Alibi
The Doctor is in need of a new girlfriend. Not because he feels lonely or his daughter needs a mother, but to finally shut up his nagging parents. Clara Oswald is looking for a man that will drive her stepmother insane, but a new relationship is not what she has in mind. Luckily, there's an app for that, one that can provide anyone with the perfect alibi partner. Yet what neither one intended to do was to fall in love.
Hey guys and welcome back to my new fanfic :) I hope you will enjoy it! I have, however, made a little adjustment to the posting schedule and will be dropping a new chapter every Saturday and Wednesday. The reason is that I have final exams coming up and limited time to write at the moment. I hope you all understand :)
Chapter 1
The coffee maker made the sound again, that specific, quite horrible gurgling sound that told John Smith he would have to buy a replacement soon. For a brief moment, he wondered when his life had become… well, exactly what his life was. Going to work, driving his daughter to school, replacing broken appliances. It seemed a tedious chain of uneventful incidents for a man who had once jumped at the chance of adventure, but before he could dive deeper into this bout of midlife crisis, his sister's voice tore him out of his thoughts.
"Is the coffee done yet?! I don't have all day!"
John rolled his eyes even though his sister couldn't see it, but he still grabbed the mugs and headed back into the living room, deciding to get it over with. Truth was that a call or visit from his sister never boded well for him and even though a part of him loved her, there had always been a strange kind of sibling rivalry between them. It was like walking on a thin line between love and hatred.
He found Missy exactly where he had left her, sitting in her usual spot on the sofa in her impeccable purple suit, inspecting her fingernails in a casual manner. She looked bored and if Missy was bored, well, that was something to be avoided. Sometimes, his sister came up with the craziest ideas in her moments of boredom.
As he handed her the coffee cup with an inquisitive look, John asked: "Why are you here? You made it sound like a matter of life and death on the phone."
"Mum and Dad are in their eighties," Missy quipped, "everything that concerns them is a matter of life and death."
John raised his eyebrows at her while he sank into his seat even though he really shouldn't be surprised. His sister had never been especially tactful, a trait that unfortunately ran in the family, but recently, Missy had joked about their parents' passing a little too often for his taste.
When John thought about family, the first thing that popped into his mind wasn't exactly his own. The Smiths were a strange bunch, always had been, and his view had only improved after his own marriage. While their mother had always been gentle, teaching them kindness and love, John's relationship to his father was strained at best and horrible at worst. Ray Smith was the kind of person, short-tempered and mean, that John hoped he would never become.
A few years ago, John and Missy had decided that their parents could no longer stay on their own in their big house up in Glasgow, so they had moved them to an assisted living facility in London, much to their father's disapproval. Their mother, Elise, had actually been delighted at the prospect of seeing more of her children, but John felt a little guilty to admit that he hadn't visited in a while, yet he had a feeling that Missy had.
"I went to the home the other day to make plans for their 85th birthday and we had a long and interesting chat," Missy went on.
John's eyebrows went up even further. There was something about the way Missy said it that he didn't like at all. "So, um, what did they say?"
His sister shrugged. "Oh, well, the usual. How are you, how is Susie, will Lucy and I get back together and all of that."
"Will you and Lucy get back together?" John enquired curiously. He had never actually pegged his sister as the marrying type, but when Missy had met a girl named Lucy Saxon a couple of years ago, both his sister and his view had changed. They had seemed perfect for each other and the announcement of their divorce a few months ago had shocked him.
"Don't change the subject because I wasn't the focus of their concern," Missy replied sternly, once again avoiding the topic of her failed marriage. "They're worried about you."
"Me?" John asked in surprise. He wasn't aware that he had done anything recently that warranted concern. "Why are they worried about me? I have the same job at the hospital that I've had for twenty years, Susie is a straight-A student, the house has just been renovated. What is there to worry about?"
Missy tilted her head to one side and looked at him for almost a minute before she drew in her breath and continued. "They want you to find a new girlfriend," she finally announced. "River died seven years ago and now that Susie is entering puberty-"
"I'm not entering puberty!" came a sudden voice from the next room.
John uttered a sigh before he turned his attention to his twelve-year-old. "If you have to eavesdrop, at least come and say hi to your aunt!"
A second later, a head appeared in the crack of the door and John spotted Susan's dark, ruffled hair and bright smile as she looked at them. "Hello, Auntie Missy!"
Then, the head was gone as quickly as it had appeared and the door closed behind his daughter.
John sank deeper into his seat and finally took a sip from the coffee that had now cooled down a lot more than he would have liked, but he still felt his sister's inquisitive gaze on him. Somehow, he should have known that Missy wouldn't give up so easily.
"I don't know why they're making such a fuss about it. I'm perfectly capable of raising Susie on my own and I don't have time for a girlfriend. I'm a doctor and a father, there's just no space left in my schedule for a silly romance."
Missy's eyes lingered on him for a while longer and when she sighed at last, she sounded tired. "I know you're capable, but now that Susie is a teenager, you do have a little more time. She no longer requires changing and spoon-feeding. And look at me, even I liked being married."
That was a fact that still surprised John, but it wasn't enough of a reason to make him rush into an unnecessary relationship just because his parents thought he couldn't handle his daughter on his own. He and River had had a good marriage and he had grieved for a long time. Now, it wasn't so much the grief that still held him back but the fact that he didn't think he needed a woman in his life just for the sake of having a relationship. John preferred to wait until the right person came along rather than go looking for her. And right now, the thought of bringing a new girlfriend into the household just seemed like a complication rather than a nice addition.
"It's not that I'm against having a new relationship, it's just that I haven't met a nice woman in a very long time and I don't want to subject Susie to a string of failed dates. I can hardly pull the perfect woman out of a hat just to please our parents," John argued.
His sister considered his response for a while and when a smile spread across her face, John knew that she was having another one of her really bad ideas. "Well, in that case, I think you need an Alibi."
In reply, John frowned at Missy. "Thanks, but I'm not planning on committing any crimes."
"No, silly, it's an app!" his sister explained. "It's like a dating app but for alibi partners. You know, in case you need to make your ex jealous or you need someone to bring to a company event or… a family birthday."
Even the explanation wasn't enough to lift John's confusion. "Let me get this straight," he continued. "You want me to find a fake girlfriend to bring to my parents' birthday party just to make them shut up about it?"
Missy nodded.
"That's insane!" John argued. There just wasn't any reasonable logic behind it. Yet he pictured his mother's face and he realised that it would probably make her happy to see him find love once more. The longer he thought about it, the less insane it actually seemed. But that didn't mean he would do it.
"Just think about it, okay? Look at the app, see if there's anyone you could pass off as your girlfriend."
John didn't want to even though the idea sounded almost tempting now, not that he would ever admit that in front of Missy. So instead, he merely glowered at her. "Why are our parents only bugging me about my love life? Why not you?"
Missy leaned back with a sigh. "Because I'm not over Lucy and it hurts to talk about it," she replied in a way that sounded anything but convincing. Whatever had happened between Missy and her wife, John doubted that they would ever find out.
"Fine," John muttered just to get Missy off his back, "I'll check out that stupid app, but I'm not making any promises."
From the grin that spread across his sister's face, John could tell that she was pleased with the outcome of their conversation, but he would be damned if he made it a success for her. He would check out that app, but unless he found a woman who was actually perfect, he would never agree to this ruse even if it meant disappointing his parents.
