"Stephen," Clara breathed as she rushed over to him.
"He's been bitten by the Arthropleura," Cutter briefed. "He has the same symptoms as the pest controller. The spiders aren't the problem, this thing is. We need to do something before it destroys his central nervous system."
"You said it was not poisonous!" Claudia spat at Connor.
"I was only speculating!" He said in defence. Abby patted him on the shoulder comfortingly, though her eyes remained focused on Stephen.
Clara tried not to let the tears escape as she walked alongside the stretcher on the way to the ambulance. "Tell them about Helen!" Stephen panted, his voice incredibly strained. "She was there!"
"What's he talking about?" Claudia demanded.
"I don't know," Nick sighed. "He's probably hallucinating."
Stephen suddenly gripped Clara's hand before he was going to be put in the ambulance. She met his shaking gaze. "You know, I never told you this," he stuttered. "But you're the most beautiful person I've ever met."
"You're hallucinating," Clara choked, trying not to cry. She attempted to smile, but she felt it came off more as a grimace.
"I'm not," Stephen denied. "Have dinner with me. Please."
"Look, how about we talk about it when you're better?" She offered.
"I don't have that long," he said. Clara sighed, her brain launching into overdrive.
"Fine, I will," she smiled weakly. "And I'll even stay for breakfast the next morning."
Stephen gave her a shaky smile. "Perfect. You know, they say you only do crazy things before you're about to die. I guess it's true."
"You're not dying!" Clara cried, a single tear rolling down her face. Stephen was lifted into the ambulance, severing the hold he had on her hand. Clara glanced at Cutter, who caught her eye and gave her a sympathetic nod.
She clambered into the ambulance, watching as they shut the doors and sped off towards the hospital.
——
"What did this to him?" The doctor asked Clara as they wheeled Stephen into a room.
"A centipede," Clara offered, feeling helpless.
"What kind of centipede?" The doctor asked sceptically.
"It's hard to explain!" Clara cried, running her hands through her hair despairingly.
"If we don't find out exactly what bit him, he will die!" The doctor urged.
"What do you need?" Clara begged. "I'll try and find out whatever I can."
"The only thing that has a chance now is an anti-venom," the doctor explained. "I need a sample of the attacker's venom to create that. Do you think you could get that quickly?"
Clara nodded firmly. "I'll do my best. Just keep him alive," she told the doctor, before leaving the room and shunning tears.
——
Clara managed to get a taxi back to Arsenal Station, where she rushed over to Cutter. "Is he okay?" He asked, hugging Clara tightly.
Clara pulled away, shaking her head. "He needs an anti-venom, or else he'll die."
Cutter bit his lip in thought, before dragging Clara towards Claudia and Connor. "We need a bit of the centipede's venom," he told her bluntly.
"How are you going to do that?" Claudia scoffed. "Ask it to fill a specimen jar?"
Cutter smirked. "In a way." He turned to Connor. "Find me something that will work, and we'll go down." Connor nodded and rushed to one of the trucks.
Nick grabbed Claudia's radio and connected to Ryan's. "Ryan, how's it going?"
"It's working," his static voice came through. "The spiders are going back into the anomaly."
"Has the centipede gone back through?"
"Not that I'm aware of," Ryan confirmed.
"Alright. Don't let it go back. If it does, Stephen's dead," Cutter said. Clara choked back a sob. She mentally scolded herself and tried to pull herself back together. She needed to be strong, for Stephen.
"Okay," Ryan copied.
"What are you going to do?" Claudia asked worriedly.
"I'm going to ask a very angry centipede to bite me," he grinned. "I'll take Ryan, Connor and Abby with me. Clara, you go and sit with Stephen, make sure he's okay."
"Are you sure you don't need any help?" She frowned lightly, watching him with concern.
Cutter's lips twitched up into a soft smile. "Don't worry about me, I'll be okay. Take care of Stephen - tell him he's gonna be fine."
"Okay," she nodded. Nick tossed her his car keys before he sprinted to meet Connor.
"Take my car!" He called, and Clara nodded.
She drove as fast as the government would allow her to on the way to the hospital, pulling up as close as she could get to the entrance. She rushed past reception and entered Stephen's room. He was still surrounded by doctors, and his body was still convulsing horribly. Clara grimaced; she hated seeing her friend like that, it was horrible.
She watched him for what felt like hours, when in reality it had only been about twenty minutes. Her phone chimed from her pocket, and she instantly pulled it out.
"Nick, have you got it?" She asked desperately.
She could almost hear his smile through the phone. "We got it. Stephen's going to be fine. We're on our way over with it now."
"Oh, thank you," Clara breathed.
"Clara," Cutter called.
"Yeah?"
"I think you might want to let him know about your feelings before he wakes up."
Clara's eyes widened. "I don't know what you mean," she said, and she hung up when she heard Nick laugh.
——
Later that night, Clara was curled up in the chair beside Stephen's bed. The anti-venom had worked - his body had stopped convulsing and he wasn't sweating. He was still sleeping, but his bite had been taken care of. He wasn't going to die.
Abby and Connor had offered to take over and watch him - Abby especially for some reason - but Clara had declined. She wanted to be there when he woke up.
Currently, though, she was drifting off into sleep herself. She pulled the blanket closer around her as she curled into a tighter ball. She was just about to close her eyes again when she noticed Stephen's eyes flickering. Clara opened her own eyes fully, suddenly feeling wide awake, and threw the blanket to the floor.
Stephen's head turned to face where Clara was sat, his blue eyes a little foggy but otherwise normal. His lips pulled up into a small smile. "Clara," he murmured.
"I'm here," she smiled, moving closer and taking his hand. "You gave us quite a scare, you know."
He frowned. "Did I? I'm sorry."
"No, don't apologise," she hushed gently. "I'm just glad you're alright. Everyone's been so worried about you."
He gave a weak laugh. "They shouldn't be. I should be the least of their worries."
"Don't be silly," Clara chuckled. "Now, I'm just going to tell the doctor that you're awake, okay? I'll be back in a minute."
Stephen muttered something incoherent and let go of her hand so she could go. Smiling, Clara began to pull open the door, but stopped when she heard whispered voices.
"I just want to make sure he's alright!" She heard Abby hiss.
"He will be," Connor's voice sounded. "Clara's with him."
"She's not his only friend!" Abby huffed. Clara felt hurt.
Connor paused. "You really like him, don't you?"
Clara heard Abby sigh. "I hardly know him."
"That's never been an excuse not to fancy someone before," Connor reasoned.
"Shut up, Connor," Abby said, though her tone was fond.
Taking a deep breath, Clara opened the door and told the doctor that Stephen was awake, without making it obvious that she had been eavesdropping on Connor and Abby just moments before.
——
The next day, Clara arrived back to sit with Stephen after getting a mug of hot chocolate to find Claudia interrogating him about what he had said about Helen.
"You said you saw her, when you were bitten," she said.
Stephen scoffed. "I was gone," he shrugged. "I don't remember anything. I was probably just seeing things."
"Right," Claudia sighed, spinning on her heel and walking out the door. "Morning, Clara."
"Morning," Clara greeted vaguely. She sat down in her chair next to Stephen's bed, watching as he put down the book he was reading. He had some grey joggers on and a green shirt, but none of the buttons were done up; Clara could see the lean muscle that made up his abdomen, though it was disturbed by a large bandage that cut across the middle.
"What was that about?" Stephen asked her, pointing to where Claudia had just left.
"Just stuff you said when you were bitten," Clara sighed. "So, you really don't remember?"
"Remember what?" He frowned.
"The stuff you said in the ambulance?" She tried, raising an eyebrow. She let out another sigh at Stephen's blank face. "Never mind. I just thought you might remember some of it, that's all."
"Oh. Was it important?"
She hesitated for just a moment. "Not really," Clara lied. "Not as important as you getting better."
"Okay. Hey," Stephen called, reaching over and taking Clara's hand. Hers was cold compared to his warm one. "Thanks for looking after me, Clara. There's no one I would have rather had here."
Clara smiled, squeezing his hand. "Don't mention it."