AN: There will actually be another Future Clarenny storyline set a few years before this one which will elaborate significantly on what's going on with them at this point in time and Jenny's job and Nios's relationship and Clara's hotel, so don't worry if I'm skimpy on the details.

Regenderation: Part Three

Ravenwood

"What are you doing?" Nios addressed Clara Ravenwood. She was standing behind the bar with her hand on her neck and her arm in the air, balancing a glass bottle full of something purple on her elbow. "Aren't you supposed to be restocking?"

"I dropped a bottle last night," Clara said, then she managed to bounce the bottle on her arm and it did a spin in the air until she caught it again, then exchanged it into her other hand behind her back, "I have to practice the stall so I don't do it again." She picked up another bottle and started to juggle with them.

"Or you could pour the drinks normally," said Nios.

"Ni, the whole reason people come here is to see the pretty vampire doing fancy tricks while she mixes the cocktails," Clara told her knowingly. Nios was more practical and didn't believe in putting a flare into anything. Well, she said that, but her food presentation was always impeccable. "The kitchen is your area and the bar is mine. I don't know anything about cooking and you don't know how to make a Long Island Iced Tea in ten seconds."

Nios looked around the bar, which was completely empty, though this was typical for six in the morning. Most pubs and bars would turf people out if it got after three, and that was being generous. It was only Clara's vampirism that kept the alcohol flowing until the dawn light crept through the windows – though there were no windows at all. One of the first things Clara had decided when she took over was that she was going to brick up the windows down there. Even the windows in her bedroom, which was in the attic at the very top of the building, had large wooden coverings which hung from the curtain rails and completely blocked out all sunlight.

"Are you not letting her come downstairs today?" Clara inquired, putting the bottles down and beginning to pull the shutters across the shelves lined with expensive booze, a lot of which was from completely different planets. The shutters had an unusual mural of ambiguous space scenery painted across them, which Jenny had done one week when she was bored. Nios narrowed her eyes at Clara.

"She doesn't like coming down when there's people in the bar," Nios said, "…And she's having a shower."

"So, is it breakfast in bed again this morning?"

"It depends how long you keep me talking out here for," Nios said as Clara locked all the metal shutters. "Is Jenny asleep?"

"She's at work," Clara said with a sigh, "She took on an extra double shift again. I told her not to, but far be it from me to think she might listen to what I tell her for once. She's supposed to be back soon, though, but she hasn't texted." Clara and Nios were both very worried about Jenny, who had not been herself ever since getting the news that the Eleventh Doctor had drowned. Which was very understandable, really, but she had not been taking care of herself.

"Will she want scrambled eggs?"

"I want scrambled eggs if you're making scrambled eggs," Clara said.

"I'll get the big pot out then and make them in that," Nios decided. Actual breakfast, for the guests, began officially at seven, though very rarely were people there to eat it. Even less-so when the only guests they had were two drifters who probably wouldn't have anything to eat and one of their more permanent 'residents' who wouldn't be awake for hours yet. "Doesn't look like there are going to be many orders this morning, you know."

"Yes, yes," Clara dismissed her, "Alien refugees is often a niche market."

"Which is why I think-"

"That we should open to humans. But we can't. Not without segregating the human guests from the alien guests. That's why we hide." Their building was wedged into a random alley in Fitzrovia and kept completely secret from the human population of London, and was there to give lost aliens a safe place to go. Nios was only worrying about money, when strictly speaking they didn't need to, because they had a lot of clever tricks to keep them off the grid and operating with minimum expenditure. And Jenny brought in an annual salary of seventy-grand, and had very little to spend it on. They were in no danger of becoming unsustainable. "We do have one human guest anyway, don't we? Just because she doesn't pay for the room-"

"Leave her alone."

"Fine. But only because she scares me. And you can leave me alone because this is my business."

"Which Jenny funds and does all the accounts for, and which you only have because your ex-girlfriend decided to give you a deed to it on a whim."

"It was a present because Jenny got her that job. Look, I'm getting tired of you always-" Clara could not complete her sentence when the loud sound of ethereal thrumming broke the dawn quiet inside The Lost Cosmonaut. "Holy shit, that must mean there's news, right?" Clara said to Nios, going over to the doorway back into the main room. It seemed the TARDIS was materialising out by reception though, because while she could hear it she could not see it.

"Or they have the dates mixed up," Nios said, "Why do they have to arrive when I'm trying to make these eggs?"

"Forget the eggs, there might be a hot girl on that ship," Clara said, then added – though she really did not need to – "Apart from me, obviously."

"I never noticed how much like Oswin you are until I'm not around Oswin anymore." Clara took that as an insult. "Well, you tell me what's going on, because I've already started cooking." Clara left her behind and walked quietly through the empty bar and the chairs and tables and finally heard hushed voices. One of the voices was identical to her own, and the other was an American. Her heart nearly started beating again at the prospect of seeing Thirteen, whom she remembered to be gorgeous.

And she still was gorgeous, too, when Clara Ravenwood saw her, with Clara Oswald at her side and looking dishevelled. Her hand was twitching like she needed a cigarette. Ravenwood clapped her hands and made them both jump.

"Welcome to The Lost Cosmonaut, how can I help you today?" she asked.

"Very funny," said Alpha Clara.

"Whoa, this is totally like déjà vu," the Doctor stared at Ravenwood. Alpha Clara narrowed her eyes at the Doctor.

"…Right… this is the Other Me, you remember? She's from the alternate universe? She's also your daughter-in-law which is very weird…"

"I don't get it," said Thirteen.

"She's married to Jenny, they got married two years ago."

"What? That's crazy. Congratulations. Unless I hate that you're married to my daughter because it's kind of weird, then not-congratulations."

"You don't hate it," Clara sighed, then Clara said to Ravenwood, "I'm so sorry, basically she was underwater for two weeks and the brain damage is healing very slowly. She can't really remember anything. Wanted to come and see Jenny, but can't remember what Jenny looks like."

"No, I think she's blonde," said the Doctor quite proudly.

"She is blonde," said Ravenwood, "She's also not here. Sorry. Meant to be back soon, though; I have the maid cooking her breakfast."

"I'M NOT A MAID," Nios shouted.

"You're wearing an apron!" Clara shouted back. Nios didn't respond. "Sorry about the help. She's tetchy this morning. Anyway, if you like you can have breakfast while you wait for Jenny. She's doing scrambled eggs at the moment but it's almost time for the actual breakfast orders to come in. We doubt there will be any breakfast orders, though, it's nearly empty here."

"And what is this place?" the Doctor asked.

"The Lost Cosmonaut," Alpha Clara supplied the name.

"Why do you have a hotel?"

"Because Ashildr gave me the deed to it," Ravenwood explained, "As a present, to Jenny and I. Because we decided we wanted to move in together but didn't really know where, or what to do. Not that she works here really, she's a Chief Inspector with the Met, she's on overtime at the moment. Even though me and Nios both told her she really ought to be on bereavement leave."

"Who's Ashildr?"

"Viking girl. Got made immortal by parallel universe you, ended up killing Jenny because of… some very complicated reasons. It would really be better to just wait for you to remember, to be honest, it's quite convoluted," Ravenwood explained, then added, "You don't like her."

"Why a hotel, though?"

"This place is basically The Leaky Cauldron but for aliens," Alpha Clara said.

"Oh, from Harry Potter?"

"Amazing. You remember Harry Potter, but not what your daughter looks like. But yes. From that."

"Oh my god! Nios!" Thirteen exclaimed with joy when she saw Nios through the kitchen doorway, "My favourite synthetic buddy in the whole entire universe!" And then, though Nios herself protested vehemently against it because she was paying very close attention to stirring her potful of scrambled eggs, the new Doctor hugged her as tightly as she could.

"I can't believe she forgot me but remembered Nios," Alpha Clara said quietly to Ravenwood.

"It's not so bad," Ravenwood said, "At least she hasn't turned into an angry, old Scottish man who wants absolutely nothing to do with you."

"I saw him drown, you know. Right in front of me. No regenerations or golden lights, he was just gone, under the water, and I had to sit there, and wait, for hours, until…"

"You should be talking to her about this, not me," Ravenwood said, "As much as I'm willing to help your grieving process as best I can since I know what it's like more than anyone else, after coping with a regeneration and then managing to get over Danny, the best person to ease you through a regeneration is the Doctor. Why don't you go tell Nios what you want to eat?"

Ravenwood was pacing up and down in the kitchen, which was where the service entrance was and the same way Jenny always came in. Other Her and the Doctor were, by this point, eating in the next room, and Nios had vanished upstairs to give Dr Cohen her breakfast in bed, leaving Jenny's scrambled eggs on the side for whenever she arrived. But she was nearly an hour late, and she had not texted or called, and Clara even kept braving the sunlight to stick her head out of the door and see if Jenny was approaching. Finally, though, she caught her smell on the wind, and ceased worrying about if she was alright. There was another unusual smell coming along with Jenny, though…

Clara, anticipating her, went and opened the door as soon as Jenny was outside, about to touch the handle.

"Hey!" she greeted brightly, dragging her inside and closing the door. Then she turned serious. "Where have you been? You're late; I've been worried."

"You should be in bed," Jenny told her quietly.

"You know you smell like weed?"

"What? Oh. Yeah, see, we got called into this drugs raid and I was only supposed to be doing admin but we were so short-staffed I volunteered," she said.

"A drugs raid?"

"Well, not really a raid, just these people got forcibly evicted from their house and it turned out the house was doubling as a pot farm. No danger, just a lot of stuff to clean up. And then I got chewed out and taken off duty by the Superintendent, so I'm forcibly out of commission for the next week."

"Oh my god, what happened? Are you okay?" Clara touched her shoulders and tried to make Jenny meet her eyes, but Jenny refused and kept glowering at the floor.

"I'm fine, but all my superiors seem not to agree," said Jenny through gritted teeth. Clara also did not agree, but wrapped her arms around Jenny in a hug nonetheless, and Jenny took a few moments to hug her back and sink into the embrace.

"I'm sorry. But sometimes the universe works in strange ways. You being taken off duty might be a blessing in disguise. And, um, there's another blessing, not-so in disguise, sitting in the next room eating Nios's best Full English." Jenny pulled away from Clara but kept her hands on her waist.

"What do you mean?"

"…The Doctor is here," Clara said after a pause, and Jenny moved so fast to get into the other room Clara might have mistaken her for a vampire. She did not immediately use her undead-speed to follow suit, but instead paused a moment and remembered the scrambled eggs and a cup of fresh coffee she had also made. These she picked up and walked in to find Jenny practically hanging onto her mother for dear life.

"She's having these problems with her memory," Alpha Clara was explaining.

"I know," Jenny let the Doctor go, wearing the biggest smile Ravenwood had seen on her face in months. "She told me, in the future. It's very fragile; even when she teleports somewhere it gets all mish-mashed. Don't you remember when she first showed up on the TARDIS? She forgot everyone then, too."

"Jen, Nios made you breakfast," Ravenwood said, "You should eat something." Jenny ignored her, but she could tell she was doing it on purpose, and so begin addressing the Doctor instead, "Tell her to eat her breakfast."

"Eat your breakfast," the Doctor repeated, "These are some of the best sausages I've ever had. Who taught that synth how to cook? Is it a mod?"

"No, I taught her," Jenny said, pulling a chair over to wedge herself in between Alpha Clara and her mother, then finally taking her plate of scrambled eggs and cup of coffee from her doting wife (who was getting more and more tired as it became proper daylight outside, but was going to wait around a little longer to see if there was any chance of Jenny coming up to bed.) "How have you been? When did they find you?"

"Last night," Alpha Clara answered, "She's puked up half of the Atlantic Ocean since she got pulled out of it."

"That's true, there has been a lot of puke…" Thirteen sighed. Jenny was shovelling scrambled eggs into her mouth at an alarming rate, Ravenwood leaning on the back of her chair. The puke talk did nothing to put Jenny off her food.

"Where is Nios? These eggs need more pepper," Jenny said.

"Do you want me to get you the pepper?" Ravenwood asked.

"No, I just mean for future reference, she put in the wrong amount of pepper for whatever volume of scrambled eggs she made," Jenny explained.

"She went upstairs." Jenny realised after a moment what that meant.

"Oh. Best to leave her alone, then… you don't have any criticisms for Nios?" Jenny asked the Doctor, "New tastebuds and all."

"Absolutely none, this is perfect," she said with her mouth full of bacon.

"Have I missed anything apart from the puking?"

"I ate my wedding ring," said the Doctor, holding up her wedding ring, which she had tied to a string and was wearing as a necklace. Alpha Clara watched her carefully, but did not say a lot. "It needs adjusting. Can we do that today?"

"Uh…" Alpha Clara was surprised, "If you want to."

"We don't have to."

"No, if that's what you want."

"Yeah, but you're-"

"There's tons of jewellers around," Ravenwood interrupted because they seemed on the brink of an argument she didn't want to get involved in, "You should go shopping."

"Oh. My. God. I would love to go shopping," the Doctor declared, "That's a girl-thing, right?"

"I keep telling you to stop saying 'girl-thing,'" Clara said. Things seemed quite tense between the Doctor and Alpha Her, but the Doctor was clearly trying her hardest. Clara was trying to push her away. She sighed. "We'll go out into London when you finish breakfast." The Doctor stayed quiet and accepted this, barely saying a word.

"Really? You're not staying?" Jenny was downtrodden.

"She's been under the sea for two weeks, Jen, I hardly think you've missed much," Ravenwood said, "Anyway, you need to go to bed and start taking care of yourself." She tried not to mention Jenny having time off work.

"Have you not been taking care of yourself?" the Doctor asked.

"She's being melodramatic," Jenny said.

The Doctor deliberated what to say next for a few moments, "I don't know… you should probably listen to her. She knows what's best." Already this Doctor had infinite faith in Clara, both Claras, as people. Which was quite refreshing.

"We'll come back for dinner," Clara decided, "We'll find some money and actually pay."

"Nios will be thrilled for someone to pay for something here," Ravenwood said.

"That's a promise," Jenny said, "You'll be back for dinner."

"And you'll promise to go to sleep," said the Doctor firmly, "You look tired."

"…Fine," Jenny said begrudgingly. "But we've still got until you finish eating."