When Clara Met Rose(A Whouffle/TenPetals Fanfiction)

Chapter 7

"So, how did you meet the Doctor?" Clara asked Rose cheerfully, trying to strike up some conversation between them. Rose didn't look at her, more interested in the cracks in the floor and the moss clinging to the walls. Clara whistled to herself, bobbing from side to side happily.

Rose stopped dead in her tracks and pointed her sonic accusingly at Clara. "Why're you so happy?"

Clara blinked, spinning on her heel to face her. "Why shouldn't I be?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot." Rose snapped. "You have the Doctor; you're living the life you've always dreamed of. Well, excuse me if I'm not happy for you and your perfect life. I have better things to do.." She turned away and stalked off, blinking back tears. 

"Rose, what's wrong?" Clara called after her. "What've I done?" She ran after the younger woman, forgetting to follow the feeding tubes, and grabbed her arm. Rose spun back around violently. 

"You look smart. Figure it out." Rose spat. "Or do you not know the Doctor well enough to guess?" 

Clara narrowed her eyes at her, clearly offended. She could feel the anger inside of her bubbling and beginning to boil, her patience that had been honed by years of difficult adolescents wearing thin. "Oh, I know the Doctor very well, thank you. Better than you ever will." She knew that it was petty to gloat, but the outraged glare on Rose's face was worth it.

"Oh, really?" She smirked. She looked Clara up and down, noting her short dress and impractical shoes. She was dressed in the manner of someone that had been picked up by the Doctor while still living on Earth, not like Rose who had her own room and wardrobe on board. "Is that why he only picks you up when it suits him? When he remembers to?"

Clara laughed scathingly. "Do you honestly think that will work on me? He picks me up when I tell him too. I'm not completely dependant, not like you. I have a life to go back to after our adventures." Clara tried to stop herself, but Rose's criticism had riled her. She wanted an argument? She was damn well going to get one. "I bet he picked you up off the streets by accident. Saved you from some threat or other and you just couldn't let him go. Ran after him, I wager, even when he wanted you gone." Rose blanched, and Clara knew she was hitting the mark somewhere with her guesswork. "You know what? He came looking for me. Not to save me from an alien threat, not out of guilt, or duty, but because he genuinely wanted me to travel with him. I sent him away, and he kept on coming back. So don't you dare tell me that I don't know him, or love him, because I do. And I always will. I don't care what you think or feel about me. It doesn't matter. What matters is that the Doctor- both our Doctors- are relying on us to get this done. And we can't do it if you insist on playing 'mine's-bigger-than-yours' all the time. Got that?" 

Clara expected her speech to have angered Rose into action- that was what she was counting on. It was a technique that she had used on her students numerous times; challenge them to complete a task and push them until they finished it with a mixture of kindness and tough love. It had the opposite effect on Rose. She looked crushed for a second, then pulled herself back together and eyed Clara distastefully. 

"You think he loves you? Newsflash- he's picked up girls like you before. You're not the first, and you won't be the last," Rose warned, partly to spite her but also to warn her. "You're just the latest in a long line, Clara."

Clara swallowed thickly. "I know. He told me." 

They stood in the corridor, staring at each other sullenly, when all of a sudden Rose burst into hysterical laughter.

"Are you okay?" Clara asked, wondering if she should phone her Doctor. Rose was bent double, hands on her knees.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking- I've had this conversation before." She sobered up a little, putting her hands on her hips. "We never learn." 

"Who never learns?" Clara was lost. 

"When I met Sarah-Jane-she was another friend of the Doctor's-" Rose added when Clara still looked confused-"I met her when me and the Doctor were investigating a school. We had an argument just like this."

"Right, okay then." Clara said. "Shall we....?" She pointed down the corridor with the sonic and Rose nodded, easily falling into step beside her. 

"You know," Rose mused while they were walking, "we all think that we're the best, the only thing worthwhile that's happened to him, when actually we're not. He just moves on, every time. Never looks back." 

"I wouldn't say that." Clara disagreed, "He cares for all of us. Grieves for us when we leave. We're all important to him, one way or another. He just hates endings."

"You really do care about him, don't you?" Rose realised with a sharp pang of guilt.

"I love him." Clara admitted, like it was the easiest thing in the world. 

"That makes two of us." Rose laughed. They smiled at each other, their jealousy fading as they got to know each other better.

"I'm sorry about what I said. Before. It was wrong, I didn't think." Clara apologised. 

"Don't worry about it." A pause. "It was my fault, too." 

 "Glad we got that cleared up." 

 They carried on, making idle chatter as they went. It was awkward at first, but they were soon both laughing and joking happily with the other as they shared their individual experiences with the Time Lord. Clara was careful not to say anything that would hint at the Doctor's future, apart from how they met and a few choice trips to planets that she enjoyed. Rose told her pretty much everything from the beginning, from when he blew up her shop right up to the Sycorax. At some point, their conversation turned into relationship advice.

"You should go for it," Clara advised her, "he'll never make a move unless you do." 

"Easy for you to say," replied Rose bitterly, "he looks at you like you're his whole world." 

"Hey," Clara nudged her, "he does it to you, too. Give him time, he'll notice eventually." 

They were nearing the end of the tunnel and the feeding pipe when Rose suddenly engulfed Clara in a hug, squeezing her tightly. Clara's eyes widened and she let out a surprised squeak, hugging Rose back automatically. 

"Thank you." Rose said sincerely, letting Clara go. 

Clara smiled at her. "You're welcome." She nodded over at the door. "Ready?" 

Rose nodded, and they both lifted their sonics and pointed them dramatically at the door in an imitation of their Doctors. They saw each other and laughed. 

"If only they could see us now," Rose said. "I bet you a tenner that they wouldn't notice us doing it."

"Was that a challenge?" Asked Clara, eyebrow arched.

"Oh yes," answered Rose in a passable impression of Ten. 

"Done." Clara waved a five pound note in the air. "I've only got a fiver, though." She warned. 

Rose shrugged. "Bat your eyelashes enough and your Doctor will do anything for you, including giving you money," she teased. 

"You don't know how true that is," replied Clara, smirking.  

"Everything set?" Clara gave Rose a double thumbs up, then returned to her Doctor-ish stance with both feet apart and one hand raised behind her. 

"Then let's go."

A/N

I am so, so sorry that it's been so long between updates! I've been a bit stuck for ideas, but now I'm back and ready to roll with some new chapters on the way. This won't be a long story, so expect another three or four chapters before it finishes. That's what I'm planning, anyway, but I have a tendency to get carried away with plots so prepare yourelves for anything. Next chapter should have a bit more action and will be posted hopefully by the weekend, depending on how my other writings go. Thanks for sticking with me!

-WhovianInSpace96