"Go on," River encouraged. "She seems to like you. It worked before, after all."

Clara laid her hand on the console. "TARDIS? Can you hear me? We need you to make a room for us, a medical laboratory, so Strax can work out a cure for the Doctor. Can you do that for us? Please?"

A screen on the console lit up, displaying a map to a new room.

"Thank you!"

"She can talk to the TARDIS?" Madame Vastra asked in wonder.

"Apparently so," River replied.

"How's the Doctor?" Clara asked, as Jenny returned to the control room.

"Properly off his head. First he's offering us jelly babies, whatever that may be -"

"Sweets, from Earth," Clara interjected absently. "My dad fancied them, when he was a kid."

"- and then he's going on about going for a W-A-L-K."

Strax marched into the control room, snapped his heels together smartly and proceeded to make a report. "I have modified a thermal blanket from the ship's survival supplies and utilized it in an attempt to stabilize the Doctor's body temperature. What is the significance of wearing a stalk of celery in one's lapel? The Doctor seemed quite adamant about the subject."

Again, the TARDIS found herself wishing she could talk. She could tell them so many stories - all about jelly babies, and an overly clever dog-like robot, and the time when the Doctor was a fair haired young man in a cricket sweater.

Strax looked around at the lab the TARDIS had created for him. "This facility is adequate," he announced. He pointed to Clara. "Let me see your arm, boy."

"Girl!" all three women exclaimed.

Clara extended her arm rather cautiously.

"This will not hurt a bit, human scum," Strax informed her, running a scanner over the blisters. "Tarusian Tree Spider bites, the same as the Doctor."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Jenny protested. "Clara isn't sick, and those bites don't look anything like the ones the Doctor's got."

"This boy-"

"Girl!"

"-appears to have a natural immunity to the venom. Curious, since she is not a native of Tarusia."

"One mystery at a time," River answered. "What we need to know is this - can you synthesize the antibodies in Clara's blood into something that will help the Doctor?"

"Yes. I will require a blood sample to work with."

"I shall go check on the Doctor," Madame Vastra said, excusing herself.

The TARDIS noted more changes in the Doctor's vital signs. She hoped his friends would move right along with whatever they were working on. Although regeneration was always a last resort for the Doctor, should his physical condition deteriorate badly enough, she'd grown quite fond of this particular incarnation, and wasn't ready to say goodbye just yet.

"Doctor, you must calm yourself!" Vastra exclaimed. She and Jenny were trying to restrain his thrashing limbs. "Strax! Hurry!"

"No! NO! I must save the child! I must!"

River leaned in close to him. "Doctor, you did save the child. She's fine, truly."

"No…Amy's child…must save the child!"

"I'm here, Doctor, and Amy is…Amy is fine." River's voice trembled a bit, but it wasn't entirely a lie, and they had to calm him.

"Strax! Now!"

Strax charged into the room, injector at the ready. "Stand aside!" He applied the injector to the side of the Doctor's neck and activated it.

The Doctor's body went rigid, and then just as suddenly, limp.

"Was that meant to happen that way?" Jenny wondered.

"I do not know," Strax reported. "Insufficient data."

River clutched one of the Doctor's hands. "Don't you leave me," she murmured, "don't you dare leave me!"

"Doctor?" Clara reached out to touch his face, and a radiant smile brightened her features. "He's sweating…the fever's broken."

Vastra smiled and clapped Strax on the shoulder.

"Clara?" the Doctor whispered, opening his eyes.

"I'm here," she whispered, blinking back a fine sheen of tears from her eyes.

"So am I, sweetie," River added.

The Doctor turned his head on the pillow. "Two of the loveliest ladies in the universe in the same place...I haven't died, have I?"

"Not quite," Vastra told him.

"Vastra? Then where are Jenny, and Strax?"

"Right here, Doctor."

He struggled to raise himself up.

"Gently, now. You've been very ill," River said, adjusting the pillow behind his back.

"I don't get ill," the Doctor muttered indignantly.

"You certainly did this time. Although, if it will spare your dignity, I suppose you could call it an acute allergic reaction."

"What to?"

"Tarusian Tree Spider venom."

"What? Those teensy weensy little vermin-y things?"

"That live in the nest, in the pretty tree, that I fell into," Clara affirmed.

"But the pretty tree was worth it, wasn't it?" the Doctor murmured, with that boyish grin that melted her heart.

"Yes."

"Sentimental idiot," River grumbled under her breath.

The Doctor turned back to her. "River?" he asked. "How did you get here?"

"Vortex manipulator, as usual."

"But how did you know?"

"Clara asked the TARDIS for help, and the TARDIS sent me a distress signal."

"What? But how…?"

"You told her the story about the time the TARDIS's matrix was transferred into a living person and you were able to talk to her."

"So Clara spoke directly to the old girl and asked for help?"

"Yes," River smiled. "Which is so illogical as to be totally brilliant."

"Clever girl."

"A pair of clever girls," River agreed, "who were both determined not to lose you. You seem to have that effect on women, I've noticed."

The Doctor had the good grace to blush.

"I am suddenly feeling quite superfluous here," Vastra announced to the room at large.

"Never, old friend," the Doctor assured her, clasping her hand warmly.

"Anything we can fetch for you, Doctor?" Jenny asked, smiling.

"Well, now that you mention it, I could do with some fish fingers and custard!" he replied eagerly.

The TARDIS happily programmed the kitchen for fish fingers and custard, and something a bit more palatable for the others. It was, after all, a rather special occasion.

Clara watched as River steered the TARDIS away from nineteenth century London, having returned Vastra and the others home. "River? Why doesn't the TARDIS's computer have any files on you? Look, I don't mean to be rude, but, well some of the things the Doctor cried out when he was sick…"

"You're curious. It's all right, that's why he likes you." River looked down at the console for a long moment. "It's…complicated," she finally replied, with a small, tight smile. She knew quite well that there was a plethora of information about her in the TARDIS's data base, and was very grateful that the Doctor's encrypting skills exceeded Clara's hacking skills, at least for the moment.

Clara extended her hand. "Thank you…I couldn't've done this without you."

River clasped Clara's hand warmly. "I rather suspect that you would have found a way, but you're welcome. It was my pleasure. You will look after him, won't you?"

Clara nodded, stepping back as River began typing commands into the vortex manipulator.

If the TARDIS could have smiled, she would have. It would take quite some doing for Clara to get through her encryption, so River's secrets were safe…for the moment, anyway.

The Doctor wandered into the control room and laid his hand affectionately on the console. "Hello, old girl. I understand I have you to thank for saving me. Well, you and Clara. All right, you, Clara, River, Vastra, Jenny, and Strax. But mostly you and Clara, because she was smart enough to ask you for help, and you were kind enough to give it."

"You're welcome…I think," Clara murmured.

The Doctor looked around, startled, then spotted her sitting on the steps on the far side of the console. "Hey…I was wondering where you'd got to."

Clara smiled and extended her hand to him. "How are you feeling?"

"Right as rain, thanks to you." Grinning broadly, the Doctor took her hand and sat down beside her. "So, how many times is it now that you've saved my life, Clara Oswald?"

"Twice, that I know of," she replied.

The Doctor wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you. And thank you for managing not to get yourself killed this time."

"I had help."

"Yes…yes, you did," he replied, glancing fondly around the control room. "I understand I did quite a bit of talking in my sleep," he added.

"You did, indeed."

"I, er, hope it wasn't anything too dodgy," the Doctor said, blushing furiously.

"No, not really," Clara assured him. There was a twinkle in her eyes, however, that made the Doctor just a trifle nervous. She slid her arms about his waist and settled her head comfortably against his chest. "Tell me a story."

"What kind of story?"

"Tell me about some of the other people who've traveled with you."

"Shall I tell you about the time that Nyssa, Tegan, Adric, and I went to a fancy dress party?"

The TARDIS hummed contentedly to herself as she listened to the Doctor's voice, spinning an old tale for his new companion.