Danni could hear him. The Doctor was talking to someone, it was faint but she could hear his sharp tones. She picked up her pace just slightly as she made her way through the hallway to the console room. Had he picked up Clara without telling her again, or maybe Jenny was back for a little visit? Either way it would have been nice to have been warned, but instead of running back to sort her dripping hair out, she decided to hide outside for a moment to find out who it was.
"…For the last time I know what I am doing." The Doctor snapped at their guest and Danni paused outside the doorway. If they were arguing maybe she shouldn't just burst in on them after all, "No, he didn't. He was a moron, that's why nothing ever worked."
She frowned. He'd replied to something, but no one had said anything to him. Maybe he was on the phone, that was why he hadn't come to get her. She rolled her eyes at herself – worrying about what she looked like for a phone call she wasn't even involved in. Sometimes she made herself laugh at her ridiculousness.
She entered the console room quietly as to not interrupt his conversation, but when she stepped up onto the platform around the console, he wasn't on the phone. He was sat in the doorway, when once upon a body she would sit and watch the universe go by. She still did, after all it was a beautiful view to look out into space and observe it, but it had been centuries since she had taken any comfort from it.
"He broke more things than he fixed." The Doctor continued, "I know you're not the most skilled engineer, but didn't you ever think of stopping him?" Danni looked around the room, brows furrowed, trying to spot who he was talking to. The room was empty, though, apart from the Time Lord who wasn't even looking at her, like he hadn't noticed her enter.
"Sweetie?" She called over, confused.
"I mean, I knew he was your favourite, but you can't defend the mustard." He continued like he hadn't heard her.
Mustard?
"Sweetie?" She tried again, louder this time and he turned to look at her.
"Yes, Danielle?" He asked in a purr, almost like he was annoyed at being interrupted.
"Who are you talking to?" She asked.
He frowned as he pulled himself back into the TARDIS again, standing up, "You, of course." He replied, "There's no one else here."
"I've only just come into the room." She explained, motioning behind her, "I've been in the shower."
The Doctor looked her over, wondering why she was saying that. She'd been there the entire time, since he'd come up from underneath the console. He'd been trying to work out why some of the controls had seemed sluggish and it turned out that the mechanisms were full of mustard from when Eleven had installed all the condiments into the console. None of them had even liked mustard, it had been to complete the set and the Doctor found himself still cleaning up after his messes.
And yet, as he looked over his wife, who was wearing her pyjamas and looking particularly clean, he couldn't help but wonder if she was telling the truth, "Your hair's wet." He commented and she nodded.
"That's because I was in the shower." She replied, and the evidence seemed to fit her claim. She had a few pairs of pyjamas that she wore on a regular basis. He wasn't sure if she even noticed, but he did. The ones she were wearing were her 'I've been in the shower but I'm not heading to bed' pyjamas. And the wet hair, and the sickly artificial smell of fruit that wafted around her all added up.
"Oh." He looked around, a thoughtful frown on his face. He had been certain she was there. He had been feeling rather lonely, trying to fix the controls because he had thought that maybe a smoother ride might have tempted his Danielle to spend more time with him, then she had appeared. She'd be rather quiet, but she'd always liked to hear him talk.
He'd felt her there, though. He knew she had been close. So what could have happened? He turned, startling her somewhat, "I was certain you were here." He declared, heading to his chalkboard.
"It's not the first time." Danni pointed out.
"But you weren't." He replied, the thought taking hold, intriguing him, "The moment before, I was alone. Why? Why do we feel like there's someone there when there isn't?"
"We don't, sweetie." She broke to him gently, "That's just you."
"Don't you talk to yourself out loud?" He pointed out, "When making cups of tea, or tidying? Little comments to an ear that does exist?"
Danni shrugged, "Because sounding things out loud means it makes more sense to us?" She offered, "Or it makes it easier the remember things? I know I remember better when I've said it out loud." He shot her an exasperated look, "Then why do we talk out loud when we're alone?"
"Conjecture." He corrected, "Because we know we're not." He turned away from her, taking a look at the equations that were currently written on the blackboard. He'd continued to try and work out when she would be completely over his previous body, and her recent behaviour showed that she was starting to accept him as her husband. But he still couldn't get a definite date. Deciding that he would probably need to start from scratch yet again, he wiped off the equation and wrote at the top of the board, in capital letters; 'EVOLUTION'.
"But we are alone." Danni asked, walking over to him to watch him work. She could see the cogs turning behind his eyes as he stared at the word, almost hear the thoughts in his head. She missed being joined together mentally with him, it felt like she was waiting for someone to come home, but until he was ready she would just have to observe him from the outside.
It was so sexy. It always had been a wonderful experience to watch him trying to figure something out and she really could do it all day, "Evolution?" She read off with her confusion in her tone, "You think something's evolved for us to not see it even though it's there? Like the Silents?"
He shook her head, continuing to write out his thoughts on the board, "Evolution perfects survival skills." He mused out loud, jotting down each skill as he came up with them. "There are perfect hunters. There is perfect defence." He spun on his heel, pointing his stick of chalk at Danni, "Why is there no such thing as perfect hiding?" He challenged and her face lit up at the sudden revelation of a new possibility. He smirked at the quickness of her mind, at the way she grinned at him.
"How would you know?" She asked in reply.
"Logically, if evolution were to perfect a creature whose primary skill were to hide from view, how could you know it existed?" He agreed, writing the word 'Hiding' as the third option on his list, this time with a question mark after it, "It could be with us every second and we would never know." He moved away from the board, pacing backwards and forwards, "How would you detect it, even sense it, except in those moments when, for no clear reason you choose to speak aloud?" He stopped in his tracks, meeting his wife's eye, "What would such a creature want? What would it do?" He asked her, starting off completely puzzled until he realised who exactly he was staring at. His wife, who he had thought was there until he had realised she wasn't. Who he had thought he'd been talking to all along. Who he had thought had been listening.
"It wants to listen?" Danni asked and he realised he'd whispered the word out loud, "To what? Conversations about mustard?"
"I need more information." The Doctor declared, "We're going on safari!" He turned and dashed off into the hallways to go find his binoculars. He needed to observe the greatest in the universe, to see how they survived, to put it all into context so maybe he could work out just what the creatures wanted.
Danni watched him bound of like an excitable child, obviously eager to follow his train of thought somewhere fantastic. So he didn't jump around, or spin in a circle anymore. His enthusiasm for life, to visit places and to gain new knowledge hadn't changed a bit. New things still pulled his attention, he'd always fight the monsters away and he always came back to her in the end.
She frowned before rushing after him, "Wait!" She cried, "I need to dry my hair!"
~0~0~0~
Danni lowered her binoculars with her free arm, the other firmly around the Doctor's middle as she sat in the large tree he'd perched them in, "I can't see anything." She whispered to him, turning her head to look in what she hoped was his eyes. With it being the middle of the night and cloudy overhead there was no natural light to speak of.
"You're not supposed to see anything yet." The Doctor retorted, "I told you, it's not going to appear until it's attacked."
They'd seen so many animals over the last few days, each one stoking the Doctor's interest rather than satisfying it. The lions had been amazing, but Danni really could have done without watching the cheetahs crash down on the poor gazelle. They'd seen various fish across the universe, all in their natural habitats. She'd even managed to stroke a small dog-like creature on a planet that was entirely inhabited by absolutely adorable animals. It was like it was the planet of the insanely cute stuffed animals, and that was where Danni had taken the most pictures. Now they were waiting on Defiod for a bird-like creature that, when attacked, turned into a giant flare. This was part of the Doctor's 'the universe's finest defenders' series of trips, and while she was happy to wait, she hadn't expected to be up the tree all night. Thankfully he'd found a ladder to help them get into the join of the two branches they were sat between; she had point blank refused to climb up it.
"Could we not have waited on the ground?" She asked, looking down for a moment to see if she could actually see the ground. When she couldn't her grip tightened on him slightly, "You know I don't like the idea of falling out of things."
"Yes, I know." He agreed, the darkness hiding his smirk, "But I'm not going to let you fall out." She yelled out in surprise as he pulled her closer, "I've got you."
"Seriously?" She moaned, "We're only here because…" She trailed off as the sound of something moving reached her ears, "What was that?" She asked, her voice suddenly a whisper.
"Just something on the ground moving." He replied, "Don't be so jumpy, Danielle."
Something moved again, and Danni shook her head, "I don't like this." She told him firmly, "I've been doing this too long to trust noises in the dark."
"We're out in the middle of the wilderness." The Doctor reassured her, "Things are going to move about, it's what living things do." The ladder moved, the metal clanging against the trunk of the tree and they both stared at it.
"Okay, that's not supposed to happen." The Doctor agreed slowly, wondering what of the multitude of animals on the planet might be trying to climb up to them, and if any of them wouldn't be a direct threat.
"I want to get down. Now." Danni retorted firmly, moving towards the ladder in question. It moved again, rattling loudly as something tried to use it like they did. Then, much to Danni's dismay, the sound of a ladder falling from its perch and landing on the ground echoed through the sparse area they were in.
"Theta?" Danni whispered, voice cracking at the fear that they were stuck up the tree, "Can we still get down?"
"Not in the dark." He replied, "The ground was covered in rocks. If you jump down you really could hurt yourself. Last thing you want to do in the wild."
"Can anything get up?" She asked and the Doctor paused, again going over the possible threats. He didn't reply, but instead pulled her slightly closer, doing his best to make sure that she was looking the way he was sure the bird would be flying.
"When attacked, the Frying Doven will light up the night sky much like a flare." He told her, "It blinds its predator so it can make its escape, while the species itself is almost completely blind. The most spectacular thing about them, though, is the colour of the light it expels."
"What about it?" Danni asked, intrigued.
"You're always trying to spoil it for yourself, my Pet." He told her, "Just wait, unless there's a sudden change in the climate, we should see one tonight."
Danni couldn't help it. Sitting up a tree with her husband was lovely, even with the terror of being attacked any moment looming over them. So she snuggled up against him the best she could, given their slightly awkward positions, "Okay, I'll wait." She conceded, like she had much of a choice.
And they did. The whole of ten minutes before Danni felt the first specks of water on her skin. Moments later the heavens opened and the two were instantly drenched as the sudden downpour soaked through their clothes.
"Oh, of course!" The Doctor exclaimed angrily, looking upwards at the water droplets, "You do have impeccable timing!" He shouted at no one in particular. Danni could feel the water dripping from her hair, down her face and off the tip of her nose already. It wasn't particularly warm water as well, her skin breaking out in goose bumps. They were stuck up a tree and getting rained on and it was just exactly how this was going to go, wasn't it?
The Doctor turned at the sound of her laughter, "What's wrong with you?" He demanded, suddenly rather worried there was something in the water. He was normally better with his checks, what if there was something in the atmosphere that was going to react badly with the pair of them?
"This is ridiculous." She declared, her giggles filled with pure delight. She tried to look at his face, but found she couldn't. So, instead, she blindly groped for him, shifting on the nook they were sat in until she could slowly place one leg over his, trying to straddle him awkwardly. He seemed to work out what she was doing, and helped by turning sideways, leaning against one sturdy branch.
"What are you doing, Danielle?" He asked her and she sat down on his lap.
"How long has it been since we made out in the rain?" She asked him, leaning downwards, trying to find his face. Suddenly he was very happy about the new development, his hands moving to her hips as he felt her nudging his face with her damp nose, looking for his lips.
"Too long, my Pet." He retorted just as her lips fell to his. They were so soft, so youthful, and so delicious. Her hands held onto him, still slightly scared she might fall off the branch, but his hands gently massaged her hips as he quickly deepened the kiss. She pressed up closer, his hands moved back until he grasped at her through her trousers. He groaned into the kiss as he gave her a cheeky squeeze, wondering briefly why he didn't feel her like this more often.
Danni saw the flash of light through her closed eyelids, but was much too busy to care about the bird the exploded into pure white light, illuminating the sandy area like it was daylight and reflecting off the raindrops like little rainbows. He was entirely right; it had been too long since they'd snogged in the rain.
~0~0~0~
Clara leant against her door, closing her eyes as she groaned to herself. There was a million ways that could have gone better, and all of them rushed through her head as she replayed what could only be described as one of her worst dates. Definitely up there with Shaun and his mother.
He seemed so lovely as well. So adorably shy, and she had been looking forward to going out for dinner with him since the moment he had been arranged.
She clenched her hand around her keys. It had just all go so very wrong, though. After a wonderful start she had said… well, she wasn't sure what she said, but then Mr Pink was going on and on about digging wells and, the next thing she knew, she was opening the door to her flat.
She decided the resist the urge to drink a full bottle of wine to rid herself of that horrid pit that had appeared in her stomach and settled for a cup of tea and an early night. Maybe she could ring the other Danni in her life and she'd drop around for the night. It had been a while since she'd stopped over, they could make a thing of it.
She smiled despite her bad mood; that would be perfect. They could both lament over their love lives. Danni with her ever-confusing husband, and Clara over Danny Pink.
She turned to head to the kitchen when she caught sight of the blue box down the end of her hallway. She didn't mind the idea of spending the night with Danni, in fact at the moment it was what she wanted. However if they'd turned up of their own accord, then something was very wrong and her night in moping and eating ice cream with her friend wasn't looking too good.
"Doctor?" She called, confused slightly as there was no sign of them outside of the TARDIS. Were they waiting inside for her?
She jumped half a mile when the kitchen door opened and Danni's head stuck out, "Hey sweetie." She greeted, "We're not interrupting anything, are we?"
"No…" Clara replied, a hint of confusion in her voice, "Why are you in the kitchen?"
"Well, you were on a date, weren't you?" Danni asked in reply, opening the door fully to show the Doctor sat on a stool, looking particularly bored, "We weren't expecting you for a while."
"She wasn't on a date." The Doctor scoffed, "There's only one person she would date, and you were with me." Danni rolled her eyes as she gently motioned Clara into the room. It was quite obvious that the date hadn't gone very well, and Clara was usually better at hiding her disappointment. So, it had to have gone rather badly.
"Don't listen to him." Danni told her as the teacher shot the Doctor an exasperated look, "He's been saying that all evening. Do you want a cup of tea?"
"We don't have time for a cup of tea!" The Doctor ranted, "We have a- a thing to do!"
"It can wait five minutes." Danni replied firmly, "We take care of our companions, remember?"
The Doctor eyed the pair. Danielle looked pretty concerned for Clara, but Clara didn't look too put out by the bad date. In fact, he noted with narrow eyes, Danni's arm around her shoulder had made her look positively joyous. Clara could take care of herself, they were on something important, "We need to go." He told Danni.
"I can't go." Clara told him firmly, "It's just possible that I might get a phone call."
"From the date guy?" The Doctor scoffed, standing up to leave, "It's too late. You've taken your make-up off."
Danni and Clara shared a look. While Danni didn't think Clara needed make-up, it was quite obvious that she was still wearing it, "No, I haven't. I'm still wearing my make-up." The Doctor paused, looking at her like he couldn't see it.
"Oh, right. Well, you probably just missed a bit. Come on, come on, come on, come on." He demanded, leaving the room and heading to the TARDIS. Danni gave Clara a little squeeze.
"Do you want to stay here?" She asked her friend gently, "We can come back?"
Clara shot her a weak smile. She didn't want to go. She wanted to stay in her bed and curl up and cry, hoping that Danny Pink would ring but she knew that he wouldn't. That she was too stubborn to head back to the restaurant, and the chances of him still being there were too slim to chance it anyway.
So what if her night with Danni wasn't spent eating ice cream and doing each other's nails? She could handle that. What she needed now was distracting, "Come on." She told Danni, letting the smug feeling fill her when Danni beamed happily, "It must be important, right?"
"I have no idea that what we're looking for even exists." Danni replied with a shrug, "But then again, I'm not convinced he believes it either. But it should be fun." She held the door open for the other woman, "Shall well?"
The Doctor looked rather impatient when they walked in together, "Alright, what was so important that I couldn't wallow all night?" She asked. She was surprised when he rushed over to the pair, standing so close that they both leant back slightly to compensate.
"You know that feeling of someone being there even when you're alone?" He asked, "What if you're not?"
Clara frowned, "Not what?"
"What if you're not alone?" He replied, walking backwards and away from them, "Proposition. What if no one is ever really alone?" He turned and started pacing backwards and forwards, "What if every single living being has a companion, a silent passenger, a shadow? What if the prickle on the back of your neck, is the breath of something close behind you?"
Slightly perturbed, Clara turned to Danni, "What happened?" She asked the blonde.
"He was talking to me when I wasn't there again." Danni explained, "He was adamant I was there, but I was in the shower."
The Doctor pointed at her, "You were there." He told her firmly, "Or, at least, someone was. Someone was listening to me, making be feel like I wasn't alone. And I'm not the only one." He dashed up the stairs to some of the bookcases that lined the console room. Danni hadn't been sure of the change at first, but she had to admit they did add something to the room.
He showed them the books that he had laid upon one of the desks, some open and some not, "What's all this?" Clara asked him, reaching out to flip a page over.
"Dreams." The Doctor replied, "Accounts of dreams, by different people, all through history. You see, when Danielle was sleeping last night, I came to a conclusion." He waved it away, "Well, I guess it's more of a theory. I have a theory."
Danni frowned, "You never mentioned that." She told him.
"Well, we needed Clara, and I didn't want to explain it twice." He replied, "I think everybody, at some point in their lives, has the exact same nightmare." He held his hands up, like he was painting an image for them, "You wake up, or you think you do, and there's someone in the dark, someone close, or you think there might be." He explained, voice low and deep, "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." She finished with a bit of a cough to hide her embarrassment, "I've had that dream before."
"There are accounts of that dream throughout human history." He explained to them, heading back down the stairs, "Time and time again, the same dream." He turned to Clara, "Now, there is a very obvious question I'm about to ask you. Do you know what it is?"
"Have you had that dream?" She asked him, realising that this line of questioning had obviously come from somewhere.
He nodded, "Exactly."
"No, no sweetie." Danni replied, "She's asking you. Have you had the dream?"
"I asked first!" The Doctor defended but Clara gave a quick shake of her head.
"No, I did." Clara insisted.
"You really didn't." He said right back, obviously ready to argue his point until both of them admitted that he was right. Having learnt from teaching when to pick her battles, Clara nodded.
"Okay, yeah, probably." She admitted, "Yes. But everyone dreams about something under the bed."
The Doctor nodded in agreement before offering her last thought, "Why?" He asked, "Why do we dream about someone under the bed? Why do we feel like someone is there, even when they're not? And why do we always remember it when we awake?" He led Clara over to the console, to a strange panel she hadn't seen before.
"This is the TARDIS telepathic interface." He explained to her, "It'll connect you to that TARDIS. You have to put your fingers in."
Clara grimaced at the look on the interface. It seemed rather squidgy and slimy, and she didn't particularly want to touch it at all, "Why do I have to do it?" She asked.
"Because we're going to connect to your memories." He explained, sounding exasperated that she was challenging him, "Just put your fingers in and hold tight. If anything bites, let it."
Danni shot Clara a soft smile, making her relax from the alarm that the Doctor had put her in, "Nothing's going to bite." She promised, "I've done it before, it feels a bit strange, but you'll be fine."
Clara placed her fingers in, pulling her face at the strange sensation of the interface, "When?" She asked.
"A while ago." Danni replied vaguely, "We were looking for my parents, right back at the start. It didn't hurt then and it shouldn't now."
The Doctor fiddled for a moment next to her, "You are now in mental contact with the TARDIS, so don't think anything rude." He told her.
"Why not?" She asked, confused.
"It might end up on all of the screens. We don't want that happening again, do we?" He shot Danni a look, one that said that she knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Oh, admit it, you liked it." Danni replied cheekily.
"Liked what?" Clara asked, not one to enjoy being kept out of the loop, "What did you think?"
Danni smirked slightly. It hadn't been the first time she'd been connected to the interface, but the Doctor had briefly mentioned that, if strong enough, the memories and thoughts could be transmitted onto the monitors. Of course she'd had to exploit it, bringing up some rather explicit scenes involving herself and the man before him, which had been Ten at the time. He hadn't been best pleased, but she also knew that he wanted her to want any him, even the past ones. The events that followed definitely proved that.
"Something rude." Was all she offered Clara, "The TARDIS is just going to read your timeline, from birth to death, with no spoilers. She uses that to search for the information he's looking for."
"Which is?" Clara asked.
"The first time you had the dream." The Doctor replied, "Focus on the dream. Focus on the details. Picture them, feel them. The TARDIS will track on your subconscious and extract the relevant information. It should be able to home in on the moment in your timeline when you first had that dream. And then, we'll see." The grin on his face worried Clara, a smirk of a smile that made her insides sit funny.
"What will we see?" She asked warily and the grin on his face grew.
"What's under your bed." He replied temptingly. He rested his hand on Danni's arm, pulling her around the console, "Hold on." He told her, "With Clara flying the TARDIS, who knows how bumpy the ride will be."
"Hey!" Clara snapped, "I can't fly her any worse than you!"
The Doctor scoffed as Danni took hold of the console, "Don't make me separate you two." She warned like a mother about to shout at her children. The Doctor stood behind her, crushing her up against the console in an action that made her blush. He bent down so his breath was dancing against her ear, "Get ready, my pet." He purred as she shivered deliciously, and then threw the switch to send them into flight.
There was only a little jolt, to which the Doctor was both rather impressed and slightly annoyed at. Still, he didn't take his arms from off the console, keeping Danielle very much trapped between himself and the metal. Oh, if only Clara wasn't there…
But she was, and he needed her to concentrate fully on the memory of that dream. If he could get to the bottom of the feeling of not being alone that made him talk to Danielle when she wasn't there, he could ensure that she always was there. Plus, if it was anything sinister, he could keep it away from her as well. Ultimately, though, it was his own fear and curiosity that had brought them to pick up Clara on her date night to use her memories, so he couldn't exactly complain about her presence.
"Okay, now don't get distracted." He warned sharply at the TARDIS homed in on the time to land, "Remember, you are flying a time machine."
Of course, a moment later, Clara's phone started to ring. She grimaced because she knew who it was. It was Mr Pink, calling her to apologise or whatever they would offer each other. She was completely distracted by the idea of not being able to answer that phone call.
"No, no. Don't you dare." The Doctor exclaimed, leaving Danni disappointed as he let her go, rushing over to Clara, "No, don't. Don't, don't. Just ignore it." He reached into her jacket pocket, chucking the phone over his shoulder just as the TARDIS landed.
"Did-Did it work?" Danni asked unsurely. She'd seen Clara's face, she had suspected that the phone call was off the date that had gone so terribly wrong. If that had been her, she knew that she would have been distracted. If Eleven was calling her…
"It worked. We're here." The Doctor replied, barely glancing at the monitor on his way passed to the door.
"Sorry, I think I got distracted." Clara replied desperately, still being able to see Danny Pink in her head. She looked over at Danni, who looked rather concerned as well.
"No, no, no, no, no. The date's fine." The Doctor replied.
"Are you sure?" Danni asked, "If she got distracted…"
"It's fine." The Doctor interrupted, "Come on." He motioned to them both to follow him.
"Come on where?" Clara asked.
"Your childhood." He replied before opening the door and stepping outside. Danni reached out to Clara, holding her hand out to her friend.
"I'm sure it'll be fine." She reassured her. She shrugged at the look Clara shot her, "What? One day that won't be a lie." Clara tried to remove her fingers from the interface, but found herself rather solidly stuck.
"Er, a little help?" She asked Danni. The blonde took hold of one of her arms and they pulled together, dislodging one hand and then the other.
Outside it was rather dark, the air misty and the large building in front of them was barely visible. The cold in the air hit both of them instantly and Clara pulled her jacket around her as Danni just rubbed her arms.
"The West Country Children's Home." The Doctor declared loudly over the rushing of the wind around them, "Gloucester. By the ozone level and the drains, mid-nineties." He judged before turning to Clara, "You must have been here when you had the dream."
"Never been to Gloucester in my life, and I've never lived in a children's home." Clara promised with a small shake of her head.
"You've probably just forgotten." The Doctor explained slowly, like she was a bit of an idiot, "Have you seen the size of human brains? They're hilarious. Danielle's forgetting stuff all the time."
Danni straightened as the Doctor pointed to the children's home, "Little you must be in here somewhere, with your little brain."
"Hang on." Danni interrupted, turning to her husband, "Nothing against humans, did live as one for a while, but why are you using me as an example of one?" It didn't make any sense. He spent so many of his years as Eleven trying to make her feel more Time-Lordy. When he found out she was learning some basic Gallifreyan, he had been more than ecstatic. He'd told her about his home planet, called her a Time Lady and she had to admit she had liked it.
"Because you're part human." He replied like she should have known better, "Come on, we don't have time for chatter."
Danni looked incredulous as the Doctor started walking away, but Clara was focusing on something else, "Isn't it bad if I meet myself?"
"It is potentially catastrophic."
"So why did you bring me out here?"
"I didn't. I was talking to Danielle, you just followed. It'll be best for you to wait in the TARDIS. Danielle, with me." With that he turned and walked towards the entrance of the house.
"Doctor, wait a minute!" Danni called after him, "If she was distracted, could we be in the wrong spot?"
"We haven't, the time zone is right." He insisted, "Are you coming, or staying behind?" Danni glanced at Clara, who looked rather cold and a bit worried that her distraction might have caused everything to go wrong. Danni didn't want to leave her behind, but she also didn't want to let the Doctor go without her. They were getting so much better, she didn't want to ruin that by staying behind with Clara.
She shot Clara an apologetic smile, "We won't be long." She promised, feeling guilty as she dashed after the Doctor. Clara was smart and strong, she wouldn't do anything stupid, but she'd just had an awful night. She'd make it up to her.
She fell into step by the Doctor, who glanced down at her, quite surprised that she had chosen to join him rather than stay with their friend. And rather delighted too, but he didn't say that out loud. He just quietly unlocked the door for the pair, holding the door open just to see the smile grace her lips.
He held the sonic at his side, keeping it scanning as they slowly walked through the entrance hall of the building, "Do you really think I'm more human than Time Lord?" Danni asked him. He frowned, looking down at the top of her head.
"What?" He asked.
"Do you really think of me more as a human than a Time Lord?" She asked again, "Am I a 'pudding brain' too?"
"Danielle, I don't think this is the time to discuss your lineage, do you?" He retorted, to which she reluctantly agreed.
"I'm not a pudding brain." She grumbled all the same, "You should turn that off, you'll wake up the kids."
"How else are we going to find little Clara?" He pointed out, glancing into an empty office. There was a glass frosted window dividing the room up and an eerie glowing light came from the other side, along with some canned laughter. Someone was watching television.
The door to the separated room opened and a man carrying a mug came out, looking pretty suspicious at the pair, "How did you get in?"
"Your door must be faulty." The Doctor offered as a terrible reply, reaching into his jacket pocket. He pulled out his psychic paper, holding it up silently.
"An inspection?" The man asked incredulously, "It's two in the morning."
"We need to check that the children are being appropriately cared for during the night." Danni replied in a kind voice before the Doctor could, trying to make sure the man didn't view them as a threat, "Are you the only member of staff on duty tonight?"
The man nodded, "It's normally just me." He replied.
"Do you ever end up talking to yourself?" The Doctor asked lowly.
"All the time." The man replied with a little laugh, "It's this place. You can't help it."
"What about your coffee?" The Doctor pressed. Danni nudged him as the man turned to look at the mug he had placed down on desk behind him.
"My coffee?" He asked, confused.
"Don't listen to him," Danni replied, "He's just trying to scare you. It's not like you're going to turn around and it be gone, is it?"
"It wouldn't be the first time." The man replied, "Happens to everyone, doesn't it?"
"Yes. Everybody." The Doctor purred, sounding totally unconvinced. The television on the other side of the glass switched off and the trio looked towards it simultaneously.
"Who turned your telly off?" The Doctor asked.
"It does that." The man replied as the Doctor grabbed Danni's hand, grabbing the cup of coffee with the other. Danni frowned at him as he took them into the hallway, leaving the man on his own.
"Why did you take his coffee?" She asked quietly, although she tightened his grip on her hand in case he had any delusions that he was going to let go.
"Well, I'm just trying to scare him, right?" The Doctor replied in a teasing purr. Danni used her free hand to stifle her giggle as the Doctor took a sip of the coffee.
"Hmm." Not as bad as he thought it was going to be. He turned towards a corridor, gently pulling Danni into it. Without anyone around, it was rather nice to hold her hand again. It felt so small in his, soft fingers threaded within his aged, rough ones. Did she notice that? Did it bother her?
"You know, this house is rather creepy." Danni whispered, "Do you think we might actually meet a real ghost this time?"
"There's no such thing as ghosts." He corrected, "So I doubt it very much."
Danni pouted, "I thought as much." She grumbled, "I'm never going to meet one."
"Not with that attitude you're not." He replied, shooting her a smirk that she couldn't help reply to. Teasing her, holding her hand, this was how she liked it. It felt like they were a team; Danni and the Doctor against the universe. Fighting bad guys, saving children, seeing the beauty everywhere as they snuck through hallways into forbidden areas.
She gently pulled him to a stop, confusing him slightly, "You know, the last haunted house we were in, you kept trying to kiss me." She told him, taking a step closer, "I don't think you did until we landed in the pocket universe, did you?"
She had that innocent look on her face, the same one she had when she had kissed him up the tree. The one he adored, because she was trying to tempt him and it always worked. Sometimes he wondered if she truly understood the effect she had on him, at how he wanted to drop everything, let the universe tick and burn if it meant he could have her all to himself. Even more so now he had regenerated; it felt like he now only cared because he knew she did, that she was good and he wasn't, so he had to pretend. Even though he wasn't completely convinced that he didn't care anymore, if she asked him, he'd turn around and they could leave together. She never would, though. Especially not now, when they were in a children's home. She'd want them safe.
So he kept their mission in mind as he stepped closer, forcing her back against the wooden panelling on the wall, "No, I don't believe I did." He purred, dipping down to capture her lips. However, the moment before they brushed against hers, something loud creaked behind them. The Doctor quickly tensed, alert as he spun around, whereas Danni jumped a mile and clung to him tightly.
Nothing was there, but he had expected as much.
"Okay, this is creepy." Danni admitted, "Let's find Clara and leave. We can snog at home." The Doctor, while reluctant, agreed with her. He took a step back, his eyes still darting around the corridor, but this time looking for some stairs.
"The children will be upstairs." He told her, "Stay close."
She let out a scoff of a nervous laugh, "Like I'm going to be anywhere else." She replied, holding onto him tightly.
~0~0~0~
Clara was terrified, even as she tried her hardest to keep it hidden from little Rupert Pink. There was obviously something underneath the blanket that sat on his bed, raised up higher than an small child could make it, surely?
However, she really didn't want to tell Rupert that. And, after all, it was probably just one of the other children in the home playing tricks. But with all the talk of things being there when you thought you were alone, and Rupert's insistence that no one had come into the room, she was finding herself rather convinced that something was hiding underneath the blanket that she couldn't use her sternest teacher voice on.
The bed creaked as the figure underneath the blanket sat up taller and Clara pulled the young lad at her side up against her, "Okay. It's not funny this, you know." She told it with only the smallest of shakes in her voice.
Clara jumped a mile when an arm wrapped itself around her shoulders, scaring Rupert as well. She spun to see Danni stood there, a kind smile on her face, "How about we turn on the light?" She suggested calmly, although her eyes were very much trained on the figure on the bed. Behind them the lamp turned on, revealing the Doctor, who was sat in Rupert's lonely chair, flipping through a book.
"Where is he?" He demanded, sounding completely distressed that he couldn't find the person he was looking for.
"Doctor?" Clara asked, confused as her gaze flicked between the Time Lord and the thing on the bed.
"I can't find him." He continued, flicking through the book, "Can you find him?"
"Find who?" Clara asked.
"It's not the right book." Danni interrupted before he could answer. Clara looked back at her best friend before her gaze flew back to the thing on the bed. She couldn't get too distracted from it, because there was a child in danger, but she couldn't leave that hanging.
"Who is he trying to find?" Clara asked her.
"Wally." The Doctor replied for her, slamming the book shut.
"Wally?"
"He's nowhere in this book." He declared, waving it just in case they didn't know which book he meant.
"It's not a Where's Wally one." Rupert told the strange man. He liked the woman who had been outside his window, but the two new people in his room worried him almost as much as the thing on his bed.
"Well, how would you know? Maybe you just haven't found him yet." The man retorted, but Rupert shook his head.
"He's not in every book." He told the man. He seemed old, he should have known that, right?
"Really?" He asked, looking to the blonde woman, who nodded while looking rather apologetically, "Well, that's a few years of my life I'll be needing back." He suddenly jumped off the chair, startling the small boy as approached him, crouching down closer, "Are you scared?" He whispered, slowly walking around until he was between the young boy and the bed, "The thing on the bed, whatever it is, look at it. Does it scare you?"
Rupert glanced over at it again, then back at the strange man, "Yes."
The Doctor dipped down even lower so he could catch his eyes, "Well, that's good. Want to know why that's good?"
"Why?" Rupert asked, a frown on his face because how could being afraid ever be good?
"Let me tell you about scared." The Doctor replied, leaning in closer, " Your heart is beating so hard," He reached out, catching both of Rupert's hands in his own, "I can feel it through your hands. There's so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain, it's like rocket fuel." His enthusiasm picked up, "Right now, you could run faster and you could fight harder, you could jump higher than ever in your life. And you are so alert, it's like you can slow down time." He slowed down his voice, mimicking the effects, all to keep the boys attention on him and not on the creature on the bed.
"Look at my wife. My Danielle." Rupert glanced over at Danni, who's eyebrows had shot up in surprise. Why was he bringing her into this, "She's scared all the time," She deflated slightly – great, being used an example of scared, "and she has more of a reason to be than any of us. But do you know what?" Rupert shook her head, "It just makes her strong, and kind, and brave, much braver than I am." He grinned at Rupert, "She's fantastic! Absolutely fantastic because she's scared."
Danni couldn't help but smile, her hearts fluttering as he talked about her like Eleven used to. How he always saw her as better than she was, and it made her strive to better, to excel so she could live up to his standards. He still thought of her as impossibly brilliant, and she held a hand to her chest at feeling that loved.
"And do you know why?" The Doctor continued, pulling Rupert's gaze back from the woman, "Because she knows she's not alone. And you're not alone right now, are you? No, you're scared, and you're not alone, which makes you fantastic! It's your superpower. There is danger in this room and guess what? It's you. Do you feel it? Do you think he feels it? Do you think he's scared?" He pulled her face, "Nah. Loser." He nodded at Rupert, "Turn your back on him."
Suddenly the speech that had been building up his confidence in the situation waivered, "What?"
"Yeah, turn your back on him." The Doctor stood up, turning towards the window, "Come on. You too, Clara." He glanced at Danni, "Danielle."
Danni nodded, but walked towards Rupert, "Come on, sweetie." She told the young boy gently, "Who wants to look at some boring old monster, eh?" She gently but firmly put her hands on Rupert's shoulders, not forcing him to turn around like the other two, but giving him the permission to do so, "We're scared, but we're better, so we'll just look out the window, yeah?"
Rupert nodded, letting her move him to the window. The woman stood behind him, but kept her gaze out the window as well, so he did as well.
"Yeah. Come and see all the dark." Clara encouraged unsurely, not sure how to sell that to a child.
"The deep and lovely dark." The Doctor agreed, "We'd never see the stars without it." He leant to his side slightly, "Now, there are two possibilities. Possibility one, it's just one of your friends standing there, and he's playing a joke on you. Possibility two, it isn't."
"So, what do we do?" Danni asked him.
"You on the bed, I'm talking to you now." The Doctor declared, raising his voice louder so there was no misunderstandings, "Go in peace. We won't look. Just go. If all you want to do is stay hidden, it's okay. Just leave." They all stood in silence as the bed creaked, the thing on the bed standing up. Even at the sound of it gently shuffling through the room, none of them turned around. Until all they could hear was each other breathing heavily, adrenalin pumping through their systems.
"Is it gone?" Clara whispered.
"Don't look round. Not yet." The Doctor insisted.
"I can't hear anything." Rupert added, a whimper in his voice.
"Don't look round." Despite the repeated warning, Rupert began to turn around. However, Danni caught him, forcing him to look back at the window.
"Just look outside, sweetie." She insisted firmly, "Don't worry, you're not on your own, and you're safe. Just keep looking out of the window."
"What is it?" He asked, absolutely terrified.
"I don't know." She replied softly, "But what I do know is, sweetie, that if it wanted us to see it, there wouldn't be a blanket over it, right?" She looked up at her husband for reassurance, and she took his nod as a sign that she was right, "So, if it doesn't want us to look at it, what will it do if we do?"
"I don't know." Rupert replied and she gave him a gentle squeeze on the shoulders.
"No, neither do we." She agreed, "But until we do, no looking, eh? Maybe, even, if you think it's so boring to be this scared, you should close your eyes."
"That's not a bad idea." The Doctor replied before Rupert could, "Close your eyes. Everyone, close your eyes. You too, Clara. Give it what it wants." Clara glanced at Danni, who was waiting for Rupert to close his eyes, but the moment he did so did she. Clara watched her worry her lip, but stand firm with the child in front of her to protect him. She was reminded of Merry, the girl on her first alien planet, who had snapped Danni out of being so terrified of everything. Clara quickly closed her eyes – if Danni could do it, then so could she.
"Prove to it that you're not going to look at it. Make a promise. A promise you're never going to look at it." The Doctor told the boy.
"I promise never to look." Rupert quickly swore.
"The breath on the back of your neck, like your hair's standing on end. That means, don't look round." Danni jumped as the door slammed shut, suddenly realising just how fast her hearts were going. She didn't know if it was just another kid, or something else entirely, but either way she really didn't want to do that again.
"Danni, let him go." Clara whispered and her eyes snapped open. She looked down to see Rupert still in her grasp and she quickly let him go.
"Sorry." She told him, slightly embarrassed but he just frowned at her.
"How can you be brave and scared?" He asked her.
"Because they're not mutually exclusive." She replied without really thinking about it. She didn't feel particularly brave, she never really did. Even over the five hundred years on Christmas, she still had her moments where she'd jump without a reason to. She guessed it was just the body she was in, it was never going to go away.
"He took my bedspread." Rupert declared forlornly and Danni giggled, nudging him towards the bed.
"Come on, let's get you into bed." She told him, "It's way past your bedtime." Rupert climbed on the bed as the Doctor walked over to the chair he had been in before, sitting down and picking up a toy robot.
"Am I safe now?" Rupert asked,
"Nobody's safe, especially not at night in the dark, Anything can get you. And all the way up here, you're up here all alone." The Doctor replied and Clara, who had been rifling through Rupert's toys, smacked him on the head.
"Thank you Clara." Danni called over as she pulled up his remaining sheets to tuck him under.
"What was that for?" The Doctor exclaimed as Clara walked over with a box of toys.
"Shut up, leave this to us." She commanded as she crouched down at the foot of the bed. She placed the box on the end, opening it up and pulling out a toy solider, "These yours?"
"They're the home's." Rupert replied and Clara shrugged.
"They're yours now."
"People don't need to be lied to." The Doctor snapped.
"People don't need to be scared by a big grey-haired stick insect, but here you are. Stay still, shut up." Clara snapped right back before leaning down and placing the soldiers around the bottom of his bed, "See what I'm doing? This is your army."
"Plastic army." The Doctor grumbled, moving to stand up but Clara pointed at him.
"Sit!" She commanded and he did, but only begrudgingly.
"And they're going to guard under your bed." Clara continued as Danni covered the little boy up.
"You may feel scared and alone, and you may think your superpowers have gone, but do you know what? They haven't." Danni explained, "Being alone doesn't mean there's no one there for you, it just means no one is in your room. And those little men, your little own plastic army, well… that's all they are. They're plastic. But they mean so much more than that." She smoothed his hair down as he laid on the pillow, Clara continuing to make her little ring around the bed, "They're your army. Your strength, you're bravery, and they're standing guard because your bravery is always there. It means you're never alone, you see? Because no matter how scared you may feel, your little army will always be there. Always there to fight your battles, always there to hold your hand." The Doctor sat up a little straighter, leaning forward at her words. That's what she did when she was scared, wasn't it? Not imagine a little plastic army, but she reached out for his hand. Even downstairs, at a creaking of an old house, she grabbed his hand before anything else.
Clara moved to Danni's side, still crouching as she held up a small army man with a walkie talkie, "You see this one? This is the boss one, the colonel. He's going to keep a special eye out." She told him, "He's your best friend, this one, because he's going to remind your army that bravery never leaves."
"It's broken, that one. It doesn't have a gun." Rupert told her and she nodded.
"That's why he's the boss." She replied, "A soldier so brave he doesn't need a gun. He can keep the whole world safe with words alone. What shall we call him?"
"Dan." He declared and Clara's whole demeanour changed.
"Sorry?" She asked slightly dreading the answer.
"Dan, the soldier man." Rupert clarified, "That's what I call him."
Clara nodded slowly, "Good. Good name." She agreed, completely blindsided by the name and the fact that he might just be the little boy version of the man she'd had such a disastrous date with. A fact that she had been trying really hard to forget.
"Yeah." He agreed, a thoughtful look on his face as he looked up at Danni. She made him feel better with her words as well, "Would you read me a story? It'll help me get to sleep." He asked her and she nodded, a grin on her face. She'd not read a story to anyone in such a long time, only a handful that she could remember. Even on Christmas she'd stopped looking after the children so much so she could spend time with her ever-aging husband.
"Sure." She replied softly. The Doctor, who was getting impatient, stood up and walked over.
"Once upon a time." He placed a finger on the boy's forehead and the Rupert instantly fell asleep, "The end." He turned to Danni, looking rather smug, "Dad skills."
Danni rolled her eyes "What did I tell you about doing that?" She told him, but she tucked Rupert in snugly under the makeshift sheets. She caught his impatient stare and sighed, "Fine, come on, let's go."
~0~0~0~
There wasn't much talking as the Doctor flew them away from the West Country Children's Home. Danni followed Clara as she sat down on the stairs up to the bookcases, wrapping an arm around her as she did. Clara, meanwhile, was still trying to convince herself that the little boy they had saved from… well, from whatever that was, wasn't her date, Mr Danny Pink. Danny Pink, or Dan the Solider Man.
She shook her head, before leaning on Danni, taking comfort in her presence. Of course it wasn't Danny. That would be ridiculous, right? For a start, the kid had been called Rupert. And Dan was quite a common name, it wasn't entirely farfetched to assume he had just happened to have chosen that name, right?
"So is it possible we've just saved that kid from another kid in a bedspread?" She asked the pair, trying to break out of her own head. She was being ridiculous. She had become distracted and the TARDIS had been thrown off course, that was all.
"Entirely possible, yes." The Doctor replied, fiddling with part of the telepathic interface. This wasn't the first time the TARDIS had flown them somewhere wrong because of it. Something must be broken, so he was starting with something simple first in the hopes he wouldn't have to take the whole thing apart, "The bigger question is, why did we end up with him, and not you?"
Clara grimaced slightly, "I got distracted." She told him guiltily.
"It still doesn't explain why we landed there." Danni replied, "The TARDIS was locked onto your timeline, so you at least should have had something to do with the children's home." Danni was looking at her suspiciously, like she knew Clara was hiding something, so she quickly stood up, hopping down the stairs towards the Doctor.
"No, nothing." She quickly denied, "Nothing at all."
"Hmm, of course not." Danni murmured, completely unconvinced as the pieces started falling into place. Clara had been distracted by a phone call, and suddenly they were with a little boy that would have been roughly Clara's age in the right time frame. The Doctor may not have noticed, but Danni sure had seen how jumpy some of Rupert's answers had made her.
"Will er," Clara asked, fiddling with the console as she tried not to look at either of them, "will he remember any of that?"
"Scrambled his memory." The Doctor told her, looking up with a grin on his face, "Gave him a big old dream about being Dan the soldier man." Clara's face fell and she leant over, groaning into the folded arms on the console top. The Doctor frowned, "Are you okay?"
Danni stood up, rushing down the stairs to her friend, "Do you want to go back to your date?" She asked Clara, who looked up with hope shining in her eyes.
"Really?" She asked in relief, "Is it not against some law of time or something?" Danni looked over at the Doctor.
"I shouldn't think so." She replied slowly, waiting for him to chime in, "We can do that, can't we?"
"I thought we'd discussed the TARDIS not being for missed events." He grumbled. Danni gave Clara a another quick squeeze of a hug then sauntered over to her husband, trying not to grin.
"Oh, come on." She begged, "We can drop her off, find another haunted house and…" She came to a stop in front of him, batting her eyelashes, "What do you think, Doctor?" She bit that deliciously plump lip of hers and he sighed, unable to resist that look in her eyes.
"Fine." He murmured, flipping a switch just to watch her smile.