"Come on then, chop chop! We'll have to hustle if we want to get there in time!" the Doctor cried excitedly, practically flailing in his haste to move and yet stay on his feet as the freshly fallen snow refused him an easy path across the park.
Clara followed after the Time Lord at a more sedate pace, picking her way carefully around patches of ice and especially slippery snow, though she did in fact attempt to keep up.
"I thought you said the Star-Alignment Ceremony happened at midnight!" she called after him, grinning widely as she picked her way along.
"I did; midnight is in seven minutes!" he called back over his shoulder, not slowing down for a second. The Doctor practically killed himself going down a slight downward incline, but he managed to grab a hold of a light post-like contraption before he could go sliding out into the middle of traffic.
"Of course it is!" she giggled to herself, rolling her eyes as she attempted to catch up only to fall behind again as he went sprinting away once again, manic energy coming off him in waves.
They had landed on the human settled planet Xonfo Four not only in time for the rare Star-Alignment where the entire galaxy would come into perfect order for the first time in two thousand years, but they had also arrived for the one time it happened on Christmas Eve. The Doctor had promised they would arrive with plenty of time to get to the celebration; and they got there with ten minutes to spare.
Typical.
Clara, her cheeks red from the cold and breath steaming in great puffs as she fought to keep her balance, couldn't help but think this was probably the most fun thing they had done yet. She had enjoyed the Rings of Ahkaten a lot, and had had quite a bit of fun helping those army blokes against the Cybermen - though she'd prefer to forget the haunted alternate/pocket universe monster/ghost ordeal, thank you very much - but this, right here and now, was what she preferred.
No monsters, no armies, no panic; just herself, the Doctor, the TARDIS, and a grand adventure that had a happy ending.
And, despite the slightly worrying way the Doctor seemed to disregard the dangerously treacherous ice, this venture seemed to have no problems so far.
Of course, for just thinking that to herself, that would probably cause something to happen. Nice going, Clara.
Silently cursing to herself, Clara nearly bowled right into the Doctor, whom had stopped right in the middle of the doorway of their destination - the main hall of the Grand Observatory, which had a great magnified view of the whole galaxy that couldn't be found anywhere else, Clara knew (the Doctor had gone on about it for nearly half an hour).
She slid around him, shooting him an odd look, before realizing there were two people standing in front of him; well, not people at all, really.
Some rather odd-looking aliens of some sort - the Doctor probably knew their age, gender, and race all in one look - were blocking the stairway up into the observatory, wheezing back and forth in what she assumed was their native language, one of the rare ones the TARDIS either couldn't or wouldn't translate for some reason or another.
The Doctor said something back to them, looking both horrified and frustrated all at once.
Clara raised an eyebrow, her eyes trailing between him and the aliens and back again. "Sorry, is there something wrong?" she asked, already shifting slightly to start running as soon as he gave the word; if there was one thing she had learned from adventuring with the Doctor, it was that running when he said so tended to save your life more often than not.
He shot her a look, expression oddly pinched as he refocused his attention on the aliens. "Oh, ah, well, it appears that the Cerasal race own this observatory."
At her blank look, he rolled his eyes before elaborating, "The Cerasal race is the native species of this planet; they were here when the humans first settled. They picked up a lot of human customs, including Christmas and a few other odd holidays. Anyway, they treat Christmas like a fanatical, religious ceremony, only without the Christianity mixed in. And well, the only way to get in is to, ah-"
He fell silent, but, raised a hand and pointed upward.
Clara, quirking an eyebrow, lifted her head only to see a small green plant hanging from the roof of the arch overhead, with a little red bow tied on at the top.
Clara felt both her eyebrows rise as she turned back to the Time Lord beside her. "Mistletoe?" she asked, voice rising an octave in her nervousness.
The Doctor nodded, face once again a bit pinched as he said, "It's an old custom of theirs, from back when Christmas was first introduced to the planet."
"So we have to-?" Clara began, miming putting her hands together.
The Doctor nodded once more. "It's a tradition," he said, as if by way of explanation.
Clara swallowed hard, a blush rising on her face that had nothing to do with the cold air around them. Her hands went behind her back and started rubbing together, a nervous tick she thought she'd outgrown after high school. "Uh, we actually have to-?" she coughed nervously to clear her throat, "Kiss?"
The Doctor didn't answer, just sent her one of those looks of his, like he had a plan and that plan had just been taken and thrown out of a window, which was enough of an answer for her.
She bit her lip, blinking several times.
Wow. OK. Not exactly how she thought this moment would go.
She and the Doctor had been tiptoeing around each other since the whole quest involving his younger selves and them all saving Gallifrey together. She didn't know exactly what had happened, but ever since making him realize there was another way to help both the universe and his home, he seemed to be a bit more... she didn't exactly know the right word... open, perhaps? More willing to share his past - the little of it she didn't know already from her past lives - with her, as if he could talk to her now because he didn't have to be afraid to share anymore.
It was nice, but it also made things a tad more awkward when it became obvious her feelings were becoming a bit less... platonic.
She couldn't help it; that trip to Balhoom had been stressful, and one thing she did when stressed was talk. And she had talked a bit too much that time.
Ever since, it had been adventure after adventure, never-ending, as if in an attempt to keep them both distracted.
Clara wasn't all that surprised by it; she wasn't bothered either. She would rather forget that rather embarrassing conversation, leave it untouched in the back of her mind, and yet here they were, with some weird alien-Christmas tradition that they apparently couldn't avoid or ignore like you could on Earth.
Biting her lip again, she cast a glance out of the corner of her eye toward the Doctor. He was shuffling on his feet, obviously dying to get out of this situation, but apparently coming up with nothing as he checked his pocket-watch absently. She spied the time; 12:58.
Only two minutes left until the biggest event in this galaxies' history started, and it would only last for about three minutes.
There was no time to go sprinting back to the TARDIS - which was parked quite a fair bit away - he still got the coordinates wrong 85% of the time.
Slowly, Clara relaxed her shoulders and straightened her back.
Screw it. She knew he was married - some how, across time and space, to a woman she was half-sure was dead - and she knew nothing could really come from anything she did or said if he didn't feel the same way, but what the hell.
It was Christmas, and she may as well have one of her secret wishes come true this year.
Clara stepped up onto one of the stairs, right in front of the Doctor, bringing her up until she was almost the same height as him.
He blinked at her in surprise, obviously not expecting her to move. "Clara-?" he began, but her arms were already winding around behind his neck as she stretched up on her toes.
Their lips met for only a moment - in the back of her mind, she was fairly certain the stiff, shocked flailing and his attempts to move his mouth in soundless exclamations of surprise was familiar in a weird way, like an echo from a dream - but a spark certainly went off in her head.
Clara's heart beat so hard against her ribs she was certain anyone nearby could hear it; the Doctor most certainly could, if the look he was sending her was anything to go by.
She let go of him, stepping aside quickly, lifting one hand as if to cover her mouth in embarrassment, though at the back of her mind she really wanted to do that again. The Doctor sent her a rather disapproving half-glare, but for an instant, she thought she saw something else behind his eyes.
He quickly turned his attention to the two gate-keepers, who seemed all too happy to let them in now that they had done what they wanted.
And for the rest of the night, as the Doctor dragged her inside and started talking a mile a minute as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened outside, and they watched the stars collide and align in a magnificent show of lights and sparks and fire, Clara couldn't keep a smile off her face as she realized what emotion it was she had seen for a moment in the Doctor's eyes.
~DW~
A/N: Some Christmas fluff. Whouffle FTW. Sorry if it sucks, I just needed something happy and shippy after...
~Persephone