*Hello everyone! I hope you're all looking forward to the weekend, I know I am. So, quick writing update, I hit the 100,000 words and 200 page mark, which I'm really happy about. Chapters 31 and maybe 32 will be finished today depending on how much work for uni I end up doing. I'm at an annoying point in the story because I know something massive is about to happen and I'm struggling to get through the necessary filler bits and bobs that I need to write to get there. Anyway, following on from a Christmas chapter, a New Years chapter and some more Tom action, plus a look at what happened when Clara went home...I hope you enjoy and check back tomorrow for a cracker and the return of a major character from earlier on...As ever, thanks so much for those of you out there who keep on reviewing, it warms my heart. But equal thanks to anyone who follows this story, reads this story and who has favourited. Please keep it up, it keeps me ticking over :) I have now over 150 reviews, 50 favourites and 87 followers, plus nearly 14,000 reads so WOW you guys are the best. The Potter Doctor out for now.*
The slamming of his door, so fierce that he was surprised his whole apartment wasn't shaking, alerted the Doctor to Clara's presence. She stormed into the bedroom and hurled her case to the floor, screaming in frustration. She locked eyes with the Doctor and he smiled, trying to calm her nerves but seeing that he was failing miserably. He stood up and snaked an arm around her, kissing the top of her forehead and rocking her gently back and forth in the hug. She pressed her head against his chest and he could feel her breaths, long and deep as to calm herself. She shot him an apologetic smile and then returned herself to being engrossed in his body, her hand subconsciously tracing circles on his lower back, which made him shiver in content.
"I know I promised to extend the olive branch," Clara mumbled into him and he glanced down at her to try and better decipher her. "But can I just give up now?" She broke the hug and flopped down onto the bed, the Doctor a moment behind her. "Bitch-Face is impossible. She's spent the whole of the two days trying to convince me to try on the most hideous bridesmaids dresses known to man and decide what to do with my hair and makeup and I swear to God if she refers to us as a great big happy family, one more fucking time!"
"Clara!" the Doctor rubbed her shoulders gently and she took another deep breath.
"I am happy for him," she promised the Doctor. "I've made peace with the fact that he wants to move on, is moving on. But I can't stand their lack of sensitivity, her lack of care. I mean, I'm trying so damn hard to accept what is happening and I'm trying to be there for my dad but Bitch-Face does not understand that she is not and will never be my mother." Clara felt a tear roll down her cheek and the Doctor swept it away. "She can be there for my dad and she can be his replacement for my mum, I can understand that and I'm starting to be okay with it. But I don't want a replacement mother. There is no woman on this planet that can compete with my real mum, who will ever make me feel the way she did. And I won't have this woman thinking that she can, that she is. She can be my father's new bride, but she will never be anything to me beyond that. The woman who my dad likes. I'm not saying I don't want a relationship with her," Clara continued and the Doctor was nodding appreciatively. "But I hate the way she's trying to force it, and the way she acts as though she's here for me. She and my father have not been there for me. The last year, the only person who has really been for me the entire time this has been going on is sat in this room. Acting like she cares for two days when I'm there then not even dropping me a text for the other months on end, leaving all that to my dad is not motherhood. And I won't let her think that it is."
Clara was finished now and had her emotions back under control. She let the Doctor embrace her and she kissed him, a deep relief of pressure. They locked hands and she instantly felt better. She could work things out with Bitch-Face, she knew she could. And then, the Doctor was smirking and Clara's eyebrows furrowed as she frowned at him.
"Can I see some of the dresses?" he asked, the irrepressible smirk on his face growing as his wicked idea brought up horror for Clara as she frantically shook her head. "They couldn't have been that bad, surely?"
"Don't test me!" Clara warned him and he laughed at that. "I'm serious, some of them were truly horrific. I mean I refused to even try half of them, they were so ugly. Dad kept throwing a fit, but I had to draw the line somewhere. You should have seen this pink one Doctor, oh dear God. I'm so glad to be back. I promised to keep in touch though, so I expect Dad will be stealing our weekend time for more dress fittings and the like. Although you're still welcome to come to everything, you're my plus-one for the wedding after all. They've set a date," she continued absent-mindedly. "June 10th. Just after exams. As soon as I'm done at uni, I'll have to head back for the final week of preparations. I told Dad I'd be home for a lot of Easter as well, I'd have to be to help sort everything out. Eugh," Clara threw back her head in frustration. "Between all the work I have to do and planning this bloody wedding, I don't know when we'll get much time for ourselves in the next few months. I'm really sorry Doctor."
"Don't apologise," he told her tenderly, kissing her and she caught her breath. "It's not your fault. None of this is your fault and you're handling it remarkably well. You didn't punch anyone while you were at home did you?"
"No," Clara smiled a little and kissed him. "Just my pillow a few million times. But no repeats of the restaurant incident and I didn't even get asked to apologise for it, although I suppose I should have. I did throw an entire cake in her face. Which she deserved. I think, it's hard to tell anymore. Do you think I've been unreasonable?" she asked him and he looked her up and down before smiling and shaking his head.
"I think you lost your mum and nobody can fix that. And that Mandy, I mean Bitch-Face acting like she can just paper over the cracks and act as though nothing has changed is bullshit. She might have her heart in the right place, but it's an insult to your mum's memory to suggest that she can be a replacement for her and you have every right to be angry."
Clara was shocked. So often, the Doctor would support her in her arguments against her father, but he was always on the fence, supporting Clara because he had to, telling her what she wanted to hear at times and at others telling her to be nicer to her father or trying to coax her into giving him a chance. To hear him so genuinely and passionately defend her was a pleasant surprise. She stepped up and kissed him, a deep, long kiss that was only broken when the Doctor asked: "So what happened with moving out?"
Clara went pink. "I want to move in with you," she confessed. "But I'm still at uni, you're sort of working in London and I want us to be stable and know where we're at. So for now, I'm keeping some stuff up with my dad and when I'm not with you or at uni, that's where I'll be. I suppose I'll have to tolerate Bitch-Face until after the wedding and then, after that, we'll see where you're at and what's happening with my third year and go from there. We can't exactly buy a house yet."
"Listen to you," the Doctor's lips curled upwards. "Reasonable and practical. Clara Oswald, talk sensible to me, I love it." Only the Doctor could turn the phrase: 'Talk sensible to me' sexual but he managed it. She smiled and whispered in his ear. Her lips were so close that she reached out and nibbled, causing him to whip round, his eyes alive with passion. They kissed again and this time, they both knew where it was going. Clara undressed him swiftly, growling at his chest as she clawed at it, his own hands tugging at her hair and ripping off her shirt. They shared a look. It was a look of pure love, tempered with overwhelming longing and lust as they knew each other completely. They had learned every crevice of the other's body, running their hands over each part, each slight tremor and each contour. Clara's hand was at his face, his was on her side. They kissed again and that set them away.
2014 had been a brutal year for Clara. But it had ended on a high, she told herself. Or at least, she was hoping it would. Tom had invited them to a New Year's Bash at his house, while his parents were out of town. Plenty of his friends from London would be there and Clara was excited. It took her and the Doctor a long time to get out of the house, because every time they went to get dressed, they ended up distracted and falling back into bed. He was wearing a tuxedo with a jet black bow tie and she had a deep velvet dress, the colour of sapphires. Her hair was teasingly curled and his trademark quiff was in place. They linked arms as they knocked and Tom's sister Chloe opened the door almost lazily, a drink in one hand. She nodded to Clara as they entered, eyeing the Doctor slightly suspiciously. Tom was straddling a girl on the sofa, a red head and he climbed off her to greet them, pulling Clara into a slightly boozy hug and saluting to the Doctor, who returned the gesture.
"I think he might have already started drinking!" the Doctor whispered to Clara, and she snorted before she realised that he'd been being serious. She forgot his slight obliviousness to social situations. She thrust the wine bottle they'd brought into the Doctor's hand and hunted for glasses as Tom returned to the scantily clad female on his sofa. Clara rolled her eyes at him and glanced at her watch before finding a couple of glasses in the kitchen. It was half ten. The Doctor poured them each a glass and Clara chinked the Doctor's glass before drinking. The wine was white and crisp and she loved it, sipping again almost instantly. She wasn't planning on getting overly drunk and half a bottle of wine wouldn't even touch her, but there was plenty of other booze around if things got dull. She felt the Doctor's hand loop around her shoulder as he sipped his own wine and she chuckled as Tom entered the kitchen, pulled out a bottle of vodka and poured three shots.
"Stop drinking that piss water and get a real drink down you Oswald. You too big guy!" he pointed at the Doctor, who had been cautiously sipping his wine. He slung the shots their way and Clara caught them, handing the Doctor his and letting the liquid down her throat, the Doctor reluctantly following suit. Clara giggled at his spluttering and Tom looked disgusted. "Come on Doctor, you can do better than that," he smiled.
"What happened to your red head?" Clara smirked and Tom's face fell. "She tell you to hit the road?"
"Something like that," Tom muttered and then his eyes widened. "Oh hell."
Clara turned to see what had startled him and there was a big man storming through the living room into the kitchen towards them, the red head two steps behind him. The bloke looked extremely angry and a crowd was forming behind him, the red head appealing to him to stop. Clara put two and two together and shot Tom an exasperated look, her friend replying with a shoulder shrug.
"She didn't mention the boyfriend until he gate crashed the party," Tom insisted. "It's hardly my fault." Clara doubted how entirely accurate that was, but also had no desire to see Tom beaten to a bloody pulp either. She tried to step in front of him and the man stopped, clearly not wanting to hit Clara any more than Clara wanted to be hit.
"Move aside girl," he growled. "This is between me and the little shit who got with my girlfriend."
"Listen," Clara tried reasonably. "He didn't know about your girlfriend not being single, or I'm sure he wouldn't have done what he'd done. Hey!" she squirmed as the Doctor pulled her aside as the man had decided not to wait and was throwing a punch. Tom went to duck but was too late and the fist connected. Clara tried to break free of the Doctor's hold as the man kicked Tom in the stomach and he'd dropped but the Doctor had already let go of her and was racing over to assist. A crowd had formed now and a couple of blokes were trying to drag the guy off, but he kicked Tom in the gut again before the Doctor picked up a chair and crashed it over the back of the larger man's head. He swivelled, rage in his eyes and the Doctor realised his mistake. Clara flung herself in the way, knocking the Doctor to the ground as the man threw another wild punch and staggered. By this point, people were dragging him away and the Doctor went to help them. Clara picked herself up and raced over to where Tom was lying on the floor, his face a bloody mess and holding his stomach as he groaned. She put an arm around him and helped him to a chair.
"Are you alright?" Clara gasped. "Sorry, stupid question. Let me grab you a cloth for all that blood."
The Doctor returned, looking thoroughly annoyed a few minutes later, as Clara wiped Tom's face clean of blood tenderly. She shot an apologetic smile at the Doctor, which he waved off and sat beside them.
"Thank you guys," Tom groaned through the pain. "I don't know what I would've done if not for you two. You really had my back."
"I didn't do anything," Clara insisted. "I didn't hit the guy round the head with a chair!" She shot the Doctor a look and Tom howled in pain as Clara dabbed his nose. The Doctor put up his arms as if to suggest there was nothing else he could do. Clara smiled and Tom moaned again as she wiped his chin free of blood. "You're such a baby!" she snorted and Tom pulled an incredulous face.
"You know you weren't feeling too great the first time I saw you with that huge black eye," he countered. "This is my own fault," he conceded and Clara smiled wistfully as the Doctor put a hand on Tom's shoulder. "I should have realised that sooner or later something like this would happen. All girls are liars, I should've known that one would use me to cheat, not being in a relationship doesn't protect me from that. Sorry Clara, present company accepted," he added with a smile and she patted his head affectionately.
"You just need to find someone that you can trust," she implored him. "That you can truly love, and that you really want to be in a relationship with. You can't let people like Lizzie put you off trying to be happy."
"Don't you think I know that?" Tom groaned. "But it's almost impossible. There are so few girls that I can trust and those tend to either be ugly or taken or both. Or they remind me so much of my sister that even thinking about having sex with them makes me feel ill. I call that the Clara category," he added with a smirk and she glared at him.
"You know I'm trying to be nice to you here," she warned him. "But I could just as easily hit you with this cloth than mop up your blood, if that's what you'd prefer." He shook his head. "I thought so. You should go to see someone about your stomach, in case you have internal bleeding or cracked ribs." He shook his head again and Clara pulled an annoyed pose.
"You'd make a great teacher," he informed her and she was taken-aback by this. She'd never really considered what she wanted to do as a career but when he said it, it was like a light had switched on in her head. She smiled at him and swatted his arm playfully. "And thanks for looking after me, but I'm fine. My stomach's feeling better already. I just need to lie down for a bit and hurl."
Clara took Tom up to his bedroom and left him settled up there, content that he'd be alright. She went back downstairs, where the party was back in full swing and the Doctor was sat in the corner, still sipping on wine. Clara joined him, grinning at him as she downed her glass and poured herself some more. The Doctor was eyeing her dubiously and Clara rolled her eyes at him.
"Would you relax? This is only my second glass and it's New Year!" she giggled. "Only another hour or so until we hit 2015. You know, Tom has a spare room, we could enter 2015 in style," she giggled pulling herself closer to him and kissing his neck. The Doctor was still unused to public displays of affection and fluctuated away from Clara slightly, kissing her cheek and finishing his wine. Clara felt knocked back, but the Doctor had stood up and was taking her hand. The smile on his face reassured her and she took the steps two at a time as they crashed into the thankfully still empty spare bedroom. Clara felt more alcohol was called for, so she had snagged the vodka to go with the wine. Tom wouldn't be drinking it anyway and had told her to take it. She poured more shots as the Doctor locked the door and removed his jacket. Clara took her shot and handed the Doctor one which he grimaced before taking. She guzzled more wine and the Doctor followed suit, pulling a face.
"We can't all drink as much as you can," he complained as she thrust another shot on him. Clara rolled her eyes and clambered into bed, removing the Doctor's waistcoat. They cuddled closer and Clara kissed him lightly. His eyes met hers and their lips met in a moment of love, not passion. Clara felt her world spin as he kissed her, his hands down her top and hers down his trousers. Lust fuelled her, the love of a few moments ago still present but rapidly being overwhelmed by her desire to have the Doctor inside her. They took their time, waiting so that when the New Year came, they weren't already finished. It was one of the longest, most beautiful hours of Clara's life and it was an hour she'd never forget. Finally, he entered her and her entire world went to ecstasy. As the fireworks went off outside the window, Clara felt fireworks going off inside of her and she crumpled into the Doctor, screaming his name as she felt her world shatter into a million pieces. She clung to him like her life depended on it, but the waves of pleasure kept on coming and coming. Every time she thought he would finish, he found another burst, driving Clara over the point of no return. Then, just when she thought he was going to kill her with pleasure, he relented and finished. They slumped back and exchanged a look, one that said everything that needed to be said. Happy New Year.