The Rose & Crown

Chapter Ten

Over a month had come and gone since the day the Doctor found Clara at the park and brought her back home. She came to visit him as often as she could. The more he saw her, the more he felt whole again. Though she rarely brought up her personal life, he was fairly certain she had been sneaking away to see him. As would a young girl waiting until dark for her parents to go to sleep before heading out her window to go visit a boy. The more their child grew inside of her, the greater the risk of travelling with her had become. He felt the need to invent new excuses for not bringing her anywhere just to keep them safe. It was becoming far too dangerous for them both.

The Doctor was seated with his feet on the console, a late-twentieth-century electric guitar in hand and playing a tune while deep in thought. He spent the past several hours tinkering around the control room, working on a cure for their disease, but had given up when what little information he could find available claimed there was none. Turning towards the console, he initiated a complete scan of his body. The result displayed shortly after on the view-screen. The TARDIS identified the foreign object in his mind, almost completely unnoticeable to the naked eye. Enhancing the scan, he could see the area in which the small sliver was lodged. The impact of it had slowly been spreading over more of his brain as time passed. Sighing, he tapped a button on the console which replaced his scan with the most recent one he had taken of Clara during her last visit, unbeknownst to her of its true intent. He felt it best to let her believe he was scanning for abnormalities within their child rather than frighten her with news of their incurable illness. The result showed the same progression of the virus running through her frontal lobe, impacting her emotions and behaviours.

Such a capable creature the Persuader was. Able to turn any good person into a monstrous one, as well as the reverse. Because of the nature of the snare after it had been implanted, one could not simply wipe the memories from their minds, attempting to void the effects. Therefore, the memory worms were useless in this case and far too dangerous. A single touch of the worm's skin could vary in the length of time a memory could be erased; anywhere from a few hours to a few days. A single bite could erase decades' worth of memories. For Clara, it could mean her entire lifetime, resulting in not even knowing who she was any longer. For him, he could risk erasing her from his mind forever.

The longer she stayed with him, the greater the passionate tensions arose between them. As exhilarating as his desires for her were, he knew he had to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus before it became too dangerous for them both. He needed control over his thoughts before he found himself in a situation where he had to make a clear decision, unable to choose because his mind was constantly clouded with the thoughts of his companion. Just as she needed to choose to stay with him on her own, not because she was being forced to by an unyielding lust for him. Until he found a fix, he felt it best to remain silent on the matter of their illness.

As he sat strumming his guitar and drawing upon potential solutions to their problem, he was suddenly startled by a most unsettling noise resonating from somewhere deep within the ship. A hauntingly sorrowful moan that sent a chill down his spine. He was frozen with fright as the noise emanated like an echo from an unknown source. Then it faded away as quickly as it had begun. Hoping the only explanation behind the sound was that it was simply a figment of his imagination, he was almost too terrified to investigate when the door to the TARDIS opened unexpectedly and Clara burst her way in. Her face was flushed and damp as if she had been chased there.

"Did you hear it?!" he inquired urgently, his face still full of fear.

"Hear what?" she nearly panted as she closed the door behind her.

"Nothing. Well, probably nothing. Never mind." He noticed her heavy breathing and instantly became concerned. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"She moved!" she announced, finally catching her breath.

"Who did?" he asked, wondering how worried he should be with his companion's outburst.

"The baby, she moved!" she replied as she approached him.

"To where?"

"No, you daft man! I felt her move, inside me." She leaned on the console to steady herself and waited for her heart to stop racing.

"Is that... normal?" he asked, unsure of how to respond.

"I should hope so," she answered, now much more recovered. She took notice of his guitar and the overall clutter surrounding him. "What have you been doing in here?"

"Thinking."

"About?"

"Why is your face all red?" he asked, avoiding the subject.

"I ran here."

"You look like you just had a wash with your clothes on."

"It's raining."

"Were you in some kind of danger?"

"No," she stated sternly, ignoring his questioning brow. "I wanted to see you is all. I was thinking maybe I should be here, you know, in case she moved again." She thought about how his lack of emotional response towards any situation, including this one, was the main reason she created cue cards for him in the first place. Although, the thought of adding a situational card for 'Sorry I put my alien offspring inside of you' had crossed her mind.

"Ah, well, that sounds more like your area of expertise."

"Right then," she conceded, knowing how pointless it would be to spend her energy trying to reverse his remarkable disinterest in the changes going on inside of her. "Anyway, Danny's away visiting friends over the weekend. I felt it best if I didn't tag along. You know, would probably raise a lot of... questions." She gestured towards her middle. "So, for the next two days, it's just you and me."

"I take it you haven't mentioned anything to him yet, about me," he stated dryly, leaning the guitar on the console as he stood from the chair. Moving away from her, he quickly cleared the view-screen from the evidence of their scans.

"Haven't found the right moment yet." She tucked her hair behind her ear and approached him at the console. "Besides, I didn't know how long you planned on sticking around this time."

He sighed, not entirely sure how to respond. All he knew was he didn't want to fight with her. He didn't want to ruin whatever they were to each other now. "Listen, Clara. I-"

"I know." She stopped him. "Look, let's just enjoy this time for what it is. Okay?"

"Okay," he agreed, knowing not to argue with a pregnant woman.

"So, can we go somewhere?" she asked with a bit of excitement.

"Clara, I really don't think that would be in your best interest right now." He moved around the console, trying to ignore the temptation.

"Please?" She followed after him.

"No, I don't think so." He moved faster, creating as much distance as he could.

"Come on! You know you want to!" She gave chase. "Just think of all the adventures you're missing out on while you've been sitting around here moping!"

"I'm not moping! It's far too risky for a woman in your... situation." He continued to circle the barrier between them like a game of cat and mouse.

"Just a little trip?"

"Why go anywhere? Plenty of stuff to do right here!" He stopped at the view-screen and typed in a few local locations. "Didn't they just open that new shopping... thing... with the clothes? That sounds much safer. Besides, you could do with an upgrade." He gestured towards her appearance.

"Doctor, please." She pulled the view-screen out of his reach. "I haven't been anywhere in weeks!"

He sighed, knowing he was about to give in as he looked at her pouting face. "Fine, but just one trip! And nowhere too exciting. Wouldn't want this to become a thing."

"Deal," she agreed with a smile.

"And stop it with the eyes. Don't do that with the eyes. How do you do that, anyway? It's like they inflate!" He added, becoming soft.