*A/N: HEY EVERYBODY! Firstly, I'm so so sorry for the slow update. 9 days is totally unacceptable and I'm very sorry about that. I started back at school last week and I've been up to my eyes in coursework, so much so writing has had to take a step back in priority whilst I've been sorting out some really important stuff.

Anyway, I'd like to say ohmygod 200 reviews! I logged onto FFN as soon as I got back from school today and was amazed at the number, you guys are so kind! As I've reached my 2nd hundred, I'm going to do my quick hundred-reviews-shoutout to all the lovely people on FFN and tumblr who reviewed, so thanks to: Guest, runyoucleverboy-remember, Pondlife, guest, RoseOswinPond, AmberJade777, Chasingthestars123, copiesofclara (wow, thankyou for reviewing each chapter, that's very kind) ems, Jamie, Whoflay, Kosovaheartland, RoseTyler, superwholockian, Guest, Dohistuo, OswinSmith, WholockianChick, Donna, Justine, Whoffle pop, souffez and Snogbox.

So, chapter 11...yes, this is a bit of a Clara lite chapter. It's Doctor POV, but Clara is in one scene. However, Clara will be back in the next chapter! And I think you'll like chapter 12;)... A lot. Maybe. This chapter is essential to the plot. It's one of the big ones. This is more of an action chapter then a relationship chapter, but there will be more of those to come ;)

There are a few mysteries lurking in this chapter, some easier to find than others. Read carefully ;) And expect a lot of dramatic irony in this chapter (if you don't know what I'm talking about reread the last part of chapter 10)

This took me longer then expected to write. I kept changing my mind on how to write bits of it, but I got there in the end. So please enjoy, my lovely patient readers and please leave some of your amazing reviews with comments/theories.

I think that's all, happy reading, the next chapter will be on a.s.a.p,

allonsy! (did that rhyme?)

Waiting For You

Chapter 11: Far From Perfect

The next week and a half passed quite quickly and before the Doctor knew it, it was Christmas. They'd been so busy with office party reservations at the Restaurant that week the Doctor hadn't thought about much else. It had become a routine of getting up in the morning, feeding Luna (The Doctor noticed River was still rather found of lie-ins), getting into work on time, working until his hands and feet were sore before staggering home, making himself and Luna dinner, then passing out on his bed.

The Doctor tried to stay out of River's way as much as possible. He made sure he left before she woke up, ate dinner at a different time and went to bed earlier than usual so he didn't have to spend excess time with her. However, the Doctor still hated the feeling of having River in his home. She was that irritating itch, which even though he tried his hardest to ignore he just couldn't. She always seemed to be lurking around him and every single thing she did appeared to annoy him.

The Doctor actually decided he preferred Luna over her only a day in, even though she did seem to have a habit of waking up in the middle of the night and screaming at the top of her lungs. There was something about having a toddler in the flat which made the place almost appear brighter, if not messier, than it was before.

The Doctor knew that the DNA results weren't expected to arrive until around New Year's; therefore due to his busy state the thought of them for the meantime was shoved to the back of his mind. To his surprise, River hadn't even brought up the DNA test to him. Not that they'd spent much time in each other's company…but he couldn't help but feel suspicious to as why she'd never asked him about it. It had been one of the conditions for her staying with him in the first place.

Nevertheless, the Doctor continued on through the busy week until he got to Christmas day. He and Clara hadn't exchanged many words since he'd explained to her about the baby. He could tell that she was continuing to deliberately ignore him at work and even though he didn't blame her, every time she did it felt like a stab to his heart.

He'd found out from Amy that Clara and Adam had gone on a few more dates since their first to the nightclub, but hadn't become an official item yet. Despite this, the Doctor still felt incredibly jealous every time he saw them flirting together at work. He found he had to resist the urge to breakdown and cry because he was watching the woman he loved with another man.

And it was killing him.

Life to the Doctor was beginning to feel a lot less enjoyable then it had been in the weeks prior. He no longer had his precious Clara which he longed to be with so much, he had his ghastly ex living under the same roof and he didn't appear to be such an important aspect to Amy and Rory's lives anymore. Ever since they had become a couple, the Doctor noticed they spent all of their time hanging out with each other and didn't seem as interested in hanging around with him.

On top of this the Doctor had other problem's going on at home. What he could only assume were a group of youths had slashed the tyres on his car one night. The electricity kept cutting out only in his apartment, the drains kept blocking and the central heating kept going from freezing temperatures to boiling ones, causing the Doctor to become even more stressed. Luck just wasn't on his side at the moment. He decided. But things couldn't get much worse, could they?

Because of all these things, the Doctor ended up feeling that the only important part of his life at that time was looking after Luna when her Mother didn't appear to have the energy to do so. Even though he knew that there was a possibility this child wasn't his, he began to treasure the parts of his hectic day where he could just play with her on the rug whilst River had a nap, or spoon feed Luna her dinner. He hated to admit it to himself, but in such a short space of time he began to feel attached to this child. Luna appeared to be the only person who showed any love towards the Doctor at that point. She'd always giggle when she saw him and constantly wanted hugs…and even though the Doctor knew this was normal behaviour for a toddler with any adult, it still brightened up his day and made him feel a lot less lonely.

His extreme loneliness was due to a lack of love. The Doctor was giving so much of his love to Clara that he felt as if his heart was going to burst, because no matter how much love he felt for her she wasn't returning it in anyway. However, this wasn't because she was being cruel, it was because she was protecting herself from getting hurt again. But to the Doctor it didn't matter if she refused to return it, he was going to try his best to win her back anyway.

So a few days before Christmas, the Doctor had asked Clara to come to his for Christmas day. He was having Amy and Rory round to spend the day with him, Luna and River. The Doctor hoped this would make it slightly more enjoyable for him, so he didn't have to spend so much time talking to River on his own. The Doctor knew Clara probably say no, seeing as River and Luna were going to be there, but he couldn't help but try anything to get her back in his life.

He'd approached her a little sheepishly whilst she was talking a coffee break on her own in the staff room at work. "Clara?"

She looked up from her coffee to him in surprise. "What is it?"

The reply appeared a little rude, but the Doctor had ignored it and carried on nervously. "It was just…I thought I'd ask you if you wanted to come over to mine on Christmas day. I mean Amy and Rory are coming so-"

Clara cut in sharply. "Is your ex and the baby gonna be there?"

Her tone was cold and she sounded somewhat irritated at the invitation. "Well, yes…but-"

"I'm busy. I'm going back to the Maitland's for Christmas this year as I can't afford to go up to Lancashire to see my Dad, then I'm going to Adam's party in the evening. Sorry."

But she didn't sound the slightest bit sorry as she rinsed out her coffee mug at the sink, before leaving the room briskly and ignoring him for the rest of the day.

She didn't want to do that. Clara would have loved to have spent Christmas with the Doctor if River wasn't around, but getting her heart broken wasn't something she was willing to risk doing again.

-x-

The Doctor had tried to enjoy Christmas day, but he spent the whole time thinking about Clara.

He was jealous that Adam was getting to see Clara instead of him. If life was perfect right now, he'd be sat on his sofa by the fire curled up with Clara, exchanging Christmas presents and watching Christmas specials on the TV.

But life was far from perfect.

The Doctor had ended up being thankful he'd invited Amy and Rory, as Christmas day had ended up being a total nightmare. The electricity and central heating appeared to be on the blink again, turning off and on again every few minutes which meant the Turkey was taking much longer than it should have done to cook in his oven.

Luna was also teething still which meant she spent the whole day crying, causing River to keep losing her temper. This meant they exchanged presents but didn't have lunch until 5pm and even by then the meal was still undercooked. However, after he'd opened a bottle of wine and everyone had filled their empty tummies, they became a lot less stressed out and all gathered in front of the TV, making casual conversation.

Amy and Rory ended up going back to Amy's at 9, leaving the Doctor to clear up the flat. They told him that they'd had a nice day despite everything and they should try and meet up more out of work again after New Year's. The Doctor agreed that would be nice.

Once they were gone, River tried to help the Doctor clean the kitchen as Luna had gone to bed.

"Anything I can do to help?" She offered, watching the Doctor wash the dishes at the sink.

"I'm fine, thanks. You can go to bed if you want." He replied, trying to dismiss her so he could be alone with his thoughts…mostly of Clara.

"No, I want to help, please?"

The Doctor sighed and finished cleaning the dishes. "It's fine, I'm done now anyway."

"Oh." River replied as she followed him back into the living room. "Do you want to watch some more TV?"

The Doctor turned round to face her. "I'm tired, I'm going to bed."

"Don't you want to spend some time together?" River pleaded, causing the Doctor to frown.

"No…not really."

"Why not?!" She replied irritably, crossing her arms.

The Doctor groaned. He knew what River was doing. She was trying to get them closer so she could get back together with him again, but he knew that that was definitely not happening. "Because River, I despise you even living here, so spending any more time with you is not the slightest bit enjoyable for me!"

River glared at him in hurt and anger. "That can't be true."

"Why not?"

"Because if that were true, you would have ordered a DNA test already, but you haven't. Which means you secretly like me being here. I knew it."

The Doctor inwardly smiled to himself. She had no idea about the DNA test; it was all going to plan. "I just forgot about it." He lied. "But thank you for reminding me, I'll order one tomorrow."

River shook her head. "You're lying, I know you want to get back together with me Doctor."

The Doctor took a step back anxiously. "Um…I really don't."

"Yes, you do!"

And before the Doctor knew it River was reaching up, trying to kiss him. But he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back before she could. "River, for god's sake, I've told you this so many times…I'm never getting back together with you. I'd rather die than get back together with you and I will never love you again, do you understand? No matter how hard you try this will never happen and the sooner you understand that, the better."

He suddenly realised he'd been shouting in her face and her eyes became watery as she started to cry. She then turned, ran back to her room and slammed the door, causing Luna to wake up and wail again. The Doctor buried his head in his hands and groaned once more. He knew he should probably feel bad for being so harsh to River just then, but in his mind it was justified. Anything he could do to hurt her could never be as bad as what she did to hurt him. She got everything she deserved.

The Doctor realised then that having River in his flat was beginning to make him become dark and hostile. Ever since she arrived things kept going wrong and he was becoming much angrier then he used to be. He knew she needed to leave as quickly as possible, but he still needed to know the results of the DNA test before he let Luna go.

So he waited. One more week. He told himself. Only one more week until the DNA results come. Then you'll get all the answers you need.

He hoped that maybe then things would start to get better again.

Maybe.

-x-

Another week passed and the Doctor began to get worried as to why the results still hadn't arrived. It was the morning of New Year's Eve and Vastra had closed the Restaurant for a few days whilst she and Jenny took a mini break to Scotland with Strax, so the staff had a few days off too.

Amy and Rory had invited the Doctor out with them that evening, but he'd declined as he felt as if he'd be too much of a third wheel on a night such as New Year's Eve. And besides, Amy would probably attempt to hook him up with another girl to try and get him over Clara…and he really didn't want to be over her just yet.

So on his day off, the Doctor got up slightly later than usual and began to feed Luna her breakfast, whilst River was out getting some more milk. She finally returned 15 minutes after she left with a new carton and a newspaper, slamming the door shut after she re-entered the flat as she'd been doing every day the past week to get his attention.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Is that really necessary?"

"Yes, it is." River replied, banging the milk down next to the Doctor on the table to emphasise this. "And why are you always running out of bloody milk?" She muttered, before wandering over to the sofa and lying down to read her newspaper.

"I like to make soufflés."

River scoffed. "Since when have you liked making soufflés?"

"Since recently." He shot back, picking up the carton pouring himself a small glass.

She huffed and gave him and evil glare, triggering the Doctor into giving in. "Look, River, I'm sorry for shouting in your face last week. It was uncalled for, but I needed to get the message into your head that this was never going to happen."

"I know."

"You do?" He questioned, rather surprised at her change in attitude.

"Yes, I had too much to drink and I didn't mean it. I don't care."

The Doctor was going to argue, but had a feeling she was trying to cover her tracks in embarrassment so decided to leave it. "Okay."

"I'm taking Luna to the park this afternoon and then I might go clothes shopping for her; she's outgrown a lot of her old stuff. I don't suppose you want to come?" She murmured whilst continuing to read an article in the paper.

The Doctor swallowed. He didn't much like the idea of a family outing with River, plus if Clara was out and saw them she would get completely the wrong idea. "Urm, no thanks."

"Thought not."

The pair both went back to ignoring each other like usual, but then suddenly River broke the silence. "Oh yeah and I meant to say, your nutty neighbour has been wittering on at me about her plumbing again. She asked if you could go and have a look at it for her, seeing as you managed to fix the problem we were having the other week."

"Mrs Gillyflower isn't nutty, she's just old." The Doctor sighed. "What's the problem, is it the toilet or a tap or…?"

River shrugged, eyes still glued to the newspaper. "Can't remember…and trust me, that's debatable."

The Doctor got up from the table and cleared his and Luna's breakfast before locating his toolbox. "Then I'll go now and see what the problem is whilst you take Luna to the park. I'm sure my sonic screwdriver will be able to fix it, it always does."

He turned on his heel to leave the apartment but heard River call. "It's not sonic; it's just a plain old screwdriver."

"Yes, but one that glows in the dark, that's pretty cool."

"No, it's really not."

-x-

The Doctor knocked on the door to Mrs Gillyflower's apartment, the one next to his and was shortly greeted by the elderly woman who was wearing her usual posh attire. "Oh, Doctor, thank you for stopping by. The tap in the bathroom was playing up and I bumped into your wife earlier who told me you'd be able to fix it."

She led the way into the flat and the Doctor followed after her, shutting the door behind him. "Don't worry, it's no trouble…and River isn't my wife, nor my girlfriend. She's just staying in my spare room, we're not together."

The Doctor glanced around Gillyflower's dark living room, taking in the old Victorian style furniture and how smoky it appeared to be in here. However, he thought it might seem a bit rude to question that so continued following her into the bathroom.

"But you have a child, yes?" Gillyflower queried.

"Yes, well, maybe. I'm not sure." The Doctor answered, earning a puzzled look.

"Oh right…I see." She replied politely. The Doctor knew this situation sounded bonkers to everybody he'd told it to so far, which is another reason why he hoped the DNA test would come as soon as possible. He decided then he would go down to check his mailbox as soon as he was done here fixing Gillyflower's tap, just in case it had arrived this morning.

Gillyflower gestured towards her bathroom sink and the Doctor knelt on the floor placing his toolbox beside him before opening up the underneath to look at the piping. She turned on and off the tap to show him the problem and he nodded understandably. "I see what's wrong, a few pipes have come loose. Easy job, I'll have it done in about 20 minutes." He smiled as he began to work.

"Would you like anything to drink whilst you're working, dear? Cup of tea?" Gillyflower offered kindly.

"Um…" The Doctor was about to decline, but realised the thick, dry air of her smoky apartment was making his mouth quite dry. "Yes please, if you don't mind."

"Milk or sugar?"

"A little milk, eleven sugars." He replied whilst retrieving his 'sonic' screwdriver from his toolbox.

"Eleven?" Gillyflower replied with a chuckle, making her way to her kitchen. "If you take that much sugar you'll have lost all your teeth by the time you're my age young man!"

She briskly made him his tea which he drunk and after a good 20 minutes the Doctor had got the tap working again. "Good as new." He exclaimed, rather proud of his handy work.

Gillyflower then thanked him, he said goodbye and left her flat. The Doctor dropped his toolbox back at his place to see River and Luna had left for the day, before going downstairs to check his mailbox.

However, when he got to the mailroom of his apartment block, the Doctor was shocked to see that someone had appeared to have forced the door of his box open without using a key, leaving it ajar. He frowned and peered inside, collecting the remaining contents of bills and advertisements.

That's weird. He thought. Why would someone want to break into my mailbox?

And then he remembered River. She'd had two chances to do this this morning; she could have wanted to take the DNA results before he got his hands on them… But why would she break into the mailbox and then leave it ajar? River's cleverer then that, she would have stolen his keys and got her way in that way, surely? Plus, for all she knew he only ordered the DNA test a week ago and the results couldn't have come back that fast…this didn't make sense.

The Doctor brushed off the weird feeling for now and assumed it must be River, who else would want to spy into his mail? He furiously stormed back upstairs to his flat, deciding he'd confront River about everything as soon as she came home and demand she gave him the DNA results or else he'd kick her and Luna out immediately.

He began to pace up and down his apartment thinking about what he should do, when he was suddenly hit by a feeling of light headedness and a sharp pain in his temple. The Doctor put it down to lack of sleep due to Luna's teething screams, so went to the kitchen and took a painkiller to soothe his progressing headache.

After a bit of thought, the Doctor decided he should call Amy and discuss with her what he should do about his mailbox break in. He grabbed his phone which was lying on the dining table but on the way lost his balance and stumbled out of the blue which made his headache worsen.

Nevertheless, the Doctor finally rang Amy up and informed her what was happening, so she agreed she'd be over there as soon as she could.

"I'm out doing a supermarket shop at the moment, I'll be there in about half an hour, is there anything you need while I'm here?" She asked from the other end of the line.

"I don't think so." He replied, wincing as his headache turned into an agonising migraine. "Thanks Amy, I don't know what to do."

"I'll call Rory too." She decided. "And Doctor?"

"Mm?"

"Are you alright? You sound as if you're in pain…"

"No, no I'm fine. Just a bit of a headache, it'll pass." He lied.

"Mm…okay. See you in a mo." Amy said uncertainly before hanging up the phone.

The Doctor placed his mobile back on the table but found himself stumbling again, this time grabbing onto a chair for support but failed, falling to the floor. He moaned in pain, his head now pounding and his vision hazy. He tried to pull himself up but found no strength and he felt extremely dizzy and disorientated.

The Doctor had no idea what was happening to him, he felt as if his mind was blanking out and his bones felt as heavy as stone. He couldn't see, he couldn't hear; all his senses had been paralyzed.

Then slowly the rest of him slipped away into unconsciousness…and he was gone.