A Career in Something
Teaching had never made Clara nervous, she loved the kids, but this was a different story.
" Now Mrs. Lewis, what can you tell us about a career in..." day had been going pretty well in her opinion. Her first career day, being silently judged by every parent coming to present within a hundred meter radius, happy happy happy. That is, until now. That was the moment when all normality was shattered, at least for the day.
"Clara! Clara Oswald!" Clara cringed at the sound of her name as The entirety of her class turned towards the source of the noise. oh, the doctor. She loved him to death,
and he was truly fantastic, but for the love of god, couldn't he choose another time to pop in for a quick visit?!
"Clara! " the doctor, master of subtlety, was knocking rather loudly on the door and repeatedly shouting her name. " !" Of course he would come in the middle of class, hell, in the middle of the bloody career fair!
Mrs. Lewis smirked and raised her eyebrows at Clara. "Friend of yours?"
She let out a nervous, and very fake laugh, much louder than necessary, or normal. "I'll just go speak to him, be back in a mo! In the mean time, Our speaker will teach all about..." Clara threw a pleading look in the general direction of Mrs. Lewis, not caring at the moment about what sort of impression she was giving.
"Publishing."
"Yes! Publishing!" Clara walked hastily towards the door." You'll learn all about the fascinating ins and out of dead trees being printed with words!" Fumbling with the door knob,
and enduring the looks of judgement and confusion from secondary students.
At last she was on the other side of the doorway, after eternity upon eternity of trying to get as simple an invention as a door to work properly. "Now that that's over with," she said, the sort of calm voice that was invented for intimidation, "would you mind telling me why you've come to my place of employment and started pounding on the door and yelling like a madman?!"
"Well, to be fair I am a madma-"
"You know perfectly well that I mean the type of madman without a super clever bigger on the inside box."
"Well, since you were wondering, I wanted to come visit the old place, bit of a nostalgia trip, really."
This earned him a suspicious glance. "A nostalgia trip?"
The Doctor looked positively affronted at her doubt. "Yes, a nostalgia trip, anyways, remembered that you work here, and just popped in for a quick hello!"
Clara looked around as if to find someone who found this statement as ridiculous as her.
"Couldn't you have picked another time? It's-"
"Career day!" The Doctor said with child-like enthusiasm. "I know."
And before she could stop him, he was already opening the door. And so she followed him. back into the classroom or, quite possibly to the end of her teaching career.
"So I trust all of you found all the talk of publishing interesting? Yes?" Clara said with an anxious, painted on smile
"It's literally been a minute and a half." Said a voice from the back of the class.
Her rousing display of histrionics faltered
"That is a keen observation, thank you."
"If you don't mind my interrupting," piped in the dark skinned woman who was getting farther and farther away from her original reason for being there.
"Course not!"
"you never answered my question." She finished with a grin.
"What question?"
"Him,"
She said, pointing at the Doctor, who gave a wave and a smile in return,
"Is he a friend of yours?"
"I'm here for career day!" He shouted with a dramatic flash of his psychic paper. "I'm the Doctor, as you can see, expert on medicine, Greek cheeses, temporal physics and other such educational things that somehow have to do with what you might want to do for a job in the near future." All of this was said at lighting speed. "Now who's ready to learn?"
No response.
"Tough crowd."
"Doctor...who exactly?" Asked Mrs. Lewis.
He hesitated for a fraction of a second before bellowing "Oswald!"
Clara's eyes were as big as saucers (the flying kind, or the put the put put your tea cup on them, I'm not sure.)
"Yes, that's it, doctor Oswald."
"Now if you'll excuse me, I think you'll have to wait."
"What?"
"I was about to talk about publication?"
"Oh right! Lovely, I'll just sit back here with Clara."
"Oh, I bet you will...now, if I may begin. A career in publishing has many rewarding qualities.."
And so Clara sat. It was all out of her control, peachy. She looked at the doctor for a quite a bit, and then whispered in an amused tone: "why did you say that you're my husband?"
"It could have been brother, you just assumed."
"I-" she stopped speaking and blushed furiously.
"So what are you going to talk about? to the kids that is."
"Oh, I don't know, ramble a bit, inspire young minds, pretend like I planned it all."
Clara smiled at him. "Ah, the usual."
"Just, you won't cost me my job, will you?"
He looked confused." I know the headmaster, and he wouldn't get rid of a teacher as damn good as you."
"Wait, you know ?! You didn't tell him to give me this job, because if you did I wouldn't be able to li-"
He smiled at her "Yes, I know Ian, but the job was all you. I didn't do a thing. You're clever enough on your own, amazing, really."
"Also, I knew you'd have my head if I did."
Clara laughed "that is quite true."
"Also...I'm a bit glad that you came, even though your social skills aren't exactly what one would call grade A..."
"I object to that statement!"
She replied to that with a truly amazing eye roll.
"Well, I haven't seen you in a while. I miss that funny blue box of yours with it's wheezing sound...it's supposed to make that sound, right?"
"Sort of."
"Okay... And well, I've...I've missed you too."
He put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead "and to you as well, my impossible girl."
"Us silly enigmas."
This got a laugh out of him. One of those real ones that she heard less and less often.
"Oh yes, no-one'll ever figure us out, not even us."
"...and now the Doctor will tell you all about...something. This'll be interesting, I'm sure."
took the Doctors seat in the back of the room as he talked a mile per second about the wonders of the universe.
"Your husband is a funny man."
She smiled
"I like him, you should keep him."
Clara smiled, really, really smiled, for the first time that day.
"Yeah, I think I will."