A/N - I've been away for ages and I apologise greatly. I've been too busy to write and keep updating a longfic, but now I've finally managed to get one posted. I'm sorry I'm such a bad fic writer, but I hope this is satisfactory enough.

The Office Romance

Chapter 1

Clara yawned, trying her hardest not to stretch in front of people. It would come across as rude. Closing her eyes briefly she wondered if the new boss was going to be as dreadful as the last one. They had called the meetings early in the morning and Clara was still feeling the defects of lack of sleep. She thought back to the night before, where she had binge watched her favourite TV show with a tub of ice cream until 2 in the morning. She knew it would be unwise to do so but she didn't care. Work was easy enough. She wished she could be back there in her flat right now. The whole stupid meeting was going to last them at least an hour and Clara didn't have the patience to listen to a fool that had no idea what he was doing. Finally their team manager stepped forward to make introductions, and everyone suddenly went quiet. It was bad enough she had gotten in late and all the back seats were taken. She at least now had to look like she was listening. Folding her arms across her chest everyone clapped the new boss in, and first impressions were certainly very mixed. For one, his clothing. Wearing a navy frock coat over a shirt didn't count as smart, she thought, just a bad fashion statement. His hair was dishevelled but unruly to say the least, making him look a bit like a hobo from some sort of sci-if movie. His features were sharp and independently angry, with huge, cross eyebrows and an instant frown. She raised her own eyebrows. He would certainly be running things differently in here. For better or worse she had yet to find out.

'Thank you,' he said, his voice deep and clearly Scottish, 'as you know, my name is John Smith, and I am the new manager of this company.'

She did a double take at the name 'John', as she usually did. It only brought back memories which she didn't wish to look back on.

'Firstly, I want to warn you that things will change while I'm in charge, but not everything. Secondly, it's important also to know that I am not a man to mess with. Consequences could be brutal.'

'Wow,' she thought, 'a fool and a dictator.'

'and also, while I am strict on certain things I am also a man of leisure so having fun in any possible way is fine within reasons. I can joke and have a laugh so I'm not as intimidating as I might seem but I have to make sure everyone is fulfilling their roles to the full potential,' he gave them all an intense stare with the bluest eyes she'd ever seen, 'but I'm sure it will all work out. Now I want to hear your names and position in the company. Go.'

Clara had never listened more intently to any other staff meeting than this one. She was captivated by his control, the way he took over the whole room, with one look. It was almost like he shouldn't be in this job at all. He should be an actor.

He pointed to everyone individually, but to her confusion left her specifically to the end, even though she was sat dead in front of him. As he pointed to her she stared at him solidly for a few seconds before she said her name.

'Clara. I'm manager of the customer service team.'

He seemed unusually fixed on her than anyone else, like he was trying to work out the entirety of her mind in one moment. She stared plainly back, daring him to look away first with a raise of her eyebrows. He cocked one of his own in reply and shifted his eyes to the centre of the room. She smiled in small triumph.

'Now, depending on what kind of shifts you all work, we're going to get ourselves into a much more professional routine. Because, when I did look at all your she dukes they really are layabout. And not to mention the countless tea breaks. That room is occupied all day and too often by people who need to work harder.'

Already he was laying it on thick. It amused her mostly, to be honest. She knew how many staff around her were pissed off, and just to test him, she spoke up.

'We just really like tea in this place.' She said, prompting another curious look from him. She wasn't lying either, she lived for tea breaks.

'Too much.' He regarded, still inspecting her like she was furniture.

The next half an hour went faster than she ever imagined, even though he talked about the boring stuff she couldn't be bothered to take note of. He was so...easy to watch, and yet hard to understand. The way he moved, used his hands, even talked...it was all so intriguing to have that adding all to his growing personality. He even let slip some curse words which made her grin internally. She could tell he wouldn't be taking any bullshit from anyone. Which was sad, really. She liked having her fun. As she studied him she couldn't help but think about how good it would be to tease him, wind him up and just how much of a joke he'd take it. From the looks of things he had a temper not to be crossed but Clara was fearless in the face of that fact. He was only a human like the rest of them, after all. What really was so intimidating about that?

When he finished he glanced at the overhead clock, announcing lunch. Clara felt flustered as she sat up straight in her seat for the first time in three hours. She had to been expecting him to go on and on but something in her didn't mind. In fact, it was a relief. She wasn't doing any work, and he was funny to look at. As they all walked out of the meeting room - Clara catching the odd muttered opinions and groans from others - she saw him retreating to what was now his office. She tried to suppress another smile at his gait, so formal and steady she would have thought he was physically tied to the earth. He pushed the door open dramatically and disappeared behind the blinds that were drawn so no one could see in through the window. Clara herself had only been called in there a couple of times. She wondered if he would make any changes, add any personal decoration. Maybe pictures of his wife and kids, but then again by the looks of him he didn't seem the type. Although she had indeed spied the gold ring on his finger.

For the rest of the hour she sat with everyone else, savouring her tea as it was so obvious they would be rationing and tuning in to the thoughts of her colleagues. Most of them were negative, it seemed, which she couldn't fault. Even though the last one had been too careless, the one before that was unbearably cringy and their original boss had been so caught up in his own affairs he had hardly come into the office.

'He can't be that bad, can he?' The woman opposite her said, Rose, contributing the first good comment to arise from the gossiping.

'Well he looks like a lunatic and sounds crazy. Despite what he's saying he's probably harmless,' River said.

Martha shook her head in disagreement, 'I don't know, I wouldn't want to cross lines with him.'

'I would.' Said the voice of Jack Harkness, his eyebrow raised and his smile a coy one.

'Jack.' she giggled, trying to fight the urge to properly laugh at his response, 'of course you would.'

'Well, what do you think of him, Clara?' Donna turned to her suddenly, and Clara covered her face by sipping her tea to hide the smirk underneath. 'I don't really have an opinion on him. Seems genuinely just very...boss like.'

'Maybe too boss like. It seems to me we won't be sitting around here too often from now on.'

'I'm sure I'll get on with him fine, I can relate, Steven cut in, taking a Jammy dodger, 'Scottish.'

'Doesn't anyone else kind of think he looks like an angry owl?' Donna suddenly said, making Clara nearly splutter her tea everywhere. They all laughed until they had tears in their eyes and it only grew worse when he actually appeared by the doorframe.

'What's so funny?' He asked, watching bewilderedly at all of them giggling like schoolchildren. Clara could hardly look at him without spluttering again, and Rose's face was hidden behind her hands. When no one offered to explain the cause he ignored it and instantly turned the subject back to work.

'I think you should all be heading back to your desks now,' he implied, 'oh, and I'll need a volunteer just to give me a tour round the building. Won't take long, just need to know where everything is.'

Even though the laughter had stopped no one was remotely brave enough to offer up their service so Clara, on a stupid and ruthless whim decided to do just that. For some reason he seemed almost displeased by the fact it was her but Clara didn't necessarily care. She only wanted to get out of responding to the thousand emails waiting on her computer.

As everyone filed out rather quietly and returned to their desks Clara finally got up and walked over to him.

'I'm-'

'Clara,' he finished for her, 'I know.'

If he was trying to impress her in any way she was displeased to find out it was working.

'You're quick to remember.'

'Or just quick to forget everyone else.'

Was he flirting?

'Flattered. So, where do we start?'

'Ground floor will do.'

'Right,' she lead him to the lift, waiting at least a full minute before the it finally creaked its way up.

'There are stairs just behind us, we could have gotten there by the time the lift arrived.'

'Yeah, but we're all lazy.' She answered.

He didn't seem too impressed by that. When it started to move the tension built to the highest it could go when they didn't say a word to each other and slowly began to turn awkward. She was convinced the lift was cursed because all elevator rides seemed to pain Clara with random uneasiness.

'So, how long have you worked here?' He finally asked, Clara almost sighing at the boring tactic to make conversation.

'Three years. Have you worked in any other book publishing companies before?'

'One. The companies I've worked in over the years have all produced different products, from toothbrushes to stationery.'

'So you don't actually know much about book publishing?'

'A little bit. But I haven't got much experience in any of the companies I've worked at because I've always had the boss job. I just know how to bring a team together, that's my area of expertise.'

All Clara could do was roll her eyes slightly. There was nothing she could say to that.

'Do you like it here?' He asked, as they swung through the double doors to a huge warehouse full of machines and people in overalls.

'It's a workplace. What's to like? It's not exactly my ideal line of work, but it's got me by so far.'

'And what line of work is that?'

Clara was seriously thinking about not telling him. He was being quite persistent with his questions and she wished he would abandon talk of her from the conversation.

'Teaching.'

'Oh,' he said simply. She didn't know if she should have taken it offensively or not. 'Any particular subject?'

'English.' She dismissed quickly, before leading him to the group of people and introducing them all.

Once they had visited a few other common spots she found he was actually very easy to talk to. Easy for her, anyway. Everyone else couldn't get a word in edgeways once he started prattling on, but that was just the result of two normally chatty people.

'Why'd you volunteer then?' He asked.

'Because no one wanted to and either way, any one of them would have bored you to death. But don't tell them I said that.'

'Of course not.'

'What are you seriously going to change for our team? We're quite independent, we know what we're doing.'

'I don't doubt that. Someone needs to be the boss though, right?'

'I guess so.'

She showed him every place she could think of, ending back to his office.

'Thank you.' He said, searching her face for a little moment more than was necessary.

She began to smile. 'No problem.'

'Okay, then, back to work.' He nodded toward her empty desk.

'Don't push it.'

'I'm your boss. I'm supposed to push you.'

She rolled her eyes while turning away from him, traipsing back to her desk. Despite her first conceptions and his appearance, he seemed nice enough. Something about him drew her in, almost. Like she would actually be willing to do her work under his control. There was something in him that just caught her attention, and yet she couldn't understand why. She didn't even know why she was smiling as she opened her emails and began typing.

Clara caught the eyes of Rose from across the room, silently communicating. Oh, they were going to find out pretty quickly if he could take a joke or not. It was custom to grant their new boss with a prank, however silly it was. From what she already knew of him it was going to be quite the spectacle.

John sat at his desk, already typing away at his new computer. Overall it was a nice enough building, and his impressions of everyone were mostly positive. He would just have to reign them into his routine, make them work a little harder. From what he saw of the progress charts from last year they certainly could be improved. And he was intent on doing just that.

Suddenly the phone rang beside him, waking him up from his thoughts. He quickly finished typing and picked up the phone.

'Hello?'

'Is it alright if I have a quick word with you?' A female voice on the other end said.

'Uhm, well I am quite busy. How long will it take?'

'Only five minutes.'

He sighed. He hated when people interrupted him from his work.

'Alright. Come to my office.'

'No. You come to us.'

He sighed again. 'Fine.'

He put down the phone and dispiritedly managed to get up out of his chair and leave his office. He had only been head of the company for five hours and he was already being called to action. At least they were depending on him, that was a good sign.

He walked up to a woman with blonde frizzy hair that beckoned him over.

'Hello, sweetie.'

He raised his eyebrows and hoped this would be quick.

'What do you need?'

'Just to get to know you. What's your name again?'

'What? Uh, John.'

'Good. I'm River.' She shook his hand and John was wondering what the hell was going on. None of them had really expressed much interest in him over the staff meeting, so he was confused by River's behaviour.

'It's nice to meet you, but I'm afraid I can't stand around chatting, I have important things to do.'

'Already? You must be a very busy man.'

He tried to turn away, but River reached out and spun him back around.

'So John, you're Scottish...how many sheep do you own?' She asked.

John's eyebrows nearly fell off in response to the question.

'Uh, I don't own any. I wasn't born on a farm, I was born in Glasgow.'

'Glasgow? Interesting.' River smiled, although her eyes were looking past him. He tried to turn around again but she stopped him.

'I'm sorry, am I missing something?' He asked, growing impatient.

'No, just manners.' She replied.

His brows furrowed, his mouth trying to speak words but becoming stutters.

'What made you apply for this job, then?'

'Money.'

'Ah, good. Do you like it?'

'Well, I'd like it a lot better if I was back in my office.'

'Nah, it's much better out here. Say, where did you get that coat?'

He looked down to his open buttoned frock coat, with it's bright red lining.

'Uh, I don't remember. I've always had it, really.'

'Interesting.' She nodded, although from the look of her face she wasn't interested at all. Finally her face lifted and she smiled politely at him.

'Well, keep on working hard.' She patted his shoulder and left him standing there, baffled to no end, but relieved he could return back to the safety of his office. As he walked back to his office, his confusion further exemplified at what he thought was his open but closed door, an pushed it open. His eyes went wide, his mouth agape and his anger rising just above the surface. There were shells and pink sticky notes everywhere; all over his desk, his computer, his chair, the walls, even the stationery.

Now at least he knew why River was acting mad. She was trying to distract him while someone had snuck in there to decorate the place. He closed his eyes briefly, exhaling and trying to keep calm. At least he knew better not to trust his new colleagues and leave the door closed at all times, under lock and key.

He marched back to where everyone was working and moving around innocently, all concentrating on what they were doing and purposefully taking no notice of him.

'Now I said I didn't mind jokes but this is stupid.'

At the sound of his voice most of the workers tried hard to suppress their laughter. He noted that the majority were women.

'Who did this?' He asked angrily, his eyes sweeping the whole room. Not one person answered.

'Is this really how you greet new bosses? Prank them like bloody middle schoolers?'

Another round of giggles. Some of them were even hunching over their desks to disguise their laughing faces.

'River, you're taking half of the blame for distracting me,' he pointed at her, 'but I will find out who did it.'

He inspected everyone again, noticing a blonde woman almost on the floor from laughing.

'You, what's your name?' He asked.

'Rose.'

'You did it, didn't you?'

Her face disappeared behind her hands and she hunched over the computer table.

'I'll take that as a yes.'

'I only helped, it wasn't my idea.' She said.

'So, whose idea was it then?' He sighed, impatience mingling with that of anger.

Everyone seemed to look straight toward the culprit, and his eyes followed them and then widened when he discovered it was Clara they were all looking at. A twinge of disappointment appeared in his gut. He thought at least she was decent, but he had been wrong. She was just as pathetic as everyone else.

'You two, come with me. Everyone back to work.' He spat, walking back into his office, Clara and Rose trailing behind him and still smiling. He fought the urge to shout 'grow up' at them.

'Clean this up.' He ordered, and they slowly started ripping the sticky notes from all the surfaces, while he stood over them, arms crossed. Once they had finished he sank back down in his chair.

'I don't know what you were thinking, or why, but that wasn't acceptable. Why the fuck did you do it?'

Clara exchanged a look with her partner, probably at the swearing he had ultimately given into.

'It's an old tradition. We always prank our bosses.'

'Well I'm not very amused by it.'

'Clearly. We wanted to see how you'd react.'

'Well, now you know you won't do it again because when I'm angry I have a tendency to shout abuse at people, right? And trust me, you wouldn't want to experience it.'

'Why are you a bloody boss then? You're surrounding yourself with people that like to have a laugh every so often.'

'This isn't a laugh, because I'm not laughing.'

'Yeah, but everyone else is.' Rose said.

'I didn't expect this from any of you. It's silly and childish and not for the workplace. No more pranks on anyone, or you will lose your job.'

'That's a bit harsh isn't it? It's your first day and you're already making threats to your colleagues.'

'I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't done it, would I?'

Clara stared at him, right into his eyes. He almost felt under pressure from it, her eyes weighting down his own. She seemed like a very influencing women, someone that was stubborn to the point of control freak.

'You can get back to work now.' He said, turning back to his computer. As they walked out he heard Clara mutter the word 'dickhead' and sighed. He had imagined his first day a little more cheerful than this, but at least he had shown them he really was a man not to be messed with and that he wouldn't be such an easy person to push over.