Clara was pacing the floor trying to think of things she needed to do. Everything was tidy and dinner was in the oven, there was nothing else to do, but she was ridiculously nervous. Once she'd got home from camp she'd told Adrian everything and of course he was more than happy for her, but, as expected, also very protective.
"Does he know?" Adrian asked once she'd finished explaining.
"Yes, everything he needs to know for now. The rest will come out over time, but he knows a lot." Clara informed him. "I know we didn't get on to start with but you were right and he's lovely, I really like him."
"I can tell," he smiled, "but going away all of a sudden it's a bit…" Adrian sighed, "I just don't want you getting hurt Clara. I've watched you suffer enough, I don't want him adding to that."
"Then meet him, let me prove it all to you. I'll invite him round and you can come too, I already told him you'd want to make sure," Clara told him and threw a bottle of beer at him. "Now relax for goodness sake."
The last week she'd been so much happier. She missed Danny, but they spoke every day and he'd changed her life for the better. When she'd gone in to work multiple people had commented how she seemed much more like herself for the first time in a while. Everything was looking up. Right now, however, she was just plain terrified.
Adrian arrived first; he'd bought his niece with him as he'd told her he would.
"Clara!" She ran at Clara who picked her up and spun her round.
"Hey monkey, you okay?" Niamh nodded and started rambling about how Uncle Adrian had taken her to the zoo again and she got to see the monkeys. Clara nodded along, taking her through to the living room and sitting her down on the sofa. "Sounds like you've had a great weekend!"
"Uncle Adrian says you're meeting your boyfriend today, he says he needs to make sure he's not going to hurt you. Why would he hurt you?" Niamh asked innocently, prompting Clara to look up at Adrian who was looking a little sheepish.
"Your Uncle is just being a really good friend," Clara told her. "Here you go, I put Lion King in the DVD player especially for you." She handed Niamh that TV remote and stood up, walking through to the kitchen with Adrian. "So Danny's gonna hurt me huh?" she flicked the kettle on.
"I uh…" he stuttered, but Clara just laughed and turned back around.
"Relax I already predicted that thought. I understand," Adrian was still looking stunned. "What? What is it now?"
"You haven't been that cheeky to me in months," he told her, "I used to get that all the time."
"Well what can I say?" Clara shrugged, "things change." As she finished the doorbell rang, "can you finish the tea?" She put the milk down on the side, walking out in to the hall.
"What if I don't want to?!" he called after her.
"Then I'll throw it at you later!" she called back before opening the door. "Hey!" she jumped on Danny and hugged him. He returned the favour before kissing her softly, one that lingered for a little while before being interrupted by both Adrian and Niamh both shouting 'ewwwww' at them in a somewhat childish manner. They both smiled as they separated and Clara spun round, running down the hall at Adrian and Niamh who both ran in to their respective rooms, laughing. Danny walked in slowly.
"Should I be scared?" He asked, shutting the door. "They don't bite… much…" she laughed, walking over and took his hands. "I've missed you," she told him. "Come on, I'll introduce you properly." Clara led him in to the kitchen where Adrian had 3 mugs of tea waiting. "See, wasn't that bad was it? Adrian, this is Danny."
"Oh thank goodness for that I was scared you were snogging the face off some random bloke," he spoke bluntly to which Danny appeared a little perplexed, but Clara just rolled her eyes.
"Stop teasing the poor guy," she handed Danny his tea. "You'll get used to it, he doesn't really stop."
"Eh says you, if you're really back to your usual self he'd better watch out," Adrian chuckled, "sorry, you're probably a little overwhelmed already. Believe it or not it's lovely to meet you," he held a hand out which Danny shook.
"Oh don't worry about it, it's lovely to meet you too, Clara's told me a lot about you." Clara snuck out between them, leaving them to talk.
After dinner Clara took the plates through to the kitchen, swiftly followed by Adrian who was carrying glasses. Once they'd put everything down he shut the kitchen door.
"Eh what you doing?" Clara asked.
"Clara Oswald I never thought I'd say this again, but he's perfect for you," Adrian told her, "and he really likes you. I definitely approve. I'm so happy you've found someone," he smiled. "I'm going to get Niamh home I think she's tired. Give you two some time alone." Adrian winked at her and she rolled her eyes.
"Thank you, for everything. All your support these last few months, I'm grateful. You're a pretty good best friend ya know?" she smiled, punching him jokingly in the chest. "I'll see you soon."
"Phone me tomorrow, I want details," he told her. Clara didn't quite know how to respond, "joking!" he laughed and went out to collect Niamh.
Danny walked in to the kitchen after Adrian had said goodbye and left. Clara was still washing up and didn't actually notice him arrive until he wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck softly. She stopped briefly, keeping her hands held over the sink but leaning back in to him.
"Hey," she whispered, smiling gently. "Are you okay? I know Adrian can seem a little odd, but…"
"He's great, and he clearly means a lot to you and you to him," Danny told her. Clara quickly looked around, "don't worry I'm not jealous, I'm grown up enough to know that men and woman can be friends without being in a relationship," he smiled.
"Well I sure hope we're not one of those pairs," Clara grinned and kissed him softly, "I need to finish this."
"No you don't," he grabbed a towel from the side and handed it to her. "Come on, let's go talk holidays," Danny led her out to the sofa where they had no intention of moving for the rest of the evening.
Danny hadn't told her where they were going despite Clara asking him most of the way to the airport. She'd teased him to the best of her ability but he wasn't breaking – he was good. He'd picked her up early that morning after she'd barely slept last night from excitement and slight nerves. Poor Adrian had dealt with her frequent texts to get his advice on various outfits and thoughts.
As they finally walked in to the airport and towards the check in area Danny finally stopped her.
"There's no hiding it anymore," he handed over the booking confirmation to her and waited as she read it over.
"Rome?!" Clara looked up, "I've always wanted to go. When I was little my Mum gave me this book and well, I've just always wanted to go. Tom was going to take me but… no, never mind that. This is perfect Danny, absolutely perfect. Thank you," Clara hugged him tight.
"I may have asked Adrian for suggestions. He mentioned you'd always wanted to go, I'm glad I can help. Now come on, let's go get on a plane," he smiled and they made their way to check in.
A few hours later and they'd made it. The flight was straight forward, Danny had bought them wine and it'd been pretty relaxing. When they got to the hotel Danny opened the door and let her go in first. He carried the cases in as she checked out the mini apartment inside.
"This is beautiful," Clara reappeared from the bedroom. "I just have one question…" Danny looked up, "why are there two bedrooms?"
"Well this is all relatively new I didn't know how you'd feel about sharing so I thought the option was there…" Clara rolled her eyes.
"You know I actually quite like you, and I'm pretty sure I can survive a couple of weeks sharing a bed with you," she took his hands and walked closer to him. "You don't get rid of me that easily," she told him and kissed him softly. "Can we explore now? There's a park over the road, the weather's beautiful." Danny gave her a look, "later," Clara told him, winking and grabbing her bag. "Park, now!" she grinned.
"You're like a little child," he chuckled and grabbed the apartment key, following her out.
They walked around aimlessly for a while, just talking and enjoying the sights. Their hands barely separated and neither of them stopped smiling. After an hour or so Clara suddenly realised she was absolutely starving and spotted a foot cart.
"Gelato?" she asked, pointing at the sign.
"Sounds perfect," Danny replied and they made their way over, ordering one each and guiding her over to the nearby fountains, sitting down on the edge and handing her a pot. They both ate quietly, looking out over the park in front of them. Clara leant her head sideways and rested it on his shoulder as she ate, sighing happily not even noticing the tears falling. "Are you okay?" Danny asked, suddenly concerned. Clara quickly realised what was happening and smiled, wiping her face quickly.
"I haven't been this happy in months," she spoke relatively quietly, putting her empty pot down beside her. "Sorry this probably seems stupid; I just never thought I'd feel like this again. I don't mean to be soppy and weird please feel free to stop me at any moment," she chuckled a little somewhat nervously.
"Don't be silly, I'm just glad I can make you feel that way. You're special, Clara Oswald, really special and I'm going to make sure you never forget that." Danny kissed her head softly and put an arm around her. "This holiday is going to be so wonderful I promise you, just you wait and see," he told her and she believed every word.
She was right to do so; he had the whole thing planned. Every day was full of sight-seeing and exploring coupled with lovely food and the odd drink. They went everywhere; the colosseum, Vatican city, walked along the river, it was all perfect. Many photos were taken, moments of happiness, moments of silliness, all of it recorded. 10 days went quickly, almost too quickly. The last night was upon them and Danny was refusing to tell Clara what he had planned. It'd been really warm that day, the warmest of them all and they'd bailed out of the park around lunchtime to go back to the apartment, spending the afternoon in bed. It had reached about 4 when Danny moved, starting to sit up. Clara groaned, refusing to let go of him.
"We can't stay here forever," he smiled, brushing her hair back as had become his little thing. "I need to go somewhere. I'm just going to shower and then I'll be back at 6," he told her, smiling reassuringly.
"What am I meant to do for 2 hours?" Clara asked, giving him puppy eyes which had generally worked well so far, but not today.
"Have a bath, relax, and then get yourself ready for a night out. That dress I got you? That'd be perfect. I promise I'll be back at 6," Danny quickly escaped when her grip loosened. "See you soon," he told her and went off to shower.
Clara waited until he'd left before getting up; doing her best to stop him from going but it didn't work. One he had gone she stuck her robe on and grabbed her phone, walking out on to the balcony and phoning Adrian.
"Hello stranger, how have you been?" Adrian asked, "you must be having a wonderful time."
"It's been amazing, I can't believe I'm coming home tomorrow," Clara sighed a little, looking out over the view.
"Doing anything nice for your last night?" he asked.
"I've no idea, Danny's just disappeared off with the promise to be back at 6 so who knows what's happening. I have faith, I think…" she told him.
"I'm sure he has a plan. Shouldn't you be getting ready then?" Adrian replied.
"Yeah I just… I'm scared," Clara finally admitted.
"What is there to be scared of?" He asked, "you've got a lovely man there who clearly thinks the world of you and wants to make you happy, and as far as I can tell you think the same of him."
"Exactly, exactly that. Adrian I think I love him," she almost sighed with relief when she said it. "I never thought I would but I do, how do I deal with that?"
"How did you deal with it last year?"
"I… just did? It just worked out," she admitted.
"So why will this be any different? Don't be scared, I could see it even 2 weeks ago, just admit how you feel and enjoy yourself. This is your future now and you deserve it."
When Danny returned Clara was stood at the window. She turned around to reveal herself in the silky straight long dress coupled with her straightened hair swept to one side and resting on one shoulder. Danny gasped a little and walked over slowly.
"You look beautiful..." he spoke quietly and stopped a few steps away.
"You look nervous," Clara pointed out, "why exactly?" Danny quickly shook off his expression and smiled.
"Not nervous, just can't believe how I got so lucky..." he trailed off as she took his hands, kissing the top of one.
"Trust me, neither can I. So what's happening here?" Clara asked, finally realising he'd changed since he left the room.
"We're going downstairs, follow me," Danny wasn't giving much away and started to head for the door so Clara picked up her purse and followed him. He wasn't kidding when he said they were going downstairs, because when they got to the reception area they just kept going. She was pretty sure this door had said staff only, but none the less the receptionist had just smiled as they went by.
"Danny what are you up to?" Clara asked again but he didn't reply. After a short walk down a corridor he opened the doors at the end which led outside. He moved aside, letting Clara go out first and when she did she finally understood. They were in a small but beautiful garden filled with various flowers and small fairy lights. There was a water feature in the corner whose lights would change colour occasionally and a wooden structure covering the lot to make it more enclosed and yet still able to see the night sky. "This is... How did you..." Danny stopped her with a gentle kiss.
"I know we've only been together a couple of weeks but I needed to show you what you mean to me," he told her, entwining their fingers as they stood close. He took a small breath before speaking again, "I love you Clara Oswald, you mean everything to me and I never thought it would be possible to fall so hard and fast yet here I am arranging secret garden dates for you and I can't imagine life without you." Clara looked away from the garden and directly at him, her eyes glistening slightly with tears.
"I love you too, and I never thought I'd be able to say that again but I do. Thank you for making me whole again Danny Pink, you've done the impossible," she let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to kiss him deeply. "Don't go home, when we get back please don't go home," Clara leant their foreheads together as she spoke and shut her eyes.
"I'm going nowhere, but right now I'm starving can we sit and eat?" he replied and only then did she spot the food that had appeared on the table. Smiling, she nodded and they made their way over to the table.
After starter and main course Danny got up and whispered something to the waiter who nodded and left, shutting the door to. "I have some things to show you," he told her and sat back down. First he pulled out a piece of paper, sliding it across the table but not taking his hand away just yet. "This is coincidence, I didn't even know until you told me last week," he said with little context and took his hand off so Clara could pick it up. She duly did and started to read.
"This is a job offer... at Coal Hill? Danny I don't understand that position was filled three weeks before the end of term and-" she went to carry on but Danny interrupted her.
"And he couldn't start until September because he had to give notice at his previous job. I know, like I told you - coincidence," he explained and Clara finally put it down.
"So you'll be moving closer?" she asked and Danny nodded.
"That's thing number two. My new place..." he took out his phone and opened a folder of pictures, flicking through and showing her.
"It looks lovely, that garden is beautiful," she smiled.
"I know, you want to live there?" Clara suddenly shot her head up to look at him in shock, "it's got 2 bedrooms so there's no need to-"
"You and your 2 damn bedrooms!" Clara used the previous bit of paper to hit him over the head.
"Is that a yes...?" he asked and Clara turned her serious face back to a smile and nodded. Danny quickly leant over and kissed her. "I have one more thing," he sat back once more and leant in to his jacket pocket. "I can't believe I'm doing this but well... here," he pushed a small box across the table which Clara stared at, her mouth slightly open in shock. "I know it's so quick and I know we still have so much to learn but I just know this is right and," he opened the box up revealing a beautiful silver ring with small diamonds surrounding a sapphire centre, "I'm not saying this year, I'm not saying soon, but Clara Oswald will you marry me?" Danny asked. Clara stood up from the table and he quickly followed although slightly confused as to why. Suddenly she pulled him close, wrapping her arms round his waist and touching their foreheads together.
"Yes, of course I will," she didn't move from that position but Danny leant over slightly to pick up the ring and slid it carefully on to her finger once he'd pulled her arm back from round his waist. They both looked down at her hand with the ring, a perfect fit, between them.
"And I'm never asking you to take this off," he pulled gently on the chain round her neck to reveal her engagement ring from Tom which had been tucked down her dress. "This is always a part of you, a part of us, I'm not asking that to change." Danny held it and her hand joined his.
"And who is meant to be the lucky one in this relationship again?" she asked and chuckled slightly, "3 weeks ago I had no relationship, I didn't even know if I had a future. Here we are now with all these plans, this is all down to you." Clara hugged him and rested her head against his shoulder. The only noise now was the water feature behind them and Danny's heart beat in her ear. They both stood there quietly for a while just taking in the moment. "I should phone Adrian," Clara finally whispered.
"He already knows," Danny replied, "at least he knows I asked, I kinda felt I should go for permission and seeing as I've yet to meet your Dad it was the next best thing." Clara gave a soft chuckle and stood up.
"My Dad doesn't even know you exist yet... I definitely need to fix that. We've drifted a lot since everything happened, I need to sort things out with him," she looked down, clearly nervous about the idea.
"I could come with you?" Danny asked her but Clara shook her head
"No, I need to do this alone. I'll go for dinner on Sunday. He invites me nearly every week anyway; we can talk then," she took a step back, "for now we enjoy our last night and not stress about that. Is it bedtime yet?" Clara asked and kissed his neck teasingly.
"We still have dessert to go," Danny told her although clearly he wasn't complaining much.
"Well in that case we'd better be quick," Clara grinned and sat back down.
Sunday came fast. They flew home, Clara slept and before she knew it she had driven down to her father's house. Danny was still at her place, having been there since they arrived home and she left him still lying in bed complaining that she was leaving. She knocked on her Dad's door and suddenly realised how nervous she was to see him and her Gran. He opened it and looked almost surprised to see her even though she'd text him the previous day to say she would come. They both stood there for a moment before Clara suddenly hugged him tight. Dave took a moment to respond but slowly put his arms around her.
"I've missed you sweetheart," he told her. Clara knew he had, all the messages and missed calls, her poor father had probably been going through a lot these last 6 months. Clara stood back and finally walked in the house properly, following him in to the living room where her Gran was waiting. Clara hugged her too and didn't miss how tight the return hug was.
"I'm sorry Dad, Gran, I know I've been impossible recently and acting really strange..." Clara sat down on the sofa.
"You've barely spoken to us since the funeral love, you've distanced yourself from everyone we had no idea whether you were okay or even alive at times. When Adrian phoned about the hospital back in May and you wouldn't let us in I..." she looked down at the floor as her Dad spoke.
"You didn't want to see me then, I promise that was for your own good." Clara took a deep breath and looked back up; the sudden silence in the room was incredibly awkward.
"You're looking very tanned love, have you been away?" Trust her Gran to save the moment and change the topic slightly.
"I just got back from Rome yesterday; I was at the airport when I replied to your text actually. I was on camp the first week too so that probably helped the tan a little." Clara was explaining her little adventures to the shock of her family.
"You went away? Who with? Adrian?" Dave asked but Clara shook her head. "Alone? Clara it's dangerous when you're in such a fragile state! Why didn't you tell me?!" She had to resist laughing.
"This is why I'm here Dad. I need to tell you about something, someone, new." Suddenly they both looked interested, her Gran especially so. Clara pulled out her phone and bought up a picture of her and Danny from the last day of camp, showing it to them. She noticed her Dad almost tearing up at how she was smiling in the photo. "We met on camp, I only went as a distraction I couldn't bear being at home and you know how much my job has been keeping me going. I'll be honest we didn't get off to the best start but... well, I think most of it was my fault for being too scared of liking someone else and he got me round eventually." There was no way they needed to find out about her accident right now. "It was him that asked me to go away, he knows everything and wanted me to have some more distraction so um... yeah. This is Danny." Clara bit her lip and looked up at them both. Suddenly her Gran kept up and came over to hug her, laughing in her gorgeous little way. Her Dad joined in as she invited him to and they both seemed so happy.
"Clara this is wonderful, you look so happy for the first time in so long. You've already been away together too! Show us holiday photos?" Clara moved over for her Gran to sit beside her and started flicking through. She'd made it about half way through the album when her hand was suddenly grabbed by her Dad who stared at the ring on her finger for a moment.
"This isn't Tom's ring?" Now they were both looking. Clara used her right hand to pull the necklace from under her top to reveal Tom's ring still safely with her. That's when it really clicked for them both. "Clara you've only known him for 3 weeks are you sure?" Dave asked.
"I haven't been more sure of anything since I said yes to Tom. I was so scared of it all at first, and we won't rush in to anything else but I really love him Dad, and he understands me so well," his face was still flat and she nervously waited for a response.
"Clara this is amazing, really wonderful," he smiled, "good ring choice too. So when do we get to meet him?"
"Soon Dad, I promise, but can we eat now because I'm honestly starving," she smiled and stood up to go and help him with dinner. Things were finally getting back to normal.