Shards of Time - Redux

Tᴡᴏ ᴄʟᴏᴀᴋᴇᴅ﹐ sʜʀᴏᴜᴅᴇᴅ ғɪɢᴜʀᴇs ᴄʀᴇᴘᴛ sɪʟᴇɴᴛʟʏ ᴛʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋ﹐ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ғᴏᴏᴛsᴛᴇᴘs ʙᴀʀᴇʟʏ ʜᴇᴀʀᴅ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀɴᴅsᴛᴏɴᴇ ʙʀɪᴄᴋs ᴏɴ ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴛʀᴇᴀᴅ. A ʟɪɢʜᴛ; ᴀ ɢᴏʟᴅ ɢʟᴏᴡ ᴘɪᴇʀᴄɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʙʟᴀᴄᴋ sʜᴏɴᴇ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴇʏᴇs. Gᴏʟᴅᴇɴ ᴄᴏɢs﹐ ᴘᴇʀʜᴀᴘs ғɪᴠᴇ ᴏʀ sɪx ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇᴍ﹐ ᴀʟʟ ʀᴏᴛᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ʟᴏᴏᴘ. Tʜᴇ ᴏʙᴊᴇᴄᴛ ʜᴏᴠᴇʀᴇᴅ﹐ sʜɪɴɪɴɢ﹐ ɪɴsɪᴅᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴀ sɪʟᴠᴇʀ﹐ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟʟɪᴄ﹐ ᴄʟᴀᴡ﹣ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴘᴇᴅᴇsᴛᴀʟ.

"... Is ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪᴛ?" A ɢʀᴜғғ﹐ ᴅᴇᴇᴘ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ sᴏᴜɴᴅᴇᴅ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ғɪɢᴜʀᴇ ᴀs ᴛʜᴇ ғɪʀsᴛ ʙᴇɢᴀɴ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴘᴘʀᴏᴀᴄʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʀᴛɪғᴀᴄᴛ.

"Yᴇs," ᴄᴀᴍᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴘʟʏ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴏʀᴍ ᴏғ ᴀɴ ᴀɢɪɴɢ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ. "Oɴᴇ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀsᴛ ʀᴇᴍɴᴀɴᴛs ᴏғ Gᴀʟʟɪғʀᴇʏ."

Tʜᴇ ғɪʀsᴛ ғɪɢᴜʀᴇ ʀᴀɪsᴇᴅ ᴀ ɢʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ ʜᴀɴᴅ﹐ ʀᴇᴀᴄʜɪɴɢ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴏᴏᴛ﹣ʟɪᴋᴇ ʙᴀʀs﹐ ғɪɴɢᴇʀs ɢʀɪᴘᴘɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴏᴡᴇsᴛ ᴄᴏɢ ғᴏʀ ʙᴀʀᴇʟʏ ᴀ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʙʀɪɢʜᴛ﹐ sʜɪɴɪɴɢ ʟɪɢʜᴛ ɪᴛ ᴇᴍɪᴛᴛᴇᴅ ᴅᴜʟʟᴇᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏɢs ᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʙᴜᴛ ʟᴜᴍᴘs ᴏғ ɢᴏʟᴅ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇʏ ғᴇʟʟ﹐ sʜᴀᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ ɪɴᴛᴏ ʜᴜɴᴅʀᴇᴅs ᴏғ ᴘɪᴇᴄᴇs ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇʏ ʜɪᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇᴅᴇsᴛᴀʟ·s ʙᴀsᴇ.

Tʜᴇɴ﹐ ᴀ ʟᴏᴜᴅ ʙᴏᴏᴍ﹐ ᴀ ᴄʀᴀsʜ﹐ ᴀ ʀᴜᴍʙʟᴇ. Tʜᴇ ғʟᴏᴏʀ sʜᴏᴏᴋ ɪɴ ᴀ ᴍᴀssɪᴠᴇ ᴛʀᴇᴍᴏʀ﹐ ᴋɴᴏᴄᴋɪɴɢ ʙᴏᴛʜ ғᴏʀᴍs ᴏғғ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ғᴇᴇᴛ. Wʜɪᴛᴇ﹐ ɢʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ ᴄʀᴀᴄᴋs ʙᴇɢᴀɴ ᴏᴘᴇɴɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʟʟs﹐ ᴛʜᴇ ғʟᴏᴏʀs﹐ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ᴠɪsɪʙʟᴇ sᴜʀғᴀᴄᴇ. Tʜᴇ ғɪʀsᴛ ғɪɢᴜʀᴇ ᴄᴜʀsᴇᴅ ᴀs ᴛʜᴇʏ sʜᴀᴋɪʟʏ ʀᴏsᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴏ ᴀ sᴛᴀɴᴅ.

"Tʜᴇ Tɪᴍᴇ Lᴏʀᴅs﹗ Tʜᴇʏ ᴍᴜsᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɪɴsᴛᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ᴀ ғᴀɪʟsᴀғᴇ﹗" Tʜᴇ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ғɪɢᴜʀᴇ sʜᴏᴜᴛᴇᴅ﹐ ғᴜᴍʙʟɪɴɢ ᴛᴡᴏ sᴍᴀʟʟ﹐ sᴛᴇᴇʟ ᴅᴏᴍᴇ﹣ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴏʙᴊᴇᴄᴛs ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ʜᴀɴᴅs. "Tʜᴇ ᴇɴᴛɪʀᴇ ᴘʟᴀɴᴇᴛ·s ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛ﹗"

Tʜᴇ ғɪʀsᴛ ғᴏʀᴍ ɢᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ᴠɪᴄɪᴏᴜs ɢʀᴏᴡʟ﹐ sᴘɪᴛᴇғᴜʟ ʏᴇʟʟᴏᴡ ᴇʏᴇs sᴇᴇᴍɪɴɢʟʏ ɢʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋ ᴀs ᴛʜᴇ ɢʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ ᴄʀᴀᴄᴋs ɢʀᴇᴡ﹐ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴇᴍᴍɪɴɢ sɪʟᴠᴇʀ ᴘᴇᴅᴇsᴛᴀʟ ᴄᴏʟʟᴀᴘsᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴏɴ ɪᴛsᴇʟғ﹐ sʜᴀʀᴅs ᴏғ sʜᴀᴛᴛᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ ᴀɴᴅ ɢᴏʟᴅ sᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ғʟᴏᴏʀ﹐ sᴄᴀᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴜɴᴅs ɪɴ ᴛɪᴍᴇ﹐ sʜᴏᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴀᴄʀᴏss sᴘᴀᴄᴇ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴇᴛs ᴀᴄʀᴏss ᴀ ᴘʟᴀɴᴇᴛ·s ᴀᴛᴍᴏsᴘʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀs ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀɴᴇᴛ ᴄʀᴜᴍʙʟᴇᴅ.

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Tʜᴇ ᴅɪsᴛɪɴᴄᴛ sᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴏғ sᴍᴀsʜɪɴɢ ɢʟᴀss ᴅɪsᴛʀᴀᴄᴛᴇᴅ Cʟᴀʀᴀ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴄᴇss ᴏғ ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ғᴏʀ ʜᴇʀ ᴜsᴜᴀʟ Wᴇᴅɴᴇsᴅᴀʏ ᴛʀɪᴘ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ Dᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ﹐ ᴄᴀᴜsɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ Eɴɢʟɪsʜ ᴛᴇᴀᴄʜᴇʀ ᴛᴏ ғʀᴏᴡɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ʜᴇʀ ᴡᴀʏ ᴛᴏᴡᴀʀᴅs ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɪᴛᴄʜᴇɴ... Oɴʟʏ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ɢʀᴇᴇᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ sʜᴀᴛᴛᴇʀᴇᴅ ɢʟᴀss ᴄᴏᴠᴇʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛɪʟᴇᴅ ғʟᴏᴏʀ﹐ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ᴠᴇʀʏ ʟᴀʀɢᴇ ʜᴏʟᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪɴᴅᴏᴡ﹐ ʙᴜᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴀᴜɢʜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ Iᴍᴘᴏssɪʙʟᴇ Gɪʀʟ·s ᴇʏᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴀɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇsᴛʀᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇʀ ᴋɪᴛᴄʜᴇɴ ᴡᴀs ᴛʜᴇ ɢʟɪɴᴛɪɴɢ ɢᴏʟᴅ ᴏғ ᴀɴ ᴏʙᴊᴇᴄᴛ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡʀᴇᴄᴋᴀɢᴇ. Cʟᴀʀᴀ ʙᴇɴᴛ ᴅᴏᴡɴ﹐ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴏʟ ᴍᴇᴛᴀʟ ᴘʀᴇssɪɴɢ ɪɴᴛᴏ ʜᴇʀ ᴘᴀʟᴍ ᴀs sʜᴇ ᴘɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ ɪᴛ ᴜᴘ. Iᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴛʀɪᴀɴɢᴜʟᴀʀ ᴡɪᴛʜ sϙᴜᴀʀᴇ ɪɴᴅᴇɴᴛs ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴜʀᴠᴇᴅ ᴇᴅɢᴇ﹐ ᴀs ɪғ ɪᴛ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴀ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ sʜᴀʀᴅ ᴏғ ᴄᴏɢ. Cʟᴀʀᴀ·s ᴄᴀᴜᴛɪᴏᴜs ʙʀᴏᴡɴ ᴇʏᴇs ɢʀᴇᴡ ɪɴᴛʀɪɢᴜᴇᴅ﹐ ʜᴏᴡᴇᴠᴇʀ﹐ ᴡʜᴇɴ ʜᴇʀ ғɪɴɢᴇʀs ᴛʀᴀᴄᴇᴅ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴄᴇʀᴛᴀɪɴ ғᴀᴍɪʟɪᴀʀ﹐ ᴅɪsᴛɪɴᴄᴛ ᴄɪʀᴄᴜʟᴀʀ ɪɴsᴄʀɪᴘᴛɪᴏɴs ᴇɴɢʀᴀᴠᴇᴅ ᴀᴄʀᴏss ᴛʜᴇ sᴜʀғᴀᴄᴇ...

 

The Doctor
[WolfTrek]
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Clara Oswald
[Koilada]
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John Tyler
WolfTrek]
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Rose Tyler
[GallifreyHanyou]
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He was late. Again. There were always times when the Doctor accidentally skipped a day or arrived at the wrong hour - Clara had become accustomed to it over the long while she'd been travelling with the alien man - but she thought today, of all days, would be a day he was certain to appear on time.

Apparently, she was wrong.

The brunette sat at the table, elbow resting on the surface as her hand cupped her cheek in a bored fashion, her other hand rapping her fingers impatiently against to wooden surface in a rhythm of rata-tat-tat's. Perhaps he'd simply forgotten; Clara wouldn't put it past him. For a centuries-old Time Lord the Doctor was quite terrible at keeping track of it.

After a few more moments, an exasperated sigh passed through her lips, sparkling pink with the subtle dab of lip gloss she'd applied earlier, and she rose to her feet, crossing her arms over the red-and-black dress she donned before trudging aimlessly toward the kitchen. The mysterious golden shard of metallic material rested against the wooden surface of the table. Still intrigued by the object that had smashed her window earlier, Clara picked it up, flipping the cold artifact in her palm before bringing it up to her eyes, observing it closer.

"Where did this come from?" She thought, questioning, to herself.

The Doctor, meanwhile, was circling his own TARDIS console, pressing buttons and pulling levers until, with a bump, he landed.  He rushed about for a moment, checking the readings, making sure he'd gotten the days right.  He knew it was Clara's birthday today, and everything needed to be perfect.  With an excited grin, he adjusted his bowtie and stepped outside, quickly walking up to the door and knocking, hardly able to keep still.

As he waited for her to answer the door, however, shifting a bit from foot to foot, hands behind his back, he happened to glance over to Clara's kitchen window, and noticed a hole shattered into the glass.  He frowned slightly.  Hmm...  That was a bit odd...

Clara's brow twitched slightly at the excited beats at the door, no doubt belonging to the eccentric man who had kept her waiting for the last two hours. Quickly, she shoved the golden shard into her handbag - that could be dealt with later. Right now, she needed to have a chat with a certain Time Lord. The teacher inhaled a breath, resisting the urge to violently throw the door open and give him a piece of her mind.

Instead, Clara simply opened the door, a questioning scowl creasing on her face, chocolate eyes gazing with flickers of annoyance at the time traveler as she folded her arms over her chest and leaned against the door frame.

"And where have you been?" She asked, irritated, in that certain sarcastic tone she used when she was cross with the Time Lord.

The Doctor's eager grin, which had greeted Clara when she'd opened the door, promptly slipped to a wide-eyed look of confusion and disappointment, his shoulders slumping a bit.  "...Didn't I get the date right?" he asked after a moment with a slight hint of a whine, peering down at his watch.  "It's still your birthday... isn't it??"  The broken window had been forgotten in light of the unexpectedly annoyed greeting.

"Mmhm, and what's the time?" The brunette questioned, raising a brow as her gaze slid down to his wrist, brown eyes fixing pointedly on the watch he possessed. "I recall you saying that you'd be here at 6, on the dot. I even took the liberty of being well prepared beforehand."

Clara's eyes detached from the miniature clock and wafted back toward's the Doctor's face, dark locks of hair drooping lightly down her shoulder as the young woman tilted her head slightly to the left. She had no idea what the Doctor had planned for her birthday, but she'd assumed it was something he'd be excited for her to experience. He was funny like that, always taking more glee out of her enjoyment rather than his own. Perhaps he'd simply been too excited to check the time he landed; such a silly - and likely - notion amused her, but that didn't mean she wasn't still cross... Okay, maybe a little less cross than she'd first thought, but she wouldn't let him know that!

The Doctor stared at her for a moment before glancing back down at his watch.  He seemed to shrink further as he realized it was already past eight.  He remembered he'd checked the coordinates and the date beforehand... But then, with a wave of frustration and embarrassment, he realized that, in his rush to get there, he'd forgotten to set the right time. 

The Doctor's gaze drifted downward as this dawned on him, and he was silent for a few moments before looking back up to Clara, his expression guilty.  "Well...  ...At least we won't be late to our destination?" he tried, shrugging with his hands before clasping them together in front of him, forcing himself to smile - though just slightly - in an innocent sort of way.

Clara gazed at him for a few more moments, eyes narrowing the slightest bit as she stared. Then, in almost a split second, a lopsided smirk spread on her lips and her brows raised in amusement, all evidence of her previous annoyance seemingly vanishing without a trace.

"You forgot to set the time again, didn't you?" The girl's voice was laced with the smallest chuckle as Clara moved from the door, taking a few steps towards the man with an entertained conduct. He was so easy to read! Of course, the impossible girl had a long, long time to get into his head and figure the energetic Time Lord out. Nowadays, it only took a simple glance into his green eyes for her to know how he was feeling or have a vague idea about he was thinking.

She would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy this new closeness and lack of secrecy between them.

The Doctor's eyebrows rose slightly as Clara suddenly smirked at him in amusement, a bit surprised by how quickly she'd switched moods.  It still threw him off from time to time.  But he quickly frowned again at her words, shifting on his feet again, his posture stiffening.  "No!" he denied indignantly, squaring his shoulders and scowling at her for a moment, before lowering his head and averting his gaze again with a mumbled "...Maybe..." of half-confession.  She'd probably know he was lying, anyway - she was clever like that...

The impossible girl's smirk grew in slight pride as he admitted his fault. Her guess was right - of course it was! Clara was rarely ever wrong about such things, after all.

"Atta boy." She breathed cheekily as she raised her hands to either side of his face and giving his cheeks a soft clap, before slipping past the Doctor and over to where the TARDIS sat, looking quite welcoming. The brunette's lips opened in a grin - a small greeting to the time machine - then span around, staring at her friend with obvious excitement dancing in her chocolate eyes.

"Should we be off, then?"

In her excitement she'd almost forgotten about the shard - almost. It was her birthday, after all. Clara figured she could enjoy herself for at least a little bit before bringing up the Gallifreyan-inscribed object that would quite obviously bring trouble once the Doctor saw. A little calm before the storm was okay, right?

The Doctor's eyes widened slightly, breath hitching a bit, as she clapped his cheeks, and he turned to watch her as she walked off, looking a bit stunned, though not quite as embarrassed anymore. At her suggestion, however, he pushed the contact to the back of his mind and perked up again, breaking into an excited grin, his eyes shining.  "Excellent idea. Off we go!" he announced loudly, half-prancing into the TARDIS.  He knew exactly where he was going to take her - he'd planned it all out...

In his distraction, he, too, had overlooked something - he'd forgotten to ask her about the broken window, though it would probably pop into his head again soon enough, likely when least expected...

In less than a heartbeat, Clara was after the Doctor, grin still spread across her face. She followed him for a few seconds, before enthusiastically darting to the other side of the console, leaning her hands on it and peering at the Time Lord through the shaft.

"So, where are we going?" Clara asked gleefully, leaning to the side so that she could watch the Doctor clearly as he went about his usual mad dash around the console, flicking switches and pressing buttons. Knowing the time-travelling alien, it was likely a surprise, but she pondered on whether he'd have the patience to keep it that way for long, he was extremely excitable, after all, and he almost always accidentally blurted it out at some point; not that she minded. Pressing her lips together in an amused smile, Clara decided to count how long it took for him to accidentally drop a hint.

"It's a surprise!" the Doctor replied, grinning with excitement as he darted around the console.  "And I'm not going to let anything slip this time!  Not like last time - oh, no!  Last time was most definitely very not good.  I'm never doing that again.  Nope.  My lips are sealed."  He made a zipper motion across his mouth before glancing down at the console again, beginning to type in coordinates.

A simple raise of one brow was all Clara gave in answer to the Doctor's insistence that he most certainly was not going to spoil the surprise.

"Doctor, you keeping quiet for a second is nothing short of a miracle." Clara snorted, running her hand along the console as she circled around to meet him, brown gaze swimming with a playful challenge. "I'd need an actual, proper mouth-zipper to shut you up."

The Doctor frowned at her indignantly, his lips pressed firmly together.  He was going to prove her wrong!  ...He managed three whole seconds before he couldn't stand it any longer, and the words burst forth from his mouth once more.  "I can, too, keep quiet!  You see!" he stated, looking triumphant at his 'victory'.

Just then, the TARDIS gave what would seem to have been an amused whirr, and a small object materialized on the console a few inches from Clara's left hand.  The Doctor caught the flicker of its appearance and broke eye contact with Clara, looking down at it and abruptly bursting into laughter.  "Oh, that's a good one, dear," he chuckled, patting the center shaft with an amused grin.

"Wow, three seconds. Impressive." Clara sped sarcastically. "I think a star just imploded."

The teacher blinked at the whirr, then followed the Doctor's gaze to her left hand. Nose wrinkling and brows bunching in confusion, Clara picked up the bright red material between her index finger and thumb, hovering it in front of her face as she stared at the object.

"I don't get it." She spoke, drawing her gaze over to the Doctor, who seemed to be laughing harder than anything. Whatever joke the TARDIS was (apparently) trying to convey, she didn't understand.

The Doctor managed to calm himself enough to respond, his green eyes shining with mirth.  "I think she means that as your birthday present!" he told Clara, greatly entertained by the TARDIS' sense of humor.  "You're always poking fun at my bowtie.  Well, now she thinks you need one of your own."

There was another faint groan from the TARDIS, seeming to confirm his words.

Clara stared in silence at the Doctor before, a few seconds later, she stuffed the red bowtie into her bag, taking a small note of how they were almost the exact same colour, which was probably done one purpose, which meant...

Oh no.

"Well I, uh, appreciate the sentiment, but there is no way I'm wearing that thing." Declared Clara, chocolate gaze darting between the TARDIS console and the Doctor, pressing her hand tightly to the top of hexagonal surface.

The Doctor grinned broadly at her, trying not to laugh again.  "Aww, but why not?" he pouted at her refusal.  "You're going to disappoint her!  Look, she even color-coordinated for you!" he exclaimed, gesturing to her bag.  "Besides, you'd look good in a bowtie..."  He gave her another grin, a plea evident in his eyes.  Clara, wearing a bowtie.  This was something he had to see.

"I would, would I?" Clara retorted, brow raising as a teasing glint began to twinkle in her eyes as she drew attention to the fact that he wanted to see her in a bowtie. Of course, he likely meant it in the most innocent way possible, but the brunette wasn't one to let a potentially suggestive comment swing by without making the Doctor squirm. "You've envisioned me wearing a bowtie before, have you?"

The Doctor frowned slightly at that, wondering what she was getting at...  "Well, no...  I mean, that's certainly not how I usually envision you..." he replied, shifting a bit on his feet in discomfort.  He didn't realize that what he'd said left a great big opening for even worse teasing...

Clara's brow rose higher - if that was even possible - as she stared at him, removing her hands of the console to fold neatly over her chest. She waited; the Doctor may be a bit innocently slow when it came to the exploitable lines of dialogue he spouted, but if she stayed silent long enough, she knew that it would suddenly click in his mind; as usual. So, the impossible girl began mentally counting down the seconds until his face would contort into that amusing shocked expression of realization, mouth flapping open and shut before he indignantly retorted with a "..Shut up," or something of the like.

3... 2... 1...

The Doctor stared back at her in confusion, frowning, wondering why she was giving him that look.  What had he said...?  He thought for a few moments... and, right on cue, realized, his mouth gaping in shock.  He closed it a moment later, glaring at her with indignant embarrassment.  "Nooo, I didn't mean...  Not like that!!" he stuttered in a squeaky voice, turning a bit red.  "I just meant...  ...Shut up!"  He scowled at her, trying to appear angry but just looking awkward.

A prideful grin spread across Clara's face as he finally got the memo. A please chuckle escaped the pink of her lips as she twirled away from him, gliding back to the other side of the console with a skip in her step. Once there, the young teacher fingered at her bag before slipping her hand in, tugging out the red bowtie and focusing her brown gaze on the object. Her nose crinkled once more before she sighed in defeat. Oh the things she did for the Doctor!

In a few, swift movements, the Impossible girl tied the fabric around her neck, fingering the material for a few seconds, and finding it surprisingly soft. With a shake of her head, Clara circled back around to where the Time Lord stood, a slight pout playing on her features.

The Doctor glared at her for a moment longer as she laughed at him, but his scowl turned to a look of curiosity as she suddenly turned around and walked off to the other side of the console, standing with her back turned.  Was she actually going to put it on...?!  She was!  He could hardly believe it!  He was grinning before she even turned around, and gave a happy laugh once she did, pointing at the bowtie in enthusiasm.  "That is perfect!" he exclaimed.  "We're like the Bowtie Duo now!"

"We won't be if you insist on calling us that from now on." Clara stated quickly, a scowl now mixing with her pout. "Don't get used to this, Chin Boy. I'm only wearing it today because it was gift."

She gave a light poke at his own bowtie before leaning her back against the console, palms resting by her sides on the cool, smooth surface. She blinked, once; twice, then her lips parted the tinest bit in a silent "oh," before turning her head and giving the Doctor a pointed look. "Did you plan this?"

Clara wouldn't have put it past him; the TARDIS had never given her a gift for her birthday before, but then again, the TARDIS held a grudge on her - she never did figure out why. Jealousy? - before. Plus, a bowtie as a gift? That was just so... Doctor.

"Alright, alright, sorry..."  The Doctor gave her an innocent look, raising his hands in submission and turning back toward the console.  He looked back up a few moments later at her question, eyes wide.  "What?  No, 'course not!" he exclaimed, frowning slightly.  "This was all her idea.  I didn't consort with her on it."

Narrowing her eyes, Clara gazed at him for a few more seconds, staring into him in search of even the tiniest sign of a fib. After a bit, she decided that he was, in fact, telling the truth, and her lips played with a smile before she turned her chocolate gaze to the console, giving the surface a small stroke.

"I can't tell if you're mocking me, or if you were genuinely giving me a gift." The Impossible Girl said to the machine, her voice a mix of defeat and intrigue.

The TARDIS gave a soft rumble in reply, and the Doctor grinned in amusement once more.  "Probably some mixture of both," he guessed, shrugging and patting the center shaft affectionately once again.  "A lighthearted 'joke gift', perhaps..."

"Funny." Replied Clara dryly, her fingers waving up to fiddle with the velveteen-like material around her neck, before continuing with a sarcastic - yet amused - snort. "I feel like one of those Christmas puppies you give as a present! Y'know, the ones with a giant, red bow around their necks?"

The brunette gave an internal sigh of relief. She could handle wearing the silly thing for a day, but the neckwear really, really didn't look good with a dress. So, without further ado, she slipped the fabric from her neck and shoved it back into her bag, fingers brushing the cold, metal surface of the shard as her hand slid out.and Clara was silently glad that the Doctor hadn't made a move to give her a present, either. For as well as she knew the Doctor, she had learned that there was a sixty per-cent chance that it would be something worse.

"No," she thought, a smirk forming on her face, "More like seventy-five percent."

"Well, that's not what you look like," the Doctor told her amusedly.  "...Not really."  Well... maybe she did, just a bit.  He grinned to himself, contemplating that image, before looking up again with a puzzled expression.  "What was that?  ...Oh!  I've still got to give you my present!" he exclaimed enthusiastically before she could answer, rushing down the stairs to the area underneath the console, opening a box and beginning to rifle through the contents until he located a small, neatly-wrapped box with a TARDIS-blue bow on top.

He hurried back up the stairs again, slipping a bit on the floor in his excited haste, and presented the gift to her, holding it out with both hands, his eyes gleaming.  "Happy birthday!" he crowed, looking pleased with himself... as well as being hardly able to keep still.

Chocolate-brown eyes darted down to the small, wrapped box resting in the Doctor's palms, a questioning look in her gaze.

"You... Got me a present?" She asked, voice a little more pointed than she'd meant. Tentatively, Clara reached a hand out, curling her fingers around the object, felling smooth, glossy wrapping paper beneath her touch as she drew it out of his grasp. Her eyes flicked back up to meat his, observing him in a slightly stunned silence before continuing; "You didn't have to do that."

The Doctor tilted his head at her reaction, a bit puzzled by it, though he was still smiling.  "Well... yeah.  I mean, we've known each other a while now and... it just seemed like the proper thing to do..."  He blinked, watching as she took the small package from him.  "I, um... hope you like it..." he mumbled, voice a bit quieter than usual, seeming almost nervous as he shuffled his feet a bit, waiting for her to open his gift.

"What's so special about this year?" Clara asked as she fingered the ribbon, a smile playing on her lips. TARDIS-blue, of course. "You just took me to the Zycroxis last time."

Delicately, the brunette tugged the bow away and began to unwrap the box, taking extreme care to not rip the wrapping paper, until the cube was exposed. Brown gaze flickering up to the Doctor for a second, Clara slowly began to remove the lid, curious as to what was inside.

Her eyes widened and lips parted ever so slightly as she drew a gold chain, dangling from her fingers, up to her face. At the end swung a pendant, made completely out of cogs; some gold, some silver, and some bronze. There were three larger ones at the bottom, the chain threading through the silver one that marked the top. Atop those were four smaller cogs, half beneath the bottom of a large, silver cog in the middle of the pendant; and there, embedded right in the middle of the big, silver cog was a gold circle, engraved with fine, circular lines. A language she recognized, but a word she could not read.

Gallifreyan.

The Doctor shrugged.  "Well... I dunno.  ...It just... felt right, I suppose."  In truth, he wasn't really sure why.  Maybe it was because he'd grown closer to her, after the events of Trenzalore.  Or, then again, maybe it was just one of his silly little spontaneous ideas and had nothing to do with that at all.

He watched her peel away the paper with a look of anticipation in his green gaze.  Once she'd removed the lid, taking the pendant out of the box, he grinned once again at her expression.  "Do you like it?" he asked, his voice soft once more.  "I... thought it would suit you..."

A soft smile spread across the Impossible Girl's lips; not one of teasing or cheek, but one of pure, untainted happiness and adoration. Her chocolate eyes drew up to capture the Doctor's, the corners of her lips tilting slightly more upwards at the contact.

"I love it." She spoke, a thankful tone twirling with her words. Clara ran her finger over the middle, feeling each bump and groove of the Gallifreyan character engraved in the cool metal beneath her skin. For a second, her brows knitted together as she turned her gaze to the word, almost as if she were searching through her brain in hopes of finding foggy memories of a life so long ago on a planet where lords of time ruled.

After a few moments, a defeated sigh escaped her lips before her face relaxed and her smile returned.

"I can't read it." She said as she moved towards the resident Time Lord. "What does it say?"

The Doctor's smile broadened as well, a happy, and slightly relieved, glimmer in his green eyes.  "Good, I was hoping you would..."  He watched her trace the Gallifreyan word with her finger, wondering if she was trying to read it.

Her sigh of defeat moments later seemed to confirm his thoughts.  "It's your name," he told her in response to her question, reaching forward to run a finger over the pattern himself.  "It's your name, translated to Gallifreyan."

"My name..." Clara echoed as her gaze followed the Doctor's finger as it traced the exact same grooves her own had moments ago. He'd had this made for her, hadn't he? How else would her name have gotten engraved in a language that only one person in the entire universe at current knew? The thought made her heart well with a certain fondness for her friend; a strange, warm feeling she felt so often whenever the Time Lord regarded her with gentle affection.

Tender smile seemingly glued on her lips, Clara undid the metal clasp and drew the necklace around her neck, clipping it together and letting the cogs settle just below her collarbone. She then drew her eyes back to the Doctor, before reaching out a delicate hand to cup his face, before rising upwards on her tippy-toes so that she was just high enough to plant a soft kiss on the opposite cheek.

The Doctor regarded her with a fond smile as she put on the necklace.  He leaned slightly into her kiss, closing his eyes happily, gazing into her chocolate eyes for a few moments before blinking and glancing down at the necklace again.  "Looks good on you," he told her, grinning.  "You said you couldn't read it, though...  Do you remember being able to read Gallifreyan at some point?" he then asked, curious.

"A little bit, yeah." Clara replied as she drew back, fingers playing with the cool metal. "There was an echo on Gallifrey once, I think. Dunno if she was a Time Lady or not, tha part's all fuzzy; most of them are a blur, actually. Some lives are more vivid - I can recall them perfectly as if they were a simple memory, others only haunt my mind as vague dreams; those seem to be the majority."

The brunette let her eyes drop to the cogs, observing the Gallifreyan character once more as her train of thought began to follow her words. Dreams? More like nightmares, the sort that terrify you beyond belief but are forgotten as soon as your eyes shoot open in fear. She supposed that it was just a defense mechanism, keeping her from accessing those memories, but that didn't prevent the sleep terrors that visited her every time she lay her head. Every single death; every form of horror she experienced with those echoes would come back to her then, and the ones that her mind would allow her to remember when she woke were the most horrible of all.

Not once had Clara mentioned this to the Doctor, however, nor did she ever intend to. He didn't need to worry over her like that. The Time Lord would surely create the biggest fuss with his extremely overprotective nature around the Impossible Girl if he knew what occurred every night.

"Dreams?" the Doctor echoed curiously.  Clara often asked him what he dreamed about, but she would rarely tell him what she dreamed in turn.  Sometimes he wondered if perhaps they weren't the most pleasant of experiences - he certainly knew what that was like...

He noticed the distracted look on her face as she stared at the pendant and frowned.  "Clara... is something wrong?" he asked softly, wondering if there was indeed more to these 'dreams' than she was letting on...

"Hm?" Clara hummed as her head drew back up, attention stolen by the Doctor once more. "I'm fine."

Giving him a wonky, reassuring smile, the teacher began to move away from the Time Lord. He could see through her, she knew he could, but she wasn't willing to give away the information he would surely nose about for. Clara's nightmares were her own problem, not the Doctor's. What could he do, anyway? He wasn't a miracle worker, he couldn't take her night terrors away.

The Doctor frowned slightly.  He wanted to help, if he could - he was the reason for the problem, after all - but he also didn't want to make her uncomfortable by prying...  Considering his options, he stared at Clara for a few seconds, before reluctantly giving a nod.  "If you're sure everything's alright..." he said hesitantly.

An appreciative smile drew upon Clara's lips, a silent gesture thanking the Doctor for dropping the subject.

"So!" She announced sporadically, seemingly to steer the conversation ever further from the topic of her dreams. The Impossible Girl skipped away from the Time Lord, moving with her usual enthusiasm around the console. "You were gonna take me somewhere for my birthday, yeah? We'd better get going - we wouldn't want to be late, now would we?"

A wink accompanied the last phrase. A little tongue-in-cheek about time travel was a usual occurrence, after all.

The Doctor stared at her for a few more seconds before blinking and giving a tiny nod, looking away again.  "Hm?  Oh, right, yes," he said quickly, jumping a bit as he was reminded of the occasion, smirking slightly at the joke.  He circled the console, pressing a few buttons, before stopping in front of a lever and looking up at Clara again with a grin.  "Geronimo!" he called excitedly, before pulling the lever, the TARDIS giving a sharp jolt as it entered the vortex.

Clara gave a joyous laugh before whooping loudly, hands clutching onto the console at the TARDIS rocked and swayed in the vortex. Occasionally, she'd move a hand to press a button, pull a lever or flick a switch, giving regular glances and grins at the Doctor as she did so. Sometimes, as amazing as faraway planets were, the most fun was to be had right there in the console room, blue lights blaring and the echoes of two sets of laughter bouncing from the walls. Those gleeful moments she'd steal away with the Doctor, those glances they'd throw at each other every few moments, the smile on his face and the childish nature of his movements was the reason behind each breath she took, and for each and every beat of her heart.

In the alternate universe that had come to be known by those from outside that universe as Pete'sWorld, the Metacrisis Doctor, who now typically referred to himself as John Tyler, was getting ready for work.  It had been about a year for him and Rose since the Doctor had left them on the beach at Bad Wolf Bay, and over the past 12 months, John's life had been something of a rollercoaster.  One of the most notable of the changes he'd had to learn to adapt to was the fact that he now had a job - a proper, human job... Well, sort of.  Torchwood could hardly be called a 'normal' place to work, after all.

As he exited his room, heading for the stairs as he put on his tie, John happened to hear the distinct sound of shattering glass downstairs, followed by a sharp clatter as something hit the floor.  With a frown, he increased his pace, jogging down the stairs and making his way into the front part of the house, where he'd heard the noise coming from, to investigate...

rose was sitting in the living room, watching the telly and nursing a morning coffee when the sound of breaking glass, followed by a sharp thump, caught her not-a-morning-person attention. 'whassat?' she mumbled, getting up to go look...

meanwhile, jackie had just gotten up and was in the bathroom when she heard a faint crash from downstairs. 'oh, it better not be those kids again- if I have to clean eggs off my house one more time...' she grumbled, hurrying downstairs to see the damage...

Reaching the room the sound had come from, John looked to the window, noting the hole in the glass, as well as the shattered shards strewn across the floor.  But something else quickly caught his attention - a golden glimmer mixed with the pieces of glass.  He stooped down, cautiously shifting the glass aside to uncover the piece of metal.

His eyes widened when he realized what it was.  "No...  It can't be..."  But it was...  ...But how had it gotten here...?

'what can't it be?' rose mumbled, still a bit bleary-eyed. 'oh, boy, mum's going to have a fit...' she said, looking at the glass everywhere, and the broken window. just then, jackie entered the room, seeing the glass for herself. 'that's it, I'm calling the police-I'll not have vandals around my house!' she declared in a loud voice, making rose wince in pain and take another sip of coffee. she finally spotted the bit of metal john had. 'what's that?' rose asked john curiously, reaching for it.

John turned as Rose wandered into the room, frowning in concern.  "This..." he responded, holding out the shard of metal.  He was about to explain when Jackie burst in, behind her.  He winced as well at her yelling, gritting his teeth a bit in frustration.  "Jackie, this had nothing to do with vandals," he grumbled to her.  "This is a shard of the Time Map...  Though how it's found itself here is beyond me..."

'the what?' jackie demanded, peering at the shard. 'time map? what's that?'

rose looked distinctly troubled and wide awake now. 'what's it mean, john? something's wrong, isn't it?'

John sighed, thinking about how to explain it in simple terms so they could understand without knowing the context.  "The Time Map is an ancient Gallifreyan artifact - a so-called 'map' of all of time.  This is just a small fragment of it, which means that it's broken... which means that someone tried to steal the map - the Time Lords installed a failsafe that would cause it to shatter and spread pieces throughout all of time and space if the map was ever threatened in some way..."  He glanced between Rose and Jackie, a worried glint in his brown eyes.  "When the shards enter any particular moment in time, they cause changes to certain events in history.  People involved in the event can change, someone who was meant to live may die instead... It could even alter the period of time the event occurs, or cause, I dunno, a species to evolve on a different continent than it was meant to, things like that."  At that, John turned his focus solely to Rose, his expression grave.  "So yes...  Something is very wrong..."

'so, in a way, this is your fault?' jackie asked, frowning at the piece of metal. 'mum- bigger problems?' rose said, turning to john. 'what do we do? could that thing make the cybermen come back, do you think?' she said, worried. jackie went pale.

John just stared blankly at Jackie for a moment before raising his eyebrows at her.  "Oh, yes, Jackie, because everything strange that happens around here is my fault," he replied sarcastically.  "No, it's not my fault!  How could it be my fault?!"

He glared at Jackie with annoyance for a moment longer before looking back to Rose, suddenly feeling a bit more nervous at the thought of the Cybermen returning...  "Well...  I wouldn't think so..." he mumbled, thinking quickly.  "I mean, I suppose it's possible..."  He glanced to the now broken window, peering outside.  "In any case, I get the feeling something's about to happen...  Something big..."

'well, it always seemed to be...' jackie grumbled under her breath, earning a glare from her daughter.

'big, as in?' rose said, looking out the window as john did. 'what, do you think...he's going to come here again?' she was, of course, referring to the Doctor- and while it would ostensibly be nice to see him, it did not bode well if he was able to return to pete's world. he'd said the universes were sealed, that it wouldn't be possible- but the shard had fallen through, hadn't it?

John ignored Jackie - with some difficulty - and focused on what Rose had to say.  "Maybe..." he mused quietly, continuing to stare out the window for a few moments before looking back to her.  The thought brought on mixed feelings for him, as well, and he could see his own concerns echoed in Rose's hazel eyes.  "Unless the shard is somehow from this universe, it must have fallen through some sort of crack... and if a shard could get through, something bigger could force its way through, as well..."  He sighed.  "I guess we'll just have to... wait and see..."  Waiting... John hated waiting...  Waiting around, with nothing to do to keep yourself satisfactorily occupied in the meantime, was, perhaps, the most horrible part of being human...

rose swallowed thickly, nervous, biting her lip. while it would be nice to see the Doctor again when she'd been sure she never would, she'd spent the last year getting used to the idea she'd never see him again. it would throw everything into chaos again if he showed up, and was bound to make john far more upset than her... 'we'll have to tell torchwood to set up a BOLO on the TARDIS' she said, grabbing her mobile.

jackie, meanwhile, had gone to fetch a broom, and poked john with the end of it to make him move. she was sweeping up the broken glass, and he was standing too near it.

John, now in a bit of a stupor, thinking about what could possibly happen if the Doctor returned here, hardly registered Rose's words.  "...Yeah..." he murmured distractedly.  They may have been living in this universe for about a year now, but John had only recently accepted and begun to adapt to his peculiar, human life.  For many months, he'd been trapped in a state of mourning depression, longing for the TARDIS, for the always-adventurous way he'd lived for so long.  Part of him was afraid that, if the Doctor returned, that horrible depression would, as well...  Not to mention what Rose would think...  What if she changed her mind about him?  What if she decided she didn't want him, after all, and wanted to leave with the Doctor instead...??  That single thought terrified him more than anything else could...

He didn't notice when Jackie returned with the broom, standing there, staring at nothing with a blank look upon his face.  When she prodded him, he jumped slightly, jolted from his daze, and quickly shifted to the side and out of her way, though he didn't balk about it, which was rather unusual in itself...

Suddenly, however, a distinctly familiar wheezing sound reached his ears... though, strangely, he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from...  With a start, his eyes growing huge, he realized it was coming from all around them.  With a yelp, he rapidly grabbed hold of Rose, leaping forward and practically tackling Jackie through the doorway and out of the room, dragging Rose along with them and landing in a crumpled heap in the hallway.

'OW! what was that for!?' jackie yelped indignantly, having landed on the broom she'd been clutching. then she heard it, and so did rose- that distinct sound they had both been sure they'd never hear again. 'well...here we go...' rose muttered. 'ouch, mum- get off!'

John half-rolled, half-fell off of the other two, groaning and rubbing the back of his head, making his hair stick up messily.  "Sorry..." he mumbled, glancing back into the room just as the TARDIS shakily materialized, right where they'd been standing moments before.  He just sat there staring at it for a moment, his single heart sinking, though a flash of joy coursed through him at the same moment at the sight of the ship, the old friend he'd missed so much...

-----

The Doctor clung tightly to the console as the TARDIS rocked about, laughing joyfully as together, he and Clara piloted the time-and-space ship through the vortex.

But suddenly, the ship was jarred so harshly that he was nearly thrown to the ground.  The Doctor's cries of joy turned abruptly into a shocked yelp as he grabbed onto the console, his eyes growing wide - that wasn't normal...  He held tight to the console, despite the force of gravity attempting to pull him away from it, and rapidly punched a few buttons, yanking down hard on a lever.

With a violent crash, the TARDIS landed - who knew where - throwing the Doctor harshly to the floor once more.  The breath was knocked out of him, and he coughed a bit, gasping in an attempt to regain it.

After gaining a few ragged breaths, he managed to speak, slowly rolling over onto his stomach.  "Clara...?  Are you alright...?" he wheezed, staggering upright, using the railing for support...

She had no idea what had just happened. One minute, the two were flying the TARDIS, having all the fun in the world right then and there, then next thing Clara knew, she was thrown to the cold, hard floor with her back slamming forcefully onto the metal railing behind her. A groan passed her lips as she blinked, vision blurry and head pounding dizzily. A muffled voice wafted through her unfocused hearing, and the teacher gave her head a quick shake, trying to focus her her woozy state of mind and confused expression. The movement provided no help at all, however, as a large shock of pain ran through her spine and her head began to pound.

With the jolt of the crash and force of the fall, Clara's bag had tumbled unceremoniously to the floor, the latch clicking open with the floor's impact. The bowtie had flung out, and a small, almost unnoticeable glint of gold poked over the hem.

The glint caught Clara's foggy vision, and the woozy teacher, despite her throbbing head, reached a bumbling hand over to her bag, pulling it in fumbled disorientation towards her, managing to shut the latch before it was seen. Whatever had just happened, the Doctor didn't need two things to worry about.

The Doctor staggered unsteadily across the room to where Clara lay, growing even more concerned when she gave no reply.  "Clara...?" he called again, panting a bit, half-kneeling, half falling down next to her.  He was too distracted to pay attention to the glint in her bag.

He looked her over anxiously, searching for any immediate signs of physical trauma.  Her eyes were unfocused...  "It's alright - don't try to move," he told her softly as she tried to pull her bag closer, resting a hand on her shoulder and taking his sonic from his pocket.  "You may have a concussion..."  He began to scan her, his jaw clenched nervously.

Clara shook her head as the Doctor came down next to her, her senses barely registering his touch when his palm came to rest on her shoulder. With quite a bit of effort, she managed to wipe the dazed expression from her face, and forced her features into a half scowl, half reassuring guise.

"I'm... Fine." The brunette breathed, raising a hand to push the buzzing sonic away. The shrill sound made her head pound louder, and she sighed, pressing her palms to the cool, grey floor and attempted to ease herself to her feet, but only managed to slip back down into her previous position after sliding her boots under herself.

The Doctor stared at her, not convinced by her forced scowl of reassurance, though he did turn off the sonic, seeing as it seemed to be bothering her.  He watched warily as she tried to stand, ready when she slipped down again, and managed to catch her before she crashed to the floor, helping to hold her up in a sitting position.

"...You sure about that?" he questioned, peering down at her nervously.  "Perhaps you should just sit and rest for a few minutes, eh...?"

"Yes." Clara clarified with emphasis, taking hold of the Doctor's arm as she attempted to heave herself up once more, staggering slightly as her head swung dizzily with the movement. "Just... Help me up. I'll be fine."

With that, she pressed harder down onto his byzantium-coloured sleeve, pulling her feet under her weight and pushing down, legs wobbling slightly as she rose to her feet. Her fingers curled into the material of the Doctor's coat as she gripped it to stop herself from tumbling back to the ground again.

The Doctor nodded, slowly making his way to his feet, helping to stabilize her to the best of his ability, though he was still a little wobbly himself.  Once they were both upright, he kept one arm around her, letting her lean on the other.

"Right..." he spoke a bit breathlessly after a few moments, once it was clear neither of them were going to fall down again.  "Well...  I guess we should see where that emergency stop landed us..."

Clara nodded, not bothered by the arm that was wrapped around her. Such a touch was natural between them by now. Whatever pulled the TARDIS to a stop might be dangerous, she knew that, then why; why did she feel that indescribable spark of excitement in her heart? Travelling with the Doctor did that to you, she supposed. "You know there's danger, but you can't help but want to know - even if you do end up runnin'"

The Doctor cautiously made his way toward the TARDIS doors, helping Clara along with him.  A strange sensation flitted through his hearts - it was more than just the spark of excitement that would come when landing in an unknown place.  Something didn't feel quite right, though he couldn't put his finger on what, exactly, it was...

But as they reached the door, and he cautiously pushed it open, peeking out at the scene before him, he realized.

Jackie Tyler, Rose, and the all-too-familiar face of his Tenth incarnation - the Doctor figured it must've been his Metacrisis clone - sat on the floor about 10 feet in front of the TARDIS, just outside the room they'd landed in, staring back up at the blue box with wide-eyed expressions.  He and Clara must have landed back in the Pete'sWorld universe again...

once john moved away, rose stared at the two people looking out of the TARDIS, trying to figure out which one was the Doctor, since he'd obviously regenerated. but surely that gangly young man with the extreme chin wasn't him...but he couldn't have become a woman, could he? she was bewildered, looking back and forth between the two of them, before deciding the shorter one was more likely and addressing her. 'Doctor! why are you here? how?' she asked, getting to her feet.

'why'd you make a mess of my house?' jackie demanded, using the broom to stand up. 'broken glass everywhere!'

Clara's lips parted and her chocolate eyes widened slightly in both shock and realization. The Doctor told her often about the Torchwood and Medusa Cascade incident, and quite a few times at that, she was certain that an echo or two of hers had been there as well, but her foggy dreams stopped her from clarifying.

At the blonde's - Rose, she assumed - question, Clara gasped out a quiet "oh," then quickly pushed the Time Lord's arm from around her, then took a step to the side, giving him an encouraging glance. The Doctor and Rose's... Feelings for each other were something Clara easily figured out from his tales. It was the way he spoke of her, so different from the ways he described his adventured with Donna, Martha or Ace.

John just stared for a moment as the door opened, glancing briefly between the two people inside before focusing in on the man, whom he could immediately tell was the Doctor, unlike Rose.  He'd regenerated...  John wasn't sure whether to be glad about that or concerned...  He shoved himself to his feet, as well, glancing at Rose out of the corner of his vision for a moment before looking to the Doctor again.

The Doctor stared speechlessly at Rose for a few moments - hers was a face he never thought he'd ever see again, and seeing her standing in front of him now brought a flurry of emotions with it: the pain he'd gone through when he'd lost her - not just once, but then again, when he'd had to give her up for a second time, knowing it was for the best... but also a nearly overwhelming wave of pure joy and ecstasy.

His hand slipped from around Clara's shoulders as she shrugged it off, returning to hang limply at his side once more.  His green gaze flickered to her for a brief moment, taking in the encouragement in her eyes, before quickly locking onto Rose again.  And then, beaming, unable to contain himself any longer, and completely ignoring the questions that had been posed to him, he darted out of the TARDIS and straight to Rose, enveloping her in a great big hug.  "Rose...!  Oh, it's so good to see you again...!"  He'd completely forgotten he'd regenerated since the last time he'd seen her.

rose realised, too late, that she'd made a mistake of who the doctor was now, as the young man rushed forward to hug her. she cringed involuntarily at his embrace, though at least this time she didn't accuse him of being a slitheen... 'well, I would say the same, but...' she said hesitantly, stepping back and holding him at arm's length. 'why so young this time?'

jackie, meanwhile, was staring at the young woman, knowing she looked familiar and trying to place it. finally it clicked. 'clara? is that you? oh, don't tell me he got to you too, sweetheart!'

A grin spread on the Impossible Girl's face as the Doctor made a dash for Rose, enveloping her in a bear-hug. She was happy for him, being able to see the woman he loved, the one he'd never thought he'd see again once more, despite the odds. Yes, she really was happy... So why did a sting of pain poke at her insides at that glee?

Clara was broken out of her confused emotional state by the voice of the older woman. Her eyes blinked, narrowing at the familiarity of the voice, and her looks, trying to place where she'd heard them before...

Suddenly, a lightbuld went off in her head, and her grin grew even larger as she realised who that woman was, and who the younger one must be. "Mrs Ty- erm - Jackie!"

She gave a small laugh at her old friend's mother's seeming disapproval of the Doctor. So the Rose the Doctor traveled with was the same Rose as her childhood friend, eh? Somehow, she should have known that; she'd seen her through her echoes, after all.

The Doctor took a small step back as Rose leaned away from him, looking at her for a moment with wide, confused eyes at her words, before glancing down at himself.  "Ohh yeah, I'd forgotten!" he exclaimed, grinning again and standing up a bit taller, straightening his bowtie.  "You like it?"

John stepped forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Rose, looking this newest incarnation of the Doctor up and down, giving a particularly dubious look to his chin.  "Hmm...  So this is what I missed out on by being someone else, eh?"  He blinked, glancing over at Rose, shrugged, then turned to look the Doctor in the eye, straight-faced.  "I can live with that."

The Doctor, oblivious to the jibe, continued grinning for a few moments.  "Yeah, I-- Oi!" he exclaimed indignantly as he realized, frowning and shooting John a look.  John just raised his eyebrows innocently.

The two were distracted, however, by the exchange between Jackie and Clara.  Both glanced between the two with similarly wide-eyed expressions, then, in unison, said, "Wait... You two know each other??"

at this, rose glanced at the young woman again, brow furrowed. 'clara?' she questioned, eyes widening in recognition. 'my god, it's been ages!' she exclaimed, stepping away from the boys with a little glance of "be nice" before stepping over to clara. 'a handful of years and a universe away, and here you are again- that's practically impossible!' she turned back to john and the Doctor, beaming now. 'of course we know each other! we were good friends, a long time ago.'

jackie nodded. 'how's your mum? I haven't seen any of you since you all started high school.'

"Well, the Doctor doesn't call me 'the Impossible Girl' for nothin'!" Clara laughed as she gathered her old friend up in a hug that could rival said Time Lord's. "Blimey, it's been ages! How are you?"

Clara's glee began to fall, however, at Jackie's mention of her mother. Stiffening slightly, she forced a smile back on her face before drawing out of the hug. Her mother... What was she supposed to say? Should she lie? Should she hide? What was more troubling was the event that caused Ellie Oswald's death; an event Rose was involved in. The last thing she wanted was to make her rediscovered friend feel guilty.

After a single second of silence, Clara fiddled with her shoulder bag and replied, still keeping her smile. "She's... gone."

At Rose's look, both Time Lords' eyebrows rose up in expressions of questioning innocence, until they were distracted by the conversation going on in front of them, and the look slipped from their faces.

John glanced between the three girls, about to step forward and introduce himself, when it was revealed that Clara's mother had died.  He stopped, figuring now was not the best time, frowning slightly in a regretful sort of way at the news.

The Doctor surreptitiously stepped a bit closer to Clara, knowing that thinking about the event caused her great sorrow, and reached slowly for her right hand, taking it in his left in an attempt to offer some sort of comfort.

jackie's face fell as she realised what clara was saying. 'oh. I'm so sorry love, I didn't know.' rose looked sad as well, though she hadn't known mrs oswald very well, she'd been a nice woman. 'I can't imagine,' rose said truthfully, giving clara another, gentler hug of sympathy before stepping back. 'but I suppose we need to get to more important things.' she turned to the Doctor. 'why are you here, and how? you haven't said.'

'you said you couldn't come back,' jackie said, frowning in confusion.

Clara eyed the Doctor as he took her hand, a thankful look swimming in her gaze. How often had she been the one to hold his hand in times of sorrow? He was returning the favour, for sure. It was nice to know he cared. She gave it a small squeeze, then released it.

Glad that the two hadn't asked the cause of her mother's death, Clara simply continued to smile, hiding away the sorrow she felt deep behind the locked doors in her mind.

"The Doctor came to take me god knows where for my birthday," Clara started, turning an eye to the time traveler with a smile, then absentmindedly touched the backk of her heqad where she'd hit the railing, wincing at the contact, before continuing. "When we took off, though, the TARDIS jolted and we crashed."

The Doctor gave Clara a tiny smile in return for her thankful look, letting his hand fall to his side once more as she released it.  He nodded at her explanation of how they'd gotten there, then added, "As for how it happened?  No idea."

John stepped forward then, fishing for something in his pocket.  "This might explain a few things..." he said, pulling out the shard of the Time Map.  "It came crashing through the window right before you arrived."

The Doctor's eyes widened in recognition at the sight of the piece of golden metal, and he reached up, taking it in his hands.  "But that's a..."

"A piece of the Time Map," John finished, expression grave.  "The TARDIS must have been pulled through the crack it created between the two universes..."

'if this is just a piece,' rose said, gesturing to the shard, 'where's the rest of it?'

'I don't care where this time map thing is, as long as it doesn't break any more of my windows!' jackie said, stepping to finish sweeping the broken glass on the floor beside the TARDIS.

Clara stared at the shard for a second. it looked almost exactly like hers, perhaps a little smaller. With a click of her fingers, the brunette undid the clasp then rummaged through her bag, tossing the red bowtie out (which, unnoticed by her, flew to hit the Doctor in the face) until her fingers brushed across the cool sensation of metal. She pulled the shard out with and exclaimed "ah-ha!' and held the shattered piece in front of her, in a similar fashion to when she'd held her mother's leaf out to the Old God back oh Akhaten, all those years ago.

"This crashed through my kitchen window this morning." She spoke, a sheepish smile spreading on her lips. "I may have possibly forgotten about it in my birthday excitement."

"They will have been scattered throughout other time periods, as I said before," John explained to Rose, before turning to shoot Jackie an annoyed glare.  "Jackie, this will have repercussions reaching far beyond your windows if something isn't done to fix it!" he told her with frustration... though his brown eyes glinted with amusement as the Doctor was smacked in the head with the bowtie Clara had tossed.

"Oi...!" the Doctor peeped in quiet, surprised complaint, ducking away from the flying object, glancing over at it as it hit the ground, before his attention was pulled to the shard Clara held.  "Oh, yes, I meant to ask you what had happened to your window...  I suppose that answers it..."  He gingerly removed the piece from her fingers, holding it in his palm alongside the other and staring at the two of them with a frown.  "Well, what are we supposed to do about it now?  We're stuck here in Pete'sWorld, and it'll take a full day to get out of here if we power up the TARDIS the way we did last time..."  He glanced up at Rose and John, knowing they'd know what 'last time' he meant.

rose glanced at john, then to clara, and lastly to the Doctor. 'there's no need for that, surely?' she said, looking a bit timid. 'not when we can draw energy through the rift the shard tore? I'm sure there's a way, we just have to figure it out...'

jackie was grumbling to herself, cleaning up the last of the glass and throwing it away, mostly ignoring the group...

"So essentially," Clara started, her lips pressing into a firm line as she thought on how to word what she was thinking. This was the Metacrisis Clone and Rose, so surely she wouldn't be breaking time further by mentioning her previous predicament. Her chocolate eyes flashed up to meet the Doctor's, before she ran a hand through the side of her hair, tucking the strands which hung by her cheek behind her ear. "This Time Map shattering is sort of like me when I jumped into your timestream, except this effects the entire universe, not just your personal life?"

Clara had almost forgotten that they were stuck in the parallel universe for a while, until the topic was brought up. Somehow, she wasn't sure how she should feel about waiting, but still, at least she would be able to enjoy herself while they waited. The Doctor most likely had a cake in the kitchen - he was a s ucker for it, after all. The excitable, almost childlike Time Lord would never miss an opportunity to spring out a birthday cake; and hey, maybe she could actually manage to make her mother's souffles right today.

John glanced hesitantly between the three others before replying to Rose's question.  "The tricky bit would be finding where the breach occurred," he pointed out.  "That in itself could take some time...  It might be quicker to do it the same way as before, though if we could find the rift it would be safer..."

His eyes swiftly locked to Clara at her own question, brown eyes growing wide.  "You did what now?" he asked in a slight squeak of surprise.

The Doctor glanced to John.  "I'll explain later," he told him, before looking to Clara and nodding.  "Yes, similar to that.  The shards will travel back to already-established events and change details of said event to varying degrees.  There's no telling how much damage they could do if they're not collected..."

'well, it's got to be nearby- or do you think it was the shard that brought them here?' rose asked, rubbing her head in a similar manner to john, a habit she'd picked up from him.

jackie, having finished cleaning, was paying slightly more attention. 'that shard thing is from the other universe- why don't you lot just use it?'

At first, John started to scoff at Jackie's suggestion.  "Oh, Jackie, that's-- Wait a minute..."  He glanced to the Doctor, eyes widening.  "You know, she's actually right for once?"

The Doctor grinned at that.  "Good idea - we could use the shards to help charge the TARDIS instead.  It'll still take a bit of time, but it'd probably be the quickest way.  ...Why didn't we think of that sooner??"

jackie just scoffed and rolled her eyes. 'well, you're not staying here, you lot! and find a way to get this blue box of yours out of my house!' she brandished the broom at them before going to put it away. 'men, think they know everything,' she muttered under her breath.

rose sniggered, turning to clara. 'well, I guess we've got a bit of time to catch up-' she turned to the Doctor- 'all of us.'

At that, a grin spread across Clara's face. This day wasn't a complete disaster, at least. She'd found an old friend again, and the Doctor found the same - albeit, on a more affectionate past than simply childhood friends.

"I'll make a souffle!" The Impossible Girl declared, determination shining in her chocolate gaze. "Hopefully it's not 'too beautiful to live' this time."

One day, one day, Clara was going to make a perfect souffle, just like her mother's. hey, it was still her birthday, after all. With any luck, whatever gods of cooking may exist might possibly be feeling a bit more lenient on this day, of all; and if they weren't? Well... There was always the Doctor. He always ate her souffles, good or not.

John frowned after Jackie as she walked off, biting back a less-than-gentlemanly comment about her sore lack of respect toward their 'guests', and instead looked to Rose.  "Well, where does she think they're supposed to stay, then?" he complained.  "And how does she expect us to move that?"  He pointed toward the TARDIS.  "It won't even fit through the doorway!"  He shook his head, giving up on trying to understand what Jackie was thinking - he'd had a full year to figure it out, and he hadn't managed yet.  Today wasn't likely to be any different.

Instead, he turned his attention back to the others, grinning at Clara's declaration.  "A soufflé?  Brilliant!  I'll put the kettle on," he said cheerfully, starting off toward the kitchen, glancing back to make sure the others were following.

The Doctor, too, grinned.  "Oh, where to start?" he told Rose.  "We'd need more than a full day to get completely caught up, eh?" He glanced to Clara, rubbing his hands together eagerly at her mention of soufflés, before following after John.

rose laughed at clara's statement and the boys' enthusiasm for the prospect of food. 'do you want help?' she asked her old friend, walking over to a cabinet to pull down some bowls. 'I can't claim to be a good cook, but I can hand you things...' she grinned over at the Doctor. 'I don't think a thousand years could fill me in, but you can try. take a seat- unless you'd rather stand.' she gestured to some barstools on the opposite side of the island in the kitchen.

"I'd like that, actually." Clara grinned, following her friend around the counters, and grabbing the largest mixing bowl after Rose pulled it down, She quickly dashed back out to the TARDIS, where she'd removed her bag, and shuffled through it until she pulled out her mother's old recipe, then walked back into the kitchen. The brunette placed the paper on the counter by the bowl, skimming it over once.

"First, eggs! Eggs, eggs, eggs." The Impossible Girl sped out, pacing a few steps until she swiveled around, coy smirk playing on her lips, and pointed her finger at the Doctor. "Eggs!"

The Dalek Asylum, and Oswin Oswald. Now that was one of her echoes she recalled more vividly, mostly due to the Doctor's vast descriptions of her. Clara was surprised at how different the Dalek-converted her was. Much more flirty and very cheeky, as well as somewhat of a dreamer. She had no idea where that part came from.

"Quite right," the Doctor agreed amusedly, glancing to the barstools she'd pointed to.  "Ah, don't mind if I do."  He headed over, sitting down, watching the others in the kitchen, grinning and pointing back at Clara with a knowing nod as she turned to him.

He was quiet for a moment, gathering his thoughts, before starting in on the stories, deciding to put a dent in the 'one thousand years' needed to fully catch up with John and Rose.  "Well, let's see...  I've regenerated again, obviously..." he began, recanting that experience first - how the Master had returned, how Gallifrey had broken temporarily from the Time Lock, and how he'd finally managed to send them back to where they'd come from, albeit at the cost of his 10th life.

John listened to all of this with great intrigue, seeing as this was what he'd missed out on by separating from the Doctor and going to live with Rose - though he knew he was right where he wanted to be most of all, even if it was hard sometimes.  As the girls started on the soufflé, he put the kettle on to start the tea, leaning back against the kitchen's island once that had been taken care of to listen more closely.

rose looked bewildered at the inside joke clara was doing, quickly pulling out the carton of eggs to shut her up. she pulled out a few more of the ingredients as the Doctor talked, stopping to look at him when he got near the end of the story. it was only then, as he spoke of the little tour he'd done, that she remembered, several years back on new years, and looked at john, finally understanding why he'd looked vaguely familiar when he'd gotten that face...

"And we need milk, vanilla extract and flour." Clara gave a smile to Rose as she handed her the eggs, getting to work with picking the largest ones from the carton, and setting them aside.

Her attention was turned half to the Doctor's story, and half on her cooking. She almost put an extra egg in the bowl she was using for the bechamel sauce, but managed to catch herself before she did. Clara often asked the Doctor what he dreamed about, and the vast majority of the time, it was about an adventure or event. So they'd sit, either on the edge of one of the two's bed, or the extremely comfortable lounge in the library, where he'd just talk; and she's just listen. Sometimes they'd spend an hour like that, other times, it would be ten minutes. Whatever the time, those little moments were one of the things Clara looked forward to on the odd occasion she spent a night or two on the TARDIS.

John listened with a bit of a grim expression at the recantation, glad he hadn't had to go through that regeneration.  He'd never enjoyed having to change his face, but he'd grown particularly attached to this one, it seemed, and the thought of losing who he was now (or had been, all throughout his 10th incarnation) made him oddly uneasy.  He met Rose's look when the Doctor mentioned how he'd gone back to see her again on New Year's 2005, right before he'd regenerated.  "Ah, so is that why you thought I was a Slitheen?" he teased her, a bit of a lopsided grin on his face.

The Doctor smiled a bit at that before continuing on to recall how he'd then crash-landed in Amelia Pond's backyard, talking about how he'd had to leave but promised to come back... only to return 12 years later.

John snorted in amusement at this.  "And you thought it was bad when we returned a year after we were meant to," he giggled to Rose, eyes flitting lightheartedly.

"So after I dealt with the Atraxi and Prisoner Zero, I left for a bit to break in the new TARDIS," the Doctor continued, noting with amusement as Clara nearly added an extra egg to the sauce.

"...How long of a break was this?" John asked, one corner of his mouth beginning to curl upward.  He had a feeling it wasn't a simple 20 minutes.

The Doctor glared at him for a moment.  "... Two years.  Shut up," he warned before anyone could say anything else, pointing around at the others warningly.

rose brought clara the ingredients, checking the paper she'd gotten out to make sure they had everything, and offered a whisk. she chuckled a little at john's statements and the Doctor's antics. 'well, some things will never change, I suppose,' she said, looking between the two boys and shaking her head a little. 'you'll never learn to tell time properly.' she grinned at clara. 'I dunno how you put up with him- he seems very...erm...hmm...' she wasn't quite sure what she could use to describe the Doctor now that wouldn't hurt his feelings. energetic? spastic? childish? oh, that one would make him happy. she giggled again- a nine hundred-plus year old alien, acting like he was twelve, if that...

"He was late today." Clara chuckled as she offered Rose an amused smile, then moved down the counter to turn the stove on, setting the sauce in a pan on low heat before shifting back to the large bowl to work on the batter.

"Like a toddler in a Time Lord's body?" The brunette replied in answer to Rose's question. She turned a glinting brown eye towards the Doctor, making it apparent that she was making fun of him. "Yep, that's him. Can't go anywhere without riskin' embarrassment."

The Doctor frowned at Clara indignantly, mouth opening slightly in a disbelieving gape.  "Oi!  Am not!" he proclaimed stubbornly, crossing his arms and squaring his shoulders, sitting up a little straighter.

John appeared greatly amused by this - it was immensely satisfying to watch someone else get accused of being childish for a change... even if that 'someone else' was still basically him in many ways.

rose laughed outright at the Doctor's reaction. 'you always were, don't try to deny it-but with that new face, I'd bet it's worse now!' she brandished a spatula at the two men on the other side of the kitchen island from her. 'he still acts like a kid sometimes, you know,' she said to clara, grinning and pointing to john. 'it's hilarious, but can be embarrassing.'

Clara grinned, then laughed at the two men . Nothing much had changed, huh? She distinctly remembered the Tenth Doctor's personality from when the three of them, plus the incarnation that fought in the Time War, had dashed about saving the world from Zygons, and stopping the three Doctors from destroying Gallifrey.

As she thought upon that particular adventure, Clara poured the batter into the pan with the sauce and stirred with a wooden spoon, making sure that the batter was thoroughly mixed before pouring it into a cake dish, taking special care not to bump it. With a smile, she then wandered over to the Doctor with the bowl that used to contain the uncooked souffle, and the wooden spoon she'd just been using, and pushed them into the Time Lord's lap.

"Go on, then. You haven't finished catching them up." Clara urged,in an amused tone before resting a hand on her Doctor's shoulder for a second, then heading back over to where the souffle sat. "You haven't even gotten to me, yet."

John's slightly smug look of amusement quickly transformed into an expression of open-mouthed disappointment at Rose's comment.  "Oi!" he complained in a high-pitched tone.  "...I'm not embarrassing...!"

The Doctor, too, had opened his mouth to counter Rose's laughter at him, before realizing he didn't know what to say.  So instead, he settled on making a childish a pouty face at her... though the batter bowl shoved in front of him served to rapidly cheer him up.  He picked up the spoon and started licking on it, looking like he was trying to figure out if he could fit the whole thing in his mouth at once or not...

It also distracted John, who looked over with interest, surreptitiously reaching over to swipe a finger along the edge of the bowl before drawing said finger to his mouth.  The Doctor noticed this and moved the bowl to the right, away from John, regarding the other man through narrowed eyes.  John stared back with wide-eyed innocence, finger still stuck in his mouth.

The Doctor continued glaring at John for a few more moments before looking away, returning to the task at hand.  "Right, moving on..." he said, proceeding to tell of his adventures with the Ponds and how he'd had to reboot the entire universe because of the cracks in time.

rose was watching the two of them fight over the souffle batter, trying desperately not to giggle at them too much but decidedly failing before she even started. she glanced at clara, then over to the boys, as if to say, ''case in point, eh? a pair of children.'' her eyes grew a little wide at the cracks in the universe and what had had to be done to stop it. 'but...how did you survive that?'

"Well, Amy remembered me, even after I'd vanished from the universe... and her remembering brought me back, just as it did with Rory... just less... Roman."  The Doctor grinned.

"Brilliant," John commented with a bright-eyed grin of his own.  He jumped slightly as the kettle went off, the water now boiling, and headed over to the stove, dropping in a tea bag.

The Doctor continued on with telling of some of the more notable tales of his journey with the Ponds, including how he managed to cheat death yet again by hiding away inside the Tessalecta, and explaining how he'd finally learned who, exactly, River Song was.

rose smiled at the mention and explanation of river song, glancing over at john with an almost sly expression. 'blimey, you're starting to make it sound like you get married with every face!' she glanced often at the souffle through the oven door, fascinated to see if it would actually turn out edible...

John looked both distinctly fascinated but also slightly awkward about all this with River, whom he remembered from the Library, particularly when Rose commented on it.  He turned to her, cheeks blushing a faint shade of pink.  "I've only been married once!" he squeaked defensively.  "...Though...  There was that one time in my First incarnation when I got engaged...  But that was an accident!" he quickly added, blushing a bit harder.  The fact wouldn't have normally made him quite so embarrassed, but he didn't want to make a bad impression on Rose, especially now...

The Doctor grinned with pleasure at his discomfort.  "And then there was your face and Elizabeth I..."  He gave John a bit of a sly look.

"I can't be held responsible for what you did after I left," John said in reply, lifting his chin in an attempt to look sure of himself, though he knew it was a fairly lame argument.  Then he realized the Doctor had said 'Elizabeth I' and his eyes bugged out a bit.  "Wait... whot?!"

Meanwhile, Clara was on a straight trail back and forth from to counter to the oven, checking on the souffle every so often. Surely it would work this time!

She gave an amused chuckle, then shuddered at the memory of Queen Elizabeth snogging. They'd really been getting into it...

rose giggled at that, though she looked a little unnerved. 'wait- wasn't she the one who never married? well, guess that shouldn't surprise me much- you were never one for keeping history straight,' rose teased.

pete, smelling the mix of tea and baking souffle, stumbled down the stairs and into the kitchen, staring at all the people he didn't know that were standing about talking. 'er...am I interrupting something?' he asked in confusion.

"...It was an accident," the Doctor mumbled.  "But that all comes in later - well... sort of.  Anyway... ...back to the story..." he quickly moved on to start telling of the Dalek asylum, where he'd met Oswin.

When Pete stumbled in on them, both John and the Doctor turned to look.  "Oh, Pete!" the Doctor greeted, grinning.  "Long time, no see!  It's the Doctor," he explained, pointing to John.  "New face."

"...And just when I was coming in too." Clara commented in feigned disappointment at Pete's appearance and distraction of the Doctor. A welcoming smile spread on her lips, however, in greeting. "I'm Clara, Clara Oswald. The Doctor's current companion."

She would've strolled over to shake his hand, but the Impossible Girl had just realised that the Doctor had been distracting her for a little too long, and that she forgot to check on the souffle. So, with chocolate eyed widening with realization, the brunette made made a mad dash to the oven.

er...' pete said, staring between john and the young man with the angular face who seemed to know him by name. he'd never known that the Doctor could change his face... 'that's nice, I think?' he walked over and got a mug from the cupboard, pouring some tea. 'and, who are you?' he asked, gesturing vaguely to clara. he nodded as she spoke, then raised an eyebrow at her mad dash to the oven.

rose was staring intently at the souffle as it rose, sniffing appreciatively...

"It's a... Time Lord thing..." John told Pete, shrugging lightly and hoping that would be sufficient to satisfy him for now.  He glanced to Clara as she rushed over to the oven, nose in the air to inhale the scents of cooking that had filled the kitchen, then realized he'd neglected the tea, and hurriedly grabbed four more mugs, waiting until Pete had gotten his before pouring a cup for everyone, passing the mugs around, waiting for the soufflé.

The Doctor, too, was looking rather eager, rubbing his hands together again as he watched Clara remove the soufflé from the oven, green eyes shining.  Perhaps today was the day it would finally turn out just right...

Clara slipped the oven mitts on and opened the door, grabbing the cake bowl delicately and slowly, carefully pulled it out and...

It looked good. Not perfect, but good. it wasn't as spongy, and it was a little deflated, but at least it wasn't burnt. A large, proud grin spread across the young woman's face. Her first actual, proper, edible souffle! Words couldn't describe how accomplished she felt at that moment!

Spinning on her heels to face the Time Lord, she beamed at him, placed her hands on her hips, raised her chin and declared, in a proud manner; "I am Souffle Girl."

rose sniggered a little, not sure how to reply to that statement, and pete just took a sip of his tea, not saying a word, figuring that was safer. rose smiled at the souffle. 'that looks delicious! I can't wait to try it!' she exclaimed enthusiastically, stepping over to fetch her mug of tea, taking a sip or two.

The Doctor beamed back at Clara, excited that she'd finally made something she was happy with.  But then he had a thought, and frowned, looking at the soufflé on the counter with suspicion.  Hopping up, he stalked over to the cake, pulling out his sonic, and began scanning it.

John watched this with look of bafflement.  "...What, exactly, are you doing...?" he asked slowly, taking a moment to eye the sonic with a look of jealousy.  He'd been trying to create another one out of scrap parts from Torchwood, but finding the right materials had been a lengthy and difficult process, and it still couldn't do much of anything...

"Making sure it's not made out of some inedible material..." the Doctor replied, flicking out the sonic's tip and looking over the readings.  "...No... ...It's actually a cake..."  He spun on Clara, beaming proudly at her once more, hands in the air.  "You did it!"  He grasped her in an excited hug, lifting her off the ground and twirling her around a bit.

Clara's brow raised as the Doctor strolled up and began sonicing the souffle, not quite sure whether she should feel offended or laugh. The latter choice was decided for her when the Time Lord turned to her, grinned and picked her up in a hug, twirling her around. A chuckle escaped her parted lips and her arms latched around his neck, staying there for just a little too long after he'd put her down. She smiled up at him proudly before realising that her arms were still on his shoulders, and quickly removed them.

"Looks like you'll finally be able to eat one of my souffles without forcin' yourself." Clara commented, an amused smile playing on her lips despite herself.

rose stepped to the block and grabbed a knife, holding it over the souffle. 'can I have a bite?' rose asked, looking to clara eagerly. she'd never had a souffle, but it smelled delicious! pete was sniffing appreciatively as well- he didn't get good cooking like this, normally.

The Doctor laughed at that.  "Well... they're not normally that bad, really..." he told her with a grin, not wanting to hurt her feelings at all.  "Sometimes a little burnt around the edges, but..."  In truth, some of them had been really, truly terrible.  A few times, he'd even been forced to hide the remains under the furniture to avoid letting her know he hadn't been able to eat them.

John leaned slowly over Rose's shoulder, eyes gleaming brightly as he stared eagerly at the soufflé on the counter.  He was far too distracted by the wonderful smell and the prospect of 'fancy' food to notice what was going on between Eleven and Clara.  Pete wasn't too bad a cook, normally, but whenever Jackie tried to make anything...  Ugh.  John was quite convinced that Jackie was a health hazard... though fortunately, no harm had come to him yet...

At the sight of the knife, Clara immediately sprung from the Doctor's arms and sped over to Rose, accidentally knocking John along the way, and slipped the utensil from the blonde woman's hand.

"You don't wanna use that unless you want to make a mess." The Impossible Girl said knowingly, placing the knife on the counter and shuffling through a few of the drawers before bringing out a cake spoon. Grabbing the bowls, the brunette began spooning equal portions into each one, smiling as she delicious, sweet scent wafted to her nose. Her first, actual good souffle! She could hardly wait to take a bite! "It's kind of like puddin'"

'oh,' rose said, looking a little disappointed when the knife was taken away, but quickly fetching plates to dish it on. she held out her own eagerly, and pete took another plate, passing the rest to john and the doctor.

John gave a small grunt of surprise as Clara bumped into him, quickly scooting out of her way, peering over Rose's other shoulder instead.  Once he was passed his bowl, he quickly took a bite, mumbling in appreciation.  "S'good!" he exclaimed, eyes shining.

The Doctor shifted impatiently from foot to foot as he waited for his serving, quickly taking a bite as well, eyes alight with glee.  "Best soufflé I've ever had!" he announced, though he was probably exaggerating a bit, given the fact he'd been all around the world and no doubt to many high-end restaurants.  Nevertheless, his appreciation was sincere.

Clara smiled as she spooned some of the souffle into her mouth. The were right, it did taste good! For the first time, her souffle actually tasted nice! A hum escaped her lips as she drew the spoon from her mouth, turning to The Doctor and giving him an appreciative look, her eyes holding a proud gleam. She shuffled over a little to press her shoulder into his chest in a sort of armless hug, then went straight back to eating the fruit of her spoils.

rose mumbled agreement to john's statement, and pete pointed at him with his spoon before giving clara a thumbs up and a quick smile. rose finished her bit quickly and held out her plate for more with a pleading expression...

The Doctor smiled happily at Clara as she pressed against him, giving her a light bump on the back of her shoulder with his elbow in turn.  He was quite proud of her success.

Both he and John also finished their servings quite rapidly, looking down at their empty bowls with disappointment and joining Rose in giving Clara looks of wide-eyed pleading for more.

At the pleading glances of the three, Clara sighed then shook her head, the corners of her lips curling upwards in amusement. "And here I thought I was away from the kids for a bit."

Still, she grabbed the cake spoon once more, and began spooning the last of the desert into everyone's dishes, making sure to set some aside for Jackie. It wouldn't be fair to let her go without, now would it? Especially when she was certain Rose's mother had eaten a souffle or two made by her own mother.

rose giggled at clara's comment. 'oh, come on, you knew me as a kid- did you really think I was ever going to grow up?' she asked rhetorically, sticking her spoonful of souffle in her mouth with a blissful smile. pete wandered out of the kitchen to fetch jackie, who'd been showering and getting ready for the day, and she came downstairs a moment later, smiling warmly at the smell of souffle.

"Well, you're always claiming I act childish," the Doctor pointed out with an amused grin, sticking the spoon in his mouth once more when he received another serving.

John glanced over at Jackie as she came into the room, noting that she was looking a bit more pleasant now.  Maybe she'd gotten over the events of the morning... and maybe the soufflé would help her be more forgiving toward the crash-landing of the TARDIS in the front room...

Clara, who finished her portion last and not feeling up for a second serving, placed her bowl and spoon in the sink, then turned to face the others, leaning back on the counter, palms pressing to the edge of the tabletop.

"I know." Clara said in reply to the Doctor, a mocking smile on her face. The Impossible Girl shifted a hand to dust a few crumbs off her dress, then absentmindedly began playing with the necklace around her neck.

'ooh, that's pretty,' rose said, noticing clara's necklace at last. she set her own bowl and spoon in the sink and stood next to clara so they could talk better. 'those engravings look like the stuff that comes up on the TARDIS monitors from time to time...'

jackie and pete were both engrossed in the gloriousness of the delicious free souffle.

John noticed the necklace's engravings for the first time when Rose pointed it out, and peered a bit closer.  His eyes widened a little in surprise before he glanced up with a slight, surprised yet questioning smirk at the Doctor, who had stepped to the sink, on the other side of Clara, to set down his own bowl.

The Doctor grinned broadly at his look, pointing at Clara repeatedly with alternating hands from behind her back.  John's smirk widened a bit, shifting to a knowing look, though he didn't say anything.

"Gallifreyan? Yeah." Clara replied, dropping her had from her neck as she turned her gaze to Rose and smiled. "It says my name, apparently."

Then, Clara's 'the Doctor is doing something strange behind my back' sense started tingling, and thee brunette whipped her head around, catching him mid-point, and cocked a questioning brow.

'wow,' rose said in fascination. she happened to glance up at the Doctor as clara turned to face him and sniggered. 'you really are like a child now, aren't you? I thought john was bad some days!'

jackie finished up her souffle quickly, looking sad that there wasn't more, and pete, noticing, handed over his last bite.

The Doctor abruptly froze as Clare whipped around to face him, staring at her with wide eyes.  Then, after a moment, he quickly pulled his hands behind his back, averting his eyes and looking around the room as if he hadn't just been caught doing something weird, though his cheeks blushed faintly pink.

As Rose brought up John, he quickly latched onto the name, changing the subject.  "Oh, so you go by John now, eh?" he asked, looking to John again.

"Oh, that's right, I suppose I never did properly introduce myself, did I?" John asked, grinning, stepping forward to stand next to Rose again.  "It's John--" He glanced briefly to Rose--"...Tyler."

seeing the Doctor's look, rose grinned and elbowed john playfully. 'he has yet to make it official, of course, but I guess there won't be any name changing when the time does come,' she said lightly.

jackie and pete, now finished with the last of the dessert, brought over their plates to put in the sink. 'that was every bit as good as your mother's,' jackie told clara. 'maybe even better.'

The Doctor's eyes widened a bit in surprise, hearing John's full name, though he nodded as Rose explained.  "Ahh, so you're not married, then?  Well, do you think you ever will 'tie the knot', as they say?"  He grinned slyly in a playful sort of manner, glancing between the two of them.

John turned a bit pink.  "Well... I dunno," he began, gaze flickering to Rose with uncertainty.  "I mean... I guess it's always a possibility?  Honestly, I've not really even thought about it..."  He shrugged slightly.  'Domestics' had never really been his thing, after all...

"But everything's going well?" the Doctor checked, suddenly looking a bit nervous, clasping his hands in front of him.  "I mean, the two of you are still...?"  When he'd left John and Rose here in this universe, all those years ago (for him, anyway), it had been his hope that the two of them would stay together, and that they could have a chance to make a life together in the way that the Doctor had always wanted but knew was impossible for himself.  Even though it had broken his hearts to lose Rose, and still hurt him a great deal even now, he hoped that she and John were still as close as they had always been - maybe even more so - and that they were both happy...

Clara eyed the three as they talked with intrigue, arms folded in their usual position over her chest ans she leaned against the counter. She had never put much thought into what would've happened after the Doctor left Rose and his Metacrisis clone - now John - but getting into a romantic relationship was the most obvious option. The Impossible Girl wouldn't of cared much whatever the outcome, after all, she hadn't met the Time Lord's main squeeze; or so she thought. Now that she knew that companion was, in fact, her childhood friend, Clara felt her insides swell with happiness at the infamous Rose's fate.

Still, deep in the pit of her stomach wrenched the ugly feeling of envy, an emotion the brunette, really, truly didn't want to feel at her friend's glee - why would she, anyway? It's not as if she wanted such a relationship with the Doctor, that was a thing that would only lead to heartbreak and pain, and Clara had enough of that already. That's why she invented 'the Trick,' as she called it. Don't fall in love. Clara was a clever girl, as the Doctor often called her, and clever girls don't go pining and chasing after a luckless romance with an alien who would never allow himself to love back. She didn't want to become another Martha, nor did she want to experience what Rose had went through.

The sound of Jackie's voice derailed her train of thought, and the teacher snapped her chocolate gaze to the older woman, and offered a smile. "Oh, no, I'm not that good. Believe me, it only turned out alright this time because I had help from Rose, you can ask Chinboy over there for proof."

Clara tilted her head in the Doctor's direction after speaking, her smile somewhat between a snarky smirk and a polite, humbled one.

'oh, nonsense,' jackie said, 'it was delicious because you made it.' she stepped forward and gave clara a quick one-armed hug before heading out again, pulling pete along with her so the four could be left alone.

rose watched her mother go with a rather puzzled expression, then shrugged a little. 'I'd like to think we're quite happy, but I've got more doubts than he does,' she said, looking to john with a bit of a frown. he'd only recently, finally, gotten over the funk he'd been in for quite some time, and she hoped against hope that having the Doctor here wouldn't make him fall back into it, yearning for the days of travelling and adventure...

John glanced to Rose with an expression of sorrow, regret, and a bit of shame.  "It's... been difficult..." he admitted quietly, nodding a little.  "Adjusting to human life has been a struggle at best.  A new lifestyle, a new body, new surroundings... it was overwhelming.  This is an entirely different universe - everything about it just feels off.  After a while, I just gave up, started isolating myself, wishing I could go back to the way it was before.  I didn't want to hurt Rose with my unpredictable mood swings..."  He looked over to Rose again, gratitude lighting his eyes.  "She finally managed to drag me out of it, just recently...  Made me realize that maybe I could make it through, could adapt... as long as she was by my side..."

The Doctor listened to this with a slight frown of concern, worried for a time that things weren't going as well as he'd originally thought.  Maybe he'd overestimated things, after all...  But near the end of John's miniature speech, a spark of hope lit in his hearts once more, and he gave a small smile, looking between the two of them.  "Well, I'm glad to hear things are turning for the better," he said, before a sudden realization made him frown again, wringing his hands a bit once more.  "I... hope my arrival here doesn't have any adverse effects..."

'oh, no, doctor, don't worry about that,' rose said hastily, not wanting to make her old friend feel in any way unwelcome. 'it's wonderful to see you, when neither of us ever thought we would again- and you've brought one of my friends along, too!' she smiled at clara happily, genuinely pleased to see her again, though they hadn't met since childhood. after a moment, she cleared her throat. 'well, you two,' she said, looking between clara and the Doctor, 'you've succeeded in flying into one of the fanciest houses in britain and parking a big blue box on the rug.' she eyed the box in question. 'and there's the whole mess of this shard thing to get back to. while we're waiting for "her" to recharge, there must be something useful we can do...'

John nodded quickly in agreement with Rose's words, glancing between her and the Doctor.  "Oh, no, it's certainly no trouble," he insisted.  "Like Rose said, it's brilliant to catch up with my 'other half', as it were, hear about what happened after we left.  And of course it's wonderful to meet Clara, as well."  He looked over to her, giving her one of his charming smiles.

The Doctor nodded at their insistent words, looking relieved.  He glanced back to Clara as well, grinning, then followed Rose's look to the TARDIS sitting in the other room.  He looked thoughtful for a moment before jumping slightly.  "Oh!  I need to start her recharging - I nearly forgot!" he exclaimed, hurrying off back toward the big blue box.

John glanced after him, then looked to Rose.  "I'll go see if I can do anything to help.  Let you two catch up," he told her, smiling and nodding at Clara again, before following the Doctor toward the other room.

At the charming smile from John, Clara rolled her eyes then shook her head before speaking, voice amused and evidently teasing. "Blimey you move fast; your girlfriend's right there!"

Clara smirked and shouldered Rose good-naturedly, before nodding as the matter of charging the TARDIS was brought up. Turning her head to her old friend and looping an arm through hers with a grin. "Overnight, right? Great, haven't had a sleepover since we were, what, ten?

It was then that the boys decided to leave them on their own and Clara, being the one who has a tendency to take advantage of a situation to make the Doctor squirm, piped up once more, a cheeky expression on her face, accompanied by a playful glint in her chocolate eyes."Now you two, don't get into any "sonic" fights while you're gone; you're both clever."

rose giggled at her friend's comment about a sleepover. 'it seems like a whole other lifetime, doesn't it?' she said, grinning. she laughed again at clara's last comment, trying not to let out a snork- and failing. 'that'd be tricky, seeing as john doesn't have one. he's been trying to build a new screwdriver, but he just can't find the pieces.' she motioned past the box to the living room sofa. 'why don't we do what they suggested? it's been over a decade, at least- let's "catch up".'

John ducked back into the room at Clara's 'girlfriend' comment, looking rather taken aback.  "Wait... Whot?!" he squeaked in alarm, face turning very nearly red as he glanced rapidly between the two women.  "But... I... That's not what I meant... I mean..." he stuttered, turning to Rose with a rather pleading look.

The Doctor looked rather amused by all this, until Clara's second comment, when he frowned indignantly.  "Oi!" he cried, popping his own head around the corner alongside John's.

Clara snickered at John's flustered reaction before giving the Doctor a sly smile when he, too, nosed out of the TARDIS. The Impossible girl then lifted a hand from her chest and waved it in a shooing motion, then turned her attention back to Rose.

"Well, I didn't mean it literally." Clara said with a smirk, her eyes shifting slightly to the left in a playful, suspicious manner. "So, with the exception of your love life, how have you been?"

'uh, well, life's been pretty good, I guess. was just the same old story until- what was it, march 2005?' she thought for a moment and nodded. 'yeah. that explosion uptown? I worked there. it was the Doctor who caused it, to stop the autons.' she moved to the couch and sat down as she was talking. 'after that was over, we started running together, and it was great...'

John frowned, eyebrows rising up momentarily at her next sentence before frowning again, glancing to the Doctor as if asking what that was supposed to mean.  The Doctor shrugged, shaking his head, and both men headed into the TARDIS.

Once inside, John looked around at the different interior, curious.  "Ah, so you've redecorated, I see," he commented, eyes bright.  Then, he frowned, curling his lip a little and looking a bit like Donna.  "I don't like it."

The Doctor scowled at him, though he didn't look surprised.  "Yeah, yeah, I knew you'd say that..." he grumbled, circling around to the other side of the console and working on plugging the shards into the TARDIS so she could begin to recharge.

"Well, I already knew that much." Clara replied, suppressing the flinch she was about to make at the reference of March 2005 and the Autons. "The Doctor talks about you sometimes; stories and whatnot."

The Impossible Girl offered her old friend a smile, shifting away from where she was leaning on the counter and moving over to a seat, plopping down in it and crossing one leg over the other. Clara had always been the more girly of the two, with all the dresses and whatnot. "Usually in the library. I can never read in peace! Knowing him, he just gets bored and comes to pester me to entertain himself."

'well, I knew two of his faces,' rose said. 'when we met, he sounded like he was from the north, and he had short hair. and the ears-' she laughed at the memory of his very sticky-outy ears. 'I was there when he regenerated. boy, that was traumatic. I thought he was a slitheen, I was so panicked!' she sniggered again at that, but it was a bit bittersweet. 'anyway, um, how did you meet the Doctor?'

"So I heard." Giggled Clara, amusement evident in the smile on her lips. "Apparently you "clung to the coral like a spooked Olaravon Kees""

Clara raised her fingers and made a quotation gesture as she spoke the last part. She was about to continue on about how the Ninth Doctor's ears really were big, but was taken aback by Rose's own question. How does one explain to her childhood friend such a timey-whimey thing? "That's - uh - It's complicated..."

'trust me, I can deal with complicated,' rose told her, giving her an encouraging smile. 'go on, just tell me, and I'll stop you if I get lost.' she was confident her old friend couldn't really have that complicated of a story to tell- after all, she was an ordinary woman, just like rose was...right?

"Well..." Clara started, inhaling a breath before turning to face Rose, a smile playing on her lips "Three years ago, I was takin' care of the Maitland children - long story, I'll tell you later - and the kids had gone to school so I was alone in the house. I was having trouble connecting to the internet, so I called a helpline this woman in a shop gave me. Then after saying this phrase to remember the password, someone's knocking at he door and guess who? A weird man dressed like a monk, a very hyper monk, calling my name and asking if I remembered him. I shut to door on him, of course, but he just stayed out there for half an hour, beggin' me to let him in."

rose giggled, able to picture the plucky new face the Doctor had dressed in a monk's habit- and bouncing around. 'why would he think you remembered him? had he already met future you?' she asked her friend, raising an eyebrow. 'apparently that happens- he went to meet shakespeare once and met liz the first. first time for him, not for her.'

"That's where the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... Thing comes in. Remember how I mentioned earlier that the Doctor calls me "the Impossible Girl?"" Said Impossible Girl continued, teeth clenching down on her bottom lip as her brows furrowed. How was she going to explain this? The Doctor was better at these such things...Wait... "Doctor!"

A few moments passed in silence before the TARDIS door creaked open and the Doctor poked his head out, green eyes inquiring.  "Yes?" he asked, stepping out and heading out into the living room.  John peeked out a moment later, quickly following, closing the TARDIS door behind them.

rose was looking curiously at her friend. 'timey-wimey?' she said to herself, wondering where the phrase had come from. she glanced up as the boys returned, supposing she was going to get her answers from the Doctor. 'okay, maybe you'll tell me- why did you ask clara if she remembered you?'

"The Doctor's influence." Clara chuckled, rolling her eyes just as the Time Lord and John came out at her call. "Doctor, the, um, impossible thing? The man who lived on a cloud?"

The Doctor glanced from Rose to Clara, tilting his head and frowning a little.  "Oh.  Yeah, I never did finish catching you two up earlier, did I?"  He sat himself down in a chair with a little childlike bounce and began.  "Well, it really started back when I was still with Amy and Rory," he said.  "The Daleks dragged the three of us to their 'Asylum of Crazy Daleks' and sent us on an insanely dangerous mission to blow up the planet.  Long story."  He waved his hand.  "But it was there that I met Oswin..."

John, who had sat down on the couch on the other side of Rose as Clara, raised an eyebrow.  The Doctor had already told them about the Dalek asylum, he remembered.  He opened his mouth, trying to sneak in and interrupt, but couldn't find an entry point.  Frowning in frustration, he raised a hand, making the Doctor trail off and stare at him.

rose waited until the Doctor stopped for breath, then said, 'okay, but that's not clara. clearly you're still human,' she told her friend. she didn't bother asking who amy and rory were, since she wanted to know about clara. 'so you thought that was her, somehow, and that's why you asked if she knew you?' she thought for a second, then asked clara, 'what's this about a cloud?'

"Already told them that one, Doctor." Clara smirked, after he'd stopped, her brown gaze flickering over to her old friend at her inquiry. "Well, yeah, I'm human, but I'm also the Impossible Girl."

The brunette paused, then turned her attention back to the Time Lord. "The cloud thing... He'll explain it, he knows more than I do."

The Doctor frowned a bit in confusion at that.  "...I did?  ...Oh, right... Sorry..."  He rubbed his head a little, looking a bit sheepish, and continued on to explain how, after he'd lost Amy and Rory to the Weeping Angels, he'd gone into a deep depression and settled in Victorian London, literally perching the TARDIS on a cloud.  "But then, one evening, I ran into Clara Oswin Oswald, and things changed..."  He continued with the Snowmen and the Great Intelligence, and how that Clara had given him the hope he'd needed to leave his cloud and search for her again.

John listened with a look of fascination, glancing to Clara every now and again with vast curiosity.

rose looked curiously at john as the Doctor described how he'd parked the TARDIS on a cloud. 'I didn't know you could do that,' she said in an aside to him.

once he'd described this other clara, rose got even more puzzled. 'okay, freaky coincidence, but again, not her. where does my friend actually enter in?' she turned her confused look on her old friend. somehow, she couldn't picture her as either a dalek or a victorian governess, even though one was a little more believable than the other.

Clara beamed as the Doctor recited the past events of her echo in Victorian London, her eyes locked firmly onto her time travelling friend as he talked, like a child being read their favourite storybook. This was her one of her favourite tales, not because she, herself, was in it, but because it seemed so much like a fairytale, Clara still found it hard to believe that she was the one who did that. It seemed against her usual, cautious nature, but then, she supposed, those echoes were remnants of what she wished she could be. Still, it wasn't too far off in one aspect; she'd never let the Doctor wallow in self-pity like that.

John nodded a little.  "Well, sure - wood's less dense than water," he said.  "Although, I'd hate to be atop one when it rained..."  He grinned, eyes glimmering amusedly.

The Doctor looked to Rose, grinning as well.  "I'm getting to it," he assured her.  Next, he told them about finding Clara again - this Clara - and how he'd wound up on Trenzalore, at the site of his own grave.  "Once the TARDIS was opened, the Great Intelligence entered my open time stream," he said, frowning a little as he recalled the incident.  "He spread himself all throughout my timeline, changing the course of my life, killing me from the inside out, tearing me apart, bit by bit.  Clara jumped in after him, which created many, many 'echoes' of her, bits of her consciousness, to keep me safe and lead me in the right direction."

rose's eyes widened in surprise at the end of the Doctor's tale, and the fact that clara had been willing to do that for him, to save him. she knew then, without a doubt, that clara was the right companion for this Doctor. she was willing to do anything to save him. she smiled approvingly at her old friend, slightly reminded by the mention of "echoes" of the way the words 'bad wolf' used to follow her around for some reason. 'so, how did you get back out of there-I'm assuming you did?'

"The silly man came in after me." Clara answered simply, gazing at the "silly man" with challenging chocolate eyes. She was supposed to die there, River told her she would, and yet, the Time Lord still followed her. She was lost, scared and he found her; he brought her home. All secrets between them were gone, she'd seen every moment of his life and knew him better than anyone else in the universe - or so she had been told. "I'm grateful, though."

And she meant it. The sincerity and affection that pooled in her gaze was something she could never put into words, but she was sure he could read those unspoken words clear as day.

The Doctor smiled back at her, her sincerity and affection reflecting in his own green eyes.  "Well, I couldn't just let you float around in there for the rest of time, now could I?"

John looked over at Clara with an amazed grin.  "Well...  The Bad Wolf, the DoctorDonna, the Impossible Girl...  We sure have had our share of highly influential companions as of late, eh?" he said with a laugh, turning back to the Doctor.

The Doctor glanced to him, laughing, as well.  "Yes, I suppose we have, haven't we?"

"We've been lucky..." John added, turning his gaze to Rose, smiling warmly at her.

rose sighed, rolling her eyes at the two men. 'at least this is a different twist on talking to yourself, I suppose,' she joked to clara, grinning. 'but...wouldn't jumping into your own timestream be dangerous? changing events causes paradoxes, I saw that for myself...'

"Well, I've never actually met myself, I only know what the Doctor's told me, and what I remember." The Impossible girl replied, turning her head to smile at her old childhood friend. "And that's why I called him a silly man. I'm happy that he saved me, but..."

Clara's gaze turned back to the Doctor, as if she were meaning to talk to him directly. "He shouldn't have done it, not when saving me could've harmed the universe. I'm only one person, but that's the Doctor, I suppose. He gets to wrapped up in those close to him that I guess he sometimes forgets about the others."

The Doctor shrugged a little.  "I was careful - I didn't get involved with any events, I didn't touch anything.  I just jumped in, grabbed you, and got out."  He smiled a little at her again.  "Like I said, I couldn't leave you there to die..."  No... She was far too important to him for him to let that happen...

rose shook her head again in disbelief. 'scold me for being human and messing up one tiny event- and you go and jump right in your own timestream, doesn't sound as if you're any better!' she frowned at him, brows sunk low. 'I don't care if you didn't touch anything- what if you had! you could have destroyed the whole universe, all the things you've done, and places you've been!' she looked to her old friend. 'you're absolutely right, you know- he cares so much about a few people like us that he risks the universe to save us.'

Clara turned an eye to her childhood friend, examining her face for a second before a sigh passed her lips. Rose had every right to be upset at him, but scolding him now wouldn't change anything. "What's done is done, though. No use in rantin' on about it."

A calm smile graced her face, and the Impossible Girl's gaze shifted between the Doctor and Rose as she continued, her voice sounding in a soft manner rather than her usual, speedy way of talking. "You can't really blame 'im though, it's only nature. The need to protect those close to you is something all species have in common, right?"

John shifted a bit on the sofa next to Rose, looking vaguely uncomfortable.  "But... you are my universe..." he told her softly, head lowered a little as he looked up at her in uncertainty, still not used to actually saying how he was feeling.  "What would I have left, if I lost you?  Of course I would do anything I could to keep you safe..."  He glanced to the Doctor, knowing he would feel the same way about those he cared about, including, and probably especially, Clara.

The Doctor nodded, as if in agreement, glancing to John before looking to Clara, giving her a small, thankful smile, glad she understood.  "Yeah... I suppose it is," he said quietly, nodding slowly once again.

rose nodded, conceding the fact, sighing. 'they can be a bit thick, though, you know,' she said to clara. 'they're so clever that they tend to miss the obvious.' she tilted her head to one side and added, 'I bet he does it even more now, doesn't he? you have to point things out because he's looking for some complicated solution when the switch is staring you in the face...' the Doctor had done that with her and others too many times to count- him not realising he was the expert when martha called him in was probably her favourite.

"Of course." Clara laughed, turning her attention back to Rose once more. She remembered back when they's investigated the whole Sweetville fiasco, and she'd solved two problems as simple as that while the Doctor was insisting on rather complicated solutions. "Big ol' Time Lord brain overlooking the small things."

Then, with all the reminiscing, a memory of a certain event, a certain, rather important event, came crashing into mind, and the Impossible Girl's pink lips parting in slight shock before a wide grin spread on her face. Oh yes, they'd be rather happy to know this, wouldn't they?

"Doctor!" Clara burst out, her tone joyous and urging. "Gallifrey; tell 'em!'

Both John and the Doctor scowled indignantly at Rose's words, tart expressions on their faces as they crossed their arms and glared at their respective ladies.

The Doctor looked blankly at Clara for a moment, the event having escaped his mind somehow, as well.  After a few seconds, though, he popped up like a cork with a loud exclamation of "Oh!!", bouncing a little in the chair as he rebounded.  He turned to John and Rose with a broad, overjoyed grin.  "Gallifrey!  We didn't destroy it, after all!  We saved it!!"

John's eyes widened in shock at this, and he gaped a little, sitting straight up on the couch.  "Whot?!" he exclaimed in a high-pitched squeak.  "But... How!?"

rose was far too confused by what was going on to feel overjoyed by the announcement. 'er...come again?' she said, turning between clara and the Doctor. 'what's this about gallifrey?not destroyed? but- the war. how-?' she shook her head, trying to get her thoughts organised, and failing. 'so it's not gone?'

John, too, looked quite confused.  "But I saw it - we saw it.  We caused it!  How could we be mistaken!?"

The Doctor had hopped to his feet again, unable to sit still any longer, his eyes gleaming.  "Paradox," he said simply.  "Your face was there, too - your face from later on in the timeline.  And... Well.  I'll get to that...  But that's why we couldn't remember."

John nodded, understanding a bit more now, staying quiet this time so the Doctor could continue.  He listened intently as the event was recalled, understandably shocked and at first slightly appalled when it was revealed that his rejected incarnation from the war had also been there.

"And so we surrounded the planet with our TARDISes - all of us - all thirteen of us!" the Doctor finished excitedly, hands waving about animatedly as he spoke.  "The Dalek ships annihilated themselves instead, and the resulting explosion made it appear to everyone else that the planet had burned.  Now, it's locked away in another dimension - safe and sound."

John boggled at him for a moment, hardly able to believe what he was saying.  Then, he gave an excited yell and jumped up, plucking Rose off the sofa and lifting her off the ground, hugging her tight as he danced around ecstatically, laughing with the pure joy of the news.  After a few seconds, he set Rose down again and moved over to Clara, in his excitement pulling her up and hugging her for a moment as well, beaming, before returning to hug Rose again.

The Doctor couldn't help but join in, dancing from foot to foot and laughing gleefully, hurrying forward to hug Rose once John let go of her, switching over to Clara when he returned.

"Woah." The brunette gasped as she was unexpectedly lifted off the ground by John. It was one thing with the Doctor - she was used to that sort of contact, but she truly wasn't expecting to be hoisted up. Though, she supposed, it was only natural seeing as she was a major player in saving his home world.

Then, after she was placed down, she found herself pounced upon by the Time Lord. With a grin, she wrapped her arms around his chest, tilting her head upwards to beam softly up at him.

"It's nice to see a smile in those big, sad eyes." Clara said, half amused, half warmly.

rose was trying, and mostly failing, to keep up with the paradox and the multitude of faces she'd never seen of the Doctor's. 'so, if it's in another dimension, you know-oh!' she was surprised when john suddenly hugged her, and quickly forgot her query, hugging him back. she couldn't help a bit of faint jealousy when he moved to clara, but was even more surprised when the Doctor embraced her as well, grinning at his puppy-like enthusiasm. john, she saw, was almost bouyant- there was something about him, like the crushing weight of guilt had been a tangible thing, that was now gone...

John was elated - so much so that he probably would've even hugged Jackie if she'd walked into the room just then.  Something had been lifted from his heart - a weight he'd struggled with for many years now, and now that it was gone, he felt as if he were so light he could fly if he tried.  He hugged Rose tightly once more, finally stopping his joyful dancing about and just standing there with her, laying his head over on her shoulder and closing his eyes with a happy smile.

The Doctor watched the two of them with happiness and a bit of longing, part of him wishing that were him in John's shoes... even if they were sandshoes.  But he shook away the thought, turning instead to Clara, looking down at her with a smile.  Seeing her looking up at him like that, the warm look in her eyes, he almost wanted - no.  He quickly shoved that thought to the furthest depths of his mind, not allowing himself to even consider it.  Instead, he lifted her feet a few inches off the ground, hugging her tighter for a few seconds, before setting her gently down again, just being happy for the fact that he'd been able to bring John so much joy and relief.

Clara held on a little tighter as she was hoisted off the ground once more, pressing her chin tightly into the groove of his shoulder before, as she was placed back down, sliding out of his grasp. Her smile softened on her lips as she caught his gaze, seemingly enchanted by his green eyes.

rose, after a moment, cleared her throat, looking round to her two old friends. 'so...any more earth-shattering developments we should know about?' she asked, smiling happily, arms still wrapped around john loosely. she let go but stepped over to face the others, keeping a hand with the fingers intertwined with john's.

John reluctantly stepped back a little as Rose let go of him, lifting his head off her shoulder and turning, as well, keeping hold of her hand.  He was still smiling broadly, his entire face lit up with happiness.

The Doctor, stared back down at Clara with a fond smile, letting himself get lost a little in her eyes, before finally having to look away for fear of losing himself too much.  He instead turned to look over at Rose and John, thinking for a moment before shaking his head.  "No, not that I can recall," he said, glancing briefly to Clara again, as if looking for confirmation that he wasn't forgetting something important.

At Rose's voice, Clara too diverted her gaze to her friend and John, blinking once before dropping her arms from around the Doctor, shrugging sis away in the process as she wormed herself out of his grasp. "No, I think that's about it."

It was then that a yawn nudged at the Impossible Girl, and she lifted a hand to polity cover her mouth. Chocolate gaze, burred slightly from the yawn, lifted to her watch.

"Blimey, is that the time?" Clara exclaimed slightly at the big 10:30 that blinked almost intimidatingly up at her from the clock face. "Didn't realize how late it was."

'hmm?' rose said, looking round to the clock on the wall. 'blimey, guess we'd better go to bed...er, we've got lots of guest rooms, if you don't want to sleep in the TARDIS...' she said, looking between the Doctor and Clara. in actuality, she was hoping they'd all have a sleepover in there- it had been simply ages since she'd been inside the old timeship, and she wanted to go inside, for nostalgia's sake as much as anything...

The Doctor shrugged.  "Well... The power's down, so there's no light... but I suppose we could light a lantern, or something."  He looked over to John and Rose and grinned.  "Care to join us?  We could have a sleepover in the console room!"

John's eyes lit up further at that, and he grinned, as well.  "That sounds brilliant!" he exclaimed with a bit of an excited squeak, then stopped, looking over to Rose and wondering what she'd think of that idea...

"I suppose i could drag my mattress into the console room." Clara stared, her lips curling into a smile. A sleepover, after all, was what she wanted, wasn't it? "Could use some sleepin' in, it's not used that much."

Then, stepping away from the Doctor, Clara cocked a cheeky brow at Rose and John and flicked a quick point of her finger at them with a smirk. "No monkey business, you two."

rose looked overjoyed at the invitation to have a sleepover in the TARDIS. 'I'll get the torches!' she said, moving to go fetch them when clara's words stopped her and she stopped, seemingly affronted. 'oi! what's that supposed to mean?!' she demanded, looking to john and turning a little pink. any thought along those lines hadn't even close to crossed her mind since this began. 'shall I get some biscuits while I'm at it?'

John stiffened at Clara's words, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment.  "Whot?!" he exclaimed in a squeak, his look of shocked humiliation turning to an indignant scowl.  "Why would you even...?!"  He looked over to Rose, not having even remotely considered anything of the kind, either.

The Doctor accidentally let out a snort of amusement before he could stop himself, and John glared at him.  "...It was a snort of fondness!" the Doctor claimed, raising his hands innocently.

John just rolled his eyes, looking back to Rose.  "Yes, brilliant - biscuits," he agreed, nodding.  "Ooh, and we could make popcorn!"  He grinned, eyes glimmering.  John quite liked popcorn.

Clara smiled smugly at the two's embarrassed faces and winks. Then, turning around, the bruntette rested her hand on the Doctor's arm for a second, meaning to grab his attention as she stepped towards the blue box's doors.

"Help me move my mattress, then?" She asked, drawing her hand up to the side of her face and pressing her fingers into a sharp 'click,' to which the TARDIS flipped open her doors. Clara grinned, no matter how many times she opened the doors that way, she still felt quite giddy. Perhaps it was because the time machine's disdain for her diminished, or perhaps it was just a simple feeling of pride to herself that the old girl allowed her to interact with her in a way that was only allowed to the Doctor.

'you make the popcorn, I'll fetch the biscuits and torches,' rose said, heading off, only to stop in shock as the TARDIS doors flew open. she turned back to the Doctor, then to her friend. 'how did you do that?' she asked, looking between it and the two of them. 'I just- what did you do?'

John nodded, about to head off himself, when the sudden opening of the TARDIS' doors surprised him.  "...How come she'll do that for you?!" he exclaimed, mouth opening a bit.  "It took ages for me to be able to do it...!"  He glanced to the Doctor, who grinned.

"I dunno." Clara replied with a slight chuckle in her words as she shrugged, taking a step inside the TARDIS and tilting her head over her should to finish with; "Maybe she just likes me."

With that, Clara bopped her head in a gesture for the Doctor to follow her, then disappeared inside the time machine's doors. She really didn't know why the box, who had disliked her so much that she'd lock her out in bad situations and move her room when she'd finished with a shower, suddenly opened her doors to her like that; she'd simply clicked one day to make a point of quickness while chatting with the Doctor, and the doors had flown open.

rose stared for a moment longer before heading off to fetch the things she'd decided she'd need, namely, biscuits and torches. she didn't know whether there were sleeping bags for them in the TARDIS or if they'd have to supply their own, but she figured the metal grating for a floor wasn't going to be very nice to sleep on...she didn't realise it looked quite different now...

John stared for a few seconds longer, puzzled, before shrugging to himself and heading off toward the kitchen to start on the popcorn.

The Doctor followed Clara into the TARDIS, letting her lead the way toward her bedroom so he could help her move her mattress, grinning in a rather excited manner.  "So... Clara Oswald and Rose Tyler, eh?" he said to her, poking the air in her direction as they walked.  "That's something I wouldn't have guessed!"

"Neither would I." Clara answered, opening the door to her mostly unused room. There were a few dresses she kept there, though they were mainly used as backups in case the one she was wearing got wet, dirty or ruined in one of their adventures as opposed to staying the night - a thing the Impossible girl rarely did. Unlike others, Rose in particular, Clara had never lived in the TARDIS; not even once. "Didn't think that the infamous Rose Tyler was the exact same one I knew, let alone you bein' in love with that friend."

rose came back with the food, stopping in shock just inside the doorway. 'what've you done with this place?' she asked, shocked, staring about at how very different it was from what she'd been used to. 'I don't like it.' she looked about for a place to set the food and torches and decided to lay them under the console for now while she went to find the others in the TARDIS. it never occurred to her that the TARDIS or the Doctor may have kept her old room.

The Doctor stiffened a bit at that, though he tried to hide it.  "I'm not in love with her," he said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice, telling himself it was the truth.  "Maybe I was once, maybe, a long time ago...  But that's all in the past now."  He frowned as Rose's voice echoed down the hall, turning over his shoulder to yell back, "Oi!  Is everyone from the old days going to tell me that?!"  He followed Clara into her room and took hold of one end of the mattress and hefting it up with a grunt of effort, backing up toward the hallway.  This manual labor thing was really not his cup of tea...

The Impossible Girl watched him as he came in to lift the bed, chocolate eyes filled with understanding, and a little pity. She mused silently to herself in her mind as she stretched her arms around to lift the other side of the mattress. His reaction had only confirmed his denial; Clara had known how intense his love for Rose had been, and a love like that wouldn't fade so easily. Frowning, Clara forced herself to ignore the little pang of hurt that swam deep in the depths of her heart - her own little bit of denial akin to the Doctor's.

Oh stars, she was such a hypocrite, wasn't she?

"You know you can't lie to me, Doctor."

rose giggled at the indignant voice, heading down the corridor to where her room used to be, and stopping in front of the door, honestly unsure what she'd find there. it seemed to her that the layout was quite a bit different than before. she opened the door and stepped in, not surprised that it was just a random room. she stepped out and called down the corridor. 'Doctor! where's my room gone? or have you got something for me to sleep on?'

The Doctor averted his eyes, not wanting Clara to see the conflicting emotions swimming there, though he knew she'd see it anyway.  Rose's voice sounded down the hall once again just then and he turned to answer her, shouting over his shoulder, "It's down the left corridor - take a left, then a right, then another left, and it's the third door on the left."  His jaw clenched - he knew that right there only proved his feelings for her remained the same - after all this time, he still visited her room, from time to time.  That was the only way he would've known with such clarity where it was.  He sighed, turning his head forward once more, though he kept his gaze downturned.  "No... I suppose I can't..." he admitted to Clara's statement softly.

John had just entered the TARDIS himself, glanced around at the new control room again and wrinkled his nose once more, then set the big bowl of popcorn down next to the biscuits Rose had brought.  He happened to overhear Rose's questions and the Doctor's directions, and smiled a little to himself, heading down the corridor and glancing around for Rose.  After a short time, he caught sight of her, and broke into a jog to catch up to her.  "Mind if I join you?" he asked her softly, knowing, for him, that seeing her old room again would be bittersweet...

rose looked round, seeing john as he caught up with her. 'yeah, sure,' she said cheerfully, trying to follow the Doctor's directions, but only remembering there had been a lot of lefts....'I hope you heard those directions, cos I didn't...' she said, amused. finally, though, she found the room in question and opened the door, shocked to find it was practically untouched, other than being moved. 'wow...it's all, er, still here,' she said, slightly awed.

John laughed a little and nodded.  "Yeah... I think I know how to get there," he said, taking her hand as they walked.  He smiled a bit in a slightly bittersweet way as she opened the door, looking inside.  It still appeared exactly the same as he remembered, just in a different place.  "Well, you didn't actually think I'd get rid of it after you left?" he said to her quietly.  "And he's still me, after all... just with a different face..."

'...yeah,' rose said softly. she stared about at her room, walking to the bedside table and scooping up one of the knickknacks she had left behind, smiling a little in a bittersweet way. then she cleared her throat, getting back to business. 'come on, then, help me grab the mattress,' she said, pulling up one end.

John looked around a bit, glancing around at the various items, all of which the Doctor had tended to over the years, keeping them in nearly the exact same way John remembered it being before he'd left.  He walked over to the side of her bed, the same sheets and the same blankets still in place, and reached out to run his hand over what had once been Rose's favorite blanket.  After they'd been separated the first time, after Canary Wharf, when he was still trying to come to terms with his loss, he'd often curl up with it, or one of her shirts, taking in her scent.  It had comforted him, even just a little, and oftentimes it was the only way he could get any sleep at all at night.

He glanced up as Rose cleared her voice, blinking out of his reverie, and nodded.  "Yeah, 'course," he murmured, moving to the opposite side and lifting it up.

When they had finally reached the console room and dumped the mattress on the ground, Clara gazed at the Doctor from the opposite side, her own eyes fill with a slight doubt, as well as confusion, but above all, it was quite easy to see all the things she was attempting to put into words, but could not. So, instead, she traipsed around the bedding and over to the Doctor, extending her arm to rest a soft had to his arm in a delicate touch, hoping to at least provide some comfort that way. After a few moments, her hand slid lightly down his arm and down to his own, offering him to twine his fingers in hers if he so wished - she knew he liked holding her hand when he was feeling down.

The Doctor sighed, setting down the mattress and leaning back a little against the console, looking down at the ground, his expression troubled.  After many, many years of struggle, and though he still thought about her often, visiting her old room from time to time, he'd thought he'd finally gotten over Rose, at least for the most part.  But seeing her again now had simply brought those feelings of love and loss bubbling back to the surface.  He tried to shove them down, tell himself he didn't love her that way anymore, but it wasn't working.

He glanced up, feeling a hand rest on his arm and slide down to his hand, and took the hand gratefully, meeting Clara's eye for a moment before looking away again.  "I don't want to love her anymore - I can't..." he murmured painfully.  "She has John now, and they're together.  She doesn't need me anymore..."  He sighed.  "I just wish I could be glad that they're happy and leave it at that..."  With a frown, he suddenly realized with surprise that he'd said all that out loud, and his cheeks turned a little pink.  "Sorry... I, uh...didn't mean to actually say all that..."

"...Love hurts." Clara replied softly after a few moments of silence. A warm, understanding smile joined her expression as she tilted her head ever so slightly to the side, large chocolate eyes gazing up at him. She wanted to help him - no, she needed to help him, the Doctor was precious to her, the Impossible Girl might even go as far to say that he was the most important man in the universe to her, dash her father, and she couldn't bare to let him wallow in his emotions, locking them away in a pad-locked prison without a key; though Clara did the same, what she felt was not important when it came to his happiness. She didn't know when or how, but somewhere along the track, she had developed a loyalty to the Time Lord so fierce that she'd give her life for him if need be - something that had occurred more often than she'd like to recall. "You never forget someone you loved, and you still love them after they're gone. I still love my mum, just because she's gone, that doesn't mean the impact she had on my life and the bond we shared would just disappear. Someday... Though I know you well enough to say that you don't wish it, but someday, you'll fall in love again, and when that happens, you'll still miss Rose, you always will, but I know you're not going to accept it. So, listen to me, Doctor, you know the happiness that comes when you're with the one you love, so I'm telling you, when that time comes, take it. You deserve to be happy, even for a little bit. I don't believe in True Love, but I believe a lifetime should be spent loved, no matter how many different people provide it."

There was only a few seconds of silence before Clara sighed, a quite chuckle escaping her lips. "Look at me, rantin' on about something I don't know."

What a lie that was.

The Doctor listened closely to her words, looking up at her again after a short time, and though there was doubt still in his hearts, he knew she was right.  He couldn't help, however, wondering, in the back of his mind, if there was more to what she was saying than what there seemed to be...  But he brushed the thought aside again.  At her last sentence, however, there was a flicker of knowing in his eyes, as if he knew that that wasn't true.  But then he blinked, and the flicker was gone.  "But if loving someone just means losing them again, what's the point?" he asked her quietly, and a bit bitterly.  "Why even try when it nearly kills me every time?"

"Because suffering is a part of life. To be truly happy, you need to know pain so you can truly appreciate it, Doctor, and I think you know that better than anyone else. There's always a silver lining, after a storm, the sun always shines, right?" The Impossible Girl spoke true to her knowledge. Her mother's death had been a horrible experience for her. There were times where she wanted to lock herself in her room, curl up in bed and never come out again, but she needed to be there for her father, so she sucked up her pain and tried to take joy in life; if she was happy, her father was happy too. "You've had many silver linings, haven't you, Doctor? You, more than anyone else, deserve them. Pain will come to pass, but it's best not to think about the end and enjoy your happiness with all your heart while it lasts."

Clara shifted her free hand from her side, her fingers brushing lightly against his skin as she cupped his cheek, before falling into silence.

The Doctor thought about her words before sighing and nodding a little.  "Yeah... I suppose I have...  But after living for so long and losing so many people you've come to care about, it just starts to wear you down..."  He wasn't sure that he, more than anyone else, deserved the silver linings - surely there were many more individuals out there more deserving than him... but he was appreciative nonetheless.  He gave her a small smile as she cupped his cheek, vowing to do his best.

it took a bit of doing and a lot of stopping to pick up the pillow as it fell off one badly balanced side or the other, but rose, with john's help, finally carried the mattress into the console room, looking for a place to set it down. she could see clara on the other side of the console and figured the Doctor was with her. 'Doctor, where should I put this?' she asked, still holding the bed somewhat level. the pillow, on one edge, fell off again, and she stared at it as though it had just offended the names of her ancestors.

The Doctor looked over as John and Rose came into the room, a bit amused by the difficulty they appeared to be having - he could certainly identify.  "Wherever you'd like," he replied, gesturing with a hand around the floor.

John watched as the pillow tumbled off yet again, glancing up at Rose's expression and having to giggle at it.  There was no point in picking it up again when they were at their destination, so he left it where it was for the moment.  "Well, over there seems like a good spot," he said, nodding to a location on the floor.  "What do you say?"

Clara let her hand fall from his face, but didn't let his hand go. Instead, she smiled up at him before moving around the console to John and Rose, leading the Doctor with her. The brunette giggled at the pillow, then picked it up and tossed it at Rose, hitting her smack in the face.

rose had picked out a nice bit of floor to set the mattress on when a pillow suddenly smacked her in the face. she dropped the mattress on the floor and grabbed the pillow. not having seen who'd thrown it, she assumed, for some odd reason, that it was the Doctor's fault, and quickly threw it at him, hoping his reflexes wouldn't work in time.

John watched in surprise as the pillow suddenly sailed toward Rose.  His eyes widened and he grunted in alarm as she dropped the mattress, stumbling a little as it fell to the ground.  He set the rest down, giggling in amusement as she tossed the pillow at the Doctor.

The Doctor yelped in surprise, trying to duck the pillow but getting it straight in the face.  "Oi!!" he exclaimed, grabbing it before it fell.  "That wasn't me!"  He looked over to Clara, blinked once, and abruptly bonked her over the head with it with a grin, messing up her hair, before throwing it back at Rose in retaliation.

Clara gave am amused snort after the Doctor whacked her with the pillow, using her free hand to smooth her hair out once more. She then, with an amused smirk, flopped down onto her her mattress and, with her hand still in the Doctor's, dragged him down with her, releasing her grasp afterwards so that she could pull off her boots.

rose put up both her hands as she saw the pillow sailing towards her again and just managed to catch it, lessening the force of it smacking her in the face a second time. she then turned and promptly smacked john with it, giggling. this was rather fun, but they'd need a few more pillows before it was fair...

The Doctor was caught off-balance as Clara suddenly flopped over onto her mattress, and he gave a yelp, unable to keep himself from being pulled down as well.  He landed with an oof, propping himself up again and giving her a playful glare, shrugging off his coat and grabbing one of her pillows, bopping her once more.

John hadn't been paying attention to Rose, distracted when both Clara and the Doctor suddenly collapsed to her bed, and yelped loudly in surprise as he was smacked with the pillow.  He quickly reached for the other on Rose's bed and whacked her back, laughing.

The brunette returned his playful stare with a challenge in her eyes, however, just when she was about to return the pillow favour, her mouth opened in an involuntary yawn, and Clara was suddenly made aware just how tired she was. Shooting an apologetic expression to the Doctor, knowing he'd understand her look, she rose to her feet and trailed out into the corridor before entering her room, remembering that she'd kept a pair of pajamas in her cupboard. She returned to the console room a few minutes later, wearing a black winter nightdress with some sassy remark about sleeping written under the picture of an unamused cartoon cat on her chest.

She recalled the Doctor pointing it out at a store when she'd dragged him shopping once, and while she took mock offense to his claim that only her sass could do justice to the snarky line on the clothing, she'd bought it anyway.

"I think we should do something a little... Less energetic." Clara said, a smile gracing her lips. "We won't be able to sleep if we're too hyped up."

rose was having enough fun fighting john with a pillow that she didn't notice her old friend leave until she returned and spoke. 'aww,' she whined, turning to look at clara. 'but this is fun! besides, sleepovers aren't for sleeping, didn't you know?' she asked with a grin.

The Doctor caught her look and blinked in understanding, giving a tiny nod.  He watched her leave, then set the pillow down again, grinning in amusement as he watched John and Rose duke it out.

John was a bit puzzled when Rose suddenly stopped whacking him, and stopped as well, only then realizing that Clara had left and returned.  He frowned a little and pouting.  But then, he had an idea.  "Ooh!" he exclaimed suddenly, face brightening.  "We have a spare TV, and I've got a bunch of cable in my room - it shouldn't be too difficult to rewire it so that we can set it up in here, especially with the help of a decent sonic.  We could watch a movie, or something!"

Clara just shrugged in reply. "I suppose that would be okay."

The Impossible Girl didn't even bother to consult the Doctor - even though it was his TARDIS and he had a say of what goes on in there - on the idea, and instead just plopped down next to him on her mattress, grabbing the doona and bundling herself up in a "Clara burrito," as the Time Lord had dubbed it once. He'd also made a comment on her looking like a newly-hatched moth poking it's head out of it's cocoon for the first time, which she still wasn't sure if she should take offense to.

rose was bouncing up and down eagerly as the two men worked to set up the television and all that, but by the time they'd made it through the lion king- which john knew every line of by heart- and aladdin, she had very nearly fallen asleep, leaning against john, eyes mostly shut and her old blanket wrapped loosely around her, smiling a little. she still found it amusing that they could get so much enjoyment out of "family entertainment" like this...she yawned, fighting to stay awake and losing.

Once everything was set up and the first movie was turned on, the Doctor had settled himself down on Clara's bed, as she'd invited him to do, watching the screen with a grin.  It was nice to watch the classics every once in a while, and he hadn't done so in quite some time.

John had crawled into Rose's bed and snuggled up with her happily in the blanket, one arm draped around her shoulders.  He, too, was watching with enthusiasm, though he'd noticed that Rose was beginning to fade.  As she yawned, he yawned, too, giggling a bit afterward.  "You're making me tired," he teased her, wondering how Clara was doing - she'd been tired before they'd started, after all...

At this point, Clara had nestled herself into the Doctor's side, her tired eyes had been blinking blearily at the screen as she tried to focus, but at some point, halfway through 'A Whole New World,' she had apparently given up trying to keep herself awake - which was a shame since she had wanted to watch Hercules - and her lids now laid peacefully shut, concealing her chocolate eyes from the world. Soft, rhythmic breaths escaped her parted lips, her entire face the picture of serenity. One of her hands was tucked in between her body and the Doctor's side, and the uppermost one had somehow shifted its way onto the Time Lord's vest, fingers gripping lightly at the material like a newborn baby.

rose managed to lift her head for a moment when the end credits of aladdin rolled, glancing over to clara to see her long gone, clearly out cold. she yawned widely and put her head back on john's shoulder, falling asleep before the opening sequence of the next film had concluded, letting out a faint snore.

The Doctor had been trapped this way for quite a while, and had done his best to keep himself as still as possible, though he was beginning to get a little stiff from sitting in the same position for so long, and growing antsy to move about - he wasn't good at keeping still for very long.  He wasn't sure how he was going to make it all the way through the night, as he doubted he'd be able to sleep for that long - he didn't need as much sleep as the others.  In any case, it was bound to be a very long and very boring night...

After Rose had fallen asleep slumped against his shoulder, John glanced over at the Doctor again with amusement, meeting his eyes.  "You think we should turn it off?" he whispered, and the Doctor nodded, albeit reluctantly.  "Probably..."  He grabbed his sonic and shut everything down - it was quicker than turning everything off separately - and settled in, hoping he'd be able to sleep for at least part of the night...

Once everything had been turned off, John yawned again and wiggled slightly, making himself a bit more comfortable, before resting his head over against Rose's and drifting off to sleep, as well.

Some three hours later, Clara's previously relaxed sleeping form became restless. Her brows knitted in a frown and her lips were pressed tightly together, small whimpers sounded from the brunette, who was quite obviously facing some mental distress. Her apparent fear soon began to escalate, her whimpers growing more frequent, her hand clutching and releasing the Doctor's vest and her shoulder shaking slightly as she began to sniffle.

The Doctor had been dozing, in that sort of mostly asleep but still slightly awake state, when Clara started twitching and whimpering.  Her distress woke him, and he raised his head, blinking blearily and looking down at her in confusion and concern.  "Clara...?" he mumbled, raising a hand and resting it on her shoulder, nudging her a bit and trying to wake her.  "Clara, what's wrong?"  She must have been having a nightmare...  He knew they'd been worse than she'd let on...

Clara had already been in distress, but when the Doctor's hand rested upon her shoulder, that seemed to set her terror into overdrive. Her eyes snapped open, wide, chocolate pools absorbed with fear. Whatever happened in her nightmare had her so spooked that, at first, she could not tell that she was awake and, with a terrified shriek, she shoved the Doctor away and skittered back to the rail, her small form shudder in each fearful, hyperventilated breath which escaped past her parted lips by the second.

A sob wracked the scared brunette's body as tears began to pour down her cheeks, her shaking arms wrapping around herself ash she collapsed her head into her knees, drawing herself into a small, quivering ball.

Her sudden shriek woke John with a jolt, and he abruptly sat up in bed, eyes wide.  He immediately looked down at Rose, thinking at first that it was her, then realized it wasn't and looked round to see Clara press against the rail and curl in on herself.  "What's going on?" he asked in alarm, keeping his voice quiet.

The Doctor jumped in surprise at Clara's reaction, not having expected it, tumbling backward as he was shoved off balance.  He scrambled upward so that he was kneeling on the bed, though he was hesitant to rush toward her, seeing as she seemed almost to be scared of him...  "Clara, it's me!" he told her softly but urgently, extending one hand toward her.  But when she curled up in a ball he couldn't take it any longer and quickly crawled toward her, wrapping his arms around her.  "It's okay, it's okay... It's me - I'm here..." he murmured, rocking a little from side to side in an attempt to soothe her.

rose stirred when john sat up, only noticing his absence because it quickly got cold where he'd been. she blinked awake, sitting up a little and looking blearily around. 'wha's going on?' she slurred, hair wild around her face, rubbing her eyes. 'wha time is it?' it was somewhere between seven and eight in the morning, she thought, though, being in the TARDIS, it could be any time.

The terrified brunette became rigid at his touch, momentarily freezing her shuddering as her breath hitched, but, after less than a second of rocking, Clara sniffled then melted into the Doctor's arms, soft sobs trembling from her lips. The ball she'd curled into unfurled as she shifted slightly in her friend's grasp, moving and arm to cling onto his, while the other balled into a tight fist.

She knew, as she slipped back to reality, that she had woken the others with her terror, and that they could quite obviously see what a mess she was, and yet her stubborn, independent pride refused to allow her to remove her head from where it was buried her knees, lest the other's catch a glimpse of her tears.

John glanced over to Rose as she sat up, a concerned frown on his face.  "I'm not sure... I think Clara just woke up from a nightmare..." he told her quietly, not wanting the others to hear them, and think they were murmuring assumptions and pointing from the shadows like strangers sometimes did when a person were having a meltdown...

"It's alright, Clara," the Doctor murmured, tucking his chin over her head.  "Just relax...  You're alright - you're safe here...  It was just a bad dream..."  Inwardly, he wondered if that was the truth, or if there was more to it.  He had a feeling it all went back to the echoes, and that, at night, when she was asleep, she'd been reliving some of the more terrible memories from those echoes that she'd locked away in the depths of her mind while in the waking world...  He wished he could help her, but he didn't want to force himself upon her if she didn't want him to.  After this episode, however, he told himself he'd become more insistent that she tell him what was going on...

'oh,' rose said softly, shifting a little so she could sit up straighter, looking through the gloom to clara. she felt for her old friend- the things she must have seen...it was enough to give anyone nightmares, rose thought.

She sat in silence for the next few moments, the only sound piercing the air was an occasional sniffle or sob, but slowly and surely, the brunette calmed and eventually loosened her curled body, melting in the Doctor's arms.

Clara went dead silent then, gradually, she raised her hands, lightly pressed her palms to the Time Lord's chest and gave a soft push as she shifted from his grasp, head drawing out from under his chin. Once she was sufficiently away from his grasp, her face rose from her knees and she began to rub at her eyes, wanting to make sure she got ride of her tears before the Impossible Girl faced her friends.

A fire burned under her skin and her chest sunk as shame crept to her thoughts. Despite the situation, Clara was more embarrassed than anything else.

"Look at me, cryin' like a kid." She berated in her mind.

The Doctor just held her tightly but gently in his arms, running a hand up and down her back in a soothing manner, waiting for her to calm down.

John sat in silence next to Rose in the darkness, sympathy in his gaze as he listened to Clara sniffle.  Of all people, he - and the Doctor, too - understood what it was like to have nightmares... He knew what it was like to have one's sleep haunted every night by the horror you wished you could forget...  Once she finally sat up, rubbing her eyes, he spoke, his voice soft.  "Is everything alright?"

The Doctor sighed.  "Clara... What's going on?" he asked quietly.  "These nightmares...  You've been having them frequently, haven't you?  I can guess why.  And I'm going also going to guess that they're probably not getting any better..."

"'M fine..." Clara replied, her voice still a little choked as she removed her hands from her face, laid them in her lap then turned her red-eyed gaze to John and Rose. Her pink-stained cheeks were, luckily, covered by the puffy, tear-dried skin above.

Rose turned a hazel eye to John, then back to Clara and the Doctor. With a reassuring smile, the blonde pressed a hand on his shoulder and used it as a means to heave herself off the mattress, feeling herself wobbling on the springs for a second before stepping off. The cool ground came as a slight shock to her bare feet.

"Y'know, tea always made me feel better after a rough night. I'll go make a cuppa."

Clara raised her head to meet her old friends gaze, thankful for the offer, but still, she felt somewhat childish. Her head turned at the Doctor's voice, brow hair flipping over her shoulder with the movement. "They're just nightmares, I'll be fine." She proclaimed, wriggling from the Time Lord's clasp.

John blinked back at Clara at her statement with guileless brown eyes.  He didn't believe her for a second.  He knew better - nothing that could cause such a terrified reaction could just be 'fine'.  But he also understood why she would be reluctant to admit to that, so he said nothing more, glancing up to Rose as she stood and, after a moment, standing to join her.  "I'll help you with that," he said, giving one last glance to the pair over his shoulder before stepping off the mattress, following Rose out the TARDIS door, wincing at the cold floor.  Perhaps Clara would be more willing to speak to the Doctor in private, he thought.

Once the other two had gone, the Doctor sighed, turning back to Clara.  "I know that's not true," he told her quietly, loosening his arms so she could scoot away.  "They might haunt you while you sleep, but they're real enough to you, aren't they?  I saw the look in your eye - no simple nightmare could cause that sort of fear..."  In a way, this was his fault, the Doctor thought sadly to himself.  He assumed the night terrors likely had something to do with when she'd jumped into his time stream.  All the echoes that had splintered off from her, all the things those echoes had seen, everything they'd done, just to save him from the Great Intelligence... All those memories could have been pulled back into her mind.  There had to be some way he could help...

"Doctor," Clara started, her voice firm as she stared at the Time Lord with hardened brown eyes. "I'm fine."

With that, Clara got to her feet, turned her back on the Doctor and proceeded to follow Rose and John's path to the kitchen, her hands gripping tightly at her nightdress.

He was right, though. Those nightmares... They were the most terrifying thing the brunette had ever bared witness to. She was torn apart, shot, drowned and crushed, some even worse that she dared not let her mind relive. But as horrifying as they were, Clara took solace in one thing;

It was done to save the Doctor.

Yes, she didn't care how many times she suffered, and in what ways, the Doctor was safe, and a couple of little nightmares could never compare to that. The Doctor - her Doctor - was alive and well, right by her side, all because of it. The Time Lord had had enough pain in his life; hers, Clara decided, wasn't as great.

Besides, everyone has nightmares, she thought, overreacting in such a way... It was truly embarrassing.

The Doctor watched in dismay, his mouth opening in protest, as Clara pulled away from him, getting up and walking off down the hallway.  "But... Clara, wait...!" he called after her, standing up, as well and following her a few paces before she turned the corner and disappeared.

He stopped, torn on what to do.  Should he insist and follow her?  Or would that just make her more upset?  He gave a sigh, pacing around the console in indecision, pulling out his sonic and fiddling with it to try and keep his mind occupied with something else.  Perhaps, if he gave her a few minutes, she might come back...

as rose filled a spare kettle and put it on something that resembled a stove in one of the TARDIS' myriad kitchens and such rooms, she let out a sad sigh for her friend. she turned to john and shook her head mournfully. "I just wish I could help," she told him, "but I know she won't let me- she won't admit anything's wrong."

John, who had busied himself with frying up some eggs of some description, looked over to Rose with a frown at her sad sigh.  "Well..." he began, seeming unusually subdued himself.  "Perhaps once she's calmed down a bit more, she might be more open to talking about it with you."  Part of him doubted that a bit - Clara didn't really seem like the type who was all that open with her feelings - but then, he hardly knew her at all.  "In any case, the Doctor's with her now - maybe he can help her to--"

He abruptly cut himself off at a flicker of movement at the edge of his vision; he turned his head to see that Clara had entered the kitchen.  He wondered with a slight pang of guilt how much, if anything, she'd heard...

rose gave a doubtful huff at john's supposition that clara would ever share her feelings about something like this. she noticed when his statement abruptly cut off and turned to him, confused. 'help her to what?' she asked, momentarily oblivious to the fact that clara had joined them in the kitchen. then she saw her friend and blanched slightly. 'oh, clara! um, the tea's not quite ready yet. could you help me find some biscuits? I think the doctor's reorganised the place again.' she hoped she could, if nothing else, get her mind off her nightmares.

She had heard the final part of their conversation, but Clara decided to brush it off. She was, after all, now trying to act more like her casual self. The nightmare fiasco would blow over smoothly if she just pretended it wasn't a big deal, right?

So, with a coy smile and arms folded over her chest, she walked over to a large jar on the counter corner and pushed it aside before tapping the wall twice. A small, hidden door popped open and, with a grin, the brunette pulled out two packets of Jammy Dodgers.

"That was me." Clara started with an amused roll of the eyes as she brought the jam-filled goods over, "I have to hide the darn things otherwise he'll shove 'em all down his throat like a kid on Christmas."

And then she'd have to buy more, which he'd promptly scarf down and sooner or later, she'd be out of pocket, she thought with a chuckle. A Slight whirr from the TARDIS echoed after she spoke, and Clara didn't know whether she was agreeing or what. She assumed so, since it had been the time machine, in the first place that, had shown her the secret spot after the Impossible girl had given a slight rant in her presence about the whole issue.

Though the incident had been cause for embarrassment, John quickly noticed Clara's attempt to act casual, and so pushed any sense of guilt from his own mind.  Pretending awkwardness hadn't happened was a thing he was good at, after all.

He raised an eyebrow as she pushed aside a jar and tapped the wall, removing two packages of Jammy Dodgers from a secret compartment, and grinned at her words.  "Better keep an ear out - he might walk in and catch you with them, and then you'd be in a pickle!"

Unfortunately, it was a bit late for that.  The Doctor, having quickly grown tired of his more 'subdued' choice to wait for Clara to return, had come meandering down the halls after her, following the smell of cooking.  Mere seconds after John had finished speaking, he appeared in the doorway, mouth half-open as if to speak, but he quickly lost all memory of what he'd been going to say, eyes widening at the sight of the Jammy Dodgers.

"Oooh!!" he exclaimed excitedly, quickly ambling over and plucking a pair of the biscuits from the package.  "I didn't know we had any left!"

From behind him, John rubbed one eye, trying not to laugh.

rose wasn't as lucky as john- no amount of eye-rubbing could stop her laughing at the Doctor's antics. at least she tried to do so quietly, hiding behind her hand and turning away to try and regain control. 'I swear you can never mention him without him showing up- he's like a bad penny!' she muttered to clara with a giggle. 'guess we'd better take ours out now, fore he eats them all.' rose turned back to the stove, starting slightly, as the kettle let out a mournful whistle. she snagged it quickly and poured the boiling water into a ready teapot, smiling a bit as she did so. a cup of tea could make miracles, she thought to herself. maybe it was just what they all needed, after the night they' had.

As the Doctor snapped the two biscuits from their place, Clara, who had encountered that exact situation multiple times over the years, had the muscle-memory reaction to quickly give him a slap on the wrist, then grab the two packages and held them out of his reach.

"Hey, wait for the tea, why don't you?" She chided, hand flinging up in a flash to nab one of the dodgers from his hand before his mouth could get a hold of it. "And only one at a time! I know you, Doctor, they'll all be gone before anyone else can get a bite, otherwise."

She brought the biscuits over to the opposite side of Rose, giving her a grin as she giggled in her ear. "He does it on purpose. Thinks it makes people impressed with 'im"

The Doctor jumped slightly, as Clara slapped his wrist, gaping indignantly and pulling back, nearly dropping one of his biscuits.  "Ow!  Oi!" he squeaked, pouting as she managed to seize the other from him.  "But there are plenty left, and that one was mine!" he whined childishly, deflating noticeably from his prior perky posture.  He shoved the remaining Dodger in his mouth, just in case she decided to try and steal it, too, looking decidedly relieved as she walked off.

After a few moments, he heard muffled giggling behind him, and turned.  "Are you talking behind my back again??" he questioned, frowning crossly.  Folding his arms, he turned to John.  "She treats me like a child!" he complained to the other man.

John, who was busy separating the eggs and bacon into four portions, raised a diplomatic eyebrow at the Doctor's protest.  "Yeeeah, Rose does the same to me all the time," he agreed, looking over at the two women.  "I think it's just a thing girls do.  Dunno why, though."

rose narrowed her eyes as she heard the two men talking about them, giving john a look as he looked over. 'I don't think they're ever going to figure out that we treat them like children because they are,' she commented to clara, opening the teapot to peer inside. whatever kind of tea this was, she was willing to bet it wasn't from earth, so she wasn't sure whether it was done yet or not. 'so,' rose said, replacing the teapot lid and turning to clara, trying to look serious. 'can I have a biscuit?' she asked, voice breaking with laughter on the last word.