Chapter Nine: Clara Smuts Back
A matter of hours after Exidor, the Doctor was at it again. He was pacing back and forth by one of the ovens in the vast TARDIS kitchen, peering at the uncooked soufflé within. Clara adored soufflés, and the omission of one from her breakfast earlier was an inexplicable error on the Doctor's part. In rectifying his mistake now, he hoped to finally elicit the three words that Clara had, in his mind, only narrowly avoided speaking earlier. And so he paced, opening the oven door every 30 seconds or so to check on the soufflé, blissfully unaware that doing so would only impede its progress.
So focused was the Doctor on his creation that he didn't notice Clara enter the kitchen behind him. "Oi, chin!" she called out in her typical playful tone. "Have we got much in? I'm starving".
"Not much, but if you wait a minute, I-"
The Doctor's sentence came to a swift pause the moment he turned round to address Clara. Her sense of fashion, he had observed, almost exclusively relied on a pretty combination of a dress, jacket and boots, so it was surprising to see her standing before him today in a crop top, short shorts and flip flops. It took him a second to register the change, after which he, unusually, took a few more seconds to register how… exposed it left her.
Clara turned back to face the Doctor just in time to catch him… registering her outfit. Her expression was one of surprise at first, of course, but she quickly put on her more standard flirtatious demeanour. She cleared her throat and took light, innocent steps towards the now-flustering Doctor. "Calm down dear" she instructed, giggling at his inability to form coherent words. "I just threw this on after trying out your swimming pool, but it's nice to see you approve". She finished with a small curtsy, just to flummox the Doctor that little bit more.
The Doctor, scrambling to compose himself, forced a reply. "Yes… no! Good, swimming pool, yeah". He turned back to the oven, affording himself the opportunity for a private self-scolding, and examined its contents. "A-anyway, if you're hungry, I'm making you a soufflé. It'll be done… eventually".
"That'll be never then", Clara concluded, pouting slightly. She casually floated around the kitchen, grappling with both hunger and boredom until, inspired by the morning's events, she devised a way of making the most of the situation. She looked back over to the Doctor, and a cheeky smile grew on her lips. If nothing else, this was likely going to be a fun few minutes.
She looked around the kitchen for the highest cupboard, and proceeded to try to open the doors. Predictably, they were too high up for her, which happened to be an advantage right now. Getting into position, Clara called out to her Doctor. "Hey, Doctor? You think you could reach something for me?"
Stifling a mocking chuckle, the Doctor turned around to see, sure enough, Clara's hand barely touching the cupboard. But then his attention turned, suddenly and reflexively, to further down her body, specifically her posterior. The alleged 'bloke' stared transfixed at Clara's cute little butt, which was not only sticking out but distinctively swaying from side to side. It wasn't something he made a habit of noticing, but with her in this position – clad in complimentary clothing no less – he couldn't not notice.
With difficulty, the Doctor restricted his vision as he took his slow steps towards Clara to fix her apparent dilemma. With ease, he reached up to the cupboard and pulled it open, revealing absolutely nothing. He looked quizzically at her, keeping an arm pointing at the empty space. "There's nothing in here" he stated, never above pointing out the obvious. "What was it you were looking for, anyway?"
Clara feigned disappointment, and was privately pleased at how long it took the Doctor to cover the short distance between them. "Oh, bother" she sighed, turning her face into another cute pout. "I was hoping to find some food in there"
One absent-minded nod later, the Doctor's face turned suspicious. "But Clara… we keep food in the fridges". He pointed to the row behind him with somewhat bemused authority. "You'd never find any up there of all places".
Clara simply smiled, took a step closer, and stood on her tip-toes to reach his ear. "Good boy", she whispered seductively to him, teasing a kiss on his cheek before pulling away.
Struggling to use words, and being in immediate danger of blushing, the Doctor took off back to the oven where Clara's soufflé was cooking. His impossible girlfriend followed suit, standing close behind and giggling when, yet again, the Doctor opened the door prematurely to ensure the dessert hadn't failed yet. She smoothly draped her arms over his shoulders and latched onto him, rocking gently behind his taller frame. She drummed her fingers on his chest to better annunciate her touch, hoping to provoke some sort of reaction.
"Y'know", she started, tilting her head as she addressed her Doctor, "You cooking is really very sweet, even a tiny bit sexy". She rubbed her hands her hands up and down a little, not covering much distance because of her short disposition, but pressing down hard enough to make her presence felt. "But my my, it is warm in here. Aren't you scorching hot in that coat… and bow-tie… and shirt-"
"NO… dear, I'm fine, don't worry" the Doctor interrupted. He may not have been hot, but his struggle with his newfound lust was causing him to sweat a little. He had to change the subject. "Didn't I ever tell you that Time Lords are better at regulating their body temperature?" he lied. "That's why I've been able to visit places on your planet Earth that-"
Raising an eyebrow, Clara switched round to the Doctor's front and pressed a finger to his lips. "The correct answer was 'Yes' with no lecture" she enlightened him. "But don't worry, I'm quite sure you'll get it right next time".
Clara traced her finger down his hilarious chin before removing it, and briefly eyed his shirt as if she intended to rip it to shreds. She could see the Doctor was uneasy, bless his hearts, but she had no intention of slowing down. She bent down slowly in another attempt to show off - her ass being strategically close to his crotch - and opened the oven door to examine the uncooked soufflé.
She pretended to examine the soufflé carefully in the manner of a boss, which she was, of course. "Hmm, is it taking a while to rise?"
For all his knowledge of 21st century Earth culture, the obvious double entendre went straight over the Doctor's head. "Well yes, I suppose it is" he replied sheepishly, staring down at the mass in the pan in the oven. "But come on; be fair, I've not had to try this in a while. You just have to give it time to get there, you see? It'll soon be tall and strong".
Clara sprung to her feet and stared blankly at the Doctor. She risked a glance downwards, which helped her decide that, of course, he was playing along unintentionally, which only served to make her more resolute. "Well, we'll just have to find something to help it up, shan't we?" she coaxed, skipping off to the other side of the kitchen to continue the seduction.
The Doctor turned back to the oven to stare desperately at the almost-souffle. "Mmm, I wish" he mused, fearing his attempt was headed the same way as Clara's. "I'm sure I learned all this about, ooh, 300 years ago? Or about 1,000 years from now, depending on how you look at it. Of course, cooking will be a lot simpler then- maybe that's the trick! There's no way we could mess up a 31st century soufflé, Clara! Clara?"
He turned round to see Clara enjoying an intact, rainbow coloured ice-cream cone – a remnant from their recent visit to the planet Shan Shen. "Go on" she told him, raising her eyebrows whilst the eyes beneath stared with faux interest. "I'm listening".
Recognising the sight, the Doctor sighed. "Oh, you could have told me you had the mocking face on" he lamented. "Or, y'know, not do it at all. And what are you doing with dessert, that's supposed to come after".
Clara widened her eyes slightly, pretending to be surprised by a misconception. "Oh no, this is nothing, I'm saving you for dessert" she explained with a wink. She maintained eye contact as she licked the top of her ice-cream suggestively, hoping to tempt some part of the Doctor's carnal nature. She thrust her mouth into the cone and pulled out, only to take her time licking the ice-cream from around her lips. She held it up to him and batted her eyes as seductively as possible. "Fancy a bite?"
It was frightening enough that Clara's actions were starting to resonate with him in an almost-foreign way, but the Doctor feared that if he took her bait now, she would be the boss forever. He broke eye contact and made careful steps towards the door. "Oh… oh, you know what, it is pretty hot in here, but I'm just gonna… go hang out… in the TARDIS winter wonderland… after I create a TARDIS winter wonderland" he lied, utterly and desperately.
The Doctor was not two paces from exiting the kitchen when he found his path blocked by Clara, who had – true to her title – impossibly passed from one side of the kitchen to the other. Her cheeky grin remained, but now, she was impatient. "You're right" she sighed, liberally fiddling with his bow-tie. "It is way too hot in here; we need to fix that now. As in, right now".
With those decisive words complimented with a signature giggle, Clara slowly but eagerly removed her crop top and threw it to one side, revealing the top half of a dark blue bikini. Modest as Clara was, she remembered well how often she got checked out by guys back on Earth, so it was reasonable for her to assume that, if she really brought it, not even the Doctor would resist her. Especially if her tantalising apparel was sporting the Gallifreyan colour of lust. Listening patiently to the Doctor's lectures about his home planet was finally about to pay off – there was no way he could resist this.
Sure enough, the Doctor was powerless. For centuries, his protocol upon seeing half-naked women was to quickly cover his eyes and act all nervous and rubbish, but suddenly it was so different. This time, his eyes weren't covered by his hands, but rather his cheeks were overcome by red. He couldn't pretend for one moment that there was anything obscene about his Clara – between their love for each other and her raw sexuality, something about what she was doing felt right. Just… right.
"Clara?" he finally squeaked, not yet able to deal with what was swirling around in his head.
Clara simply pressed a finger to his lips. "Shhhhhhh" she whispered, staring into her Doctor's eyes while slowly closing any distance between them. "Now it's your turn".
-Next Chapter: The Settlement-
