"Alright, Doctor…..did you say you wanted chocolate or vanilla?" Clara asked as she turned away from the vendor at the ice cream cart and toward the Doctor behind her. Only, the Doctor wasn't behind her. Clara rolled her eyes heavily and looked around the park for the Doctor. Since she couldn't see him anywhere in the nearby vicinity, she could only assume that he had wandered away and gotten into some mischief. Of course he had….

"Sorry, I guess I'll have to pass" Clara told the ice cream vendor who seemed uninterested. "My friend is slow and he sometimes wanders away."

Clara took off down the path in the park, glancing every which way for the Doctor. All she had wanted, at least for today, was to have a quiet, normal day. No aliens, no capture, no near death experiences…just normal. She had just wanted to walk through the park on a beautiful spring, Sunday morning like anyone else. But…..the Doctor couldn't even wait two seconds to order an ice cream before he wandered away. She could only imagine what trouble he'd gotten into. What would it be this time? Children that shape shifted into aliens? A balloon vendor that was really in league with the Daleks? Clara shuddered to think where she would find him.

Even with all of these colorful imaginings swirling around her head, Clara still couldn't have dreamed where she found the Doctor. Not even ten feet from the ice cream cart, she found the Doctor sitting behind a park bench, legs crossed, eyes closed and a look of delight on his face. And…of all things…he had a dummy in his mouth.

"What are you doing, Doctor?" Clara asked, wondering what circumstances on Earth could possibly have compelled the Doctor to have put a pink and purple dummy with the words 'I love mummy' on it, in his mouth.

The Doctor's eyes snapped open and rather than seem embarrassed, like Clara would feel if she were caught with a dummy in her mouth, he beamed in excitement. "Clara! There you are! Look, I've found something wonderful!" he exclaimed. Well, at least that's how Clara translated it; it was hard to understand him around the dummy.

"Of course I'm here; I didn't leave" Clara said, slightly miffed. "I was ordering the ice cream, the ice cream that you wanted by the way, and I turn around and you're gone. I find you and you're sucking on a dummy of all things. Do I need to put you on a leash?"

The Doctor's eyes lit up, rather than fade at Clara's condescending tone. "A dummy? Is that what this is called?" the Doctor asked happily. He gestured to the dummy.

"Uh…..yes" Clara said, wondering how someone over 2,000 years old had never heard of a dummy. "It's a dummy and it's for babies."

"Babies? Why should they have all of the fun?" the Doctor exclaimed, jumping up from his spot. "This is wonderful! It's like a party for your mouth!"

Clara felt embarrassment on the Doctor's behalf as people began to stare at him. He seemed unfazed. "What? You like having that ridiculous thing shoved in your mouth? Where did you even get it?" Clara asked, feeling everyone's eyes on her.

"Of course I like it" the Doctor said. "You pop it in and you feel so relaxed. I just found it here on the ground. Some idiot didn't want it; I'll take it though…..I feel a 100 years old again!"

Clara was too embarrassed to notice the pure delight on the Doctor's face; he looked ridiculous with a dummy in his mouth. Clara snatched it out of his mouth angrily. "If you found this on the ground that means a baby lost it. It's teaming with germs and you just stuck it in your mouth" Clara lectured. "You're not a baby; you can't suck a dummy. Stop being silly"

Clara tossed the dummy into a nearby trashcan. She only them saw the look of crestfallen disappointment on the Doctor's face and how he visibly crumpled at the sight. "Now, come on. Let's get our ice cream" Clara said. She tried to sound positive and happy, trying to get past the embarrassing incident. But it was too little too late.

The Doctor's face was downcast and sad. He thrust his hands into his pockets. "I'm going back to the TARDIS" he mumbled before shuffling off toward the TARDIS. Clara didn't know why it mattered so much to him but she felt that she had made a grave mistake.

…..

The Doctor acted strange the entire rest of the day and it only served to make Clara's guilt feel worse. He sulked off to the TARDIS and though she had wasted considerable time before going back herself, she still found him pouting by the console. He was poking ideally at the buttons when she walked in, his eyes downcast. Before Clara could apologize for what she had said, the Doctor had stormed away down the hallway to where, Clara had no idea.

Clara went to bed that night but found that she still couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could think of was the Doctor. Every time she tried to drift off to sleep, all she could see was how crushed the Doctor had looked as she had snatched the dummy out of his mouth and called him silly. She still stood by what she said; it was disgusting to suck a dummy you found on the ground. And it was ridiculous for an adult to want to suck a dummy. But…..she thought about the happiness on the Doctor's face when he did it…..how relaxed he had said it made him….and she felt terrible for taking it away. Even if she didn't understand it, she should have been a good friend and at least tried to understand it. She wasn't sure exactly how she could understand it but she knew one thing she could to make it better as she sought to come to a better understanding.

Clara snuck out of the TARDIS with the Doctor nowhere to be seen. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until she had made things right. When she came back from her errand, she was glad to find the Doctor sitting in the console room. He was sitting on the floor, tinkering with cores sticking out from under the console but Clara could tell that he wasn't serious about what he was doing; his eyes flickered to her as she came in the room which was far more attention than he gave her when he was really working.

"Hello, Doctor" Clara said, trying to sound cheerful but not overly so lest she scare the Doctor off.

The Doctor didn't look at her and only grunted in response to her greeting. Clara sat down on the floor across from the Doctor, smiling at him warmly despite the cold reception from the Doctor.

"Can I talk to you for a minute, Doctor?" Clara asked carefully.

The Doctor paused for a long moment. "You already are, aren't you?" the Doctor asked, rolling his eyes slightly, obviously miffed.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I know it hurt your feelings" Clara said gently. With the Doctor, especially in this body, she had discovered that when she discussed feelings she had to simplify things like she would with a kid.

The Doctor crossed his arms but didn't over react like she expected him to. "You didn't. I'm fine" he said in a huffy tone.

"Doctor, it's okay to admit that you're not okay, you know?" Clara said. "I wasn't very nice. It's okay to admit that"

The Doctor was quiet for a moment, appearing to debate between wanting to say something and staying stoically quiet. Eventually his need to talk got the better of him. "No it wasn't very nice. Why do you have to be so mean? And not to mention bossy? Did you know you were bossy? Because you are" the Doctor said with feeling.

Clara swallowed down her argument about the bossy comment; that could be for another time. "Well, you know doctor, people can make mistakes and I made a mistake" Clara said, plowing on. "That's why I'm apologizing. I didn't mean to make you upset and I got you this to make up for it"

Clara held out a small drug store bag toward the Doctor who regarded it like it was a danger. "It's not a trap" Clara said with a huff of a laugh when he didn't take the bag. "It's a present for you; to say I'm sorry."

The Doctor still regarded it like he would an evil alien before he finally took it. His face wared between delight and confusion as he pulled a dummy out of the bag and held it up. "What is this?" he asked, excitement on the edges of his expression but he was holding in, obviously afraid he didn't understand exactly what Clara meant.

Clara smiled as the Doctor held it up. She had felt a bit strange looking at the dummies in the store, knowing it was for the Doctor but it was a good kind of strange. When she saw the black dummy with a guitar and the words, "Rock Star" on it, she knew she'd found the perfect thing.

"It's a dummy, like the one in the park" Clara explained. "Only, this one is clean and new and all yours."

The Doctor smiled a bit as he regarded it but let the smile fade away as he looked back up at her. "But you thought it was stupid and childish" he said, hurt tinting his tone again.

"I didn't understand" Clara clarified, "I still don't really. I don't know why it makes you feel safe and relaxed…..probably you don't either. But I know I want to understand. Maybe we can together?"

The Doctor stared at her for a moment before he broke into a wide smile. "I'd like that…..I'd like that a lot" he said and Clara felt a weigh come off her as he fully accepted the apology.

"Are you going to try it out?" Clara asked, nodding toward the dummy. She could see the Doctor's face color slightly, debating whether or not to try it out. After some hesitation, he popped the dummy into his mouth. Giving it a few experimental sucks, his eyes closed and a look of satisfaction passed over his face. Clara was grateful for his enthusiastic response and wasn't expecting it when he leaned over and gave her a bone crushing hug.

"Thank you, Clara. Really….thank you" the Doctor said muffled around the dummy as he squeezed Clara hard.

Clara smile against the Doctor's shoulder. A hug and a thank you from the Doctor all in one day; it was turning out to be a really good day after all.

With as much as the Doctor puts things in his mouth and licks things I personally believe he has an oral fixation, prevalent more so in some bodies than others :) I personally think he'd love to have a dummy! Hope you liked the story and thanks for reading!