Words To Live By
"Babe!" Clara called out from the kitchen of their London flat. After a minute of no reply, she called out again. "Babe!"
Still nothing. She quit dicing her peppers, wiped her hands on a dishtowel and went to find him. She didn't have to go far. He was still in the sitting room where she'd left him earlier, only now he was in the process of untangling the Tardis' original navigation harness. It had been damaged nearly twelve hundred years ago and he was finally getting around to its repair.
"Didn't you hear me calling you?"
His eyes never left his work. "I told you not to call me that."
She joined him on the couch, sitting down crossed legged next to him. "Oh come on! It's a term of endearment, and I only use it when were alone."
He unlooped a pair of wires.
She pouted at his refusal to reply. "You let River call you sweetie."
He stopped fiddling with the harness and glared at her.
She leaned in and kissed his stern set lips and fiddled with the spot behind is right ear that made his head and shoulder twitch. She heard the wiring harness hit the table and his hands made a weak attempt to push her away as he kissed her back. She quickly levered her feet into her cushion and pushed him back onto the couch. She crawled atop him, straddling his t-shirt covered torso between her thighs. His arms came up to grab her waist but she caught his wrists and pushed his arms up over his head.
"Clara, I'm working." He tried to look irritated.
She knew he usually loved it when she took charge, though apparently not today…but it wasn't what she was after either. "So am I. I need you to pop down to the store for me."
"Why don't you go?"
She let go of his wrists and poked his chest. "I am in the middle of cooking us dinner and you were the one who got us back here two weeks later, and not two hours later, so the milk is now spoiled and I need some fresh eggs."
"I'm not hungry."
She squeezed his ribs with her legs and made him wince. "Liar." She climbed off and stood with her hands on her hips looking down at him.
He'd yet to win an argument since their relationship began and he had given up expecting to, though he still felt should put up a small pretense. He grunted as he sat up. "Fine, I'll go."
She tousseled his hair and kissed him on the forehead before bouncing out of the room. "Thanks Babe!" She called from the hallway.
"You're welcome, Grannie!"
He was still sitting on the couch waiting for her return when she appeared in the doorway. "I thought I told you 'Grannie' does not qualify as a term of endearment."
"It does for me," he grinned. "It reminds me of your favorite beer and of those sexy nightgowns you like to wear."
She wished she'd never told him her Wyncette nightees were also called 'grannie gowns'.
"What is it you find so sexy about those nightgowns?"
He got up off the couch and headed past her to the front door, taking his black jacket down off its brass hook. "If you must know," he said slipping his arms in, "…they're soft and warm and they hide all your sexy parts." He leaned into her and gave her a perfunctory peck on the cheek before turning to the door.
"Hurry back, I really need those eggs."
"Yes dear."
She smiled to herself as she headed back to the kitchen.
oooooooooooOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo
Clara sat, impatiently tapping a wooden spoon against her knee. He'd been gone for over an hour. He should have been gone twenty minutes, max. She should have known better. The man had the attention span of a dog. Stumble across a piece of unknown tech on an alien planet- Squirrel! New crack in the pavement in front of the house-Squirrel! Had to be what happened again. At least she knew the Tardis was tucked away in its room upstairs. It took her about a month to break him of the habit of taking the Tardis to run errands. The day she'd sent him for a gallon of white ceiling paint had been the last straw. He'd taken the Tardis as usual, and was only gone for less than a minute, but she could tell from his demeanor and his clothing, that he'd been gone a lot longer. "Sorry." He'd said. Sorry didn't cut it with her. She put her foot down. There'd be no more traveling in the Tardis without her. "Ok," was all he said, as he put his arms around her and held her tight. Something must have happened, but what? He never said. What could have possibly happened to him now, just four blocks from home?
The answer to her question came when the front boor banged open against the wall and the Doctor rushed inside calling her name.
"Clara! Clara!" He saw her on the sofa and stood in the in the doorway, excitement bursting from his eyes. "I got it!" He held out a tiny square object in his hand. "I mean…" he smacked himself in the head with the heel of his free hand. 'I get it!" She wasn't about to let herself get caught up in his enthusiasm, not this time. She leaned back into the couch and crossed her arms.
"Where the hell have you been?"
His mouth silently opened and closed as his eyes tried to inspect his own eyebrows. He'd forgotten something, obviously. He just couldn't remember what it was at the moment.
"Not important. What is important is that after nearly a month of listening to you complain that we didn't have a song…and other than the fact that I'm not crazy about your taste in music and…I really didn't see the point. I want you to know," he smiled broadly, "I get it!"
He gave her what he was holding. It was a small mp3 player.
She held it in her hand with a look of disappointment. "This doesn't look like milk or even eggs, though it is egg sized."
"Baah!" He didn't like the look she was giving him and snatched the player back from her hand. "Those can wait. This…," he held the player up between his thumb and forefinger, "…is important right now." He looked so earnest, almost as earnest as the night he begged her to come back to the Tardis.
"So why can't this wait?"
His nervous habit was back as he held his hands to his chest. "Because I don't want to forget. You know how I have a habit of deleting things, and I don't want to delete this. I want to share this with you. Right now."
She gave him a little smile of permission. "Go on then."
"Oh…ok." He fumbled in his pockets and pulled out some more wires and a set of ear buds and a portable speaker.
"Where did you get all of this?"
"I bought it from Rufus and his little friend Hamid. They were blasting their infernal music on their steps again and that's when I heard it." (Rufus and Hamid were a couple of fourteen year old incorrigibles who always succeeded tormenting the Doctor in some way on a weekly basis.)
"What did you hear?"
He bit his bottom lip in an effort to hold back his enormous smile as he waggled his eyebrows. "Our song." He turned on the speaker and the mp3 player and scrolled to his song.
"Are you ready?"
"Go ahead." She couldn't wait; this was going to be interesting.
He hit play.
A little light tambourine started the song followed by the addition of a techno beat, some piano, and there was possibly a triangle and xylophone in the background, and then…
Clara was shocked when she heard the opening lyrics. She didn't know whether to laugh, be shocked, or totally impressed. He had 'gotten it' alright. She just never expected this would be the song to do it. His head bobbed along with the music as it played, and a goofy grin spread across his face.
I heard a dirty rumor… that you are a friend of mine.
I had to set 'em straight… in fact we're doing the deed.
Your body gives faith to humanity
I hated all mankind
Your kiss, the cure to my insanity
He started lip syncing to Ceelo Green's 'Horny" refrain, and she almost lost it.
Ohh, cause you make me horny, (I love that mouth)
You make me horny (and what comes out)
You make me horny, horny, (I'm all about, horny)
He bobbed his head again to the next few lines and then pointed to her.
Your smoking hot without the vanity.
And then at himself.
You're my kind of daily grind.
What kiss, a flame in my insanity.
And then he started lip syncing the refrain again. When the lyrics stopped and his jazz hands started along with the instrumental part she briefly hid her eyes behind her hand. She quickly stepped in and grabbed his hands before she caught any more of an image she wouldn't be able to forget. She pulled him in to dance. He was ok with a basic box step. Who knows, maybe this would lead to more dancing? For now she would enjoy him being truly happy and carefree. Times like these were always such a rarity in his life she wasn't about to deprive him. Besides, it really was a perfect song. She laughed and they danced around like two idiots as the song played on. The Doctor bravely attempted to dip her as the song wound down, but only succeeded in crashing them into the coffee table. They were laughing so hard they never noticed the man that entered into the hallway through the open front door.
They heard him though. "What's going on?" His voice called out above the dying music.
Clara's head whipped around and her mouth fell open. What was he doing here! "Dad!" She fumbled for the speaker and shut it off.
"Clara?" He spoke her name but his eyes were on the Doctor.
She ran her fingers through her mussed hair and straightened her button front dress and belt which had become twisted out of place with their dancing. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for you."
"Why, what's wrong?"
Her father crossed his arms. "Nothing's wrong, other than the fact I haven't heard from you for two weeks. Where have you been?"
Clara put her fingers to her temple and rubbed. She'd instantly developed a headache. She looked over at the Doctor, who was busy trying turning off the mp3 player. "See! This is what happens when it's two weeks versus two hours. Now I have no milk, no eggs and a lot of explaining to do."
He pointed down to the coffee table in his defense. "It's the temp navigation harness. If you'd let me get on with fixing the original."
"Oh! So now it's all my fault?"
Her father spoke up again. "Clara, who is this man?"
It was her turn to cross her arms. "Right now, he's a big pain in the ass. That's who he is."
The Doctor's eyes went wide. "Clara!" He spread his arms out in mock surrender and turned away.
"Is he…is he your flat mate?"
Clara rubbed at her brow. She wasn't prepared for this. She was going to write a speech, invite him over for dinner, and have a proper sit down, then introduce him to the Doctor and try her best to explain. She didn't want to wing it. She was crap at winging it.
"No Dad. He's not a flat mate."
Her father's eyes widened. "He's not…?"
"Not what?" The Doctor whipped round.
Oh god.
Her dad laughed. "He's not your boyfriend."
She looked at the Doctor's stern face. "No, Dad. He's not my boyfriend," and she watched as his lips set tight at her comment.
"Then who is he?"
Clara gave the Doctor a look of helpless desperation and held out her hand. When he took her hand in his, she smiled up at him. "He's my husband."
The Doctor smiled back…and her father gawped. "Your…your what?" Your what!"
Clara let go of the Doctors hand and turned to her father. Now came the really hard part. "Dad! Calm down."
"Calm down! How am I supposed to calm down! You disappear for weeks on end and then come back married to a…." he waved a hand at the Doctor, "… a senior citizen!"
Clara moaned. "Oh, dad."
"A what?" Now the Doctor had something to say.
David Oswald pointed a finger at the Doctor. "I'll talk to you in a minute granddad, right now I'm speaking to my daughter."
The Doctor's eyebrows flew up and he took step towards her father. Clara put her arm out to stop his progress. "I'll have you know that I …," he was going to say, 'am not a granddad', but he had to stop himself.
"Dad. Will you sit down?" She motioned him to the sofa. "I'll explain everything."
Her father grabbed hold of her by her arms. "Clara, is it money? You know you can stay with me and Linda for as long as you want."
"No, dad. It's not that."
"I knew it. I was a crap dad. When your mother died I didn't spend enough time with you, I was always working. I should have never gone to the pub on the weekends. You needed a father figure around and I wasn't there for you."
Clara buried her face in her hands. "Oh, God! Dad, no." She looked up. "That's not it at all. Believe me, that is so not it."
The Doctor piped up again. "Clara."
She looked at him. "What?"
"Just throw him in the deep end. It'll be quicker that way."
Clara cut her eyes to her dad and then back to the Doctor. He arched his eyebrow and gave her a 'why not' shrug of his shoulders. Clara answered with a shrug of her own.
Her dad was not lost to the exchange. "What's going on? What are you two on about?"
"Dad, I want to show you something."
"What?"
Clara tugged on his arm and pulled him towards the stairs. "It's a surprise."
He balked at following when she said surprise. "Why don't you just tell me?"
"I can't, I have to show you." She pulled at his arm again. "It's upstairs."
"No," he pulled against her. "You just need to tell me, whatever it is…right now."
"Oh for goodness sake!" The Doctor stepped in and grabbed her father by the back of his collar and shoved him towards the stairs.
"Hey! Let go!"
Clara bounded between them and up the stairs. "Come on dad, it's alright."
The Doctor shoved him to the first step. Surprised by the Doctor's strength and determination, he quickly relented. "Fine, fine. I'm coming." He glared at the Doctor. "You can let go." The Doctor let go, but stayed close behind on the climb up.
Clara was waiting on the landing and she opened the door to the guest room with a flourish. Her dad slowly stepped inside. The big blue police box was the first thing that caught his attention, after that were the numerous chalkboards filled with equations and strange writings that dotted the walls, and then there was the makeshift sawhorse workbench piled high with strange equipment.
He turned to Clara. "What is all of this? Why is there a police box in your spare room?"
She was trying not to smile. "It's not a police box dad." She moved to stand beside the Tardis and snapped her fingers. Both of the Tardis' doors creaked open and its interior glow and hum flooded out.
"Wa…wa…wa…what is that?" He looked at Clara and jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the Doctor. "Is he some sort of Magician? Did you marry a magician? Is that what this is? Hey!"
The Doctor grabbed her dad by the scruff again, pushed him on inside and breathed in his ear. "Does this look like a magic trick to you?"
"Coah! Its…its…"
"You can say it dad."
"…what is it?"
Clara blinked dumbly. That wasn't what she expected to hear. She looked at the Doctor and he just shrugged.
"It's a Tardis dad."
He was still gawping. "What's a Tardis?" He went back to the doors and popped his head outside. "And how is it bigger on the inside?"
"It's a space ship...and a time machine."
He looked at his daughter. "Right, pull the other one."
"No, seriously dad…it's a time machine."
He walked back into the console room and Clara shut the Tardis doors. "Oh, I get it!" He spun around looking at the room again. "It's a TV set!"
Clara shook her head. "What?"
"Its one of those sets they build for filming a reality TV show. Is that what you're doing? Is that why you couldn't tell me where you where, is this all hush, hush?" He spun around. "Where are the cameras? Am I on TV?"
"No, dad."
He looked at his daughter. "Please tell me this is some May-December reality series thing going on here."
Clara threw a desperate look to the Doctor. "Would you please take us somewhere?"
The Doctor tapped in some coordinates and pulled down the flight lever. The rotor began to wheeze and groan as it moved.
"What's he doing? Clara? What's that noise?" He looked up at the ceiling. "Why is that spinnin' round?"
"It's ok dad. We'll be there in a second."
"We'll be where?"
The Tardis thumped to a halt.
"Come here and I'll show you?" She waved him over to where she was still standing by the Tardis doors. David Oswald took the two steps onto the gangplank and joined his daughter as she opened wide the doors.
In the foreground were jumbled chunks of rock and debris mixed with shimmering ice crystals and floating brown dust particles all stretching kilometers away into the distance, It almost looked like you could step out of the Tardis and skip across them from boulder to rock to stone and back. And looming in the background of this particulate ring was Saturn. The pale yellow and grey giant stood cold against the ether.
"So dad, what do you think?"
Her father stood behind her, mouth hanging open staring off at the planet. "I was right, he is a magician…and you're...you're his apprentice…that's the surprise. I'm right, aren't I?"
"No. Come here." She tugged on her fathers arm and pulled him to the precipice. "This is real dad, it's not an illusion." He pulled away.
"Clara, luv. I don't know what kind of fantasy world you two have got going on here, but this…," he pointed out the doors, "…is not reality. You don't open the doors of a spacehip to space! That is some kind of visual illusion…and I really am getting tired of this. Can't we just go somewhere and talk?" He cut a glance at the Doctor and then back to his daughter. "Just the two of us? Let me take you for a coffee."
Instead of answering her father she looked to the Doctor. "Can you take us to that little café on Belorus Major"
"My pleasure." Clara swung the doors closed as the Doctor programmed the new coordinates.
Her father became indignant as the Tardis began groaning and wheezing again. "Enough of these silly games!" He grabbed Clara's hand. "You're coming with me young lady." He dragged her to the door and flung it open, dragging her outside and into the streets of Vaal, the capital city of Belorus Major. He stopped walking after about ten steps, he let go of Clara's hand and spun around trying to take in all there was to see.
"Clara? Wha…what is this? Where are we?" Clara tapped him on his shoulder to get his attention and then pointed to the sky. It was early morning on Belorus Major, the only time of the day when its three moons were visible at the same time. And if that sight alone wasn't enough to convince him, then a large transport ship heading to the clearly visible mining station on largest moon would certainly be enough.
"I need a minute," was all he said next before stepping back inside the Tardis. Clara followed him back inside.
"Dad? Dad, are you ok?"
He was leaning on the handrail. "I don't know?"
David Oswald turned and fixed his stare on the Doctor as he approached them from the console. "Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor."
"He's a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. Clara slid her arm through the Doctor's and stood next to him.
"He's not…? Wait, wasn't there another bloke you dated called the Doctor? That young naked fellow?"
"He's the same man dad; he just…looks different now."
"But that was just a few years ago." He looked at the Doctor. "He's an old man now. How is that?"
"He regenerates."
"He what?"
"I regenerate, it's what Time Lords do when they begin to die."
Her father gripped the handrail and rested his forehead against the cool metal. "I think I need to sit down."
Clara let go of the Doctor's arm and put her arm around her father's shoulders. "C'mon dad. How about I make you a nice cup of tea?"
"Yeah. Tea. Tea would be nice." Clara tugged him away from the handrail and led him through the console room towards the Tardis' kitchen. The Doctor closed the Tardis doors and followed close behind. Clara sat opposite her father at the kitchen table and tried her best to explain while the Doctor busied himself making the tea and gathering cups and saucers. He placed teaspoons, sugar and napkins on the table before turning his attention to quartering a lemon, listening to Clara while he worked.
He listened as she overemphasized the good parts and sugar coated the bad. She told him he was a Time Lord from Gallifrey, with two hearts and the ability to regenerate his body, but she never mentioned his age or the fact he was on his thirteenth regeneration. She explained how she jumped into the Doctor's time stream and how copies of herself saved him over and over throughout time, but she never once mentioned the dying part. She told her father that the Doctor had saved the earth hundreds of times and that he and UNIT had stopped the recent Cyberman attack. Of course she failed to mention the reason behind the attack, the Doctor's psychotic friend the master, or even Danny's involvement. Not technically a lie, he thought. Just an omission. As long as they didn't lie to each other, he thought that's all that really mattered.
Second cups were poured and then thirds before she finally finished with the synopsis of their time spent together. She finished with their Gallifeyan marriage ceremony. The Doctor preformed it at the base of the Great Quartz Range of Aarn as the suns morning rays refracted through the crystals and illuminated the sky and the valley below in soft hues of pink, and brown and yellow. It was so beautiful; she said she cried. And she had.
Hr father took hold of her hands as she finished. "Ah, luv. I wish you'd of told me sooner. I'd have been there for you."
"I'm sorry dad. It's just…the less people know, the less complicated it is for us. Do you understand?"
"Not sure. This is a lot to absorb. My daughter's married to a time traveling alien and…oh my god! I've been to Saturn…and an alien planet! Oh, this is just too much." He looked around the Tardis kitchen and then at the Doctor, leaning against the counter.
"How about I pop us back to our flat in London? Clara was about to make dinner. You should join us."
Clara gave her father's hands a shake. "Yes, stay for dinner?"
"Dinner sounds good, and so does getting the Earth back under my feet."
oooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo
Over dinner Clara talked about some of the funnier mishaps she and the Doctor had experienced over the years.
Clara touched the Doctor on the arm. "Oh god! Do you remember the time you ate those berries." She snorted with laughter.
The Doctor looked indignant. He knew which berries she was talking about and was trying to dissuade her from telling the tale. "Which berries? I've eaten a lot of berries in my lifetime."
"It was the time we landed on that primitive planet and we stumbled upon that tribe of blue skinned humanoids called the Yandi after we got lost in the dark on our way back to the Tardis."
"I was never lost."
"Yeah. You keep telling yourself that. Anyway, the Doctor was using his Sonic screwdriver as a flashlight and when the Yandi saw it they all bowed down to him like he was some kind of god."
"It was their mistake, not mine."
"So, they invited us back to their village and they set him up on a wooden throne and brought him offerings."
"I never asked for anything."
"When the food started coming, I had to decline. Learned the hard way once, never to eat foods not yet in the Tardis database."
The Doctor leaned towards her father. "She has a delicate constitution."
Clara cut him a glance. "I was sick for three days!"
"Don't remind me. I had to clean up after you for two of those three…Ow!" She'd smacked his hand resting on the table next to her.
"Anyway. He sampled a little bit of everything they brought."
"I didn't want to be rude."
"It isn't fair; he can eat anything and never gets sick."
"It's my genetics."
"So, the last dish they bring him is this bowl of red berries and they all start chanting, blueberries, blueberries. Now we're confused. The berries are red and they're chanting blue. The Doctor eats a few and says…"
"They taste like cherries to me."
"Yes, and they keep insisting he eat more berries. They didn't' stop chanting until he ate the whole bowl."
"I didn't think they'd let us go till I ate them all."
"They let us go because you buzzed your sonic screwdriver at them and threatened to put a curse on them if they didn't let us go."
"I was full and I was getting bored."
"So, we left. Found the Tardis and called it a night. And then…" Clara snorted a laugh. "When we woke up the next morning…" She started laughing again. "…he'd turned blue!" She couldn't stop laughing at the memory.
"Yes, it was very funny. Ha, ha."
"Well it was, you looked like a Smurf."
"Turns out the Yandi weren't naurally blue. It came from a reaction of the skins melatonin to something in the chemical makeup of the berries."
"He was blue for almost a week. We couldn't go anywhere; he just sulked in the Tardis."
"Well having you call me Papa Smurf the whole time wasn't exactly encouraging."
Clara's dad laughed at the thought of his daughter calling this rather intimidating looking Time Lord, 'Papa Smurf'.
"I didn't know what a 'Smurf' was until she got me…," he dug around in his jacket pocket, pulling out his cell phone, a glass handle door knob, an open packet of crisps, a fly swatter, seventeen packets of sugar and…, "…this." He set a small plastic figurine of Papa Smurf down in the middle of the table.
Clara reached over and picked it up. "Aww…you kept it?"
"Why wouldn't I? You gave it to me."
"That's sweet." And then she realized who she was talking to. Mister literal himself. "Doctor? You haven't kept everything I've given you…have you?"
He pursed his lips and gave her a glance. "Why?"
"Because last week, when I said 'Here's a present for you'…and threw that big ball of dryer lint at you…"
"Oh, you mean this?" His hand dove into his pocket and quickly came back out holding a clear plastic baggie containing the puff ball of dryer lint.
"…I was being facetious."
"Why?"
"Well I thought I was making a point about the importance of routine dryer maintenance, but I guess that point was moot."
"Oh." He set the baggie on the table and began returning the other items to his pocket. "Any other presents I should know about?"
"No, no." She gave him a sweet smile and held up Papa Smurf. "I'm glad you kept him though." He smiled back.
As he listened to their stories, Clara's father couldn't help but notice their playful banter and the way they finished each others sentences. They were obviously in love, but being a father he still had reservations about a man, (he wasn't sure if he could call him a man…an alien?) who hadn't introduced himself, and who'd run off with and married his only daughter. For now, he decided to let Clara have her say. It was good to see her happy again. She'd been so despondent after Danny's death he thought he'd never see her this way again, so he wasn't about to spoil her moment with all the fatherly questions he had swirling about in his head.
So he listened as she told him about fish people, and Victorian London. About traveling on the Orient Express on hyper-rails, and how the moon was really and egg. And after a while he noticed that she had started to sound like a travel guide promoting all the wonderful and beautiful things there were to see and do in the universe. He could tell she was keeping things from him. He'd always been able to read her, how only one side of her face smiled and the way she played with the ends of her hair whenever she was glossing over the truth. She was doing it the whole time she talked about her adventures with the Doctor. He could wait. He had his own way of getting at the truth.
Clara could have talked to her father all night had Linda not called demanding to know where he was and if he's found his daughter.
"I need to be getting' on home luv. Linda's none to happy that I'm late for dinner and I thought it best not to tell her I've already eaten."
Clara hugged her father. "I hope this all hasn't been too much for you." She pulled back.
"It's a lot to get my head around. But I'll be alright as long as I know you're ok." He kissed her on the forehead and turned to the Doctor. He held out his hand, "Nice to meet you Doctor," and the Doctor gave it a firm shake. "Likewise," he said in return.
The Doctor lingered behind in the kitchen as Clara escorted her father to the front door. He busied himself clearing the table and rinsing the dishes. With the water running at the sink, he never heard her return, but he felt her when she wrapped her arms around his torso and pressed herself into his back.
"Thank you," she sighed against his coat.
He set down the plate he was rinsing and rested his wet hands against the sinks edge. "For what?"
"For making that go better than I expected."
It was his turn to sigh. "I agree."
She let go. "What do you mean?"
The Doctor grabbed a dishtowel to dry his hands as he turned around to face her. "If I was him I'd have been asking a million questions."
"Well, I suppose it's just the shock of it all, you know…I'm sure he'll have questions later."
He leaned against the counter absentmindedly drying his already dried hands. "That's what worries me."
"There's nothing to worry about, he's just my dad."
"Yes, he's your dad and I'm just some stranger who's run off to the ends of the universe with his daughter."
Clara snagged the towel from his hands and tossed it on the counter before she moved in close and rested her hands against his chest. He reached up to lightly caress her arms. "If it makes you feel any better," she proffered, "…my dad's invited us over for dinner a week from tomorrow. Maybe he'll ask all those questions then."
"Or maybe the earth will open up and swallow me whole before then," he grumbled.
Clara snickered. "Stop being so melodramatic, it's just my family. They're a part of my life…scratch that…our life and you'll just have to get used to it." She tiptoed up and hoped a kiss would sweeten the deal. He tried not to reciprocate, but when she went for that spot behind his ear again, he couldn't help himself.
When they parted he was still grumbling. "Don't be starting something you're not prepared to finish."
Clara glanced over her shoulder. "It's a good thing you've cleared the table then."
"I was wondering what I was going to have for dessert," he mumbled as he playfully nibbled at her neck and backed her into the table till its legs squealed on the floor in protest.
The dished were left in the sink till the morning.
ooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo
Sunday morning was Clara's shopping day. He noticed how much she like having a routine, and truth be told it was starting to grow on him too. But as much as he liked the routine, he still wasn't a fan of domesticity. Too much cleaning involved with living on earth. The Tardis was self cleaning, unlike the accursed oven in their flat. He threatened to buy a new one before she stepped in and finished the job. "You don't buy a new one just because the old one is a little dirty," she'd admonished him.
Shopping was something else he detested. All those people milling about, bumping against him, and ingredients on boxes that even he, with his two chemical engineering degrees, could not begin to understand. Clara had argued that the more often he went with her the easier it would get. Nope. He still hated it. So he managed to get out of going today by promising to take care of the lesser of two evils. He promised to do the dishes. Usually he was just the dish dryer, but he told her he would do it all if she went to the store without him. She'd rolled her eyes at him before agreeing. She would have hid her eyes had she seen the little dance he did in the kitchen right after she'd left.
He rolled up his sleeves of his white button down shirt and got to work. Silver wear, cleaned. Plates, cleaned. Glasses...left in the sink, because a loud buzzing sound suddenly filled the house. He looked around. He was confused because it sounded like an alarm, but he hadn't lit the stove, he hadn't lit anything. It stopped for a moment, and then started again. He pulled his sonic out of his back pocket so he could trace the sounds origins. The buzzing was coming fro two small speakers, one near the ceiling in the hallway and the other upstairs on the landing. He was about to adjust his sonic to trace the electrical current back to its source when it stopped and a new sound could be heard. A knocking sound. A knocking? Oh! He ran down the stairs and threw open the front door still brandishing his sonic.
"Did you hear that alarm?" He asked before he even saw who it was. He then recognized who it was. Oh. It was him, Clara's father.
David Oswald took a step back when the Doctor burst out the door brandishing his sonic screwdriver like a weapon.
"Didn't you hear me ringing your doorebell?"
"My what?" The Doctor lowered his screwdriver but was still in the man's face.
Her father wasn't about to let this alien intimidate him. "Your doorbell." He leaned to the right of the Doctor and pressed the small white button on the doorframe. The buzzing noise started again.
"Oh! A doorbell!" The Doctor was excited by this new discovery and proceeded pressing the button again and again. "I didn't know we had one of these!" He spoke loudly over the buzzing noise.
David Oswald pulled the Doctors finger off the button. "Well, now you do."
"Yes." The Doctor flinched at his touch. "Quite right. Mr. Oswald. Clara's out shopping at the moment. She won't be back for at least an hour or two."
"Please, call me David, and I know she does her shopping on Sunday mornings. I've been waiting round the corner for her to leave so I could speak to you."
"Oh." In that millisecond he said that tiny word his brain calculated the paradox risk of running upstairs to the Tardis and jumping back in time twenty minutes to convince himself to go to the market.
"Yes, oh." He repeated the Doctor's word. "May I come in?"
"Yes, of course, come in." He backed up and ushered Clara's father inside. "I'm sorry…I'm not very good at this. I…we've never had people over, and I've never lived in a house in like…pfft," he flailed a hand around, "…forever."
Davis Oswald watched as this strange 'man' stumbled all over himself. "I'll try and remember that." And when they continued to stand there in an awkward silence, he realized he was going to have to take the initiative.
"Let's sit." He stepped into the sitting room and the Doctor followed.
Clara's father sat on the couch, but the Doctor remained standing, pacing back and forth in front of the coffee table. "Do you think you could sit down? I can't say what I need to say with you pacing like that."
The Doctor eyed the couch. He couldn't sit there; it was way too close for his comfort, so he made up an excuse. "Sorry, the angle I'd be sitting on the couch is all wrong and it would distort my field of vision. I need to be across from you when we talk. Is that a problem?"
"No, it's not a problem you being over there, but I do have a problem with you standing over me. Do you think you can go get a chair?"
"Yes, yes. That, I can do." The Doctor popped off to the kitchen and returned with a chair. He sat down in it across from Clara's dad, crossing a leg over one knee and clasping the other with his hands, fingers interlaced. "Well, I'm sure you have questions."
"Yes, quite a few, in fact."
"Fire away then. I have nothing to hide." He hesitated a moment. "Well almost nothing." Another pause as he looked up at the ceiling. "Ok, I have this one thing. It's my name. I can't tell anyone because it could bring about the destruction of all of time and space."
"That's a rather interesting secret, one which I am not ready to get into at the moment. I have other more pressing questions."
"Like?"
"Like, no offense Doctor, but you look old enough to be her father, hell...maybe even her grandfather." He noticed the Doctor stiffen up at the comment. "So I'm wondering. How old are you?"
"Well, I lost some memories recently and I can't be sure of an exact age so I'll have to round it to a little over two thousand, and leave it at that."
Clara's father wasn't sure he heard correctly. "Two thousand? Did you say two thousand? Is that days or years?"
"Two thousand years, or twenty two hundred…somewhere in there."
"And you've lived this long because you regenerate?"
"Yes."
"Do you even grow old? Can you even die? Or are you immortal?"
"No, not immortal, just a Time Lord. And yes, I can grow old and I can die. Thought I had once…but that's another story."
"So how many times have you regenerated?"
"Technically, twelve times, though one was forced, not natural like the others."
"Twelve regenerations in two thousand years…wow. This brings me to my next question. "Have you been married before?"
"Yes, I've had four previous marriages. And you were right yesterday; I was a granddad once, a long, long time ago."
"So where's your family?"
"Everyone's gone. I'm the last Gallifreyan in the universe." The Doctor said he was the last because he was loathed to bring the Master into the conversation.
"Why are you the last? Don't your people live as long as you?"
"Not all, only those who become Time Lords, and I'm the last…because there was a terrible war and I had to sacrifice my planet to save the universe."
"You…you killed your own people?"
"No! No. I didn't kill them; I just locked them away in a pocket universe where nothing can get in or out. They might as well be dead to me because I don't think I will ever see them again."
Clara's father couldn't believe what he was hearing. "My god man, how do you cope?"
"Having someone like Clara in my life helps."
"But won't you outlive her? Why would you do that to yourself, to her?" He shook his head. "We must seem like gnats to you."
"I find you all amazing, especially Clara. I thought I had lost her, on four separate occasions. And each time she came back to me I realize just how precious every moment of every day is that I get to spend with her."
"What do you mean, lost her?"
The Doctor's hand went to his mouth in a vain attempt to find the foot he'd just put in there. "Oh, that is telling."
Her father's voice went up a notch. "What is it that neither of you are telling me? She is my daughter; I think I have a right to know."
He knew it was pointless to try and sugar coat the truth as Clara had the night before so he was brutally blunt. "She died saving me to save the universe."
"She…what?"
The Doctor explained. He explained how she died, and how he had saved her. He explained how he lost her the second time when he regenerated, the third time when she fell in love with Danny, and the fourth time in a Dream world.
"I can't lose her again, I won't."
He couldn't believe the Doctor's arrogance. "And how do you propose to do that? This universe that you inhabit, it sounds dangerous. Why would you want to drag her into that?"
The Doctor uncrossed his legs and leaned earnestly forward in his chair. "Because the universe is no different than Earth. There are wonders and there are horrors. You have to take the good with the bad…one does not exist without the other."
"But can you keep her safe?"
"I will always protect her."
"I believe you'll try Doctor, but truth be told, I don't think that you can."
The Doctor didn't know what to say. He'd never been told that he wasn't good enough and under her father's stare he suddenly felt like that scared little boy in a barn and not the old man he'd become. What did this man see that no one else could?
"Sorry to be so blunt Doctor, but I have another question for you."
He didn't want to hear it, but he didn't want to give truth to her father's stare. "Go on."
"Who appointed you savior of the universe?"
The Doctor's mouth dropped open and he was at a loss to do anything other than blink stupidly. He didn't know what to say. He'd never been called out before. "I…uh…nobody." He finally managed to sputter out.
"So why do you keep doing it?"
"Because…somebody has to?"
Clara's father laughed at his childish declaration. The Doctor could feel the heat of a blush rising up his neck and a trickle of sweat forming between his shoulder blades. He needed an exit. He glanced at his wrist. Damn! Why didn't he wear a watch! He used to wear a watch.
"I think Clara might be home soon." He groaned in his head as soon as he heard his words spoken aloud.
"Don't worry Doctor. I have a quick story I want to tell you and then I'll be on my way."
"Right, go ahead." Great! Now he was rushing the man.
"I had this job back in '98." He paused for a moment in thought before continuing. "I loved that job. Anyway, I started out at the bottom and I worked my butt off. I worked extra hours, took on the shifts nobody wanted and I honed my skills till I was fast and efficient at everything I did. Soon, I became a supervisor and had that place running at peak efficiency. And then do you know what happened?"
The Doctor shook his head.
"9/11."
"Oh."
"The economy crashed and they started laying people off left and right. But I thought, hey…I'm safe. Nobody else had ever had the production performance rating that I did as a supervisor. This place would fall apart without me. But guess what Doctor. They did let me go. And do you know what else happened?"
"No."
"Nothing. The place didn't fall apart. It may not have been as efficient, but it was and is, still up and running, all without me. Can you imagine that?"
The Doctor shrugged.
"So, what do you think?"
"Sorry, is that it?"
"Yes, that's it. Do you not understand what I'm trying to tell you?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Possibly…maybe?" He threw his hands up off his lap in defeat and leaned back into his chair. "Ok, maybe not."
"Have you ever thought about taking a step back and letting the universe sort itself out?"
The Doctor thought the idea was appalling. "How could I do that? Who would stop the Daleks, the Cybermen and the like? It's my job. It's always been my job. I can't just abandon the universe!"
He still wasn't getting through so he had to throw another argument in his face. "So then tell me Doctor,whose job was it before you took it over?"
"Pardon?"
"Well, I assume you weren't always 'The Doctor'." He used air quotes for emphasis.
"No."
"So, back before you were born, or even back when you were a little boy, whose job was it?"
The Doctor's eyes got big. He'd been alive so long that in his view of Time he was always in it. He never even considered the time before he ever existed. How could he have become so narrow minded? Did all of time begin and end with him? Obviously not. But his life had become so entangled in the 'Big Picture' that he hadn't actually stood back and looked at it since…since when? Ideas began to swim round in his head. Things he hadn't allowed himself the luxury to think about. Could he? Dare he?
David Oswald could tell he'd finally gotten through when he saw the Doctors eyes light up and a tentative smile stretch across his lips. He was surprised when the Doctor jumped up out of his seat and began to shake his hand profusely.
"Thank you, thank you so much! I understand…I couldn't see the forest for the trees!"
"I'm glad I could help." He now believed his daughter stood a fighting chance at having a long and happy life with the Doctor. That's if he could ever get his hand back.
The Doctor was still shaking the man's hand. "You sir are the wisest man I that have met in a millennia. I can see where Clara gets her smarts from."
"Yes, well I probably should be going before she shows up. I wouldn't want her mad at me."
The Doctor knew what he was talking about. He let go of his hand and let him pass as he made his way to the front door.
Clara's dad let himself out, but stopped on the stoop and turned around. "So, can I expect to see you at dinner next Sunday? Clara said you might not come?"
The Doctor blushed again. "I'll be there. I wouldn't miss it for the universe."
oooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo
Later that evening, as Clara lay asleep beside him in their bed, he thought about what he'd learned today. And as he pondered it's implications for their future, he realized someone had already told him the exact same thing over a year ago, only much more succinctly. Sure, he'd heard the words, but he hadn't listened.
"Life returns. Life prevails. Resistance is futile."
