* Hey guys, new story. This is another Whouffle, set after Day of the Doctor. Not sure how long it's going to be but I'll try to update frequently and I'm aiming to be done by Christmas. This marks the transition in Clara and the Doctor's relationship from friends to something more. There will be mature content later on but I'm hoping to keep it to a minimum as it feels weird writing it for these characters. Enjoy and please review :) *

Chapter 1: Tom

Clara Oswald slumped down onto the sofa in the teacher's lounge, the cup of oolong tea that Tom had made for her (it was his day) waiting for her. The sofa was comfortable and the red to match Clara's dress, so she found herself enveloped in it. She grabbed the newspaper and flicked through it. She didn't generally care what happened in the world, nor did she really want to hear about the latest gossip. But she had realised that newspapers often held stories about or clues from, a friend of hers. Satisfied that nothing had been blown up or that there wasn't a cryptic message hidden among the headlines, she dropped the paper and sighed. Tom was giving her a funny look, so she raised an eyebrow at him. She knew Tom had a massive crush on her, but she was trying hard not to feed it. Her life was way too complicated for her to get into a relationship with anyone. Well, almost anyone…She was smiling now, a subconscious reaction to thinking about him. She hoped Tom didn't misinterpret.

"I didn't realise you used fake tan Clara," Tom said, chuckling nervously. "Doesn't seem very you."

"I don't," Clara replied, confused. Then it twigged. She'd spent a week in Ancient Egypt, then she'd nearly been executed by Alexander The Great, and on top of that, she'd spent a few days on the beach planet of…she couldn't pronounce it. No wonder she looked a bit brown. She'd have to say something to him about that, there must be some sort of space sun cream out there… Not that she could tell Tom any of this, so she put on a warm smile and shrugged her shoulders.

"I mean I don't normally," she clarified. "A friend of mine did it to me for a dare. You know how I can't resist a dare!"

Tom smiled and nodded nervously and she rolled her eyes. Tom was a really nice guy but he was way too uncomfortable around her. The fire in her eyes probably scared the life out of him. She could only imagine how it would go down if she took him to a twenty-fourth century battlefield where she had been named Commander-In-Chief. That had been a day to remember. In any case, the other man in her life would never approve and probably not allow it. She could just imagine the huff he would make.

"Miss Oswald, Mr Jetson," came a voice from the open doorway. "You've got to come quick. There's something in the sky. It looks like a box. A flying blue box. And it's making words!"

Clara dropped her tea. It fell against the floor with a dull thud but luckily the mug didn't break. It wouldn't, it was made of twenty-third century super china. She was going to hit him over the head with it. Clara's face darkened as she leapt to her feet, storming past Amy, the girl who had come to tell them about the box.

"I'm going to kill him!" she muttered, earning her a look of confusion from Tom who was on her heels. She stormed out into the playground, where all the children were staring up at the sky. Sure enough, there was a blue box, flying in the sky; a figure that she could barely make out but knew for a fact would be wearing purple tweed, stood in the doorway, leaving a smoke trail behind him. "I hope he falls out that bloody box, the idiot!" Clara growled.

The words CLARA OSWALD GET YOUR COAT were plastered in smoke in the sky. Tom had gone a rather unattractive shade of purple. Clara was fuming. She couldn't believe that he'd pulled a stunt like this.

"So, is that your boyfriend in a plane?" Tom spluttered helplessly. Clara shot him a fierce look and he backed down. Guilt flooded through her. She patted Tom's shoulder.

"He's not my boyfriend. And he won't be flying that box near here again unless he wants me to hide his sonic screwdriver!" Clara snapped. But the box wasn't dematerialising like she'd hoped it would. Instead, it was hurtling towards the ground, losing altitude rapidly. Heading right for the school. Clara swore under her breath as it came whooshing in and the children dispersed as the TARDIS came to a crunching halt above six feet in front of Clara. The Doctor stepped out, looking smug as anything.

"Clara!" he yelled, pulling her into a hug she didn't return. "Miss me!"

"I saw you yesterday!" she hissed under her breath, punching his shoulder repeatedly. "What the hell are you playing at? This is my school, I work here!"

"Oh don't worry, the chair of governors is an old friend," he grinned. "A very old friend. Like back when I was travelling with Susan old. As in my first face old. Yeah I know right. Have you been using fake tan?"

"No you dolt, you took me to Egypt, then Greece, the bloody beach planet of…"

"Ah Duafuhofihoagao!" The Doctor grinned. "Wonderful place! Sorry, I've been flying a bit too close to Freetree VI, always muddles my memory a bit; it's been a week since I saw you after all. Six days too long if you ask me, but I was distracted by a giant soul-eating alien monster."

"Doctor shut up!" Clara hissed. "What are you doing here, what's so urgent?"

"I have a new bow tie!" he yelled triumphantly. "Didn't you notice?"

Clara had in fact, not noticed. "It's the same colour as your old bow tie!"

"Yes, but I had to throw the old one into a supernova to save the planet, so I had to pop back to 1956 to get a new one. Long story, bumped into myself, almost got a bit hairy, ended up hiding under a cheese grater. Oh you must be Tom; Clara's told me all about you!"

"Has she?" Tom was looking a bit weak now. Clara had never wanted to strangle the Doctor was his own bow tie more than she did in that moment. "She's never mentioned you before. Are you her boyfriend?"

"No, I'm her Doctor," he grinned, as though this was some sort of in joke. Clara crossed her arms, raising her eyebrow as she did so. Despite the fact she was positively mortified, she couldn't help but be a little bit amused. "Don't worry, the boyfriend position is open."

Clara opened her mouth to say something at this point, as the Doctor stepped past her, clasping Tom on the shoulder before heading inside the school. She didn't know what annoyed her more, the fact that Tom was grinning, clearly thinking he had a shot with her, that the TARDIS was currently parked in the middle of the playground, that the Doctor was going to her classroom or that her name was still sprawled across the sky for half of London to see. She sighed. It was just going to be one of those days.

She followed the Time Lord inside the school, ignoring the hushed words and odd looks. She hurried after him, desperate to catch up as he swung into Miss Oswald's classroom, chuckling slightly at the name plaque. He threw himself down at her desk, before turning to look at her, still beaming. Clara followed him into the room, slamming the door behind her.

"What the hell is this?" she demanded. "Can you move the TARDIS please?"

"No not yet, sorry Clara." His face had gone serious very quickly. "I needed to land here and I needed to attract attention. Sorry, all that spiel out there was somewhat a lie. Apart from the bit about the bow tie and the cheese grater. And the memory thing. But yes, needed to see you. Very urgent. Lots of timey-wimey problems."

He pulled out his sonic and scanned the room, glaring furiously at it. He sighed in relief and then plonked himself down back at the desk, putting his feet up but swiftly putting them down again as she shot him a look that indicated she would end his lives unless he put them down again.

"The last time I saw you, we went to that beach planet. Didn't you wonder why there was nobody there except us?"

"No," Clara down on a desk, facing him. "I just assumed that it hadn't been inhabited yet or that you'd done a clever thing so we could have some alone time. You do that sometimes, you know, make it just the two of us." She hadn't realised she was blushing. But she was. Dammit. She hated the effect he had on her. "Why, is it important?"

"Well I was wondering why we were alone there," he paused. "So I went back." He stood up, sonicing the room again and grumbling. "And I found out why. We had gone to the right time zone, I just assumed the TARDIS had messed up. But it turns out, there was a security warning. The planet was under quarantine." Clara's face fell and he ran over to her. He cupped her cheek and pressed her forehead against his. "Clara I am so sorry. But the planet was infected. Hundreds of sentient, invisible creatures. They latch onto humans, like symbiotes. They then decide if a host is suitable. If they are, then they pull them into their dimension. That's how they're invisible, they're not really here. Dimension jumpers. Once I realised, I had the TARDIS fly through a time rift, that would've thrown off any attached to me or inside her, dimension jumpers can't survive travelling through them. But one could've attached itself…"

"To me," Clara finished. She was scared, but she'd never admit it. The Doctor hugged her and smiled warmly. "What's it going to do to me?"

"Nothing," he said and the way he said it, she genuinely believed him. "You wouldn't be a suitable host. You're too short." She glared. "But by landing the TARDIS here, I made my appearance known to it. If it was still attached to you, which it isn't," he confirmed with another zap of the sonic. "Then it would have jumped off you the second it saw me coming. And it would've hid until it could find a suitable replacement."

Clara was both instantly relieved and completely horrified. So somewhere out there, an invisible creature was going to kidnap someone from her school and take them to another dimension. But it wasn't going to take her. Because of him. She pulled him into a fierce hug, burying her head in her shoulder.

"This is all my fault Clara," he said quietly. "I had to make sure you were okay. But the creature's not in here. It may already have found a host. We need to find it, find them. Is there anyone you've been close to, close enough for it to move between people?"

"Nobody, just…" she remembered touching his shoulder. "Tom!" she squealed. "Doctor, Tom. We need to help him. This is all my fault. I mean your fault. I mean our fault!"

She must've looked as panicked as she felt because the Doctor was nodding, strolling out the room. Tom was back in the staffroom and stood up to talk to her when she arrived. There was a low murmur of chatter in the room that seemed to drop off as they entered. Clara groaned. She had been desperately trying to fly under the radar and this wasn't helping matters.

"Hello all!" The Doctor announced himself. "I'm Doctor John Smith; I'm on the school board for the London area." He flicked his psychic paper so everyone could see. "My apologies for the disturbance and for the funny landing. New mobile plane, testing it for the government. I'm also a physicist you see." Clara closed her eyes, silently cursing. "Anyway, I just needed to talk to Miss Oswald about…school things!" he winked at her and she wished she were dead. "Now, you Tom!" he pointed and Tom paled. "We need to talk shop. My office!"

"You…don't have an office," Tom mumbled. Clara hung her head. She knew what he meant.

"He means the TARDIS, that's the name for his mobile plane," she informed him, making a mental note to kill the Doctor at a later stage.

"Yes, let's go. Off you pop, quick as you like." The Doctor was grinning and as soon as they were out in the corridor, he pulled out the sonic and scanned Tom. "Yep, I've got him. Bear with me, just a second."

Clara held her breath and tried not to panic as the Doctor used his sonic on Tom again. He nodded as if satisfied and then gestured for them to hurry. Clara shot him an inquisitive look but he didn't respond. They hurried out into the playground, where all the children were still playing, lots of them shooting the box odd looks and trying to find ways inside. The Doctor shooed them off as he unlocked the TARDIS and ushered them inside. Tom's jaw dropped and Clara placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"It's bigger on the inside."

"Yep, it's all very clever and spacey. We have bigger problems. I managed to use the sonic to trap it temporarily in its home dimension but I have no idea how long it will stay there for!" The Doctor was shouting. Clara skipped up to the main console, dragging Tom along with her by the hand. She didn't notice the Doctor flinch slightly. Tom seemed shocked by the contact so she dropped his hand the second they were stood beside the Doctor.

"So what're you going to do? Fly through the time rift again?" Clara asked hopefully. "That's how you dealt with the others right?"

"Others? Other what's?" Tom asked fearfully.

"Other dimension jumping monsters!" The Doctor interjected. "And I can't, every time I do it damages this old girl and she's still annoyed with me for the last time I did it. Besides, I have a plan. Of sorts. It's an awful plan but you'll have to bear with me. I'm not going to let you down. But those creatures are still all over Duafuhofihoagao and if people turn up, they'll have a food source. It's only so long before you lot get interested and because they're not really here, these things can live for centuries. I need to travel to their dimension and drag all the monsters back there. I just need something to anchor me here and something to drag all the creatures back."

"Can't you just sonic them there like you did with the one on Tom?" Clara interjected as Tom whimpered. The Doctor grinned like a child and then kissed the top of her head.

"You're a genius Clara! Planet wide sonic blast, with the template that I've already installed in the sonic. It would work perfectly. So, I'll land the TARDIS, then sonic the creatures, travel across, trap them all there then return by being very clever."

Clara didn't like the last bit. It was too vague and knowing the Doctor, he was probably hoping for a miracle. She especially didn't like the idea of him going alone. She frowned at him but he was already working.

"Doctor, how're you going to get back?" she asked quietly, leaning against the console next to him. "Because I'm not letting you go unless you tell me how you're going to get back. And I'm definitely not letting you go alone."

"Well you're not coming with me," he stated matter-of-factly. "I need someone here to deliver the sonic pulse to the creatures here and you're my number one girl. As for how I'll get back, I just need an anchor. Something to tie me between the universes, so the TARDIS can pull me back. Here, take the sonic. You'll need it. We've landed so just plug it into the TARDIS mainframe and she can extrapolate the blast. I've set all the right configurations."

"But how do you know the creature will just choose to take you to feed on over Tom?" Clara asked exasperatedly. "Have you considered that?"

He was smiling sadly. He kissed her forehead and pulled her into a hug before stepping back. "Because, Clara Oswald. I'm very old and very wise. And the creature was always going to latch onto me. And because, it already has." He stepped back and Clara screamed his name as he vanished into thin air. Tom whimpered.