You're Special

Clara found herself in the library and had been surprised to find that it was very different than the library she knew. She really shouldn't have been so shocked, as the rest of the TARDIS was so different as well. She had been roaming the giant library for a while when she heard her name being called.

"Yea?" She shouted, climbing down a ladder to answer whoever was calling her. The Doctor appeared in the doorway. He grinned when he spotted the pile of books Clara had formed on a coffee table.

"I see you found the library." He commented. Clara nodded, tucking her hair behind her ears. She had taken her hair out of its ponytail after deciding to roam the TARDIS.

"Yea, I went exploring." She answered. The Doctor stared at her face a moment, frowning. "What?"

"Are you sure we haven't met before?" He asked bluntly. "There have been too many weird things about you, Clara."

"I'm positive we haven't met." Clara lied. She paused a moment. "And, what sort of weird things?" He raised his eyebrows, seeing through her lie. He didn't comment on it.

"Well," he began. "The TARDIS perception filter didn't work on you, for one." He replied slowly. Clara shrugged nonchalantly, sitting on a loveseat.

"Maybe the perception filter is faulty." She suggested lightly. The Doctor scoffed, sitting beside her. As if to accent him, the TARDIS seemed to scoff, as well. "Or, maybe I'm just special." Clara corrected quickly, not wanting this TARDIS to hate her. She actually liked the TARDIS liking her.

"Yea..." The Doctor's mind seemed to go somewhere else as he continued to stare at her. "Special." She waited a moment.

"Is that the only weird thing?" Clara asked, hoping it was. Her question broke whatever trance he was in.

"No. You didn't even ask what my screwdriver was." He continued, pulling his silver sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket. Clara admired it- secretly, she liked this one better than the gold one her Doctor had. It seemed she was liking more things about this Doctor than her Doctor.

"I figured it was a space scanner thing." She replied hastily, remembering that he had used it to scan for life on the spaceship. "I didn't think I was expected to ask about it."

"Well, not expected to- but it's still strange. Everyone asks."

"Well, I'm not everyone."

"Clearly." Clara was thrown off for a second. What did that mean? "We were in France and you didn't even ask why you could understand the language."

"I actually speak French fluently." Clara retorted, crossing her arms. That wasn't quite true, but it wasn't a total lie, either; she had been taking online classes, but she was nowhere near fluent. She had been thinking of au pairing in France once Artie and Angie didn't need her anymore. The Doctor beamed, surprised.

"Oh!" He said.

"Besides, Mickey asked about it. I found out." Clara said simply, picking up a book. She was trying to get the conversation to end. No luck there.

"You're different." He murmured, seemingly talking more to himself than to her. "You're special." Clara glanced at the Doctor, and her cheeks burned when she saw how intensely he was staring at her.

"So, you saved Reinette?" Clara asked, voice a little higher than usual. The Doctor nodded shortly, looking at his lap. He didn't look happy. After a moment, he pulled a thick piece of folded paper from his jacket pocket.

"She wrote this for you." Clara gingerly took the paper, running her fingers over the parchment. Abruptly, he stood and left, leaving her alone in the library. She watched him as he walked off, wondering what could have made him so upset at the mention of Reinette.

Clara broke the wax seal on the paper and unfolded the letter.

Clara,

I have not seen you since I was a child, but I expect you are as real as the Doctor. I don't expect that the Doctor will make it back to me in time- I am getting older every day, and yet he has not come. I looked forward to seeing the universe with the both of you.

Take care of him, Clara. He is so lonely, and he needs someone more than that Rose girl. There is no one other than you I would trust to care for him; he is special to the both of us.

I hope you enjoy your time never taking the slow path. I hope you enjoy your time with the Doctor. And, I hope you go after him, the same way I went after the king. He would become yours in a heartbeat. He is a special man, and I can tell that you are a special woman, as well.

Thank you for being my imaginary friend, and helping me keep my nightmares away.

Reinette, Madame de Pompadour

Clara's head was spinning after she finished reading the letter for multiple reasons. Her little Reinette was the most famous French woman ever?! The Doctor had offered for her to travel with him? How had she known Clara's name- she was sure she had never said it.

"Go after the Doctor"? Reinette must have been a little out of it when she wrote that. The Doctor would not "become hers in a heartbeat".

Clara found herself crying over the letter. Reinette was going to travel with them and see the universe, but she had to take the slow way. She must have died before the Doctor made it back to her. The little, seven year old girl she had protected from the androids had remembered Clara her entire life, and had died before she could actually see what the universe had to offer.

"Clara?" Clara looked up through her tears to see Rose standing next to her. Rose looked concerned and sat next to her. She spotted the letter. "You got a letter, too." Clara could only nod, too choked up to speak. Rose, being a hell of a lot nicer to her than she had ever been, pulled Clara into a hug. She didn't ask about the letter at all. She just held Clara while she cried.

Clara clutched the letter in her hands, grateful that Rose was being kind to her. She had wondered why Rose didn't seem to like her, but at least Rose was setting that aside.

For now.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you liked the chapter. Now that school has started, chapters might be coming out a bit slower, but hopefully they will be at least once a week. Please, let me know what you thought in a review!