A/B: Thanks to ForeverTangledOver for reviewing! This is the final chapter unless Y'all really want me to continue.
"They should awaken momentarily," The Doctor told her. He sported a goofy grin on his large chinned face. "Wasn't that fun?"
"It made me wish it were Wednesday," Clara hinted. "And wish that I had you when I was younger to pretend with. Would've been easier to be happy."
"Was that all a dream?" Oliver asked groggily, stretching his arms as he rose from the floor.
"You were in a dreaming Oli, but so was everyone else… We all just imagined an adventure together!" Clara explained simply.
"That. Was. Awesome!" Em exclaimed, any residual tiredness gone. She skipped around the room for a few moments, her bounce alluding to her overall excitement. Her feet halted when she reached Clara, her puppy like brown eyes staring up at Clara.
"What are we eating for dinner?" Em wondered.
"Can we have spaghetti pleaseeee!" Oli begged, dropping to his knees dramatically.
"He's in some new weird phase where that's all he eats," Em rolled her eyes.
"I vote fish fingers and custard!" The Doctor requested, raising a hand above his head.
Oliver and Em stuck their tongues out in utter disgust. "Ew! Fish smells like throw up!" Oli complained.
"It's actually a lot more appetizing than it sounds," Clara mused, heading towards the kitchen to commence cooking.
"What do you mean more appetizing than it sounds!? It sounds amazing and tastes it!" The Doctor countered, pulling at the edges of his jacket and straightening his person to show his pride.
"Doctor could you set them up with the ipad and some film they like so they're busy while we cook?" Clara pointed the the ipad lying unused on the kitchen table.
After only a few moments of fiddling(And a fair amount of The Doctor muttering Damn this simple twenty first century technology under his breath), Oli and Em were entertained by some educational video babysitter show that they both liked.
The Doctor ran his hands under the hot water, getting caught up in the pleasant feeling of the streaming water warming his flesh.
"Doctor quit it you don't need that much water to wash your hands! Save some for the pasta!" Clara directed, twisting the nozzle for the water into the off position.
"Nag nag nag, would it kill you Clara, to take a deep breath, and just relax for one moment?"
"No it wouldn't kill me, but it would most certainly kill you. If I didn't nag you wouldn't ever do anything!" Clara grabbed a large pot from underneath the sink in the cupboard. She steadied the pot below the faucet, allowing water to stream into it.
A wistful smile graced The Doctor's face for a moment as he weighed the truthfulness of Clara's words. He remembered the Clara he met in Victorian London… The woman who finally got him the get up and do something…
His eyes flashed to the Clara nearby, the image of Clara Oswin Oswald in his mind showing absolutely no differences. His head shook subtly at the confusing thought… How could they be the same?
He put these thoughts aside when Clara's features turned perplexed at his pause. "Never knew you to be sensitive," She said. "It was just me being funny."
"Oh what I wouldn't do without you Clara," The Doctor recovered from his moment of falter in an optimistic tone. Clara beamed at him.
"Go play hide and seek with Em and Oli, I'll keep an eye on the pasta," Clara offered. Her eyes rolled at the way The Doctor skipped out of the kitchen excitedly.
Not too long later The Doctor was in the kitchen attempting the squeeze inside his coat pocket. He had the tip of his shoe stuck inside the dark fabric of his pocket, his face contorting as he inched his toes along the inside of the pocket lining, trying as hard as he could not the rip the seams.
"Doctor you've hidden time after time from dangerous aliens, I think you can handle two toddlers," Clara mused.
"Shhhh!" The Doctor shushed, getting one shoe in his pocket successfully. "They would never find me in here!"
Clara shook her head. Her eyes picked up the sound of water bubbling over the top of the pot. She spun around to face the pot, seeing water and bubbles pouring down the sides of the pot in a torrential downpour.
"Never turn your back on a boiling pot of water," The Doctor chided. "Let that be a lesson for you Clara."
Oli and Em entered the room upon hearing The Doctor's voice at it's full volume. They stifled giggles.
"Clara made a mess! Clara made a mess!" Oli ane Em shouted in sing song voices, pointing out the waterslide of boiling water Clara was staring at, unsure about how to clean it up.
"Yup," Clara agreed, glancing from the mad looking Doctor, attempting to squeeze his pocket around his knee, to the hungry small children, all riled up from excitement. Above all that, she heard a knock at the door. She sucked in a breath of air. "Definitely… Clara did make a mess."
"Doctor!" She scolded, ripping his jacket off his leg. "Put this on, Sonic that mess away of something alright! And cook the pasta!" The Doctor glared at her for resetting all of his hard work, but he did as he was told.
Clara rushed to the front door, the young ones following close behind, standing on the tips of their toes to get a glimpse out the window. Clara breathed a sigh of relief when it was only a postman with a package to sign for. She was not mentally prepared for the children's parents to come back to The Doctor fiddling with a pot of overflowing boiling water, God knows what she would find in the kitchen.
She creaked open the door and gave the postman a pleasant hello. "I've got a Package for the Maitlands," He sounded, holding out a clipboard.
Clara signed quickly and hauled the package inside, shaking it curiously. She knew Angie's birthday was coming up, so it was probably some sort of gift. She placed it aside on the staircase.
Clara braced herself for whatever awaited her in the kitchen, widening her eyes at the shrieks of Oli and Emily as they walked ahead of her. It must be worse than I thought, she realized.
Stepping into the kitchen, Clara's mouth dropped, her chocolate brown eyes widening in their sockets. The Doctor stood before a kitchen table, two places set before him with a bowl filled to the brim with spaghetti, utensils, a napkin, and a glass of crisp icy water. A plate of garlic bread sat in the center of the table, hot steam rising from it.
"How the Hell... Doctor, you're a lifesaver!" Clara exclaimed in complete disbelief, she set next the him at the table, the two kids already digging into their bowls.
"How did you make the pasta appear so fast!?' Em wondering, taking a piece of garlic bread from the plate.
"A Doctor never reveals the secrets behind his tricks!" The Doctor exclaimed.
"You mean a magician," Oli corrected him, confused. The Doctor reached a hand across the table rudely, his fingers combing themselves through Oli's short black hair playfully.
"Nope! A Doctor, definitely, I don't like it the other way."
"You're way sounds incredibly dangerous," Clara said. "I'd definitely want to know what a Doctor was going to do if I was getting surgery or something."
The Doctor shrugged his shoulders. "I'll give you a hint, time travel, and setting 458 on the sonic screwdriver." The kid's giggled at The Doctor's oddity, and Clara's heart felt warmer seeing their overjoyed expressions. There's nothing quite like the feeling of seeing a happy Child, she mused internally. The Doctor appeared to be happy all the time, but Clara could always see something else deep in his ancient eyes. Darkness, sadness, and overwhelming loneliness to name a few demons that clearly resided there. Adults always had more complicated feelings with in them, but a happy child was just that. Happy. Unperturbed by the rest of the world's utter misery.
Some would call that ignorance, but Clara, she thought it was beautiful.
"How come you guys aren't eating?" Em wondered conversationally. Clara looked to The Doctor quizzically, about the ask this herself.
"Oh we can do better," he explained vaguely. "Restaurant reservations, the fanciest place in the Torfold Nebula, year 3067!"
"You're going on a date!? Awww!" Em cooed, putting down her fork and shaping a heart symbol with her hands. She was cut off by Oli's noises of disgust at her faux kissing noises.
"You never really know with him," Clara joked, while at the same time The Doctor spoke.
"That's up to Clara," He had said, flashing Clara a cute secret smile. The two stared at each other, as if they were attempting to delve into the other's mind. Clara's lips turned into an amused smile, because The Doctor flirting always proved that the word subtle barely graced his vocabulary.
A date or not a date, it didn't really matter at all to Clara. Labeling things didn't change their content, and it wasn't as if the two had never gone out to dinner before. Each time they had, it played out in a much more entertaining fashion then all the dates actually called dates she had been on.
The evening sauntered on calmly, resulting in the children finishing their food and The Doctor suggesting a game of tag in the house( A bad idea, quite obviously).
"Why don't we play outside for a bit? It's only seven, it shouldn't be too dark yet," Clara suggested as a compromise.
"Yes! Outdoor tag, much better, there's more room to run. I love running! Do you two?" The Doctor asked the kids. "Clara loves running you know, but only on Wednesdays."
Clara swung the back door open and the two kids rushed out into the back hard, their feet bare, soaking up the wet dirt carpet beneath the grass. They giggled, tagging each other back and forth, occasionally tagging Clara or The Doctor.
Their short attention spans eventually got the best of them though, and soon the two children were much more focused on a slimy pile of Earthworms they found wriggling through the soil. Clara and The Doctor now sat on the back hard steps, unperturbed by the little ones.
"Earth's sunset," The Doctor stated quietly, something rare for him. Clara redirected her gaze from the kids for just a moment, her eyes adjusting to the light radiating from the orange colored sky, pink glowing clouds blocking some beams of light.
"It's beautiful," she said. The nerves in her fingertips knew The Doctor's hand was approaching hers, and they seldom protested. The Doctor could feel her pulse speed up just through the touch of his fingertips. It was one of his favourite feelings.
"You take it for granted... The sunset of your home planet. You think, there's gotta be something better out there, millions and millions of planets with trillions of different ways to view the glorious stars they orbit. Maybe there's a sunset that glitters with happiness, or radiates deep aquamarine. But I'll tell you something, Clara Oswald, all these things... They only seem more beautiful because you're used to what you've already seen... There's nothing quite like the sunset of your own planet..."
Clara sighs, looking to The Doctor with slightly moistened eyes. "Was it beautiful?" She asked. "Your home's sunset?"
"It was," The Doctor said wistfully. His gaze redirected to the sky above them, and he thought for a moment before opening his mouth to speak again. Still is."
Clara's fingers tangled themselves through the Doctor's as she made an effort to close the gaps between them. She rested her head atop his dark purple jacket, the cloth scratching slightly at her cheek. The Doctor savored the feeling of her warmth against his cooler time lord skin. With Clara by his side and a beautiful sunset in the horizon, Earth really did feel like home.
"When's mummy coming back?" Oli complained, his little feet waddling over to the stoop Clara and The Doctor sat upon. His arms stretched themselves out as he yawned deeply.
"You tired?" Clara observed. He shook his head defiantly.
"No!," but his actions differed, plopping himself next to Clara, wrapping his little arms around the black fabric of Clara's sweater clad arm. His head rested on her shoulder sweetly, and she turned to look at the top of his soft hair. She smiled at the adorableness of it all, as did The Doctor, admiring the scene.
The Doctor loved small humans. With their eyes that had yet to see the hardships within the vast universe, and their brains yet to comprehend the vastness of it all. Someone humans never really got that far, he realized, amused.
The Doctor had traveled far and wide throughout the universe, and some days he felt as if he had seen everything, and that nothing could possibly phase or excite him any more. People tended to prove him wrong, especially the little people. The little people who opened their eyes and saw wonder in every corner and excitement under every leaf.
"Tell me a story," Oli requested, his small voice worn out from the day. "Daddy always tells me a story when it starts to get dark."
"The Doctor's great at stories," Clara said, looking towards The Doctor hopefully. "He's got many to tell."
Em looked over curiously, deciding to sit next to Oli on the stoop. Her eyes were also glazed with a feeling of fatigue, but she kept her energetic facade, looking at The Doctor intently. "Yeah Doctor, tell us a story!" She demanded, pulling on the sleeve of his jacket. He sighed compliantly.
"I've got hundreds of stories, but all of them start the same way, with the same story, do you want to hear that one?" He offered. They both nodded.
"I think they do Doctor," Clara said. The Doctor took a deep breath in and began.
"There was once a planet, up there you see? Floating around in all that black and blueness. It glowed bright red and was filled to the brim with creatures who you two look an awful like, except they obviously had much better dress sense-" He said with arrogance, grinning.
"That's debatable," Clara interjected, and The Doctor glared at her.
"No interruptions!" He requested. "On that planet, locked away in a cellar was a magnificent, beautiful, gorgeous-"
"Perfect, sexy, lovely" Clara added teasingly.
"-creature. She was perfect in every way except one, she was incredibly lonely, and was locked away alone never to be touched again. You see, this creature could see and reach all of time and space, but she had been replaced with better more adequate versions. She was obsolete, never to visit the wonders of the universe ever again."
"Like mum's computer with the super super thick screen and the dialy thing?" Em added.
The Doctor shook his head in disgust at the fact that his TARDIS was just compared with a vintage computer. "No not at all like that! Those things barely work!"
"When does the TARDIS ever work?" Clara argued, an amused smile playing across her face. The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"No more interruptions! Anyways, this isn't your typical, damsel in distress, magic prince comes to save her love story! It's actually quite the opposite. Although the creature could not bring herself into time and space alone, she devised a plan, unlocking her doors so that one day, a renegade time lord could step through them and into the wonders of the world," The Doctor paused, glancing up at the sky for a moment. "That time lord, all those years ago, on that red planet, was me, of course.
The time lords were a sight to be seen. All their potential and power, which they sat on and did nothing all too amazing with. Truth is, I was bored. I had been living for hundreds of years on the same planet with the same people, doing absolutely nothing. So one day, I grabbed my granddaughter Susan, one snuck my way around to the archives in which the TARDIS capsules were held. We made our way quietly into the room where one of these creatures was being held, but then… Something peculiar happened. I heard a voice, a woman's voice. She said to pick a different TARDIS to run away in… That I would have more fun in that one… And boy, was she right. Susan and I crept inside the beautiful creature and flew away with her forever… And I thought… I thought that I had stolen her, but I realized recently that in reality… She stole me. Stole me away from that red planet and showed me countless other ones," a wistful smiles adorned The Doctor's face. "The End I guess… Although it never seems to be. That's good though. I hate endings."
"Shhh, Doctor, look," Clara said quietly, motioning to Oli and Em, snuggled together drowsily, their eyes sliding shut.
Even with the door to the house only open just a crack, the nearly asleep kids could hear the key turning in the lock, and the adults returning home. They shot up excitedly, running as fast as their sleepy legs could carry them to the front door of the house. Clara and The Doctor followed, shutting the back door behind them.
"Mummy, daddy!" The kids shouted excitedly. "We had the best time ever! The Doctor and Clara are so so so fun! There was an evil alligator and… And we set all these leaves on fire!"
"Em almost drowned in the water while catching the alligator!" Oli exclaimed, his mother patting his head.
"Wow," the kids dad said, taken aback by their enthusiasm. "I'm glad you two had a good time." He turned to Clara. "How were they?"
"Great," She said conversationally. "Very well behaved, perfect little angels, it was him who was the problem," She joked, motioning towards The Doctor.
The adults smiled, handing Clara an envelope filled with her payment for the evening. She waved Oli and Em goodbye on their way out.
"They put these things on us that made us fall asleep and then they-" Clara's ears failed to hear the rest of the sentence.
When Mr. Maitland was out of earshot, she turned to The Doctor, hands on her hips. "I can kiss goodbye babysitting them again, their parents probably think we took them on a drug trip."
"Well… We did, technically. The sleep patch I put on them is a drug… A very harmless on, obviously, but a drug nonetheless… Although maybe drug trip implies that the drug is what's causing the visions you have but the vision we all had was just a dream and all the drug did was put us in a dream state, but-" The Doctor stopped when he realized Clara was rolling her eyes at his rambling.
"Don't you have something to ask me, Doctor?" She said, raising her eyebrows, looking The Doctor in the eyes.
He thought for a moment until his eyes lit up in realization. "Oh! Yes, I do actually…Er.. Clara, do you want to go out to dinner with me? Despite the fact that it's a boring, stupid Sunday?"
"Just this Sunday," Clara replied, grinning. She caught the Doctor's hand with her own, as they walked out into the dark starlit night towards the TARDIS.
"Just this Sunday," The Doctor affirmed, and off they went, into time and space
A/N: Thanks for sticking with this story you guys! I love you! Please review!