Thirteenth X Clara - Alternative

Chapter 4: Getting to Know You... Again

The Doctor stopped dead in her tracks. The realization hit her like a tank. Of course, she'd catch on with the swan thing. The Doctor had had no intentions of bringing it up, it just slipped out. She leaned on the side of the door and she took in Clara's words. She knew. It would only be a matter of time until she found out, anyway. She knew her better than anyone. She simply took in a few breaths as she came to grips with what was coming next. She thought she could get away with it, but she had to face the music, eventually.

On the other side, stunned silence would be too loud to describe how quiet Clara was currently. She wanted more than anything to simply just break down and cry, but she needed to go to her, see if this wasn't just a sick joke being played on her by someone. She looked as though she was in a trance as she walked up to the Doctor, her feet somehow carrying her to the blond-haired woman. Each step felt like 10 as she slowly but surely made her way to the Doctor who's wide grin turned into a soft smile by this point.

As she made it over to her, she finally took a good look at her. She wasn't as blonde as she thought, roots of black hair sticking out at the front. She wondered why the Doctor wouldn't get them touched up, but she reckoned that she probably didn't even know they were there. The Doctor's hair in general wasn't that much longer than her own, which was probably best for her, less of it in her face. She had met Doctors with green eyes before, the ones she traveled with in particular, but this version's eyes were different. They seemed old and so young at the same time.

Eyes that had seen so much pain and hurt, but were quite hopeful for everything to be ok and alright no matter what. If she had to guess, to the average human, the Doctor would be in her mid to late 30s, much different to her gray-haired stick insect and her boyish bow tie enthusiast. She had to make one last check just to make sure it was all true. She stepped a bit closer, closing the space between them as she put her head at the Doctor's chest and listened for it.

The twin beats of Time Lord hearts let her know it was all true. She had found back the Doctor, her Doctor. Her eyes watered, and the tears flowed as she started sobbing on the Doctor, hundreds of years of loneliness away from her washing away. She had been sobbing so much that she hardly realized the Doctor putting her arms around her in an embrace, holding her tight and being a rock for her. What she felt though and what temporarily ended her crying were the few kisses from the Doctor on the top of her head in her hair. She looked up to see tears running down the Doctor's face and the Doctor smiled through the tears to greet her properly for the first time in centuries.

"Hello again, my Impossible Girl."

Hugs tend to be rather quick things. You do it and it's over. If you're lucky, you'll get a few more seconds in. The Doctor and Clara spent five minutes hugging, which for the woman who was once that white-haired Scotsman, that was nothing short of incredible. Just the warm feel of each other's bodies, clinging to each other. Two women who yearned to see each other after decades upon decades apart, finally having time to embrace and just be in each other's arms. Clara snuggled into the Doctor's chest, yes, her chest. Clara had to get used to that now.

Her gray-haired stick insect was now a golden-haired beauty. Not that her Doctor wasn't good looking, he was a silver fox, but there's something just magnetic about this Doctor that she couldn't or rather didn't want to let go. Something was different, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Not yet.

The Doctor didn't want to let go. Not now, never again. The universe wouldn't take her away again. She wouldn't let them. She earned this, didn't she? After all the pain she's had to go through recently, surely she deserved at least one win. But for as much as they wanted to keep holding each other, the Tardis had other plans .