Merry Christmas my wonderful friends (shhh I know it's Christmas Eve but I wanted to post this now!) Here is your Christmas chapter/shot/whatever you want to call it.
And in response to the guest review – you'll have to read to find out what happens next! After this chapter anything could happen, this chapter was the original aim for this set of one-shots and the reason it was written. As for what happens next, I don't know… we'll have to see.
He didn't know what to expect when he knocked on the door, it had been a long time for both of them, anything could have happened. He'd already had a bit of trouble trying to find out where she was living now, and then he'd spent a good couple of hours trying to decide whether to land in or out of the house, after all the incident in her old flat was a little awkward. It took a long time for someone to come to the door, although there were all sorts of noises coming from inside the house. When the door finally opened, it was definitely not what he was expecting.
"Hello…" Clara looked stunned to see him there, but he was even more stunned to see what she was holding. She quickly caught on to his stare. "Right, yeah, things have changed a little around here…." They were both still stood there in quiet disbelief, only moving when Danny appeared behind Clara.
"Who is it? Oh, long time no see! Come on in Doctor?" This time both Clara and him were staring at Danny, a little confused as to his oh so welcoming attitude. None the less, Clara moved out the way and the Doctor entered the house.
The overall silence was beginning to get a little awkward; they all knew someone was going to have to speak first.
"So, you… have mini you now then?" The Doctor spoke, vaguely pointing in Ellie's direction. "What else did I miss? Why is PE covered in flour?" Clara couldn't help but grin a little at that, his confusion was evident that was for sure.
"Like I said, a lot has changed. This is Ellie…" Clara took a step forward so he could see Ellie properly, and smiled a little when Ellie reached out – it was completely coincidental of course, but incredibly cute. "She hasn't started screaming, that's a good sign. 5 weeks in the world and she's certainly making it known who she likes and who she doesn't like."
"Strong-willed then? I have no where she got that from." Danny chuckled in agreement. "I still don't understand why PE…" Clara gave him a little glare, "…Danny is covered in flour?"
"Now that's a slightly longer story…"
"Merry Christmas to you too…" Clara woke to a crying child and sighed, it had been the first bad night she'd had with her in a while, but it was Christmas and she wasn't going to let tiredness get in the way of that. Pushing the covers off, Clara stood up and went over to the cot, picking her up carefully. "Someone's trying to take advantage of mummy's good mood aren't they eh? Now, let's get you sorted and then we'll find the presents from Santa!"
Of course Ellie was clueless, but Clara didn't really care – it was her first Christmas and that was special. They'd had to do quite a bit of last minute shopping, although the amount of presents she'd had from everyone, most of what was under the tree was for her which was the way it should be.
Once she'd organised Ellie, Clara went back up to find Danny sat up in bed on his phone, but he smiled and looked up when she walked back in.
"Good morning my beautiful girls," Danny leant over and took Ellie so Clara could get back in to bed a little easier, "and Merry Christmas sweetheart." He kissed Ellie's head.
"Don't I get one of those?" Clara grinned and chuckled gently as he pulled some mistletoe from under his pillow, holding it above them and kissing her, "much better." She stayed leant over, letting her head rest on his shoulder. "I could quite happily stay like this all day you know?"
"Except your Dad is going to be here in 3 and a half hours and we still have baking to do, so we actually can't stay here too long at all." She'd actually almost forgotten about that, but reality was still upon them. "I do want to give you something first though?"
"I thought we were doing presents later...?" Danny nodded, handing Ellie to her and climbing out of bed. He opened the door to his side of the wardrobe and leant in, picking something out from the back. "Danny what's going on?" Ellie made a small squeal, her timing was always so appropriate. Clara looked down to make sure she was okay, gently stroking Ellie's cheek with her thumb. When she looked back up, Danny had got back in the bed beside her and was holding out a present.
"Just one, I want you to have this before your Dad arrives… here, let me take Ellie back for a moment." They managed to swap after a moment of confusion; the struggles of having a baby were so real. Clara slowly unwrapped the present, what seemed to be a relatively big box actually held another much smaller one, again wrapped. She unwrapped it and found a ring box.
"You know we've already done this bit right? There's not a time limit on these things." Danny rolled his eyes at her comments, smiling none the less.
"I'm fully aware. This is something different, honestly just open it." So she did, and inside was the most gorgeous eternity ring. "I know we're not actually married yet but we've already broken many a tradition in our time. We have a beautiful daughter and now more than ever I know we will have the most amazing life together. I love you, and this is just a little something to symbolise that… I hope you like it."
Clara was stunned, and Danny's speech just made her even more emotional. When she finally managed to look up from the ring she kissed Danny gently and he wiped a tear away that had managed to escape.
"I love it; I really… really love it. Sometimes I wonder how I deserve you." Danny took the ring from the box and placed it gently on her finger.
"Ditto, but now we're stuck with each other." He grinned, kissing her again quickly before handing Ellie back and getting up. "I'll go get myself sorted, we need to start baking." Clara grinned as he walked off to the bathroom, she looked down at Ellie.
"I'm afraid it will be a little pass the parcel like today sweetheart, but feel free to scream at Linda again because that was highly entertaining." Ellie blinked up at her, gurgled and then scrunched herself up, shutting her eyes. "Or you can sleep, that's fine too. The exciting stuff will happen later anyway…"
"Clara we're never going to get the dinner in on time unless we get on with this!" Danny said, although Clara could see him attempting not to smile. They'd made it down to the kitchen and were doing their best to put a cake together, at least Danny was. Clara was basically doing her best to disrupt things in an attempt to make him smile; it turns out he gets quite strict when it comes to cooking to time limits. Eventually however, everything did get mixed together and the cake went in to the oven.
"See, now we have to wait like an hour so will you cheer up please?" Clara stood behind him, waiting until he turned around to puff flour at him, except it may have been a little more than originally planned. "Oops…!" Once he'd recovered from the shock of a sudden burst of flour, Danny gave a little smirk and grabbed her round the waist, picking her up. Clara squealed at the shock of being picked up and wriggled to try and get down. "No no no stop! Danny!" He managed to carry her all the way through to the living room where they both collapsed down on the sofa laughing.
"You're in big trouble missy." Danny poked her nose, grinning.
"I think it looks festive! Besides, that's your fault for getting dressed before baking! Speaking of which, I need to go and change." Clara grinned, jumping up quickly and running upstairs.
"I'll get you later!" Came the call from behind her.
It didn't take her all that long to get dressed in the end, but then skinny jeans and a Christmas jumper didn't take too much effort. Once she was ready there was a small noise came from the cot so Clara made her way over and picked her up. "Shall we take you downstairs then? Daddy's in a bit of a mess!" She made her way downstairs, but didn't quite make it in to the living room as the door knocked. It was too early to be her family so she was a little confused.
"Right, so… right." The Doctor looked even more confused than when they started really.
"You can stay, if you like, if that's okay with Danny… yeah, if you want?" Clara was a little nervous asking that.
"I don't know how well that would go down after last year if your family are coming again… I'd probably better go." She'd figured as much, it was an awkward situation and having to explain why he looked different would be far too complex.
"Well at least stay for a cup of tea or something? They're not due to arrive for another hour." He looked a little happier at that prospect. "Danny?"
"I'll put the kettle on then! You go sit down in the lounge." Clara smiled and showed the Doctor through. They sat down on the sofa and Ellie started gurgling again.
"Do you want to hold her? I think she's quite keen to meet you." Clara looked over to him and he seemed to agree, although looking slightly reluctant. She carefully handed Ellie over to him, making sure he was supporting her head. They both sat in silence again for about 30 seconds, the Doctor simply looking down at Ellie who seemed quite happy to be there. Eventually Clara decided to break the silence. "Where have you been?"
"Just, travelling. You needed space, you said as much." Clara nodded, trying to work out how to say this.
"Yes but it's been a year. I had no idea if you were coming back, I just assumed you weren't I guess over time… we moved on; both literally and metaphorically. I thought you were maybe looking for Gallifrey? No luck?" Clara tried to make out his expression, but he seemed to ignore her question and instead started speaking to Ellie.
"I'll tell you something little one, you're very lucky to have such wonderful parents. Especially your Mum, she'll be great." Ellie gurgled again; she really seemed to like him which was almost a relief to her. "I know she might complain occasionally but I'm sure she loves you a lot."
"Um, Doctor?"
"I speak baby."
"Right, yes, of course." Clara knew she probably should have figured that out, but it was nice to be certain. Danny came in just after this carrying a teapot and some mugs. "How's the cake doing?"
"Not bad, should be done on time. I've got everything out ready to start on lunch so we're on track. Everything okay in here? Ellie seems to be enjoying herself there; you must be doing something right."
They had tea over varying conversation. Clara managed to cover the key points of what the Doctor had missed and he managed to keep the conversation firmly away from what he'd been up to. Eventually though, it was time for him to go.
"Come back sooner this time?" Clara said at the door, she'd left Danny in the kitchen with Ellie.
"Of course, isn't there a wedding to come to?" She smiled, nodding.
"You'd better be there or I'll come and hunt you down."
"That's a threat I know will be carried out. I'll be there, don't you worry." He started to make his way down the path.
"Oh and Doctor?" She called after him, the Doctor turned around. "Merry Christmas." She tossed a wrapped present over to him, "I had a feeling you might turn up so I got prepared."
"Merry Christmas Clara, thank you."
When the day finally drew to a close, Clara found herself getting round to doing the washing up. Danny had gone up to check on Ellie now the family had left so she started on the clearing up.
"We can always leave this lot till tomorrow you know?" Clara jumped slightly, she hadn't expected Danny back down so quickly.
"Might as well start, you know we won't want to get up tomorrow." Clara grinned and threw a tea towel at him. "Thank you for today, making it so perfect… it really was the best Christmas I've had for a good 10 years." Instead of using the tea towel as intended, Danny swung it around Clara and pulled her over, she rolled her eyes but didn't argue, especially when he proceeded to pull her close and kiss her tenderly. "Mmmm okay you win you win. Wine, sofa, telly?"
They sat down together, Clara leaning against him but upright enough to be able to sip at her wine with some Christmas panel show running on the TV. Danny played with her hair mindlessly as they both vaguely watched it. In the end she found her eyes drifting over towards the pile of toys and clothes that had appeared in the corner of the living room.
"We need to sort through that lot too… I can't believe so many people have got her things, she's very lucky."
"The thank you cards will take forever!" Danny chuckled gently. "She's a very lucky girl, but she deserves it all - just like her mum." Clara looked up to him now, smiling.
"You know you become even soppier under the influence of alcohol. Not that I'm complaining of course, just stating a fact." Danny just smiled in reply. "You know, people judge you too soon. Everyone does it don't they? The soldier label it's like it suddenly makes you this big hard guy not to be touched, but you're not. You're just a guy, a really amazing, gorgeous, wonderful guy who would do most things for anyone and yet somehow I got lucky enough to be the one you'd do anything for. You're everything people seem to expect you not to be, and yet you're still the bravest man I've ever met." There was a silence after that, Clara couldn't decide if she'd upset him or not. In the end he didn't reply to the immediate question.
"Was it weird? Seeing the Doctor today I mean?" The elephant in the room. Despite how friendly Danny had been to him, Clara couldn't help but think it would bother him. They may not have let it ruin Christmas, but the conversation had to happen sometime.
"Yes, of course. I didn't think he was coming back… it was nice, like seeing any friend you haven't seen for a while. I won't lie; there was a small part of me that for a split second really wanted to fly away again and see the stars, but then I looked at Ellie, and you appeared, and I knew right then I don' t need to run away anymore." Another silent pause fell, shorter this time. "A wise man once told me there are plenty of wonders to be found without going in to space, and I think it's time to listen to him." Now Danny smiled and they kissed once more. Clara settled back down and relaxed in to him again, they weren't moving for a while.
"You should tell that man how great he is." Danny added and they both chuckled, the day ending just as perfect as it began.