Chapter 10

As soon as the Doctor stepped inside his house he could hear very clearly what was going on in Joe's room and decided then and there that he would finally put a stop to it. The next morning. Right now he was too confused and too tired, so he dragged his body upstairs and under the shower, hoping the water would wash every this entire evening along with the thoughts he knew he shouldn't be having. His mind however wasn't quite so ready to let go of Clara Oswald as her smile kept haunting him.

She is just a student, he kept telling himself, She's nothing special. You're just a dirty, old pervert.

The Doctor finally retreated to bed and found Yoko slumbering peacefully on top of his blanket. He knew it was pathetic, confessing his inappropriate feelings for his student to his pet but somehow it always made him feel better, at least for a little while and so he told Yoko about everything that had happened, earning nothing but the usual purring before he reached for the headphones and listened to the CD that Clara had recommended to him to drown out the noises coming from the next room.

OOO

"You came home late last night," Joe observed with a grin when the Doctor walked downstairs to get his morning coffee. Since Jennifer was nowhere to be seen or heard the he assumed that she had already gone home, "You didn't score with pretty Miss Oswald, did you?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he let himself sink down on the chair. "No, I did not score with Miss Oswald. I didn't even try to score with Miss Oswald because I am decent person and I like my job and getting women tipsy just to get them to sleep with me is not how I would even attempt to score with any woman," he spat angrily, "I walked her home because the streets aren't safe at night and I didn't want her to get robbed or worse just because you're a fucking idiot."

"Wow, someone is angry this morning," Joe replied, taking a sip from his coffee.

"I have every right to be angry," the Doctor shouted back, surprising not only Joe but himself with his sudden outburst. But to be fair, he was still very angry, "These six months you've been living with me you have acted not like a friend but like a parasite! You're using my house and your workplace as a playground and that stops right now! You're welcome to keep living with me until you have found something you like under the condition that there will be no more students at my home. You won't bring them here and you won't make it so obvious that the entire university knows. I want no part in this, I don't even want to catch you looking at a student while I'm in the same room. And if you can't do that you'll have to pack your bags immediately. I don't care where you go, you can stay with Susie at her parents' house if they let you but not here. Oh, and one more thing: if the questions you told Clara yesterday don't pop up in your test she is going to have a little chat with Missy. And that is not an empty threat."

Joe opened his mouth in protest. "Man, I don't even remember the questions. I made them all up last night!"

"Not my problem," the Doctor replied, "But you better remember them before Thursday or you're going to remember what it's like to be an unemployed professor."

He rose from his chair again and walked into the direction of the coffee maker, pouring himself a mug and taking a large sip before he was finally able to catch his breath.

"I mean it, Joe," he said more softly now but at the same time kept the determination in his voice, "This has got to stop. I disapproved of your actions before but seeing it with my own eyes last night, how uncomfortable you make the students, how you trick them. I can't be a part of that."

His friend stared at him for a long moment before he finally nodded. "Alright. I won't invite another student here but only if you answer me truthfully," he cocked an eyebrow, "Do you have a thing for Clara Oswald?"

"Joe," the Doctor said threateningly.

"I'm asking as your friend and I certainly won't judge you. She's a beautiful and smart woman, I totally get why you would fancy her. And there's still a difference between an innocent crush and doing what I do."

For a brief moment the Doctor almost considered confessing it all but eventually he thought better of it. He shook his head. "You're right. Clara Oswald is smart and beautiful but I do not have a crush on her. She's nice and I like her as a student."

He couldn't tell whether or not he had managed to convince Joe but eventually his friend turned his head away from him and faced his coffee again, finally ending this awkward conversation.

OOO

Clara woke with a start, the memory of the previous night immediately returning to her mind and the first thing she did, even before waking up properly, was to reach for her phone and dial Amy's number. The phone rang a couple of times before her friend finally answered.

"Amy, a thing happened!" Clara confessed.

"Oh dear God, you slept with him," she heard Amy say, the disappointment so clear in her voice, "Who was it? Smith or Schmidt?"

"I didn't sleep with him, especially not with professor Schmidt," she immediately defended herself. The thought alone made her stomach twist and turn. Or maybe it was only her body's punishment for the tequila. Clara couldn't really tell.

"Alright, tell me what happened," Amy demanded.

Clara took a deep breath. "You didn't miss much, Schmidt continued to be a jerk and he went home with that other poor girl. I've got three questions for the test, by the way, and if they don't end up actually being in that test I will tell the head of staff about what he's having the students do for extra credit. Anyway, after they had left the Doctor insisted that I shouldn't go home alone and I agreed to let him walk me home," Clara paused, giving her friend time to reply but she said nothing at all, "Amy? Are you still there?"

"Yes," she replied, "I'm waiting for you to tell me what thing happened."

"He walked me home. My professor walked me home. He gave me his coat because I was freezing and we talked and I may have said a few things that I probably wouldn't have without the tequila but we talked. Like normal people. And he said he doesn't dislike me. He was nice."

"I still don't see a problem here. So you talked to our professor while he made sure you got home safely. He's nice and capable of speech – what are you so agitated about?"

Clara paused, pondering her friend's words. Amy was right, of course. What was she so agitated about? Now that she came to think about it nothing had happened. She had gone out with two of her professors and a couple of other students, one of those professors had felt bad about her having to walk home alone and accompanied her while being nothing but a gentleman. If she put it that way it sounded like the most natural thing but something inside her was in a turmoil about last night.

"Clara, I hate to ask this question again but," Amy paused, "Are you sure you don't have a crush on him?"

"I don't," Clara replied weakly but suddenly she wasn't quite so sure anymore.