Clara was sure to get to the restaurant early so she would have time to relax before James arrived. She tried to convince herself that she was nervous because this was her first time managing a campaign on her own, but deep down she knew it was also because of James. How was she supposed to work with someone who shared a face with her ex? She was just going over her notes one more time when she noticed him walk in. It was so weird and eerie how identical he was to the Doctor, the same eyes, nose, mouth, everything about his face was the same, but she did notice that he walked differently. He had a stride of confidence, he stood a little straighter and he held his head high. It was a subtle difference, but one that Clara couldn't help but be aware of.
"Clara," he said as he flashed her a wide smile that made his eyes crunch the same way the Doctor's did. "So lovely to see you."
She stood to greet him and shook his hand, "you too, Mr. Smith."
"Now none of that. It's James, not Mr. Smith." He answered as they both sat.
"Okay, James then," and she flashed him a smile. "I hope you were able to find the restaurant okay."
"Absolutely, it's not far from my hotel."
"Oh, you don't have a place here?" Clara questioned.
"Not yet. I'm actually meeting with the realtor after our meeting to look at a flat a few blocks from here."
"Nice. It's a really great area, so I think you'll like it." Clara replied, picking up the menu to look at it and not James. She was so thankful that he had a different accent from the Doctor and wore is hair shorter, because those were about the only features that didn't reminded her of him.
"So, Clara you had questions?" He asked, bringing her attention back to him. Yes, she had questions; so many questions, but she knew he meant work and opened her notebook to where they were written.
"Why ice cream?"
"Why not," he answered with a smile. "Doesn't everyone love it?"
Good God, he even answered questions like the Doctor. "I suppose they do."
"They do. Young, old, man, woman or child, I have yet to meet one person who doesn't. And why wouldn't you want to sell something that makes so many people happy."
Clara jotted the word happy down in her book.
"Tell me, what's your favourite flavour?" James asked.
"Double chocolate," she answered.
"And how did you feel when you last ate it?"
She thought back and remembered that the last time was when Amy brought it to her after she found out the Doctor had cheated.
"Sad," she replied.
"Okay, that wasn't the answer I was expecting. Why were you sad?" James asked curiously.
"I had just found out the man I was kind of seeing had a fiancé and my best friend came over with ice cream." She answered, not sure why she was being so honest with a man who was practically a stranger and a doppelganger to the very man she was talking about.
"So your friend brought you ice cream to make you feel better. It's comforting." James replied and then gave her a warm smile. "And usually what most women turn to when men are being idiots."
She wrote the word sad and emotions in her book next to happy and continued to ask James more questions about his business. He happily answered and she could tell that he was very enthusiastic and passionate about his company, which made her realise that there was another difference between him and the Doctor. Happiness. Sure the Doctor seemed happy the times they were together, but she only got glimpses of it and for the most part there was always this underlining sadness which made perfect sense in retrospect. James however, seemed genuinely happy, which was really nice to see.
"Okay, last question. Is this a family business?" She asked, hoping to gain some insight into his background a bit.
"Nope. Just me."
"So no family?"
"I've never been married, so no kids."
Clara nodded and made another note. How could she find out if he has a brother? Did he even know he had one? What if they were separated at birth and neither of them knew of the other? She started to wonder if she should say something to him, but thought maybe it would be best to wait until after she spoke to the Doctor.
"Okay one more question."
"I thought that was the last question," he teased.
"Well your answer made me think of another one," she replied. "Why have you decided to move to London?"
"I missed the rainy, grey weather," he answered straight faced and then smiled at her.
James seemed different from the Doctor, even though they were both funny, charming, and smart, there was something about him that made him more intriguing. They continued their lunch, Clara sharing some of the ideas she had for his campaign and James offering to give her a tour of his factory and offices. When the bill came, Clara reached for it, but James grabbed it before her.
"I can't let you do that, James." She said. "Donna will kill me for letting a client pay."
"Tell her I insisted and wanted to use this as a tax write off," he said as Clara glared at him. "Wow that is quite the stare you have Ms. Oswald."
"It's my stern teacher look. I would give it to students when they were being bad."
He stared at her intently for a bit, and Clara was sure that he was trying to read her, "And did it always work?"
"Yes," she answered without thinking and continued to glare at him.
He finally handed her the bill and smiled at her. "I would say so."
"Thank you," she answered and took out the company credit card.
She paid the bill and the two made their way outside to wait for James' driver.
"So I'll be in touch with some mock ups for the print ads, which should be in about one to two weeks." Clara said.
"Great. I look forward to seeing them," he looked at her and smiled, "and you as well."
"You have my number, so if you think of anything you want added to it, just call.
His driver pulled up with the car and got out to open the door for him. "I will." He answered as he got in and flashed her one last smile before he closed the door.
Clara watched him drive off feeling more confused than ever. It was probably the most surreal lunch she had ever had, staring at the Doctor's face, but knowing it wasn't really the Doctor's. She still had no idea how she was going to work with a man that would be a constant reminder of her ex, which made her anxious to meet with the Doctor on Saturday. She needed to put some distance between the two men because right now they kept morphing into the same person and hopefully her meeting would change that.
Clara was throwing clothes around her room, trying to find her black jeans. They were here somewhere, but she just couldn't find them. Finally after tossing more clothes on her bed she found them thrown on a chair in the corner of her room. She quickly pulled them on, trying desperately to ignore her pounding head that was screaming for coffee and perhaps an ocean of water after all the wine she drank last night. She knew she probably shouldn't have opened the second bottle with Bill, but once she started telling her everything about her and the Doctor, she just couldn't stop herself. Now she had to go see him sporting a massive hangover.
The Doctor entered the café and didn't see Clara. He looked at his watch and hadn't realised he was running so early. She had texted him yesterday with the name and asked to meet at half ten and it was only ten. He ordered a coffee and took a seat facing the door, so he could see her when she walked in. His stomach was currently a ball of nerves and he couldn't remember the last time he had felt this way. He was also very excited to see her and was thinking about her beautiful big brown eyes as he stared into his coffee cup. An image that haunted him every night when he went to sleep. He heard the door open and looked up to see her looking as lovely as ever, her hair was a little longer, but nothing else had changed. He waved to catch her eye and when she looked in his direction, he was happy to see a small smile.
"Hi," he said as she approached after getting her coffee. Man, he missed this woman more than he remembered.
"Hi," she replied as she sat. She really needed to keep her composure and not show him just how much she really missed him.
The two sat there in silence for a bit, neither really knowing what to say or how to even start their conversation.
"How have you been?" Clara finally asked, not wanting to jump right into the reason she was here.
"Okay" he smiled at her, "Busy with work. What about you?"
"The same."
More awkward silence. It was crazy how two people who once had no problem speaking to each other now found it hard to say more than two words. The Doctor stared into his coffee cup and thought about the advice JD had given him, but at the same time he didn't want to push Clara too much for fear of scaring her off.
"I'm glad you called," he finally said.
"Right," she sighed, "look, Doctor, as I said I don't want to you to make a big deal out of this. I'm still very mad at what you did and I still don't trust you, but I hate to admit it, I have missed you."
"I've missed you too, Clara." He smiled at her. "I just want you back in my life and even if all it is, is as friends then I'll take it. Just tell me what I need to do."
"If I do let you back in it, all it can be is friends. I can't be with you again."
"Fine, please just tell me what I need to do."
"Well you can start by being honest with me with the question I'm about to ask you."
"Okay, what is it?"
"Do you have a twin brother?"
The Doctor stared at her, that was the last question he ever expected her to ask.
"Why?" He asked, his tone turning very serious.
"It's a yes or no question. Really simple, do you have a twin brother?" She asked again using her teacher tone.
He knew he needed to answer her if he wanted even a glimmer of a chance with her.
"Yes."
Clara sighed at finally knowing she wasn't mad and seeing double, but then wanted to know more.
"Why did you never mentioned him?"
"Why are you asking?" He needed to know how she found out.
"I asked you first," she replied.
"And I answered your first question. Now I want to know how you know." He said, giving her a tone that meant he wasn't kidding around.
"Because he's my new client."
"What?" The Doctor replied completely confused.
"At the ad agency I work for, his company is my new client."
"But he lives in New York."
"Not any more," Clara answered. "Why have you never mentioned him, Doctor?"
He stared down into his now empty cup. He hadn't thought about or seen James in over thirty years. He didn't even come home when their parents died. He didn't want to tell Clara the reason why, but he knew if he didn't answer her she might walk out. He just wasn't ready to talk about him.
"Because I haven't spoken to him in almost thirty-five years."
"Why?" She asked again, curious as to how someone could not speak to a sibling for so long.
"Clara, can you just leave it at that? I really don't want to get into it."
She could tell that this news really bothered him by the change in his tone and body language, but she really wanted to know what the issue was. James seemed like a nice guy, so what could have happened for the Doctor to not speak to him for so long.
"Fine, I'll drop it for now, but it might help to talk about whatever is bothering you."
"Thanks, but after this long, I think I'm okay."
"Alright." Clara answered skeptically.
"I'm sorry, it's just that was the last thing I expected you to ask me."
"Yeah, well imagine my shock when I went into a meeting and saw you sitting there. Well you with much shorter hair. This," she pointed at his hair and smiled, "is an out of control mess."
"What? You don't like wild and curly?" He replied visibly less agitated.
"Not sure. I'll let you know."
He smiled at her and she could feel a little piece of the wall around her heart break off.
"So tell me about your new job. You like it?"
"I love it." Clara told him all about Donna and how she was learning so much from her and how great it felt to flex her creativity muscle. The Doctor just sat there and listened, occasionally asking her more questions. They were slowly slipping back into the comfort they once had.
"What about you? How's lecturing?" Clara asked.
"It's good. I've got a good bunch of students this year, not as bright as this one I had last year, but still very good." He winked at her.
She missed that wink. The more they chatted the more Clara was starting to let her guard down a little. Just enough to maybe see him again. She really wanted to find out what the issue was with him and James and she knew the only way that was going to happen was to spend more time with him. They continued talking and before either of them knew it, they had been there for over two hours.
"I should probably get going," Clara said as she glanced at her watch.
"Okay," the Doctor replied, sad that his time with her was ending.
They walked out of the café and stood there for a moment, both unsure how to say good-bye.
"I'm going that way to the record shop," the Doctor said as he pointed down the street.
"I'm going that way too," Clara said and they started walking in that direction.
"You live near here?" Clara asked.
"I do. Thought that it made more sense to live closer to the university then I did when I was with Rose." It was the first time he had mentioned her name to Clara, perhaps not wanting to remind her of the pain he caused both women. "I'm actually not that far from you. That is if you're still in the same place."
"I am. Funny I haven't run into you."
"I don't go out much," he said. "Usually just to work and then home again."
"That's not good."
"There really isn't much for me to do," he shrugged. "I don't have many friends here."
Clara couldn't help but feel bad for him and thought for a moment before she replied to him. "Would you like to meet for coffee again next Saturday?"
"Really?" He answered, clearly surprised.
"Yeah, it'll get you out of the house and force me to get up and start my day, instead of sleeping in."
"I would really like that."
"Good."
They walked the rest of the way, chatting mostly about the neighbourhood, until they reached the record shop. They parted ways, agreeing to meet at the same time next week. Clara felt good that she had learned the truth about who James was, even though she didn't know why they were estranged, and even felt a little better about forgiving the Doctor a bit. It wasn't good to hold on to so much anger and she needed to move on from what had happened. She really felt that this was the first step to that. She could be his friend and this time she was really going to keep it that way.