Title: A Day and Life on the TARDIS
Author: Flydye8/Heintz571
Pairings: Clara/12th Doctor
Rating: T (just to be on the safe side)
Summary: This is a collection of stories about the times in-between Clara's and the Doctor's adventures. The ones we never see; because we all know once you starting living with someone, life always gets more interesting. The stories are primarily fluffiness, domestication, and a loving friendship taking place after "Last Christmas".
Author's Note 1: I am writing these because the ideas keep distracting me from writing on my other 12/Clara stories, so I figured, I might as well get them out of my head and penned down. Thank each of you for favoring/following/commenting on this story I am so pleased that you are enjoying it.
Author's Note 2: This is a follow-up of the chapter "Cups and Companions" once again I have a story within a story happening. Feedback and comments are most welcome.
The Doctor waited for a few more minutes hoping Clara would open the door for him, but unfortunately the door remained stubbornly closed. He was going to use the emergency release code to get into her room but quickly discarded the idea. If he wanted her to trust him, he would have to trust that she would open the door.
Deciding to try one more time he called out, "Clara please, I want to talk with you." His voice wavered with emotion as he continued to be patient.
He was about to ask again when the door open revealing his companion to him. "Hi." He simply said.
Leaving the door ajar for him Clara turned away, moving back to her bed where a suitcase laid open and was quickly being filled with her belongings.
Following her in he quickly observed the state of the room and asked quietly, "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like Doctor?" She responded with a roll of her eyes.
"If I was to take a guess then I would say packing." He stated placing the basket on the ground moving closer to her.
"You have guessed right."
"Why?"
Stopping her movements she turned to him her shoulders slumped in defeat, "We gave it a go and it just isn't working out. It is time for both of us to move on." Reaching into her side drawer she placed her book 101 places to see gently in the case.
"I disagree; if we truly gave it a go then I wouldn't be standing here watching you pack." He moved quickly, turning her to face him. "I don't want you to go, I need…" his sentence trailing off because of his reluctance to expose his vulnerability.
"You need what, Doctor?" She asked pleading with him to answer her with her soft brown eyes.
Raising his hands from the side of his body he shrugged as he sighed, "Just you, I need you." He replied finishing his statement.
"You need me?" she questioned before countering, "You don't need me. You don't want anyone around you."
Guiding her to the bed to sit, he took his place next to her holding both of her hands in his, "That is where you are wrong." Exhaling he turned his face away from her, focusing on the wall before continuing, "Regeneration is a traumatic occurrence for a Time Lord, difficult to go through. What helps us is the first face we see; you see an irreversible connection occurs and that person becomes embedded on our hearts deeply. They become our rock, our strength and our salvation helping us cope with the process."
Astonished Clara confirmed, "So when you saw me for the first time, with your new eyes, you became bonded to me?"
"Yes, I guess bonded is as good as a word as any for what happened." He replied looking back at her.
Standing up removing her hands from his she paced the floor in frustration, "You should have told me that was going to happen." The ramifications of his confession weighing heavily on her heart; no wonder he had such a pained look on his face when she told him, so long ago, she didn't know who he was anymore or even worse the sadness in his eyes on the Orient Express during their supposed last hurrah.
It also explained the joy on his face when she told him she was going to continue to travel with him and the need she saw after they woke up from their shared dream when he asked her to not to argue and fly away with him.
Stopping her pacing she turned to him and asked afraid of the answer to her next question. "So what happens to you if I leave or, heaven forbid, I die?"
"I don't know." Moving to the discarded picnic basket he brought it back to her bed, "Sit down please."
Obeying his request she sat down and waited as he pulled out the pink and yellow mug, "Rose was the first face that my 10th aspect saw; she traveled with me for another year after my regeneration. We found ourselves in a confrontation with not only the Cybermen but also with the Daleks. The only way to save Earth was to open the void, in-between parallel universes, drawing them into the darkness trapping them inside. Rose stood by my side even though there was a good chance we might be pulled in as well. Unfortunately, her grip on the magnet clamps faltered, she was about to enter the void when her father from a parallel world caught her. She disappeared from my universe into another one. To say goodbye to her I burned and destroyed a sun."
Placing that mug on the bed he pulled out the one that said Pond, "Amy was the first face my 11th aspect saw, she traveled with me on her own for a year than her husband Rory joined us for the last two. They were the parents of River my late wife. We were in New York City when we were confronted by the Weeping Angels, after we defeated them there was one left that had limited residual energy. With that energy it sent Rory back in time and because Amy couldn't live without her husband she voluntarily subjected herself to the Angel, resulting in her being sent back to the same time as Rory. I couldn't go to them because I saw their gravestones effectively creating a paradox. If I risked changing the paradox I would have destroyed most of New York City so instead I went into seclusion for centuries in Victorian London."
A vague memory entered her mind of one her incarnations meeting the Doctor in Victorian London, "That was when I first met you, well one of my ghosts."
"It was not the first time I met one of your incarnations. It was the second time and they are not ghosts they are personas of you." He clarified not wanting to think about how many more of her lives he may run into during the rest of his existence. "So to answer your question I am not sure what I would do, but Clara it is important to remember, I do move on even if my hearts ache for a while. This is in no way a ruse to manipulate you to stay. I would never want you to feel guilty or obligated; it is my burden to bare not yours."
"I know but I wonder if your connection to me somehow has… unintentionally caused complications." She stated, thinking that maybe her falling in love with him was directly related to the bond. How she wished she could talk to Amy and Rose to find out what type of feelings they had for their versions of the Doctor. She especially wanted to talk to Rose because, like her, she traveled with two different aspects of the Doctor.
"I don't see how it could cause complications for you. It is a Time Lord trait not a Human one." He explained shifting nervously next to her. Her comment made him wonder if maybe he was incorrect in his assumption.
Deciding to take advantage of the Doctor's openness, as well as avoiding any more thoughts about how the bond may have caused her to fall in love with him, she picked up the mug with the medical symbol on it, "Tell me about Martha."
Taking the cup from her he looked sadly at it, "I hurt Martha terribly."
"I don't believe that." Clara reassured.
"Yes, I did. She traveled with me soon after Rose's disappearance, she fancied me, well the 10th me, and I was cruel to her I never opened up to her as I did with Rose. I asked her to travel with me so I wouldn't be alone; I should have known better, I wasn't ready for a new companion at that time. She was brilliant though we faced the Master together. She walked the Earth on her own telling everyone about me and at predetermined time she asked everyone to think of me. The psychic energy transferred into me allowed me to defeat the Master destroying him, or so I thought."
"What happened to her?" Clara asked curiously.
Smiling sadly he replied, "She left me, deciding that it was better to be on her own then pine after an alien that didn't reciprocate her feelings of love. I got her a job at UNIT as Medical Advisor; she also worked with Jack. I saw her quite a few times after she left; she traveled for a bit with Donna and me as well."
"Who are Jack and Donna?" Clara encouraged the Doctor to continue.
Holding the mug with the phase "Sexy and I know it" written on surface the Doctor continued, "This was Jack's; he is an anomaly, very much like you. He traveled primarily with my 9th self; we were on Satellite 5, once again, fighting the Daleks. I was about to destroy them with a biological weapon when Rose returned to me after looking into the heart of the TARDIS. She became the entity Bad Wolf and in an instant with a single thought she destroyed the Dalek fleet as well as bringing Jack back to life after being killed. But she didn't have control of the power and made Jack immortal. He can never die; he will live longer than me. Drawing out the power from Rose instigated my regeneration to my 10th persona.
Not sure what to think about Jack and Bad Wolf she gestured toward the last mug, "So Donna owned that mug with the fatty creature on it."
Chuckling to himself he smiled at the memory, "Fatty is a perfect description of the creature, they were made out of fat from obese humans."
"Seriously, those creatures were made out of human fat that is one hell of an excellent diet."
"I guess, except for the fact when the enzyme was completely activated it killed the person by converting every cell of the human body into those creatures."
Shaking her head in disbelief she responded, "Okay, maybe it isn't that great of a diet. Tell me more about Donna."
Holding up the mug tears formed in his eyes, "She was the most important women in the universe. She traveled with me after Martha and was perfect for my 10th self. She pushed me to care and save who I could even when it seemed no one could be saved. She helped me become more human than I ever had been in my previous incarnations."
"She must have been amazing, why did she stop traveling with you?" Clara asked as she put a comforting hand on his arm.
"She didn't have a choice; I erased her memories of our time together." He whispered his breath catching with emotion.
Aghast Clara pulled back from him, "How could you do that to someone you traveled with, a friend who helped you so much?"
"It was either that or watch her die in front of me. We fought against the Daleks, during that time a metacrisis took place and she absorbed some of my regeneration energy, transferring some of that energy to a severed arm of mine creating a clone of my 10th self. It is a bit complicated, but needless to say, the energy inside of her was killing her; the only way to keep it from doing so was to take away all the memories of our travels together. The process locked away the regeneration energy into the deep recesses of her mind."
"That is terrible, I can't imagine having all my memories taken from me, all the things I have seen and done. I wonder Doctor, if taking her memories was the wrong thing to do."
Placing Donna's cup back into the basket he agreed, "I have contemplated that for many years and it is one of the major regrets I have, but at the time I couldn't bare another loss so soon after Martha and Rose, I was selfish old man even then."
"Are you saying you are still selfish, Doctor?" She smirked at him.
"Well I am just as selfish as you." Clara's smirk turned into a glared as he continued, "You can't deny it especially after the volcano incident when Danny died."
With the Doctor's statement silence impregnated the air of the room as the tension increased between them. They both knew, what either of them said next, would dictate how things progressed between them. Fearful of the outcome, neither of them said anything as they stared into each other's eyes waiting for who would speak first.