The First Doctor of Christmas

The Doctor's plans were set. After a brief encounter with Santa Claus, the Doctor soon learned that Clara wouldn't be spending Christmas with PE. The Doctor considered maybe she'd left him because she realised she could do better than a boring old maths teacher who couldn't even count children but he was soon met by the reminder of how much Danny loved her; and how much she seemed to love him too. It had left a bitter taste in his mouth, only being forgotten when the real reason Clara would be alone for Christmas hit him. Oh no.

He wasted no time punching in the co-ordinates he knew would be forever ingrained in his Timelord brain. 76 Totter's Lane.

-x-

"What is it?" Clara snapped, throwing the door open with a look that could kill the delivery man standing outside her flat.

"S-sorry," he stuttered in a high-pitched voice, taking a few steps back from the grumpy young woman who'd answered the door. "This is for you." Instead of handing over a box like most delivery men would do, he pointed to the ground. "A fella came with it today. He brought it to my flat and didn't have the patience to keep looking for your place so I said I'd give it to you."

"But it's a … a bird."

"Yeah," the man chuckled, his comfort reviving now that Clara wasn't glaring venomously at him. "It's a partridge. You know, like the song." He then attempted to sing a very out of tune rendition of "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to-"

"Sh. You're scaring the bird." Clara knelt down, looking intently at the partridge for any signs of alien threat - if the Doctor wasn't around to do it anymore, someone had to check. It seemed pretty harmless. "Who did you say gave it to you again?" she asked, disappointed that there didn't seem to be any card attached to the small tree the bird was perched on.

He shrugged. "Just some old bloke."

Clara's head shot up. "What bloke? What did he look like?"

And the panic returned to his eyes. "I don't know! Just someone. He had um grey hair-"

"Did you see where he went?" Clara interrupted, her voice racing with urgency.

"Probably out the main door of the building. Mind you, I saw him take the stairs so that might take a while."

She got to her feet immediately, swiftly pulling the bird into her flat and closing the door. "Thank you!"

Clara raced to the window, knowing what route the Doctor always took. She couldn't make sense of why he wouldn't just go straight to her flat or take the TARDIS but right now, she didn't care. Please let it be him. The grounds outside were empty, not a person in sight. But then there was. Clara's heart leapt as she saw a figure emerge from the front doors of her building. But it wasn't him.

"That's white, not grey," she muttered to herself, sinking to the ground without so much as a second glance. It's a shame, really, because if she had looked closer she would have seen him walking towards the blue box at the corner. You could just about make it out in the dim, December morning.

-x-

"What do you mean you didn't find her flat?" the Doctor snapped at his former self.

"I left the bird with someone in her building and the young man said he would give it to her." The Doctor huffed. "Be grateful it's gotten to her. Now go on back to your own TARDIS if you want me to help with the rest of your sentimental and complicated quest for the girl's heart." In truth, the Doctor, newly exiled from his home planet couldn't wait to meet the girl who was so special she could make his future self this happy. It seemed impossible that he would fall for a human yet here he was. Clara. That was a name he wouldn't soon forget.