*grins at you all* Thank you for the reviews! Now that we're closing in on the ending, it's time to cause some trouble. . .

Chapter 25

The gym looked quite impressive and the Doctor had to admit that Clara Oswald and some other volunteers had gone all out to make the ball a success and fun event for the children. Even his daughter seemed to like the decoration.

"Marcy is over there," Rosie pointed out after a moment. "I'm gonna go and hang out with her."

"You do that," the Doctor replied and only now did it dawn on him that he would spend the entire evening on his own, standing in a corner. "I'll just, well, I'll do some chaperoning, I guess. Don't get drunk and snog boys."

His daughter chuckled and he watched her head through the crowd towards her friend, but not without feeling a little sentimental. The Doctor was well aware that Rosie was no longer a child. She was a teenager now and tonight, she looked almost like a young woman. Missy had kept her promise. She had agreed to the name change and apologized to Rosie by taking her on a shopping tour to find an outfit for the ball. The Doctor couldn't imagine that his ex-wife had agreed with Rosie's choice because she was wearing a space-print dress with cartoon rockets and planets and she had brought her NASA hoodie in case she was cold. Still, Missy had bought the dress for her even though she surely hadn't liked it and the Doctor viewed it as a good sign. She was learning to accept Rosie and her decisions.

Not knowing what else to do, the Doctor made his way towards the buffet while the DJ was playing a quite annoying song and he decided to focus on the food while ignoring the noise of the so-called music. He picked up a snack and shoved it into his mouth. It wasn't half bad.

"You're supposed to chaperone the kids, not the food."

The Doctor spun around and looked right into Bonnie's sweet, smiling face. Again, it took him a moment to realize that it wasn't actually Bonnie but her sister Clara and his heartbeat instantly slowed down. One day, he would get used to the idea that his girlfriend had a twin sister who just happened to be his daughter's English teacher.

"Miss Oswald," he blurted out. "I, uh, just checking the food for poison."

"Noble," she remarked and chuckled as she extended her hand to him. The Doctor shook it. It was strange how her skin felt exactly like Bonnie's. "But seeing as you haven't keeled over yet, I assume the food is poison-free."

The Doctor watched Clara reach for the same snack he had chosen before she took a bite and the sound of approval that she made told him that she liked it just as much as he did. It took him a moment to realize what was different and at last, he noticed that she was being extremely nice. Suspiciously nice. It astounded him after their previous encounters.

"Again, thank you for volunteering," Clara Oswald said. "Rosie seems to enjoy herself."

The Doctor let his gaze wander over the crowd and spotted his daughter at the far end of the room, dancing with several other girls. He smiled at the image.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I'm glad she's having fun. It's been a little complicated for her in the past few weeks."

"How so?" her teacher wanted to know and the Doctor opened his mouth, ready to tell her everything, but then he remembered that she was Rosie's teacher and not his girlfriend. Somehow, Clara had the same way of making him want to pour his heart out.

"Oh well, family stuff," the Doctor replied instead. "Her mother and I are divorced and it's not always easy, but I guess you hear that quite often."

Miss Oswald nodded. "I think Rosie knows she can rely on you."

"I don't know about you two, but I need a drink," a blonde, tall woman said as she approached the buffet and came to a halt right next to them.

She scanned the selection, but obviously realized that she couldn't find what she was looking for and instead, turned towards the Doctor and Miss Oswald. He was sure that he had seen her before, maybe at the parent-teacher evening, and the Doctor assumed that she was one of the teachers. And if she was, he felt sorry for her students because, from the very first impression, the Doctor could tell that she wasn't a patient woman.

"I don't know if you've met at the parent-teacher evening," Clara Oswald said, "but this is Miss Quill, the physics teacher. Miss Quill, this is Mr Smith, Rosie's father."

"Rosie," the physics teacher hummed in reply and looked up, obviously trying to remember if she knew her. "Rosie. . . Rosie. . . Rosie. . . Oh, Rosie. Yeah, she's my student, I think. Less stupid than the rest."

The Doctor decided to take that as a compliment, but Miss Quill seemed to think the conversation about her student was over. Instead, she looked at Miss Oswald curiously, scanning her from head to toe for a reason he couldn't quite comprehend. Well, he could because Clara was very pretty and if he hadn't been dating her sister, he probably would have been tempted to check her out as well.

"Tell me, who am I talking to tonight? Clara Oswald or the twin?" Miss Quill enquired.

"What?!" Clara asked and she was pretending to sound surprised. It might have worked hadn't she added a nervous laugh. "I'm Clara. Clara Oswald. What does my sister have to do with this?"

The physics teacher shrugged. "The summer fête? The dinner party?"

"Uhm, what about it?" Clara asked carefully.

"You didn't quite seem yourself."

"I was feeling under the weather," Miss Oswald responded immediately and the Doctor watched her go up on tiptoes as if she was trying to make herself taller. Something was odd about her behaviour.

"Huh," Miss Quill hummed and slowly turned around to walk away. The Doctor watched her as she made her way through the crowd and for a moment, he wondered whether Rosie had any normal teachers.

"So, uhm, is that something you do on a regular basis?" the Doctor asked and eyed Clara Oswald curiously. Maybe he had misjudged her and suddenly, he found herself liking her a little.

"What is?" she asked in return and granted him a smile. Clara Oswald knew exactly what he was talking about and it amused him a little that she was trying to play dumb.

He shrugged. "Switching roles with your twin sister," the Doctor said in a casual manner, then he started to chuckle. He had to admit that it was brilliant. "Sending her to school events in your place. Don't deny it."

For a moment, he thought that she would keep on denying it, but then she let her shoulders sink and sighed. "Okay, fine, I wasn't feeling well on the day of the summer fête, so Bonnie went in my place. She also went to the dinner party," Clara Oswald admitted and then bit down on her lip.

The Doctor couldn't help but laugh. "That's really clever," he said and he couldn't help but think that he was actually impressed. But then something occurred to him. "Wait, you're Clara Oswald now, right? You're yourself? Cause, honestly, I still can't tell you apart."

Miss Oswald smiled at him in return. "I'm myself," she confirmed.

He wasn't quite sure what he had wanted to hear, but if she was Bonnie, it would have explained why she was being so nice and why he suddenly liked her. In fact, her response only confused him further. Would he ever get used to the idea that he was dating someone who had a living, breathing, walking replica?

The song changed and Clara's head turned towards the dancefloor. She was considering something, he could tell.

"Would you like to dance, Mr Smith?" she suddenly asked, taking him by surprise.

"Oh, uhm," he spluttered. Could he dance with her? Was that allowed? Did he want to? The Doctor couldn't quite tell. "It would be rude to say no, wouldn't it?"

Clara Oswald chuckled. She chuckled in the exact same way Bonnie always did. "A little, yeah."

"Alright," he agreed and offered her his hand. When she took it, he could have sworn it was Bonnie.