A/N: So, this is my first fanfic ever, (that I've posted at least) so I'm really nervous about putting it up. I ended up cutting out a lot of the Rose and Clara scenes after I realized they didn't make sense, but I'll be putting them back in during later chapters, if you guys want me to continue that is. I hope you guys like it, and feel free to give me creative criticisms so I can improve my writing.
Edit: I made an account on because I know some people who prefer to read it on there instead of tumblr, so hello, new people who may or may not find this story.
Chapter One
TARDIS Book Store had been around for as long as anyone could remember. The Doctor can remember spotting the dark blue doors whenever he walked down the street as a little boy, tugging at his brother's sleeve, silently asking permission to go in. His brother never said no, for he loved the store too, and they would spend hours in there every day, getting lost in the maze of bookshelves, sitting cross legged on the floor to read anything from fairy tales to biographies of famous historical figures. The store is too old for anyone to even remember what TARDIS stands for, but no one seems to mind not knowing, it's just always been that way. The Doctor loved the little shop at the end of the road. He loved the rundown look of the outside and he loved the cluttered shelves on the inside. Which is why, when the store was in danger of being closed forever, he convinced his brother to take what was left of their parent's money and buy the place with him.
He was alone stacking shelves one Wednesday afternoon when he heard banging from the door.
"Hello? Is anyone in there? The door won't open and there's a blizzard out here!" Came a muffled voice from outside, causing The Doctor to furrow his brows. They were open, as far as he knew, no one had locked the door since Rose opened up this morning. "It's open! Come on in!" He called, sticking his head out from in between the bookshelves, to watch the figure through the tinted windows of the door. It hadn't sounded like one of the usual customers, and it wasn't very often someone new came around. He couldn't see much, but from what he could make out it was a young woman, almost a foot shorter than him. Definitely not one of the regulars, then.
When the only reply he got were more knocks on the door, he sighed, putting aside all the books he was still holding and making a mental note to put them away later. "Alright! I'm coming!"
He made his way to the door, a gust of cold wind hitting him as soon as he opened it. Was it snowing? It seemed a bit early to be this cold, but the open door made him want to go get his purple tweed jacket from the front desk. Turning his attention to the girl that had been standing outside, he noticed with a frown that she looked freezing.
"Oh! Come on in, you look cold. Uh, sorry about the door, it must have gotten stuck or something." He addressed the short, brown haired girl, trying his best not to notice how pretty she was. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold, snow stuck to her hair and eyelashes, and she held her arms close to her, as if to preserve body warmth.
"Thanks, I was getting buried in snow out there." She smiled at him, showing off the dimple that appeared on her cheek.
The Doctor smiled back, but he couldn't help noticing how cold she looked. "You're gonna catch a cold like that... I could get you some blankets if you want, and some tea. It'll help you warm up." He offered, already moving towards the stairs at the back of the shop leading to the flat on the second floor.
"You don't have to... It's enough to just let me hang out here for a bit."
"No, it's alright, I'll be just a second, you can hang your coat on the door." He told her, not waiting for her reply before heading up the stairs. He stopped right before the top, realizing he'd forgotten something.
"What's your name?" He said, coming back down.
"Clara."
"Nice name, Clara. You should definitely keep it."
She raised her eyebrows, amused. "And what's /your/ name?"
"You can just call me The Doctor."
"Doctor? Doctor who?"
He smirked at her question, having heard it many times before. "Doctor John Smith. Well, I'm not really a doctor. I'm just John Smith. But that name's awfully boring, so everyone just calls me Doctor. It's one of those nicknames you can't really remember how you got, but it stuck around."
She giggled at his explanation, shaking her head slightly.
When he finally came back, balancing two mugs of tea and a bundle of blankets, Clara had already shed her coat, as well as the scarf and gloves she had been wearing. Currently she was standing by the fantasy section, holding a book in both hands and reading the summary on the back.
"Oh! Harry Potter! I loved that book when I was a kid. One of the best series out there." He commented, putting the mugs down on the front desk, and walking towards the girl.
"I wouldn't know, I've never read any of the books. Always wanted to, but never got around to it." She shrugged.
The Doctor gasped, throwing the blankets at one of the arm chairs set up in the small reading area. "But- but it's Harry Potter! J.K. Rowling! Come on, you've got to read the books sometime in your life. Tell you what, I've got my private copy of the first book upstairs, you can borrow it!" He smiled happily, pointing at the stairs with one hand. She raised an eyebrow at him, the corners of her mouth turning up in a smirk. "Trying to get me upstairs already? There's such a thing as too eager, Chin boy."
"I- No! That... That's not what I meant!" He sputtered, the smile falling off his face and his hands immediately moving to scratch at his jaw. "And there's nothing wrong with my chin!" He defended.
"You could poke someone's eye out with that." She told him, her expression revealing she was only just teasing him. "Besides, it kind of works for you." She admitted, successfully making The Doctor blush.
"Thank you, I think." He said softly, before remembering why she was still there in the first place. "Right, we should get you warmed up, you already look like you have a cold."
Gesturing for her to sit down on one of the couches, he quickly fetched the two cups of tea and some of the Jammie Doggers he always kept in the front desk.
"Here you go." He handed her a cup of tea, sitting next to her on the couch and setting the plate of cookies between them. She'd already grabbed the blankets from the arm chair and covered herself with them, leaving one out for The Doctor to use.
They talked for hours then, sipping tea and eating Jammie Doggers, only stopping for refills. He would tell her wonderful stories he'd read in books, and she would listen intently, laughing, gasping or nodding at all the right moments. She teased him a lot, but she could tell he didn't mind, and occasionally he teased her back. It was only after the storm had died down and the sky had gone dark that they said their goodbyes.
"Thank you, Doctor, for everything. No one else on this street was even open."
"Well, that's me, always here to help." He beamed at her, walking with her to the front door. "Goodnight, Clara."
"Goodnight, Doctor."
Next Wednesday, she came again. But this time, he wasn't the only one working.
"Good morning!" Greeted a voice as soon as she walked through the door, but it definitely wasn't The Doctor's voice.
"Good morning." Clara greeted back, although she wasn't exactly sure who she was talking to.
Suddenly, a blonde woman appeared from in between the rows of bookshelves. "You're not one of our regulars." She noted, pointing at Clara.
"Uh, no. I'm Clara, I met The Doctor last Wednesday, and he told me I could borrow one of his books." She told her, hoping the woman would be able to help her find him.
"Oh! Yeah, he's told me about you." The woman grinned, her tongue sticking out in between her teeth just slightly. "I'll just... Go get him for ya." She said, taking a couple slow steps backward before turning on her heel and heading up quickly up the stairs.
Clara could hear a muffled conversation coming from above, a smile crawling on her face when she heard The Doctor's voice. She stepped closer to the stairs, curiosity getting the best of her, but before she could really make out what she was hearing, a man wearing a bowtie came running down the stairs and right into her.
They both fell to the ground, The doctor holding himself up with his arms to stop from crushing her, but still hovering over her rather closely.
"Hi." He breathed, his face turning a light shade of pink.
"Hi." She replied simply.
"Sorry about running into you, I just couldn't stop myself in time."
"It's alright. Although usually, a guy has already taken me out on a date before we find ourselves in this position. Granted, in those cases the situation usually includes a bed, and much less clothing." She teased, knowing it would make him blush and stutter.
"I- You- I'm not... Shut up!" He said, scrambling to get off her and back on his feet before helping her up and making sure she was okay.
Clara let out a laugh, enjoying as her desired affects took place. They had become quick friends last week, and had exchanged numbers before the night was over. Since then they'd been texting almost non-stop about everything and nothing. The Doctor wasn't used to having friends he could talk to this easily, and while he wasn't exactly ready to share his deepest secrets with Clara, he having someone he could laugh and joke around with. She was funny, she was pretty, always exactly what he needed after a long day. Perfect.
"So, Doctor, the book?" She reminded him after a moment of silence filled with nothing but the two of them smiling brightly at each other.
"Oh! Right, the book! It's on the top shelf in the used section, right there." He pointed out a specific bookshelf to her, and they made their way there together.
At first, Clara tried to grab the book herself, but even when she stretched her arm and went on her toes, she couldn't reach the top shelf. "Damn it." She frowned, turning to glare at The Doctor when she heard him stifling a laugh.
He stopped immediately when he saw the look on her face, stepping closer in order to grab the book himself. He stood behind Clara and reached up easily, plucking the book from the shelf and holding it out to Clara.
"There you go, the new book by Amelia Williams." He smiled at the bright happy look on her face when she took the book from him.
"Yes! I've been waiting ages to read this! Thank you, thank you." She took him by surprise when she jumped up, wrapping her arms around his neck in a warm hug.
His own arms flailed around for a moment, not sure what to do, until he finally wrapped them around her waist. "Yeah, no problem."
They stayed in each others arms for a moment longer, until Clara hesitantly pulled away. The hug had already lasted longer than it usually would for two friends, and although she liked it a lot, she didn't want to get too used to it.
"You know, Amy's already working on a new book."
"Amy? You call Amelia Williams Amy?"
"Oh yeah, she's a good friend. I knew her when she was Amelia Pond." He told her, proud of himself for finding something to impress her.
"She's really your friend?" Clara's eyes widened. Amelia Williams was her absolute favorite author right now, she'd read all of her books, even the ones that were really meant for children.
"Of course she is! I knew her when she still lived around here. I still go visit her in New York sometimes."
"Oh, meeting her would be a dream!" Clara said wistfully.
"I could arrange that!" The Doctor suddenly got really excited, clapping his hands together once. "Next time she visits me, I could ask her to come to the shop! And you'll get to meet her!"
"Really? You would do that?"
"Of course I would. Anything for a friend" He told her sweetly.
A few hours later they were sitting in the reading area again, quietly enjoying each other's company and occasionally reading out load from their books. Technically, The Doctor was supposed to be working, but every time a customer came in through the doors Rose would take care of it before he could even get up.
"Sit down and stop worrying, I've got it covered and besides, this is probably the first time you've had a break since you bought the store." She told him when he tried to help, nudging him back towards Clara and the empty spot on the couch right beside her.
When a man in a brown suit walked in however, Rose's face lit up, and she ran over to the man, wrapping her arms around him. "You're back!"
"'Course I am, didn't think I was going to leave you here with my bow tie wearing brother forever did you?"
"Hey! Bow ties are cool" The Doctor butted in, his hands flying to straighten the fabric around his neck. Giggling, Clara noticed he wasn't doing a very good job and brought up a hand to help him.
"Right, whatever you say John." He waved a hand in the air as if to dismiss him before turning back to Rose. "Oh, I wish you could have come with us, there was fireworks, and a helicopter, and a runaway hot air balloon, but Donna spent the whole time looking for a date to the wedding."
"Well you've got all the time in the world to tell me about it. Come on, you must have jet lag right now, why don't we go lie down upstairs?" She suggested, a twinkle in her eye making it known that taking a nap wasn't exactly what she was talking about.
"Oh... Oh! Yes, definitely let's go upstairs." He responded immediately, letting her take his hand and lead him to the stairs before finally catching sight of Clara, who was watching the exchange silently. "Who are you?"
"I'm Clara Oswald, I'm a friend of The Doctor." She explained.
"Nice to meet you Clara, I'm David, his brother." He smiled at her before turning away, disappearing up the stairs with Rose.
The Doctor sighed, it looked like his break was over. "He just had to show up and take Rose away right before the busiest time of the day." He muttered, moving off the couch.
"Well if yo need help, it's my day off from caring for Angie and Artie... I could stay a bit longer and help out." She offered.
"I couldn't ask you to stay, I'm sure you have better things to do that hang out with an old guy and sell books all day."
"Old guy?! You don't look more than a couple years older than me, mister." She pointed out, her hand going to settle on her hips.
"Okay fine, young guy. Compared to other ages I could be."
Clara laughed, she'd gotten used to him saying things like that, and so she didn't question it as she moved over to the desk at the front of the store. "Come on chin boy, if I'm going to help out around here all day you're gonna have to teach me how to check people out."
A/N: So what did you think? Obviously I'm not the best writer but I still like to do it occasionally, for myself at least. If you guys want the next chapter let me know what you thought of this one, and what I can do to improve. The next chapter will be the continuation of their day together, and maybe some Rose/Clara interaction, plus more Ten, Jack, and possibly Donna.
Alright that's it, thank you so much for reading! :)