Chapter 2 - Vulnerable

Clara stared down at the baby, unable to fully comprehend what had just happened. Her processing time was cut short as the infant began to wail. On instinct she scoped the child up and cradled him to herself. "There now. What's the big fuss? Everything's going to be alright." She had always been good with children and the infant calmed down almost immediately. He rested his head against her shoulder and held on loosely to her hair. "That is you, isn't it Doctor?" she asked, although she didn't expect an answer. "This is probably the quietest you've ever been in your life. I don't suppose Time Lord infants can talk?" she waited a moment, but the silence wasn't even filled with babbling. "It is still you though, isn't it? I mean a regeneration changes you, but you're still the Doctor. You still have that same mind. So... are you just smaller?" Clara could feel the infants small breaths against her neck. What was she to do now? The Doctor had taught her how to return to her own time, but what was she to do when she got there? Care for the Doctor? Raise him? Who knew how long it took Time Lords to grow up.

Clara pulled the Doctor off her shoulder and held him at arms length. Staring into his tiny face she tried to look for any piece of information, any familiar expression. "Oh Doctor, what are we going to do?" this time she couldn't quite keep the fear from her voice. "I didn't know this could happen. Doctor, I don't know what to do. I need help." The baby reached out its left arm and seemed to point at the console. Was that on purpose? Clara wondered, What was he trying to say? In that moment it occurred to Clara that she wasn't as alone as she thought. The TARDIS and her weren't always on the best terms, but she was a living thing, she cared about the Doctor, and she was the best-perhaps only-ally Clara had at the moment. "Activate the voice interphase".

"TARDIS voice visual interface activated." Clara nearly drop the baby in surprise. It was his voice. She turned around quickly and saw the Doctor-her Doctor-standing before her. "Doctor?"

"I am not the Doctor. I am the voice interface," it said in a flat tone.

Clara didn't think she could stand talking to him if it wasn't... well, really actually him. She was about to ask the TARDIS to change, but she didn't have the heart. She couldn't help it; she wanted to see him for just a little longer. Even if it was a lie.

"Of all the people, why did you have to be him?"

"I chose someone you esteem."

"What are you, a mind reader?" Clara meant it as a joke, but as soon as she said it she knew it must be in some part true. And if it was true, it might just come in handy. "Because I could really use a mind reader."

"I can detect and analyze low level telepathic fields."

"What's the Doctor thinking about right now?" she asked, expectantly.

"I cannot determine that in this manner."

"Of course not," Clara stared back down at the Doctor, who this time looked like he was pointing at the floor. "Not in that 'manner', but another one, right?" Baby in hand, Clara raced down the steps until she was directly under the console. "I'm going to need you down here too, TARDIS." At her word, the voice visual interface materialized beside her. After careful consideration Clara found the telepathic circuit amongst other cables that looked almost the same, and held it out in front of her. "Now Doctor, I'm linking you into the telepathic circuit, it... well, it won't hurt a bit." she said, although they both knew it was a lie. The moment Clara inserted the telepathic circuit into the Doctor he let out a wail. She tried to console him but he was sobbing uncontrollably. "Well?" she called out to the TARDIS, "Anything?"

The projection's all too familiar face was lined in concentration. "There's too much to put into words. A Time Lord's mind is just too great."

Clara turned back to the Doctor, "Shhh, Doctor I know it hurts and it's a lot for a little guy like you, but I need you to concentrate." It seemed to work. He was growing quiet, although tears continued to stream down his face. "You're just too clever for all of this, but I need you to dumb it down for us lesser beings. I need you to focus on a single idea. A single word. Can you do that?"

"Pond..." the voice interface said quietly.

"That was him?" Clara asked. The voice interface merely nodded. "Okay, don't really know what that means, but it's a start." She knew they wouldn't have much time like this, but her head was a sea of questions, she didn't even know where to begin. "Doctor, you're a baby?" she said without thinking.

"Vulnerable." Clara didn't have to be told that this was the words of the Doctor.

"You mean as you are now, you're vulnerable like this?"

"Not safe."

"Okay, how do we keep you safe?"

"Martha."

"Martha?" Clara's head ran through every possibility she could think of. She knew more about his life than anyone, except maybe the TARDIS (and possibly River Song), but she had only seen it in glimpses. Which Martha might he mean?

"Martha? Martha Jones, you're old companion?"

"She knows."

"Knows? How to keep you safe? Doctor, how does she know?"

"Experience... We should stop. He is in too much pain."

Clara knew at once that the TARDIS was now speaking for itself. She also knew it was right, for the Doctor's tiny body had begun to shake involuntarily. She detached the telepathic cable and held him tightly in her arms until he had calmed down. "We need Martha Jones," Clara said to the TARDIS. "Can you get us to her?"

"Perhaps," the projection replied, but Clara could sense hesitation in its voice.

For all of their differences, Clara couldn't fault the TARDIS for its uncertainty. It wasn't just a matter of where Martha was, it was where she was at that moment in time, and which moment was the best one to find her in. It was like throwing a dart at a planet from space and hoping to hit a particular leaf. What they needed was a pilot. A real one. Clara cursed herself, but whether that was for not learning to fly the ship or for being human she wasn't quite sure. Not that the human part really mattered. There was only one person who could fly the TARDIS and he couldn't help her anymore... except, that wasn't quite true. "We need River Song." The Doctor had always bragged about how good River was with the TARDIS and Clara had seen first hand River's abilities, even when she was incorporeal. But where were they to find River? She said the Doctor had saved her in a database in the biggest library in the universe. Clara guessed that throughout all of time there would have been (and will be) several places that would earn that name. But there was something about River's words that pulled on the edges of Clara's memory. Particularly the part about being 'saved'. "The Library..." she muttered to herself as she thought back, or was it forward, to a different her, maybe Oswin or someone else around that time. She'd been saved in the Library (well saved and then rescued) by two very strange people, and when she went over to say thank you she couldn't bring herself to do it. Couldn't disturb them. Not when he looked so very sad. "I didn't know she knew the tenth version of him." Clara said to no one in particular. "TARDIS, can you take us to the Library? In the fifty first century, that same day, just after the Doctor left. After River Song... well, after she was... uploaded. Can you take us there?"

"Yes," and with that they were off.