If Clara had thought that the date had gone bad before, she had only made it worse by going back. She had wanted to start again and get to know the sweet man who she had met as a child, but of course she had to go and put her giant foot right into her mouth and now Danny Pink was looking at her with a rightly suspicious look. He'd never told her his old name, how had she known?
Telling him that she had accidentally time travelled into his past wasn't exactly an option either, so all she had was to try and play it off like it wasn't a big deal. Which, again rather rightly, he wasn't buying at all. If anything it was rather stalkerish, and so she didn't blame him one bit for demanding the truth from her.
Then a tall figure in an orange spacesuit appeared in the restaurant, and Clara knew she had no chance of being able to salvage this night. In fact, as she stared over Danny's shoulder at who she guessed was the Doctor, she knew Danny was just becoming more and more frustrated with her. And she didn't blame him one bit.
"Where are you going?" She asked as he stood up.
"I don't do weird." He replied firmly.
"Don't go." She begged. He bent down so he was looming over her.
"Then do something for me, tell me the truth, because I know when people are lying to me." He told her, "However weird this thing may be, just tell me the truth."
"It's not weird," She tried to play off, glancing over at the spaceman by the kitchen door. The door opened and Danni rushed out, offering her an apologetic wave before tugging the Doctor back into the kitchen, "exactly." She finished, not sounding too convinced of herself
"I've had enough." He declared, storming out of the restaurant much like she had done just before. Or a while ago, for her at any rate.
She sighed, holding her head in her hand. Why on Earth did he think storming out in the spacesuit was a good idea? One moment he's going on about how she was trying to steal his wife – which she wasn't, by the way – and the next he's ruining her first date in absolutely bloody ages with someone she was actually rather keen on dating!
Her face hardened in anger as she stood up, striding over to the kitchen door and entering like she owned the spot. The TARDIS was parked directly behind the door, so she was quickly in, finding Danni and the spaceman waiting.
Danni held her hands up, seeing just how angry Clara was, "Sweetie, I'm sorry." She quickly said, "I just left to get a jacket and when I came back…"
Clara pushed passed Danni, pointing at the spaceman, eyes blazing, "I am trying to have a date. A real life, inter-human actual date! It's a normal nice, every day, meeting-up sort of thing." She snapped, "Not with your wife, but with someone new and I would just like to know, is there any other way you can make this anymore surreal than it already is?" The spaceman took off his helmet and Clara braced herself to shout at him some more.
She certainly wasn't ready for the man the helmet revealed, who looked exactly like Danny Pink but with a lot more hair. She stared, eyes wide, at the spitting image of the man she's just been on a date with.
"Hello." He replied with the same voice but Clara just floundered, completely dumbstruck. It couldn't be…
"Are you okay?" Danni asked her, stepping forward to her friend, "This is…"
"Danny?" Clara interrupted, pointing at the man in front of her.
Danni shook her head, "No, I'm here…" She replied, "Are you okay, sweetie?"
"Ah, Clara!" The Doctor cried, rushing down the stairs towards the trio, "Now this is really a bit strange." He looked absolutely delighted.
"Err, who's Danny?" The man who looked like Danny asked.
"I am." Danni held up her hand in front of her, a bit like if she was in a class, "And you shouldn't have sent him out like that while she was on a date! You probably scared him away."
Clara shook her head, "Oh, no, I did that by…" She trailed off, looking at the man again. It was like Danny was stood right in front of her, but he couldn't have been, right? "By myself…" she finished slowly.
"This is Colonel Orson Pink," The Doctor introduced with an excited flourish, "from about a hundred years in your future."
Clara felt herself relax somewhat. It didn't explain why he looked like Danny, but at least it wasn't him. It was someone new, "Orson Pink?"
"Yeah, I laughed too." The Doctor replied and Danni nudged him, standing in between Clara and Orson.
"Sweetie, look at me." She commanded gently and Clara's gaze snapped to her. She looked like she was about to start panicking, with bright wide eyes that showed her surprise, "It's okay. You don't know him, but we wanted to see if he knew you."
"I don't know him…" Clara repeated, obviously clinging to that.
The Doctor frowned, "She must have some connection to him." The Doctor argued.
"Connection?" Clara asked, turning to him. She didn't know him; he was from the future, of course she didn't know him. But it still didn't explain why he was in the TARDIS with the time travellers.
"Yes, maybe you're like a distant relative or something?" He asked.
She couldn't quite tear her eyes off the new man, though, which was something Orson seemed to notice. While she could feel herself looking rather overwhelmed, Orson just seemed suspicious, "How, how would I know?" She asked.
"Right. Okay." The Doctor replied, obviously realising this too, "Err, well," This time he addressed Orson, "do you have any old family photographs of her? You know, probably quite old and really fat-looking?"
"Doctor!" Danni snapped as Orson shook his head once.
"I don't." Clara grabbed Danni's arm, pulling her to one side, her eyes still trained on the man who looked like his date.
"How did you find him?" She asked the blonde in a whisper, hoping to not be overheard by the Doctor and Orson.
"You left a trace in the telepathic circuit, apparently." Danni replied, brows furrowed at why Clara was having them talk so quietly, "The Doctor was going to try his dream next, but when he turned them back on the TARDIS flew us straight to him. What is it? What's wrong?"
Clara stared at Orson again, who to his credit was doing a rather good job at not acting too perturbed under the Doctor's scrutiny. She could tell Danni, couldn't she? If anything, she could probably tell her if her worry was appropriate. She leant in closer, "He looks like Danny."
Danni stared for a moment while she wondered why Clara thought she looked like a black spaceman while she was a white woman, but then her eyes widened in realisation, "Oh!" She exclaimed, to which Clara shushed her, "Your date. He looks like your date." Danni continued in a whisper.
"Exactly like him." She replied, "If-If he's connected to me, does that mean that… You know…" She nodded pointedly at Orson. Danni shook her head, "He's… you know, a part of my future?"
"No, no." Danni quickly reassured, causing Clara to relax, "Well, I don't think so anyway." She added. Clara's eyes widened in her panic again, "You were distracted by your phone call." Danni explained, hoping that her logic made sense, "By your Danny, so the TARDIS followed his time line mixed with your thought of the dream. It makes sense that the TARDIS followed him the other way as well…" She pursed her lips in thought, "Hang on, I thought the little boy was called Rupert."
"Until your husband gave him big dreams about Dan the soldier man." Clara pointed out, "That's what he used to be, a soldier."
"Ah." Danni offered her an apologetic look. She didn't like how upset this had made Clara, "There's this thing, genetic something-or-another. I can't remember its name but it means that there are people in the same bloodlines who can look identical but have very little to do with each other. I met a maid in Cardiff in the 1800's who looked just like a woman Jack used to work with. They were very loosely related, but they were the spit of each other." She shrugged, "The Doctor will be able to explain it more, though. We'll just explain and…"
"No." Clara cut in, with no room for argument, "No, it's fine. I trust your judgement." And she didn't want to tell the Doctor that her date was called Danny. She didn't want him to have yet another stab at her fancying his wife, and she knew that's what he'd pick up on over the fact that the man across from her was Danny Pink's exact duplicate. Even she had to admit that the moment she'd found out his name, her confidence had waivered somewhat. And she knew she didn't have a thing for Danni, the Doctor just thought she did.
He'd have a field day with that.
"Are you sure?" Danni asked her, "Because I don't trust my judgement, and I'm me." Clara wrapped an arm around Danni's shoulder, picking herself up and filing this all under 'deal with later with a bottle of wine'.
"You're the Time Child." Clara reminded, "Of course I do."
"It's just a name." Danni pointed out as they walked back over to the Doctor and Orson, "It doesn't mean I know what I'm doing." She reached out, snatching the sonic screwdriver out of the Doctor's hand – he'd been pointing it in Orson's face – "Everything's sorted." She told him when he exclaimed angrily at her taking away his favourite toy, "And I'm going to keep this if you keep wafting it in people's faces."
"Now that's we've worked out that we don't know each other." Clara started, "Don't you think we should, you know, drop him off."
The grin on the Doctor's face was entirely too happy with that statement, "You'll never guess where we found him."
~0~0~0~
And he had been right. Of all of the places that Clara could have imagined that they were heading, the small metal capsule in the middle of the baron wasteland that could be seen out of its small porthole. The world outside seemed to stretch on forever, with the surface no more than red dust covered in rocks. It reminded her somewhat of when the Doctor had taken them through the entire history of earth. Right at the start, and that had shaken her so much. And yet, looking out at the vast nothingness, this felt so much more than that.
Danni, on the other hand, couldn't even look outside. For the first time in what felt like her entire life, she didn't want to see the new world outside. She paced across a small piece of floor, taking little glances at Clara with a frown on her face. Even she wasn't too comfortable with the scene outside, but Danni felt completely antsy about it.
"What's the matter with you?" The Doctor asked her, looking confused at her behaviour.
"It's making me uncomfortable." She told him, "Everything's dying, or dead, and it's just us and I don't like it."
"It's the end of time, Danielle." The Doctor pointed out, "It's not supposed to be a holiday."
"No, but I still don't like it." She snapped back as she wrapped her arms around herself. She knew she was being a bit ridiculous, but the feeling of being somewhere where they weren't supposed to be was making her want to run away, which wasn't something she suffered from often. New places, even scary places, always held her interest. This, though, was horrible. It felt wrong in a way she couldn't really explain, but she didn't like it.
"Well, you won't, will you?" He replied like it was incredibly obvious, "Time is woven into your DNA, you can feel it dying just like every other Time Lord. Why would you enjoy it?"
"Oh, so now I'm a Time Lord?" She retorted. Her uncomfortableness was making her cranky, she knew, but she also knew that if he had been Eleven, she wouldn't be hugging herself, he'd be doing that. He'd be comforting her, not telling her off for feeling that way, "I thought I was human?"
Clara, who could sense a fight coming on between them, one that she really wasn't in the right frame of mind to stop, walked over, "Time's dying?" She asked, "Where are we?"
"The end of the universe." Danni replied shortly, "The last planet in the last area surviving. Time is dying all around us."
"The TARDIS isn't supposed to come this far, but some idiot turned the safeguards off." The Doctor added, self-deprecating as he accepted that this was rather all his fault. He'd brought them to the end of the universe, where they were the last people standing. Or, at least, they thought they were. "Listen." He hissed suddenly, startling the pair.
Danni and Clara shared a look, "To what?" Danni asked slowly.
"Nothing." He replied, "There's nothing to hear. There's nothing anywhere. Not a breath, not a slither, not a click or a tick. All the clocks have stopped. This is the silence at the end of time." He told them, "We're the only one's making a noise."
To illustrate his point, Orson chose that moment to loudly empty the contents of his locker. The metal clanging echoed through the capsule.
"If anything was still here, it would hear us." Danni finished for him, "That's your plan, isn't it? Draw whatever it is in the dark out by being the only ones left?"
"Wait, this was all planned?" Clara asked, "How, you said the TARDIS brought you here?"
"I never said I planned to come here." The Doctor pointed out, "But now we are, we could use it. Find out what's lurking, what's listening. Work out exactly what it is and why it wants us to think someone is there when they're not."
"What about Orson?" Danni asked, "You saw him when we appeared, he's terrified!"
"Oh, we just startled him." The Doctor brushed off, "We'll just stay overnight, he'll be fine."
"How did he even get here?" Clara asked, "If he's from a hundred years in my future..."
"Pioneer time traveller." The Doctor explained, taking her question as a sign that she was happy to stay, knowing the Danni would be on his side anyway. He walked over to a control desk in the middle of the room, sonicing the screen and bringing up a news story about the man in question, "Rode the first of the great time shots. They were supposed to fire him into the middle of the next week."
"And he missed?" Danni asked and he nodded, "By quite a bit. That's almost as bad as your driving."
"My driving is just fine." The Doctor retorted, "I'm much better than he ever was."
Danni frowned, "He?" She repeated, noticing the snarl that had appeared on his face at the pronoun, like a bad taste in his mouth, "Who's 'he'?"
"The floppy haired idiot that came before me." The Doctor snapped in reply, "But look at him." He nodded to the screen. He didn't want to talk about him anymore, or focus on the way her face fell at the mention of him. He knew she was still missing his predecessor, but she'd get over it soon enough, "Robinson Crusoe at the end of time itself." Orson looked so happy on the screen, talking to all the journalists who were talking to him with a smile on his face. Much different from the man they had found in a capsule on his own, "The last man standing in the universe. I always thought that would be me."
"Not me?" Danni asked and he shook his head.
"Wouldn't wish that you, my pet." He purred in reply. No one should feel the emptiness of the nothingness that came with the end of time, especially not his wife. He smirked slightly as she flushed, her sadness at the loss of Eleven disappearing behind the happiness at his words.
Clara looked between the two. On one hand she was so happy that they still seemed to be making progress. Danni's pretty little blush was testament to that. Still, and she guessed this was the mixture of her personality with Eleven, she couldn't help the stab of jealousy. The Doctor never seemed to like his other bodies. "It's not a competition."
"I know it's not a competition." The Doctor replied, tone surly, almost insulted, "Course it isn't." As he stepped away from the controls, he dipped his head down towards Danni, "Still time, though." He murmured in her ear just to watch her shiver as his breath tickled her.
A glance down the hallway showed him that Orson was almost done, which meant that he would want to go, and soon. The Doctor had already picked up at the urgency in his actions, and the way that he had been so relieved when he realised that he might just be rescued. And, of course, there was the doors out into the nothingness…
Danni glanced down the hallway as well once she saw her husband do the same, "He's almost done." She commented.
"Is he packing?" Clara asked, to which the Doctor shot her a look.
"He's been stranded for six months, just met some time travellers. Of course he's packing." They all fell silent as Orson walked in, large duffle bag over his shoulder. He looked like a man on a mission, and Danni turned to look at the Doctor, a pleading look on her face.
She walked over to his side, "Do we have to do it while he's here?" She whispered, "Can't we take him home and come back?"
"You can do it, then?" Orson asked loudly before the Doctor replied, "You can get me home?"
"We just showed you, didn't we?" The Doctor retorted, "A test flight to a restaurant."
"Yes, but to my family, to my own time?" Orson challenged, obviously quite wary of the people who had turned up randomly in his capsule.
"Easy." The Doctor scoffed, "We can do that, can't we, Clara?" Clara started slightly surprised to have been brought into his bragging.
She offered Orson a nod, "He can, yes." She replied before being struck, yet again, by just how much he looked like Danny Pink. All the other teacher had to do was grow so more hair and put on that horrid orange space suit and she was sure she wouldn't be able to tell them apart.
"Is everything okay?" He asked her. She'd been looking at him for the entire time like she'd seen a ghost. Did she know something that he didn't?
"Oh, that's just Clara." Danni interrupted, saving her friend from having to stutter through a lie to hide her surprise, "Why don't you load your stuff onto the TARDIS, sweetie?" She instructed the man, "Take whatever you want, you've seen the size of her."
"We can't leave immediately, though." The Doctor interrupted, "The TARDIS needs to recharge. Isn't that right, Danielle?"
From the look on Clara's face, Danni wasn't sure that she could spend a night with her date's lookalike, and from the terror that flashed across Orson's at the Doctor's words, she wasn't sure he could survive it either. But Danni could see it in her husband's face, almost feel it even though they were very much cut off from each other, that this mystery was all he could focus on. She should do good by her friend, take her home and comfort her, just like Clara had done for her countless times before. Clara had comforted her when she was scared, had looked after her when her Theta had dropped her off and run back to Christmas without her.
But she couldn't let him down, not when he was this close to having every answer he was looking for. She nodded, shooting Orson a reassuring smile, "Just one night." She told him, putting the emphasis on the time frame for both his and the Doctor's benefit. She'd give him one night, "Then you'll never have to see these walls again."
"One night?" Orson repeated weakly.
"One more night." The Doctor confirmed, seeing the fear in the man's eyes, "That's, that's not a problem, is it?"
Orson shook his head, looking down at his bag, "No. No, no problem." He mumbled.
The Doctor did his best not to grin; this was exactly what he was hoping for. If Orson had been happy to stay, then there was nothing making him nervous. This was their perfect chance to finally find out why he talked to Danielle when she wasn't there, "It's a shame, isn't it?" He asked lowly.
"What's a shame?" Orson asked, closing up his bag to keep his mind off the reason he was so upset at finding out he had to stay one more night in this hellhole.
"There's only four people left in the universe, and you're lying to the other three." The Doctor replied lowly and Orson turned to look at him, eyes pleading. The Doctor walked away from him, towards the door that lead out into the nothingness outside, "It was the first thing I noticed when I stepped in here. You must have seen it, too, Clara. Ever you couldn't have missed it."
Clara was able to take her attention of Orson for long enough to be insulted by his little swipe, "Seen what?"
"The universe is dead. Everything that ever was is dead and gone." The Doctor reminded them, "There's nothing beyond this door but nothingness for ever." He pointed at it, "So why is it locked?" Orson hung his head, almost ashamed at being caught as both Danni and Clara looked at the door in surprise. He was right, it was even written on the door, in plain view. In green lettering across the middle; 'LOCKED'.
Orson shook his head, looking at Clara, the girl who couldn't stop looking at him like she had seen him before, "Please, don't make me spend another night here."
The Doctor walked back over to him, "Afraid of the dark?" He asked but Orson didn't answer, "But the dark is empty now."
"No." Orson whispered, taking a look towards the porthole Clara had found herself at before, "No, it isn't."
"What did you see?" The Doctor asked excitedly, stepping towards him, "Deep in the dark? Was it something that made you not feel alone even when you were?"
Orson, who was almost shaking in his fear, shook his head, "I-I don't know what it was." He told the man, "I just know I don't want to spend another night here."
"But you didn't feel alone?" The Doctor pressed, "You're at the end of the universe, with no one until we showed up. But you didn't feel alone, did you? You still talked aloud like someone was there."
He was practically looming over poor Orson, so much so that Danni walked over, putting herself between the two men, "And I think you're done." She snapped, giving the Doctor a pointed look before turning to Orson, "Clara will take you inside the TARDIS. Nothing can get through those doors, so you will be safe. She'll show you a room where you can shower and get some sleep, and we'll take you home the moment she's fit to fly." She turned back to the Doctor, "We are going to have a chat." She felt terrible about getting Clara to look after the man who was making her so uncomfortable, but Clara's quick response showed her that she understood why.
"What did I do wrong?" The Doctor asked, seeing the anger burning in her eyes.
"You can't go around scaring people like that." She told him, "I know you find it entertaining to look out for the creepiness in the universe, I do too. But that man is terrified and making it worse just to prove your point is cruel."
"He wasn't that scared." The Doctor replied, "He was just a bit shaken. He just might be able to tell us what's lurking in the shadows."
"Nothing is lurking in the shadows except some Vashta Nerada!" Danni snapped back before taking a deep breath, "Look, I understand. If there is something there, I want to know about it too." And she did. If they found the universe's most skilled hiders, a species no one had ever heard of before, she'd be happier than anyone could ever put into words. She'd always loved new things, after all, "But you can't go around making other people miserable just on the off chance. I covered your 'recharge' story, but I won't sit back and let you terrify that young man!"
Her eyes burnt with her anger. She could feel her hands clenching as she let all her pent up frustration out. He had been lovely with her, and horrid to her, and dismissive of her and that was fine. She was his wife, whatever was wrong they'd work through it, or they'd walk away, or whatever ended up happening within their relationship. But she wouldn't stand for him bringing in bystanders into whatever trouble they were going through.
Her eyes burnt with her anger. Her hands clenched by her side. Her passion for other people always had stunned him, and that hadn't changed, even when it came to some inconsequential human they'd just met. She loved all races, especially humanity, which was understandable. It overrode the Time Lord indifference that he knew even he suffered from, made her emotional and proud and passionate.
In three long strides he was over by her, pulling her close much to her surprise, "Forgive me, my pet." He purred, not about the way he had treated Mr Pink, but the way he kissed her next. About how tightly he held her, and how deeply he tasted her. The way he distracted her from her anger, because he needed to know what was behind those doors, and to do so he needed her on side. And, as she always did, as he loved her doing, she forgot herself and yielded to him. He loved her so much, but as she batted her eyes at him and distracted him into doing what she wanted, he knew exactly how to do the same.
~0~0~0~
Clara knew they had been up to something. While she had been getting more and more proof that Orson was related in some way to Danny Pink – as if the likeness wasn't enough - they had been snogging or something. She could tell by the little glances that Danni kept shooting her husband, and the smug look on the Doctor's even as he focused on the task at hand. Normally it wouldn't have bothered her, and she really was trying to not let it get to her now, but she was the one who'd had the rotten date, and the sudden glimpse into the future, how come he got to snog Danni and she didn't?
Didn't get to snog her Danny, at any rate. Mr Pink. Danny Pink.
"What are we doing?" She asked the pair from her chair in between the two. In days gone by, they would have simply shared a chair, with Danni on his knee. Maybe she shouldn't be so hard on them, they should be getting any moments they can.
Nope. No snogging when it was her who was supposed to be on a date. Simple.
"We're waiting." Danni replied, her elbows resting on the console they were all sitting around, her face in her hands, "Something creepy is going to turn up and we're going to see what it is."
"If everybody in the universe is dead, then there's nobody out there." Clara reminded them, "So nothing is going to turn up, right?"
"That's one way of looking at it." The Doctor replied in a murmur and she turned in her seat to look at him.
"What's the other?" She asked.
"That's a hell of a lot of ghosts." And just as if the universe was listening, the lights dimmed around them, bathing them all in an eerie blue glow.
"Do you have your own mood lighting now? Because, frankly, the accent is enough." Clara commented, looking around. The shadows did seem to reach out further now in this light, she wouldn't have wanted to spend so much time alone in it.
"I like the accent." Danni replied, almost sounding defensive of her husband.
"Of course you would." Clara retorted, about to continue with something clever when she spotted the writing on the door; Do Not Open the Door.'
"Where did that come from?" She asked. Danni frowned, confused before following her friend's gaze.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, "Well, that's… that's not good, is it?" It really was starting to feel like something out of a ghost story. One by one they will be picked off by whatever is haunting them, all because they didn't heed the warning on the door.
"It's always been there." The Doctor explained to them, "It's only visible in the night lights."
Danni glanced over at him, "By-By Orson, yeah?" She asked, "That's what you mean, isn't it?"
The Doctor noticed the hitch in his voice, and for a moment he wondered if he should have sent her into the TARDIS with Orson. He didn't want her scared, after all. But then he reminded himself he was stronger than he gave her credit for, and that following that gut reaction is what cost him the last three hundred years. Living them without her because his 'gut feeling' had been to leave her behind.
"Apparently, at night, he needs a reminder." He replied lowly, "Six months stranded alone, I suppose it must be tempting."
"What is?" Clara asked and the Doctor glanced over at her.
"Company." Something creaked; a long groan of moving metal and Danni sat up straightened in her chair.
"What was that?" She demanded, now talking in a low whisper, "Is-Is something trying to break in?" She looked at her husband for an explanation, for reassurance. The TARDIS was just behind them, but maybe they should have done this waiting inside her instead of in the capsule.
"Well, the systems are switching to low power." He offered, not sounding completely convinced of his own explanation, "There are temperature differentials all over this ship. It's like pipes banging when the heating goes off."
Danni nodded while Clara looked up at the ceiling, "Always thought there was something in the pipes." She declared, like she had been right all along. The Doctor shot her a grin.
"Me, too." He declared before leaning back in his chair, "Who were you having dinner with?"
Clara blinked, surprised as a little amused grin spread on her face, "Are you making conversation?"
The Doctor shrugged, "I thought that I would give it a try."
"I told you." She replied after a moment, looking away from him. She couldn't deny him trying, but she really didn't want to let him know about Danny. He'd never let her live it down, "A date." She offered vaguely.
"Oh, come on, give us more than that." Danni insisted, pulling her legs up onto the chair as she turned so she could see Clara properly, "We saw where you went, how did you meet? Was it a first date? What does he do? When can we meet him?"
Clara laughed at the eagerness behind her questions. Danni was just genuinely happy for her, it was incredibly sweet, "You're not meeting him." She retorted, "We had a bad first date, remember?"
"Oh, that's nothing." Danni dismissed, "When we first met I turned up naked next to him and Charles Dickens."
"Really?" Clara asked, looking too interested in this story for the Doctor's liking, "What happened?"
"She wasn't naked." The Doctor snapped, "She was wearing a sheet."
Danni rolled her eyes; trust him to be pedantic, "It was my wedding night. I only had time to grab the bed sheet before I was zoomed away. It wasn't very romantic, and it was bloody cold."
"So, not actually naked then?" Clara teased and Danni looked rather indignant.
"Hey! Don't take my story away from…" She trailed off as a squeal, almost a scream, rang through the air. Her hearts sped up, her fear spiking. Even the Doctor sat up straight. He looked over at her, seeing the way the noise had terrified her. He slowly stood up.
"Atmospheric pressure equalising." He told her but he didn't sound convinced and she didn't think he was either.
"Or?" Clara asked leadingly.
"Company." He replied in a whisper, looking towards the door, not sure what to expect, "Danielle…" He started but she was already up out of her chair, rushing to his side. He felt her grab his hand with one of her own, then wrap herself around his arm.
"Look, this is getting silly, we should go." She whispered.
"I need to know." He replied, "Something is making me believe you are there when you are not, I need to know why."
"Does it matter?" She replied, "Really?"
"Yes, it does." He snapped, "Because they made me think it was you!" Her eyes widened in surprise, "Year after year I talked to you, thinking you were just a memory in my head. But what if you weren't? What is something out there is mimicking you? What if, that creature who lives to hide, its main camouflage is that it makes everyone think that it's you but they just don't know who you are?"
"What-What if it is?" She asked, because if he thought it was true, then it had to be, right?
"I don't know." He replied, "But I'm going to find out."
Danni started to shake. Why would anything pretend to be her? What good could come of that? Maybe it was all a trap to get her husband on their side. What she being used as a weapon against the universe, even without her knowing?
Bang!
Four bangs, one after another, all from the other side of the door. Not to the same beat as she once heard, but the number didn't go unnoticed by the two Time Lords and their friend who didn't quite understand the memory in her head.
"What's that?" Clara asked.
"Potentially, the hull cooling." He replied.
"Potentially?"
The Doctor looked at her, "Believably." The knocking happened again. Four quick bangs. That couldn't be a coincidence, could it? Four knocks. It had always been four knocks. Four beats of a Time Lord's hearts in her head, driving her insane. Four beats that had been used against her by the evil, sick creature that had once been his friend. If they were using her, using his wife, to hide behind, then they would know.
"Someone knocking." Bang, bang, bang, bang, "Yes." He hissed, the grin on his face spreading as he let go of Danielle, walking closer. The metal shifted along with knocking, settling as the metal bent out of shape. Or, scratches down the other side of the door as something tried to get in.
He wasn't going to let them get away with it. He would tear them apart for using her a shield, bringing her into the line of fire. She would be forever safe with him now that he'd regenerated. Nothing was going to get at her. They were the universe's greatest hiders, but he was the Doctor.
"D-Doctor?" Danni stuttered slightly as he slowly approached the door, "Do you really think that? Do you really think they could be using me?"
"All we've ever heard are stories of the Time Child." He replied, "Stories of you destroying planets and burning civilisations. How can any of that be true if the myths truly point to you?" He stopped his slow walking, actually taking a step backwards before pointing his screwdriver at the door. A quick buzz and the word turned from 'LOCKED' to 'UNLOCKED' and circle of lights appeared around it. It started spinning, it was unlocking.
"That's you turning it, right?" Clara asked unsurely as Danni took a deep breath. She was always scared, but she could find it in her. If they were destroying the universe in her name, she had to help. She rushed over to his side, standing firm.
"No." The Doctor stated once, firmly. Without him tearing his eyes from the door, she assumed he was talking to Clara, "Get in the TARDIS."
Clara looked between the two, assuming he was talking to her, "Why?" She asked.
"I have to know." He replied, taking another step backwards, "I have to stop it."
"Together." Danni added on the end.
"No." He snapped and she realised she was talking to her, "The TARDIS, now!"
She just stared for a moment, confused, "What-What do you mean?" She asked
"It's a pressure lock. Releasing it could've triggered the opening mechanism." He explained.
"If this is the end of the universe, is there even an atmosphere out there?" She asked, wondering if that was his concern, "We could suffocate if we stay out here!"
"There is an air shell round the ship." He quickly replied, "Why are you still here?"
"Because you are!" She replied, "If they're using me, then I deserve to know why! Together or not at all, remember? I'm not leaving you alone to do this!"
He eyed her angrily, scaring her slightly with the force behind his glare. They'd agreed, long ago, that when it became too much for him to bear, when they knew he would be too worried about her to focus on anything but her safety, she was supposed to stand down, "Then you will never fight with me again, because that was the deal!" He shouted, grabbing hold of her arm. He dragged her towards their blue box, chucking her so hard towards it that she fell to the ground, "TARDIS, now! Do as you are told!" He demanded.
Danni looked up at him, at the man towering over her, who was panting he was so angry, and for a moment saw Eleven from a memory from long ago. Of him holding her out of the TARDIS and how angry he had been before he'd let go.
"You never change." She whispered, watching the flash of confusion over his face. He didn't even realise, did he? She scrambled off the floor, "Fine, you fight on your own." She snapped, her hearts hurt, "Clara, inside!" And with that, against everything in her screaming to stay out, she stormed into the TARDIS.
Clara walked over to the Doctor, jabbing him in the chest, "You're an idiot." She told him without any veil on her tone, then followed Danni into the blue box, "What do we do?"
"What's happening?" Orson asked. He had been on his way out of the door when Danni strode past him and up to the console.
"If he wants to open the door, fine." Danni ranted, "But I deserve to know what the hell is going on, even if he doesn't think so! Five hundred years! He does not get to keep secrets from me." She grabbed the monitor, pulling it over to her, "Sweetie, give me video!" She commanded and the screen flickered onto a feed outside, "Thanks."
"Who is she talking to?" Orson asked Clara as Danni mumbled under her breath about stupid Time Lords.
"The TARDIS. She's alive." Clara explained, "And she really prefers Danni over everyone, even the Doctor sometimes. It's best to just go along with it."
The screen started flickering, "Oh, no, don't do that!" Danni shouted, smacking the screen, "Please, sweetie, work for me!" She moved to slap it again, something she really didn't like doing unless she was too upset to think about it, when the TARDIS jolted. She grabbed onto the two handles on the monitor as Clara and Orson reached for the console. There was a loud bang and the sound of gas escaping.
Even though the TARDIS then settled, Clara used the surface to move over to Danni, "What's happening?" She asked as the sound of metal creaking came from outside the door. An alarm quickly followed, a deep sound that was nothing to do with the TARDIS, "What's that?"
"The alarm." Orson replied, "The air shell's breached." Danni spun to look at the new man.
"My husband's out there!" She screamed, turning back to the monitor to see the Doctor hanging on for dear life to the controls they had just been sat at, "I have to…" She turned to run off but Clara grabbed her.
"You'll just get yourself killed!" Clara scolded.
"And?" Danni shouted in reply, "I have lives to spare!"
"Stay here." Orson told them both, and Danni watched as he headed to the door, grabbing his helmet on the way. She instantly knew what he was doing, and didn't try to stop him, despite the fact that he had just as much chance of dying as they did. He disappeared out and she clung to Clara, who held her back just as tightly until, just as Danni was running out of breath to hold, he came back in again.
"No." She whispered, letting go of Clara to help Orson carry the Doctor over to the pilot chair, sitting him down in it, "No, he can't…"
"He's just out cold." Orson told her and she relaxed, closing her eyes for a moment before giving him a quick check over. Apart from the cut on his forehead that would heal pretty quickly, he was fine.
"Keep a hold on him." She told the pair, walking over to the console to look at the controls. She should bring up the voice interface. She needed to bring up the voice interface, but how? "Sweetie?" She called the TARDIS, "Help would be nice!"
"What was out there?" Clara asked Orson, "What were you so afraid of?"
Orson turned to her. Honestly, he didn't have an answer for her. The ship creaked and groaned, and after a while it had become too hard to convince himself that it was just the metal settling. But he was at the end of the universe, so what else could it have been?
"I've been here a long time." He replied, "My own shadow, probably."
Clara smiled softly, even though none of them really believed that now, "Yeah."
"Oh come on!" Danni shouted and Clara turned to her.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm trying to fly us away!" Danni explained, "But I don't know these controls, I barely knew the last ones. I'm supposed to get the voice interface, or something, but I don't know how!" Frustrated, she began flipping switches, "I just want to get as far away from here as possible!" She ranted, "How hard can that be?" She slammed her hand down on a button at the end of her question and the TARDIS went absolutely tonto. Clara quickly grabbed hold of the unconscious Doctor to stop him falling off the chair, Orson braced himself against the railings.
The ride was less than smooth, but they landed with a thump rather quickly, which was a blessing. Danni didn't waste any time, didn't even ask the others how they were, she just pulled the monitor over to see where they were.
"Where are we?" Orson asked as Danni frowned at the flickering screen.
"I'm not sure." She admitted, "I'm going to have a look. You two stay here." She jogged over to the door.
"You can't go out there by yourself." Clara protested but Danni turned, shooting her a smile that was supposed to be confident.
"Last functioning Time Lord here, aren't I?" She offered as an reason, "If he wakes up, I'll be happy to swap." She turned back to the doors, pausing to look at them for a moment. This could end very badly. But, hopefully, the TARDIS would have done what she normally did in those moments, and taken her somewhere safe. Like to Jack, or to the Stormcage. The blue box had once called her the most precious of cargo, hadn't she? Danni could only hope that hadn't changed.
With a deep breath to calm her nerves, she pushed the door open, dipping her head out. Oh, how incredibly boring. It was just a barn. At least it was night, last thing she wanted to do was angry a farmer or scare some sheep.
She smiled to herself, becoming rather amused by the turn of events. She normally opened the door, but only after the Doctor took them somewhere. This was all her. Her trip, her step out into the unknown. She should scope the area, shouldn't she? She'd be the Time Lord in the know in no time.
"Stay there." She whispered into the TARDIS, closing the door behind her before Clara could protest. Luckily the air seemed rather breathable, so Danni took a moment to observe her surroundings. She couldn't see too much, with the old wooden building only being illuminated by the moon outside. However, the soft crying of a child quickly reached her ears and her hearts went out to the child straight away. She slowly made her way towards the noise, spotting a bed up on a little ledge that could only be reached with a small ladder. There was a bundle of blankets on the top where the crying was coming from.
Danni couldn't help but be reminded of little Amelia Pond and how a raggedy Time Lord and his girlfriend found her in her garden as she climbed up the little set of ladders.
"Sweetie?" She whispered softly, "Can you hear me?" There was no reply from the bed, the child continuing to cry. She had to admit, the TARDIS had done just what she asked. This couldn't be any further from the end of the universe, could it?
Danni dropped to the floor out of reflex when the door to the barn opened. Two people walked out as she looked under the bed at them. A man and a woman stepped out and Danni held her breath. She didn't want to have to explain why she was under their child's bed. Although, she thought with a frown, she really should be asking them why their child was sleeping out in a barn in the first place. This definitely wasn't a conversion, it's where the livestock should be.
"Why does he have to sleep out here?" The man asked in an exasperated voice.
"He doesn't want the others to hear him crying." The woman explained in a kind voice. Danni decided immediately that she liked her.
"Why does he have to cry all the time?" The man asked as they headed over, their steps crunching the straw under foot. Oh, they were going to find her.
"You know why." The woman replied like she had explained it a thousand times. The man did sound like someone who didn't listen.
"There'll be no crying in the army." The man retorted as the pair made their way up the ladders to the side of the bed. Danni's eyes were wide as she stared at their boots. One wrong move…
"Don't pretend you're not awake. We're not idiots." The man snapped at the kid on the bed and Danni shot a glare at his stupid boots.
"Come and sleep in the house." The nice woman told the boy gently, "You don't have to be alone. If you can hear me, you're very welcome in the house, with the other boys. I'll leave the door on the latch. Come in any time."
The two left the boy to it, heading back down the ladders again, "He can't just run away crying all the time if he wants to join the army."
"He doesn't want to join the army. I keep telling you."
"Well, he's not going to the Academy, is he, that boy?" The man replied as they headed back out of the barn, "He'll never make a Time Lord." Danni's eyes widened as she looked up at the mattress. As far away from the end of the universe, from the last man standing, as they could get? Back to when he didn't want to be the last man standing?
'Theta?' She moved. Oh, this was bad. This was very, very bad. She needed to leave and she needed to leave now, without leaving too much of a lasting impression on the time. Perhaps they could wake the Doctor up and he could take Orson and Clara back to…
"Danni!" She winced as the deep, broad, Scottish voice of her husband echoed through the barn. She didn't have time to realise that he'd called her Danni, and not Danielle, for the first time since he'd regenerated. All she could focus on was how the child sat up on his bed.
"Hello? Who's there?" He asked, swinging his legs over the bed to stand, "Hello?" That couldn't happen! He couldn't go look for himself. If young Theta met old Theta, the universe would actually implode. So many things could go wrong. She didn't even think about it until it was too late, but her hand shot out and caught the boy by the ankle.
"So you sit up, and turn on the light. And the room looks different at night. It ticks and creaks and breathes. And you tell yourself there's nobody there, nobody watching, nobody listening, nobody there at all. And you very nearly believe it. You really, really try and then." His hand shot out, making a fist, like he was closing his hand around something in the air. Danni jumped, flushing slightly as she realised just how drawn in she had become just at the sound of his voice.
"Something grabs you."
This was all her fault. She'd terrified him as a child that, no matter what, he'd never been able to let go of his fear of the dark. That he was convinced that something was in the dark, lurking for him, all because she had grabbed his ankle.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, her apology thick in her voice, "It's just a dream, just a silly little dream. You'll lie down and you'll forget all this by the morning. Just go back to sleep, okay sweetie?" She tentatively let go of his ankle just to see if he would do as he said. He did, and she relaxed for a moment, before quickly climbing up from under the bed.
The boy, her Theta, had curled himself back up underneath his covers and started sobbing again. She headed over to the ladders, intent to leave, but shot him another pained look. She couldn't just leave him crying, could she? He was a child, and he was so scared, and that was her fault. How could she leave a child crying?
She slowly made her way back to the bed, kneeling down next to it, "Sweetie, I know you're scared." She whispered gently to the boy, "And that's okay, it really is. Everyone gets scared, more than they'll ever admit. They'll always be scared that there is someone in the shadows, or something under their bed. You're not the first, no matter what they say."
She hesitated, but reached out to rub his arm soothingly through the blankets, "But let me tell you something. It may be scary when you're own, but friends, family, other people, they are what make being scared that little bit less scary." She smiled softly, "Helping people won't take that fear away, but it'll help you ignore it. It gives you something to focus on, helps you realise there's something more important than being scared. If you can help just one person, if you feel like one person is there by your side, then your fear is a little bit more bearable. And you're never on your own, sweetie. Your fear will make you strong, sweetie, it'll make you brave. It makes you run, and jump and figure things out. It makes you fantastic, more than these silly people will ever think you are. Because you are. You are fantastic. Even when you are scared, you are fantastic." She pushed up on her knees, placing a small kiss on the top of his head that poked out from underneath the covers.
"Just remember, sweetie. No matter where you are in the universe, no matter how alone you may feel, there is always one person in the universe who is with you. Who will never leave you to feel alone, who will always be there to hold your hand. Who will always be there to make the dark a little less frightening. It may take you a while to find them, you'll hold a lot of hands before you find the one that fits, but once you do they're never going to let you feel alone again. I will always be there to hold your hand." And with one last squeeze of his arm, she stood up, quietly making her way to the TARDIS. She opened the door to find the Doctor looking murderous at Clara and Orson as they stood between him and the door.
"Danielle." He snapped, his voice hard despite the relief he felt at her being safe, "What was out there?" She shot him a shaky smile.
"Nothing." She promised, "There is nothing out there that you ever have to concern yourself with." He opened his mouth to protest, "How about you fly us away?"
He frowned, "Why would I do that?"
"Just do it." She replied softly, pushing her way past Orson and Clara, "I can tell you later, but right now, we have to leave and never come back."
Now that he could see that she was safe, his frustration at not finding out what had been behind that door started slipping through. She had seen something outside those doors, and he wanted to know what. He wanted to know why he always felt like she was there when she wasn't, "I don't take orders." He told her.
"I'm not giving you an order." She replied, reaching out and taking his hand. He looked at their linked fingers, once again drawn to the fact that they seemed to fit together perfectly, "I'm asking. Will you please take us away?"
~0~0~0~
They dropped Orson off first, in his own time line like they had promised. Then Clara off to fix her date. Danni had promised that she would, and Clara had to admit that she was feeling good about it. Orson's existence held a lot of promise, after all.
Then Danni had a shower. Just a quick one to clean up all the dust off the barn floor. She found him back in the console room, on his thinking chair, a book on his lap that he didn't seem to be reading. She walked up and sat down on the floor by his legs. Her intent had been to tell him about what had happened in the barn, but as she had approached him, she knew something else needed to be said first. Something she probably should have said a while ago.
"The way you treated me today wasn't acceptable." She told him firmly, "I won't have you treating me like that."
"Like what?" He asked, looking down at the top of her blonde hair. He had hoped that she would sit on his lap, like she would have done with his younger self, but the tone of her voice said something very different.
"Like I'm just some companion." She replied, "We fight together. You don't tell me to do as I am told again, understand?"
He took a moment to understand her words, firstly trying to work out where she had come to the ridiculous conclusion that he thought that in the first place. He remembered snapping at her when she wouldn't leave his side, but that didn't mean he didn't value her about everyone.
"Noted." He replied, which Danni took as a win.
"It was a barn." She told him, "A barn with a very scared boy crying on a bed. I couldn't leave him crying, but I didn't know what to do. Then you shouted and I reached out, grabbing him from under the bed and terrified him for life." She smiled, leaning against his leg, "I think I just met my husband almost nine hundred years before he was supposed to meet me."
"What?" He asked, sitting up straighter to look down at her, "That was me out there?" She nodded.
"You were scared. I may have done that, and I'm sorry. I did try and make it better for you, though. I think I just made it worse." She reached up, taking his hand, "I'm sorry I made you scared of the dark, sweetie."
"What did you do?" He asked her and she shrugged.
"Just told you what I told little Rupert. That as long as you weren't alone, you wouldn't be as scared, and that there was always someone to hold your hand if you were." She explained, "Nothing of consequence."
He didn't remember ever meeting her before that night when she'd appeared, draped only in a sheet and getting angry at him even though he'd never seen her before. He certainly didn't remember meeting her when he was a child, so maybe she was mistaken. But he had to admit, he always did feel less scared when he was holding her hand.
He should have given her a tug to bring her onto his lap, but he didn't. He just brought her hand up to his mouth, placing a kiss on her palm, "I doubt you did any damage, my Pet." He purred, "Not until you turned up naked, anyway."
She smirked, tilting her head to look up at him, "Ha! Told you I was naked." She crowed in triumph before snuggling back into a comfy position against the chair, head still against his leg, "No one's taking my story away from me."