In Her Eyes (A Whouffle Fanfiction)

Chapter 17-Healing Touch

The process took hours.

In theory, it was simple- get her as comfortable as possible then counteract the intricate traps that Fenric had woven into her mind, the traps that were causing the illness to grow stronger with every passing minute. But the Doctor hadn't anticipated just how intricate those traps would be and how deeply they were ingrained into her mind, and that set him back for a while as he tried to calculate every option open to him and which would be best for Clara. Even then, her mind was unfamiliar to him and he could end up doing more harm than good- it was very easy to make a mistake midway an operation as delicate as this and amplify the damage that already existed. He also hadn't imagined that Fenric would fight back.

"Hold her down!" He instructed Kim, struggling to keep his hands on Clara's temples as the woman thrashed and slapped at him. Fenric had used his leverage in her brain to gain control over her limbs and, although Clara was fighting back, was doing everything he could to disrupt the Doctor.

"How?" Kim cried back desperately, "she's too strong!"

As if to emphasize the point Clara slammed her fist down on the bedside table on her right, splintering the wood.

"I don't know! You're the doctor!" He ducked and avoided what would have been a stinging slap from Clara, abandoning his futile attempts to hold her head down and grabbing on to her wrists instead. Kim called in her team and they surrounded the bed, holding Clara down while one went to fetch restraints. Clara/Fenric fought, but she was pinned down to the bed, held at an angle where no matter how much she twisted she would not be able to get near the Doctor. He resumed his mental contact with Clara, resting his hands on her head once more to strengthen it and make it more stable. As soon as the contact was re-established he closed his eyes and sank into her mind once more, picking up the threads of her consciousness that he had dropped when he had been so rudely shaken out of her. As he began to weave the threads back where they belonged he could sense the dark presence of Fenric poisoning her mind, a dark shadow that threw the corners of her brain into a deep murk. The Doctor did his best to ignore it, focusing on the task at hand. Should he make a mistake the consequences could be catastrophic for the both of them- the slightest falter could kill Clara and take him with her; he was so deep in her mind he would not be able to seperate their consciousnesses fast enough to escape.

Minutes, maybe even hours, later- there was no concept of time when intimately linked with another being- the nurse returned with the restraints and strapped Clara down onto the bed. The Doctor felt Fenric twist at the straps through her wrists, testing them, and he held his breath as the fabric straps and buckles creaked.

Would they hold? he wondered as he gently nudged the last of Clara's neural pathways back into it's original alignment, or do we need to knock Clara out? He hoped not. If she was unconscious his job would become ten times harder- her brain wouldn't respond as well to what he was doing, and that would give him no clue if he was healing her properly. He would be fumbling in unfamiliar territory, quite literally in the dark.

Fenric/Clara strained against her bonds, but after a few minutes it became clear that they were going to hold. The Doctor paused just long enough to give Clara an encouraging mental nuzzle, which she wearily returned, before starting on the final piece of the puzzle.

Right then, he thought to her, rubbing his hands, what do we have here?

A cluster of cells hovered on the edge of her brain, growing, multiplying, then splitting off from the main body to travel through her and settle someplace else. When he looked closer he realised that there was not one, not two, but five clusters of a similar composition already scattered through her organs and nestled in her bones.

Ah. One he could manage, with time and several other Time Lords to assist him. He would fix it himself eventually- but five was a completely different story. He had neither the time nor any other Time Lords to help him with this; no doubt that was the reason why Fenric had chosen to include this particular strain of illness in his fatal injection. The Doctor silently screamed with frustration. He couldn't cure it. Not this. It was too advanced and too rooted in her body for him to treat it. It was so far in her, almost a part of her body.

It was his failure, and her death sentence.

All of a sudden, he began to cry.

A/N

Hello! It's been a while, sorry about that D: School has been, let's say, horrendous with homework and coursework deadlines recently and I haven't had time to write all that much. Which is also why this is so short. And I like to wind you guys up a bit as well :p

Btw, this is not the end! We have about six more chapters to go! Whether Clara will survive them or not, well.... we'll see ;)

I feel so evil right now :P

Anyways keep the votes and comments coming as always, I love to hear what you think :) Your reactions to the last, I think, three chapters, are pure gold. Moffat would be proud.

-Jazz