To the Start Again [8] (The Parallel Series)

Hide - Two

The Doctor walked back into the console room after leaving the burning Earth's surface. He took his helmet off carefully as the suit let off smoke due to the sudden temperature change from outside compared to the TARDIS. "Right."He announced, clapping his hands together after setting the suit helmet down. "Oh." He blinked noticing the sad look on Clara's face. "What's wrong, did the TARDIS say something?" He pointed at the rotor, "Were you being mean?"

"No sweetheart." The Stone shook her head. "She wasn't mean, Clara is upset because she saw the life cycle of the Earth."

"Okay." He blinked not understanding the issue.

"You're okay with this?" Clara asked him.

"Yes." The Doctor answered.

"How can you be?"

"The TARDIS, she's time. Wibbly vortex and so on."

"Wibbly-wobbly!" Araya laughed.

"Not the time poppet." The Doctor murmured kissing her hair.

"Sorry." She apologised.

"That's not what I mean though," Clara answered.

"Okay, some help." The Doctor asked. "Context? Cheat sheet? Something?"

"I mean, one minute you're in 1974 looking for ghosts, but all you have to do is open your eyes and talk to whoever's standing there. To you, I haven't been born yet, and to you I've been dead one hundred billion years. Is my body out there somewhere, in the ground?"

"Yes," he nodded slightly. "I suppose it is."

"But here we are, talking. So I am a ghost. To you, I'm a ghost. We're all ghosts to you, to both of you." Clara added now looking at the Stone. "What about your daughters?" She raised a brow. "Are they ghosts as well?"

The Doctor went to growl low in his throat at what she was even suggesting. If she thought for a single moment that he would ever forget his children and leave them behind she would be very wrong. The Stone shook her head placing her hand in his, entwining their fingers and gently squeezing to try and calm him down and give some comfort. Clara didn't mean her words she was upset. "We must be nothing."

"No." The Doctor said refraining from pulling a lever and dropping Clara off at her house. "No. You're not that. Araya or Jenny isn't that either, they're so much more than that."

"Then what are we?" Clara questioned. "What can we possibly be?"

"You, Clara Oswald are the only mystery worth solving." The Stone answered as the Doctor stayed quiet. "Araya and Jenny are mine and the Doctor's children," the Stone added. "They will always be a part of us no matter where or when they are." The Stone explained.

"Can we-" The Doctor began in a cold tone only to get cut off by Stone.

"We are not taking Clara home."

"But-"

"She was upset." The Stone glanced at her husband for a moment, meeting his eyes. "I know she didn't mean it, you know how much she enjoys Araya's company. She's very good with her, Doctor."

"Fine." He huffed out, shaking his head and pulled a lever.

The Time Lords ran back to the house as the rain poured heavily, Clara following behind them. Araya was carried by Clara, the pair under her umbrella. While the Doctor wasn't the most pleased with the Stone for even suggesting for Clara to carry their daughter after what she had said to them he stopped arguing after the Stone made a very good point. Araya was still growing and while she wasn't exactly a baby anymore her Time Lord immune system was still developing which meant she was easily susceptible to a cold much like humans.