A/N: This was an idea that I've been thinking about for a while, but haven't got round to writing it, but here it is now. Enjoy!
The Doctor watched Clara leave the TARDIS after accidentally causing the Great Fire of London. He never realised that he would be the baker that started it, and it's only because Clara alerted him of it that he realised that he had to let it continue, or he would change history. So when Clara left, he immediately set the dial for next Wednesday, but the TARDIS thought it would be fun to change the dial to 2 months next Wednesday without the Doctor looking. This turned out to be 25 December 2013. When the Doctor finally realised his ship's prank, he was too late to try and change it too much, as the ship was already close to materialising. That was when he realised the date would be Christmas Day, so the most that he could do was divert the TARDIS and make her land a day earlier.
Clara was inside the house with Angie and Artie, finishing off the Christmas tree, when she heard the familiar sound of the engines. She quickly put the star on top and ran outside to the TARDIS. Before the Doctor had a chance to walk out, Clara bounded into the console room. "Hey, Doctor. You were meant to turn up 2 months ago." said Clara, feigning anger, but the Doctor saw right past her charade.
"Clara, you're not really angry with me, I can tell. And sorry for turning up 2 months late, but my ship decided she would mess around with the date without me realising." he explained, his voice starting to raise as he ended the sentence. The TARDIS just went deafeningly quiet, as if it was sorry.
"Don't worry, Doctor, it doesn't matter, all that matters is that you're here now. You do realise that it's Christmas Eve, don't you?" Clara questioned.
"Yes, I know, if I hadn't managed to interfere at the last moment, I would have landed tomorrow instead." the Doctor answered.
"Well, any day would have been fine for me." said Clara. But before anything else could be said, Angie and Artie walked into the TARDIS. They had been inside before, when they helped the Doctor defeat the Cybermen.
"Hello Angie, Artie!" the Doctor shouted when they walked in, and Clara turned, surprised.
"Hey, Doctor." they both replied simultaneously, but with the same amount of energy.
"So, ready for Santa to come tonight?" asked the Doctor.
"Yeah, definitely!" replied Artie, looking like he was taken aback at the Doctor's comment.
"Good, he'll be glad to know that. Once you know him, you realise he's even nicer than people thought." the Doctor blurted out.
"What? You know Santa?" asked Clara, amazed at the amount of people her friend knows.
"Of course I do, we went on a holiday to Egypt together one year, we had a great time, but no one recognised him apart from the odd kid, but you don't expect to see him in broad daylight and in the middle of summer, and I've just realised I'm rambling again. Sorry." the Doctor said, without stopping for breath at all.
"Well, thank you for your holiday story with Santa, but your ship is not decorated for Christmas, when it should be. Kids, head back inside, I'll be there in a minute." Clara said.
"Ok, bye Clara's boyfriend." Angie shouted over her shoulder as she and Artie left. Clara didn't let it show how her heart fluttered when she heard that, and tried to ignore it.
"What do you mean my ship isn't decorated for Christmas? I very rarely bump into Christmas, it's almost always another day of the year." the Doctor argued.
"Put it this way, Doctor. I am going to go back home, and you are not allowed to follow until you have the TARDIS looking like it's ready for Christmas." said Clara, sounding like a mother telling her kid off.
"But I don't know how to decorate the TARDIS." the Doctor whined. Clara grabbed his hand and walked him out of the TARDIS.
Clara marched into the house dragging the Doctor along and pushed him into the living room. The Doctor gasped. There was tinsel hanging from the ceiling and round the door frame. The tree stood proudly in the corner of the room for all to see.
"Wow, and this is how I've got to decorate the TARDIS?" asked the Doctor.
"Similarly, yes," replied Clara, feeling smug that she had set the Doctor a challenge that he would never complete, "so come on Chin boy, get working." and with that, she pushed him out of the door and shut it behind him. The Doctor just stood there, with it just sinking into place the challenge that had been set for him.
If Clara wanted to see a decorated TARDIS, then a decorated TARDIS she would get.
The Doctor set the controls for a shop that would sell all of the necessary supplies needed to decorate a box that's bigger on the inside than the outside, and without a second's hesitation, pulled the dematerialisation lever, and the TARDIS engines roared into life and took the Doctor where he needed to go.
Clara had seen the TARDIS leave, and had thought that the Doctor hadn't accepted the challenge, so she smirked to herself and went to make some Christmas cookies for the kids.
1 hour later, and the Doctor had gathered everything he needed, including an insanely large tree that looked like it had come from a forest rather than a Christmas tree store. He put everything securely in the lower level, and started the TARDIS engines, heading back to Clara's house.
Clara was glancing out of the window, hoping that the impossible would happen and it would actually snow. But instead, something else that would be impossible for most people happened: Clara heard the TARDIS engines groan into existence, and the familiar blue box appear outside in its normal position. She went outside to check on him, to find out where he went, but when she reached the doors, she saw a sign on it saying, "WORKING, PLEASE DON'T DISTURB!" so she just shrugged, turned on her heels and walked back inside.
It was dark outside when the Doctor had finally finished the entire TARDIS console room. He left the TARDIS, ripped the sign off and asked his ship to destroy it (which it did by completely incinerating it), and went to fetch Clara to show her his handiwork. Little did he know, his ship had a little plan organized for him and Clara.
Clara was just relaxing after getting the kids to bed (getting them to sleep was a completely different matter that she didn't have enough energy to deal with tonight) when there was a knock at the door. She wondered who it could be, completely forgetting about the Doctor, and walked to the door, but before she opened the door she knew who it was, she could see a bow tie and an insane grin that only belonged to one person. "Hello!" said the Doctor, a bit too loudly for the time of night.
"Doctor, you'd better have a good reason for being here." she said, completely forgetting about the challenge she had set earlier.
"I've finished and just wanted your approval." the Doctor said, still with the insane grin plastered all over his face. Then Clara realised what he was on about, surprised that she had forgotten in the first place.
"Ok then, show me the TARDIS." she said. The Doctor offered his arm to Clara, who gladly accepted it, and, arm in arm, lead her to the TARDIS. The Doctor pushed the door open, and as Clara walked inside, she was amazed at the effort that the Doctor had put into his work.
The sight that Clara saw was this: the time rotor had tinsel wrapped around it, the panels on the console had tinsel stuck to the edges. There was also tinsel hanging from the ceiling, as well as traditional ceiling decorations, and there was tinsel hanging around the railings. She obviously saw the tree down below the main floor, which had been decorated with baubles and tinsel and had a huge star at the top. She turned to the Doctor, only to notice that there was also tinsel around the door frame. She couldn't believe that the Doctor had done that just because she asked her too. It made her feel like she wasn't ignored by everyone, and that there was actually someone out there who looked out for her and listened to her, and also, by the looks of it, does things for her, and right there and then, she knew that she loved the Doctor, but resisted the urge to kiss him. What she did do instead was run up to him and hugged him so tightly that if she squeezed any harder, the Doctor was sure that his eyes would pop out. He hugged her back.
"Do you like it?" asked the Doctor, already knowing the answer by the fact that his eyes had to be pushed back in.
"I love it!" she said into his chest.
"I hope you do, because I did it all for you." the Doctor said, and Clara's heart fluttered like it had never fluttered before. The Doctor had actually said that he did it for her, and she nearly did kiss him, but repressed the urge.
The Doctor and Clara walked outside. After the Doctor had closed the door behind him, he asked Clara why she was so happy, as he never expected her to be quite that happy.
"It's just that no one has ever done anything for me before, it's been me doing everything for them, and it's just nice that someone has finally done something for me just because I asked them to. Thank you, Doctor." said Clara, and she hugged the Doctor again. "Right, it's time for me to go to bed. See you soon, Doctor." she said, and walked into her house.
Once Clara had walked into the house, the Doctor made sure she was gone, and then pulled the gifts out from behind the TARDIS that he had hidden there. He waited until the lights had all been turned off and then walked over to the door. Using the sonic, he unlocked the door, and stepped inside. Once inside, he walked into the living room and put the presents he had bought for them under the tree. He had bought one for Artie, one for Angie and two for Clara. Once he'd placed them under the tree, he snuck out of the house and walked back over to the TARDIS. He locked the door with the sonic from by the TARDIS, and as he went to enter his ship, he realised, after a few rattles of the door and a buzz of the sonic, that she had locked him out. He had no other choice than to ask Clara if he could sleep in her house tonight. He dug into his pocket for his sonic, and another one of the many strange functions was that it could also be used as a mobile phone. He dialled Clara's number and waited.
"Hello?" answered Clara.
"Hi, Clara, it's me, the Doctor." the Doctor said.
"Doctor? What are you doing ringing me now?" she asked.
"Well, I was wondering if I could sleep in your house tonight, as the TARDIS has locked me out. Please?" he begged.
"Hang on, I'll be right down." Clara said, and the Doctor saw the house light up again. He was already standing at the door as Clara opened it.
"Thank you, Clara, very kind of you." said the Doctor, and walked into the house.
4 hours later, and after the Doctor had missed Santa, much to his annoyance, he heard someone crying. It didn't take him long to realise that it was Clara crying. He immediately grabbed the cup of tea he had made himself and rushed up to Clara's room. He opened the door a crack and poked his head in. There was Clara, curled up in a ball, facing away from him. He walked over to her and sat down on the edge of her bed.
"Hey, Clara, what's wrong?" asked the Doctor, concerned about his best friend.
"I've just woken up from a nightmare, one that I've told you about before, y'know, the one about my mum hating me." Clara managed to say in between sobs, and the Doctor knew how much pain it had caused her before. He gave her the cup of tea which she downed in one, and then the Doctor curled up next to her and put his arm around her. Clara immediately calmed down once she realised that she was in the Doctor's care, and after a few more minutes of heavy breathing and light sobs, she fell asleep. Once the Doctor realised that she was asleep, he tried to get some sleep himself, and they both lay there asleep, enjoying one another's company, and cherishing what moments they could being together.
It was 7:00 on Christmas morning, and Artie ran into Clara's room, surprised to see the Doctor with her, hugging her. He just ignored it because he had something more important on his mind. "Clara, Doctor, wake up, it's Christmas!" he shouted, and just laughed when the Doctor rolled out of the bed in surprise. Clara gently sat up and when she realised where the Doctor was, she laughed too. The Doctor just sat up, rubbing his head and groaning.
"Alright, not funny, Artie!" he moaned, but with a hint of mischief in his voice. Artie heard this, and started laughing. The Doctor couldn't resist any longer, and started to laugh too. Clara just laughed at the Doctor and Artie, and went to check to see if Angie was awake.
10 minutes later, and everyone was downstairs. "Doctor, as this is your first Christmas with us, you have the honours of giving out the presents." said Clara, with a grin on her face.
"Thank you, Clara," he said with a grin matching hers, "right then, let's see who's first..."
Just after the Doctor had given Artie and Angie the last of Santa's presents, he went on to the presents he had got them. "Ok, Artie, this one is for you, Angie, this is yours, and Clara, these two are yours." he said, handing everyone their presents. The kids tore into their presents. Artie had received a new Xbox game from the Doctor, and Angie had received an electronic diary.
Clara opened her first present, and saw that it was a brand new dress with a pair of high-heeled ankle boots. "Thank you, Doctor." she said, and the Doctor just smiled back at her. The second gift was something she never thought she'd have.
"The TARDIS key!" said Clara, happily, and ran over to the Doctor and hugged him. The Doctor hugged her back. "Thank you!" she said to him, and resisted the urge to kiss him again.
"You're welcome, Clara, I'm glad you like it, you've been travelling with me for a while now, so I thought that having a key seemed appropriate." the Doctor said back. "Actually, talking of the TARDIS..." he started, and turned and ran out of the door, with Clara right behind him.
The Doctor arrived at the TARDIS, and tried to push the door open, but it still wouldn't budge. "Why won't you let me in?" asked the Doctor, almost shouting. Then, just as Clara reached him, he ran to the other end of the garden.
"Doctor, what are you doing?" asked Clara, actually finding his frustration amusing.
"Watch this." the Doctor replied, and charged at the door of his ship, hoping to bash it open with his shoulder. But before he reached the door, they flew open, and the Doctor fell over, hitting his head on the steel floor of the TARDIS. Clara ran over to him and crouched down beside him.
"Doctor, are you ok?" asked Clara, concerned about her best friend.
"I'm fine, just a bump to the head, thanks to the TARDIS!" he replied, looking up to the ceiling of his ship, which hummed quietly, sounding sorry for itself.
"Hey, what's this?" asked Clara, pointing to the doorway. The Doctor sat up.
"A piece of mistletoe, how did that ge-" the Doctor started, before turning to the console of the TARDIS, which was making a sound similar to a giggle.
"Well, Doctor, since I'm standing under it?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. The Doctor just sat there, blushing redder than a tomato. "Don't worry, I was only joking." she said, but did not expect what the Doctor did next. He jumped up, walked over to her, and kissed her, placing his hands on her hips, while Clara put her arms around his neck. The kiss lasted for 2 minutes before the Doctor pulled away. He and Clara both had a dreamy look on their faces. Then, the mistletoe just disappeared, but neither of them noticed, as they were too busy in their own world.
"Doctor, I'm about to start Christmas lunch, would you like to join us?" asked Clara, happier than ever before.
"Clara, I think it's accustomed in relationships for the man to cook his girlfriend dinner." said the Doctor, which made Clara's face light up.
"You mean you'll cook me and the kids Christmas lunch? And that we're now a couple?" asked a very confused but happy Clara.
"Yep!" said the Doctor, and Clara screamed in delight and hugged the Doctor.
"Oh, thank you! Is there anything you need for dinner?" asked Clara.
"Only you, Angie and Artie." replied the Doctor, and Clara smiled, turned to the door and said over her shoulder as she was walking out,
"See you in 2 hours, Doctor!"
2 hours later, as promised, Clara let herself and the kids into the TARDIS using her new key. She had also done something that would surprise the Doctor. "Doctor, we're here!" she shouted.
"Ok, be there in a minute!" came a voice from somewhere within the corridors of the vast time machine. Clara just smiled and sat on the chair by the console. Wow, he's done a really good job of decorating the TARDIS, she thought to herself, and admired the Doctor's handiwork.
5 minutes after Clara had entered the TARDIS, the Doctor walked into the console room, said hello to Angie and Artie, and walked up the stairs to see Clara. When he reached the top of the stairs, his jaw dropped. Clara looked stunning. She was wearing the dress and shoes that he had given her. She was beautiful. Clara's reaction to him was not what he expected.
She burst into uncontrollable laughter.
The Doctor had obviously been stuffing the turkey, as it was all over his clothes, face and in his hair. The Doctor was confused by Clara's sudden outburst of laughter. "What?" he asked, looking sorry for himself, which just made Clara laugh more.
"Have you seen the state of you?" she asked in between giggles. The Doctor looked in a mirror the TARDIS provided him, and saw what Clara was laughing at. He quickly grabbed a tissue and wiped the stuffing off of his face and clothes, and brushed the lumps of it out of his hair.
"Sorry about that." said the Doctor, with a goofy grin on his face.
"No, I'm sorry for laughing at you, it was rude of me." said Clara, looking truly sorry.
"Don't worry, Clara, it was kind of funny." the Doctor said, and embraced Clara with a hug.
"Don't you have to check on lunch?" asked Clara, and the Doctor looked at her, grinned, and ran off towards the kitchen.
3 hours later, and the Doctor had told everyone to sit at the table that he had set up on the lower level on the console room. He walked in after five minutes carrying three plates that had been piled with roast potatoes, turkey, carrots, sprouts and swede, all topped off with gravy. The Doctor set the plates down in front of Angie, Artie and Clara, and then dashed off into the kitchen to get his own. Once he had returned with his lunch, everyone started to eat.
Clara took one bite of the turkey and felt like she was in heaven; it was the best turkey she had ever eaten. "Wow, Doctor, how did you make this turkey? I mean, it's the best turkey I've ever had!" she exclaimed.
"How you would normally do it, except I use garlic and herb stuffing with a paprika extract." explained the Doctor.
30 minutes later, everyone had finished. "Wow, that was the best Christmas lunch I've ever had. Thank you very much, Doctor." said Clara, and Artie and Angie nodded their heads in agreement.
"You're all very welcome." said the Doctor, and Clara helped him clear the table.
After a few games on the games console that Artie brought into the TARDIS, it was time for the Doctor to leave.
"Thank you very much for having us, Doctor, we had a great day." said Clara, stepping outside with the Doctor.
"You're welcome, Clara, my pleasure, it was nice to have you all." said the Doctor, and pulled Clara into a hug. After a couple of minutes, they pulled apart. "I'll see you soon!" he shouted to Clara as she shut the front door with a little wave. He smiled, and turned back to the TARDIS, only to walk straight into the door, which he rattled and realised that his ship had locked again and refused to let him in. He pulled out the sonic, ready to call Clara again when she opened the door with a present in her hand.
"What's wrong, Doctor?" asked Clara.
"She's locked me out again!" he said, getting angry, and ran to the other end of the garden. "This scared her last time, so hopefully it will this time." And with that, he ran towards the doors. But the doors didn't open, and the Doctor crashed into the door, crying out in pain as he bounced off the door and landed on the ground. Clara ran over to him and crouched beside him.
"Doctor, are you ok?" asked Clara.
"Fine, just surprised me, that's all." said the Doctor, and Clara helped him up.
"Would you like to come in again tonight?" asked Clara.
"If you wouldn't mind." replied the Doctor, so Clara took his hand and they walked into the house.
The Doctor sat down on the sofa in Clara's living room, with Clara sitting next to him. She still had the present in her hands, which she then handed out to the Doctor. "Merry Christmas, Doctor." she said, and the Doctor accepted the gift. He carefully opened the present to reveal a small box. He opened the box and inside was a cherry red bow tie.
"Thank you, Clara." he said with a smile on his face and embraced his companion with a warm, loving hug. He immediately took the bow tie he was wearing off and replaced it with the cherry red one that Clara had given him. He adjusted it once he'd put it on, and smiled. "How do I look?" he asked.
"Perfect." said Clara, and the Doctor pulled her into another kiss.
They both thought the same thing at the same time.
Best. Christmas. Ever.
A/N: Sorry I've put it up early, but I couldn't wait. Please review!