Chapter Seven

Clara had known she'd have to go back home again eventually – the Doctor had known it too – but that didn't stop either of them being disappointed when she had to step outside into her flat and where faced once again with a grey dull London with pouring rain again. Just like the day they reunited.

"My flat feels boring now." Clara frowned throwing her purse onto the couch with a lazy toss, the purse promptly emptied its contents onto the couch everything slipping down behind the cushion and making her flash the inanimate object an irritated glance.

"Your flat is boring." Was the Doctors retort. He was in the kitchen checking through her fridge and cupboard. "Uh… do you always keep cheese in a milk carton?"

Clara wrinkled her nose without even going to the kitchen to check what he was talking about. "No so I suggest you put whatever is now in the milk carton in the bin. How long have I been away this time?"

"'bout two or three weeks without counting all those half hour drop ins to let people know you're not dead or missing." She heard the Doctor putting something in the bin – presumably the milk because he then added "It's a good job you like your tea without milk."

"What about you?" she asked hearing him put the kettle on and knowing he hated tea without milk.

"You have instant cocoa powder." Was his reply. "So how long do you have to be at work this time?"

"Just until Rachel gets over this sickness bug." Clara shrugged. She'd gotten a text from the school offices asking her to come back and cover for the other English teacher just a few hours ago – both she and the Doctor hadn't been too happy that they'd part ways again even for just a little while but she'd felt obliged to say yes.

"So estimated week then? I should come back Friday night?" the Doctor came in carrying two mugs – apparently he'd found his favourite mug, a deep TARDIS blue mug that he'd sworn was bigger on the inside and she'd hidden right at the back of her mug cupboard when she thought she'd never see him again. She smirked at the mug and he smirked right back sitting on the other end of the couch, moving her now empty hand bag out of the way but not bothering to move the things that had spilled out and fallen down the side of the couch.

"Friday sounds about right. Even If I don't end up working that long it should be enough time to visit my dad and gran as I promised." She sipped the tea, turning on her TV and finding a late Sunday night movie. The Doctor made a fabulous cup of tea and she found herself settling back into the couch with a sigh – she wouldn't lie and say she wasn't a little appreciative of some down time, her body was starting to ache from their adventures and she wasn't going to ask the Doctor for another of his ridiculously skilful massages any more than he was going to spontaneously offer again.

They sat in a companionable silence, both of their gazes fixed on the movie on telly. The Doctor vaguely remembered watching the Lord of the Rings movies, he'd quite liked them, but he couldn't for the life of him remember which of the movies this one was. About halfway though he wanted to make some comment, but realised he didn't want to move either. He was deliciously warm for once considering his usually low body temperature and this new body's inability to retain heat – the warmth was going to his head of course which felt heavy. Actually all his limbs felt leaden with fatigue and his eyes lids where drooping. He thought about moving, disrupting his comfort and heading to the TARDIS where he had a bedroom for the sparse occasion (like now) that he needed sleep, but then realised it had been so long since he had felt like this that he didn't want to lose the feeling at all. He sighed, giving in to the fatigue as his eyelids got heavier and eventually closed.

Clara was alerted to the unconsciousness of her partner by heavy breathing beside her and him falling to one side, resting awkwardly on the arm on the sofa. She rolled her eyes at him, but moved him into a more comfortable positon – pulling his legs up onto the sofa and placing a cushion under his head. She moved as many of the items that had fallen out of her purse that where now under his head as she could, and ran an affectionate hand through his surprisingly soft silver hair. "Goodnight Doctor…" she murmured quietly, throwing the blanket over him and turning off the telly.

Wednesday Clara sat behind what had used to be her desk at school but was now Rachel's. Around her neck sat the crystal she'd been given by the wolf tribe, she'd managed to get the crystal onto a chain which stopped her repeatedly losing the damn thing. She could swear the crystal was warm on her skin, but then again she'd been feeling a bit odd the past few days.

It started on Monday at lunch. The only thing she'd wanted to eat was chips and custard – thankfully her mouth did not decide those two things would taste good together, she'd have honestly been worried about herself if that happened. After that odd change in taste came others of course – she suddenly required a lot more sugar in her tea to be happy, something her dad noticed while she was with him and she kept dumping sugar cube after sugar cube in her tea and then tasting it until it was right. It was over ten cubes before she was satisfied.

She wasn't even about to get started on her mood swings. They'd been so… odd as of late that she'd honestly worried she'd picked up some alien split personality disorder. Maybe she was just having trouble getting back to her balanced life of normality and the Doctor – of course this time she was putting far more time into the Doctor. Still it wasn't always that you found yourself feeling ferociously angry as well as extremely happy because all your students had passed the mock exam you gave them with spectacular results.

Then again she was now feeling rather ill so possibly all of this had been a part of the build up to the sudden clammy feeling she had, the chesty cough the aching muscles and chills. Courtney Woods entered the English teacher's classroom about to ask Clara a question and instead was on time to see the teacher's eyes flutter and her head fall onto the desk suddenly.

It was finally Friday, the Doctor slammed down a lever of the TARDIS with more vigour than he realised he was going to use earning himself an angry groan from the time machine. He muttered an apology but couldn't stop himself smiling – the old girl had been a lot happier with him since Clara's return, she'd obviously been very disproving of the state they left each other in.

The Doctor landed in the corner of her bedroom, expecting to see her happily preparing herself at that three mirror vanity of hers for their next adventure – instead he found her peacefully asleep in the middle of the daytime. At first he was irritated, leaning on the TARDIS he was about to make some sort of loud noise to wake her and berate her about being lazy when she knew he was coming to collect her when he noticed several things.

The first was that her bedside table was littered with handkerchiefs, prescription bottles of antibiotics and several half-full glasses of water. The second was the odd raspy sound echoing in the room which he realised quickly was the sound of Clara's breathing – as though something heavy was pressing down on her chest. The third thing he noticed was Clara's skin, pale as death and moist to the look and yet she was shivering under the layers of her blanket.

He considered waking her but decided to try figure out her condition himself, walking around the bed he picked up the various antibiotics bottles and checked the labels. Amoxicillin and Erythromycin. A penicillin and Macrolides. Other than that the Doctor had no idea because despite his name, he smiled, he had very little medical training. Why had it never occurred to him before you learn human medicine? He frowned.

In her bed Clara was suddenly enveloped in a violent coughing fit that last a fair few minutes, at some point during those minutes she'd woken of course her eyes watering from the viciousness of her coughing and fixed with surprise on the Doctor.

"Hello?" she croaked at the end of her coughing fit.

"I doubt you should be speaking."

"I thought you weren't coming back until Friday?"

"It is Friday Clara, and you don't look fit enough to be going anywhere. You're all pale and coughing all over the place and I can't trust you not to vomit – there is no vomiting on the TARDIS – so you can't come aboard with the flu. Rules."

"It's not the flu." She croaked leaning back against cushion and looking weary, partially panting from a shortness of breath. "I got a mild bout of pneumonia – should be fine after a few days."

His eyes widened a fraction. "Pneumonia? It's always a bad idea to send you to school! Those kids are like walking petri dishes for all sorts of germs!"

"Not their fault. Mine. Rachel got it somehow and when I went to see her I mustn't have been feeling too good myself already. Lowered immune system or something the doctors said…" Clara mumbled through more coughing. "I think I have a fever…" she closed her eyes against the pounding in her head.

She opened them again, startled to find she had probably nodded off for a second, when someone pressed a cold damp cloth to her forehead. She watched his face as he sponged her head, smoothing back her hair, and sponged down her cheeks and neck stopping at her low collar with a pause before moving back up to her forehead, and finally looking her in the eye. He cleared his throat abruptly, put the cloth on her bedside and asked "Any better?"

She cleared her throat too, though her voice was still croaky. "Much… thanks."

There was a tense moment between them where neither looked at the other, broken when Clara's phone on the bedside suddenly let out a shrill sound causing them both to jump. "What the hell was that?" the Doctor frowned picking up the phone and glaring at it.

"Just an alarm to take my medicine…" Clara mumbled as she reached out for the prescription bottles on the bedside. The Doctor reached them before she could – probably a good thing since she was far more likely to knock them over than actually open them. He read the labels on the bottles before popping them open and shaking out the required pills from each bottle and handing them to her – when she had thrown them into her mouth he also handed her one of the glasses of water on the bedside.

"I'm cold…" Clara heard herself mumble though she didn't actually feel her lips move. An odd sensation to say the least.

"I'll make you some tea." The Doctor stood and was just about out of the room when she managed to call to him "A lot of sugar please!"

She managed to stay awake while the Doctor was out of the room, and was surprised when he came back with two cups of tea and the blanket from the back of the sofa thrown over one arm. He set down the tea and threw the blanket over her neatly before handing her a mug. She sipped the tea – perfect. "Thank you…" she mumbled snuggling into the softness of her bed and feeling herself about to fall back to sleep. The Doctor said nothing as he sat in the armchair near her desk and felt himself becoming rather tiered too.

When she woke up again it was early the next morning – she could tell by the hinted yellow light coming through her windows – and she was even more surprised to see the Doctor still sitting in her armchair – though he had commandeered her laptop and was reading something with concentration, a pair of black wire rimmed reading glasses perched on his nose.

She stared at him and tried to ignore the chills wracking her body and finally asking "What are you reading?"

"Just doing some extensive research on your condition." He mumbled eyes flicking to her once.

"Really?" she was surprised.

"Well I'm not about to let you die on me Clara." He grumbled, removing the glasses from his face.

"Nice to know you care." She said after blinking a few times, pulling herself out of the bed weakly. "I'm going to get a bath."

Suddenly the Doctor was there helping her up, helping her stand and walk to the bathroom. "I wasn't going to mention that you very much needed to wash." He said, voice completely serious as he set her down to sit on the toilet seat and began to run the hot water.

"I wish you hadn't mentioned that I needed to wash. Makes me feel slightly worse than I already do." She yawned, still tiered and the steam from the hot water didn't really help.

"You're sick Clara, can't expect you to stay pristine."

There was another silence while the bath filled, the Doctor occasionally testing its temperature, until he turned off the water and looked at her with a cross between a smile and grimace he went to leave the room shutting the door behind him a fraction until Clara stopped him leaning almost her whole weight on the door as she said "Can you just knock on the door every now and then and make sure I haven't fallen asleep in the bath or anything?"

He gave her a brief nod before shutting the bathroom door completely and letting her get into the bath.

Getting undressed was quite a trial, her arms where like heavy weights from fatigue but she had to admit her head was pounding a lot less than it had been on Wednesday when she'd passed out at her desk at school. Her nurse had explained that the antibiotics would probably clear up most of her symptoms fairly quickly though she'd probably have a residual cough for a while and find herself easily worn out. She had a sudden coughing fit as she stood naked in the bathroom, glaring at herself In the fogged up mirror when it finished and whishing the cough that would be the first symptom to leave – though it was nice not to feel like there was a band of monkeys banging drums in her head.

The water was soothingly hot, at some point the Doctor had added her favourite bubble bath and she smiled when the bubbles tickled her nose as she slid further into the water. She closed her eyes and felt a ache all over her body sort itself out in the soothing water.

She had no idea how long she'd been in there when the Doctor knocked sharply on the door starling her awake and asking "Clara are you alright?"

"Yes thank you!" she called, her voice broke from a dull croak halfway thorough into a sharp tone and she had to clear her throat a few times afterwards. She pulled herself into a sitting position in the now cool water, her entire body feeling hot from the water and sweaty – she panted lightly rather than breathed but even the now uncomfortable hotness was more preferable than the aching chill that had her in its grip for the last few days. Her arms ached lightly as she washed herself, finally she pulled herself out of the bath warping herself in her towels she sat on the toilet and searched for something to wear.

In the cupboard where she kept clothes people – usually her dad or gran – had left in her apartment that she washed and kept until the owner returned she found a familiar black holey jumper. The Doctor had left it behind during one of their brief stops so she could join her dad for tea and let him know she hadn't dropped off the face of the earth, right after and adventure when they'd had to swim through goo and she'd found his goo covered clothes on her bathroom floor when she got home though the timelord himself had been absent. She'd washed the jump and trousers and forgotten to return them. She'd always loved that jumper, always been sorely tempted to nick it.

She pulled on a pair of pyjama shorts, a white strappy top and then the Doctors jumper over that feeling a little smug as she left the bathroom wearing it down to just above her knees. He was sitting back in the armchair when she opened the door and it took her a second to realise exactly what in the room had changed.

"Did you change my sheets?" she frowned running a hand along the now brown bed sheets.

"Dirty bed-sheets covered in your sick germs would only prolong your illness." The Doctor said glancing up briefly. "Is that my jumper?" he looked up again with a frown.

"Yes. You left it here and now I'm borrowing It." she crawled into the bed curling up under the sheets.

"And getting your sick germs all over It." she heard him grumble despite pulling the covered over her head. She didn't see the small smile on his face, though she did feel a small thrill go through her despite being unable to identify the reason for the feeling.

A few hours later Clara awoke feeling the chills tingling down her spine again as if following her bones it spread around her ribs too and she tremored. She panted a little, curled her fingers and wriggled her head into the bed a bit more – which was when she realised she was not lying on the bed anymore. In fact she wasn't even lying down.

She was sitting up she realised with a slight start, her fingers where curling into someone's shirt and someone was sponging her skin again with cool water. She became aware then that the Doctor was muttering into her hair, his chin resting on her head. "Shh Clara…. It'll be okay, you just have to break the fever... you'll be fine impossible girl…" she relaxed again once she knew it was the Doctor she was leaning on, who was holding her as he soothed her burning skin and body and stroked her hair down her back fingers getting caught briefly in the holes of his jumper that she was wearing.

She tried to speak but what came out was just a whimper. He must've known she was trying to speak because he squeezed her lightly and muttered "Don't speak just… sleep."

She didn't remember falling asleep again after that – the Doctor had been ready to enter her mind and force her to sleep and was startled when he didn't have to touch her to do that. No other companion of his had been so susceptible to his telepathic abilities without him touching their heads at least. He frowned slightly, still muttering comforts to her (though he was embarrassed to say his murmurs comforted himself too) and made a mental note to himself to watch out for that.

Hello everyone, I'm sorry I've not update as quickly as usual for any of my stories or replied to any messages however this is the end of university term time so I've been busy preparing for a presentation - after that I received the unfortunate news that a very close friend of mine has died - so I'm not sure at all when this story (or any of my stories) will get updated, so just bare with me for now, thanks :)