Chapter 2: Tell Me About Her

lara felt as if she were in a dream. She couldn't actually believe she stood in front of the TARDIS, with the doctor somewhere in there. So many years she spend trying to trick herself into forgetting the Doctor, convincing herself to not try to go find him, and here she was, reunited with him.

"Home." Clara whispered.

"Clara no. You mustn't! This might be a trap to lure you in!" Me hissed into Clara's ear. She stepped forward and placed a hand on the TARDIS door, the old girl humming peacefully.

"This isn't a trap. She knows it's me, it's okay. This is the reason our TARDIS brought us here, she knew the Doctor was here. Both of them probably communicated! Same time and same location in space? It's no coincidence! Oh you clever girls." Clara grinned as she caressed the TARDIS, staring up at the bright light coming from the police box sign. She then looked down and began to search her pockets, pulling out slowly an old rusty key.

"Clara, I know what you're thinking. And sorry to disappoint you, but you can't."

"Why not? I am owed this." Clara hissed angrily.

"Clara...it might not even be him. It's been decades Clara. Who knows how many times he's regenerated already. And if it's surprisingly still him, you can't let him see you. He might remember you from the diner, making it impossible for you to leave him, and the Time Lords will find you. Everything he did will be in vain, all that suffering he went through to keep you safe, all of it thrown away because of your selfishness at this moment." Me gently said.

Clara realized Me was right. The Doctor went through literal hell for her to be alive, and then sacrificed his memories to keep the universe and Clara safe. She began to tuck the old TARDIS keep back into her coat when she heard leaves rustling behind her. She jerked her head and saw two figures approaching her at a fast speed, one obviously a woman and the other tall figure...him.

"It's him, Ashildr. My Doctor." Clara inhaled.

"Clara, no." Me whispered wearily. But too late. Before Clara could hide, the Doctor and the woman Clara assumed was his new companion came to a halt in front of her.

"Who are you?" The woman muttered, but Clara ignored her. Instead she laid her eyes on the Doctor, who was staring at her. He hadn't aged much, and his lovely hair was more wildly curly than ever. He was wearing the velvet doctory coat she told him she loved many years ago, except you could tell it was used quite often, a few visible holes and dirt all over it. She made eye contact with him and her heart sank. His blue eyes pierced into her, and she saw something change in them. They went from cold and distant to...warm?

"Yes..who are you?" He asked calmly. Clara's stomach filled itself with butterflies as she heard his voice for the first time in decades, and it took her a while before responding.

"Fake name." Me hissed into her ear.

"I'm..Oswin. Doctor Oswin. My ship landed my crew and I on this planet, and I came out to investigate, but I seemed to have gotten lost." Clara nodded in the direction of her TARDIS.

The Doctor nodded and walked past her, opening the TARDIS doors. "We'll give you a lift. We were just leaving." He mumbled.

"Doctor, there's a war going on. People are dying, we can't just leave them. The Daleks will destroy everyone." The young woman objected, running up to him, contouring her face in anger. The Doctor opened the TARDIS and stepped inside saying, "We did our best, there's nothing we can do. People die, Darcy. That's life, one day I will die too. Everyone will die, they all face the bloody raven at the end, and tonight, the Daleks are this planets Ravens. We did the best we could, I've spend my entire life helping the universe, but sometimes things must happen. Now if you want to live a bit longer, stop pestering me right now so that I can drop this young woman off and we can go on our way. Didn't you want to visit the carnival on Venus? We'll go there." The Doctor walked to the console and the woman named Darcy walked to a chair and dropped herself on it, tears flowing down her cheeks. Clara also had tears in her eyes, as she observed the Doctor working at the console unit. This wasn't like him, he never would leave a planet in danger, and she was sure that there was more that he could of done tonight.

"This isn't the Doctor anymore, Clara. Look at him, he's lost. He's gone, now there's just a hopeless Time Lord, waiting for his own raven, to take him out of his lonely nightmare. He didn't recognize you, perhaps he doesn't remember the diner, I'm sorry." Me whispered.

"Yeah." Clara replied, wiping a tear from her eye. This was all her fault. If she hasn't gone into their adventures with reckless abandon, the Doctor would of never had lost her.

"Yeah?" The Doctor turned to look at her. He looked at her from head to toe, and Clara couldn't help but notice his gaze lingered at her chest.

"Sorry, I talk to myself sometimes. Oh, this is a nice ship. Bigger on the inside, Time Lord technology, eh?" Clara walked around as she took in the view of the TARDIS, a grin spreading her face. Nothing had changed, literally. And a lump grew in the back of her throat when she spotted the chalkboard with her faded writing still on it.

"Run you Clever Boy, and be a Doctor. "

"You don't seem surprised. Usually people faint at the first sight of this. And how do you know what kind of technology this is?" The Doctor eyes her suspiciously, crossing his arms.

"Oh, I've seen plenty of things in my life. And I know, because I'm just very clever." Clara chimed in, winking.

The Doctor grinned for the first time, "Oh, I bet you are, Doctor Oswin. Nice outfit, by the way. My name's the Doctor, and I'm a Time Lord, hope you're not a Dalek."

Suddenly a loud groan came from Darcy.

"Oh, please stop the flirting and take me home."

The Doctor blushed and walked towards Darcy, moving his hands wildly. "Flirting? I'm not, not flirting. No hanky panky in the TARDIS, even for me." He sputtered. Clara began to walk around the TARDIS, biting her tongue from laughing as she soaked up the scent of the TARDIS, me chuckling in her ear.

"Oswin, would you like some tea?" The Doctor turned to Clara, who was leaning against the railing. "Tea?" Clara and Darcy said together, both raising their eyebrows. However, Darcy continued, "Since when do you serve tea to guests? You usually treat them as if they were infections."

The Doctor decided to ignore that comment as he disappeared down a corridor, leaving Clara and Darcy alone in the console room. Finally Clara got a good look at the young woman, and realized she looked just a bit older than a teenager. A brunette with glasses, wearing a cardigan with her legs crossed.

"You can sit here." Darcy patted on the spot next to her, and Clara walked over to sit besides her. Darcy looked at her for a moment before asking, "Are you really a Doctor?"

"Be careful with what you say." Me stated, low enough that only Clara would hear.

"Well, kind of. How about you and the Doctor? Who are you?" Clara knew who he was obviously, she was mainly curious as how they met.

"Well, my name's Darcy, and he's the Doctor. I don't know his real name, don't bother asking. I'm a chemistry student back on earth and he's a time lord. There was this alien invasion back on earth in the year 2017, and he saved me from nearly getting my head ripped off from this gigantic centipede looking thing. He told me there was a position up for his assistant, and he'd pay me with the universe. And so he did, and we've been traveling for a year now." With her hands she waved all around them.

"By traveling through time and space." Clara stated simply.

"Yup. It's fun when he's not being a gigantic pain in the arse, like today. Honestly, he's always moody. A while ago though, this whole charm with you? Never seen it. Probably felt special to meet someone else in the entire universe who dresses like him..no offense." Darcy muttered, giving Clara's coat a look.

"None taken." Clara laughed, looking around the TARDIS before landing her gaze on a portrait hung against the wall behind Darcy. Her laughter quickly faltered as she stared at it. It was a portrait of herself, painted perfectly down to the last detail, except she looked different, it was the way she looked decades to her, with a happiness she hadn't seen on her face in ages. Darcy turned to see what Clara was looking at, and nodded as she turned back to look at Clara.

"You're realizing that she looks an awful lot like you, aren't you. I noticed it as well. Actually, I'm sure the Doctor saw it too, which explains why he's acting all weird with you."

Clara looked back at Darcy, her heart drenching itself in pain. "Who is she?" She croaked.

Darcy turned back to the painting and stood up, walking towards it. Clara followed as well, standing under it as they both gazed up.

"His wife. Well, I call her his wife. Seems like it with what he's told me. He says they were the best of friends but you can tell when a man was in love." Darcy whispered.

"Tell me?" Darcy looked at Clara skeptically, then sighed. "Okay, but don't tell him I told you."

Clara nodded.

"Her name was Clara. They travelled together for a few years, and the Doctor loved her. She loved him, as well. Things became too difficult, though. And she died. The Doctor went through a torture house for billions of years to bring her back from the dead, and he did. Except it went against the laws of time, and the only way keep her safe was was for his memories to be erased. Something like that, I honestly don't know the whole story. I'm sure there's more to it."

Clara looked down at her own feet, feeling horrible. "He must trust you to tell you all of this."

"Well, he didn't tell me casually. He was drunk. I think it was about half a year after we met, he got drunk one night, sitting in front of this portrait, staring at her. And he told me." Darcy shrugged. Clara sniffed and turned the other way, so Darcy wouldn't see her.

"Why are you crying?" Darcy raised an eyebrow. Clara turned to her, slipping off her glasses as she wiped them.

"Oh, it's just a really sad story."

"Yeah..it is. Hey, I'm gonna go check up on the Doctor. I'll be right back." Darcy eyed Clara as she turned to walk away. Clara placed her sonic glasses back on and spoke quietly to Me.

"I've done so much damage to him. I need to tell him it's me, Clara. Ashildr?"

"You can't. Look, there's nothing you can do. Just come back to the TARDIS, this Darcy girl seems to be suspicious of you." Me whispered into Clara's ear.

"Shut up. Look, Darcy left to find the Doctor, I'm gonna get closer to try and listen to what they're talking about." Clara began to walk towards the corridor she saw Darcy disappear off to, when she heard whispering, so she leaned in to listen.

"Don't get too close. It won't be good for you, I know she looks like her, but do not let it get to your head." Clara heard Darcy whisper.

"I am not. I will drop her off and that is it. I don't need anybody replacing Clara." The Doctor hissed. There was complete silence when Darcy spoke again, more softly.

"What if it's her, though. Honestly, something seems off about this woman. And she honestly looks an awful lot like her..Doctor what if this is Clara? What are the chances?"

"If there's one thing I know about Clara, it's that I'd know it's her if I ever saw her again." The Doctor muttered, a heartbreaking hint of pain in his voice. Clara's eyes filled with tears, as she looked down, a tear falling down, splashing on the floor. The TARDIS groaned, and Me sighed.

Please, Just See Me, Clara thought bitterly. In that moment, she heard feet shuffling, and she quickly ran back to the painting, wiping any traces of tears from her eyes. She couldn't let Darcy see she had been eavesdropping on them, and crying. She stared up at the painting when she heard foot steps behind her, surely Darcy had came back.

"She's beautiful, isn't she." A low Scottish voice made Clara jump, and she quickly turned around. The Doctor was standing there with a tray of tea and sugar, along with a plate of biscuits. He walked towards Clara slowly, and stared intensely at Clara, then turned to the painting.

Clara cleared her throat, a question escaping her in a tiny voice, "Who was she?"

The Doctor looked back at her, a warmth in his gaze. "Her name was Clara. I don't remember much about her, only that she took both my hearts along with her."

Clara wasn't sure what made her do this, probably old habits, she supposed. But she walked over to the Doctor, and stood inches from him, her breathing rapidly speeding up. She didn't even have to breath anymore, it was out of habit.

She stared up at the Doctor, and whispered, "Tell me about her."