*Hello one and all! Early update today because I'm feeling super nice :P Can you feel it in the air? There's a wedding coming. Specifically, a bitchy wedding. In this chapter, I really wanted to explore Clara's relationship with both her father and Bitch-Face a bit more, but there's also quite a bit of Whouffle in here to keep you guys ticking over. Tomorrow's final chapter is a Whouffle-fest so I really hope you guys love both it and this one. Healing is going better than planned, I've already written two chapters and in the first chapter alone we have a brand new character POV, someone getting punched in the face and the Doctor doing something he does in Time of the Doctor. I'll aim to give you guys not much longer than a weeks wait for it but it all depends how quickly I race through it. Also, it's derby day tonight, so I doubt I'll achieve anything. As ever, thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed and favourited and please please review, the back stages of this story mean the world to me and I'm really hoping that you guys feel I ended it properly so let me know. Love, The Potter Doctor*
The next week was almost as bad as the weeks leading up to it. Only rather than going insane over English, Clara was being driven mental by wedding nonsense. Her father and Mandy were constantly arguing over little things, either with Clara or each other. Every dress fitting, every stabbing comment from Bitch-Face, every meeting with stupid people who had stupid ideas that Dave and Mandy gushed over, it was endless. What was worse was that her father seemed to have a vendetta against the Doctor for their first night indiscretion that Clara wished with all her heart had actually been an indiscretion. She felt like she was trapped in the romance of a novel, as they grappled for moments in their crazy lives where they could be together, shooting furtive glances across the room and so forth. The whole thing was ludicrous, as the Doctor was sent on errands for hours at a time, Clara was dragged to here there and everywhere and they were constantly split up. It was childish, Clara told her father but he refused to acknowledge that he was doing anything. She wasn't pining for the Doctor, but she was angry and it was irritating that she was spending at most an hour with her boyfriend a day and that the entire time, her father or soon to be step-Bitch were within the vicinity, looking down on them. She couldn't eat properly either. Everything was healthy and left Clara empty and desperate for a pizza or a cake. She hadn't been allowed to bake a single soufflé. The Doctor had slipped her a burger on the fourth day, which she was eternally grateful for but Bitch-Face had caught her halfway through eating it and disposed of what was left. Clara wanted to scream.
The worst thing was the constant barrage of self-esteem destroying comments. They were small, niggling, not intentional Clara was sure of that. But it was clear that her every flaw was being exposed on a daily basis. It was at its worst when dress shopping. Clara's proportions were all wrong. Clara was much too short. Clara wasn't quite thin enough. Clara had chubby cheeks. Clara's breasts could be bigger. Clara's hair was too dark. Clara's skin wasn't dark enough (Bitch-Face had taken to saying the phrase: "Isn't she pale?" at least two or three times a day). Clara was sick of the comments, sick of the sweet voice in which they were said. They weren't even flat out insults, they were thinly veiled, as if Clara was being difficult.
"It's all her mother's fault," Bitch-Face said three days before the wedding to a dress designer as Clara stood, being poked and prodded by an old man and wishing that the Doctor was there. "According to Dave, she looks just like her. Too short, too frumpy, wrong dimensions. I blame the mother, clearly her genes weren't up to scratch…"
That was it. Clara snapped. She had had enough. It was bad enough that she was separated constantly from the Doctor, having a take a torrent of abuse from the woman who was corrupting her father's very soul but Bitch-Face had taken it one step too far. She had insulted Clara's mother. And that was too far. Clara lunged for her, punching Bitch-Face in her bitchy face, the blow sending her staggering and Clara went to attack her further but the man restrained her, telling her to calm down.
"You can say whatever the fuck you want about me, you hideous, rat-haired, conniving bitch, but if you ever say a bad word about my mother ever again, I will personally turn your stupid, bitchy face into a bloody, bitchy pulp, are we clear? Because she is not only ten times the woman you are, but she was the most beautiful person in the world. It's bad enough that you're turning my dad into something disgusting, but I will not let you taint her memory too." Bitch-Face stood there, looking at Clara in shock. And then she did something that Clara did not expect. She nodded.
"You're right," she replied, the sickly sweet element of her voice had evaporated and she sounded normal, almost sincere. "Clara, I am so sorry. That was horrible and insensitive. I know this may be hard to believe, but I envy your mother so much. She was such a good thing for your father that losing her completely crippled him. He talks about her all the time and you have no idea how that feels. I love your father and he loves me, but I can tell that he loves you and her more than that. Maybe that's why I've been such a bitch to you, or maybe I'm just a terrible person. But either way, I'm sorry. What I said was inexcusable. And I'll have a word with your dad about the Doctor, he's just being stubborn because the idea of his baby girl having sex scares the life out of him."
Clara was speechless. Truly and utterly speechless. Never, in her wildest dreams had she imagined that Mandy had a heart. She had always taken such a dim view of her relationship with Dave, that it had never occurred to her just how much he must have said to her. He must have cried on her shoulder about Ellie for a long time and it must have broken his heart to see Clara being so hostile. Clara said the only thing she could think of.
"I'll get the spray tan," she said quietly. "For you and dad."
"No," Mandy replied, smiling. "You're beautiful just the way you are Clara."
Later that day, she saw the Doctor and when he asked her how everything had been that day, she turned to him and looked at him with complete shock in her voice. "I think me and Bitch-Face had a moment…"
With relations between Mandy and Clara thawing out, the last couple of days before the wedding were a lot more bearable. However, they were still a mad dash to the finish and by the time the rehearsal dinner had arrived, Clara actually felt a touch excited. She had the Doctor by her side as she sat away from the other bridesmaids, who were laughing and joking away. He smiled at her and she felt herself smile back, a tight smile under the gargantuan layer of makeup she was wearing. She normally hated to wear so much makeup, but Mandy had been so nice about it and Clara still felt a little guilty for punching her in the face less than a week before her wedding, even if she had deserved it.
"You look beautiful," the Doctor whispered.
"I look like an oompa loompa," she replied. "I'll be glad to be rid of all this foundation, I feel as though I'm wearing lead on my face."
The Doctor kissed her forehead and pulled a face, running his tongue between his teeth and gagging. "You taste funny!" he complained. "I don't like it."
"That'll be the makeup sweetie!" Clara teased, kissing his cheek and giving him a massive lipstick stain. Clara could feel her dad's eyes burrowing into the back of her head from her other side and she giggled before planting a long, hard kiss on the Doctor's lips, their cheeks rubbing against each other for a moment. The Doctor flailed a touch and Clara got off on the awkward stares they were getting. She was pretty sure Mandy was smiling though, which she appreciated. Her father would be murderous. She relinquished the Doctor's face, which was streaked with Clara's makeup and he looked dazed. She turned back to her father, whose eyes had narrowed to slits. She blinked her eyelids innocently and practised her best Bitch-Face sickly sweet smile. She heard Mandy laugh from Dave's other side.
"Oh lighten up Dave," his bride-to-be chastised. "Young love is such a beautiful thing, don't you think?"
"Not when it's my daughter," he muttered in reply. Clara turned back to the Doctor and straightened his bow tie.
"You really need to relax Dave," said Stuart, Dave's best man who was sat on the other side of the Doctor. "I've known Clara since she was born and I for one haven't seen this happy and carefree since she was a toddler. This Doctor bloke is good for her." Stuart clasped his hand on the Doctor's shoulder and Clara let out a small laugh. She locked eyes with Angie Maitland who was sat across the room and Angie shot her the smuggest grin known to mankind. Clara rolled her eyes and turned back to the Doctor, who hadn't taken his eyes off of her the entire time. She kissed him again, softly this time and he fed her a piece of chicken. She licked his fingers clean and at this point, she could hear the vein in her father's forehead throbbing. Stuart let out a chuckle, Angie pulled a face and Mandy giggled in a genuine way. She had a nice laugh, Clara decided.
The rest of the evening was very calm, very orderly and not at all what Clara had been expecting. She had thoroughly expected the rehearsal dinner to be a train wreck and in truth, she had almost wanted it to be. But she no longer resented Mandy the way she was supposed to and she was glad that she didn't. Like it or not, Mandy would be around for a long time. Clara had to get used to that and she had to learn to appreciate it as well. She couldn't avoid her father or develop a mind-set of seeing him being a drag. She loved her father and he had faults, but he loved her too. More than anything. That night, before she went to bed, he hugged her so tightly she thought she was going to burst and he kissed her forehead.
"I love you Clara," he told her and she knew it to be the truth. "More than anything. And I just want you to know, that more than anything, I'm glad that you're okay with tomorrow. If you say the word, I can still call this whole thing off."
She was shocked. She had never thought that her father valued her that much. She had expected that he'd be willing to drag her through the wedding, kicking and screaming if he had to. But the fact that he was okay with calling off his own wedding, the day before it, just because she'd asked him to, well that was something that she hadn't thought him capable of. She hugged him now, throwing herself into his chest. She loved him for that, more than ever. And she could never ask him to do it. Of course she couldn't. He was her father, he deserved to be happy. And after her mum had died, she had strongly suspected that neither of them would ever be happy again, so the fact that they both were would mean the world, not just to them but also to her mum, if she could see them.
"Dad," she said quietly. "I could never ask that of you. All I want is for you to be happy, if it's with Mandy or not. If Mandy makes you happy, then that makes me happy."
"The Doctor can stay in your room tonight," Dave conceded and Clara's face lit up. "As you say, if he makes you happy, then that makes me happy. You two are living together," he said it out loud and it sounded like a shock to him. "I suppose what happens is going to happen anyway and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Just please, try and keep the noise down. I think the idea of my daughter having sex is bad enough, I don't want to be able to hear it as well."
"Thanks dad," Clara whispered. "I love you."
"I love you too Sweetpea."
The Doctor looked like Christmas had come early when she told him. She felt the same way that he looked and she giggled like a schoolgirl when he climbed into her bed. It felt odd, the idea of having sex with the Doctor in her own bed, the bed she'd occupied since she was a little girl. They'd moved house, but they'd taken the bed with them and Clara had very mixed feelings about the whole thing. Nevertheless, when he kissed her, she forgot everything else and returned it, her love for him guiding her onwards. Sex, she had decided, wasn't anything to be ashamed of. It wasn't an ugly, disgusting thing that would violate her childhood memories of the bed. What it was, was a magical thing, an intertwining of two souls who were so intricately connected that they chose to let their bodies become one. When the Doctor kissed her, she felt like a princess. When he entered her, she felt like a goddess. They made love. It seemed cliché but Clara had long since learned that clichés are clichés for a reason. His touch set her alight, his lips sent agony through her. Clara Oswald knew that the Doctor loved her and that she loved him back and that that was all that could ever matter in the universe.
That night was the night that Clara would back on with the most fondness. It was probably the most magical night of her life, although very little could compete with the first time she and the Doctor had had sex. Her love for him was endless, matched only by his for her. And the knowledge that it was the first night of the rest of their lives was enough to make Clara giddy with joy. Whatever happened, she had the Doctor and that was good enough for her. She went to sleep lying in his arms and when she woke up, she was still lying in them. It was a feeling that still sent shivers down her spine. The feeling of his collarbone underneath her head, his arm loosely wrapped around her waist, the other just skimming her knee. His legs intertwined with hers, his great big whopping chin resting on the top of her head. The whole Doctor experience. Clara never felt ashamed when she was naked with him, she felt complete, as though clothes were an unnecessary evil that permeated their relationship.
Her self-confidence had been seriously shaken by Jessie but it had skyrocketed since she'd been with the Doctor. After a week of jibes from Mandy, her self-esteem had been clinging on for dear life but the way he had looked at her, the way he always looked at her when he could see her naked body, made Clara feel alive. The hunger, almost desperation in his eyes when he saw her, the way he drank her in, made her feel beautiful. His eyes were still closed, he hadn't woken. There was just a trickle of the morning light coming in from the window and it slashed across his face. His beautiful face. His floppy hair fell across his eye and Clara reached up to shift it, running her hand along his cheekbones, before sweeping upwards to move his hair. He stirred slightly and Clara stopped breathing for a second, hoping that he didn't wake up.
"Are you watching me sleep Closwald?" he asked, the sound rocking Clara to her core.
"You do it all the time," she riposted. "Is a girl not allowed to enjoy her moment? And stop calling me bloody Closwald, it's not cute or funny, it's just annoying."
"I think it's adorable," the Doctor countered and Clara punched his shoulder, sitting up and in doing so, she drove an elbow into his rib cage. "Oww!" he hissed.
"Reminds me of the time we first met," Clara said smugly and he grumbled at this. "Except this time, I get to be the one doing the elbowing. We have to be up in twenty minutes, it's a big day. My dad will kill me if we end behind schedule because we were having sex."
"Twenty minutes?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Clara Oswald, what do you think of me?" Clara snorted and let herself drop back onto him. He groaned again as she inflicted more pain on him and then he kissed her lightly. "I suppose we'd better get a move on then."
"Clara!" she heard her dad shout and she rolled off the Doctor, grumbling irritatedly. "Fifteen minutes. Shower and hurry up! We need to be at the hotel in an hour for breakfast!"
Clara let out a string of expletives that the Doctor chuckled at as he ran a hand through her hair. She smiled sadly at him, but he didn't look even remotely phased.
"We can have a lot of fun in the shower," he pointed out. And in that moment, Clara remembered exactly why she loved him.