Chapter 27

"Clara, don't," the Doctor reminded her gently, "You don't want to do this."

"Oh yes, I want to do this. I really want to do this," she replied and tried to reach for the gun in his hand but he pulled it away from her. The Doctor saw so many emotions in her eyes, grief, anger, rage. She was starting to cry and he vowed to keep her from doing anything she would later regret. He would take care of her no matter what.

"She killed them!" Clara began to yell at him, "You promised to help me find their killers! You promised!"

Clara reached for the gun again but the Doctor stepped back. "I did, but I never said I'd let you kill them!"

Suddenly Missy started giggling in the background.

"See, this is why I wanted you to be head of the organisation, Doctor," Missy laughed, "You have a gentle heart."

The Doctor now understood all too well why Missy had wanted him to lead. She had thought he still cared about her enough to leave her unharmed. Unfortunately she had misjudged him, a realisation that was so obvious in her eyes once he pointed the gun back at her. For Clara he would do anything.

"You would kill me?" she asked him, a mocking undertone still in her voice, "To save her soul?"

"Yes," he growled and then it all happened too quickly for him to do anything about it. It only took Clara a moment, a single moment in which he wasn't paying attention to her, to grab the gun from his hands and a second later she had it pointed it Missy. Her hands were shaking and the Doctor had little doubt she would pull the trigger at the slightest provocation.

"Why?" Clara demanded to know, "Why did you do it?"

Missy sighed and stared down at her own two hands. She took a moment to inspect her fingernails, something the Doctor had seen her do before when she pretended not to care about something and wanted to waste time.

"Your mother's death was a distraction. I don't even remember what for but while your father was busy grieving he looked away long enough for me to get my job done," Missy explained in a bored voice.

"And my father?!"

"Found out something he wasn't supposed to."

Clara held the gun a little higher, still trembling. The Doctor saw tears of rage run over her cheeks.

"What did he find out?" Clara asked.

Missy chuckled. "Honey, if I told you I'd have to kill you."

"Yeah, well, you're not the one holding the gun right now, so spill it!"

Now the Doctor intervened. "He found out that Missy controls Harold Saxon and that she dictates his political guidelines," he explained and when Clara turned around to look at him her face was full of doubt and questions. "Please," he urged her, "Give me the gun. Let Kate deal with Missy and I promise you she will not get away without punishment."

For a moment the Doctor was so sure Clara would listen to him but eventually she turned back around to face Missy, the gun still pointed at her. "Kate wouldn't help us. Not after what I've done. I can't let her get away."

"Kate is helping us," the Doctor stepped forward, positioning himself right between Clara and Missy. He stared down at Clara who appeared even smaller than before as she looked at him through her big, sad eyes. "Kate will take the key and she will take over the organisation. She will know what to do with Missy. But I cannot let you become a murderer. Not for someone like Missy. I don't care that I acted behind her back, I don't care that you will hate me but I will not let this happen, not to you."

Clara inhaled sharply and closed her eyes for a moment. She was listening to him, she was considering his words. There was hope.

"Please, Clara, give me the gun. Forget your revenge. Let's turn our backs on all of this and never look back," he begged her and prayed that she would heed his words.

The silence that spread over the room was unbearable and the Doctor had half a mind to tear the gun out of her hand.

"I want to have a normal life, far away from all of this and I want that life with you, Clara. That's never going to happen if you kill her. Please," the Doctor pleaded, "Please, drop the gun. Tell me you want the same thing."

Suddenly Clara's shoulders sank and she turned the gun around in her hand and handed it back to him in defeat. He couldn't help but step forward and throw his arms around her in relief.

"Well, there's a surprise," Missy complained in annoyance behind them and only now the Doctor remembered her presence.

Once he had let go of Clara he lifted the gun and fired a shot into the ceiling. "The MI5 will be in here any second," he announced and dropped the gun into the farthest corner of the room, out of reach for everyone else. When a group of armed men stormed the room, followed by Kate, Clara closed her arms around his chest to stand as close to him as possible while Missy was put in handcuffs in front of their eyes.

"We'll take her from here," Kate told him sternly, "And now I believe you have something that belongs to me."

"This is Missy we're talking about," the Doctor warned her, "She will do anything humanly possible not to be imprisoned for very long."

"We'll have to get triple locks then," Kate held out her hand, "The key, please."

"Give her the key," the Doctor told Clara gently and after a moment of hesitation she reached under her clothing and pulled the key out, handing it to Kate without looking at her.

Clara had stopped crying when he led her back outside to where he had parked his car. He wasn't sure whether she really wanted to know but nevertheless he explained to her how Missy had recently bought shares in the arms industry, how her father had tried to prevent Harold Saxon from becoming prime minister before his death and how the Doctor had figured it all out with Kate's help, who would now be running her father's organisation as best as she could.

"Trust me, she will do a better job than we could ever have," the Doctor promised her, "She knows what's best for this country."

"She shot you," Clara argued weakly and the Doctor realized that she still seemed in shock over everything that had happened. She needed to rest and so did he. They had to go home.

"Yes, she shot me. Cause that was the only way she could get the key. She did it to protect what she loves and I would have done exactly the same thing for you without hesitation," he told her and still Clara only stared blankly at him. He had just told her that he loved her and yet Clara didn't even seem to have realized it.

"Why did Missy want us to take over? Why you?"

"Because Missy likes playing cat and mouse and she felt safe that I would never hurt her because of our past," the Doctor shrugged, looking grim and feeling just a little sad, "She was wrong. I would have killed her in there had you asked it of me."

He would have. For Clara he would do anything.

"I'm glad you didn't," Clara sighed and suddenly her arms were back around his chest, hugging him tightly.

When he closed his arms around her in return there was only one question left unanswered on his mind. "Will you go away with me? Just you and me?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know," she replied hesitantly, "I just wanna go home now."

Clara shifted in his embrace until she looked up at him. "Will you take me home? To my grandma?"

"Yes, I will," he said before he bent down and left a long, soft kiss on her forehead.