Twisted Dreams

(AU setting 12 X Clara pairing)

After a violent deep space encounter with hostile alien forces, a single enemy shot rings out on the Tardis flight deck, and believing himself hit, the world around the Doctor fades to black. Soon after, he wakes to an altered reality in a nightmarish world where nothing seems real – and in this world, it seems it was Clara who was shot - not the Doctor - and he fears he may lose his Impossible Girl...

As the Doctor tries to make sense of this strange altered world, he is haunted by ghostly visions of Clara begging him to help her, and along with those images, he catches fleeting glimpses of silver suited creatures, and when Clara begins to recover and tells him she can see them too, he realises their reality is being manipulated by the Cybermen...

But the Doctor does not yet know that he has figured out only half of the situation – very little in this artificial world is based upon reality, but when the facts are revealed about what really happened on the day the Tardis came under attack, a truth will be uncovered that will reveal the Doctor's deepest hopes and dreams - and change his life, and his relationship with Clara Oswald, forever...

Rated T

Warnings: Some scenes of violence and trauma, references to drug taking, references to trauma and also scenes of romantic and passionate love.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, I write for love of fan fiction.

Chapter 1

She had a slightly flushed look about her face.

The Doctor looked at her, enjoying that flushed look that reminded him of so many things - and all of them deep and wonderful.

"What's going on?" Clara asked him.

Her face was still flushed, that blush had started from the minute he had surprised her at work and walked into the classroom in his caretakers jacket and asked if he could have a quick word with her...

Clara had told the class she would be back soon, and then as she headed for the door she had turned back on hearing a giggle, but failed to spot the culprit. She had already heard the whispers going around the school:

Ozzie loves the caretaker...

How did the kids pick up on this sort of stuff?

"Well?" she asked, "What was so important that you had to drag me out in the middle of class?"

His gaze briefly shifted up and down her body as he noticed the way her skirt hugged her hips. Clara had great hips. And the skirt came just above her knees, he liked that, too. He liked everything about her, because he loved her.

And she loved him too.

It hadn't taken long for the truth to come out, she had made her choice and now he was her boyfriend...

"I wanted to see you," he replied,"We can be gone for as long as we like - I can bring you back here five minutes after we left, no one will ever know."

She started to smile. And he knew that look, she wanted to grab him and squeeze him.

He smiled too.

"Don't hug me, I just want you to come with me in the Tardis, then we might hold hands."

She stepped closer and looked up at him.

"And then?"

He took off his caretakers jacket and tossed it over the back of a chair behind the caretakers desk, then he smoothed down his dark suit and opened the Tardis door.

"After you."

As she passed him and went inside she brushed against him and the Doctor felt a shiver run through his body. He closed the Tardis door and joined her at the console.

Clara watched him fondly as he activated controls threw a lever and the Tardis set off on its way. He could feel her eyes on him and he suddenly felt shy as he glanced at her, recalling how she had warmed through his reserved exterior with her gentle heart and her deep love.

He was still not a man who enjoyed being hugged, but when they were alone together he did hold her often, he held her hand, he drew her close and kissed her and later, after their bodies had joined together in a union that left him weak and breathless and blinking away tears of joy, then he held her, he held her in his arms as their skin slid warm together damp from the sweat of their lovemaking...

Now he couldn't imagine his life without her, not now he knew that she loved him as much as he loved her...

"Where are we going?" she asked him.

"Just away for a while," he replied, "You and me and the beauty of time and space."

"That could lead to trouble!"

"So could me taking hold of your hand, I was rather hoping it would."

And she smiled again as her eyes shone with love.

And the Doctor blinked and saw something strange and sudden through a misty haze:

Smoke and sparking wires, the smell of scorched metal filled the air and he knew the console was damaged as he frantically tried to put up a shield.

The Tardis doors were open and something was standing in the doorway, obscured by the smoke as lights flickered on and off. Something had broken through the shield system, something that stood tall and gleaming in the haze of smoke and glimpses of it shone silver.

He reached for the controls, re-routing power to set a new course and seal down the breach, to lose that thing in mid-flight as the Tardis shifted dimension.

The Doctor slammed down a lever and hoped for the best.

A shot rang out, a sharp, short blast that cut through the smoke and as it slammed into the side of his head he slumped to the floor as Clara screamed.

The lights were still blinking on and off as sparks flew from the console.

"Doctor?"

Her voice pulled him away from the sights and sound of the vision, shutting it down abruptly.

He turned to her and she saw a look of alarm in his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I...I don't know, I saw -"

He gave a gasp as the image returned:

The Tardis was dark and lights stuttered and smoke hung thick in the air. The figure in the doorway was sucked out into space as the shields strengthened and locked down, the door of the Tardis slammed shut and the ship left the depths of space, speeding through time as it sought its new destination.

Clara was on her knees and blood was running over her hands, so much blood...

He heard her call for help, and she sounded terrified.

His last thought was that very little terrified Clara, but today she was afraid.

He wondered why, and then he saw something small and glowing encased in a clear shell and an odd thought struck him:

That was not a bullet.

It was something else.

Clara was calling to him again...

He turned to her, hoping the vision would fade - but as he saw her terrified expression through the smoke and smelled the stench of scorched wires as the lights flickered on and off he knew this was no longer a vision.

This was real.

When, and how?

As the ship lurched she fell against him, smearing his white shirt with blood and he wondered whose blood it was.

His head was still throbbing as the lights went out.

The Doctor had no memory of the Tardis landing.

He had heard no sound nor felt a jolt but the ship was now still, smoke rose from the controls and the smoke was fading out as dim emergency lighting began to glow.

He sat up and coughed, felt no lingering pain and then as something warm and wet trickled down his face he touched it and saw blood on his fingertips. A vague ache was throbbing quietly at the side of his head, he guessed he must have hit it on the console when the event had occurred..

What the hell had happened here?

He sat there for a moment, listening but hearing nothing but a hum of power that was slightly off key to its usual low tone, most likely due to the compromised power flow due to the wiring damage...

Yes, the Tardis was damaged - but it was nothing he couldn't fix.

He was still sitting there, listening to the altered tone of the Tardis power flow as he tried to make sense of what had happened:

The events played over in his mind again, and still the Doctor could make no sense of it. Nothing had happened in a constant flow, it was as if he had lived through those moments in-between freeze-frames of time, like layers of a dream, one after the other, had been stitched together.

But this was real.

It was too real.

Clara was on the floor beside him, there was a small wound to her temple and she was bleeding heavily...

"Clara?"

As he turned her over, his fear was dampened down a little by the fact that she was definitely breathing. Her face was pale, her eyes were closed, the sound of his voice could not rouse her – but she was definitely still alive.

He got up and leaned on the console heavily as he hit some buttons, his hand trembling from shock as he sought information from the Tardis:

He was on Earth, the year was 2060.

Good, the Tardis had managed to understand the hastily set commands and taken them out of the danger and back to Earth, a few decades ahead of Clara's own time and place.

"Thank you," the Doctor whispered as he looked down at the damaged controls of the Tardis, "You saved us, old girl..."

And then he went back over to the spot where Clara lay motionless. Blood was running from the head wound, soaking her hair crimson...

She had been shot?

For a brief moment the nightmare sequence of events played through his mind again as he recalled something hitting him, punching through his head.

He thought he had been hit, not her...

Maybe he had hit his head on the console, it felt as if he had...

The Doctor lifted Clara into his arms and began to carry her towards the door of the Tardis. She stayed limp in his arms, and her stillness frightened him, because nothing could terrify him more than the thought of losing the one he loved...

The Doctor stepped out of the Tardis and Clara felt like a dead weight in his arms. Blood was still running from her head wound, dripping softly to a concrete floor. The Doctor could hear every drop as it splashed to the floor, echoing around the dimly lit corridor.

He did not know exactly where they were, but it seemed to be the basement level of an abandoned building.

Clara was growing heavier n his arms, and he gently placed her against the closed door of the Tardis, keeping her in a sitting position, leaning her head back against the door.

"I have to find help," he said softly, "Don't be afraid, I won't be gone long."

Then he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and placed it against the wound, and the white cotton began to soak through crimson rapidly as the bleeding failed to stop.

"I won't be long!" he said again, and then he got up and turned towards the long, dimly lit corridor where tiles had partly fallen from damp walls.

As he walked towards the end of the corridor, a scratching, crackling noise passed through the walls and the Doctor stopped and stared at the sight of the remaining tiles set on the wall:

They were peeling back, lifting away from the damp walls and floating free.

Then they cracked sharply and shattered as the Doctor ducked and shards flew about the corridor.

He turned back, shaken by the unexplained event, and saw that Clara was thankfully safe – she was too far back up the corridor to have been affected by the shattering tiles. She was still on the floor, slumped against the door of the Tardis, and she was still breathing, he could just about detect the rise and fall of her chest at this distance, and knowing she was still alive gave him the strength to carry on.

He turned away and ran towards the end of the corridor, where lights glowed green illuminating an old, dirty sign that said Lift.

He felt in his pocket and it came as a great relief to know he was still carrying his sonic screwdriver. If the lift malfunctioned, he would be able to get it going again...

They were getting out of this place.

The Doctor ran back down the corridor, reached Clara and paused to breathe, then he lifted her into his arms and began to carry her back towards the lift, as he made his way up the corridor her blood ran freely and dripped to the ground, leaving a trail, splashing on to the concrete floor and hitting shards of shattered tiles like the fall of heavy raindrops.

The sound echoed, filling the corridor like the ticking of a clock counting down towards the end of everything.

It would be the end for him if Clara died..

He tried not to think about losing her.

That was his greatest fear.

The lift button was stuck. He struggled to keep her steady in his arms as he drew the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and gave the button a blast.

The doors slid open and he carried her into the lift, where the walls were covered with cracked mirrors reflecting his shocked expression as the doors closed and he saw the distorted image of himself, spattered with blood, his and Clara's, reflected in every cracked pane.

The Doctor hit the internal controls and the doors closed, then he pressed the button for the ground floor, and the lift began to rise uneasily as old stiff gears creaked and groaned.

She was still motionless in his arms, but her chest was rising and falling, so he knew she was alive. As long as Clara kept breathing, he could stay strong.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as the lift continued an uneasy climb, "I don't know what happened...I'm not even sure how it happened...but I'll sort this out, I'll get you some help and we will get away from here, I promise..."

And he wanted to hold her closer as he made that vow, but he was afraid of moving her more than he needed to, because she was cold in his arms and still bleeding. But she was breathing, and as long as she breathed, he was determined to find a way out...

The lift came to a stop with a jolt, and as the doors opened the Doctor stepped out, leaving a deeply soaked patch of crimson on the carpet on the floor of the lift.

As he carried her out into the ground floor and towards the open doors of the building, he was crossing a cracked floor, here the windows were dirty and the place was empty and silent. Perhaps this place had once been an office building of some kind, but it was long abandoned...

The Doctor stepped out into the street and he saw cars passing by on a busy road, people were walking along both sides of the street, here and there shops were open, but most had boarded up windows.

This had once been a busy area, but urban decay had set in long ago...

"I need some help!" he called.

And no one noticed him.

The Doctor stood there on the busy street as people passed him by, not looking twice at the sight of him standing there, blood on his face and his shirt and dripping from the head of his wounded companion...

Could no one see them?

The Doctor stared at the crowd of shoppers who passed them by, then he watched as cars drove along, not even slowing to take a look at the bloody people at the roadside.

"I need some help!" he said again.

And the sky flickered.

He heard a sharp click.

The Doctor looked around, but saw nothing altered.

He looked up at the sky, but now it had returned to shade of blue dotted with clouds.

"What was that?" he whispered as he began to think back to the start of this nightmare as he tried to find an answer.

Then it hit him that this felt like a nightmare – except he was sure it was real, because his head was aching and blood was running from his own wound.

He wanted this to be no more than a bad dream, but it was real. It had to be.

It was just the sudden gaps in time, the slow motion moments like the tiles floating off the wall, that he could not explain.

Maybe he was hallucinating.

That seemed likely, and if he was, he guessed it ought to come as no surprise after the blow to the head he had suffered...

Then the cars and the people and everything that moved slipped forward and blurred and the world fell silent.

It came back to life immediately, and the world seemed to jolt just like the ancient lift back in the basement...

"Sir?"

The voice echoed in his mind

"Sir?" she said again, and suddenly he could hear her clearly, "Can you tell me what happened?"

And the woman touched his shoulder.

The Doctor turned and looked into the eyes of a woman whose age he could not guess at, she was beautiful and her blonde hair fell to her shoulders but the look in her hazel eyes certainly carried a great deal of strength.

"Where am I?" he said, feeling disoriented as he looked around and realised Clara was no longer in his arms and he was now standing outside the entrance to a large hospital.

"I'm Doctor Nina Bracken," she said, "Can you tell me what happened, Doctor?"

He stared at her. He was still stunned by the fact that it seemed one minute Clara had been heavy in his arms, and now she was gone...

"How do you know my name?"

"You told me your name when Clara was being taken inside."

"I need to see her -"

"Doctor, she is very weak. We have to stabilise her before we can treat her. I need to know what happened."

The Doctor looked into her eyes feeling bewildered.

"I keep...missing moments, I don't understand this...are you real?"

She looked intently at him.

"You took a blow to the head. You should get that checked out."

"I'm more concerned about my girlfriend!"

"Come with me," she said, and he followed her into the building.

As they stood in the middle of a wide reception area, the Doctor blinked, and the busy room seemed to blur at speed, like hours had rushed by in a split second. Then he looked back at Nina, and the world slowed to normal pace once more.

"I said, do you remember what happened?"

He shook his head.

"I'm not sure...it keeps getting mixed up...I thought I was shot -"

"Clara was shot." she told him, "And we can't take the bullet out yet."

She led him towards a corridor, and he followed, and suddenly they were the only two people around.

He wondered why the corridor seemed so vast and empty, but that thought was pushed aside by his concern for the woman he loved as he turned to Nina and looked hard at her, demanding answers:

"My ship was hijacked and shots were fired! I keep losing time or time keeps losing me and I don't get it and I don't like it! Tell me what's going on!"

She was giving him that look again, like she doubted every word he had just said.

"Doctor, you need to sit down and calm down, because you're not helping yourself or Clara."

She led him over to a waiting area and he sat down heavily as his head ached and he paused to rub at his temples.

"As soon as she is stable I'll be able to tell you more," Nina said, "Until then, just wait here and rest. And if that headache gets any worse I want to take a look at you. I think you may have concussion."

"I just want to see Clara."

He looked up at Nina, and anger burned in his eyes as he wondered if he could trust anyone in this world where time could not keep still.

"And its not a bullet! I saw it, I saw what hit her..."

Nina's eyes clouded with confusion.

"Your girlfriend has definitely been shot, Doctor."

"No," he said, "Listen to me, it was not a bullet. It looked like some kind of transmitter, the technology was very advanced, you have to be careful -"

"Clara is quite safe," Nina told him calmly, and the tone of her voice began to irritate him greatly, "But we can't treat her until she is stable – she's lost a lot of blood and we have to be careful because of her other condition."

The Doctor stared at her.

"She's been shot! What other condition could you possibly be talking about?" he demanded, and her reply was unexpected, and all sense of anger faded out as her words left him stunned:

"We are doing all we can to save both of them," she replied, "We have to be very careful how we treat her because your girlfriend is pregnant."