With his hands the Doctor made a small, but rather impressive imitation of an explosion. Clara jumped out of bed, a decision quickly followed by regret. The world around her started spinning. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered now.
“What do you mean Targonia is gone?” she asked furiously.
The Doctor shrugged. “Gone. Destroyed. Attacked by Cybermen. Boom.”
“My son was on that planet!” Clara screamed and launched at the Doctor, intending to hit him, but he caught her wrists in time. She struggled hard to free herself, but he was stronger. He stared at her calmly, which only infuriated her more. For the first time Clara looked at him. He had changed so much. Not only his cold demeanour, but in looks as well. The hair that had always been cut so neatly was now a wild mess of grey curls and the stubble of a beard was showing on his chin. Looking at him, the only thing Clara felt was disgust and hatred. She hated him with all her heart. If she had had the poison in her hand right now she would have used it without a second thought to it.
“Calm down, Clara,” the Doctor told her in a low voice, still holding her wrists.
She tried to kick him, but he evaded her. “Don't tell me what to do. My son was on that planet! You have to go back in time to save him!”
“Clara, I said calm down. Your son is safe.”
Clara stopped immediately. She observed the Doctor's face to see if he was lying to her, but she found nothing. No emotion whatsoever. What did she expect? If anyone knew how to conceal feelings, it was the Doctor. She tried again to free her hands but the Doctor wouldn't let go.
“Where is my son?” she asked, still furious.
“Orphanage. Safe planet. Don't worry, he'll be fine,” the Doctor explained.
“Doctor, let go off my hand,” Clara ordered him calmly, but determinedly.
He released her and slowly backed away, but Clara caught up with him swiftly and slapped him hard across the face.
“Ouch,” the Doctor exclaimed and held his cheek, “What was that for?”
Another slap hit his face.
“Ouch, Clara, stop it!”
“You abducted my son! You left him on a strange planet!”
“Or you could say that I saved his life.”
Clara grunted. “Argh, I wish I could slap common sense back into your head! You left a three-year-old alone. On a different planet. With strange people. Do you have any idea how scared he will probably be?”
“Better scared than dead.”
Clara slapped him again, this time even harder.
“Okay, enough with the hitting!” the Doctor screamed at her, “I don't remember you being so violent. Obviously, there are still some hard feelings because I left you on Targonia a while ago.”
Clara gasped for air. She could not believe the words coming from his mouth. Either the Doctor was a really good actor, or just oblivious to the feelings of human beings.
“No, no,” she shook her head, “We're not going to talk about this now. You take me back to my son. And then you're going to bring us home, to Earth, safely.”
“I can't,” he said bluntly.
“What do you mean, you can't?”
“The planet I left your son on, well. . . he will be very, very safe there.”
“Doctor,” she raised her eyebrows, “What have you done?”
“Safest planet in the universe right now. High class security shields, but with minor weaknesses. They will have fixed those after I broke through. I can't go back there. I will never be able to go back there,” he explained. When Clara's eyes widened in horror, he quickly added: “But he will be safe.”