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There was something magical about hearing stories. Living them was all well and good, but hearing them was something else. Hearing them made all the fear that must have been felt in the moment turn into excitement. Hearing them was like looking into someone’s heart. Clara had always loved stories.
She remembered the first time the Doctor told her, so long ago on Ahkatan, that stories were souls. We were all made up of stories. Though she didn’t linger on the memory, thinking of the Doctor made her too sad these days, she filed it under another reason to love stories.
On quiet days, days after weeks of adventure, days where they weren’t feeling like making stories of their own or days when Ashildr needed her first full night of sleep in a month, they would park their diner anywhen and sell food for a story or song. Not exactly traditional, but more fun.
This quiet day was particularly quiet, though. Clara had parked the TARDIS in the middle of nowhere, she hadn’t checked the exact readings, and the diner was empty of customers.
So Clara was leaning casually against the counter, reading Pride and Prejudice for the millionth time and thinking about when she would next get a chance to visit Jane (Clara hadn’t seen her since before she got her own TARDIS). The Diner was filled with the light that was flooding through the windows.
With a ring of a bell and a gust of dry air from outside, the door flew open. Clara quickly stuck a bookmark in her book and put it on the counter.
By the time she looked up at the group who entered, they were seated in a booth. There was a was a two women, one with fiery red hair and one with curly hair. There were too men too, one with brown hair and-
“Doctor?” As soon as Clara said it she clapped a hand over her mouth. But it was too late, the word had come out loud and sure, and the four people in the both all whipped their heads to look at her.
“Hello?” He his eyes were curious and cautious and Clara was struck by how much she misses this Doctor.
“Hi.” Clara tried to sound light and waitressy, but the Doctor and the woman she now recognized as River stood.
“Have we met?”
“No, I was just reading, and-”
“No. You called him Doctor,” River insisted.
“I-”
“We've met.” The Doctor said, inspecting her face more. “You know me, but I don't know you.”
“I’m not here to hurt you, if that's what you mean.”
“And I know that because…” He looked expectantly at her. Behind him, the other two people stood, and River took out her gun.
Clara sighed, “Damn. C'mon, I'll show you.” She walked towards the door that led to her TARDIS.
“Amy, Rory, stay here.” The Doctor instructed firmly.
“Not gonna happen,” the woman, Amy, said.
Opening the door, Clara took a deep breath and started talking quickly, forcing the words out. “I'm, uh, a future companion of yours. And it's a long story, but you sort of forget me and now I have my own TARDIS.”
There was several moments of silence, during which Rory opened and closed his mouth several times, the Doctor inspected the TARDIS in aw, and River’s hand never left her gun.
The silence stretched until Clara thought it never would end.
And then, Ashildr.
Her voice carried down the hallway into the control room, “Clara, we’re out of coffee. We have a TARDIS, do we actually have to go out and buy more coffee?” By the time she finished, she had walked into the control room, wearing only Clara’s university sweatshirt (though it fell halfway down her thigh) and holding an empty mug in one hand.
She stopped when she saw anyone. River’s gun was in her hand and Rory jumped. Despite her tousled appearance, she didn’t look embarrassed or surprised (very few things surprised Ashildr, Clara found). Instead, Ashildr leaned on the railing and looked at Clara, “We have guests.”
“Yes, um, this is Amy, Rory, River, and The Doctor.” She raised an eyebrow, begging her girlfriend not to question it.
Thankfully, the immortal got the message. Sadly, the Doctor also saw their glance.
“What was that about? Do you…” He looked between the two of them, and Clara saw realization dawn on his face. “Do you know me in another regeneration?”
“I, I probably shouldn’t say.” Clara bit her lip.
Amy let out a short laugh. And Rory shook his head, “You’ve already told us so much. And now you’re drawing the line?”
Ashildr walked to the console and put down her cup. She hit a button, and a tube came out of the console. “Retcon, courtesy of Captain Jack Harkness.”
Before the group could move, Ashildr hit the button, and aerosol retcon filled the air. “Converted to aerosol by Me,” Clara added, after a minute or so of holding her breath until the air had cleared.
“Shut up.” Ashildr sighed, looking at the unconscious bodies on the floor. “Let’s take them back out. When they wake up, just serve them food and be normal.”
Clara scoffed, “I’m always normal.”
Ashildr nodded, getting up on her toes to kiss Clara. “Of course, darling. And choose a fake waitress name for when they wake up.”
---
“Hello. I’m Claire, I’ll be your waitress today.”
“Yeah, I don’t have any money.” The Doctor looked around curiously, patting his pockets.
The waitress smiled, “No, no money. We don’t do that here. We take stories and songs.” She paused, “I have a feeling you have some great stories.”