

"And you never thought to tell me?!" Clara yelled at him. Her voice was sharp and brutal and the Doctor could tell that she was hurt but there was nothing he could do about that now.

"I wanted to, at a later time. You already had enough to worry about after your father, I didn't want to-"

"Did it ever occur to you that whoever it was might have killed both of them?!"

Of course it had. But the Doctor couldn't see a way for them to find the person responsible. Not without help and they couldn't accept help because no one could be trusted.

"I wanted to protect you," the Doctor stated simply, "The same thing your father wanted when he sent you to boarding school after her death. When he asked me to take care of you just days before-"

"I am not a child anymore!" Clara shouted, "I don't need a babysitter! I need someone I can trust, Doctor! But I can't even trust you, can I?"

"Clara," he said gently and stepped forward. He wanted to talk to her calmly, he wanted to comfort her, to explain but Clara stepped away from him.

"No, don't touch me!"

"Please," he begged her, "Just sit down and let me explain."

"No," she repeated determinedly and the Doctor suddenly felt afraid. He had no idea what she was going to do, what would happen next and it frightened him. He just wanted to make it right again, but Clara was too upset to listen to reason.

Eventually she shook her head. "I just need a moment to myself," she said before she turned on her heels and headed towards the door.

"Clara, wait!" the Doctor followed her into the corridor, ignoring how his leg was stinging when he ran, "You shouldn't go out by yourself, it's not s-"

Suddenly Clara bent down and pinched his wound, making the Doctor wince with pain before he looked at her again. She was glaring at him furiously.

"You can't protect me," she told him angrily, "So leave me be."

"Clara-" the Doctor was interrupted when the door was shut in his face and he was ready to go after her when Amy's voice held him back.

"Let her go," Amy said gently, "She'll go for a walk and come back once she has calmed down."

The Doctor stared back at the door. Amy was probably right, there was nowhere she could go on her own, not without him, not without help. Right? But what if he was wrong?

Suddenly he felt Amy's arm on his own and she carefully pulled him back from the door.

"Give her time," she told him with a soft smile, "It's a good thing that she knows now."

The Doctor scoffed. "Is it?"

"Yes," Amy reassured him, "She knows what happened to her parents and she will calm down and she will learn to deal with it. Clara is a strong woman, don't worry about her. She's going to be fine."

Finally he took a deep breath, realizing that Amy was right. Clara was probably the strongest person he knew and that was also what scared him. She might try to make it on her own and then he might never see her again just because he hadn't been completely honest with her.

"Stop worrying," she scolded him, "Come into the kitchen and we'll make a cup of tea. One for Clara, too, cause she'll be back soon enough."

"Alright," the Doctor eventually agreed and let Amy lead him into the kitchen.

Clara stormed off, away from the house, away from the Doctor and all of his lies. Even though in her heart she knew that he had only meant to protect her she couldn't quite forgive him just yet. She didn't need protection, she needed honesty and once again Clara felt as if he was treating her like a child who couldn't be trusted.

Her mother had been murdered, just like her father. Clara was still so in shock about the Doctor's betrayal that for the moment she didn't even know what to think about this new piece of information. Why had he even kept it from her for so long and not told her straight away? Did he think she was going to go off and seek revenge? Well, yes, she wanted to see her father's killer properly dealt with and right now, maybe out of spite, Clara wanted it all the more. The Doctor had had no right to keep these things from her and it would serve him right if she went out now and did whatever the hell she pleased.

When a car was driving up from behind Clara cleared the path and continued to walk on the pavement but after a moment she realized that it wasn't passing her by. Instead it drove steadily right next to her.

"What's your damn problem?" she yelled at the tinted windows in her anger, "I'm not from this fucking town! I don't know the way to anywhere!"

The windows were rolled down and in the light of the street lamp Clara spotted the woman from earlier, the one that had asked her for directions to the supermarket.

"I'd like you to get into this car," the woman said in a bored voice, her Scottish accent a little more prominent now than it had been this afternoon.

Clara scoffed. "Yeah, sure," she replied sarcastically, snorting as she continued walking, "Got any sweets? Cause I'm not getting into a stranger's car if there aren't any sweets in for me."

"I believe I have something better," the woman said and Clara once more turned around to look at her. Only to stare straight into the barrel of a gun. From one moment to the next it hit her like a sledgehammer. She knew who this woman was, the only woman it could be.

"I have an offer for you. Get in the car," Missy nodded towards the door handle.

"Right, so you can kill me?"

Missy chuckled. "Honey, if I wanted you dead I would have had a lot of opportunities to kill you without staining the seats in my car. I said I had an offer. Now get in."

Still Clara was reluctant.

The woman rolled her eyes impatiently. "Part of the deal is that I'm gonna tell you who murdered your parents."

Clara stopped dead in her tracks and, a moment later, so did the car. "In exchange for what?" she asked warily.

"Well, get in the car and find out. Seriously, my arm's getting tired," Missy, who was still pointing the gun at her, complained and after a moment of consideration Clara reached for the door handle. She was fully aware that she was getting into a car with a crazy person, she was fully aware that it could end in her death but right now Missy was making her an offer and Clara seriously hoped that there would be a chance to decline it if she didn't like the conditions.