Hello there! I wrote this fic after watching The Name of the Doctor! I hope to make it a few chapters long! kind of an epilogue. This chapter is mainly about the Doctor taking care of Clara, so a bit of fluff, and a little bit more angst
It had been 2 hours since they stumbled into the TARDIS. They being not only the Doctor and Clara, but also Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax. Although, the Doctor had to admit that he hadn't been paying much attention to anyone other than Clara. His greatly injured Clara, who really needed to sleep.
She was barely conscious when they had entered the TARDIS, she had tried to walk on her own, but the combination of that horrid limp, and her lack of energy resulted in the Doctor greatly supporting her weight the whole trip back to the TARDIS.
Now she was in her room,sleeping. Jenny, Vastra, and Strax were lingering in the console room, as the Doctor had flown the TARDIS into the time vortex, and then immediately ran back to Clara's room, where he still was now.
The Doctor, although tired as well, refused to leave Clara's bedside. He couldn't let anything happen to her. Even in his own ship, he didn't feel it was safe to leave the girl alone. The Doctor leaned forward in the chair, resting his arms on his knees, all that had happened that day, everything that Clara had learned, heck everything he had learned... It was just so much to take in.
Clara knew everything. Everything about him. No one had ever known that much about him, sure people had known bits and pieces, but no the whole story! He was afraid she wouldn't want to stay with him after knowing so much, she not only knew the good things, she also knew all the bad things he had done as well. He knew it must have scared her senseless.
The doctor looked up and around Clara's room, admiring the little trinkets she had filling shelves, and the small things that reminded him of her. He looked back down at his sleeping companion, and suddenly had the urge to cry. What would he do without her? He leaned over to kiss her forehead, and then stood up slowly, his whole body still sore. The Doctor left the room and shut the door behind him, heading back to the console room.
He found Jenny and Vastra muttering things to each other quietly, Jenny looked upset as if she had been crying. Strax was sitting down on the other side of the room fiddling with his hands. "Doctor" Vatra said as soon as she saw him enter the room.
"I'm going to fly the TARDIS back to London to drop you three off" he said as calmly as he could. "Rest up, be good, don't get into trouble." He began to pull the levers on his TARDIS, flying it unenthusiastically.
"Doctor" Vatra repeated "are you alright?"
"I'm fine" he said in a way that obviously mean he wasn't fine.
"Are you going to be ok here with just Clara? We can stay with you two for a while longer if you'd like" Vastra continued.
"Oh you don't need to stay, you've helped me too much already!" The Doctor insisted "Clara and We'll manage just fine on our own, I'm sure of it!"
"You know how to contact us if you need to" Jenny reminded him "feel free to ask us for help if you need it."
"Yes I know" the time lord mumbled as he proceeded to land his time machine.
Jenny, Vastra, and Strax left reluctantly (well mostly Jenny and Vastra, not so much Strax). The Doctor promised he would contact them if he needed to, and almost had to force them out of his TARDIS. After shutting the doors, the Doctor immediately headed back to Clara;s room, wanting to make sure she was still ok. Like he had expected, she was still asleep, in the exact same position she had been when he left her last. He sat back down in his chair and thought for a while, before involuntarily falling asleep.
Eight hours later he woke up. He wasn't in the chair anymore, he was in Clara's bed. He didn't remember moving... That was a bit odd. He didn't think much of it though, instead he rolled over to see Clara curled up, still asleep. Of course she was going to need more rest than him, she was human, and not to mention she had gone through a lot more than him.
He sat up slowly, his stomach muscles begging him to lie back down. He didn't listen to them, instead he took one last glance at Clara's sleeping form, and quietly left the room.
First he stopped at the infirmary, he grabbed a few bottles of medicine, and some bandages. Then he headed to the kitchen, where he made a kettle of tea. Tea was good for healing people. When he got back to Clara's room he was pleasantly surprised to see her stirring in her bed. She opened her eyes slowly, and just barely, taking in a view of the Doctor's caring face.
"Doctor..." She mumbled softly.
"Shhh' he pressed a finger to his lips, and then picked up the teapot he had brought back with him "tea?"
"Mmmm" she nodded as best she could and proceeded to prop herself up on her pillows so that she was sitting up enough to drink. The Doctor handed her a cup of tea and she took it with shaky hands. Afraid she would drop the cup, the Doctor wrapped his own hands around hers and helped her guide it to her mouth. After successfully taking a few sips the Doctor put the cup down on the bedside table.
"So how are you feeling?"
"Sore" she groaned.
"Any cuts or bruises?"
"I don't know, haven't checked" she uttered in response.
"Well we need to check that" he said "mind if I take a look?" She responded with a nod, and the Doctor pulled off the sheet that had been covering her body.
She was wearing the same outfit she had been the day before, still covered in dirt, she was a mess. He almost couldn't bear looking at her when she was in such bad condition. Her arms were bruised by her elbows and one of her knees was swollen up really badly, from what he could tell it might be dislocated.
"You need to get cleaned up" he decided "a nice hot bath will be good for you!"
"I don't wanna move" she groaned"
"I'll help you up" he offered. It really was breaking his hearts to see Clara so weak and helpless. He would do anything he could to help his companion; his impossible girl.
He carefully helped her stand up, letting her use him as support, she moaned a little when she had to apply pressure to her bad leg. "I'm going to have to put a leg brace on that knee of yours" he muttered.
They clambered down the hall to the nearest bathroom, which luckily was only a few doors down. It was also luckily a very large bathroom. The Doctor had Clara lean up against the counter as he turned on the bath for her. He was worried she wouldn't even be able to accomplish a bath by herself, but Clara convinced him that she could get cleaned up on her own.
He left the bathroom reluctantly and told Clara to call if she needed anything.
The Doctor paced around the hall for a few minutes, not wanting to get to far away from the bathroom. He knew he was being a bit overprotective, but after what had happened at Trenzalore, he just couldn't stand to leave her alone. She had risked so much for him, the least he could do was make sure she recovered from her injuries.
He decided that once she was out of the bath, and he had a leg brace on her he would try to talk to her about the day previous's events. He knew they would have to talk about it eventually, and he wanted to know how much she remembered about her other "echo" lives. He didn't want to rush it either though... He heard the sound of a drain being pulled out from in the bathroom and readied himself to go help Clara again. He'd talk to Clara about that when the time came, but for now his duty was to take care of her.