Yowzah Oneshot Collection (2)

42(M)

In a safe place, somewhere near your heart

      mygalfriday (BrinneyFriday)

It takes him an embarrassingly long time to make the connection. Really, just mortifying. River would say he’s getting old. But really, it isn’t all his fault – he was forced to deal with his past selves right after he said farewell to River and there wasn’t a whole lot of time to dwell on those last few moments he’d spent with his wife. He’d pushed back the pain of goodbye to be dealt with at a quieter time, when he was alone, when it would be safe to fall apart.

When he does finally get that chance, his mind won’t let him grieve. Instead, it pushes and prods at him, forcing him to the conclusion he should have come to long ago – and would have, without all the distractions. River was mentally linked with Clara, but when Clara jumped into his timestream to save him, she died. The link would have been severed. River should have vanished instantly, though he is oh so glad she didn’t. Seeing her again, talking to her, holding her in his arms… she revived him and gave him the strength he needed to go on.

The only problem is he doesn’t understand how. If the link between River and Clara was severed, why did it take so long for River to fade away? Even River, with her sheer bloody-mindedness, couldn’t have held on that long without a little help.

Who helped her?

The Doctor glances up at the time rotor, eyeing it suspiciously.

The TARDIS makes a noise that he assumes is meant to convey her innocence in the matter.

He frowns. “Well if you weren’t helping her, then who could possibly have -” He stops, eyes lighting up. “Oh.”

Clara is waiting for him when he lands the TARDIS outside her home and the moment he steps out, she throws herself into his arms and squeals as he staggers back. “I saved her! It’s all been coming back to me – well, not everything because my god, that would do a girl’s head in - but bits and pieces in dreams. And I remembered this last night -” She pulls back, beaming proudly up at him. “I saved your wife.”

He gapes down at her, shocked tears in his eyes. “Clara, how did you -”

“She told me she died in the biggest Library in the universe to save you.” She shrugs, looking a little self-conscious now that she’s blurted out her secret. “So I looked through your timestream for her and saved her too. I figured, in a way, I was still saving you.”

“Oh, you have no idea,” he breathes, and yanks Clara to him, hugging her tightly. “You clever girl. Thank you.” He swallows back the tears and tries to speak around the lump in his throat. “I don’t know how to -”

“Oi, don’t go getting all mushy on me,” she says, stepping back with a grin. “Save that for your wife, yeah?”

He beams, wiping at his cheeks with his sleeve. “You coming?”

She shakes her head, smiling wryly. “You can come back for me when you’ve gotten all the reunion sex out of your systems.”