Chapter 4: The Nightmares of the Unknown

He hadn't slept a wink since his regeneration.

How long ago was that? Three months?

"Five, actually."

He jumped a little, silently cursing his new tendency to voice every thought without meaning to.

"Has it really been that long? My, how time flies. And I don't even feel tired!" He lied. He always felt tired now, not just because of the new old body. The worse part was that she knew that too.

"Doctor, I know Timelords don't need much sleep, but you really need to rest."

"No I don't." He responded a little too quickly.

"Doctor." She replied sternly. Upon seeing that he wasn't going to say anything she continued. "If I didn't know any better, which I do, I'd say that you're afraid to fall asleep."

"Please, Oswin. That's just ridiculous." He replied as he turned to face her and stumbled back from shock of finding her so close. He knew she was trying to examine him so he turned back to the console to avoid her gaze.

Ever since she had jumped into his timestream it had become easier for her to read him; and it seemed like his recent regeneration had facilitated that, much to his dismay. He was like an open book to her now. He hated it.

"Wh-Why would I be afraid to sleep?" He asked while walking around the console to evade her, thinking that she would follow behind. However, she had other thoughts and walked the opposite direction, effectively blocking his way.

"You're so predictable." She said with a smirk on her face.

"Am not." He said, annoyed. But she wasn't having any of it and stood her ground.

"Oswin, seriously, I'm fine." He went back to fiddling with the controls.

"Why are you so afraid?"

"I'm not." He pushed his glasses to the top of his head as he drew his face closer to the monitor to read the words he had already read a million times over.

"Is it because of the nightmares?"

He froze.

"If you already know, then why are you asking?" Subtle anger laced his voice. He turned toward her but only saw blurs. He didn't want to put his glasses back on and see the pity on her face. He didn't want her pity.

"I'm not giving you pity."

He sighed, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel her get closer to him but refused to open his eyes and just dropped his hand to his side, using the other to lean on the console. He felt her hands touch his graying hair and knew she was reaching for his glasses to reposition them on his nose again.

"Doctor, look at me." His gaze settled on hers. She was right: no pity. Just worry and an attempt to comfort.

"They're just nightmares, Doctor. They're not real."

"That's easy for you to say." He replied with contempt. "You're not the one having them." He took a step back from her and returned his incomplete attention to the console. She sighed.

"Looks like we're gonna have to go with plan B."

He furrowed his brows. "What are you-"

Then, out of nowhere, the TARDIS seemed to shut herself down. The lights dimmed down and the humming stopped. He looked around incredulously between her and the TARDIS console.

"What did you do!?" He shouted while pushing buttons and pulling levers. Nothing.

"I didn't do anything. For once," She patted the console affectionately. "She agrees with me." She flashed him a wide smile.

"Clara, this isn't funny. Stop this now."

"Oh, so now I'm Clara again. Boy, you must be really angry." She replied playfully.

"As a matter of fact, I am. Now fix this."

"I'm not the one doing it, the TARDIS is. And she won't let you take the lead again until you agree to get some rest. So it's up to you really."

He tried to give her the best death glare he could muster but she seemed unaffected and continued to smile back.

"Fine." He whispered reluctantly and grunted when she jumped into his arms to embrace him.

"But I'm not sleeping. Only resting."

"Yeah, sure." She replied dismissively as she pulled him by the hand and led him to the library. She settled him onto one end of the couch and laid herself down pulling her legs up, placing her head on his lap, and covering her body and his legs with a blanket.

"You sure put a lot of thought into this didn't you?"

She just smiled back.

"You know I'm just going to leave as soon as you fall asleep, right?" He said smugly.

"That's why I put my head on your lap. Unfortunately for you, I'm a light sleeper so if you do try to leave, you'll just wake me up and all this will start all over again."

He didn't try to hide the annoyance from his face.

"You know, it might help if you tell me about your nightmares."

"I very much doubt it. How do you even know I have nightmares?"

"Well, besides the fact that I jumped into your timestream, you had one when you passed out after you regenerated. I was able to wake you up but you probably don't remember since you passed out again soon after."

"Did… did I say what it was about?"

"No. You just told me not to leave you alone and held onto me. Kind of like you're doing right now."

He looked down at her and saw that he was clutching her hand for dear life. He quickly let go but she caught it in hers again and held it tighter still.

"You don't have to tell me your nightmares if you don't want to. Just please try to rest. Ok?"

He had a feeling that the only reason she wasn't pushing was because she already knew most of the details but he didn't argue. They fell into a comfortable silence and soon she fell asleep. He stared down at her peaceful form and stroked her hair.

"I am afraid." He said quietly. "But not of falling asleep. I'm afraid of never waking up. I'm afraid to see what the nightmares are this time and have to watch them turn into reality. It seems they always do.

"I'd rather not know what's coming, because if I do, then it'll hurt more. It hurts more when you know but can't do anything to stop it. And I know that I don't have to have these nightmares to have an idea of what's eventually going to happen. But at least I can control the thoughts when I'm awake. When I'm asleep… it all just comes crashing down… all at once. And I don't know if I can take that again. At least not with this old body."

He smiled weakly and ran a hand through his hair as he took a deep breath to steady himself. He had begun to shake a little.

He stared at her a while longer before slipping his hand from her now weak hold and carefully lifted her upper body to get up from the couch. He chuckled lightly to himself when he saw her snuggle tighter into the blanket instead of waking up like she said she would.

Some light sleeper she is.

"I am." She flashed him a lazy smile upon seeing his baffled expression. "And no, you didn't say that out loud. You're just that predictable."

He shot her an annoyed look but couldn't help the smile from creeping onto his face.

"I told you it would help."

His smile widened. Of course she heard.

"Goodnight, Doctor." She mumbled before turning over to cuddle into the backrest of the couch.

"Goodnight, Oswin."

Author's Note: So this is Twelve's chapter (and yes, it's Peter as the Doctor). What do you think? I didn't want to make his chapter like Nine's, Ten's, and Eleven's since we know almost nothing about him. So I decided to make it about Clara trying to help him deal with the nightmares. As you can see, this takes place a while after his regeneration.

And I hope you enjoyed my headcanons: 1) Twelve wears glasses (all the time because he's as blind as a bat without them) which he pushes to the top of his head when looking at something closely, inspired by the fact that my own mom does this and Ten does the opposite and puts his specs on when looking at something closely; and 2) Twelve calls Clara 'Oswin' now and only uses her real name when he's really upset/angry/worried, I just thought it would be really cute if that actually happened (I really hope it does).

So, thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed. :D