It felt like she'd been with the company for years, but in fact, Clara had only been there for months. And though she'd made a few friends, she still felt out of place at their Christmas party, securing a spot next to a copy machine that stood just close enough to both the food and the exist for her to feel comfortable snacking anxiously while considering just how long was long enough to be considered "making an appearance" so she could leave on good terms with the higher-ups.
"Clara!" Donna shouted, "Clara Oswald, don't you try to hide from me, I can see you back there. You have to meet my friend – I've told him all about you."
She froze, wincing slightly as she heard the over-enthusiastic redhead approaching, dragging a lanky fellow behind her. Clara smiled at Donna. She was a temp. Best temp in Chiswick, she'd told her at least ten times, and she was actually rather nice, when she wasn't boisterously putting Clara in embarrassing positions. Like asking her loudly if she thought the new guy in accounting was a looker, or if she trusted an HR department who made the coffee for their employees.
Or thrusting a tall man with floppy hair and round rimmed glasses in an over-sized blue and white reindeer sweater at her, possibly knowing her friend easily lost his balance, sending the both of them falling into a fake tree. Clara dropped the plastic cup of water she held and her hands immediately came out to grasp at the arms on either side of her body, ready for the pain of collision, but finding herself landing atop a firm body that yelped just before everyone laughed.
"That's the way you do it!" Someone called and there was a whistle.
Clara looked down at the man as Donna chuckled, "Clara, this is the Doctor. Good friend, terrible dancer, didn't have any plans for the night and I thought what the hell, the more the merrier, right?"
"Are you alright?" Clara asked him, knee dropping awkwardly between his legs and she watched his mouth slip open in a gasp before she pushed away, feeling her cheeks burn.
He finally opened his eyes, hands coming up to adjust the glasses on his face, and he aimed the emerald stare at her, the corners of his mouth turning up before he gave her a bashful look. "I'm ok," he told her, sitting up with a grimace. "King of ok, actually."
She smiled, "King of ok?"
Donna had disappeared with a mumbled explanation and Clara looked out after her before turning and offering a hand, pulling him up and huffing a laugh when he bumped into her a second time, his hands ready at her waist to steady her before he slipped them away and pushed them into his pockets. Then he gestured at the cup, "You dropped your drink."
"Captain obvious," she sighed, then gasped, "Sorry, that was rude."
He ducked his head and offered, "I did sort of plant you," gesturing back at the crushed object before bending to try and right it, leaving it leaned against the copy machine, "And now I've spoiled your hiding space."
"Wasn't hiding," Clara countered.
Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Standing beside a copy machine… just enough away from the food for an inconspicuous nibble and just close enough to the door to leave unnoticed when you've had your fill of uncomfortable silence."
She licked her lips and pointed at him, "So I work here… How'd you get strung along? Doctor?"
He smirked, "Nickname."
With a tilt of her head, she teased, "Avoidance on both questions with one word. Clever."
The Doctor's mouth opened in a silent laugh before he admitted, "Same apartment building, Donna and I, and she's keen on knowing her neighbors," Clara snorted, "When I told her I hadn't had plans – after she asked every day at the post – she insisted I come because she was absolutely sure that I had to meet you. Said it was her…"
"Psychic sense," Clara finished with him. "Uses the same line to excuse herself from ordering lunch with others – says she has a bad feeling about the food." Then she nodded, "So, Doctor who?"
His smile turned devilish and it was oddly adorable behind the glasses as he watched her and teased, "Wouldn't you like to know."
Clara nodded slowly, "Might actually, yeah."
He straightened, suddenly flustered and she grinned at the reaction, reaching out to take his hand as he asked, "What, Clara, where?"
"Come on, better hiding spot," she offered, and he moved with her through the crowd until they made their way to a stairway and she took a breath. "Come here when it all becomes too much."
With a nod, he asked, "I don't understand – you don't seem to want to be here, why don't we just leave?" She raised her head to look at him and he fumbled, "Why don't you just… you could just… you don't have…"
Clara watched his hands gesture at his midsection and she listened to him try to connect his thoughts to his words before she inched closer and silenced him with her presence. "Maybe Donna was right this time," she offered quietly.
"About," he squeaked.
She wrinkled her nose at him and then smiled, "Let's leg it. Meet proper; somewhere more enjoyable."
"Where to?" The Doctor asked, smile automatic on his lips as he leaned closer to her. And she simply giggled and took his hand again, pulling him down the stairs. They made their way to a coffee shop and he bought her a tea, laughing about it as they settled into a booth and began to exchange stories and Clara got the impression he was breaking free from something for the first time in a long time. And she felt, strangely enough, that she had too.