When Peyton emerges from the London Underground, she had two missed calls from Clara.
She quickly dials back as she walks toward her bus stop and after four rings Clara picks up.
She sobs on the phone, Peyton listening to her cry about how the Doctor had done it. Had pushed her too far and now she doesn't think she can travel with him anymore.
Peyton had arrived home their conversation ended and she hung up the phone.
She leans back against her front door, letting her head rest back against the wood. Great. Clara was the only thing keeping her tolerating the Doctor's insane behaviour and now she feels incredibly selfish for wishing that she could stay.
Peyton throws her keys down and heads upstairs to shower and fall into her bed, tired of how long this day was just dragging out.
She realises as she shampoos her hair that Clara giving up the Doctor is something very few people have done but what they seem to have in common is that they all lived. So maybe, just maybe, this is for the best.
• • •
Peyton straightens her dinner jacket as the three time travellers step out of the Tardis.
"Your train awaits, my ladies," the Doctor smiles.
"Wonderful," Clara raises an eyebrow as they look around the storage compartment they had landed in.
"The baggage car," the Doctor says with a wave of his hand, walking toward the door. "But thanks for lying. The real wonderful is through here."
Peyton follows Clara out of the dingy room and into the corridor.
As Clara reaches to pull open another door, the Doctor stops them both. "There were many trains to take the name Orient Express. But only one..." he reaches over and opens the door for them. "... in space."
"Of course it is," Peyton chuckles, looking around at the 1920s themed cabin, a Jazz band in the far corner covering 'Don't Stop Me Now'.
"A completely faithful recreation of the original Orient Express," the Doctor elaborates. "Except slightly bigger. And in space. Oh, and the rails are actually hyperspace ribbons. But, in every other respect, identical. Painstaking attention to detail." A man barges through them, seemingly intent on getting where he needs to go. "Most of the time."
The three stand in silence, Peyton appreciating the decor while not appreciating her stuffy dinner suit the Doctor insisted she wear that looks almost identical to his, but instead of a silly ribbon bow tie, Peyton had opted for a more traditional and sleek tie.
"You're doing it again," the Doctor says, looking down to Clara.
"Doing what?"
"The smile."
"Yeah, I'm smiling."
"It's the sad smile. It's a smile but you're sad," he says. "It's confusing. It's like two emotions at once. It's like you're malfunctioning."
"Sorry," Clara drops her smile self consciously and Peyton looks up at the Doctor unimpressed but is surprised to see a frown of regret already imprinted on his face.
"I just thought that this would be a good one to..."
"To end it? Yeah," Clara nods, finishing the Doctor's sentence for him. "It is. It's a good choice. Good one to end on."
"Yeah?" Peyton tries a smile. "Not too shabby."
"Shall we?"
• • •
YOU ARE READING
The Time Lord's Apprentice
Fanfiction"But, you're impossible!" "Yeah, and the world is ending, I don't think now is the time." Peyton is an orphan, taken from her mother as an infant by the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. She is raised separately from other children because she is spec...
