Hey folks, enjoy this. Thank you all for your reviews they make me smile every time.
Danny woke to find Clara watching him, smiling down at him. He groaned and turned over but she stopped him, giggling and pulling him back, catching him with a kiss. Danny slowly wrapped his arms around her, smiling in to the kiss before it finally broke, though neither of them moved far from each other.
"Morning birthday boy," she spoke quietly, "you looked so peaceful, I love your face when you're asleep."
"Mmm thanks I suppose." He chuckled softly, stroking her hair back. "Does it have to be my birthday? Can't it just be any other day?" Danny moaned.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!" Chloe ran in, Ellie following close behind. Clara raised her eyebrows, rolling back over.
"I think that's a no." She winked at Danny, moving so Ellie could sit between them. Chloe had jumped on Danny, hugging him tight and then looking at Clara. "Can we give him presents now? Please!" She asked. Clara waited a moment before nodding and slipping out of bed, going in to her wardrobe to grab the presents from the girls out. Handing their respective presents over to them both. She sat back down, watching as Chloe excitedly handed hers over to her Daddy.
"Thank you sweetie," Danny kissed her head softly.
"I picked them myself!" She bounced on him excitedly. Clara smiled, she wasn't wrong.
"Oh really? Well now I'm even more excited." He told her, poking her nose gently before unwrapping the present. "Well these are very cool!" He told her as he revealed the socks in the package. "Love the colours. I'll have to show these off in the staffroom." He smiled, hugging Chloe close. "Thank you sweetheart."
Ellie handed hers over next, much less excitable and just smiling a little. Danny reached out to put an arm round her slowly, making sure she was okay with it.
"I don't know if you'll like it, I'm not good at these things." Ellie told him. "Freddie helped. He said you'd like it." Danny smiled, starting to unwrap it. As he pulled it out he smiled even more.
"Ellie this is brilliant." He told her. Clara looked over and laughed briefly, covering her mouth. "Don't worry about Mum, she's just being silly." He grabbed one of the cushions from beside him and threw it over at Clara.
"Freddie said I wasn't allowed to play with it because I'd probably solve it in 2 minutes." She said seriously. Danny grinned and looked at the present – a cube, much like a rubix cube but it was based on Sudoku.
"He's probably right. Maybe we'll have to time each other and see who does it quicker?" Danny asked and Ellie finally smiled back at him. "This is a brilliant present. I bet Mum can't beat this." Clara raised her eyebrows at him.
"I think for that you'll have to wait for my present." Clara grinned and stood up out of bed. "Breakfast time then?" Danny looked at her, pretending to be disheartened but he knew he would never get his present in front of the girls anyway.
"Why do I have to go to Grandad's house? He doesn't even live there he lives with us." Chloe looked disgruntled as she walked in to the lounge with her bag.
"Yes, but today you're going to help him at his okay? And then we'll all go out for tea this evening." Ellie popped up from where she had been hidden in her book.
"Is Grandad moving out?" She asked. Clara saw the concern in her face; Ellie had got very close to Dave over recent weeks.
"Don't worry munchkin, I'm going nowhere." Dave appeared in the room and joined Ellie on the sofa. "What you reading?" She turned the cover over for him. "Again? Honestly you're as bad as your mother."
"Hey, Jane Austen is a wonderful human being and her stories are beautiful. Ellie has good taste." Clara piped up again.
"Wonderful human being eh?" Danny joined in as he entered the room having finally got dressed. "Have I missed something?" He looked suspiciously at her and Clara just grinned back at him. "Emma just text, she's on the way."
Chloe giggled and leaped over to Ellie.
"Freddie's comingggggg." She ran around in front of her. Ellie stuck her head back in her book to ignore her but Chloe jumped up on the sofa.
"Chloe leave me alone!" Ellie snapped at her, but Chloe wasn't deterred.
"Have you kiiiissed?" She asked, Clara stood up to intervene but it was too late. Ellie lashed out, hitting Chloe in the arm and running out. Dave stood up after her but Clara shook her head.
"Danny, deal with Chloe." She did her best to run after Ellie, eventually getting to her room to find her curled up on the beanbag in the corner. Clara tried to think the last time she saw her there; it had been a long time that was for sure. "El…?" She walked in slowly. Ellie was crying, sobbing, holding her hand close to her.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She repeated over and over. Clara stayed near the door for now; she knew hugging her straight away would be wrong.
"You can't just hit your sister Ellie," Clara told her sternly. "You could have seriously hurt her!" She watched as Ellie kept tightening her curl on the beanbag.
"She won't stop she won't stop!" Ellie said, Clara knew what she meant.
"Ellie I've told you before, she's not trying to be mean she just likes Freddie and she's curious. You can't just hit her for that." Clara started to move closer.
"I don't like it!" Ellie shouted at her, and Clara stopped. Ellie seemed to almost startle herself, tightening herself up and apologising again. "I don't mean it Mum I don't mean it." The doorbell rang downstairs. Clara glanced towards the bedroom door but didn't move, knowing Danny would get it. She knelt down now, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. Immediately she felt Ellie relax, shifting towards Clara.
"Calm down sweetheart, come on now." She held her, sighing softly, this was the hardest bit. "You need to apologise to Chloe."
"Mum am I still going to athletics?" She asked. "Because when Chloe is naughty you don't let her go swimming, and I just hit Chloe." Clara could sense her anxiety over a change in plans. She knew she couldn't punish Ellie the same way she did Chloe, she always knew that.
"No you can still go today, because I know you're prepared for it, but not Tuesday." Clara told her, she knew Ellie would need to be prepared for this. Ellie nodded slowly, starting to sit up. "You ready to go down?" She nodded again, standing up. Clara kept an arm round her until they got to the stairs when Ellie let her go down first.
As they appeared at the bottom of the stairs Freddie came out in to the hall, but Ellie hid behind Clara. Clara just smiled softly at him and led him back in to the living room. Danny looked up but she just gave him a look to tell him it was okay. Chloe was sat with Dave, cuddled up looking a little sorry for herself but no longer crying. Emma was stood in the corner, a conversation had clearly been going on before they came back down but it had gone quiet now. After a few seconds Ellie move slightly to one side of Clara, looking at Chloe.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to hit you." She said. Chloe looked up at Clara who nodded at her and she looked back to Ellie before standing up and running over, standing in front of her. After a moment Ellie crouched down and hugged her sister. Clara relaxed a little, walking over to Danny and resting her head against him briefly before turning around to stand beside him.
"Right, Ellie you need to go and get your bag okay? You'll be late otherwise." Danny informed her and she quickly went out to find her bag.
"Still coming then?" Emma asked. Clara turned round to her.
"Yeah, I've told her she won't be going Tuesday but I think we need to keep routine for today. If you're okay with that?" She responded, picking up Chloe who had appeared at her side with her arms up. She was getting too heavy to hold really, but she'd let her off for now.
"Of course, I'm quite looking forward to watching her practice really. Freddie's told me a lot about how good she is." Clara and Danny had taken Freddie to practice once to see her, he'd barely taken his eyes off her all session. Freddie came over towards them all now, still looking a little confused that Ellie had moved away from him earlier on.
"Hey kid, don't worry she's alright, just a little shaken up. She'll run it off." Clara ruffled his hair and he wriggled away, all 3 adults laughing. "Go hurry her up then Freddie." She smiled, letting him go. "Thanks for this Emma."
"No worries, I hope you both have a great time. I'll have her back for 5 as promised." She smiled and went out to the door.
Once they'd left, Chloe and Dave soon followed on the premise of stopping for jelly beans on the way. Clara sighed as she shut the door and Danny quickly put his arms around her.
"Well that was a little more dramatic than I planned this morning, sorry." She spoke in to his chest, hugging him. Danny kissed her head, gently stroking a hand up and down her back.
"It's fine, are you okay? Was Ellie alright?" He asked, eventually guiding her off in to the lounge to sit down.
"She was in the end, sometimes I hate having to punish her because I know she can't always help it, but I can't have one rule for Chloe and one for her." Clara told him, and Danny nodded understanding what she meant. "Anyway, the house is finally empty. Just you and me until 5." She smiled, kissing him softly.
"Mmm good, what are we actually doing then?" He asked, returning the kiss.
"Whatever you want to do, I don't mind." Clara told him, leaning back on the sofa again.
"Honestly? I just want to spend the day in bed with my beautiful wife, snacks and a decent movie or two. That sounds like a perfect birthday." Danny took her hand, pulling her up from the sofa. Clara snaked an arm around him and smiled gently.
"Okay, you pick the films and grab food, I need to go and get something." She told him, kissing him again and then making her way upstairs. She went in to the cupboard, pulling out his present and laying it on the bed for him before setting up the TV and settling down on the bed, rubbing at her bump a little. She smiled as Danny walked in the room carrying DVDs, popcorn and crisps. Clara took things off him so he could sit down on the bed and got up to put the DVD in.
"What's this then?" Danny asked her, spotting the present on the pillow. Clara looked round, shrugging and smiling before turning back to the TV. "Should I open it?" She shrugged again. Danny rolled his eyes and stood up, kneeling on the end of the bed and wrapping his arms around her neck, draping them down her front. "You're cruel Clara Oswald, so very cruel." She laughed, turning around and raising an eyebrow at him. "Cruel but cute."
"That's better. And yes, open it." She smiled, letting go and walking round to get back on the bed. Danny picked up the package, starting to unwrap it. Clara smiled, leaning back against the headboard and watching him, chuckling when he struggled with the tape. Eventually he got there, finding a box inside.
"It feels very light, is it just a box?" Clara shrugged again, laughing. "Alright I get the picture. I'll just open it." He did so, peeling the cellotape back and opening it. He gasped as he opened it, seeing what was inside. "Clara what have you done?" He asked, picking out the ticket holder. She just smiled at him, waiting to see how he reacted. Danny opened the holder, pulling out the plane tickets. "Canada, Clara you…"
"Remembered how much you wanted to go back there and explore further. And you deserve it, more than anything in the world. It's not for ages yet, I figured we need to be a few months down the line with these two before we could consider leaving but it's all sorted. Ellie's staying with Emma as long as that's all still okay, if not Adrian's on the cards. But he'll have Chloe, and Dad has madly offered to take these two so… we're going." She took the tickets out of his hand, resting them on the side table and moving the box so she could move closer to him. Danny still looked dumbstruck. "Oh take that look off your face it's a holiday not a death sentence."
"Sorry I just never expected…" Danny finally smiled, kissing her gently midsentence. "I don't deserve you." Clara scoffed a little, shaking her head. "Hey! Don't be like that, I know we've had some rubbish times recently, but you're still that slightly sassy English teacher creeping up on me."
"I miss that girl." Clara sighed gently, leaning against his shoulder.
"I'm pretty sure she's still here, looking beautiful as always and still calling me out on my grammatical errors." Danny smiled. "And she just gave me the best birthday present ever, because she knows me so well." He lifted her head up carefully and kissed her softly. "Thank you." They kept eye contact, the moment almost sweeping them away, that was until the doorbell rang.
Both of them laughed a little, Clara rolled her eyes and swung her legs off the bed. Danny went to move, but she told him off because it was his birthday. It probably wouldn't be important. She went downstairs slowly; she didn't do much quickly at this point with 2 children in her stomach. Making it to the door, finally, she opened it to a sight she was really not expecting.
Quickly she slammed the door shut again, leaning against it and breathing heavily. No, it couldn't be, the Doctor had said it wasn't possible. The man knocked again, she panicked, and then realised something. She turned around and opened the door again, looking him in the face.
"Sorry I didn't mean to startle you, are you Clara?" He didn't recognise her. Not her face anyway – it definitely wasn't him. But he looked like him. She had to glance upstairs quickly, trying to work this out in her head. When she looked back she had to study him, looking at all his features. He looked like him, but it wasn't. "I'll take that as a yes. Listen I know this is a shock to you, but I can explain. Is Rupert here?"
"Rupert…? Oh! Wow there's a name I've not heard in years." Clara stared further; she was beginning to get ideas about this.
"So he's not?" The man asked. Clara shook her head, smiling a little.
"He's here. He's just not known as Rupert anymore, hasn't been in years. Look I don't mean to be rude but, are you who I think you are?" She asked. "You're his brother aren't you?" She didn't even know if he had a brother, Danny didn't know anything about his family. Clara could feel her heart pounding, she had no idea how he might react to this, she didn't really know how to react herself.
"Yes. We're twins." He replied simply.
"No kidding." She pushed her hair back and moved out the way. "You'd better come in. Oh, and happy birthday I guess." He walked in passed her and she shut the door, leading him through to the lounge. "I'll go and get him. Have a seat." She walked out, shutting the lounge door and pausing briefly outside. Her legs were shaking; in fact the whole of her was shaking. Clara made her way back upstairs, trying to work out how she was meant to break this to Danny. There was no denying it, he didn't need proof, it was there in his face. He wasn't lying, this wasn't a trick, she knew it.
"Clara are you alright? Who was that?" Danny asked, standing up and going over to her as she stood in the doorway to their bedroom. He went to take her to the bed but she shook her head, stopping him.
"Danny you never found anything out about your real family right?" She asked.
"No, but it's really never bothered me. I've got you now. Why are you asking?" He asked, taking her hands. "Clara you're shaking what's going on?"
"Your twin brother just turned up at the door. He's in the lounge." Clara had to grab Danny now to stop him from falling. "There's no mistaking it. I mean the eyes are a slightly different colour and his cheekbones are a little rounder but he's not lying. It makes sense too, they say twins run in families and there aren't any in mine." She raised a hand to his cheek. "Danny you need to talk…"
"Sorry this just isn't quite what I was expecting today. I guess we should go downstairs." He took her hand and they went down together. "Stay with me?" He asked. Clara squeezed his hand just as they headed in to the lounge.
"I'm going nowhere." She replied, walking in with him. The man stood up, Clara realised she hadn't asked his name, as they entered. "Danny, this is your brother."
"Hi Danny. I'm really sorry for just turning up but I only had an address and that was hard enough to get. I have a lot to explain I know." Clara could see he was genuine, and he seemed nice enough, but she could feel Danny's uncertainty.
"We could start with a name?" Danny replied.
"Oh right, yes, sorry, Gary." Clara looked between them, it was all quite awkward.
"Oh for goodness sake neither of you are going to bite. Look happier, it's your birthday!" She let go of Danny's hand. "I'm going to make tea, talk about stuff." She started to walk off, but she quickly whispered to Danny, "I'm not going far".
When she'd gone and Danny looked back, Gary was smiling. "Well that's us told then." He said, and Danny chuckled a little.
"She has a way of getting me to do things… after so long I still don't really know exactly how she does it." They finally sat down, things relaxing a little. "Do you have anyone?" He asked Gary.
"Laura, been together 10 years now, married 3. She's on shift today unfortunately, but then 1 of us is probably more than enough for you today." Gary answered. Danny smiled, this was still quite strange, but he felt comfortable.
"Any children?" Danny asked, sitting a little more comfortably.
"Just the 1, little boy – Peter. He's nearly 7, you?" Gary glanced around at the room. "I'm guessing at least 1 and definitely another on the way." He pointed out.
"2 girls – Ellie and Chloe. Ellie's 12 and Chloe's also nearly 7. 2 more on the way, we haven't found out genders, although I'm feeling quite outnumbered so there's always hope." Danny grinned, he didn't really mind but it had been a running joke. He'd also decided it was too soon to talk about Faith - that could wait. "They're both out today though, Chloe's helping Clara's Dad with something and Ellie is…" he paused to look at the time, "just finishing at athletics and heading back to our friend's house. Which makes us sound really lazy, but we do normally do the running around I promise." He made sure to let him know. As he finished and Gary gave him a knowing nod, Clara re-entered the room with tea and handed it over, sitting on the arm of the sofa.
"How's it going then?" She asked, leaning a little against Danny.
"Good thanks, still to get to the deep stuff but you know, there's a long way to go. Start at the beginning and all that. Are you alright? You look tired." Clara rolled her eyes and stood back up.
"I can take a hint. Call me if you need me okay?" She chuckled a little and went upstairs for a lie down, truth be told the escapade with Ellie had tired her out a little but that wasn't important. Danny needed some time alone with his brother to work out what was going on, and she was right to give him that.
Hours passed, and the two men just talked. Gary explained what he knew about their past and how he'd found Danny, and Danny did his best to take it all in. This wasn't so much an afternoon of bonding, that would come later and they both knew that, for now they both needed to accept that everything they thought they knew wasn't true, and that was how the afternoon progressed.
"It's going to take a while for this to sink in…" Danny told him when he'd finished.
"I understand that, I've had a lot longer. Although seeing you in person is still kinda weird." Gary laughed a little more nervously than he had. Danny understood, it was weird finding out you have a brother let alone a twin.
"Listen I don't want to kick you out, but we're supposed to be heading out soon and Ellie struggles if timings change so I'd better get moving. Could we meet again this week? One evening maybe?" He asked.
"Absolutely, I guess the next stage is finding out more details about each other?" Gary asked. Danny nodded, there was so much to tell of course, but he wasn't quite sure how much to share. He'd pulled out a card to give to Danny. "My number's on there, just let me know what's a good day for you." Danny took it, nodding.
"Thanks, I'll have to check with the boss but I'll call you." They both stood up and didn't say much for a moment. As if on cue Clara walked in, but she stayed back. After a few moments she gave up and rolled her eyes.
"Just hug each other for goodness sake. You're brothers, not arch enemies." She walked over to pick up their mugs, nudging Danny before going off to the kitchen. They both laughed a little before hugging briefly, patting each other on the back. "That's better!" Clara called from the kitchen before reappearing. "It's been lovely to meet you." She told Gary. "I'm sure we'll see more of each other." As she spoke the door opened, and she heard her Dad's voice talking to Chloe. She could make out Ellie and Freddie's voices too so they must have all arrived back at the same time. "Ah, family invasion…" she looked over as they all started to pour in to the lounge.
"Grandad what're you looking at?" Chloe asked as she noticed Dave stop talking. She looked around and immediately started screaming, grabbing the nearest book and throwing it at Gary before running out.
"Chloe!" Clara shouted after her, looking at Danny quickly knowing she couldn't run after her. He took off, following her out of the house. Ellie watched as her sister ran between her and Freddie who were stood talking just outside the front door.
"Chloe no!" She called as she quickly worked out what was about to happen. Freddie had seen too and immediately ran after Chloe before Danny had even made it out the door. Chloe kept running, down the drive, across the pavement, in to the road...
"Chloe!" Freddie called.
The car horn beeped. Freddie jumped, grabbing her and holding her as they rolled out of the path of the oncoming car which stopped just after them. Ellie stood in shock, crying as she stared ahead. Danny had run over to them, immediately kneeling down. Clara had made it to the door and quickly pulled Ellie close, shaking her head as Dave jogged passed her to go to see to Freddie and Ellie. Gary appeared last, stood in the doorway looking incredibly confused and with a small cut on his cheek from where the book had miraculously managed to hit him so high. Clara wiped at her eyes and looked up to him.
"I'm really sorry, this isn't your fault I should have realised." She told him, looking back to the road.
"Is there something I should know? I dismissed you slamming the door earlier, but is there something?" He asked. "I just don't want to cause any upset, and you are technically my family now." Clara nodded, he was right, and he was upset.
"I can't explain, I'm sorry but I can't. Maybe we can tell you someday, but it's complicated. Just please believe me this is not your fault and I'll clear this up. You should get that cut cleaned up, um, help yourself to a drink I'll come and have a look." She told him, but Gary didn't go inside. Instead he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, it's nothing. I'll head home now and get out the way, please get Danny to let me know everything is okay?" She nodded.
"Thank you, for coming I mean. Danny might not know it yet, but he needs you." She let him go.
"Mum!" Ellie spoke and nudged her to look back at the road where both Chloe and Freddie were now stood up and moving on to the footpath. Ellie let go of her and ran over straight in to Freddie's arms. "You saved my sister." Clara went over, picking up Chloe and holding her tight.
"Oh darling I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" She whispered to her as Chloe cried in to her. "Come on, let's get you inside." She told her, and handed her to Danny knowing she'd not got a hope of carrying her that far. Dave joined her to walk inside.
"So who is he? And why did Chloe react like that?" He asked, Clara sighed – her Dad was never one to wait with the questions.
"He's Danny's twin brother that we didn't know existed until today. And as for Chloe, I really can't explain that." He looked at her suspiciously.
"She kept talking about Faith when she was in the road." That wasn't exactly a surprise.
"Dad just stop, please just stop. I need to phone Emma and get her to collect Freddie. Could you sort some dinner, maybe a Chinese or something just make sure it's here for half 5 please." She walked away and joined Ellie and Freddie to make sure he was okay.
Eventually they'd made it to bed. Clara had to stay with Chloe until she slept, and she was fully expecting to be up in the night with her. She had finally managed to persuade her that Gary wasn't who she thought he was, and by the time she fell asleep she seemed almost excited to have an uncle. Ellie had understood too, and was asking multiple questions now she knew Freddie was okay. He'd got a few cuts and bruises, but both Chloe and he had got away with the accident lightly. Clara and Danny had thanked him multiple times, and apologised to Emma who only seemed proud of her son – and rightly so.
"Well that was an eventful birthday," Danny said as Clara climbed in to bed. She sighed, hugging in to him. "I've got a lot to tell you, but maybe not tonight hm?"
Clara nodded a little. "Did you call Gary?" She asked.
"Yes. He's fine and apologetic although I told him again not to worry about it. I'm going to see him Wednesday as you suggested. We've got a lot to learn about each other, but I'm quite excited I guess." He told her.
"Mmm especially now your daughters are aware he's not planning on killing anyone." Clara said with a hint of sadness.
"We can't let him remind us of him, it's not the same." He told her and Clara nodded. "I'll explain more to you tomorrow, but right now you need to sleep, we all do."
They settled, but Clara didn't sleep. She lay awake, thinking of everything that had happened. It had been a rollercoaster of a day and she still didn't quite know what to think, and it wasn't all over yet.
