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Outfits: claires_outfit_chapter_15-16/set?id=98206114&lid=3219209
The Doctor's POV
"What's taking Claire so long?" I asked worry lacing my voice. Our food had arrived a few minutes ago and she was still in the bathroom.
"She's been gone for quite a while now." Rory added.
"She said she needed a moment to herself. Giver her some time." Amy said picking at her pasta. Wait a minute Amy claimed that she needed to talk to Claire. Did she say something to upset her? I swear if Claire's in the bathroom crying right now…
"Amy, what did you say to her?" I asked slowly getting angry at the red head.
"Nothing! She just needed a moment."
"It's been thirty minutes!" I pushed myself up from the table. "I'm going to go see if she's alright."
Amy rose from her seat. "No, I'll go get her. You can't just waltz into a girl's bathroom."
"Wait, here she comes." Rory stated.
Sure enough Claire came walking back into the room a smile on her face when she spotted us. I walked up to her before she could approach the table. "Are you alright?" I asked placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Doctor, I'm fine. I just had to use the bathroom." She then took my hand and led us back to the table.
She took a seat before I could pull out her chair for her. Brushing it off I took my seat next to her and examined her face. She didn't appear to be crying and there weren't any signs of distress on her face, so that was good. I continued to study her features until she cleared her throat catching me off guard.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer." She said with a smirk rising a glass of wine to her lips.
My eyes widened in surprise as I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Amy and Rory seemed to be shocked as well. There was definitely something off about her.
Dinner carried on with reminiscing over past journeys with the Ponds. The three of us were deep in conversation while Claire just observed us from the side. I stole small glances at her to make sure she was ok, but only received a smirk or a wink in return. I narrowed my eyes at her in suspicion and continued to listen to the story the Ponds were currently reliving: Venice, Italy.
"So, Claire, what kind of adventures has the Doctor brought you on since we saw you last?" Rory asked once their story was over.
Claire paused. She was at a complete loss for words and looked to me for help. What's happened to you? Concern itched at me as I decided to test her. "Well, I brought Claire to London and she met an old friend of mine."
"Ah yes, London. It was kind of dull to be honest, not really all that exciting." She said raising another glass of wine to her lips. This was her fourth. I watched her down the liquid without a care and reached to pour herself some more.
Quickly, I took the bottle away from her and handed it to a nearby waiter. "I think you've had enough." I muttered.
She shrugged it off and leaned into my shoulder heavily. She was definitely intoxicated. "Claire, I hate to break it to you, but I think you may be drunk." I stated moving my arm to support her.
"I'm not drunk, silly." She giggled as she ran her hand up my inner thigh.
A deep blush quickly burned at my ears as I jumped to my feet. "Ok, you should probably get some sleep."
"But I'm not tired!" She wined reaching a hand out for me.
I knelt down beside her, eyeing her carefully. "Claire, you're not yourself at the moment and right now you need some rest, ok."
Her large brown eyes looked up at me sadly, a small pout tugging at her lips. "Ok." She wrapped her arms around my neck as I picked her up from her seat. We received strange looks as she encircled her legs around my waist. The blush tinting my cheeks burned hotter as I tried to ignore her tiny body pressed up against mine. The four of us left the dinning room in a hurry, in an attempt to avoid any other disapproving looks. As we headed back to our room I felt something wet tickling at my ear.
"Rory, what is she doing?" I asked fearing the answer.
"Erm… she's licking your ear." Rory mumbled.
Amy laughed as I tilted my ear away only to have her lick at my neck instead. My hearts thudded wildly against my chest as I tried ignoring the sudden heat down south. "Claire, can you please stop that." I muttered quickly rounding the corner to where our room was.
"But you like it." She purred.
I glanced at Amy who shared an equally shocked expression, but was trying so hard to fight back fits of laughter. Our room was only a few doors away, rummaging through my pockets with my free hand I fished for the key. Once in hand, I tossed it to Rory who quickly unlocked the door and let us in.
I had Amy and Rory turn on the gas lamps as I ushered Claire to a nearby chair. I sat her down finally escaping her cursed tongue. Quickly I wiped at my neck earning a burst of giggles from the culprit.
Amy and Rory soon joined me as we gathered around Claire.
"What are we going to do with her?" Amy asked. "I've never seen someone get so drunk after only a few drinks.
"Amy, she's tiny. Her body can't handle that many drinks." Rory informed.
I rubbed my face in thought as I turned to Amy. "Can you help her get cleaned up? She obviously isn't going to be able to do it herself." I sighed.
Amy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I got it." She turned to Claire. "Come on lets get you cleaned up, yeah." The ginger held her hand out to the brunette. Claire took her hand and let Amy pull her up, wobbling slightly in the process. I watched as the two walked out of sight and into the bedroom.
A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I settled down on the loveseat. Rory stood in front of me worry denting his features.
"Claire is more than drunk." Rory uttered.
"I know." I scratched at my chin. "Something's been wrong with her since she came back from the bathroom."
Rory nodded furiously. "That's what I was thinking. Amy told me she just wanted to talk to her about you, but it wasn't anything that was meant to upset her."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "What did she say?"
Rory shrugged. "I have no idea."
I shook my head. "Go back to the bathroom in the dinning room. See if you can find anything. Something's not right around here."
Claire's POV
It was dark. Very, very dark. My heart beat wildly against my chest as my palms sweat profusely. Anxiety was eating away at my mind as I tried escaping from my restraints, but to no avail. Tears slid down my cheeks and dampened the cloth that gagged my mouth. I had tried screaming through it, but to no avail, besides my throat was starting to run dry. I closed my eyes and opened them again. The only way I could tell that my eyes were closed was when I felt my lashes tickling lightly at my cheeks.
I couldn't tell how much time had gone by, but I was definitely certain that it'd been at least an hour since I last saw Amy or the Doctor. Please let them find me. Hopefully that imposter got something wrong about me and they know that I'm missing. I sighed heavily. There was a chance that they may never know that I was missing. That thing looked just like me.
A light breeze tickled at my cheeks and loose strands of hair blew lightly against my face. A window must be open somewhere. I looked around for an opening or a light source, but it was too dark to make anything out. The wind started to pick up and a faint blue light started to light up the bathroom. My heart soared with relief as Perious materialized in front of me.
Thank god.
Perious immediately flipped the bathroom light on and ran to my side. He expertly undid my bindings and removed the wretched gag from my mouth.
"Thank you so much." I rasped trying to find my voice again.
"Claire is in danger." Perious wallowed.
I put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be safe as soon as I can find the Doctor."
He nodded and helped me to my feet. At that moment there was a loud knocking on the bathroom door.
"Hello? Is anybody in there?" The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't make it out. Is that Rory?
Perious eyed me. "Should I protect you?"
"No, no. That won't be necessary. He's good." I shook my head. "Rory is that you?" I made my way for the door.
"Claire? How? What?"
I unlocked the door and came face to face with a flabbergasted Rory. "Oh you don't know how good it feels to see a familiar face." I breathed pulling him into a hug. "Wait you are really Rory, right? Not an imposter?"
"Uh… yes, I'm really Rory." He showed me his wedding band for proof. "You're here in the bathroom and you're also with the Doctor and Amy. How-" He stopped abruptly. "Claire, there's a giant lizard behind you. Don't move."
I laughed. "Oh, Perious? Don't worry about him, he only wants to protect me so don't get on his bad side."
Rory shook his head trying to wrap his mind around everything.
"What did you say about there being another me with Amy and the Doctor?"
Rory snapped back to attention and pointed awkwardly to Perious. "There are a lot of people outside. You might not want to have a giant lizard roaming about."
"True." I turned to my protector. "Thank you, Perious. You can leave now."
The lizard bowed before disappearing in the same wind that he arrived in.
"Right. There's another you, but she's kind of intoxicated."
I raised my eyebrows in shock. "What?"
The Doctor's POV
"Ah! Claire, no! Come back." Amy yelled before a half naked Claire came running into the room. She was clad in only her underwear and immediately ran over to me. I quickly covered my eyes in an attempt to allow her some decency, but she wasn't having any of that. I felt someone jump in my lap and start kissing my neck.
"AMY!" I yelled my face turning beat red as Amy tried prying Claire off of me.
My hearts were beating rapidly against my chest as her soft lips pecked at my exposed neck. My arms flailed about uselessly as Amy pried Claire from me. I uncovered an eye just in time to see the door smash open. My jaw nearly dropped at the sight before me.
Claire's POV
Rory and I quickly made or way back to the room receiving strange looks from nearby staff and guests. Upon reaching the door I quickly tried the handle it was locked. Great. Not knowing what else to do I took a few steps back and looked to Rory who nodded in understanding. The two of us then threw all of our weight at the door smashing it open in the process. My jaw dropped in shock at the sight before me.
The Doctor was sitting on a chair staring at me in shock with a mix of slight horror on his face as Amy tried prying my half naked clone off of him. If it were someone else's body I probably would've laughed at the scene, but since it was my body that was exposed I was mortified.
"Oh dear god." Rory said taking in the scene as well.
My clone stopped struggling and looked at me. Shock crossed her features before changing to slight defeat. "Well, it was certainly fun while it lasted." She pulled herself away from Amy and stopped trying to pounce on the Doctor. I watched in horror as the image of me disappeared into the image of a large red alien covered in suckers.
The Doctor immediately jumped to his feet and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Zygon. Stupid, stupid, Doctor! It was so obvious!"
The Zygon snarled at us as Rory and I slowly started backing towards the exit. My back came in contact with something behind me. I turned around and came face to face with one of the hotel staff. She peeked into the room and rolled her eyes. "Well, that certainly didn't last long." She stated before turning into a Zygon herself.
Rory and I gasped, quickly running back into the room. We looked to the Doctor for help, but he seemed at a total loss for words. Great, he doesn't have a plan.
A light breeze filled the room ruffling my hair as it slowly picked up. An all too familiar blue light filled the room as Perious materialized in front of me. I didn't have time to react before he let out a breath of icy blue flames at the Zygon closest to the Doctor and Amy. The disgusting red creature let out a horrible scream as it burned into a pile of ashes. Perious then turned to the zygon behind Rory and I, and turned her to ashes as well.
I let out a breath of relief as Perious bowed to me. "You are safe for now." He rasped before disintegrating.
"What was that?" Amy gasped pointing to the place Perious once stood.
"Long story short. That was Perious, an alien Claire created by accident when I first met her. His mission in life is to protect Claire until the end of his days." The Doctor informed before racing over to me. He pulled me into a warm hug and stroked my hair. "Thank the stars you're ok." He murmured into my hair.
I sighed in relief and rested my head against his chest. The sound of his two beating hearts eased my anxieties away for the time being.
"Uh, Doctor?" Amy spoke up breaking our little moment. "Where exactly are those things coming from?"
The Doctor let go of me and turned around to face her. "That's what we're going to find out."
We waited until late at night when there would be less people roaming the hallways. Slowly the four of us crept out from the suite and made our way down the barren hallway.
"Now keep your eyes out for anything alien." The Doctor instructed.
"We know the drill." Amy scoffed.
The hallways were long and dark; the only light came from gas lamps attached to the walls. We neared the end of the hallway, a dead end.
"I hate dead ends." The Doctor mumbled to himself nodding for us to turn around. As we made our way back down the hallway I spotted a sign above a door on the left.
"Psst, Doctor." He looked in my direction as I nodded towards the door that read: STAIRWAY.
"Excellent eyes, Claire." He smiled bopping me on the nose with his pointer finger.
The four of us swiftly made our way down the stairwell. It seemed to go on forever until we reached another door with a sign that read: BASEMENT. The Doctor opened the door and ushered the Ponds and I through. A gasp escaped my lips as I took in the sight before me.
A mass of different colored lights flashed at us from a large control panel. It was covered in hundreds of different buttons, levers and monitors displaying some alien language. Sitting in chairs working the large console were at least seven Zygons. Luckily they're backs were turned to us and they didn't seem to notice that we were there. We quickly exited the room unnoticed, shutting the door quietly behind us. The Ponds and I turned to a rather impish Doctor.
"It seems that the Zygons may have planted their ship in the basement and we just happened to stumble upon the control room." He winced.
"Well, what exactly are we supposed to do?" Amy asked crossing her arms against her chest.
"We find a way to get the Zygons out without killing anyone. Simple really." The Doctor shrugged. Amy and I glared at him. "Ok, not really that simple."
"Exactly how many Zygons are here?" Rory asked nervously.
"Probably over a hundred and if their base is under the hotel; let's not be surprised if everyone here is actually a Zygon."
"Great." I grumbled exchanging a worried glance with Amy.
"Now, now, let's not get discouraged. All I have to do is try reasoning with them and I'll have this mess fixed in no time. Then Amy and Rory can have their anniversary in peace."
"Doctor, next time, don't jinx us." I said wrapping my shawl tighter around my body in an attempt to keep out the chill. The four of us were kicked out of the Savoy for causing havoc and were now sitting on the streets in the snow.
"Agreed." Amy groaned.
The Doctor looked at us both empathetically. "Bit of a shock, Zygon ship under the Savoy, half the staff imposters. Still, it's all fixed now." He flashed us a smile in an attempt to cheer us up, but we returned it with a hard glare.
"Yeah, after loosing Claire, nearly getting Amy killed after trying to negotiate with them and then that weird alien thing who follows Claire around, decides to come in and set the whole place on fire. Yup, everything's fixed alright." Rory said sarcastically.
Amy rose to her feet and turned to the Doctor. "Let's just go home. It's freezing here. Where's the TARDIS."
The Doctor avoided eye contact with her. Amy knelt down to his level anger pouring off of her. "Doctor."
"I may have misplaced her. She should be somewhere on this street." He rose to his feet and looked up and down the street. "Or perhaps the next one over."
"Come on then, let's go find her and get out of here before we all freeze to death." Rory groaned wrapping an arm around Amy. The couple walked down the street leaving the Doctor and I slightly behind them.
The Doctor helped me to my feet and removed his coat. "Doctor, don't do that you'll be cold." I argued.
"You need it more than I do right now." He said draping it over my shoulders before wrapping an arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. I let him wrap me up in his warmth as we walked slowly behind the Ponds. "So, what happened to you before?" He asked me.
"Well, after Amy left, our waiter came into the bathroom. He grabbed me before I could react. I thought I was going to be raped or killed, that was until it took on my image. It then left me tied and gagged to a toilet in the locked dark bathroom." I answered.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize it wasn't you earlier." The Doctor apologized.
"It's ok." I felt him tighten his grip on me slightly. "Is something wrong?"
"What did Amy tell you, about me?" He asked suddenly.
I felt my heart skip a beat and I focused my eyes on the road ahead in an attempt to avoid eye contact. "She- she just wanted to ask me some personal things." I half-lied. Nothing was coming to mind and I had no idea what to say. Immediately I regretted saying what I had just said.
The Doctor stopped walking and let go of me. The cold air nipped at me again the second his warmth was taken away from me. "Claire, I know you're lying."
"I know, I'm sorry. I'm just not sure if I'm allowed to know about this that's all. Which is why I've been avoiding it."
"What did she tell you?" He asked again, this time a bit softer.
"She told me about River." The Doctor went quiet for a moment. I hesitantly looked up at him. Something about him changed. It was like a sort of sadness came over him. I opened my mouth to apologize when Amy came running over.
"We found her, she's just around the corner." Her smile faded as she examined the two of us. "Everything ok?"
The Doctor brightened immediately. "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" He wrapped his arm around me again and led the two of us back to the TARDIS.
I never should have brought up River.