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So how is Danny and Clara's date going to go?
Chapter 7
Danny did pick her up, from her flat, at six, like he said. The taxi dropped them off a little shy of where they were meant to be, due to traffic, but Clara enjoyed the walk to the restaurant that Danny had chosen. That was until she recognised where she was and what she hoped that they were going to walk past. As the queue of the restaurant came closer and closer, she was glad as Danny pushed her slightly to walk next to the queue.
She sighed but still felt rather on edge as they continued on their way to walk in front of the restaurant. She was glad that she knew how long the restaurant was and she hoped that they could quicken their pace.
That was only if Danny's pace would increase too.
"I would like to try this restaurant out. I have only heard good things about it."
"Have you?"
"And you haven't?"
"I'm not saying that. I just heard that it was also a little pricey."
"I think the queue shows how popular it is."
"I suppose."
"I have had a look. You have to now book online in some virtual queue. There is a two-week waiting list."
Clara didn't particularly like how this conversation was heading. She knew that now there would be a reference to them going there and at the moment, it was the last place that she wanted to go, for obvious reasons. She suspected that the Doctor's three-week disappearance may have been down to the fact that they had been surveying the restaurant. If that was the case then she knew that they would know who she was. The last place she needed to go was in that restaurant.
"Danny, this is London. There will be another restaurant that will open up and it will be the next big thing. And this one will become forgotten."
"I don't think the hype is going to die down just yet."
She let go of a breath that she didn't realise that she was holding as they finally walked past the front of the restaurant. There was a brief moment when Clara thought she had seen four people throwing what looked like a body bag into a bin down the alleyway between the restaurant and the next property but she knew that she wouldn't be able to either stop to have a better look or go back. She made a note to try and text Jenny about it and see what the Doctor might think. She would text the Doctor directly but he didn't have a phone and she kinda wanted to keep Vastra, Jenny and Strax in the loop. It just made her think there was more than just her trying to keep the Doctor safe. Just while she was getting into the role of being a companion.
Clara smiled at Jenny's reply before putting her phone away as Danny returned to the table. They'd had a nice evening and she was glad that she hadn't said the wrong thing or anything. It had been just a pleasant evening. But Clara had found herself comparing Danny to the Doctor and she knew that it was a bad thing to start to do. Danny was never going to be the Doctor and the Doctor would never be like Danny. She could have a different life with Danny than she could with the Doctor.
"Maybe I should put us down on the waiting list of that restaurant," Danny said.
There is was. The sentence that she had been waiting for all evening.
"I am not so sure."
"Clara, you seem to be the only person who does not want to go to this restaurant. Do you know something no one else does?"
The simple answer was yes. It was explaining why that was the problem. She knew that she would sound crazy if she tried to explain the Doctor and everything he does. Plus she didn't really know whether it was her place to tell anyone else about him. Was her role as the companion to try and keep his secret?
"I have heard things."
"Like?"
"People going missing. Entering the restaurant and not exiting it. I dunno. Maybe it is something just to slow down business there."
"Where have you heard that?"
"From people."
Clara realised how weak it sounded but it was as close to the truth as she thought that she could get. She even felt like she had said too much.
"But how do they know? It hasn't been on the news or anything."
"I know but I trust the person who said it. I don't think they would have said it to me if they didn't believe it was true."
Danny sighed and Clara wondered whether she had put him off the idea or just stalled it for the moment. Either way, she knew that she would have to shut down the idea completely. She could not go in there. It would be her who would be missing next and after the last investigation, she didn't think the Doctor would be too happy if that happened again. Especially with how he had been recently.
Nothing more was said that evening about the other restaurant and as the finished off their drinks before heading into the night, Clara slipped a call to Strax to come and pick them up. Danny was sorting out the bill and she knew that they would only fall into another argument if she said that they should split it. She would just say that she would pay for the taxi, that she was obviously going to get out last and probably not paying for.
It was a relief to see Strax sitting outside and with a quick word to him, Clara opened the door for Danny. She knew that he hadn't seen the blue light as it scanned her palm. She felt like she knew the Doctor too well now. Of course, he would try and pull something like that to try and get his full name, probably hoping that he would be a gentleman and get the door for her. She spent most of the journey to his scanning the cab for anything else that might be trying to work out who Danny was. Not that she had any qualms with the Doctor knowing who Danny was, save for the solider part.
Clara opened the door again when they reached Danny's house.
"Am I that bad company that you want to get rid of me?" He joked.
"Not at all. Just it is late and I am sure, like me, you have a stack of homework to mark."
"It is Friday."
"I don't know about you but I don't like marking over the weekend."
"You have a point there." They kissed each other on the cheek. "See you Monday."
"See you Monday."
She stopped him from pushing on the door and left out a sigh as she watched him walk into his house.
"Just go Strax before he realises he hasn't paid you."
Instead of going, Strax turned to her. "He's a soldier. You can smell in on him."
Clara was getting use to all the little weird things that Strax said but she really hoped that it was just because Strax was once a soldier that he could 'smell' that Danny was a soldier and she hoped that he wasn't about to tell the Doctor.
