Clara's heart began to pound as she heard what her student said to her. It explained why she recognised the name on the news last night. One of her students had lost her father. She wanted to say that her heart broke for the girl, that she was truly upset by what had happened, but the truth was that she simply couldn't say that. Her heart had been broken since Danny had left. Now, with each death of someone she knew, it was simply trodden on and crushed again and again. She knew exactly how Courtney felt, though. She'd lost her mother at a similar age, yet in an altogether less horrific accident. She felt as though she had to visit Courtney, to check on her and hopefully see if she could do something to help her. Clara wanted to make sure her pupils were okay, and this was more important than ever before.

The form were silent for a long while. Very little work was done, everything simply sitting and thinking, worrying about their loved ones fighting, checking phones for messages, news reports, anything that could tell them whether or not they were okay. It was something that Clara would often tell them off for, but so much had changed. It would be impossible for her to tell them off.

So while they sat in silence, Clara began to think. She wanted to do something to cheer everyone up; something big enough to take their minds off what was happening for a little while. But no one could take their minds off what was going on, because everyone had someone they loved in danger. So Clara stood up in front of her class and looked at them all with concern on her face, but her eyes glowing with optimism for the first time since Danny had left, a drastic change from how she had left after speaking with him yesterday.

"We're going to have a party." She declared, smiling ever so slightly at her class. "For when everyone comes back on leave. That night, we'll have a party. Everyone that used to work or come to this school who's gone away to fight, and all of us. It'll take our minds off what's going on, and it means that both they and us will have something to look forward to. But don't tell them, let's let it be a surprise for when they arrive back."

Of course, her class seemed rather unenthusiastic at first. After all, with everything that had happened in just the first few weeks of them leaving, they weren't sure that anyone was going to make it back. But, Clara was their teacher, and if nothing else it did sound like something to do. Shakespeare didn't really seem all that important to anyone, even Clara had given up on trying to teach Macbeth. This was more important to her and to the students too. Clara looked at them hopefully and watched as they all started to nod slowly. They still seemed a little unsure, but the fact that they were agreeing was a step in the right direction.

"Right." She said then, her mind being taken off the horrors of what was happening almost immediately as she started to plan things. Logging onto the computer, she sat back in her chair and smiled at her students. The smile was real, knowing that she was going to bring happiness to the people left behind, and those who were going through hell. "I think, first order of business, we need to listen to some music and decide what we're going to play."

Clara got everyone writing down songs on slips of paper, and started pulling them out of a hat to play and chose at random. Before long, almost everyone had started singing along and laughing with their friends, and other classes had come to join to see what all the noise was about. The acting head came in, and Clara thought she was going to be in trouble for not teaching, but instead she joined in, seemingly as happy as the other students were. She couldn't help but be glad that she was doing some good, that people were beginning to cheer up a little and warm up to the idea of a party for everyone coming home. In fact, by the end of the day, Clara was sure that the entire school was going to help make decorations, and that everyone was incredibly excited. It felt like, even though the school lacked half the teachers and pupils, things were almost normal again. With laughter and smiles filling the hallways, Clara couldn't remember the last time things had been like this.

# # #

Upon arriving home, Clara sat herself down with her laptop and a mug of hot, steaming, tea. Things felt normal again, and it was odd to feel this way. She didn't want to feel normal when she knew how Danny might be feeling. Hell, he might not even be feeling, but she tried her best not to let that bother her. She needed to keep optimistic to keep her pupils happy, even if it killed her. There was still no news regarding the camp, whether the power had come back online or not, but Clara decided to send Danny an email, something to cheer him up when he saw it. But every time she thought about Danny, all she could think of was how worried about him she was. Nothing apart from fear and sadness came to mind. She didn't want him to see how much she was worrying and suffering. Instead, she'd wait for him to be okay and call her on Skype, or send her an email, or a text, or a Facebook message, or anything. She was desperate to hear from him.

Sighing a little, Clara stared at her computer screen and opened up her own Facebook, scrolling through pictures of her and Danny together. She missed him more than she could possibly imagine, and she missed him more every day. Nothing seemed right without him anymore. Wiping a few stray tears from her eyes, she tried to distract herself with some work. But it wasn't possible anymore. Leaving her laptop and tea on the coffee table, she stood up and went through to the kitchen, cracking open a bottle of wine and pouring herself a glass, staring blankly at the oven as she took a sip.

AN Oh God I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long, but today I decided I was gonna kick my arse into gear and update my old fics, write some new ones, so I hope this is okay! As always, reviews would be highly appreciated, help me get back into the swing of things. Anyway, I hope I'll be writing more of this soon! Thanks for reading.