WHOUFFLE WEEK 2020

DAY TWO: Fix you / Nightmares or dreams

Notes:

Day 2 of the #WhouffleWeek2020:
Prompts for today: FIX YOU/NIGHTMARES. Attempted to include both prompts today. Some cuddling and fluff involved!
Set right after S09E08: The Zygon Inversion.

"You must've thought I was dead for a while"

"Yeah," the Doctor said, walking past behind her and placing his hands on the controls of the TARDIS.

"How was that?"

"Longest month of my life" he whispered, noncommittally. Clara looked at him, surprised, and turned her eyes back to the controls under her already expert fingers.

"It could've only been 5 minutes"

"I'll be the judge of time"

The Doctor walked behind her again, this time pulling the brake lever down. When Clara looked at him he offered a curt smile, but it was sad. She watched him walking up the stairs of the console room, the TARDIS noise filling the silence as they left the ground.

When the TARDIS dematerialized, Clara was glad they were not headed to her apartment. Usually, after another day of running and a close brush with death, she couldn't wait until she could put on her joggers and a comfy sweater, fix herself a glass of wine, and snuggle under a blanket with a mindless movie, preferably a romantic comedy.

Today, though, she didn't want to do that. She didn't want to get into her lonely, silent apartment, and she most of all dreaded leaving the Doctor for another week. She knew she wasn't the only one. Her keen eyes looked at him from downstairs while he rummaged through his bookcases, seemingly looking for something. She paid attention to his long fluffy hair, now wilder than usual; and the bags under his eyes. He hadn't been joking when he said that had felt the longest month in his life. She knew it in her heart that those words had never been truer, and she knew that he normally kept silent whenever she left to go on with her life until he came back the following week to take her out on another adventure. Today he hadn't been exactly forthcoming, but his sad expression told her he didn't want her to leave either. Somehow, she could sense it.

"Where are we going, Doctor?"

She felt his eyes on her, his gaze studying her for a long moment before his lips forced a smile and looked at her enthusiastically.

"Oh! There's this planet on the edge of the universe, it has the most amazing..."

"No, please. No planets" she interrupted him before he could get too carried away.

She smiled weakly, she always found both amusing and endearing how he could get as excited as a little boy with a shiny new toy when talking about planets she had never seen. She also knew that was his coping mechanism when he was hurt or feeling low, to focus on other, happier things and pretend everything was okay. But not today. The Doctor walked down the stairs again, stopping a few paces away from her.

"I just... can you take us out into the vortex?" she realized her voice sounded strained and willed her body to relax. The danger had passed, she was safe now.

"Are you alright, Clara?" his hand was already making for the sonic screwdriver in his jacket pocket when she stopped him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine" she answered, trying to sound nonchalant as she shrugged "I just... I want to stay for a bit here, sleep for a few hours. The vortex always helps me to get some rest"