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Who: Doctor Whale and Clare Oswald
Where: Owen's room
When: right after Clare's reappearance
Rating: Um TBA?
Summary: things that were lost are found again
The Story: He knew that Clara wouldn't give up on him. So he took the box that held his heart and went to her. Since the moment he heard she was gone he felt that things were different. Whale had people he could consider friends, but they weren't anything like Clara. She was a clever, wonderful girl.

Whale knocked and waited. He couldn't wait to see her.

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Knowing that Whale was due to come by at any time, Clara had reluctantly pulled herself out of bed and made herself look reasonably presentable. She didn't want to worry him by looking too worn out or upset. So when there was a knock at the door, she hobbled away from the mirror and over to answer, opening the door just enough to peek out and verify that it really was him. Once she saw that it was, she opened the door the rest of the way and motioned for him to come inside.

"Hey," she smiled up at him, a little unsure of what else to say in greeting.

"Didn't take you all that long to find your way here."

He clutched the box tighter in his hands. Seeing her on the network was one thing, but in person... The heart was probably glowing just from seeing her again. She was hurt and that did make him worry, but he would worry more when his heart was back. Whale offered the box to her.

"I wanted to see you, so I could feel how glad I am you're back."

She looked at the box, glanced up at him, and then slowly reached out to take it. She had no idea what to do with a box with a heart in it, a glowing heart at that. And she wasn't quite sure she knew how to go about putting it back inside him, but she knew she had to at least try. So she clutched the box close to her chest and carefully limped her way over toward the couch on the far side of the room so she could sit down.

"Think I'd like it if you could feel anything at all. Can you, right now? The way things are?"

He noticed her limping, and knew he should be concerned about that. But he couldn't feel it. He followed after her quietly. To her question, he shook his head.

"No, I can't. All my emotions are in that box along with the heart." He opened the box for her, willingly placing the heart in her hand. The moment her fingers touched it, he could feel the connection. He would do anything she commanded now.

"All you have to do is put your hand to my chest. The heart will know where to go from there."

She realized just how weird this whole situation was the second the heart was in her hand. She really couldn't help but just stare at it, she'd never held someone's glowing heart in her hand before. What if she held on too tight and crushed it, or put it back in the wrong place? He said it was simple, but things like this were probably much more complicated than they seemed. So she stared down at the heard for a moment, looking at it with uncertainty all over her face.

"Come in closer," she instructed, motioning with a crook of her finger. She wasn't going to take the chance of reaching out and dropping it or anything. That would just be rude.

Obediently he moved forward. He had no choice as long as she held his heart in his hand. "It's all right," he said gently. "I trust you, Clara. You can do this."

She nodded, glancing down at the heart one last time before carefully reaching up to place it against his chest. She didn't feel that it was going to do anything, that it absolutely couldn't. Things like this just simply shouldn't exist, and yet the Doctor had two hearts, and she was holding Whale's heart in the palm of her hand. And she was pushing it back into him somehow.

"Are you sure this is working? Seems a bit Disney to me."

It didn't feel any less uncomfortable going back in as it did being taken out. But of course it was working: Whale could feel all of his emotions rushing back, enough to almost choke him in its intensity. They were gone for only a month but that was long enough for him to be overwhelmed.

His cheeks were wet from tears. Happy or sad ones? Probably both, with all that he was feeling. And then it was just her hand on his chest, his heart back where it belonged. Whale covered her hand with his. What he felt could be the affection of a father to a daughter, or a brother to a sister. Both at once, just like Victor and Whale.

"Clara. My impossible girl." He hadn't really hugged anyone since Gerhardt, but he wanted to hug her now. He pulled her into his arms, so glad she was back.

She had no idea how to react to this. She just wasn't sure. She sat there in his arms for a moment, stiff and awkward, but knew that he needed her right now. Besides, this was someone she cared for, a good friend and a mentor. She didn't have to worry about hugging him. So her arms went up around him, holding him tightly. She hoped it was reassuring on some level, because she wasn't quite sure what to do or say when someone just got their heart back.

"Careful, last time someone said that to me, I ended up doing something reckless. Don't want a repeat performance, do we?"

It was a joke, more than anything, but really a desperate plea for him to not use the Doctor's lines anymore. Not that he knew they were, so she supposed she shouldn't have been so cryptic.

He felt... relief, mostly. Relief that she didn't see him as a monster or was afraid or disgusted, or hated him for what he did. Gratitutde, and affection, too. But Whale understood what she wasn't saying and pulled away from her arms.

"I like calling you Clara better, anyway," he said. "And I think I would like it if you called me Victor from now on."

"Victor, right. Thought you'd never insist," she softly laughed, reaching up to pat at his cheek. "Clara sounds perfect. Just Clara, nothing else."

Now that they had taken care of his heart, she was well aware that she was sitting in Owen's room, wearing one of his shirts as a dress of sorts, and she looked horrible. Oh well, even if she was losing a bit of her image and dignity in Victor's eyes right now, the important thing was he had his heart back. He was himself again.

"So...Victor," she tested the name, smiling, "Everything's back to normal again? Really, actually back the way it should be?"

He smiled at her laugh. It was good to see her happy. The smile grew more serious now that he was able to take in her appearance. In Owen's room and wearing his clothes. Whale didn't like the connections his mind made. And she was hurt. While she was back in her own world, she went through sommething.

"You're hurt," Whale realized. "What happeend, Clara?"

"Just had a fall, that's all." She laughed a little at her unintentional rhyme, slouching down further into her seat. It wasn't that she didn't want to share any information with him, it was that she had no idea where to start or how. He barely knew anything about the Doctor, or her time with him. She couldn't very well just jump in there and start explaining everything at once, not when he'd just gotten his heart back!

"Visited a place I shouldn't have, I suppose you could say. Always run the risk of that when you travel with someone like the Doctor."

"Be more careful," he warned the girl. He meant it to sound scolding, but it ended up more of a plea. He already thought he lost her once and even without his heart, her absense affected him. It was unfair of him to want her here instead of in her home world, but if being there put her in harm's way then he definitely preferred her here.

"You and Martha with your Doctor. I can't say I like the man, but he does have good taste in companions."

Edited 2013-07-12 06:52 (UTC)

She smiled at that, giving a soft laugh. "Can't see the two of you getting on all that well, now that I think about it. He's a good man, though. Really, he is."

She would insist that to the moon and back, that the Doctor was worth thousands of her, worth just about anything. He kept saving the entire universe over and over again, how could he not be? But Victor was right, she did need to be more careful. She could hear the plea in his voice and it make her reconsider putting a bit of a joke in there to lighten the mood.

"Promise you one thing, though. I'm not gonna do anything stupid to try and get out of here again." No more getting herself hurt to try and escape, no more staying up entirely too late to research in the library. It all felt pointless now, what point was there going back to a place she'd only be dead or worse?

"You know, I did something pretty stupid myself," Whale commented. "What if we both promised not to do it again?" That way she wouldn't get hurt again and he wouldn't mess with things that should be left alone.

"Sounds brilliant," she agreed, holding out her hand so they could shake on it. "I, Clara Oswald, promise to attempt not to do reckless things."

"And I, Victor Frankenstein, promise not to destroy myself." He shakes her hand to seal the agreement. "Thank you, Clara. And get better soon, all right? I miss teaching my favorite student."

"I'll try. I'm sure Owen will be back any minute and it'll be back to bed for me." She paused, realizing how that probably sounded. Her eyes went wide and she tried clarifying. "For bedrest. Healing, things like that."

"I know." He thoughtlessly lifted his hand to touch a strand of her hair behind her ear. Whale didn't like the idea of Clara being in Owen's room, but she was an adult and more than capable of handling herself.

"But the clinic is a good place to rest, too, in case you need a change of venue," he added. "And I won't have to knock just to come see you."

"Are you attempting to lecture me?" She teased him, managing an actual smile. It was short lived, but still managed to exist at all, so she considered that to be a success. "As soon as I'm properly able, I'll come visit. I promise."

"You'd better." He was teasing her in turn, but gently. "I'd still like to be your teacher," he mentioned. "In art or science or whatever interests your mind. You won't even have to do well to get questions answered. I think you more than earned endless answers with me."

Her eyebrow arched at that, and she was actually able to muster a sincere smile of gratitude. "Good, because I'm definitely still interested in being your student. Think I might just stick with calling you Victor, even during lessons."

She didn't mention that she was planning a list of questions to bombard him with the next time she saw him. There was far too much to be curious about when it came to him.

"All right," he agreed. When Gold used his real name, it was in a snide sort of way. But coming from Clara, it was nice to hear.

"I'll let you rest now," Whale decided, moving toward the door. "You know where I am should you need me."

She nodded, smiling and giving him a little wave goodbye. "I'll rest up, then come see you soon. Don't be afraid to drop back by if you'd like, though."

"I'll come by and see you when you're in your own room," Whale answered, giving her a meaningful look. "See you later."

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