I spent ages typing up a chapter before- and then realised it would work better as a chapter later in the story. I didn't spend very long attempting to perfect this chapter- hopefully you'll all still like it anyway. Reviews are always welcome! And I'd love to hear any of your suggestions for what happens next!
Hope you all enjoy!
The Doctor, Clara, Angie and Artie sat watching a movie together while a storm raged outside. Mr Maitland had gone away for a business meeting over the weekend, so the Doctor decided to spend the night actually in the Maitland's house, rather than outside in the TARDIS, to give Clara a helping hand. Artie, who was ever so slightly afraid of the thunder- as he had put it –was leaning up against Clara, who had an arm wrapped around him to comfort him. In turn, Clara was leaning up against the Doctor, the three of them had a blanket draped across them to keep warm. Angie was lying on the floor, she had been texting through the first half of the movie until her phone ran out of power and now she was continuously asking what was happening in the movie, and why. With sudden loud clap of thunder the power shut off. Artie gave a yelp and clung to Clara.
"Hey!" Angie yelled out in surprise.
The Doctor jumped to his feet, knocking the coffee table over in the process.
"Doctor, can you go get the candles and flashlights from the third kitchen drawer?" Clara asked, not being able to stand up due to Artie clinging to her.
The Doctor and Angie made their way to the kitchen and felt around until they found the drawer. The Doctor smiled when he noticed that the candles and matches were bound together by an elastic band, which made things easier. Angie had turned on a torch already and held another in her hand. They headed back to the lounge, where Clara had managed to pry Artie away from her, and the three of them placed candles around the room and lit them.
"What do we do now?" Angie asked as they sat down.
"We could play a board game," Clara suggested.
She could almost hear Angie rolling her eyes.
"How about Monopoly?" Artie suggested eagerly.
Clara fetched the board and they quickly had it set up in the middle of the floor, the competitors sat around it. They selected their pieces carefully, the Doctor excitedly chose the hat, Angie the bag of money, Artie the car, and Clara the dog. Angie won the dice roll to go first and hopped her piece along the board. She decided against buying the first place she landed on, wanting to save her money for when she got to the higher value pieces on the other side. Artie proceeded to buy each and every place that he landed on. The Doctor managed to get in jail on his first turn- after picking up a card that sent him directly to jail. Grumping he mumbled about the game being rigged before he forked over his bail money. Clara was the banker and spent most of the game dealing out properties and money. It didn't take long before Angie owned half of the expensive properties (except for the ones her brother landed on first and refused to give up) and had four houses on each one (after realising that she'd make more money that way than if she swapped them for hotels). Making your way around the board soon became a nightmare as every turn it seemed Angie made a profit. They managed to play the game all the way through, the Doctor was the first to become bankrupt, followed by Artie and eventually Clara, and Angie smiled triumphantly, rubbing it in everyone's faces.
Clara checked her watch, "It's nearly midnight! Definitely time for you two to be in bed."
She sent them upstairs to get into their pyjamas and their teeth brushed while she packed up the game. The Doctor was scooping houses and playing pieces back into the box while Clara sorted out the money.
"That was fun," Clara grinned.
"Yeah," the Doctor replied. "Even though I spent most of my time in jail."
Clara laughed, "And you kept paying bail even though you had a get out of jail free card!"
The Doctor laughed back, "You know, in all my years I don't think I've ever finished a game of Monopoly until tonight."
"Neither have I," Clara replied. "Angie had us all licked from the start I think."
The Doctor nodded in agreement.
"Clara!" Artie called from upstairs.
"He'll be wanting me to come up and say goodnight now," Clara told the Doctor as she stood up.
"I'll finish packing up," the Doctor said.
Clara hurried up the stairs to see her charge. Artie was sat cross legged on his bed, looking very sleepy. Clara smiled softly and went and tucked him in.
"Clara?" Artie asked, half asleep. "When you have your baby, will you still be here to play games with us and say goodnight?"
Clara brushed a hand over his head, "Course I will, Artie. I'll be here as long as you and Angie want me to hang around."
"Will you forget about us when the baby comes? Won't you be too busy for us?"
"Never," Clara gave him a quick hug. "I promise, I won't ever, ever be too busy for you."
Artie smiled at her, "Good night, Clara."
"Night, Artie," Clara turned off the flashlight by his bed and headed out the room.
The Doctor was standing outside the door, waiting for her.
"Artie seemed a bit worried," the Doctor said.
Clara nodded, "He'll be fine. A baby won't really change things too much, will it?"
The Doctor shrugged, "Even if it does, I'll be here- I can take the baby if Artie feels neglected."
Clara smiled, then quickly ducked her head into Angie's room to tell her to turn off her torch and say goodnight. The Doctor offered Clara one of the candles he was holding and the two made their way further upstairs to the attic, where they had set up a mattress on her floor for him. She giggled as he wriggled on the mattress trying to find a comfy position. Once she had her pyjamas on, she lay down in her bed.
"I'd invite you in," Clara said, peering down at him from the bed. "But there's really only room for me in here- unless we snuggled up close."
"I'll be alright down here," the Doctor replied. "I probably won't sleep anyway, I don't usually."
"Good night Doctor," Clara blew out her candle.
The Doctor leaned over and blew out his as well, "Night Clara."
At some point during the night she woke and heard the Doctor shivering on the floor, she poked a hand out of her covers to wake him up and discovered the air was absolutely freezing. She went to shake him awake- he sprung to his feet the second her had touched his shoulder.
"Doctor, it's freezing," she said.
"I know," he replied, rubbing his arms up and down. "Especially now I've got out of the covers."
Clara wiggled over as far as she could in her bed, "Come in, it'll be warmer."
Angie climbed the stairs to Clara's room the next morning to ask her where the money was for the milkman and giggled to herself when she saw the Doctor and Clara snuggled up to each other on Clara's tiny bed, Clara would have fallen out by now- had it not been for the Doctor's arms holding her firm against his chest.
