Next Stop Coffee Shop
A Whouffaldi Fanfic
By: shinebluelikeatardis
To: jennacolemman
Merry Christmas!
Clara walked into the control room to find The Doctor already in position, punching coordinates into the console.
"So, where are we off to this time?" Clara says as she walks towards The Doctor, who is still feverishly typing coordinates into the console. He looks up for a moment as if her comment didn't register.
"Ah Clara, you're looking very…" He looks her up and down trying to think of something appropriate to say. "Human today."
"Don't I always?" Clara teases back.
"Sure if you like. Ah!" He finally steps away from the console and runs around to the lever before pulling it, sending the Tardis to a new location. Clara moves over to stand next to him bumping her hip into his.
"Come on then. You didn't answer my question. Where are we going?"
"Why don't you open the doors and find out." He gives her a small smile before beckoning to the door. She moves to the Tardis doors and opens them to find whispering melodies of soft jazz and the smell of warm cinnamon and sugar floating towards her. They appeared in a dark room, presumable the back room of wherever they were. He gives her a little shove and she steps out the doors into the new space. The Doctor steps around her and opens the door of the room they're in to peer out.
"Looks about right." He opens the door fully and steps out, giving Clara his outstretched hand in an invitation to join him. She grabs it lightly and follows him through the door. She looks around taking it all in, the smell in the room absolutely intoxicating.
"You brought me to a space café?"
"It's not a space café Clara, it's just a café."
She looks around at the comfortable chairs and people of all different species milling about. She notices that the windows look out over a beautiful landscape of galaxies and stars.
"No this is a space café. Look we're in space."
"Just because we're in space doesn't mean that it has to have the adjective "space" in front of it."
"Yes it does! Look we're in space therefore it's a space café not just a café. It's a perfectly accurate description!"
"Yes but it doesn't have to be. Remember when I took you to that restaurant on Corsantore Five? That was just a restaurant not a necessarily a "space" restaurant."
"That's because we weren't in actual space. We're currently in space therefore it's a space café. Besides who's the English teacher here?"
"That is completely irrelevant who's lived for over 2,000 years and graduated from a University far more advanced than yours mind you."
"If anything is irrelevant right now it's…" Just as she was going to bring up what was definitely going to be a valid point they were quickly interrupted by a strange man of purple skin.
"Excuse me, but would you two like to sit down? Mr and Mrs…"
The Doctor quickly cut in.
"Oh no we're not…" Clara slapped his arm hoping to stop any further conflict.
"Yes we would like to sit down. Is there a table available by the window?"
"Yes of course follow me."
Clara grabbed his hand and walked with the waiter to the table. They had a booth right by the large windows looking out over the beautiful landscape.
"Will this do?"
"Yes this is great." She lets go of his hand and sits down beckoning for The Doctor to join her. He slides into the booth facing her and quickly picks up a menu.
"Have you been here before?" Clara asks looking at her own menu but not being able to understand what the drinks contained, regardless of them being translated into English.
"Yes once before. Though I wanted to take some of my other companions here I never quite made it. It's the number own holiday destination in the galaxy."
He doesn't usually mention other companions and Clara tenses at the remark. She looks out the window zoning out for a while observing the epic dance of the galaxies before her. She fails to notice that The Doctor is trying to talk to her but isn't achieving much of a response.
"Clara?" He says as he places a hand on hers shocking her out of her reverie.
She jerks back involuntarily at the sudden contact. "Yes sorry?"
He doesn't remove his hand, however, and starts to make small circles with his thumb on the soft skin.
"I said, would you like me to order for you, you don't seem to understand the menu. I didn't expect you would because you're human but hey had to let you give it a go."
She jerks her hand away from his, mouth agape.
"Oh because I'm human! That's rich coming from you. Need I remind you last time you tried to be oh so articulate and got us locked up in a tree canopy for 3 days?"
"That was one time! I am a super intelligent alien being!"
"Oh yeah super intelligent, keep dreaming space boy."
"Space boy! Again with the space adjectives. Clara Clara Clara do we really have to go through this aga…" He's interrupted by the same purple man from before.
"Sorry to interrupt, but are you too ready to order?"
The Doctor looks up and interrupts Clara who was about to speak.
"Yes I'll take this and she'll have this." He says as he gestures to the menu.
"Excellent choices. I'll have those right out." He walks away speaking under his breath. "I wonder how many lovers' quarrels they'll have before I get back."
For a while the two of them sat in a semi awkward silence, Clara gazed out the window completely in awe at the magnitude of the universe. The Doctor, however, couldn't stop his eyes when they landed on Clara. He gazed at her for quite some time noticing every soft curve in her face and the way her eyes lit up when she saw something new. After a long while she turned her head to see The Doctor gazing intensely at her. She tried to think of something to say but her mind had gone blank. How long had he been staring at her? Why was he doing it in the first place?
She gazed back at him for a bit before breaking the silence.
"Are you okay?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"
"You seem sort of melancholy."
"I'm fine Clara. Just enjoying the view." He says as he turns his head back to the window.
She can feel a small blush crawling up her cheeks when the waiter finally brings their drinks.
He placed a sort of brownish liquid with a heavy pile of cream on top, in front of The Doctor, and a very strange dark blue liquid that was steaming strait up with silver glimmering smoke in front of her.
"Enjoy." He says before leaving the two of them once more.
Clara reaches in front of her for her drink. She finds that the mug containing the liquid is completely room temperature while the liquid itself is piping hot. She takes a few tentative sips before realizing that this was not too her liking.
"Ew Doctor what the hell did you order me?"
He turns away from the window and looks at the drink in front of her.
"Oh! Sorry that's mine. This is yours." He pushes the more normal looking drink in front of her and grabs for the strange blue liquid. He starts to sip the liquid, sighing in contentment.
"You actually like that stuff?" She asks.
"Yes I do. It reminds me of something my grandmother used to make." He takes another sip of the strange liquid.
Clara sighs and looks down at her own drink before deciding to take a few sips. It was absolutely delicious. It was like a sweet mix of chocolate chip cookies and warm sugary syrup. It had a large dollop of sweet cream on top with cinnamon shavings. She drank the entire thing heartily and as she drank more and more she felt herself starting to relax and becoming happier and happier. By the time she finished her first drink, The Doctor had already ordered a second one for her and another strange looking drink for himself. It was when she began giggling at the smallest things that he became worried.
"Clara? Are you alright? You've been giggling nonstop for the last 5 minutes and I'm beginning to be concerned."
Unfortunately this sent Clara into another fit of giggles.
"Hahaha! No I promise I'm fine Doctor…" She tries to hold in her laughter but she just can't.
"What was in that drink?" He says as he grabs her cup and takes a sip. To him it tastes like the most delicious cider in the universe. He takes another sip and suddenly finds himself downing the entire glass. It was so delicious that he ordered another one and quickly downed that as well.
"Clara! Have you ever really looked at your hands before? They're so weird." Obviously under the influence of whatever there was in that drink, they both went into a fit of giggles, telling stupid jokes back and forth. After many minutes of giggling, the two of them stopped and just stared at each other. The Doctor reached his hand carefully towards hers. She grabbed his hand first and they sat that way for a while enjoying each other's company; an air of comfort and happiness settled around them.
After a while Clara spoke up again.
"Doctor I'm really starting to get tired can we head back to the Tardis?"
"What! You want to leave already? Come on Clara there are so many different cafes we haven't visited yet. This entire planet is cafes we can't just leave now."
"Doctor I don't think either of us is capable of doing anything except sleeping right now."
"Speak for yourself I am perfectly capable of doing anything." And with that he stood up quickly from the booth only to lose his balance and fall to the floor next to the table beside theirs.
"Oh yeah perfectly capable." Clara sasses back as she stands up slowly, her vision going a bit blurry and the room appearing to spin.
"Alright big guy lets go." She reaches for The Doctor heaving him up to a standing position. They both lean on each other as they stumble for the back room. Finally making it to the Tardis, The Doctor reaches into his coat to try and find the key. He scrambles around looking desperately for it but with no success.
"Clara! Clara I can't find my key! It must be back at the table, let's go!" He stumbles towards the back room door again and falls against it.
"Oh no no no we are not going out in this condition. You already made a complete ass of yourself. I'll just use mine." With that she pulls out her own key to the Tardis and opens the doors. She grabs him by his shoulders and pushes him in.
"Come on then in you go." As she pushes him inside, however, she loses her balance and falls strait into The Doctor sending them both crashing to the floor. The Tardis doors close behind them as Clara finds herself on top of him, her lips mere inches from his. Maybe it was the drinks maybe it was just the heat of the moment, but she leans forward and places her lips gently against his. He's shocked at first and just lays there frozen. She pulls back to look at his expression.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean…" She was interrupted by his lips on hers. His hands move to her face as he kisses her slowly and deeply. She responds in kind enjoying the sweet taste of the drinks they both shared. Her hands move to his hair and she runs her fingernails along his scalp, enjoying the softness of his hair and the soft noises he makes against her mouth. They stay that way for a while before they both become uncomfortable on the hardness of the Tardis floor.
Clara is the first one to break away.
"We should…Move to somewhere more comfortable I think."
The Doctor stares back at her before placing his forehead against hers.
"Right." He pushes them into a sitting position before lifting her up into his arms and standing.
"Hey! Put me down right now!" She wiggles in his arms not enjoying the sudden lack of control.
"Whatever you say boss." But he ignores her squirming, as he walks into the hallway to find a more comfortable place to settle down.
THE END
Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoyed this short little fic I wrote for you ^.^ I did the best I could with what you wanted and I hope it was enough bantery fluffy sweetness. Have a very happy holiday and a fantastic New Year!
PS: Apologies for any grammar mistakes I tried to proof read it as best I could. Anyway enjoy!