Note: This contains a minor spoiler for Hell Bent, but is basically totally an AU that ignores all the events of Face the Raven and Hell Bent. Trigger Warning for pregnancy and labor.
It was morning, or as 'morning' as it could get in the TARDIS. Clara and the Doctor were currently floating in the blue box somewhere in the space void, curled up in bed together. Clara had her face buried in the Doctor's shoulder, and she wore one of his button down nightshirts. Because she was so small it reached her knees, something that the Doctor found adorable, but knew she'd get huffy if he mentioned it. Clara's breath remained steady and the Doctor watched her, taking note of all her biological processes, such as when she descended into REM sleep. Every so often he pushed her hair behind her ear. It was starting to get long again.
Many hours passed before she stirred. He supposed he should have gotten some sleep too, but he found himself much more content observing her instead. She had just started sleeping in his bed a few days ago, so it was still a new thing. He had not invited her, but after many times of her inviting him into her bed, it seemed only fair.
As much as he had previously tried to convince Clara he was not her boyfriend, they both knew that they needed each other more than ever. He finally got the courage up to ask her to be his properly a few months prior.
The Doctor had been almost certain it would not work at the time, but he had taken Clara on a swan boat ride onto a lake to try asking her to be with him. It had been a peculiar occasion for Clara because they had been the only two humanoid looking people on the planet he chose for their date. The rest of the inhabitants were rather large blob aliens. It really did not phase the Doctor as much as it did Clara, but thankfully the blob creatures were not that distracting once they got into the swan boat; It was nighttime so you could not see the other people in the boats as clearly.
After spending many of hours that day trying to build up the courage, the Doctor finally decided to begin the speech he had been working on for days. He waited until they were close to the middle of the lake to speak. "Clara," The Doctor had begun, not looking at her, hoping keeping his eyes off her would keep him from giving up on the whole idea.
"What is it?" Clara asked, her arms folded. "You took me on this lovely boat ride just to tell me bad news didn't you?"
"You're not enjoying yourself?" The Doctor asked, still not looking at her. He reached to the water and ran his fingers through it. The atmosphere of this planet caused a light show to follow the ripple of his fingers. This was one of the more romantic planets he could think of because of this.
Clara bit her lip as she watched him. "I'm trying to, it's been a wonderful day, especially the rather interesting ballet," she sighed. "But you've been barely looking at me the whole day and the conversations we've been having were mostly about the weather."
The Doctor hesitated, and paddled the boat a little further out into the lake, feeling Clara's eyes glaring into him.
"I'd rather you tell me what's wrong," She continued. "I'd rather it be like a quick band aid coming off instead of-"
The Doctor cut her off. He still did not look at her, and he ringed his hands together. Why did they have to look so old? Why did he have to feel so old?
"Clara I'm not your boyfriend," The Doctor stated.
Clara made a exasperated sound which caused the Doctor to wince. "We've gone through this already I already told you-"
"I'm not finished." The Doctor had finally looked at her, but it was in a way she wasn't expecting. He looked love sick, and so very hopeful. "I'm not your boyfriend. I never asked you properly when I was still wearing the bow tie, and," He hesitated. "I'm sorry."
"It's," Clara paused. "It's okay."
"It's not!" The Doctor declared. He stood up in the boat and made it rock back and forth. Clara looked at him alarmed as she grabbed onto the side of it to steady herself. "I've been doing this so wrong, and now I'm old, and you could not possibly want me now."
Clara's eyes were wide from his actions and also his words. "I never said-"
He cut her off again, standing in the middle of the boat as she cringed. There were a few other boats paddling about, their occupants trying to mind their own business. "Well, Clara Oswald, I'm done pretending."
The Doctor failed to notice Clara's bewilderment and her desperate attempts to shush him at this point. "I am in love with Clara Oswald!" The Doctor shouted out to the heavens. The boats passing by all seemed to stop, the blobs inside looking over curiously to the commotion. In one of the boats one of the blob people clapped with what could have only been its hands and whooped in approval. Clara on the other hand looked like she wanted to melt into the boat and never be seen again.
"Will you be with me, Clara?" He asked her then, in a normal tone of voice.
Clara still looked up at him mortified. "If I say yes will you sit down?"
"No," He replied, "I want the whole universe to know," the Doctor resumed shouting. "I am in love with Clara-" but this time Clara rocked the boat with her body and watched as he fell into the colorful water below them.
The Doctor came up a few seconds later, sputtering, lights zooming around in his hair. Clara began giggling at the sight and reached over the side to help him back into the boat. "You silly Doctor," She gasped between laughs, "That's what you've been grumping about all day?"
The Doctor had made a whining noise in reply as he tried to decide if he was offended. He looked down at his surely ruined coat and shook his head.
"Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Clara then said, once she finished gasping for air from laughing so hard. "You've never been able to tell me anything like a normal person."
And thus Clara and the Doctor were finally officially together.
Clara sighed in her sleep breaking the Doctor from his thoughts and he watched as she began to stir.
"Good morning." The Doctor said, his Scottish accent rather thicker than normal.
"Mornin'" Clara replied, placing a kiss on his bare shoulder. Her hand ran over the pajama shirt he wore, which had a picture of Grumpy Cat on it. "I was having a dream." Clara's voice trailed off.
"Were you? Was it a good dream?" The Doctor asked, running his fingers down her back and smiling down at her.
"Yes, I'd say so." She paused then said, "We had a baby."
"A baby?" The Doctor asked, thinking back to how much Clara had liked Rigsy's child. Admittedly, he had too.
"Mmm... Yeah.." Clara sighed and rolled onto her back and stared up to the ceiling. The TARDIS hummed in the background, comforting her. "Do you think I'd be a good mum?"
The Doctor slipped next to her. Now it was his turn to have his head on her chest. He listened to her heart beating through the material of his shirt she wore. He slowly traced the buttons. "I think you'd be a terrific mum."
Clara reached for his hand and grabbed it, lacing her fingers through his. "Do you think I'd be a good mum to your children?"
At first the Doctor felt a little confused, thinking back to the children he had on Gallifrey so very long ago. How would she be the mother to those children? Then, after a moment of puzzlement, he realized what she was asking. "You don't think I'm too old to be a dad again?" He asked softly. He was not denying her desire, but instead was feeling shame and worry.
Clara looked as he buried his face into her breast, and ran her free hand through his hair. "I think you'd be the best space dad."
"What did I say about adding space in front of everything?" the Doctor muttered into her chest. Clara sighed in reply and let go of his hand and instead guided his face to look up at her. "What do you say, Doctor? Why don't we have a baby?"
A smile spread across his face as the Doctor re-positioned himself so he could kiss Clara's lips. "I would love to have a wee bairn, as long as it was ours."
He kissed her then, thinking about how her lips felt against his, and how wonderful the curve of her hip felt under his hand.
Several months later, the Doctor sat on a stool near the stairs of the TARDIS, dosing off. In one hand he had an opened bottle of pink liquid, and in the other a damp cloth he had been using to coat the rash on his arms with the hopes of stopping the itch he was experiencing. He had not meant to land in a jungle, but Clara was demanding a hot chocolate for hours and they were out of the stuff.
The Doctor was not even sure which jungle they had landed in, or what planet they were on, but he really wanted to explore. Clara opted to stay behind, and really he did not blame her. The plants in that jungle had been at least two stories high. One of them had been covered in a jam like substance that caused the rash on his arms.
After a long string of 'I told you so's and fussing about by his wife (they had gotten married not long after deciding to have children together), Clara eventually brought him a bottle of calamine lotion.
"We don't even know what kind of thing that plant was," The Doctor had moaned, his arms outstretched towards Clara. "How do we know earth medicine will even- Ahh.."
Clara's gloved hands pressed the compress she held to the biggest patch of red, angry abrasions and shook her head. "It may have been some mystical bean tree for all we know, but you should always try the simple answer first."
"Can I bathe in that stuff?" The Doctor whimpered as she pulled the cloth away. Almost instantly the itching and burning had returned.
"No," Clara replied, a small smile on her lips, watching him throw his head back as she placed the compress on his other arm. "But I'm going to go lay down in a bit, so you need to apply this yourself."
The Doctor looked at her under his half closed eyelids as he took the concoction and the rag from her. "You go rest, I've got it under control."
Clara then leaned forward, placed a soft kiss onto his cheek and ruffled his hair affectionately. He watched her go, lamenting about the fact he would no longer have something to distract himself with.
It took longer than he would have liked, but he soon had a thick enough coat of lotion on both arms. He had to be slow about it; even the slightest touch stung if he was too rough. Soon though he was comfortable enough to close his eyes.
The Doctor almost fell into a deep sleep when foot steps echoed back into the main console room.
"Doctor? Doctor?" the far away voice called.
He opened his eyes to see Clara, her arms around her swollen belly and a terrified look on her face. She still looked absolutely gorgeous.
"My water broke!" She said, causing what felt like an explosion of anxiety to rake through the Doctor's mind.
He dropped the bottle and rag, and barely noticed as a puddle of pink goo spread across the floor. "You can't be due already-"
"Oh yes I can be," Clara's face contorted with frustration and pain. "We need to go to a hospital!"
"Oh, right right!" With panic still in his face that he was trying desperately to hide, the Doctor quickly went to fumble with the controls. "Did we ever decide on...?"
"I don't care where we go," Clara gripped her stomach and groaned as a contraction ripped through her body, nearly bringing her to her knees. "As long as they're not practicing medieval medicine."
The Doctor pulled the main switch to the TARDIS, and watched the controls as the ship took off, praying for once it would land in the right place.
"This hospital better have proper a shop..." He whispered, mostly to himself once they landed.
"A what?" Clara asked, as she panted. Her face was bright red now and he rushed over to grab her hand to lead her to the door.
" A shop! You know, like those little gift shops-" He stopped his thought short when Clara let out another moan, gripping his hand so tight he was sure she was going to break it. The Doctor's hand had been spared from the rash but he still looked at her uneasily as she seemed to have forgotten he had it.
Once out of the TARDIS into the lobby the Doctor rushed Clara into the nearest wheel chair. He wandered away from her a bit, looking around wildly for someone else to come assist them.
"You're sure you landed in a time where people actually work here right?" Clara moaned as she leaned back into the wheel chair.
"I'm... pretty sure," The Doctor said with no real confidence in his voice. He had pretty much forced the TARDIS to make a quick decision on where to land. "Look, you..." He winced as Clara let out a scream. "You stay here and I'll just..."
Clara had stopped listening. She continued to pant and had a good sheen of sweat on her. Her eyes were not focused. Guilt traveled through the Doctor as he thought about how this was definitely his fault. He had been the one to roll her eyes whenever Clara had suggested setting down in her last trimester after all.
Sunlight poured in from the large glass front doors making the fact that dust was thick in the air more obvious. The Doctor ran over to Clara and kissed her on the forehead. "It'll be okay," he said breathlessly as he took off down the nearest corridor.
The Doctor may have been billions of years old at this point, but he never had to deliver a baby without help before. His mind whirled through his years and years of life, settling on the one time he came close to having to, in the town of Christmas. A young woman collapsed on the stairs of the church one night, ironically the night of Christmas eve, calling for a Doctor, not specifically the Doctor.
The Doctor had set her up on the altar, with blankets to keep her warm and candles lit. He sent a young boy to the other side of town to get someone more qualified to help but he was worried no one would come in time. The woman had been terrified.
He was really getting on in years at the time in that regeneration, so his wrinkled hands shook as he helped her remove her tights from under her dress.
"I feel quite rude undressing you, you know," He said to her, trying desperately to lighten the mood. "I don't know your name."
A pained smile came from behind her tear streaked face. "Sophia... My name is Sophia." She gripped onto the Doctor's hand then and cried out.
By complete luck, the resident doctor came rushing in moments later, his boots covered in snow and his white coat wrinkled. Sophia had delivered a baby girl in ten minutes.
The Doctor thought about this as he rushed through the halls calling out for help, but then he came suddenly to another realization that made him stop dead in his track and his stomach lurch. He was about to be dad again. If he ended up delivering this baby, it would be his own baby.
The Doctor felt himself shake as he took his sonic sunglasses out of his pocket and used them to scan the hospital for any other life. Instantly Clara's red dot blipped into the screen he could see, but after a few moments of absolute terror that he would have to handle this alone raced up his spine (he knew no power of persuasion would get Clara back onto the TARDIS at this point), another unknown person popped up in an office two hallways away.
Clara could feel another contraction run through her body. It felt like all her nerves were on fire, and an overwhelming urge to push down enveloped her. But she knew, she couldn't, not yet. There was still a chance the Doctor might find someone and she would not have to deliver in this dusty lobby. She should have mentioned to the Doctor sooner she suspected she had gone into labor but she was convinced at first that she was just experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions. It became clear once her water broke however that it was the real deal.
As time went on, and several more contractions passed through her, hope began to fade and she began to look around wondering if she could find the way to a hospital bed on her own. Once there she could drag herself into the bed and at the very least have somewhere clean to deliver her baby.
Clara thanked her lucky stars she did not have to resort to that however, then the Doctor returned back, with a very strange creature behind him, which she hoped looked the way it did because of the delirium she was under. From where she sat, it looked like a giant upright cat in a nurses outfit.
"I'm sorry Clara, that took far too long." The Doctor said as he pressed his lips to her damp brow. "Lets get you to a bed."
The cat being went behind Clara and proceeded to push the wheel chair. The cat person looked to the Doctor with concern. "I can smell it on her Doctor, we have not got long."
The Doctor strode next to the pair of them smiling in a way that was suppose to be comforting, but Clara could see the fright in his eyes. His fluffy hair was plastered to his forehead from sweat. He almost looked as though he were the one in labor.
"Clara, this is Madam Genevieve. She's kept stationed here in case passing travelers stop by. She's just a nurse though."
Clara huffed as the latest contraction passed, but she looked at him in utter terror. "She's not a doctor? No offense, " Clara said quickly and she glanced behind her at the cat woman.
"No... No.. she's not," The Doctor said softly as he grabbed Clara's hand. They turned into a bright room that had clearly been kept clean by Madam Genevieve for emergencies. "We're at a hospital on the outskirts of a very large city." He explained as Genevieve helped Clara to the bed. She had human like hands but they were covered in fur.
"I was stationed here because we've had a bit of problem with time travelers," Madam looked at the two of them pointedly. "ending up here when they land looking for the hospital. Usually I just explain that this hospital has been decommissioned and that the new, high tech hospital is where they want to go, but it appears we don't have time to send you there."
"And you know I don't want to risk having the baby while we're time traveling..." Clara said quietly as she undid her pants and pulled them off along with her underwear.
The Doctor bowed his head and sighed. "We'll be able to go to the main hospital once you've delivered, Clara. I'm so sorry, I should have listened-"
Clara shushed him, tears still in her eyes, but the Doctor couldn't tell the cause of them. "We can do this, together." She smiled shakily, but then let out a sob as another contraction began. All of her muscled bared down, and stomach lurched. "I need to push."
A watery proud smile spread over the Doctor's features, and he watched as Madam Genevieve rushed through the cabinets looking for something to cut the cord. The Doctor positioned himself to help deliver his child. "We can do this together." He echoed.
Within twenty minutes, a baby's cry filled the room.
"The ambulance is here to take her and the baby now," Madam Genevieve said kindly. Her eyes glowed in the dim light of the room. The lights had been shut off so Clara could sleep. The Doctor smiled at her, tears on his face still. "We'll be there in a moment."
Madam Genevieve nodded her head and left them. Clara was curled up under a blanket, soundly asleep. In the Doctor's arms, which were covered in bandages thanks to Madam, was his newly born son, all cleaned up and wrapped in a blanket. They decided to name him Oswin. The tiny creature drank formula from the bottle in the Doctor's hand. The baby had long eyelashes, and did not yet look like either Clara or the Doctor. He simply looked like a baby.
The Doctor briefly pondered if the baby would end up looking like his current regeneration in the future, or how exactly a half human, half time lord would even work. His mind also wandered over to River briefly, but she was more of a product of traveling in space when conceived rather than a true...
He stopped short in his thoughts. "A true hybrid," He whispered.
Clara's eyes fluttered open to his voice, a serene smile on her face. "How're my boys?" She asked, her voice hoarse.
The Doctor smiled shakily to her and told her the ambulance was waiting for them outside. As Clara carefully got up and readied herself to leave the Doctor could picture Ashildr smiling knowingly, somewhere in the universe.
