Ah, what a relief it is to know this is what I got done during every bit of downtime I had during school today. Oh, the joy of basically having two study halls. :)

What aspects of the infamous drink change with a third member of the party? How does Clara take Orson's appearance?

Enjoy "Listen!"

***

The three were debating going to check on the Doctor when the door to the TARDIS opened, and his head poked through - upside down. "Listen!" he whispered.

Jessie's eyebrows flew high. "To what?" she asked.

The Doctor jumped down with ease and closed the door behind him. "Question," he said as he walked over to a lit candle. "Why do we talk out loud when we know we're alone? Conjecture," he held up a finger when Pietro went to answer, and he blew out the candle. "Because we know we're not."

"We do?" Wanda folded her arms as she watched the Doctor write on his blackboard.

"Evolution perfects survival skills," he continued. "There are perfect hunters. There is perfect defense. Question. Why is there no such thing as perfect hiding?"

"Don't try to answer," Jessie whispered to Pietro when he opened his mouth to do just that.

"Answer," the Doctor plowed on. "How would you know? Logically, if evolution were to perfect a creature whose primary skill were to hide from view, how could you know it existed?"

Jessie blinked when he took the bowl of cherries from her. "Hey!"

"It could be with us every second, and we would never know," the Doctor said, eating a cherry as he looked through an open book. "How would you detect it, even sense it, except in those moments when, for no clear reason, you choose to speak aloud? Why would such a creature want? What would it do?" He looked at the three others. "Well? What would you do?"

There was a rolling sound, and Pietro looked down when the piece of chalk stopped at his feet. Frowning, he bent down to pick it up, only to freeze when he saw the chalkboard. "Doctor . . . you did not write that, did you?"

He turned around, and his eyes widened when he saw the word Listen written on it. He turned around slowly to point between the other two telekinetics - Jessie and Wanda. "You didn't write that, did you?"

"No," Wanda shook her head.

"All right," Jessie folded her arms. "That's only slightly creepy."

"Exactly," the Doctor smirked, tossing her a cherry.

She caught it in her mouth with a wink.

***

"Clara!"

Clara looked around when she heard her name be called, and she grinned when she saw Rose wave from where she was sitting with Danny. "Hey!" she walked over.

"Hey," Danny smiled at her.

"So, the famous drink at last," Clara sat down.

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "Took a bit of time. Family stuff, but here we are."

"I thought, why stop at a drink?" Rose smiled as she handed Clara one of the menus. "Might as well put dinner in as well."

"Mmm," Clara nodded. "I might go straight for extras. Afters."

"Desserts?" Rose grinned saucily.

Clara squawked and slapped her arm with the menu. "Rose!"

Rose just laughed hysterically, Danny starting to smile more as he watched them. He had been a bit nervous, accepting Rose's dinner invite, but he wasn't feeling uncomfortable now. They were acting like themselves. "Is there something I should know about this mysterious boyfriend of yours?" he asked Clara with a grin.

"Oh, I wouldn't ask," Rose grinned a tongue in teeth grin. "Otherwise, she'll have to kill you."

Clara groaned. "I am going to regret telling you that."

"Yeah, you will."

"So, er," Danny looked around. "How was your day?"

"Good," Clara nodded. "You know. Teaching."

"Yep," Danny nodded. "Teaching."

"We were all teaching," Rose rolled her eyes. "No work related talk. Got it?"

"God, yeah," Danny agreed with a wince.

"Though . . . " Clara grinned. "Do you take Courtney for anything?"

"Oh, no," Rose stared at her, eyes wide. "What did she do?"

"Oh, it was a few weeks after you set the class in line," Clara grinned at her. "You know what she did? Insulted me, right to my face."

"What?" Rose's jaw dropped.

"Are you serious?" Danny stared at her.

"Yeah!" Clara laughed. "She said she couldn't concentrate on her work because my face was too wide!"

"Wide?" Danny repeated.

Clara nodded, still giggling. "I could kill that girl some days."

"Me, too."

"And from you, that means something."

Danny froze instantly and narrowed his eyes. "Sorry?"

Clara blinked, pausing and looking at Rose. "What did I say?"

"I dug twenty-three wells," Danny said abruptly.

"I'm sorry?" Clara looked between Danny and Rose, wondering if she'd missed some kind of cue. Rose looked just as confused as she did.

"Twenty-three wells. When I was a soldier. Twenty-three."

"OK," Clara nodded slowly. "Good. Good wells."

"Yeah, they were good, actually."

"I'm not doubting the quality of your wells."

"Whole villages saved. Actual towns full of people. People I didn't shoot. People I kept safe."

Clara's eyes widened. "Oh, the from you that means something?"

"Danny, she didn't mean it that way," Rose frowned at him. "Her boyfriend is someone we don't know, but from what I've heard, is someone who puts his life on the line daily. He could be a secret agent of some kind, or he could be an elite soldier in some army around the world. You seriously think she'd joke about something like that?"

"Danny, when I said that, I meant I couldn't see you doing it," Clara told Danny gently. "That's all it was."

There was a clearing of a throat from the waiter that had suddenly appeared. "Er . . . water for your table?"

"Go on, then," Rose nodded.

Danny waited until the waiter left before he laughed shakily, putting his head in his hands. "Sorry."

"It's OK," Clara assured him with a smile.

"Sensitive subject."

"It is for me, too," Rose nodded as she took a drink. "Why I don't usually talk about it."

"It's just sometimes people like you get the wrong end of the stick."

Clara's eyebrows shot up. "People like me?"

Danny froze. "I wasn't making assumptions about you," he said quickly.

"OK," Rose said loudly, putting her drink down before smiling tightly at Clara. "Clara, I'm sure you want to take another look around the restaurant. Alone."

"Yeah, I'll do that," Clara quickly stood. "I'll just - " She pointed over her shoulder. "Yeah."

As Clara hurriedly went off, Rose turned a dark glare on Danny. "When I invited you to what is normally our night out, this was not the night I had in mind."

Danny just groaned, his head landing on the table.

***

Clara sighed as she leaned against the window of the restaurant in the back, listening to the clatter in the kitchen. A moment later, she heard footsteps approaching her. Clara tensed, then felt a familiar arm go around her shoulders. "Bad night?"

Clara sighed and turned to lean against Pietro, his other arm going around her as well. "Rough start."

"A breather, perhaps?"

Clara pulled back, raising an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well," Pietro slung an arm around her shoulder, leading her out the back exit. "Do you know, we think the Doctor has finally gone mad."

Clara gave him a pointed look. "The definition of the Doctor is mad man in a box."

"This takes the cake," Pietro shook his head, opening the TARDIS door.

"Hey, Clara," Jessie waved from where she was in the captain's chair. "We tried to check for you at your apartment, but then we saw the note."

"By the way, why do you have three mirrors?" the Doctor asked her. "Why don't you just turn your head?"

Clara paused, folding her arms. "You know, I'm getting the feeling you did not just help me escape my night out just to ask how many mirrors I have in my bedroom."

"No, we didn't," Pietro nodded. "You know sometimes when you talk to yourself? What if you're not?"

Clara frowned. "Not what?"

"What if it's not you you're talking to? Proposition. What if no one is ever really alone? 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?"

Clara looked at Wanda. "And how long's he been like this?" Wanda just pointed at the Doctor's chalkboard. Clara looked at the single word written on it, then turned to him. "It looks like your handwriting."

"Well, I couldn't have written it and forgotten, could I?"

Clara snorted. "Have you met you?" She turned around to look at the table full of books nearby. "What's all this?"

"Dreams," the Doctor answered. "Accounts of dreams, by different people, all through history."

"He has a theory," Jessie said as way of explanation.

"I'll bet you have," Clara sighed, leaning against the railing. "What theory?"

"I think everybody, at some point in their lives, has the exact same nightmare," the Doctor answered. "You wake up, or you think you do, and there's someone in the dark, someone close, or you think there might be. 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 - "

Clara screeched when a hand wrapped around her ankle, and she instinctively kicked backwards with the other one. Pietro yelped and danced backwards, holding his forehead. "Oh, my God!" Clara ran to check on him, Jessie and Wanda dying of laughter nearby. "Are you all right?" When he nodded, she punched him in the arm. "What was that for?"

"The end of the nightmare," Pietro mumbled, glaring at a way too innocent looking Doctor. "He told me to."

When Clara glared at him, he just smiled and continued. "There are accounts of that dream throughout human history. Time and time again, the same dream. Now, there is a very obvious question I'm about to ask you. Do you know what it is?"

"Have you had that dream?" Clara asked.

"Exactly."

"No, that was me asking you. Have you had that dream?"

"I asked first."

"No, I did."

"You really didn't."

"Just say yes or no," Jessie sighed.

"OK, yeah, probably," Clara conceded. "Bu everyone dreams about something under the bed."

"And that's the question he wants answered," Jessie stood up. "Why?" She held out her hands. "Come here." When Clara did, she inserted Clara's fingers into a squishy section of the TARDIS console. "Hold on tight. Apologies if anything bites, but let it."

"What is it?" Clara asked, wincing when she felt something bite.

"Clara Oswald, meet the TARDIS telepathic interface. You are now in mental contact with the TARDIS."

"Don't think anything rude," the Doctor pitched in.

"Why not?" Clara frowned.

"It might end up on all of the screens," Jessie snickered, patting her shoulder. "The TARDIS is currently extrapolating your entire timeline from the moment of your birth to the moment of your death."

"Which I, for one, do not want a preview of," Pietro raised a hand.

"Neither do I, for that matter," Clara agreed, smiling and kissing his cheek.

"We're definitely not going to your death," Jessie promised as she worked the controls. "I'm turning off the safeguards and navigation, slaving the TARDIS to you. I want you to focus on the dream. Focus on the details. Picture them and feel them. The TARDIS will track on your subconscious and extract the relevant information. It should be able to home in on the exact moment in your timeline when you first had that dream."

"And then we'll see," the Doctor grinned.

"What will we see?" Clara frowned.

"What's under your bed!"

Clara yelped when Jessie set the TARDIS flying. "Ooo!"

"OK, now don't get distracted," the Doctor warned. "Remember, you are flying a time machine."

Clara nodded, closing her eyes, concentrating -

Her phone started to ring, and Wanda took a look at the Caller ID. "What was the name of the teacher you were meeting?" she asked.

"No, no, no, don't," Jessie held up a hand to Wanda, watching Clara's face flicker. "Clara, ignore it."

Clara nodded, taking a deep breath, then the TARDIS landed. "OK, that's good," the Doctor nodded. "That worked. We're here."

"Sorry," Clara let out a breath as Pietro kissed the top of her head. "I think I got distracted."

"No, no, no, no, no, the date's fine," the Doctor checked. "Come on."

"Come on where?" Clara frowned.

"Your childhood!"

Clara watched him leave, then frowned and attempted to get her fingers out of the interface. After a moment, she got free and hurried after the others.

***

She found them staring up at a blocky building. "The West Country Children's Home, Gloucester," the Doctor announced, not seeing Pietro and Clara frown. "By the ozone level and the drains, mid-nineties. You must have been here when you had the dream."

"I thought you said you'd never been to Gloucester?" Pietro frowned at Clara.

"Never in my life," Clara confirmed. "I've never even lived in a children's home."

"You've probably just forgotten," the Doctor waved it off. "Have you seen the size of human brains? They're hilarious. Little you must be in here somewhere with your little brain."

"Isn't it bad if I meet myself?"

"It's potentially catastrophic."

Wanda sighed. "So why did you bring us out here, Doctor?"

"Oh, you and your brother are fine. It's Clara that could cause the catastrophe."

"Because that makes me feel so much better," Clara grumbled.

"I'll wait with Clara," Jessie volunteered. "You three go on in and check."

"You'll be all right?" Pietro asked Clara.

"Yeah, go," Clara nodded. He gave her a quick kiss before jogging after the Doctor, Wanda bringing up the rear. A moment later, when they were inside, she turned to Jessie. "So if I had been distracted, what would have happened?"

"We would probably have ended up in the wrong place," Jessie answered, looking around. "But we are in the right time zone."

Something caught Clara's eye, and she looked up to see a young boy looking out a window from the top floor. He waved, then opened the window. "What are you doing down there?" he called.

"Oh, er, not much," Jessie answered, looking up. "What's your name?"

"Rupert," he answered.

"Nice to meet you, Rupert," she gave a dazzling smile.

"Rupert Pink." Jessie looked out of the corner of her eye when she saw Clara's eyes widen. "It's a stupid name."

"No, it isn't," Clara shook her head. "I know somebody called Pink."

Jessie blinked, then sighed, realizing what had happened. "Was that the name of the other teacher?"

Clara blushed. "Yeah."

"I meant Rupert," the boy said. "I'm going to change it."

"Rupert, why are you awake?" Jessie asked softly, seeing him shuffle. "Are you scared?"

***

"Psst."

The Doctor turned when he heard Wanda whisper, and they saw her by a balding man that had been sitting in an office. "How did you get in?" he asked.

"Your door must be faulty," the Doctor answered, holding up his psychic paper.

The man's eyes widened. "An inspection? It's two in the morning!"

"When better?" the Doctor shrugged, following him into the office. "Do you always work here nights?"

"Most nights, yes."

"Do you ever end up talking to yourself?"

"All the time. It's this place. You can't help it."

"What about your coffee?"

"My coffee?" the man blinked, looking down at the coffee he had on the table.

"Sometimes do you put it down and look round, and it's not there?"

"Everybody does that."

"Yes. Everybody."

Pietro frowned when the noise from the television cut off, and he pointed at it, seeing it now dark. "Who turned your television off?"

The man turned to see. "It does that. It just goes off." When he turned back around, the trio was gone, and so was his coffee.

***

Wanda grimaced as she took a drink of the coffee as they walked down the corridor. "I prefer tea."

The Doctor just snickered as he kept scanning with the screwdriver.

***

Jessie quietly opened Rupert's door, smiling when she saw him sitting on the floor by the window. "Hello," she greeted.

"Hello," Rupert responded.

"This is a nice room you have," she said, looking around. "If I had one piece of advice? More chairs. If you only have one, what do you do when other people come around?"

"Sit on the bed," Rupert answered.

"Why aren't you sitting on it, then?" Clara considered the bed. "Do you think that there's something underneath it?" Rupert nodded shyly. "Hey, everyone thinks that, sometimes. That's just how people think at night."

"Why?"

"Tell me, Rupert," Jessie sat on her heels in front of him. "Did you have a dream? A hand grabbing your foot?" Rupert's eyes widened. "You have, haven't you? You've had that exact dream."

"How did you know?" he asked her.

"I'm psychic," Jessie joked with a wink.

"Do you know why dreams are called dreams?" Clara asked.

"Why?" Rupert asked.

"Because they're not real," she sat down. "If they were, they wouldn't need a name."

"What are you doing?" Rupert asked as she looked under the bed.

"Do you know what's under there?" Clara looked at him.

"What?"

"Me!" she grinned, rolling underneath. "Come on. It's perfectly safe." Hesitantly, Rupert followed her, then Jessie. "See? Nobody here except us."

"Sometimes I hear noises," Rupert told them.

"It's a house full of people. Of course you hear noises."

"They're all asleep."

"They're all dreaming."

"Can you hear dreams?"

"You know, Rupert, sometimes, if you're clever enough, I think you can," Jessie nodded. "But they can't harm you. You know, sometimes we think there's something behind us. And the space under your bed is what's behind you at night. Simple as that. There's nothing to be afraid of." The bed creaked suddenly, and they all froze as the mattress sagged to just inches above Clara's nose. "Why did I say that?" Jessie closed her eyes. "Why in the name of Asgard did I just say that?"

Clara swallowed hard. "Who else is in this room?" she asked quietly.

"Nobody," Rupert answered.

"Someone must have come in."

"Nobody came in."

The two girls quickly rolled out to see someone sitting on the bed, draped in a crocheted bedspread. "Hello?" Clara asked as Jessie quietly pulled Rupert out from under the bed. "Who's this?" She looked at Rupert. "This is a friend of yours, playing a game. Playing a trick on you, hey? A little trick on Rupert here?"

"Clara," Jessie pointed to the spot next to her as the figure sat up straighter.

"OK, it's not funny this, you know," Clara warned as she moved over.

The light flicked on as a rush of wind made the girls' hair blow, and they turned to see the Doctor sitting in Rupert's chair, flipping through a book, Pietro and Wanda standing with him. "Where is he?" the Doctor asked, Wanda looking over his shoulder.

"Doctor?" Clara frowned.

"I can't find him," the Doctor frowned back. "Can you find him?"

"Find who?"

"Wally."

"Wally?"

"He's nowhere in this book."

Wanda checked the cover, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "Doctor. This isn't a Where's Wally book."

"Well, how would you know?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow. "It's not your book."

"It's not a Where's Wally one," Rupert pointed at it.

He snorted. "Well, maybe you just haven't found him yet."

"He's not in every book."

"Really?" The Doctor scoffed, tossing the book over his shoulder, only for Pietro to scramble and catch it. "Well, that's a few years of my life I'll be needing back." He crouched down so he saw eye to eye with Rupert, taking his hands. "Are you scared? The thing on the bed, whatever it is, look at it. Does it scare you?"

"Yes," Rupert whispered.

"Well, that's good. Want to know why that's good?"

"Why?"

"Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard, I can feel it through your hands. There's so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain, it's like rocket fuel. 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. What's wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower. It's your superpower. There is danger in this room, and guess what? It's you. Do you feel it?" Rupert nodded. "Do you think he feels it?" the Doctor gestured towards the figure on the bed. "Do you think he's scared? Nah. Turn your back on him."

Rupert blinked. "What?"

"Yeah, turn your back on him," the Doctor demonstrated. "Come on. You too, love, Clara, Maximoffs. Your back, now." Do it. Just do it now. Turn your back. Do it now, turn your back. Lovely view out this window."

"Yeah," Clara snorted as she looked out, Rupert hesitantly moving between the two Time Lords. "Come and see all the dark."

"Well, we would never be able to see the stars without it," Wanda tilted her head to see them.

"That's the spirit, Wanda," the Doctor nodded. "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, plan?" Clara asked. "Plans are good."

The Doctor nodded. "You on the bed!" he called sharply. "I'm talking to you now. Go in peace. We won't look. Just go. If all you want to do is stay hidden, it's OK. Just leave."

Wanda closed her eyes, only to wince. "It's right behind us."

"Then don't look round, not yet," the Doctor told her.

"I can't hear anything," Rupert frowned.

"Don't look round."

Rupert began to, but a firm, gentle hand on the back of his head stopped him. "Look away," Jessie told him quietly. "Do what the Doctor says. Don't look at it. Don't look back, don't look at the reflection."

"What is it?" Rupert asked.

"Imagine a thing that must never be seen," the Doctor mused. "What would it do if you saw it?"

"I don't know."

"Neither do I. Close your eyes."

"What?"

"Close your eyes. You, too, everyone. Give it what it wants. 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."

Rupert closed his eyes. "I promise never to look."

"Good job," Jessie squeezed his shoulder.

The Doctor checked the others had their eyes closed before he followed. "The breath on the back of your neck, like your hair's standing on end? That means don't look round."

The door slammed shut, and Wanda let out a breath. "Gone."

"Gone," the Doctor confirmed, looking around.

Rupert turned and pouted. "He took my bedspread."

Pietro laughed as the Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, the human race. You're never happy, are you?"

"Am I safe now?" Rupert asked quietly.

"Nobody's safe, especially not at night in the dark," the Doctor shook his head, examining an orange robot. "Anything can get you. And all the way up here, you're up here all alone - OW!" he yelped, rubbing the back of his head, glaring at his wife, who stood there, arms crossed, giving him a pointed look. "What was that for?"

"You know what, you leave this to us," Clara told the Doctor, looking through Rupert's toys. She held up a box of toy plastic soldiers. "These yours?"

"They're the home's," Rupert answered.

"They're yours now."

"People don't need to be lied to," the Doctor told her.

"People don't need to be scared by a big gray-haired stick insect, but here you are. Stay still, shut up." The Doctor huffed, but obeyed as Clara started setting up the figures. "See what I'm doing? This is your army."

"Plastic army," the Doctor mumbled.

"Sit down," Jessie rolled her eyes.

"Yes, love," he complied without another word.

"And they're going to guard under your bed," Clara told Rupert, and the Maximoffs started helping her set the soldiers up. "You see this one?" Clara pointed. "This is the boss one, the colonel. He's going to keep a special eye out."

"It's broken, that one," Rupert frowned. "It doesn't have a gun."

"And that is why he's the boss," Pietro smirked. "A soldier so brave, he doesn't need a gun. So, Rupert, what should he be called?"

Rupert tilted his head. "Dan."

Clara blinked. "Sorry?"

"Dan the soldier man," Rupert nodded. "That's what I call him."

"Good," Clara nodded, well aware of Jessie's eyes on her. "Good name."

"Yeah," Rupert smiled. "Would you read me a story? It'll help me get to sleep."

"Of course," Wanda smiled, helping him get back in bed. "Once upon a time . . . " She made a small gesture, and Rupert's eyes slid closed as her scarlet magic twirled around him. "The end."

***

"So is it possible we've just saved that kid from another kid in a bedspread?" Clara asked as they returned to the TARDIS.

"Entirely possible, yes," the Doctor nodded. "The bigger question is, why did we end up with him and not you?"

"I got distracted," Clara shrugged.

"But why that particular boy? You don't have any. You don't have any kind of connection with him, do you?"

"No," Clara immediately shook her head. "No, no, no, of course not. Why do you ask?"

"The TARDIS was slaved to your timeline," the Doctor frowned, checking the screen. "Theoretically, there should have been some connection."

Clara chewed on her lip, looking worried, and Jessie walked over, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What is it?" she asked quietly.

"Will, er . . . " Clara took a deep breath. "Will he remember any of that?"

"Wanda?" Jessie looked over.

"I don't think so," Wanda shook her head. "If I used my magic correctly, it should have just given him a dream about being Dan the Soldier Man."

Jessie turned to Clara, only to see her looking down at her phone. Jessie checked the last call: Danny Pink. She sighed and rubbed Clara's back. "Doctor, we need to drop her back off at the restaurant. I think she's got somewhere she needs to be."

***

Clara saw Rose and Danny back at the table, then took a deep breath and made her way back over. "Sorry," she smiled as she sat down.

"Hey," Danny smiled.

Clara took a deep breath and held out her hand. "Hello. I'm Clara Oswald. I'm a bit tricky, sometimes a bit up myself, and I do not like my surname, but I think that's basically everything you need to worry about."

Rose grinned. "Well, if we're doing it that way . . . " She held out a hand to Danny as well. "Hello. I'm Rose Tyler. People usually think I'm a chav at first glance and when I first speak, but that's about all they get before they find out I can nail them in the arse. Sometimes the hard way."

"Hello," Danny chuckled, shaking their hands. "I'm . . . " He sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Also, I mouth off when I'm nervous and I've got a mouth on me," Clara added. "Seriously, it's got a mind of its own. I'm really worried it wants to go solo."

"I don't know what to say," Danny chuckled.

"Saying something nice is usually a good place to start," Rose shrugged, picking up her drink.

"I like your names," Danny offered.

"It's a start," Clara nodded.

"Oswald. It suits you."

"And that's where it's drifting," Rose snickered.

"Oi!" Clara mock glared at her. "You're the one with the last name Tyler!"

"I like it," Rose defended herself.

"Well, it's better than Pink," Danny frowned.

"No, Pink, Pink is nice," Clara shook her head. "I like Pink."

"You can have it."

Clara's eyebrows shot up as Rose snorted into her drink. "Boyfriend."

Danny sputtered as he tried to recover, Rose laughing into her drink. "I meant - you - no - "

"I know, I know," Clara laughed.

"Why can't I speak today?" Danny groaned.

"I think it's that foot you're keeping in your mouth," Rose said airily, making Clara laugh more.

"Is that where I put it?" Danny joked.

"Anyway . . . Clara Pink." Clara made a face. "Too much."

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "It is a bit much."

"Mind you, Rupert Pink," Clara began.

A glass smashed in the background, and Danny froze. "Sorry?"

"Er . . . " Clara bit her lip, trying to recover, not noticing Rose look back and forth between them. "Ha ha. Rupert Pink. It's not good."

"Rupert?" Danny repeated.

"Yeah," Clara nodded slowly. "That was your name, yeah?"

"Who told you that?"

"Funny what you find when you look through old military records," Rose cut in, and Clara turned to her, eyes wide to see Rose stirring her drink. "It's just that when you mentioned you were in the army, Danny, I thought I might have heard your name somewhere before. I looked you up. It still had your original name registered: Rupert."

Clara stared at Rose, eyes wide. She knew for absolute sure that Rose hadn't done something like that. So why - ?

"Yeah, I suppose it would still be there," Danny said slowly, and Clara stared in awe at Rose as Danny cleared his throat, looking down. Rose just gave Clara a small wink and mouthed 'go with it' to her. "Sorry. It's just . . . I prefer Danny, not Rupert."

"And that's fine," Rose raised an eyebrow at Clara. "Danny it is."

"Yeah, absolutely," Clara nodded -

"Clara."

"Not Rupert Pink," Clara's gaze slid towards the back of the restaurant, focusing in on the dark-haired girl in scarlet poking out of the kitchen. "Just Danny . . . "

"You look like you could use a trip to the loo," Rose frowned. "You all right?"

"Yeah, just . . . " Clara pointed back the way she had come. "I need a moment."

"Yeah, go on," Rose watched her leave.

Danny frowned, leaning towards Rose. "Is she usually like this?"

"Not normally," Rose frowned. "Maybe something with her boyfriend?"

***

Clara entered the kitchen and frowned at Wanda. "What is it this time?" Wanda just pointed next to her, and Clara blinked, noticing someone in an orange spacesuit with her. "Oh. Hello."

The person took off their helmet, and Clara's eyes bugged open when she took in someone who was basically a replica of Danny, except slightly older. "Hello," he nodded.

"Ah, Clara!" the Doctor grinned as he appeared. "Well done, you found her. Now, this is really a bit strange - "

"Danny?" Clara stared, eyes wide.

The Doctor frowned at Clara. "What's gone wrong with your face? It's all eyes! Why are you all eyes? Get them under control!"

"Er, who's Danny?" the man in the suit asked.

"This is Colonel Orson Pink," Wanda explained. "From about one hundred years in your future."

"Orson Pink?" Clara repeated.

"Yeah, I laughed, too," the Doctor nodded, only to stop when he saw Clara wasn't laughing at all. "Sorry. Do you have any connection with him?"

"Connection?"

"Yes, maybe you're, like, a distant relative or something?"

"How . . . how would I know?" she asked faintly. How was this possible? It was Pietro she was with, Pietro she wanted to stay with. How could Orson be connected to her in any way?

"Right," the Doctor cleared his throat. "OK. Er, well, do you have any old family photographs of her?" he asked Orson. "You know, probably quite old and really fat-looking?"

Wanda's eyebrows shot up. "I will tell my brother you said that."

"You wouldn't dare."

"I don't," Orson cut in.

"How did you find him?" Clara asked.

"Well, you left a trace in the TARDIs telepathic circuits," the Doctor answered. "I fired them up again and the TARDIS brought us straight to him. So he is something to do with your timeline."

"OK," Clara took a shaky breath.

"And you'll never guess where I found him!" the Doctor grinned, heading back for the TARDIS.

Clara entered and went straight to Jessie, who smiled sympathetically. "We'll figure it out, Clara," she promised.

"It's Pietro I love," she whispered. "Not Danny."

"I know, Zero," Jessie gave her a hug. "I know."

The Doctor led them out into a capsule-like spaceship, and Clara looked around uneasily. "Where are we?"

"The end of the road," the Doctor answered. "This is it: the end of everything. The last planet."

"The end of the universe?"

"It's something, isn't it?" Jessie folded her arms, looking around. "The TARDIS isn't supposed to come this far, but someone turned off the safeguards. Can you hear it?"

Clara looked around. "Hear what?"

"Exactly. There's nothing to hear. Nothing anywhere. Not a breath, not a sliver, not a click, not a tick. All clocks have stopped. Welcome to the end of time."

A clatter behind them made both women jump, and they turned to see Orson was emptying the contents of a locker into a rucksack. "Then how did he get here?" Clara pointed. "If he's from a hundred years in my future - "

"Pioneer time traveler," the Doctor answered, pulling up records on a computer. "Rode the first of the great time shots. They were supposed to fire him into the middle of the next week."

"I think he went a bit too far," Pietro snorted.

"A bit?" Clara couldn't help but giggle.

"A big bit," the Doctor nodded. "Look at him now. Robinson Crusoe at the end of time itself. The last man standing in the universe. I always thought that would be us," he looked at Jessie.

"It's not a competition," Clara frowned at him.

"He knows that," Jessie gave him a look.

The Doctor backed off, but they could still hear him mutter, "Still time, though."

"He looks like he's packing," Clara said.

"He's been stranded for six months and just met time travelers," Jessie pointed out. "I would be, too."

"You can do it, then?" Orson asked as he walked up. "You can get me home?"

"I just showed you, didn't I?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow. "A test flight to a restaurant."

"Yes, we can do it," Jessie sighed. "Can't we?"

"Absolutely," Pietro nodded.

"Definitely," Wanda agreed.

"Yes, they can," Clara bit her lip.

Orson frowned. "Is everything OK?"

"Yeah, fine," Clara said quickly. "I'm fine."

Orson tilted his head. "Do I know you?"

Pietro tried to act like he wasn't interested. "No," Clara answered firmly, and believing it. "Nope."

"Is she doing the all eyes thing?" the Doctor tried to look. "It's because her face is so wide. She needs three mirrors."

"Doctor," Wanda put her face in her hands.

"We can't leave immediately, though," the Doctor said, making the four others look at him sharply. "The TARDIS needs to recharge."

"Sorry, what?" Clara stared at him.

"Overnight," the Doctor nodded. "That should do it, shouldn't it, you four?"

"Overnight?" Orson asked worriedly.

"One more night," the Doctor nodded, considering him. "That's . . . that's not a problem, is it?"

"No," Orson said slowly, shaking his head. His face said otherwise. "No, no problem."

The Doctor sighed. "It's a shame, isn't it?"

"What's a shame?"

"There's only six people left in the universe, and you're lying to the other five. It was the first thing I noticed when I stepped in here. You must have seen it, too, Clara. You've got eyes out to here."

Clara scowled at him when he demonstrated how big her eyes apparently were. "Seen what?"

"The universe is dead," the Doctor explained. "Everything that ever was is dead and gone. There's nothing beyond this door but nothingness for ever."

"So why is it locked?" Pietro checked the lock on the door the Doctor pointed out.

Orson swallowed. "Please, don't make me spend another night here."

"But there's nothing out there but the dark," Wanda gestured. "It's empty."

"No," Orson said quietly. "No, it isn't."

***

"You'll be safe in here," Clara told Orson as she and Wanda led him down below the level with the time rotor. "Nothing gets through those doors, I promise."

"The Bad Wolf has said the assembled hordes of Genghis Khan could not get through," Wanda added as she helped Orson carry metal cases down, Clara setting his rucksack down. "Apparently, they've tried."

"And you five are going to wait out there?" Orson asked.

"That would seem to be the plan," Clara nodded. "Wait for what, exactly?"

Orson sighed. "Why can't we just leave?"

"It's like the Doctor said," Wanda leaned against the staircase. "It's recharging."

"None of you looked like you believed him."

"That's just how our faces look when he talks," Clara tried to smile, only to drop something from Orson's rucksack.

She bent down to pick it up, and she froze when she saw a gunless toy soldier. "It's just a silly toy thing," Orson said. "A family heirloom, supposed to bring good luck."

"Right," Clara stared at the toy as Wanda's eyes widened. "Yes. Didn't do a very good job, did it?"

"It did," Orson smiled. "You're here, aren't you? What were the chances of you five finding me?"

Clara took a deep breath. "Orson, do me a favor. Take my advice. When you get home, stay away from time travel."

Orson only shrugged as she handed back the toy. "It runs in the family."

Clara nearly dropped it again; she heard Wanda choke nearby. "What?" she stared at him, eyes wide. "Sorry, what did you mean, runs in the family?"

"Nothing," Orson shook his head. "It's just silly stories one of my grandparents . . . well, great-grandparents - "

"What is it?" Clara urged. "Tell me. You asked if you knew me. It's a family heirloom?"

"Yeah," Orson nodded.

Clara took a shuddering breath and abruptly left. Wanda watched her leave before pointing at the toy. "May I? I might be able to help her."

"Yeah," Orson nodded, handing it over.

"Thank you," Wanda nodded, heading after Clara.

***

Jessie leaned against the Doctor as they sat looking outside. "I remember our last trip to the end of the universe," she said quietly, the Doctor tracing Gallifreyan symbols on the palm of their entwined hands.

"That was with Martha and Jack, yeah?" the Doctor nodded.

"And Clint and Nat," Jessie confirmed. "Still only engaged then."

"It was a long time ago."

"Yeah, it was." Jessie stared down at their hands. "I'm over a thousand years old now, and I still remember." She looked up at him, a cheeky smile on her face. "I thought you'd be the one to complain about getting old."

The Doctor just smirked and raised her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. "I'm a lot older than you, love. I accepted the fact a while ago."

"Why do you always have to be so lovey?" Pietro complained from where he was sitting a few feet away.

Jessie just laughed as the Doctor wrapped an arm around her. "Because it's you, Pietro, and we love annoying you because of it."

"Kill me now."

They heard the TARDIS open behind them, then Clara said, "Please don't."

Pietro just snickered as she sat by him. "Noted."

Clara looked around at the five of them, Wanda sitting at one of the computers. "What are we doing?"

"Waiting," the Doctor shrugged.

"For what? For who? If everybody in the universe is dead, then there's nobody out there."

"That's one way of looking at it."

"There's another?" Wanda asked.

"That's a hell of a lot of ghosts."

The lights dimmed suddenly, and Pietro looked up. "I did not know we had mood lighting."

Wanda snickered, only to gasp. They turned to see her looking at the main hatch, where the words Do Not Open The Door were written on it. "Where did that come from?" she asked.

"It's always been there," the Doctor answered. "It's only visible in the night lights."

"But who wrote it?" Clara asked.

"Colonel Pink. Apparently, at night, he needs a reminder. Six months stranded alone, I suppose it must be tempting."

"What is?"

Jessie sighed. "Company."

Something started creaking, and Pietro looked around. "What is that?"

"What kind of explanation would you like?" was what the Doctor responded with.

"The reassuring one," Clara answered.

"Well, the systems are switching to low power," the Doctor obliged. "There are temperature differentials all over the ship. It's like pipes banging when the heating goes off."

"Always thought there was something in the pipes," Clara nodded.

"Me, too."

"How was your dinner going?" Pietro asked Clara.

She grimaced. "It's . . . going."

"Should I be worried?"

"Absolutely not," Clara said firmly, shoving him in the chest. "I love you, you idiot."

"Well, we know you're going with the right person," the Doctor nodded. "Though, if you'd like, I can pop ahead and check and make sure the prospects are all still correct."

Pietro just stuck his tongue out at the Doctor in return.

A scream-like noise sent shudders down their spines. "Atmospheric pressure equalizing," the Doctor mumbled.

"Or?" Wanda asked quietly.

"Company."

"Why are we doing this?" Clara hissed. "Why don't we just go?"

"Because I need to know."

"Why? About what?"

"Suppose that there are creatures that live to hide," he answered. "That only show themselves to the very young or the very old, or the mad, or anyone who wouldn't be believed."

"OK, so . . . ?"

"What would those creatures do when everyone was gone? When there was only one man left standing in the universe?"

Three bangs rapped on the ship. "What's that?" Clara asked.

"Potentially, the hull cooling."

Pietro closed his eyes. "Potentially?"

"Believably."

Three more knocks. "Someone knocking," Wanda remarked.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, slowly walking towards the hatch.

"Doctor?" Jessie asked, moving forward as well.

"You don't actually believe all this, do you?" Clara asked as the other Defenders came closer. "Hiding creatures, things from under the bed?"

The knocking was joined by scraping. "What's that in the mirror, or the corner of your eye?" the Doctor asked. "What's that footstep following, but never passing by?"

"Please tell me we did not come to the end of the universe because of a nursery rhyme," Pietro scowled.

The Doctor sonicked the hatch, and as it unlocked, the mechanism suddenly started turning. "Uh . . . Doctor?" Jessie pointed at it. "Please tell me that's you turning it."

"OK."

" . . . it's not you, is it?"

"You said to tell you it was me!"

"OK, everyone, in the TARDIS!" Jessie ordered, turning around. "Come on!"

"OK, OK, somebody is out there," Clara told the Doctor as they were hustled back inside. "Now we know, we can leave - "

Jessie shut the door in their faces, then walked up to the Doctor. "They're right, though," she said. "We can go." She paused, seeing what he was holding down. "What are you doing?"

"It's a pressure lock," he explained. "Releasing it could've triggered the opening mechanism."

"Is there even an atmosphere out there?"

"There is an air shell round the ship, and you can pilot her around me. Now get inside!"

Jessie narrowed her eyes, then reached up and kissed him. He kissed her back, and she poked him in the forehead when she was done. "Don't you dare die, my love."

"I would never dare," he smiled, kissing the top of her head as she ran into the TARDIS.

***

"What's happening?" Orson asked, standing with the other companions as she entered.

"He's opening the door," Jessie answered as she moved to the monitors. "All right, now, let's - " The controls suddenly seized, and she groaned. "Oh, what the hell?"

***

The Doctor watched the airlock slowly open. "Perhaps they're all just waiting, perhaps when we're all dead, out they'll come a-slithering from underneath the bed!"

***

"What is it?" Clara asked as Jessie tried to make the controls work.

"She's seizing," Jessie answered, looking up at the sputtering rotor. "Oh, Idris, come on!" The TARDIS groaned and started jolting, and Jessie took a deep breath, rolling up her sleeves. "Right, then. We'll do this our way. Wanda, stay inside the TARDIS, but bring the Doctor inside." She nodded and ran for the doors, Orson following. "Three . . . two . . . now!"

Orson opened the doors, and Wanda reached out with her magic. A moment later, she was bringing an unconscious Doctor inside. "Is he OK?" Clara ran over to check.

"He's out cold," Orson answered, checking him. "He'll be fine, though."

"Something hit him," Pietro checked a bump on his head.

"Everything was flying out of that door."

"Yeah, let's all keep thinking that," Jessie nodded, looking at Orson. "Did you ever figure out what was out there? What you were so afraid of?"

"I've been here a long time," he chuckled darkly. "My own shadow, probably."

The doors started to rattle, and the Cloister Bell started tolling. "You said something about the hard way?" Pietro asked.

"Yeah," Jessie tapped the edge of the telepathic circuits. "Like this." She put her hands in, feeling the TARDIS latch on immediately. "Come on, Idris," she urged. "You can do it. Come on, let's go!"

The TARDIS rumbled, and a moment later, stopped shaking. "Is that it?" Pietro asked in genuine surprise.

"It should be," Jessie nodded, frowning and smacking a scanner when it didn't work. "Come on."

"Where are we?" Wanda asked.

"Somewhere else," Jessie answered, heading for the doors. "You all stay here. I'll go see where we are."

"You can't go out there by yourself," Orson shook his head.

Jessie sighed. "Fine. Wanda, let's go. The rest of you, watch the Doctor."

Reluctantly, the others watched as the two women left.

***

Jessie raised her hand to shield her gaze from the bright light of the moon peeking in through the boards of the barn they were in. "Where are we?" Wanda asked in hushed surprise.

Jessie, meanwhile, focused on a raised platform nearby, a child curled on their side under a blanket, sobbing. "Rupert?" Jessie asked quietly, walking up to it. "Or are you Orson?"

Wanda suddenly perked up. "Bad Wolf - !"

The barn door opened, and Jessie stifled a curse, diving under the bed, closely followed by Wanda. They heard two sets of feet approach, then a man's voice said, "Why does he have to sleep out here?"

"He doesn't want the others to hear him crying," a woman answered.

"Why does he have to cry all the time?"

"You know why."

"There'll be no crying in the army."

"Hush!"

"Don't pretend you're not awake," the man snorted. "We're not idiots."

Silence. "Come and sleep in the house," the woman coaxed. "You don't have to be alone. If you can hear me, you're very welcome in the house with the other boys. I'll leave the door on the latch. Come in any time."

"He can't just run away crying all the time if he wants to join the army," the man snorted again.

"He doesn't want to join the army. I keep telling you."

"Well, he's not going to the Academy, is he, that boy? He'll never make a Time Lord."

Emerald eyes met slightly red-glowing ones, both of them reflecting stunned silence as they realized just who was in the bed above them. "By every god and his mother," Jessie mouthed.

***

The Doctor suddenly jerked upright, hitting Pietro in the forehead. "Sontarans!" the Time Lord blurted as Pietro yelped, rubbing his forehead as Clara ran over. "Perverting the course of human history!"

"Doctor?" Clara asked as Pietro laughed hysterically.

"You're confusing me," the Doctor mumbled before looking around. "What? Shut up, shut up. Where's the Bad Wolf? Where's Wanda?"

***

"Bad Wolf? Bad Wolf!"

Jessie winced when she heard the Doctor, then heard the bed creak. "Hello?" the boy on top of the bed called. "Who's there? Hello?"

She caught movement off to the side, and quickly, she reached out - and her hand locked around the boy's ankle as he sat on the edge of the bed.

The boy instantly gasped and froze, and Jessie swallowed hard, closing her eyes and understanding just how this entire thing had started. "It's OK," she whispered soothingly. "This is just a dream. Just lie back again. Just lie back on the bed. It will all be OK if you just lie down and go to sleep. Just do that for me. Just sleep."

She released the boy's ankle, and she heard the creak of the bed as he laid down. Jessie rolled out from under the bed and stood, looking down at the boy as he tried to stifle cries. Taking a shaky breath, she sat down on the edge of the bed and gently ran her hand over the boy's head. "Listen," she whispered as Wanda slowly came out to join her. "This is just a dream. But very clever people can hear dreams. So, please . . . just listen. I know you're afraid, but being afraid is all right. Because fear is a superpower. Fear can make you faster and cleverer and stronger. And one day, you're going to come back to this barn, and on that day, you're going to be very, very afraid. And that's OK. Because if you're very wise and very strong, fear doesn't have to make you cruel or cowardly. Fear can make you kind. It doesn't matter if there's nothing under the bed or in the dark, so long as you know it's OK to be afraid of it. I'll show you. So, listen. If you listen to nothing else, listen to this. You're always going to be afraid, even if you learn to hide it. Fear is like a companion. A constant companion, always there. But that's OK, because fear can bring us together." She felt something be put in her hand, and she looked down to see the toy soldier with its gun missing there, and she saw Wanda with tears in her eyes. Jessie smiled in thanks and twisted the toy soldier over in her hand. "Fear can bring you home. I'm going to leave you something, just so you'll always remember fear makes companions of us all. But fear can make us brave." She reached over to put the toy soldier on the post next to the bed, right above the boy's head. "And the bravest man of all never has to carry a gun to be a hero."

***

The TARDIS door opened, and everyone turned to see Jessie silently slip inside, absently biting one of her nails. "What happened?" Orson asked as the Doctor immediately ran over to check on her. "What did you see? What's out there?"

"Wanda?" Pietro asked, walking over as his sister entered, shutting the door behind her, tears coming down her face. "Wanda, what's wrong?"

"Jessie?" the Doctor asked quietly, seeing Jessie was holding back tears as well. "What did you see, love?"

Jessie took a deep breath. "Question. What's my answer to your theory?" The Doctor waited patiently. "What if there was nothing? What if there never was anything? Nothing under the bed. Nothing at the door." She looked up at him. "What if the big bad Time Lord doesn't want to admit he's just afraid of the dark?"

The Doctor paused, eyes flicking towards the door. "Where are we? Have we moved? Where have we landed?"

"Don't look," Jessie shook her head. "Don't look at where we are. Just take off and promise me you will never look where we've been."

"Why?" he asked, moving towards the door.

He stopped at Jessie's gentle hand on his chest. "Just take off," she said quietly. "Don't ask questions."

The Doctor paused, looking down at her. "I don't like this, Jessie."

She closed her eyes, a few tears coming loose. "Then for my own sake . . . please."

She expected some kind of argument. She expected him to phase right through her and go out and see the past she had just inevitably created.

Instead, when she felt his hands cup her face and his lips on hers, she kissed him back, trembling slightly. "As you wish," he acquiesced, holding her tightly to him as he returned to the controls of the TARDIS.

***

Rose's eyebrows shot up when Clara returned with three drinks from the bar. "Whoa. That must have been some break you needed."

"Well, I feel like I need one," Clara smiled tiredly, handing them around. "But, before we drink . . . " She held her glass up. "Here's to listening to each other before we make any more assumptions about each other."

Rose smiled. "To listening."

Danny nodded. "To listening."

The three clinked their glasses together and drank, Clara closing her eyes and smiling, swearing she could hear the faint wheezing of the TARDIS as it left.

Finally, her evening was about to get back on track.

***

Sorry if that got to be way too fluffy at the end . . . but after writing Jessie straight with no romance for her, I needed fluffy Capalry.

Speaking of, how'd you like Rose? Hopefully I'm writing her to your satisfaction since she's basically a new character in this, like Danny. I can also tell you she will definitely be in "In the Forest of the Night."

Next up is the two-parter for Caly and the farewell to Rory. See you all soon!