Danni was surprised at the sight of her husband when she walked back into the console room. They had decided to wait until the school had fully shut for the evening before luring out the Skovox Blitzer, so Danni had taken a shower and got changed. Now wearing something more appropriate for catching an alien killing machine - jean and boots rather than a lunch operatives uniform - she had expected to find the Doctor scanning the area looking for the exact location of the Blitzer. Instead he was hunched over one of his many tables, his brown jacket discarded to one side as he worked on something. His sleeves were rolled up to the elbow, and he was concentrating so hard that he didn't even notice her enter the room.
"What are you making?" She asked as she walked over. He glanced up at her, a proper screwdriver in his mouth, his sonic in his hand.
"A contingency plan." Was his muffled reply before taking the screwdriver out.
Danni frowned, "I thought you knew what you were doing." She replied, "This is a school…"
"We shouldn't need it." He quickly told her, "It should just be a lovely little project that I can pick up at a later date. But, it's always best to be prepared."
"Alright." Danni replied slowly, thinking on it for a moment and agreeing that it was never a bad idea to have a backup plan when children could be involved. She walked over to the console, looking at the monitor, "Is that a church?" She asked.
"It's where our elusive foe is waiting." The Doctor replied as he quickly rolled his sleeves down, picking up his brown jacket, "I was just waiting for you, my Pet, before I nipped out. Remember your part of the plan?"
"Yes, of course." She retorted, "Stay in the TARDIS until you turn up then switch on the time mines, sending the Blitzer,"
"Skovox Blitzer," the Doctor corrected.
"Sending the Skovox Blitzer into the Vortex where it will be shot a billion years into the future, where it can't hurt anyone should it survive the trip." She finished. He nodded, shrugging the jacket on.
"Good. Now, I need my screwdriver, so you'll have to do it from the TARDIS." He explained, pointing out three little switches to her, "All three up, left to right."
"This would be one of those times where my own screwdriver would come in handy." She pointed out.
"And ruin the lining of your dinner lady uniform?" He retorted, "You don't have the pockets."
She pulled her tongue out at him for throwing her own argument back at him, "I still don't see why I have to stay behind." She told him, "We're not on Christmas anymore, I can actually help."
"Because it will be easier with only one target." He explained yet again, "And I only have one watch." He paused slightly as he made the final checks on the area, locating each one of his mines, "We can go buy you one afterwards, if you like?" He offered, sounding unsure. She had been so amused by the device, and it had brought out a playful side in her that reminded him of how they'd been before he regenerated. Even now, as they fell back into their old ways, he felt like they were still finding their way. She always liked when he gave her things because she loved the idea that he was thinking of her. They could spend the day there walking around the markets, maybe grab a night in a hotel, it had been a while since he'd taken her somewhere fancy, somewhere she could be spoilt like she deserved.
She smiled softly as he glanced over his shoulder at her, checking her reaction to his question. He was trying so hard to please her but she hadn't offered him the same in return, had she? Just constantly correcting his behaviour, when really she just wanted him to be himself. She walked over, pushing up on her tiptoes and placing a kiss on his cheek.
"What was that for?" He asked and she leant on his shoulder.
"For being so wonderful." She replied, "You don't have to buy me anything, but thank you for the thought." The Doctor looked down at her a moment longer, still slightly suspicious of the warm look that had fallen on her face. He'd done something right; he knew that much. Had she heard his plans to take her away for the night? He'd been sure that he'd kept them from her, but maybe he hadn't. But the happiness she was feeling wasn't punctuated with the giddiness she would feel from going somewhere new, so possibly not.
"I won't be long." He said, deciding to ponder on her behaviour longer when they weren't on such a tight schedule, "I'll send a signal once the creature is in the optimum place. Don't flick the switches until them."
"Do we have to send it into the vortex, though?" She asked, "I mean, what if we kill it?"
"It's a vicious killing machine." The Doctor replied, "It's no better than a Dalek. Once it realises it can take over the humans, it will."
"What about another planet, though, instead of through the vortex?" She asked, following him to the door, "It always seemed like a horrid way to die."
He looked back at her, wondering when her happy smile had been replaced with such a conflicted one, "It was a concern when I jumped." She explained, "Dying in the vortex when I was being flung around it. Not as much as dying in space, but I did worry about it."
"It's the safest thing we can do." He explained and she nodded, forcing a smile on her face.
"I know, I know." She replied, "You know what I'm like." She placed another kiss on his cheek, "Be safe."
"I do try." He drawled before opening the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" She demanded and he frowned, stopping yet again to turn to his wife.
"I thought we'd just been over this?" He asked her and she shook her head.
"You know the rules." She teased, stepping closer, "When you go into battle and leave me behind, don't tell me you've forgotten that too?"
He smirked slightly, remembering her little tradition every time he left the chapel on Christmas, leaving her behind in the little village. He had always been loath to leave her behind, even though they both knew it was best for the situation they were stuck in. She had demanded only one thing from him, "I love you, my Danielle." He purred, "I'm always coming back for you."
He watched the shiver run up her spin before she nudged him away, "Go on, then." She said like she had a thousand times before, "You can't come back until you're gone."
He stepped out of the TARDIS into the assembly hall, a smug smirk on his face as he headed towards the signal they had picked up for the Blitzer.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor ran through the hallways, panting heavily as he made sure to slam each and every door on his way to keep the attention of the machine that was currently tailing him. Everything was going exactly to plan; the Skovox Blitzer could sense that he was there, but it also was having trouble finding him without being able to see him. It was following his path based on the pulses from the sonic screwdriver and the watch that was keeping him from view. All he needed to do was lure it into the assembly hall, into the middle of the circle of mines he'd set up, and Danielle could do the rest from the TARDIS, which was hiding behind the curtains on the stage in the hall. Just out of sight of the Blitzer, hopefully out of harm's way.
Then they could leave the school, send back in the actual staff, and Clara could stop bugging them about being in her school and he could get back to teasing her about her ridiculously obvious boyfriend, with a resemblance to himself.
He let the doors swing heavily shut behind him, pressing the button on the button. About to call to his wife to tell her to get ready, instead his attention was quickly pulled to the ring of flashing red lights that came from each generator, "What? Red? Red." He dashed into the middle of the ring, looking at all of the generators. One or two would have been annoying but there was always a little wiggle room. All of them wasn't something he had time to fix. It meant the whole relay was down. With no relay, no time bomb. Just a very angry Blitzer coming to destroy everything it sees, "No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no!"
The curtains fluttered behind him, drawing his attention from the imminent arrival of the war machine and to his wife, "Theta, something's gone wrong!" She cried as she practically fell down the stairs from the stage. He quickly dashed forward, catching her before she could do any damage to herself, "I was just watching the monitor for you to come back and suddenly the console started flashing and the claxon went off and…"
"The generators are down." He quickly explained, holding her by the top of the arms, "What did you press?"
"Nothing." She replied honestly, and he could tell that she wasn't lying just by the panic swimming in her eyes, "Theta, what do we do? It's coming!"
He didn't have an answer for her, nor did he have time to think up a new plan. The doors to the assembly hall were flung open and the creature stormed through, it's gun held up and its spider-like feet tapping on the wooden floor. The two turned in unison, Danni grabbing the Doctor's arm as he took a step forward. He had no plan, no escape, all he could do was what he did best; ramble and hope that the creature attacked him before Danielle.
"Range one point four nine scan complete problem problem." The creature declared in its robotic voice.
"Listen. I'm unarmed. I'm peaceful." The Doctor quickly replied, holding his hands out so that it could see. He didn't even mention his wife, making sure to keep every pronoun singular it the hopes that it would keep its attention on him, "Don't you understand? I, I know that you shouldn't be on this planet but I can help you with that. I…"
"Problem solution destroy." The robot declared, getting ready to shoot at them both.
The door opened and Danny Pink entered, dressed like he was about to go home, a generator in his hand. He'd found a couple around the school, specifically in places he knew the caretaker would have been able to put them. He knew something was up with the couple, especially at the way his wife seemed to be trying to convince people to like him. He had heard his voice from the hallway and decided that it would be better to confront him now than the next day, when people would be there to defend them both.
"I want a word with you." He declared, stepping into the room to see the two in the middle of a ring of chairs, looking at him in horror. There was a figure between them, bigger than any human should be and he suddenly realised he'd stepped into something unbelievable.
"Get back!" The Doctor cried as the figure spun around, holding two guns.
"Problem solution destroy." The Blitzer declared.
"Danny!" Danielle cried from the Doctor's side, her voice filled with panicked horror as the Blitzer shot at the teacher.
~0~0~0~
It really wasn't very good, the two Time Lords having an invisibility watch whilst also having a time travelling blue box that could also turn invisible. Clara wasn't convinced that they wouldn't use it against her to hide, and as she left the caretaker shed that evening, she knew that something was going to have to be done about it. She'd get her sternest confiscating face on and allow them the watch if and when they needed it.
She knew that they couldn't be far, though. They were following through with their plan tonight, so she knew that somewhere in the school Danni would be waiting for her husband to lure a large killer robot to her so they could get rid of it together. Maybe she was a bit late, that was also a possibility, but it had only just started to be considered night outside, with dusk turning into dark, and she knew them both well enough to know they'd have waited until dark to bring an alien out from hiding.
She should have known all she had to do was wait, because as she was stepping out of the library, there was an almighty explosion from just around the hall. She set off in a sprinting run, throwing the door open to the hall to see a scene far worse than she had been expecting. The Doctor was pointing his screwdriver at a ball of yellow light and smoke, yelling out as a giant robot was being drawn into it, calling out its destress. Danni was scrambling off the floor from where the Doctor had obviously knocked her away, heading back to her husband's side.
And then there was Danny. Her Danny, Mr Pink, on the floor as well, but near the giant glowing ball that was pulling the robot in. He was struggling to not let the vortex pull him in as well, so Clara rushed over to his side, wrapping her arms around him.
"No! No, no, no, no! Doctor, stop!" She cried over but the Doctor didn't reply. Danni did glance over though.
"Clara!" She shouted, alarmed to see both of them being sucked in as well. She tugged on her husband's jacket, "Doctor! Clara!"
"I know!" He shouted over the roar of the time that was dragging off the Blitzer. A moment later and it was gone, thrown into time and the Doctor and Danni fell to the floor from the force as he switched the generators off, making the vortex disappear.
The Doctor rolled over, panting heavily as he looked at his wife, "Are you alright?" He asked her and she nodded, also trying to catch her breath from where it had been knocked out of her, "Danielle, answer." He demanded.
"I'm alright." She wheezed, which was all he needed. He knew that, had she truly been hurt, she would have told him. His eyes swept the room, looking for what damage had been caused when he spotted the generator on the ground. The rest had been attached firmly onto the chairs and this one, which happened to be by the PE teacher. Not only had he come in and interrupted his negotiations, but he'd actually been the one who broke the relay to begin with.
His hand shot out, picking it up before scrambling to his feet, "Oh, oh, well done, PE, brilliant work." He snapped, furious and jabbing the device in the terrified man's direction, "What's this? A chronodyne generator? I'll just deactivate that, shall I?" He mocked, "I've got a swimming certificate so that qualifies me to meddle with higher technology. Never mind that some people are actually trying to save the planet, you almost got my wife killed!" He shouted.
"Doctor," Danni quickly interrupted, standing up as well, "He didn't mean it, and look, I'm okay." She held her arms out to her sides to illustrate it.
"Oh, no, of course he didn't mean it." He replied scathingly, "There's only room in my head for cross-country and the offside rule!"
"Please, Doctor," Danni begged, looking over at Clara, who was helping up Danny, in slight panic, "the man's just had the scare of his life. Please, calm down!"
"Danny, what are you doing here?" Clara exclaimed, her voice full of panic, both at the fact that had now been exposed to aliens without her being there to cushion the blow, and the fact that the Doctor was ranting at him once again, meaning any step forward they had made was now being undone. That, and the fact that the alien killing machine was in her school and trying to kill her boyfriend.
"I was checking up on him." Danny explained, motioning over to the couple, "She's - He's been up to something, fiddling with the electric, and she's been covering for him, but what the?" He seemed to realise that Clara wasn't freaking out like he would have expected her to. In fact, her attention was off the terrifying monster that had just disappeared and back on the two strange new people, "No. What? Did you see that thing? Tell me you saw that thing."
She spun around to quickly glance at him, "I saw the thing, yeah." She dismissed before getting back to the matter at hand, "Doctor, are we safe? Is the planet safe? It's gone?" She asked in quick succession.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, for the moment." The Doctor retorted before holding up the disabled generator for her to see, "But the thing is, you see, the chronodyne generators have to be precisely aligned to generate the vortex. But the sergeant here, he went and moved one."
"But the chronodyne worked. It's gone." Clara stated, trying to ignore his swipes at her boyfriend. This Doctor was much less patient with people, she had to remember that, and Danny hadn't meant to interfere.
"Yes, for now." He snapped. The Doctor pulled out his screwdriver, scanning the area the vortex had finally disappeared as Danni watched Mr Pink turn around, looking at the burning hole in a stack of chairs the Blitzer had left behind. She stepped forward, in front of the Doctor, and took Clara by the top of her arms.
"Clara, look at Danny." She told her friend firmly. Clara frowned then turned to Danny, and it was with quite a lot of guilt that she noticed that he was looking completely out of his depth. Then he turned to Clara, looking over her like he was seeing her for the first time.
"Clara, why are you talking to him like that? Why are you using words like chronodyne?" He asked her, confused for a moment before his eyes went wide in realisation, "Was that thing a space thing?" He asked, his voice a pitch higher, "Oh. Oh, my God, you're from space. You're a spacewoman. You said you were from Blackpool."
"Seventy-four hours." The Doctor interrupted before Clara could offer any sort of reply, "Three days? Three days to think of something new because now it knows what to expect." He turned to the maths teacher, stepping forward with an angry grin on his face, "Now it has scanned me and Danielle and it will kill us both on sight, thanks to PE here."
"He's not a PE teacher, he's a math's teacher." Danni corrected, although she was feeling slightly more alarmed knowing they were both in the firing line, "And it's fine, because you were working on a backup plan, right?"
"No, that was a clever little lie to stop you backing out of doing this, because I stupidly thought nothing could go wrong!" The Doctor ranted, sitting down in one of the displaced chairs, pulling out a notebook from one of his many deep pockets. He crossed one leg over the other before opening it up. He needed to brainstorm. He only had three days to figure out how to stop a killing machine destroying the planet and his wife and himself.
Clara didn't know what to do. Danny was looking at her like she was the alien in the room, rather than her two friends or the robot they'd sent away. And it wasn't a happy look, he was staring at her like she was the problem, like he was scared of her and she didn't want that. It was not a look she wanted shot her way from the man who she loved, but she didn't want it shot her friend's way either.
"It's a play!" She exclaimed, the first thing that came to her head, "For the summer fete."
The Doctor looked up from his notebook, his face clearly showing that he was completely bewildered by her, "It's a what?" He asked and she turned around, shooting him a very pointed look.
"Yes, it's a play. Shut up, it is a play." She almost hissed before turning to give Danni the same look, warning her to go along with her lie. The look Danni was giving her back wasn't the insulted and confused one the Doctor was wearing; she was offering her a soft smile to say that she was on her side. But Clara knew her better and she could see the hurt in her eyes.
Clara was going to such extreme lengths to hide her friends from her boyfriend, was she ashamed of them? Danni just wanted Clara to be happy, but Danny Pink had been hit face on with the fact that aliens exist and that Clara knew about it, and she was still denying it? Maybe it was them. She'd rather lose them as friends than Danny as her partner.
Clara faltered in her explanation, turning back to Danny and wondering if she should continue down this lie. She never wanted to hurt Danni, she was her best friend, if only slightly more than the Doctor. She could feel the pain in her heart that she'd caused her to feel anything but happy, and the look on Danny's face wasn't exactly filling her confidence that she was convincing him anyway.
"How stupid do you think I am?" He asked her and the Doctor shot him an incredibly annoyed look.
"I'm willing to put a number on it." He grumbled but Danni smacked him on the arm.
"I'm not a moron, Clara." Danny continued like he hadn't heard him, "And he's not the caretaker." He pointed shakily at the Doctor, "He's your dad. Your space dad." He stuttered, her voice squeaking slightly in his alarm, before pointing at Danni, "And she's like, your space stepmum or something!"
"Oh, always the stepmum, never the actual mum." Danni grumbled, crossing her arms in a pout. She understood that she and Clara looked a similar age, but in reality that definitely wasn't the case.
"Like his alien midlife crisis, and he's married a younger woman." Danny continued and Danni narrowed her eyes, stepping forward to stand by Clara.
"Now hang on a minute!" She exclaimed, "We've been married almost six hundred years! Don't write me off as a bloody midlife crisis!"
Danny's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. Both she and Clara looked a similar age, but if they had been married for so long, did that make Clara over six hundred as well? "Six-Six hundred years?" He asked, "You told me you were born in 1986." He told her meekly.
"Oh, this is ridiculous." The Doctor declared, standing up and pulling out his screwdriver, "Right, I'm going to hypnotise him. I'm going to erase his memory."
Clara spun around, putting herself between the Doctor and Danny, "Doctor, stop!" She exclaimed.
"No you're not." Danni added, firmly pushing his arm down, "No more erasing people's memory!"
"Tiny little brain, only take a moment." He told the pair, configuring the sonic screwdriver with both hands. It's not like it was a hard thing to do, especially with the state of panic the PE teacher seemed to be in. A little tinkering and he'll believe that he had just followed them in there to see the damage done by some vandals. No one had to be any the wiser.
"You can't just wipe her boyfriend's memory!" Danni exclaimed, snatching the screwdriver out of his hands, much to his outrage, "I thought you'd gotten over this!"
"Her boyfriend?" The Doctor scoffed, "Oh, Danielle, you really have got it wrong, haven't you?"
Danni, despite her worry over the entire situation, paused to shoot him a confused look, "Gotten what wrong?" She asked.
He motioned to Danny Pink, "He's not her boyfriend." He corrected knowingly, "He's the PE teacher."
"No, he's my boyfriend." Clara said, also as confused as Danni was, "I thought you'd figured this out." The Doctor looked between the two woman, ignoring Mr Pink, who was staring at him in utter disbelief of his words and the situation he'd found himself in.
"Him?" He asked them both and they both nodded.
"Yes, him." Clara replied, wondering why she hadn't seen it sooner? He'd been horrible about Danny, and then had suddenly changed his mind. She should have seen something was wrong, but she was just too happy that he was accepting Danny that she'd just let it slide.
"No, he's not." The Doctor scoffed.
"Yes, he is." Clara corrected firmly.
"Yes, I am." Danny added to the end.
"But he's a soldier!" The Doctor exclaimed, jabbing towards the man with his hand, "You wouldn't date a soldier! Why would you go out with a soldier? Why not get a dog or a big plant?"
"Because I love him!" Clara exclaimed back, her voice trailing off as she realised just what she had said. She hadn't expected to shout it out, least not in front of Danny himself, but it was emotional and it was the truth.
The Doctor felt Danielle's emotions spike, a wave a panic rushing over her and his head snapped to the side, worried that she was hurt, or worse. But she didn't flinch, her smile frozen on her face in such a way that didn't seem to portray the happiness she was trying to show on the outside. Something was wrong, but he didn't know what. But it was something to do with Danny…
"Oh." The Doctor breathed, understanding completely as he looked back at Clara, "Danny Pink, I see what you've done there. Can't have my wife so…"
Clara held up her hand once, knowing where his head was going straight away, "No, don't you say it." She warned him firmly, "It has nothing to do with anything, and you need to drop it."
A quick look at his wife, who was looking over the couple like she was calculating something rather than paying attention, told him that for once Clara might be right, "What about the handsome one? The one with the bow tie?" He demanded, waving his hand at his throat to illustrate.
"Who? Adrian?" Clara asked, again confused, "No, no, no. He's just a friend and not my type."
"Clara, are you going to explain any of this? Who are these people?" Danny asked, calming down as he focused on the man who was insulting him, like he had a say in Clara's life at all.
"The Doctor and Danni," Clara started, facing her boyfriend and freezing in the middle of her words. How could she explain all this now? Now he was looking at her with such suspicious eyes, like he wouldn't believe anything she said, "they are…"
"Go on." The Doctor purred tauntingly.
"Yes, explain." Danny demanded, "Who is he? You've talked about her a lot, an awful lot, but never him. Why have you never mentioned him?"
Clara shrugged, deciding it was just too late and resigning herself to telling the truth, "Because he's an alien. They both are, but Danni's slightly more human than the Doctor."
"Er, are you an alien?" Danny asked again but she shook her head.
"No, no, no, I'm still from Blackpool." She promised just as Danni, next to the Doctor, seemed to snap out of her gaze.
"We can show you." Danni quickly gushed, causing them all to jump slightly at her sudden enthusiasm, "We, we travel in time and space together. We see wonderful things, and meet wonderful people and… and I'll show you!" She spun on her heel, grabbing the Doctor's hand and pulling him towards the stage.
"What are you doing?" The Doctor asked in a hiss, once again baffled by her behaviour.
"I'm showing him the TARDIS, help me." She almost snapped back, grabbing one of the curtains and pulling it open. He did as he was told, pulling the other to the other side of the stage to reveal their home
"It's called a Tardis," Clara explained, heading over as well. Danni seemed to be on the right idea, maybe if he saw how wonderful it was, he would be less upset with her.
"She."Danni corrected and Clara nodded and she walked up the stairs to join them.
"Sorry, she's called the TARDIS." Clara corrected herself, "but she's disguised as an old police phone box that..." She trailed off, turning to Danni, who smiled and nodded encouragingly. Clara had never had to give the companion talk before, it made sense that
"That's bigger…" She told her gently and Clara turned back to Danny.
"that's bigger on the inside," Clara finished, "than the outside."
The Doctor wasn't sure what was happening, except the fact that he was being left out of something terribly important and he did not like it. He didn't like the fact that Clara had hidden her boyfriend from him, or the fact that his wife had also known and not told him. He didn't like the fact that this new man was causing his Danielle to trip head over feet to calm him down and explain what was happening even though it was all his fault that the monster was coming back to the school. He didn't like the flash of panic he'd felt her feel, or the way she was staring hopefully at the man who was slowly walking towards them, like she was desperate for his approval. None of this was right, no one should make her feel like she had to work for their validation. Even beyond a soldier, he was certain this man was just not good enough to be let into their lives.
But, when she looked at him, her eyes begging for his help, he couldn't say no if it would calm her down. So he didn't chip in his own words, he just opened the doors to the TARDIS, showing an unworthy man their brilliant home, "Voila." He declared sarcastically.
Danny took a moment to look inside, then outside, then back in again like he couldn't fathom its scale. The Doctor normally liked this part, but he couldn't stand the fact that he was having to explain all this to a soldier that neither of them had invited into their lives. Clara had a lot to answer for after this, but not now. Even he could tell that he was getting worked up over it, and he was becoming increasingly annoyed with his mere presence.
"Look, take him away." He finally demanded after being accused of causing the danger yet again instead of saving them all, "Shut him up, shut him down. Up or down, it doesn't matter to me."
"For the last time, will you stop it?!" Danni snapped, her voice cracking as she scolded him. All her anger did, though, was show how upset she was because of the PE teacher. She turned to Clara, picking up her hands and placing them on Danny's arm, "Take him home, sweetie, and explain everything." She encouraged gently and Clara nodded.
"Will you be okay?" She asked because she knew she'd not handled the situation at all well. She prided herself for being in control of her life, but it had become increasingly obvious that she just didn't have the hold on things she'd thought she had.
"We'll be fine." She promised and Clara slowly walked Danny out of the hall, away from all he had seen that evening.
The two Time Lords didn't move until the door swung shut behind them. Danni didn't look away from the door, "You have to be better." She said quietly, "We have to be nice to him."
The Doctor turned on the spot, "Why?" He snapped back, "What has gotten into you? All you've done all day is nag at me." Danni frowned, hiding the fact that it hurt that he'd noticed what she had hoped had been an unfounded worry of hers, "Why does it matter what a soldier thinks of us?"
"Because she loves him!" She exclaimed, "I'm not losing another Clara because you can't get along with soldiers. I can't, I won't!" She turned and stormed into the TARDIS. The Doctor waited a moment, trying to process her exclamation. Why did she think that Clara was going anywhere? Although that did explain her upset. Clara was a close friend to both of them, he wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect of her leaving either.
He closed the doors behind him as he stepped into the TARDIS, finding her sat on the stairs that lead down to the underside of the console, where he had sat not too long ago to ask Clara if she thought he was a good man. If he was good enough for the woman who now suddenly was showing her years. He sat down next to her, looking down at her as he waited for her to be able to explain what was wrong. Her hands were clasped in front of her, her elbows balancing on her elbows as she looked down into the darkness below.
"I'm sorry." She told him after a long moment of silence, "I've been horrible to you since we landed, haven't I?"
"Never." He replied, "You've been trying to make sure I go unnoticed. It's exactly what I expect of you." She looked over at him, her lips tilting into a ghost a smile for just a moment.
"She loves him, Theta." She replied, her voice soft, "And that's great, but I didn't… She'd never told me that, it came out of nowhere and I just panicked."
"So what if she loves him?" He replied, "It doesn't mean anything. You love me, you don't see her getting upset. She just finds someone with the same name as you to attempt to replace you."
Danni shot him a look, making sure he knew she didn't appreciate his jokes, "It matters because this isn't like Amy and Rory. He's not going to want to travel with us and he won't do it just because she wants to either. She's going to have two separate lives, and we both know how that ends up. Eventually she's going to have to choose, and it's not going to be us." She ran a hand through her hair, sighing heavily.
"You know Miss Oswald as well I as do, my Pet. She won't let anyone tell her what to do, it's incredibly tiresome." He replied, trying to reassure her.
"Danny wouldn't make her choose." She replied, "He's a good man, despite how much you think he isn't. Being a soldier doesn't change that. He's kind, and shy, and the kids seem to really like him. He's a good maths teacher, and from what she's told me, he's a really good boyfriend."
"Then what's your worry?" He asked, keeping his patience with her which he could never seem to find with everyone else. He knew that she needed to talk it out, and she was so grateful for that. She just felt so guilty about how she'd treated him because of this mess. She'd allowed herself to get worked up over something she knew she couldn't control, blaming him when he had only been himself. And he really had been trying to tone down the disinterest in the people around them, she'd seen that.
"It won't be a choice." She explained, "If you don't get along, then it becomes a very 'us and him' scenario. She has to spread her time. One day it'll be either coming with us, or staying in with him. If he's not happy with us, then she'll stay in with him. One time becomes two, then three. One day she'll stop calling us, then we'll stop calling her." Tears gathered in her eyes, "I don't want to lose her again, Theta." She, with very little grace, fell against his arm, resting her head on him, "They all die eventually, everyone always leaves. I know she will too, but I'm not ready. He needs to like us." He quietly wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her slightly closer.
"You're getting ahead of yourself, Danielle." He scolded, "She's not going to leave us. She's far too in love with you for that." He was happy to hear her laugh through her tears.
"Anyone would think you were jealous of her." Danni replied, snuggling into the side of his chest.
"Never." He said confidently, "You love me far too much to leave me."
Danni nodded, "Definitely." She replied, "Between you and Clara, it's you. Just like it should be. And just like she should choose Danny. I know, and I am happy for her."
"If that is the case, you may want to work on how you portray it." He told her, "You don't seem to be putting that across."
"Shush you." She retorted, "At least I don't keep mixing up what he teaches. I don't know why you think he's a PE teacher. He's actually rather clever."
"He moved one of our generators without wondering that they were there for a reason." The Doctor retorted.
"He was just being inquisitive." Danni defended, "Alright, he could have chosen a better thing to tamper with, but he wasn't to know!" The Doctor scoffed and she nudged him, "Will you behave?"
"Never." He replied, almost proud, "He's going to have to do a lot better than that if he's going to impress Clara." Danni had to nod, agreeing with him.
"Only the best for our Impossible Girl." She said, knowing that Clara wouldn't choose anything but.