Clara knew she had a lot of work getting Danny to forgive her. He'd been practically silent the entire way back to his flat, but she could feel it turn from a stunned silence to a judging one that had made her shift uncomfortably in the elevator ride up his apartment block.
She'd set straight to work, explaining what had happened to her since meeting the Doctor and Danni. How they'd turned up on her doorstep, the Doctor dressed as a monk and Danni looking terrified at the sight of her. How small and timid Danni had been, yet how brave she'd become. About how they'd taken her across time and space, and how she'd saved the Doctor's life. Then about how they lived five hundred years in a war and the Doctor had sent Danni away and lived another three hundred, then regenerated and… well, here they were.
It was a lot to take in. He'd started the conversation sitting in his armchair, then he'd stood up and started pacing. By the end he was looking out of his living room window at the city below, which was now bathed in darkness. She knew it was a lot to take in. Her first experience of something more than what they could see had involved trying to land a crashing plane and having her consciousness sucked off by a robot who had looked like the blonde who had turned up on her doorstep.
But the silence she was receiving from him felt awful. She understood he wasn't happy with the lying, but surely he could see why she'd kept them both secret from him? Last thing she wanted was for him to think she was crazy, or try and turn in her two alien friends to some authority. Not that she thought he'd do that, but she had to cover them for any eventuality. Unfortunately, tonight hadn't been on any of her lists.
"What do you think?" She asked Danny quietly when she couldn't stand the silence any longer, "Say something."
"So, there's an alien, that used to look like Adrian. Then he turned into a Scottish caretaker," He summed up slowly, "who is married to a woman who has the same name as me, and every now and then you jump into their blue box and fight other aliens."
"That's about it, yeah." She replied, eyes downcast.
"Do you love her?" He asked and she quickly shook her head.
"No!" She almost exclaimed, wondering why even Danny thought that when it plainly wasn't true.
"Because you kept this all from me. This second life and told me nothing," he continued and again she looked away guiltily, "but not her. I know that she would eat spaghetti every day if she could, and that you've stayed up all night binge watching 'The Simpsons' with her and when you woke up she'd tucked you in on her sofa. You've told me that she's hopeless at cooking, and can't put up flat pack furniture." He didn't turn from his rigid stance, but he looked down at Clara, "Really had enough of the lies."
Clara paused for a moment, because he was right. She'd treated him appallingly, and she couldn't really deny how she cared for either of them, "Not in that way." She told him honestly, because she knew that's what he was thinking. For some reason people thought she was in love with Danni, but she wasn't. But she did love her greatly.
"Are we together because we share the same name?" He asked. It had been in his head the entire journey home, and had been during her explanation as well. Danni's name had come up first in every sentence, or the Doctor's didn't appear at all. While the caretaker obviously was her friend, even he could tell that she drifted more towards the woman.
"No, of course not." Clara was quick to reassure him, "I mean, yes, you do have the same nickname, and it did occur to me how confusing it might be, but no." She shot him a smile, one she hoped he'd believe, "And I don't love her in that way."
"What other way is there?" He countered.
"You know what I mean." She shot back, begging for him to understand what she meant. No one ever seemed to believe her, and yes she cared for Danni, but not like that. She had meant it, despite her surprise at saying it out loud; she loved Danny Pink.
"I don't know what you mean." He replied, though, and she was truly terrified of their relationship breaking apart, "I know what you tell me, which isn't always the truth."
They both stayed silent for the longest of moments as Clara tried to word what she wanted to say. "Danny…"
"Why do you do it?" He cut in, helping her with direction because she was floundering, "Why do you fly off in the box with them?" He looked down at her again, "The truth. Please, just this once."
Clara looked out of the window, past her own reflection and into the night. That was incredibly simple, when she thought about it. Images of planets with marketplaces, and Soviet submarines played in her head. Seeing the beauty of the universe and seeing it with her two closest friends was enough to keep her coming back every time, "Because it's amazing." She replied, a smile on her face, "Because I see wonders."
Danny nodded to himself, his gut telling him that she was finally telling him the truth, "Okay."
They fell silent again and Clara couldn't take it, "What are you thinking?"
"That's a good question." Danny replied before turning to her fully, "It's funny, you only really know what someone thinks of you when you know what lies they've told you. I mean, you say you've seen wonders, you've seen amazing things, and you kept them secret from me." He watched the guilt rush onto her face again, and part of him wondered if she felt guilty because she lied, or just because she got caught, "So what do you think of me, Clara?"
"Please, tell me how I fix this." She begged.
"I just want to know who you are." He answered and she shuffled on the spot, frustrated and desperate for him to believe and forgive her.
"You know who I am." She promised.
Danny shook his head, "When you're with them." He corrected, "When you're with Danni and the Doctor."
"I'm not any different." She insisted, "I'm always me. I-I know I kept this from you, and that was stupid, but there isn't anything else."
He tilted his head slightly, the pitying look he sent her at her perceived denial hurting her deeply, "You know that's not true, otherwise you would have told me." He pointed out. She started back, eyes wide and lips pursed as she tried desperately to think of a way to fix this. The only way she could was to show him, but that was impossible because the Doctor had made it very clear her didn't like the other teacher. While Danni could convince him to let her bring her boyfriend for a trip – Danni could convince the Doctor to do anything – the Doctor wouldn't act like himself with Danny Pink around. Which meant Clara act different in response. Danny would never believe that she was the same Clara with that scenario playing out.
She smiled softly, an idea quickly popping into her head, "I'll show you." She declared, "I can prove it. Tomorrow, after school."
~0~0~0~
Clara held the door open for the invisible Danny, letting him into the TARDIS before closing it behind her. The Doctor was on the other side of the console room, fiddling with something, while Danni sat at his feet and doing the same. Probably building their new attempt to stop the Blitzer. She felt a pang of guilt over the fact that they had to start all over again, but there was nothing she could do about it now. All she could do was try and fix it from this point onwards.
Which is what she was doing now. If she could show Danny that nothing was different between the ordinary every-day life and her life with the two time lords, maybe he'd be more accepting of it. Then she could move onto working with the Doctor to be, at least, more civil with Danny.
Danni looked up from her place at his feet, wires in hand to see Clara stood there with a sheepish smile on her face, "Clara!" She scrambled up off the floor, letting go of the wires to rush over to her friend. Danny tried to move out of her way, but the blonde still tripped over his feet. Whether she noticed or not, though, was anyone's guess because she didn't stop until she was in front of Clara, "I'm so sorry." She quickly rushed out, "About last night."
"Well, no harm done." Clara replied, letting the blonde pull her into a hug. She returned it for a moment before remembering Danny's words the night before. She tried to untangle herself without hurting Danni's feelings.
"Thanks for keeping out of our way." The Doctor snapped over from across the room, refusing to even look in her direction, "You haven't brought Dave with you, I hope."
Danni frowned, because he'd promised he would try and at least be civil if he wasn't going to like the other man. She was trying to tell him off less, especially when he was just being himself, but it hadn't taken him too long to change his mind about being nice about the other man.
"His name's Danny." Clara corrected pointedly, mainly for Danny's benefit because she knew the Doctor wouldn't say the correct name until he felt he needed to, "And no, I haven't." She hid her glance to the side, wondering where Danny was stood and trying to hide the look by fiddling with the console, "I've er, I explained it all to him. He gets it. He took it really well."
The Doctor didn't even bother looking at her, but Danni smiled warmly, "That's good." She replied, heading back over to her husband's side, "That's really, really good."
I tripped over something.
The fact that Danni hadn't declared this out loud, she wasn't exactly shy about her clumsiness, wasn't reassuring. He'd felt the movement in the air, but he'd hoped he'd just been distracted with his work, "Danielle, pass me that synestic." He replied instead of acknowledging either Clara or Danni's words. Instead he used them as a jab at Clara, who was actually closer to what he needed. Danni rushed over, grabbing the small metal box and handing it to her husband. She stood at his side, hand on his arm.
Clara chose to ignore the blatant stab at her, "So, when the Blitzer comes back, are you going to catch him with that?" She asked, nodding to the device they had both been working on when she and Danny had stepped in.
"It'll be a long, fiddly job." The Doctor snapped, attaching some wire to the bottom of the synestic, "It's going to take me at least twenty-four hours. Even longer if people keep talking to me, so do keep going."
Again Clara ignored his attitude, "If it comes back Thursday night, are you sure about that? Cos you said the chronodyne is unstable."
The Doctor placed the part down on his table, obviously still annoyed at her, "If you want bother someone, go and bother PE."
Clara sighed. He was just doing this to upset her, but she wasn't going to stand back and take it. She really had to find out about the others, their other companions, and work out why they allowed the Doctor to think it was okay for them to talk to him like that, "He's a maths teacher." She corrected.
"That's a shame, I like maths." The Doctor retorted.
"Not a soldier." She finished pointedly and the Doctor straightened up to correct her. Once a soldier, always a soldier, he was testament to that.
But then he felt the air shift again and he glanced towards the console, "Interesting." He declared.
The other side of the console.
The Doctor made sure Danielle moved around the console as Clara shot him a confused look, "What is?"
"I'm bored." He told her, jumping off her chair and heading to his console, "Let's go somewhere fun. What do you say? Do you want to see the Thames frozen over? Oh, those frost fairs." He started setting the controls as if he was starting the flight.
"Oh, can we take Vastra?" Danni asked in reply like she was happy to go along for the ride.
Clara looked between the two as the Doctor nodded his agreement to her suggestion. That wasn't right at all, they couldn't go anywhere, not with Danny on board. She quickly jumped to his side, flipping the switches back that he'd put in place, "But you can't. The Skovox thing." She reminded.
"Oh, don't worry, I know she fancies you but Vastra loves Jenny." Danni reassured, keeping her voice happy as she followed her husband's cues, "She's harmless, she just likes good looking women."
"But… but I have parent's evening." Clara stuttered slightly.
"It's a time machine. We can get back straightaway; like we always do on your dates." The Doctor retorted, flipping some more switches as he walked around towards his wife. Clara followed and put them all back into position, "Just make sure you don't get yourself a tan or anything, or lose a limb."
"I don't think we should, not this time." She tried to insist.
"You've never said no before." He reminded, "Not even in the middle of dinner. Remember when you had to eat two meals in a row?"
"I just think, with the school in danger…" She started but there was a whoosh, the air shifting as Danny revealed himself again, "Danny, why are you?"
"He already knows I'm here. That's why he's talking like that." Danny explained, a sneer in his voice, "He's being clever."
"I tripped over him." Danni offered as an explanation, "Although, to my credit, I didn't know it was him."
"I did." The Doctor taunted, "Being a Time Lord, I can feel a light shield aura when it's right next to me."
"Oh ho, ho." Danny laughed, "Time Lord? Might have known."
"Might have known what?" The Doctor demanded, turning on the spot to glare at the man.
"Well, the accent's good, but you can always spot the aristocracy. It's in the," He paused for a moment, making a face like there was a strong smell under his nose, "the 'attitude'."
"Oh, please, don't do this." Clara took a step closer to Danni as she begged them both tiredly. Once again, one of her plans had gone hideously wrong and now the two men were butting heads. And, with Danny over his shock at the TARDIS and aliens, she knew he wasn't going to hold back.
"Now, Time Lords, do you salute those?" He asked condescendingly, walking over to square up to the Doctor.
"Definitely not." The Doctor snapped, keeping his voice low. He could tell how distressed Danielle was becoming, and he didn't want to add to it. The man in front of him, Clara's attempt at placing her crush on his wife on someone else, wasn't worth upsetting her further for. However, there was only so long that would last for. Already he could feel the threads of control slipping.
"Ah. Sir!" Danny replied, saluting him, back straight.
"And you do not call me sir." The Doctor replied, also calmly.
"As you wish, sir. Absolutely, sir."
"And you can get out of my TARDIS!" He shouted, feet grounded as he stood next Danielle. He pointed at the door, almost shaking but refusing to move. Clara next to her boyfriend, Danielle next to her husband. A very distinct line down the room, separating the friends.
"Immediately, sir." Danny replied loudly, Clara darting in front of him to stop him heading out of the door.
"Doctor, this is stupid, this is unfair." Clara begged of her friend, trying to make at least one of them see sense.
"One thing, Clara. I'm a soldier," Danny told her, holding his hands up, "guilty as charged. You see him? He's an officer."
The Doctor bristled, memories of too many wars flying through his mind, unable to hide it from Danni who saw the anger and the heartache fly through him at the mere word, "I am not an officer!" The Doctor snarled.
"I'm the one who carries you out of the fire. He's the one who lights it." Danny continued, ignoring the other man as he explained his viewpoint very simply to his girlfriend. He'd had plenty of experience with officers. He'd seen more of his fair share of men sent out into the dessert on a whim of men staying behind in tents and bunkers. He knew the attitude, heard the commands, and the Doctor
Clara had been too busy watching the argument to notice, and evidently the Doctor and Danny had been too busy arguing to pay attention to the little blonde woman who had barely a word during the entire thing. Danny cried out as she grabbed his arm, bending it behind his back with a strength he hadn't expected from her.
"That's enough!" She shouted, "You want order?! March! Now!" She shoved him forward, "One two, one two!"
Clara was quick to follow them, "Danni, what are you doing?" She cried, alarmed as the Doctor watched his wife push out the other man from the TARDIS. Clara was naïve; he knew better than to interrupt her when she was that angry.
Danny Pink stumbled slightly, absolutely blown away by how the woman so easily forced him to move, "Come on, soldier! Now!" She clicked her fingers and the doors opened, and she shoved Danny out of the TARDIS.
"Danni, stop it!" Clara begged, stepping out around her as Danni kept herself in the doorway. Her hearts were pounding, if she'd been a cartoon her vision would have been red with her anger. The moment he'd started shooting accusations at her Theta her blood had started boiling.
"How dare you come into my home and speak to my husband like that!" She screamed, finger pointing at him as he stared back, "You don't know anything of what has happened to us, you do not get to speak as if you do!" Danny opened his mouth to defend himself but a quick look from her shut him up, "I don't know who you think you are, but if you try that again, I'll do more than chuck you out! Understood?!"
"He didn't mean…" Clara started.
"Understood?!" She repeated pointedly, her eyes never leaving the maths teacher.
"Yes." He replied and she shook her head.
"Yes what?" She demanded.
Clara's heart tightened in realisation as Danny saluted her friend, "Yes sir." He spat. She could see how angry Danni was, and the knowledge that her poor actions had caused her to feel that way actually hurt.
Danni turned to Clara, "Get him out of here, Clara." She commanded, "When he's civil, we'll try again. I'll make a roast." And she turned away from them, slamming the door shut behind her.
Clara turned to Danny, unsure of what to say. She wanted to tell him off for goading the two Time Lords, but she also wanted to apologise for to him for the way Danni had shouted. So she just stared, hesitating as she worried her hands, waiting for his reaction.
"You see that?" Danny pointed out to her, "That is who they are. Both of them again the rest of us." And he turned, walking out of the shed and back into the school.
Again, Clara hesitated. She had always known that it was the Doctor and Danni against the universe, none of this was news to her. And she also knew that, if pressed enough, both of them would snarl at an attacker of the other. The Doctor had been hell bent on killing the Architect, his came to the surface a lot quicker than Danni's, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. It was going to take more than a quick chat to fix this, but for once Clara was completely out of ideas.
"Danny, it's not time to go home yet." She called after him, setting off in a little jog to catch him up, "It's Parents' Evening."
~0~0~0~
Danni slammed the door as hard as she could, turning to lean against it with closed eyes. She took a couple of slow, deep breaths to try and calm herself down. She could feel herself shaking, her hands clenched tightly by her sides. Her anger roared through her, it really wasn't a pleasant feeling. She was, generally, not an angry person.
"I'm going to regret that when I calm down, aren't I?" She called over to her husband, opening her eyes again to see him stood at the console.
"I don't know; I think you treated him exactly how he deserved." The Doctor replied and she nodded.
"Exactly." She replied as an explanation to her behaviour, "It's just…" She growled slightly, "How dare he?! He has no idea, no idea what the fuck he is talking about!"
The Doctor moved back to the table, seeing that she was already on the path to calming down. Her anger wasn't half as explosive as he'd felt when she'd flown at Danny Pink, so he knew it was safe to continue work. Saving the children would calm her down, and going shopping for a watch of her own would delight her even further. A hotel room together? That would be quite lovely after this little mess of an adventure.
"Of course not, he's a PE teacher." He replied, picking up a screwdriver, "But, unfortunately, on this occasion, he may have been right. I was an officer." He glanced over at her to see her reaction. She didn't move, but she sagged a bit more against the door.
"I know." She replied softly, "But he implied you had a choice. Like you sat in an ivory tower and moved pawns around on a chessboard. You only sent people into battle because you physically couldn't go in yourself."
He didn't reply for a moment. She had always thought so highly of him, sometimes he wondered how he'd managed to trick her so completely. That had never been his intention, but no matter what, no matter how he failed her, she always saw him as a good man. And if she could see that, maybe he was, deep down, "You never were a fan of people trying to call me war hungry." He said offhandedly, continuing to build their answer to the mess of the night before, "I still remember a young red head having a temper tantrum at the creator of the Daleks because he was taunting me."
Danni laughed, pulling up the memory of her first body with great ease. He knew she would, it was why he'd brought it up in the first place. Reminding her of how long they'd been together, and another time that her anger had helped him was always going to play to that giant heart of hers, "Well, he was pissing me off." She replied with her giggles still in her voice, "Talking shit about my Time Lord. No one ever understands." She pushed off the door, the final proof her needed that she was calming down once again, "They see guns and ultimatums and disasters. That's never what you're showing the universe." She headed over to his side, sitting down by his feet once again and picking up the wires she had been working on when Clara had walked in, "You were showing them a choice."
"You always seemed to understand that, my Pet." He replied softly, placing his work down to run his fingers through her blonde hair, "How could I resist someone who knows me better than I know myself?"
She leant into his touch, closing her eyes and just enjoying the feeling of his fingertips scratching lightly across her scalp, "The Davros's and Danny Pinks of the universe will never see it, but I do." She replied, "You would never send in a single person who didn't want to go. That's the different between you and the officers of war. They don't care, but no matter how much you hide it, you always do."
He didn't reply, just continued to run his fingers through her hair as he enjoyed the sincerity behind her words. Then, reluctantly because he truly could have stayed that way forever, he removed his hand, "Talking. Everyone's always talking. We need to focus, Danielle."
She smiled to herself, knowing that it was just his way of stopping himself focusing on her words for too long, "Yes, Theta." She replied, "What do I need to do again?"
~0~0~0~
Danni wasn't sure when it had happened, but sometime during their work, she had relocated to the Doctor's lap. They had been building the communication device, the Doctor actually allowing her to do little bits he deemed her capable. She just wasn't sure when his arms had wrapped around her, or when he'd started to place little kisses on her neck as he encouraged her to put the finishing touches on the mouth piece.
"That's it, nice and slow." He murmured up against her skin, causing shivers to run down her spin as she finished the small line of soldering. He felt the little flicker of pride from her as she pulled the hot iron away, although he kept telling her she was much more capable that she seemed to think she was. If it made her feel good, though, he would continue to show her that she could do anything she wanted.
Except flying the TARDIS. He still didn't quite trust her to do that.
He took the iron off her, placing it back in its stand as she held the mouth piece up close to her own mouth, "So, I press the button…" She started, pressing the red button on the side, "And talk into…" she frowned, disappointed when her voice didn't change at all.
"It's not for voice manipulation, my Pet." He told her, also taking it off her to place it down on the table. He wrapped his arms around her, wondering if they could finish for the evening and spend some more time together, "It codes your voice, broadcasting it in the right frequency…"
He trailed off as the console let out a series of quick beeps, much like an alarm clock going off, "What's that?" Danni asked as he pushed her off his lap. That wasn't supposed to happen for another 24 hours!
He rushed to the console, checking the readings just in case she'd picked up something else. She hadn't, and he started to panic. The converter wasn't quite ready, and there was a school full of teachers and parents outside. One look at them and they'd have a massacre on their hands!
"No, no, no." He cried, grabbing the backpack, "No! No, no, no, no, no!"
"What is it?" Danni asked again.
"It's back. It's early. Bloody PE teacher!" The Doctor ranted, running out of the TARDIS with Danni on his trail. He needed time, they needed backup. Parents' evening was just going to have to wait.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor and Danni didn't manage to catch Clara's attention straight away, but Danny had spotted them motioning her out of the room. He'd brought them to her attention and they rushed out of the parents' evening without an explanation.
"What's happening?" Clara asked, panting as they all ran out into the playground.
"The Blitzer is here." Danni replied, also panting lightly.
"You said Thursday night." Danny accused, "Right, hall, quick."
"PE, shut up." The Doctor snapped and all of them knew this wasn't the time to call him up on his error, "Clara," He turned to their friend, the useful one out of the couple, "it'll scan the area. If it gets to parents' evening, it'll kill them all."
"We've got to evacuate." Danny insisted but the Doctor shot him yet another glare.
"Shut up!" He shouted. Clara decided the best idea was to separate them, so with a hand on his arm she turned him to face away from her boyfriend.
"Quickly. What do I do?" She asked calmly. He always had a plan, they always had a plan. If she could help and save the school, then she would gladly.
"It'll be here any second." He explained, rushing over the words as he rummaged in his pocket. He pulled out his screwdriver and handed it to Danni, "Setting forty-one." He told her, "Random bursts, no more than three seconds each, random pulses." He quickly explained to her.
"Setting forty-one?" Clara asked as Danni quickly flicked through the settings.
"Umm… helicon energy?" Danni asked unsurely, looking up and meeting her husband's eye. Even in the state of emergency, he still shot her a nod to tell her she was right.
"You two distract it, then lead it away from the hall." He commanded, "Give me two minutes."
"Two minutes? Will that be enough?" Danni asked and he nodded.
"It's all we've got." Was his reply, "Just run straight for the TARDIS."
"But your gadget isn't ready yet." Danny protested, definitely not happy about his girlfriend being used as bait, "Twenty-four hours, you said."
"Yes, well, I've revised that down to two minutes." The Doctor retorted before reaching forward. It wasn't the party kiss he'd hoped for with his wife, but with time ticking it was the best they could do.
"Be safe." She told him, even though she was the one leading the Blitzer on a wild goose chase before grabbing Clara's hand, "Come on, sweetie."
Clara and Danni quickly ran off, happy to play their parts in the plan, as Danny watched the Doctor pick up his backpack, "You're using them like a decoy?" He exclaimed.
"No, not like a decoy. As a decoy." The Doctor corrected, not exactly happy with the plan himself. However, if there was one person he trusted to do this properly, it was Danni. And Clara, really. He knew she wouldn't let them down, that she'd always try her best and he needed that right now, "Don't they teach you anything at stupid school?"
Danny ignored the swipe at him, focusing on the danger at hand, "Well, is there anything I can do?"
The Doctor turned to him, "Yes. Yes, and this is very, very important." He leant in close, "Leave us alone!" And he ran off, leaving Danny stood there in the playground, at a loss of what to do next. He couldn't just stand back, he couldn't just let them try and save the school and the children without even trying to help. His entire being protested at being useless in this, but what could he do? He couldn't follow Clara and Danni in case he ruined it again – he did still feel guilty about that, despite his attitude towards the two aliens. So his best bet was with the Doctor, who didn't want him there at all!
He growled to himself before storming off into the hallway for a good pace. There had to be something!
~0~0~0~
Danni didn't let go of Clara's hand for the entire run to the hall where they knew the Blitzer was currently waiting, most likely scanning the area and working out what to do next. This was nothing new for Danni, nor really for Clara, and yet the involvement of Danny Pink had made them both incredibly nervous about what to do next, even if they didn't show it.
"Stay a little behind me." Danni told her, "Don't run too fast, you might need your strength for after."
Clara frowned, "After? After what?"
"If the Doctor can't finish the device in time, we'll need to stall further. You'll have to take over me when I get tired." She smiled at her friend, "This is more like it, isn't it? I don't think we suited working in real life together."
"Oh, I don't know." Clara replied, "I enjoyed having you around. Your husband on the other hand…" Danni nodded.
"We'll fix it, I promise." She insisted before taking hold of the door handle, "Ready?"
"Ready." Clara confirmed with a nod. Danni took a deep breath and opened the door. Inside the hall there was a giant ball of Vortex energy as the Blitzer materialised in front of them.
"Here goes nothing." Danni murmured before holding the sonic up. Clara couldn't help but stare as the wind blew around her, catching her hair as she stared at the creature without fear. She'd told Danny Pink about how terrified of life she had once been, but she was standing there ready to face the creature head on like she wasn't even fazed by its presence. She smiled, a warm feeling spreading through her at the thought of how much Danni had grown, tinged with a bit of sadness that she hadn't been there to see it.
Danni set off the screwdriver, setting it off in two short bursts before holding the last one for a couple of seconds. The Blitzer's head spun around, it's sensors picking up the energy.
"Oh, I hope this hides me from its scan. I don't particularly want to die." Danni suddenly said and Clara looked at her, alarmed.
"Wait, what?" She exclaimed.
"Incoming stop identified Helicon Helicon commence retargeting." The mechanical voice of the Blitzer declared its intentions and Danni turned on her heels.
"Run!" She shouted, darting off down the hallway. Clara quickly followed, a quick glance behind to make sure it was following. The hallways in the school had never seen so short, but already they seemed to be covering a lot of ground.
"Where are we taking it?" She cried as Danni held the sonic screwdriver aloft again, setting off another pulse of Helicon energy.
"Away from parents' evening!" Danni replied, "Left or right, Clara?"
Clara hadn't been paying attention to where they were going, just making sure she was keeping up with Danni and away from the Blitzer that was chasing them down the halls of the school. It took her a moment to work out where they were, "Right!"
Danni nodded, making sure to keep another pulse going as she ran around the corner so the robot didn't lose their tracks, "You know, my own screwdriver would have been so helpful!" She called back with pant in her voice, "You could have had one and we could have confused it!"
The back doors to the courtyard were coming slowly into view, the other side being the caretaker's shed where the TARDIS and the Doctor were currently hiding. Danni shook her head, "He'd better be ready." She grumbled, pushing the doors open, "Straight ahead!"
Clara nodded, both of them making it into the shed just as the Blitzer shot at them, exploding the door as well as some of the brickwork, "Doctor, now! Do it now!"
"Twenty seconds!" He called, making the final adjustments to the backpack. Danni turned, chucking the screwdriver at Clara.
"Your turn!" She shouted, rushing over to her husband as Clara caught it, setting it off. The gun, which had been pointed at the blonde, quickly relocated to Clara. Danni helped him put the backpack on.
"This will work, yeah?" She asked and he nodded.
"Of course it will." He snapped as Clara screamed, barely dodging a blast from the Blitzer's gun, "Am I green? Am I green?"
"Yes, you are!" Danni replied as he rushed in front of the Blitzer, holding the mouthpiece Danni had attached earlier up to his mouth. Clara continued her loop around the room until she was at Danni's side. She grabbed her friend's hand as they watched, barely breathing.
"Stop! Skovox Blitzer!" The Doctor declared into the mouthpiece, his voice coming out slightly distorted as it changed the way his voice was broadcast.
The Blitzer's head rose, reminding Clara a little of ET, as its guns powered down slightly, "Awaiting orders."
"Superior Skovox Artificer." The Doctor continued, "Analyse stop analyse stop."
"Superior recognised. Pattern one one oh, Orders orders."
Clara turned to Danni, "Why is it listening to him?" She asked.
"It thinks the Doctor is its general." Danni quickly explained, "It disguises him by scrambling the way its visual sensors decodes the image it receives from its optical input."
Clara blinked, surprised slightly by the words the came from her friend's mouth, "That sounded…"
Danni smiled, "Like him?" She nodded to her husband who was finishing the final part of his part in the plan, "He's not the only smart one, Clara. I do know some stuff; I just don't show off."
"I can hear you." The Doctor shot back in the pause between his command and the confirmation off the machine.
"Final input code missing." It declared and Danni left Clara's side, standing next to her husband as the Blitzer's eyes turned from blue to red, "Emergency terminate. Initiate self-destruct in nine, eight…"
"The input code. I forgot the final input code." The Doctor berated himself, pulling out the keyboard attached to the backpack and frantically typing on it.
"What do we do?" She asked him, also rather panicked.
"I need time." He replied, "Distract it, Clara!"
"Me?" Clara exclaimed, "What can I do?"
"Oi, Skovox." All three of them looked up, confused by the disembodied voice, "Over here." Danny Pink appeared with a whoosh of air, switching off the invisibility watch he had been wearing and running over. The Blitzer turned its attention off its self-destruct sequence and onto the new target.
"Under attack." The Blitzer declared, aiming its gun and shooting at Danny. Clara gasped, but Danny didn't even flinch as he jumped over it, flipping through the air. Each shot missed and he landed on his feet on the other side in front of the Doctor.
"Woah." Danni let out lowly as he rushed behind the Doctor and Danni, taking hold of Clara and pulling her close, ready to protect her if he needed to.
"Artificer Artificer." The Doctor repeated into the microphone, "Stop. Confirm stop override final input code."
"Code accepted." The Blitzer replied, "Abort self-destruct. Orders accepted. Stop stop stop." Its voice trailed off as it powered down, guns dropping before, finally, its eyes turned off.
Clara turned to Danny, unable to keep the laugh of pure joy out of her voice, "Oh, my God!" She chucked his arms around him, hugging him tightly as he lifted her off the ground, "Oh, my God, you were amazing!" He placed her back down but she couldn't stop touching him, her hands on his face as she stared up, totally in awe of what her boyfriend. He was so full of surprises. Her heart almost burst in pride, "Oh, my God, you were so brilliant."
"Well, yeah, I was okay, wasn't I?" Danny replied, ever modest, before leaning in closer, meeting her gaze, "I was behind you every step of the way." He told her and she had never felt more loved, "Had to make sure you were safe." He looked over at the Doctor and Danni, and Clara couldn't help but glance over as well. While the Doctor was stood there, obviously trying to not look in impressed, Danni had both her hands over her chest, a giant grin on her face as she watched them. Like they were her most favourite couple in the universe, like Clara had seen some of the girls talking about that Supernatural show look while talking about the guy and the angel. What was the word? Oh, yes, shipping.
"You okay?" Danny asked the Doctor, holding out the invisibility watch.
The Doctor took it off him, nodding, "Okay." He agreed and Danny knew it was the closest he was ever going to get to an approval.
Clara, however, wasn't accepting that, "Just okay?" She challenged, ready to fight for her boyfriend, who had taken on a robot for her.
"It's all right, it doesn't matter." Danny cut in, "I don't need him to like me. It doesn't matter if he likes me or hates me, I just need to do exactly one thing for you." He told her before turning the Doctor, "Doctor, am I right?"
Both Clara and Danni looked at him, confused as the two men seemed to share an unspoken word, "Yes." The Doctor replied begrudgingly.
Clara looked between them, "What? What one thing?" She asked.
"I need to be good enough for you." Danny explained, "That's why he's angry. Just in case I'm not."
Clara felt a lot of things at that moment. Stupid because she'd missed that in her attempt to make peace between that, hurt because Danni hadn't told her of this development. She felt outraged that he didn't think she could choose a partner for herself, and smug because she'd chosen one that he semi-approved of. Mostly, though, she was touched that he cared so much. Since he regenerated it hadn't just been Danni who had struggled to find her place with the new man he'd become, but for what felt like the first time she finally saw their friendship back where it always had been.
Before she could question him, though, Danni squealed, bouncing on the spot and surprising them all by chucking her arms around the Doctor's next, pulling herself off the floor, "Oh, you sentimental old fool!" She gushed, "You could have told me!"
"No, stop that." He told her, shrugging off the backpack and letting it smash on the floor as he struggled to keep a hold of it and his wife, "You can't be happy at that! It's just mush!"
"You caring about our friend is not mush." She told him, knowing that he wasn't angry with her because he wrapped his arms around her as well, "I knew you weren't being mean for no reason. I should have seen it sooner."
"Yes, you should have." He told her and Clara continued to smile as they lost sight of both her and Danny. She took a step back to her boyfriend, wondering and hoping they could be the same as they grew up.
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that side of him." Danny commented, nodding towards them as Danni cupped the Doctor's face in the same way Clara had done to him just moments ago. She had a smile on her face, he had the ghost of one. He felt like he was watching something not meant for anyone's eyes but their own.
"Yeah, they're like that." Clara replied, before turning around, grinning suddenly, "Now they can walk in on us snogging." She crowed.
"Not a snog box!" Danni called over, a giggle in her voice, "Not for you two, anyway!"
~0~0~0~
Deep in space, where no one would ever find it, the TARDIS floated as the Skovox Blitzer was cast into space, never to be found by anyone ever again. It was a horrible fate for anything, but the Doctor was right and they couldn't risk it being reactivated now that it had been on Earth.
The TARDIS disappeared, flying off somewhere new and exciting for the Time Lords in it, and the screen which this was displayed on turned black and white, like the end of a television show.
"Oh, he was always so dramatic, wasn't he?" Missy gushed, turning off the monitor on the giant control panel she'd had built into her office, "Couldn't just take it apart, could he? Oh no, had to push it into space." She turned her head in her giant arm chair to look at her fellow occupant, "However did you put up with him?"
Danielle glared at her through brown eyes, her hatred palpable even if she stayed silent. Missy tutted, standing up and walking over, "Nothing to say, my Pet?" She asked.
Again, Danni didn't reply, just continued to stare until Missy, with another sigh of annoyance, reached forward and pulled the metal device out of her mouth. It hung around her neck, deactivating, "What was that, my Pet?" She asked.
"I'm not your Pet." Danni spat at her, pulling at the handcuffs around her wrists, "And he's coming for me whether or not you like it."
"Of course he's not." Missy laughed, "It's been decades Danielle. You need to give up on this silly notion."
"He's always coming for me." Danni reiterated, her voice burning with her anger and hatred, "And when he finds us, he's going to kill you where you stand. And this time, you won't regenerate."
"You keep thinking that, my Pet." Missy conceded, "You'll see the error of your ways soon enough." She dipped her head and Danni knew exactly what she was trying to do. Before she could place her lipstick covered lips on top of her own, Danni spat at her.
Missy slowly wiped her face clean, "Fine, have the gag." She snapped, her tone turning from playful and forgiving to plain annoyed. She shoved the gag back into Danni's mouth, where it beeped as it turned on again, silencing her completely, "I have stuff to do, anyway. Running an afterlife really does eat into your free time." She patted Danni's cheek twice, before pulling it back and slapping her hard enough that her head flew to one side, "You just sit here and think about what you've done."
And Missy walked out, leaving Danni staring at the black and white screen of the stars she wouldn't see again for a very long time.