RUN

Mr. Oswald

Doctor's P.O.V

"Found? What do you mean found? Dead or alive?" My voice sounds ten octaves higher than usual. Artie shakes his head, his eyes watering.

"I don't know. I thought you were going to save her from the metal bots." Artie whines accusingly.

"I did. I dropped her off here." I rub my hand over my forehead. How could this have happened? What was she doing in an abandoned house? How did it catch on fire?

"Ah. The police found her duffel bag on the lawn, so she didn't come in."

"So you didn't see her?"

"No. Whose that?" Artie points past me. I turn around.

"Oh, Artie, Daisy, Daisy, Artie."

"Hello," Artie waves but Daisy only gives him the cold shoulder.

"Did something happen to Clara? Is she alright?" Daisy asks me. Oh dear now I'll have to deal with this.

"I have to go. Take care Doctor. Our Dad might tell us more in the morning." Artie goes back to the door, closing it softly behind him. I close my door and face Daisy.

"She was in a house fire. No word on her condition." I expect Daisy to yell at me, or cry, even kick me in the shin. But she doesn't. She just walks away. I myself feel like a train just hit me. Clara could be dead because of me even though my intention was to keep her safe. Seems like whatever I do won't make anything better for her. I'm digging myself deeper and deeper into a hole and I don't even know how since I'm only trying to climb out. I'm digging Clara's grave.

No, I can't think like this without knowing for sure. Walking to the Tardis console is a big effort to me. I already feel like I've lost her.

"Okay, I'm sure you can track Clara since she is a part of you." The Tardis starts to whirl somberly and then lands. I open the door and my legs almost give away. A morgue.

"Oh please no. No, no, no, no." I close back to the console and check the coordinates. To my big relief, the coordinates where for a hospital that was behind the morgue, not the morgue itself.

"God Sexy, don't you ever do that again!" I lean over the Tardis console with my head down trying to get my bearings back. When I'm a bit less rattled, I stand up and wipe my hand across my brow and straighten my bowtie. I take a deep breathe and this time walk calm out of the Tardis and around the morgue to the hospital. The emergency room is bustling. A lot of people wait in the waiting rooms, some crying, some sleeping, others talking or watching the telly. I walk to the front desk.

"I'm here to see Clara Oswald. I'm her husband." It's out before I even know I've said it. The blond haired petite woman starts to type on her computer.

"Yes Clara Oswald. It looks like she's in intensive care. Do you mind waiting for the doctor?" Yes I absolutely whole heartedly mind.

"No, I don't mind. I'll wait here."

"Thank you sir."

"It's just," I lean over the desk to look at her computer. "Is she going to be alright?" The woman turns her computer screen away from me while giving me a strange look. Her name tag reads Mandy.

"I'm sorry Mr.Oswald it doesn't say. I'm sure the doctor will tell you that bit."

"Of course. Excuse me." I walk to the waiting room and grab an empty seat in the corner. Waiting rooms are horrible places. You have to wait in suspense for either good news or bad news to come back to you and it's the bad news that you think about the most. Would this have happened if I just told Clara what she wanted to hear? Of course it wouldn't. Clara, Daisy, and I would have been traveling right now. And we'd all be happy. Instead I'm here, waiting to hear if Clara is going to make it. My age doesn't even compare to how long it feels like I've waited but finally a man in a white coat comes out.

"Mr. Oswald," he calls and I jump out of my seat. "Hello I'm Dr. Keller," he reaches out to shake my hand. God humans and their formalities. I raise my dominant hand to show him my bandage.
"Oh I'm sorry. How about we go over here and talk." He leads me further down the hallway and stops. If he doesn't start talking right now...

"So Clara Oswald,"he flips through the papers on his clip board. Oh geez I'm going to be here all night. "She has multiple bruisings on her body and severe head trauma. She was already deep into a coma when the ambulance brought her here. I'm so sorry."

She's not dead thank goodness. But that doesn't mean she can't die. "Well there is a chance she can wake up?"

"Yes. We are hoping its a chance considering her miraculous condition when she was brought in."

"What do you mean?"

"Well fire fighters found her in a burning house, partly covered by the collapsed ceiling but what gets me is why she wasn't covered with burns. Besides the bruising, her skin is flawless. The whole house was on fire and she came out practically unharmed."

"Unharmed?" If she was unharmed she wouldn't be in the hospital.

"Well to the alternative which is immediate death, a few bruises and a coma is very rare. That's something you'd hear happening to a kid who gets injured in sports more often then a victim in a house fire." I know why she wasn't burned. Because it was her who started the fire. An her coma could be just her recharging in sleep mode. If I'm right, she should wake up and be fine.

"Can I see her?"

"Yes, follow me." I follow him to the lift which takes us to the fourth floor. We walk down a pristine white hall that smells heavily of antiseptic. All the while I'm wondering how bad she looks. Not that Clara ever looks bad. I just really need to see her. Seeing her is the only thing that will calm my racing mind. "Here we are." Doctor Kellen opens the door to my left with Clara's name in the slot on the wall beside it. I walk in first. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.

This Clara doesn't look like my Clara. She's too pale, too weak, and absolutely submerged in wires and tubes. The biggest one runs into her mouth. There is a heart monitor, a morphine stand, and a much bigger machine attached to her making a low humming sound.

"We had to put her on life support. Well I'll leave you two alone." I don't even hear him leave. I rush to Clara's side. My Clara. She's going to wake up like this. In this place, attached to these things. I can already picture her waking up her muffled screams as she panics and claws at the tube in her throat. I have to be here when she wakes up to calm her. And I can't ever leave her again. I will tell everything I was so scared to tell her before. I will marry her if that's what it will take for her to stay with me.

Oh Amy will hate me for it. I married her daughter and now I'm just as willing to marry someone else. But if Clara is willing, though I doubt it's the first thing she'd want, but if it is I'll give it to her. I'll be there for her, take care of her, and love her unconditionally. I smooth away the stray hairs on her forehead and lean in to kiss it. Then I grab the metal chair from the corner and pull it up to her bed. It's going to be a long night.

Don't forget to vote! I love to read comments as well. Anyone know any good whouffle stories or any good Doctor Who stories in general? Feel free to comment some!