Title: A Day and Life on the TARDIS
Author: Flydye8/Heintz571
Pairings: Clara/12th Doctor
Rating: T
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, family life, romance and a loving friendship taking place after "Last Christmas".
Author's Note: My apologies to each of you my dear readers, I had some surgery in April and it has taken a lot of time to completely recover from it. I am doing well and I'm back writing on this story. Thank you for your patients and for continuing to read my story while I was on a brief hiatus.
My beta reader Marie Anna Louise has been fantastic as always and because of her dedication I'm able to bring you the next chapter. So please enjoy.
The Doctor felt a soft hand on his shoulder shaking him gently. He opened his eyes and was greeted by a fully dressed and smiling Clara, "Hello my handsome silver fox," she said. She ran her hand through his silver curls while nibbling on a piece of bread, before continuing, "we really should get a move on before the storm hits."
He sat up quickly and noticed the dark ominous clouds in the once sunny skies above him. Sitting, he looked for his clothes only to smile as he saw Clara holding them out for him. "Yes I think you are right," he responded as he arose from the soft blanket and started to dress.
When he was finished dressing, he helped Clara pack up their belongings then assisted her off the flat rock. Once her feet were on the soft sand he pulled her close for a steamy, passionate kiss before speaking, "That should hold us off till we get to the cottage."
"So we are heading home then?" Clara questioned sadly as they started walking back to the motor car.
He stopped for a moment and looked at her when he heard her sad voice, "No, my love not that cottage but a different one," he said and was pleased to see her eyes light up with happiness. He kissed her hand before they continued their trek back to the car.
Clara, once again in the passenger seat, watched as the clouds moved quickly inland, and she hoped that they would get to the cottage before the downpour but she had a feeling that they wouldn't make it in time.
Needing a distraction, she replayed, in her mind, their recent lovemaking, which might not have been the best idea for her to have with her love sitting next to her. She looked in his direction when she heard him moan.
Glancing over at her he commented, "Yes, it was delightful my Clara, but if you want me to stay on the road maybe you should think of something else or put up the walls in your mind."
Chuckling, she partially blocked her mind from his so to not distract him from driving. She was about to ask him to tell her where they were going, but she forgot her question as the view before them changed into a magical scenery.
Before them was a stone bridge that was just wide enough for one vehicle to pass at a time. Seeing no other cars coming their way, the Doctor drove slowly across. Clara craned her neck and looked over the edge to see a small clear stream flowing swiftly under the bridge and as she traced the stream's path with her eyes she saw it was shaded by large willow trees. Along the edge of the water there were multitude of colorful wildflowers and ferns growing in the areas where the sun's rays caress the ground.
The sight was beautiful to her and as the motor car crossed the bridge completely she took one more look behind noting the location to the road so they could visit it later.
After a few more moments the Doctor pointed, "There is our home for the next few days. "
Clara looked to where he was pointing and smiled, the cottage was a narrow vertical rectangle. A pair of windows marked the three floors of the cottage. The pink blinds in each window complimented the lavender color of the wooden planks that made up the structure. The roof had curved tiles of the same color of the blinds and on the right side there was a small chimney with wisps of smoke escaping from it.
The Doctor parked the car and commented as he noted the smoke as well, "It seems that there is a fire waiting for us."
Clara nodded as she continued her observations the cottage. The path that led to the dark purple door was cobblestone with colorful flowers aligning it. On each side of the cottage's door there were dark green English vines that grew along the walls grasping onto the sides of the home. When the Doctor opened her car door he held out his hand to her, she smiled as she placed her hand in his and commented, "It is beautiful."
Guiding her to the ground the Doctor matched her smile and spoke, "Well it is very different since the last time I was here."
"Really, how so?" Clara asked as she reached into the back of the car to retrieve a few of the bags he packed for their trip.
"Well it wasn't as brightly colored. Before it was brown and in a bit of disrepair," he replied as he reached for the rest of their bags.
"I think the color suits it. It is almost like something out of a fairytale, magical."
With a shrug he led them up the cobblestone path, "Personally I think it is a bit bright for my liking. I think it should be blue."
Giggling Clara responded, "You think everything should be blue."
He opened the door, "Blue is a good color. Some of the most amazing things are blue."
"Like your TARDIS."
"No my love, like our TARDIS."
Clara stood on her tippy toes and kissed him on the cheek, "You are such the romantic," she said as she entered the cottage.
"Well, I do my best. It is still a bit difficult for me but I'm learning."
"Yes, you are Doctor," Clara confirmed before she looked at the room they entered in.
What she saw made her smile. The living area was a mismatch of items: the couches were brown and leather, the bookcases were fire engine red and housed a large varied collection of books. The lamps were of brass with pink, yellow and red shades. On the floor in front of the fireplace was a pink and yellow rug with geometric designs. The paintings on the wall depicted different sea views and the mantle had knick-knacks of all sorts. From the ceiling of the room there were white fairy lights twinkling giving the room an ambiance of comfort.
The Doctor stood next to her after dropping his bags and surveyed the room, "I like it."
"So do I." Turning around she entered the second room on the first floor which was the kitchen and it was very different from the room she was just in, but just as eccentric. The kitchen was stark white with purple spotted wallpaper starting at the floor and ending at a purple boarder that marked the center of the walls. The floor was purple and the appliances were white. The dishes that were drying on the counter top had a purple and white floral design. In the center of the room was a purple wooden table, Clara placed the bags on top of it and started to unpack the food putting the items in the white cabinets and refrigerator.
She called over her shoulder, "Doctor, can you come and help me in here?"
The Doctor stopped at the doorway and brought his hands up to his forehead, "This room however is quite the…" he stopped as he searched for the right word to describe the purple-white room.
Clara giggled, "It is a bit feminine."
Raising his hand, he pointed at her, "Yes, that is a good way to describe it. I'm not sure if I will be able to eat in here."
Clara looked out the window above the sink and commented, "Well I don't think you will have to," and using here finger she pointed out the glass, "I think we will be able to eat out there."
The Doctor looked and saw a black cast iron table with two chairs sitting on a covered patio off the side of the house, "Yes I think that will be where we will eat, instead of this ghastly purple and white room."
Clara laughed at his comment then suggested, "Why don't you check out the rest of the house as I finish up in here and make us some tea."
"I think that is the best course of action," he said as he hurried out of the kitchen. He stopped briefly to grab their bags and walked up to the second level. Moving down the small hallway he looked into the room at his right and saw a beautiful bathroom with a deep claw footed tub. A brass pipe at one end had a shower attached and hanging from the ceiling was an oval brass ring where a brown shower curtain hung.
Turning to the other room, he found the master bedroom, in the center there was a large queen size bed and on each side he saw oval bedside tables with lamps adorned with dark blue shades which matched the comforter on the bed. On each side of the room were two large armories which were blue as well.
Setting the bags down he nodded and spoke in the empty room, "Now this is how a bedroom should look."
He hurried and put their clothes away, then opened the last bag. Inside was massage oils, candles and other romantic items, which he carefully placed on one of the bedside tables.
Well he hoped they were romantic; the worker at the shop told him that women loved these type of things and he planned on using them when he asked Clara to marry him. Reaching inside his pocket he pulled out a small box; opening it, he looked at the ring he had chosen to give to her.
It was very similar to the ring he wore; two simple gold bands; one of the bands had a blue sapphire almost identical to the necklace he had given her before her grandmother's birthday party, oh so long ago. The other band was plain which would attach to the engagement ring.
As he stared at the ring he contemplated what it meant for them. By Gallifreyan standards they were already married or bonded in his culture, but the moment he gave the ring to Clara it would show those on Earth his commitment to her. But what worried him most was how her family would respond; he had no doubt that her father would be fine with their marriage, however he wasn't so sure about her step-mother.
He really didn't want her to be ridiculed by that dragon woman, especially since Clara was pregnant with their children. But if he was honest with himself her step-mother is the least of his worries. Currently only a selected few knew about their relationship, Martha, Kate, and Susan and even fewer knew about the pregnancy. Once they were married, many more would know and that made him nervous. He had many enemies and if they knew the nature of his relationship with Clara, and about their children, it would be very difficult to keep his family safe. As of yet he hadn't mentioned any of his concerns to Clara, not wanting to cause her any stress, because any type of stress might cause difficulties with her pregnancy, especially since the children could sense her feelings, but he knew that he would have to talk with her very soon. The pitter patter of rain against the window brought him out of troubled thoughts.
He moved toward the window and watched the rain steadily get harder; he sighed and closed the box, and placed it back into his trouser pocket. They would decide what to do together, like everything else, and standing in the room worrying, when his love is just downstairs, wasn't what he wanted to do at this moment.
Taking a deep breath, he smelled the welcoming aroma of tea over the scent of hormones she was exuding. Standing, he went down the stairs leaving his worries in the bedroom for later contemplation.
As he arrived at the bottom of the stairs he called out as he made sure the fire in the living room was going strong, "It looks as if the rain has arrived. Maybe we should take our tea in the living room."
Turning around quickly to help Clara with the tea, he bumped into her spilling the tray of tea and biscuits she was carrying. With a loud crash everything fell to the ground causing her to jump back to avoid the hot liquid, unsuccessfully. Reaching for the top of her sundress she pulled at the soaked fabric trying to keep the hot tea from burning her as tears formed in her eyes.
"Ouch that hurts!" she cried out.
The Doctor quickly swooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bathroom. Placing her down on her feet, he removed her dress. Her skin was already red where the hot liquid touched her. He spun around and turned on the shower, as the semi-cold water cascaded he lifted her and placed her under the stream.
"Doctor that is cold!" Clara sputtered as water droplets fell down on her chest and body.
"Of course it is cold, but Clara it is the best thing for a burn. Now stay put while I go get the burn cream from the bedroom."
"I'm fine, I have been burned by hot tea before," her eyes met his and what she saw constricted her heart… guilt.
"Please Clara let me do this," he pleaded.
She nodded and whispered, "Okay." As soon as the words were out of her mouth he rushed out of the room to get the cream.
Clara looked down at her chest and saw that the skin was red but there weren't any blisters marking it. Bending she went to adjust the water when her eyes fell upon a small box. Reaching over the bathtub edge she held the box away from the stream of water and opened it. Inside she saw a beautiful ring, tears of happiness fell down her cheeks.
The Doctor's voice caused her to look up from the ring, "This wasn't the way I pictured doing this."
Still unable to speak Clara watched as he placed the tube of burn cream on the counter and remove his cloths. He stepped into the bathtub and faced her. Carefully, he took out the ring from the box and gently place it on her left ring finger, "Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"
"But I'm already your wife," Clara whispered her response.
"Yes you are, but I think it is time to let everyone else know it as well," he said as he held her hand waiting for her response.
She placed their clasped hands against her heart, "Yes, I will."
He bent down and kissed her reverently. When he broke the kiss he smiled at her, "Good."
Jack helped Susan carry the last of her boxes into the TARDIS, and he looked around smiling as he felt the TARDIS welcome him home, "She has changed a lot since the last time I was in here."
Susan moved toward the console before replying, "Well she changes based on the persona of my grandfather. Although I am not sure why she likes you."
"Why wouldn't she like me? I'm irresistible," he said with a cocky smile.
Pulling the activation switch, Susan shook her head at the man's arrogance and commented, "Irresistibly irritating." Standing with her arms crossed she continued, "So tell me what you have planned?"
"I don't know yet," Jack responded.
"Liar," Susan responded.
"Okay, you caught me there, but I want to share my plan when everyone is present."
"Well my grandfather and Clara are away for the weekend so you will have to wait."
"Why wait? We are in a time machine. We can just pop ahead to when they have returned," Jack stated smugly.
"Because, I don't trust you yet, so we will wait in linear time."
"So how can I make you trust me faster?" Jack asked.
Susan was about to responded when the cloister bell of the TARDIS went off. They both held on tight as the time machine was thrown off course by some outside force. Both worked in tandem to stabilize the ancient ship without much success, after a few moments the TARDIS landed with a thump causing the occupants to fall down on the metal grating.
As they pulled themselves off the floor, Susan grabbed the monitor to see their location. She gasped as she saw what was on the screen.
"What is it?" Jack asked as he looked over her shoulder, "Oh that is not good."
"No, it isn't. We need to get out of here right away." Susan frantically worked the controls to dematerialize the ship only to find them unresponsive, "Something is keeping us here. I can't break us free."
"We have to get out of here!" Jack yelled.
"I know Captain!"
"Put her in stealth mode before they arrive!"
"How do you know about stealth mode?" Susan asked in confusion as they heard metal footsteps approaching the TARDIS.
"Does it really matter?" he responded as he pushed numerous buttons on the console before continuing, "If we don't do it now we will be seen." He pushed one final button which caused the walls of the TARDIS to shimmer and disappear to all outside observers.
They both turned their heads quickly toward the double doors as metallic voice of a Cybermen echoed outside, "The Doctor and his ship have vanished."
In the main control room of the Cybership, a Cyberman watched as the TARDIS shimmered and disappeared. Checking the sensors, it noted that the ship was still there but just unseen. With unhurried movements it manipulated the sensors so none of the others in the control room would notice.
Standing it turned to the leader, "Sir, sensors are malfunctioning. They are in need of an upgrade."
"Proceed with the upgrade," the leader responded, its mechanical voice echoing in the room.
"Affirmative, sir." Quickly, the Cyberman left the control room and moved methodically down the passageway. Turning right it came to a holding cell, turning on the screen it saw two children, one boy and one girl, huddled together crying.
Turning off the screen the metal being continued down the passageway to the docking bay where the TARDIS still remained. When it approached the two Cyberguards it spoke with authority, "You are needed in area 116A."
The two guards responded, "Affirmative."
Once they were out of sight the remaining Cyberman placed a force field around the invisible TARDIS and waited.
Jack and Susan smiled at each other pleased that they got the old girl in stealth mode before the Cybermen had arrived. Moving quietly to the monitor they watched as the Cybermen left the room. Susan changed the display to show a schematic of the Cybership they were on.
Pointing at the screen she explained, "It seems that the Cybermen have some sort of beam around the TARDIS keeping us from moving back into the vortex. We are going to need to shut it down to leave."
Jack leaned over Susan's shoulder and traced the path to where the beam originated from, "It won't be easy."
"No it won't, but I think my grandfather has some devices on board that can mask our presence so we can move easily through the passageways without being noticed." Susan stated as she nibbled on her nail.
"Yes, the last time we used the inhibitors they were attached to the TARDIS keys," Jack said as he leaned in closer, grazing her back with his chest.
"Yes, I know that was when he traveled with Martha Jones. Later when he showed Clara's grandmother the rites of passages in her life he modified the inhibitors to be bracelets and adjusted them so a person could move without worrying about be seen. The question is, where are the bracelets now."
He tilted his head and whispered in her ear, "How do you know all of that?"
Tilting to the left, she crooked her neck and looked into his blue eyes, "When I was reunited with my grandfather I caught up on his travels by reading the TARDIS' data banks."
"So in all the data banks there wasn't a mention of me anywhere in them because when I approached you, you acted like you didn't know me."
"I knew of you, but I didn't know what you looked like. I choose to not view the images in those files because they hindered my progress," Susan said quickly doing her best to hide the fact she lied. She had looked at his image for an extended amount of time much to her embarrassment.
"Or maybe you were so enamored by my dashing good looks you forgot that you had read about me." Jack responded smugly.
"Think what you like," Susan replied tartly as she walked up the stairs to the promenade of the control room and opened the many different desk drawers until she exclaimed, "Ah ha, here they are."
Holding the bracelets up for Jack to see she rushed down the stairs and then down the second set, with Jack following closely behind, until she arrived under the main console.
Taking a seat at her grandfather's wooden work desk she held out her hand, "I'm going to need your vortex manipulator."
"Why do you need my vortex manipulator?" Jack asked.
"I'm going to have to use some of the components to adjust the frequency inhibitors to block the sensors of the Cybermen's ship because their instrumentation is a bit more advanced. Now hand it over," Susan explained as she wiggled her hands for him to comply.
Jack quickly unhooked the manipulator and handed it to her, "I want that back."
"We'll let my grandfather decide if you should get it back. Now hush because I have work to do."
"So you're going to let me help you release the beam so we can escape. I thought you didn't trust me?" Jack asked smugly as he leaned against the desk and crossed his arms.
"Desperate times need desperate measures," Susan responded without looking up from her work.
"I promise I won't let you down."
Halting her work, she looked up at Jack and stated, "That is the second promise you have given me Captain. I do hope you keep your promises."
Leaning down Jack smiled and gently placed a kiss to her cheek, "I always keep my promises to a beautiful woman. I'm going to go make some coffee."
Susan blushed as she heard Jack retreat to the upper level of the control room. As his steps became silent she placed her tool back down on the desk and brought her hand to her cheek. The skin still tingled from his kiss, sighing she got back to work trying to ignore the increased beating of her duel hearts.
Author's note: SO what do you think, like or dislike it is up to you but I would love to hear your thoughts on the story.. Hell. I crave comments so please review. Thanks
Flydy88/Heintz571