Episode 5: Three's A Crowd
Chapter 1
The Shoreditch area of London was fast becoming one of the most fashionable areas of the city. Not a week seemed to go past without another trendy wine bar or restaurant opening on the High Street. There was even a place to buy vintage breakfast cereals any time of the day if you so wished. Friday evenings was the day that this upmarket section of the East End truly came alive. The young professionals had finished their working week and were ready to let their hair down.
On one of these Friday evenings, two of these young professionals were dining in one of the more fashionable restaurants on Shoreditch High Street. It was a chilly February night and the young couple scurried out of their taxi and into the restaurant as quickly as they could. The lighting in the establishment was dim with each table illuminated by candle light. The perfect setting for a first date, "Hi, table for two under the name of Pink", the male greeted the young waitress on the door.
The blonde haired girl looked down the reservation list for a few moments before giving the man as smile, "Ah yes, you table is ready Sir", she replied and grabbed a couple of menus, "follow me when you're ready".
The man turned to his date for the evening and took a small step back, "After your Clara".
"Thank you Mr Pink", Clara smiled, slipping her leather jacket off and folding it across her arm. She followed the waitress to their table and took a seat.
Five weeks had passed since Clara Oswald had heard from The Doctor. The last time she had seen the Time Lady was outside the Tower of London after defusing the time bubble, preventing several legions of psychopathic aliens from destroying the planet. The awkward conversation that followed inside the TARDIS still played on the school teacher's mind. On reflection she could've handled the reappearance of the Time Lady better. Yes, this new Doctor was a lot moodier and erratic than the floppy haired man with the bow tie but she was still her friend. Clara realised that almost the second the TARDIS dematerialised.
She fully expected the Time Lady to ignore her wishes and reappear the following day but she didn't. The next week passed by slowly for Clara as she waited for The Doctor to reappear. She spent most of the day working on her apology to the woman, rehearsing it occasionally in the bathroom mirror. Exactly seven days passed but still no TARDIS or its raven haired pilot.
Clara then began to worry, what if something happen to The Doctor after she left London? Sure she had come back from the dead before but Clara didn't know how many regenerations The Doctor now had. This new body could've been unstable, the Time Lady hadn't talked about her rebirth in much detail. Numerous worst case scenarios rattled through her head in the following week, causing many sleepless nights for the teacher.
Once week three arrived Clara had stopped worrying and begun to consider the possibility that The Doctor wasn't returning. Not because she was dead but simply because she didn't want to see Clara anymore. Perhaps the irritability The Doctor demonstration wasn't part of the regeneration process, maybe this new Doctor didn't want to be around Clara. The school teacher replayed her interaction with the Time Lady back inside her mind, trying to pinpoint the exact moment that their friendship had broken. More sleepless nights followed for Clara as she spent most of her waking hours obsessed with The Doctor.
By week four the lack of sleep really began to take its toll on Clara. Her fellow teachers noticed and worst of all, her students were picking up on her vulnerable state and were taking full advantage. Her English classes went several days without getting assigned homework and assignments went ungraded. It was on the Wednesday of week four that she was brought back to reality with a bump, literally. She was walking through the corridors of Coal Hill in a zombie like state when she crashed into one of her fellow teachers, the new Maths teacher Danny Pink.
The moment she laid eyes on Danny, Clara was smitten with the man. His dark brown eyes were warm but looking a little deeper, she could see personal pain and tragedy lingering in the background. She looked a little too deep into his eyes during their first meeting, to the point that Danny felt a little uncomfortable. A brief apology was shared between the pair and they went their separate ways. Thus began the tentative friendship of Clara Oswald and Danny Pink.
As the days continued to move forward, Clara's thoughts of The Doctor were quickly replaced with daydreams of the charming, if nervous, Maths teacher. Clara stopped dwelling on her friendship with the Time Lady, telling herself that she had done nothing wrong and if The Doctor still wanted to travel with her, then it was her job to come and find her.
That brought Clara to today. She was greeted in the staff room by Danny, who was looking more nervous than usual around her. He fumbled over his words a couple times as he tried to ask her what her plans were for the weekend. When Clara responded that her diary was free, a look of terror and panic flashed across Danny's face. Moments later he mumbled something about a pile of marking and dashed out the room. It took a casual comment from one of the other teachers about how cute Clara and Danny acted around each other for the brunette to realise that Danny was trying to ask her out. She had to chuckle at the nervousness of the man, acting like a teenager with a schoolboy crush. In many ways Clara was flattered that she had that effect on the man.
For the rest of the day, Clara's thoughts were firmly on Danny. A couple of times he walked past her classroom, getting as far as the door before hurrying away. Clara dragged this out for the rest of day but eventually she had to put the man out of his misery. After the final bell had rung, she marched straight into his classroom and practically told him that she was available for this evening. Danny took several painful seconds to put piece together Clara's hints and finally blurted out, very loudly, if she would like to have dinner. Once the ringing in her ears dissipated, she responded in the positive and suggested the very restaurant they were now sitting in.
Going out to dinner was a nice change for Clara, there was never too many opportunities to dress herself up for an evening out when The Doctor was around. Usually her outfit would consist of something that was reasonably practical to move around in, preferably with sensible footwear because running would probably be involved at some point. Tonight though she had gone all out by straightening her hair and choosing the most impractical skirt from her wardrobe that she could find. She even found her highest pair of heels to give her a little more height than usual. Tonight was about enjoying herself, not running around some alien spaceship or through the streets of London trying to defuse bombs.
After the couple had ordered their food the waitress took their menus, leaving them to their date. Without someone to look at, the couple were suddenly uncomfortable making small talk. At least with the menus in front of them they could talk about the food on offer. Left to their own devices, conversation was in very short supply. Suddenly Danny's nervousness, which seemed charming just a few hours ago, left Clara feeling extremely uncomfortable. "So you just started a few weeks ago", Clara finally decided to get the conversation moving.
"Yeah my last job was working out so", he shrugged nervously, "still quite new to teaching".
"It gets easier", Clara replied, "at least you don't have Courtney Woods in your Maths class". Danny smiled nervously but offered no further response. Inwardly Clara groaned, perhaps this date wasn't such a good idea after all. There was still time to redeem the evening, maybe Danny would come out of his shell as the night went on. Maybe a change of conversation was needed, "You don't just teach Maths do you", she asked, "when I've worked late, I've seen you out on the field with a small group".
"Fitness training", Danny stated, "Mr Francis wanted some help with his PE GCSE class and I offered to run a few circuits with some of his students". Danny's eyes brightened slightly, boosting Clara's spirits, "I've always been an active person, it really helped me during my time in-".
Danny's sentence seemed to stick in his throat and he visible retreated into himself. Clara frowned slightly, wondering what he didn't want to say, "During your time in where?" she asked softly.
"The Army", Danny responded after taking a couple of deep breathes, "did two tours of Afghanistan before getting discharged". He shook his head, "Sorry I clammed up, some people aren't very pro-Army in this country".
"Even if you don't support the reason, you should still support the soldiers", Clara said firmly, which brought a small smile to Danny's face. "You don't have to worry about that with me", she continued, "I do love a squaddie". The moment the words left her mouth, her face turned bright red, "Oh my God that did not come out right", she exclaimed and ran her hand through her hair, "now I sound like a groupie or something".
For the first time that evening Danny chuckled, "Don't worry about it", he smiled, "we make a right pair don't we?"
Clara raised her head slightly, catching Danny's eyes which were now full of hope and optimism, "Yes we do", she agreed with him. Maybe this date wouldn't be so bad after all, "Now would be a good time for our food to arrive before I embarrass myself any more". As Clara was looking around the restaurant, she noticed someone at the window, "Not now", she groaned, "why does she reappear now, of all the moments to pick".
"Who you talking about?" Danny asked and looked over to the window. Waving frantically with a broad grin on her face was a dark haired woman who looked to be in her mid thirties, "Is that a purple velvet coat?" he said out loud, "that's a bold fashion statement".
"That's one way of putting it", Clara sighed, shaking her head at The Doctor. Shaking her hands vigorously she mouthed, "Go away", but the Time Lady either couldn't make it out or more likely, didn't want to. Moments later she disappeared and for a brief moment Clara thought she got the message. That moment quickly vanished as the Time Lady strode into the restaurant like she owned the place, "I'm sorry about this Danny".
The Maths teacher didn't get a chance to ask Clara what she meant by that as The Doctor cried, "Clara", very loudly across the restaurant, distracting the other patrons, "I've come back for your Clara". The Time Lady weaved through the tables until she reached the school teacher, "Sorry I took so long", she threw her arms around the woman, "but what's a couple of weeks between friends".
Clara stiffened slightly at the touch of the Time Lady, the last time they met The Doctor didn't seem like the hugging type. Something had changed dramatically in the last five weeks, "Five weeks", Clara suddenly remembered and blurted it out, "you said you'd be back in a week, it's been five bloody weeks".
The Doctor took a couple of paces back, stung by the harsh tone of her companion, "Five weeks?" the Time Lady bit her lip, "oops", she shrugged.
"Oops?" Clara exclaimed, "that's the best you can come up with?"
"Come on Clara don't be like this", the Time Lady began, "I've got some great stories to tell you, I've been to Japan which reminds me there's someone outside I really want you to meet", she added breathlessly. As The Doctor paused for breath, she finally noticed Danny sitting across the table, "No way", she bent down over the table, inspecting the Maths teacher closely, "genetic multiplicity is a marvellous thing".
"Erm, hello to you too", Danny said nervously.
The Doctor wasn't listening, she pulled out her sonic screwdriver and scanned Danny, "Hmm, genetic relation, not quite as interesting but you can't have everything". She placed her hands on Danny's cheeks and began to manipulate his face, "But still, the resemblance is remarkable", she cried with joy, "you humans with your DNA".
"Doctor", Clara hissed, "could you release my date before you scare him off".
"There you are", another female voice called out, this one belonging to a red haired young woman in a dark blue leather jacket, red skinny jeans and white converse trainers, "I turn my back for five seconds and you run off without me".
"But Jenny", The Doctor said excitedly, "look who it is", she pointed at Danny.
Jenny looked at the teacher and her jaw dropped, "Blimey, that's freaky", she stated, "are shared appearances common in humans?" she asked. Suddenly Jenny was very aware that everyone was staring at her and The Doctor, "Erm, perhaps we should step outside", she physically pulled The Doctor off Danny, "seriously Mum let's get out of here", she added with a quiet whisper.
The Doctor finally noticed the furious look on Clara's face, "Erm, yes perhaps you're right", she began to scuttle out of the restaurant.
"Good to meet you Clara", Jenny called out as the pair departed through the door.
There was an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before the patrons gradually got back to their meals. Danny was still in shock, he had been manhandled by someone that clearly knew Clara, "Friends of yours?" he asked.
"Not for much longer", he slammed her napkin onto the table, "I'll be back in a few minutes". She stomped out of the restaurant, determined to give the Time Lady a piece of her mind. First she turned up weeks late without offering an apology and then she interrupts her date. The red haired woman was a mystery to her, surely The Doctor couldn't have replaced her in the TARDIS already? She physically stopped in her tracks, did the mystery woman call The Doctor Mum? The dark haired Time Lady had a lot of explaining to do.
A/N – Didn't plan on uploading the new story so quickly but I've been on fire lately and I'm eager to share the next episode with everyone. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
