With all her memories back Clara really felt like herself now. Christmas was closing in and Dave had taken her to pick out a Christmas tree. They were walking around, occasionally chasing each other between the trees, laughing and joking around not really caring what everyone else was thinking. She might be fifteen now but Clara missed feeling like a child. "We need to actually pick one," Dave pointed out when he caught his daughter.
"Oh yeah I did that pretty much straight away," she giggled and grabbed his hand, taking him round to one that was moderately sized but very bushy. "This one."
"A perfect choice," he smiled and found someone to package it up. "How are you doing?"
Clara smiled, "ready to decorate. I can't wait for Christmas this year, we finally get it together. It's the first time really since Mum died," she hugged into her Dad. This was the third Christmas since her Mum had died - the first one had been very difficult and didn't feel particularly 'Christmassy', the second one Dave had been in the hospital so both of them were determined to make this one perfect.
"And we'll make it just like she loved," he smiled and paid for the tree.
They drove home and got it inside, setting the tree up and getting the decorations out. The lights were put on, tinsel arranged and various baubles and ornaments were hung up. Dave lifted his daughter up to put the angel on top, "that's Mum, watching over us."
After making hot chocolate they sat down on the sofa, Christmas film on and Clara rested against her Dad. "What did you want to do about Danny?"
"You make it sound like we're killing him off," Clara chuckled. "But he'll be with his parents and I'll be here."
Dave smiled, "I know, but you should talk to him and see what else you might want to happen - he's more than welcome to pop round."
Clara nodded, "I'll talk to him."
"When's he home?" Dave asked.
Checking the date on her phone she did the maths in her head, "4 days 3 hours and 27 minutes, depending on traffic." That made her Dad laugh. "What?"
"Not that you're counting down or anything," he shrugged and smiled.
Clara rolled her eyes at him and went back to her hot chocolate and the film. "Can I go over there on Saturday?"
"Course, I won't deprive you of any seconds you might need," he teased and Clara hit him gently. Dave grinned and settled back with her.
#-#-#-#
Danny phoned as soon as he was home and Dave drove her over to him. He was going out with some work friends for their Christmas party tonight which Clara was really pleased about and it meant she was able to stay over. The moment Danny opened the door they hugged tightly having been separated for 3 weeks. Dave joked with Gina that she'd have difficulty seperating them now and thanked her and Phil for looking after her before heading back home.
Clara followed Danny up to his room where he kissed her softly and they stood hugging for a few more minutes. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too," Danny rubbed her arm softly, "are you okay?" She nodded, shutting her eyes and taking in the moment. Now Clara had all her memories she could remember everything they'd done together and everything he had done for her. It was like knowing it all for the first time except it had already happened which made no sense but there she was. "You sure?"
She reached down and took his hands, "yeah I am. I'm just so glad to see you."
"Likewise, there's a ton of work to be done," he grinned. "Nah seriously though, there's a couple of projects over Christmas and Phoebe sorted it so we can work together on both of them to 'help you catch up'."
"You mean so you can make the most of my wonderful brain," she chuckled. "Sounds perfect to me. What we got then?"
Danny pulled out the appropriate work out and they lay down on the floor going through and brainstorming ideas just like they used to. The afternoon flew by as they managed to get everything planned out. Finally they turned over to lie on their backs and chuckled, "well that was satisfying," Danny chuckled.
"It really was," Clara linked their hands and stared up at the ceiling. "Can you believe we originally bonded over doing work together? We are proper geeks."
"Oh and very proud of it too," he replied. "That feels like yesterday but it's been quite a while now."
Clara nodded, "it quite literally feels like yesterday to me with all these new things going on in my head," she smiled. "I'm so glad I've got you. It's not been the best 18 months overall but it would've been a lot worse with you."
"I just wish I could do more sometimes," Danny replied.
Immediately, Clara pushed herself off the floor and turned onto her side to give him a look. "You have done more than you ever needed to do. I never asked for any of it and you still did it. That's not normal teenager behaviour and you still always want to do more, you need to stop punishing yourself and appreciate how grateful I am for you being around."
Danny nodded, "I know, thank you."
"Good. Now let's go and see if we can help out with dinner," she smiled and stood up, dragging him downstairs.
They ended up cooking dinner together, something else they hadn't done for a little while - practically dancing around the kitchen to put it all together. Once everything was cooking they sat at the breakfast bar chatting about school and various other things. "You two are ridiculous," Danny's Dad walked into the kitchen to grab a drink. They looked at him quite confused. "I saw you earlier, moving around here like some well practiced chef team. It's like you can communicate without speaking."
They both laughed, "not quite Dad. Dinner will be about 15 minutes," Danny told him and Phil nodded, heading back through to the living room. "It's good having you back here."
"It's good being back, your parents are lovely and your bed is very comfy," Clara winked and Danny chuckled. "Dad was asking about Christmas and what we wanted to do."
He nodded, "I was thinking about it. Maybe if we spend the morning at home and the afternoon I can come over to you? Mum and Dad were talking about going up to my aunt's place and staying overnight. I don't really enjoy going there so it'd be a good way to get out of it."
"Ah okay so you're using me to avoid seeing the dreaded auntie," she grinned. "Sounds perfect."
Danny smiled, "it does. As much as I'd love to wake up Christmas morning with you we need to see our families. Boxing day will have to do," he squeezed her hand and Clara leant in to hug him.
"It'll be great," she kissed him. "Dinner's nearly ready - we should lay the table and sort drinks out."
They both jumped down and got back to finishing up dinner.
#-#-#-#
Whether at one house or the other, most of the days leading up to Christmas were spent working on their projects in amongst a bit of fun and laughter… most of the time.
It was 3 days before Christmas and they were working on the maths project together at Clara's place. They lay on her bedroom floor with papers all around them. "No that works better over there look," Clara moved something over.
"I'm not saying it doesn't work but with what comes after-"
"We haven't even started on what comes after yet!" Clara groaned and sat up. "We're getting nowhere today." She stood up, pushing the papers out of her way to step over and go to the window.
Danny sat up too, watching her go, "we're not. What's up with you today Clara you're in a real mood."
"I just want to get it done so we can actually enjoy Christmas!" She replied a little aggressively.
"We have 2 weeks after Christmas to finish it, there's no rush and with your brain, we could have it done in half that time," he tried joking.
Very quickly Clara found herself turning around, "yes it's all about my brain isn't it? Good old clever Clara. Why does nobody take me seriously?!"
"That's not what I meant and you know it. Has something happened?" he tried asking again but it felt like she had put a barrier up.
"Just go home if you're not going to be helpful," she complained, turning away again.
He walked over slowly, "Clara I want to help."
Clara didn't reply and instead just stared out of the window. Danny gave up and left the room, pulling her door closed. Just as he did he heard her scream and throw something at the door. He went downstairs and found Dave in the living room, "can I have a word?"
Dave sat up, muting the television, "sure - is everything okay?"
Sitting down Danny sighed, "I don't know. Clara's not right today, she's snapping at me - hiding something. Have I missed something?"
"I don't know it's nothing to do with her Mum that I can recall…" Dave grabbed his phone. "She's recently got a whole load of memories back. I wonder if something happened on this day?"
Danny went with it, pulling out his phone and scrolling through to look for photos. "I can't find anything."
"Me neither. Which means something else must have happened. She's been so good at talking about her feelings recently…" Dave looked up.
"Which means whatever it is affects us - or she think it affects us," Danny finished off what he was thinking.
Dave nodded. They both were interrupted when they heard Clara come downstairs. "I thought I told you to go," she spoke almost monotone as she walked by the living room.
Danny sighed, "alright I'm going to go home and see if I can work these things out."
Gina came back from the café that evening to find Danny pacing the floor. "What's going on?"
He turned around, "oh. Lost track of time sorry, should've put dinner on."
"That does not answer my question," his mother pointed out.
"No… well, I can't really answer the question right now. I'll let you know. You spoke to Clara yesterday right? Did anything seem strange?" Danny asked her.
Gina shrugged her coat off and hung it up, thinking over her conversation the previous day. Danny had gone to make them tea so her and Clara started talking about Christmas. "It was just a normal conversation that I can remember, nothing out of the ordinary. Oh except she went off on a tangent at some point, something about being behind on work…"
"Of course! Wow I'm stupid. Are you okay to sort dinner? I need to do something," Danny asked. Gina could see he was pretty desperate and nodded, "thank you Mum."
He ran upstairs, pulling out all his school work and the list of things they'd been doing before finding an empty notebook and starting to write.
As soon as they'd finished dinner, Danny grabbed the notebook and ran back over to Clara's after a minimal explanation to his parents. Dave answered the door, "I've got it. Can I go up?"
"Good luck, I've not had a word since you left," he replied, moving out of the way for Danny to get in.
Despite wanting to run straight up there, Danny walked up slowly so as not to alarm her. He knocked on the door and hearing the silence from the other side he decided to slowly open the door. Clara was lying on the bed, facing away from him but she seemed to be looking at the pile of work on the floor. Danny walked over and perched himself on the edge of the mattress. "I've got something for you." Clara didn't move or speak to him, she looked tired - probably been crying but he didn't think it was anything more than that. "I worked it out - I think. You're struggling to do the work because all your memories coming back has thrown your brain into overdrive and it's taking a lot of effort for you to keep yourself under control. I'm sorry I didn't see it before, you should have told me or your Dad."
Now she turned around, looking at him. Her cheeks were red from crying and he could see from her eyes that he was right. "Everyone thinks I'm so clever I didn't want to let anyone down. I know, I know I'm meant to say I just…"
"Well it's happened now. I said I had something," he handed her the notepad. "I've written out everything I think they've given you work on and a few notes that might help. I can do more if you need more, I just thought it might help you out. I could try and tell you not to do it all but I know that's not an option so this is the next best thing I could think of."
Clara sat and flicked through, "it's great, thank you. I'm sorry for snapping."
"Don't be silly. Why don't we lay off the work tonight and just put the TV on?" That seemed like a good option and Danny joined her properly on the bed. It didn't take long for Clara to drop off.
#-#-#-#
Waking up on Christmas day was strange. The bed was empty beside her, but Clara smiled when she realised she was finally home and happy on Christmas day. "Wakey wakey, Santa's been visiting." Dave knocked on her door. Clara laughed - this was how her Dad had always woken her on Christmas morning despite her age, at least it had been until her Mum died.
"Has he really? Because he looked suspiciously like my Dad," she grinned, climbing out of bed and grabbing her dressing gown to put on, opening the door. "Morning Dad," she hugged him. "Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas my beautiful girl," he kissed her head. "Presents?"
"Yes. But I'm also starving so can we have croissants first?" she smiled sweetly up at him.
Dave chuckled, "go on then. I'll turn the oven on."
They warmed up the croissants and took them through to the lounge to eat. It didn't take long to finish them and then Clara insisted Dave open his present from her first. "You've got more to open!"
"Yeah that's because I'm a child," she grinned. "Go on - please?" Dave relented and took the present from her.
He opened it carefully, "wait don't I already own this jumper?"
Clara rolled her eyes, "yes but it's a mess because you wear it all the time so I got you a new one. I know it was from Mum…"
"I've still got plenty of things she bought me. This is wonderful, thank you," he smiled. "It is now my favourite jumper."
"It was always your favourite jumper," she pointed out.
"Well now it's extra special. It's also now your turn - go on delve in."
Thanks to the reuniting with her family there were more presents than she expected. Her Gran had left one as she was spending Christmas back in Blackpool and there was one from her Mum's family too. "No way that's ridiculous!" She opened up the one from them, "how did they know?" Clara looked up and saw her Dad smiling. "You told them. "
"I remembered you talking about how you had one in the unit, I figured they might be able to club together for it and they agreed. I haven't got a clue how they work so I hope you do," Dave explained.
Clara laughed at her Dad's lack of technical knowledge, "yeah don't worry I know." She put the playstation to one side and opened the rest of the presents.
"You've all been amazing, thank you Dad," she jumped up from where she'd ended up sat on the floor and hugged him. "These are awesome. Can I go change? I want to put that jumper you got me on."
"Go for it. I'll tidy up a bit," he smiled and Clara piled her bits up to take with her, going to change.
She put the jumper on with a black denim skirt and brushed her hair through, smiling into the mirror. Her Dad had chosen wisely, although it was likely he'd had help. He'd spoilt her again - trying to make up for times missed, not that she needed presents for that. Clara smiled, it was nice to want to smile. Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone - Danny was getting really good at ringing during these quiet moments she had. Clara grabbed it from the floor by her makeup and answered the video call. "Merry Christmas," she smiled and sat down on her bed.
"Wow you look beautiful," he replied in shock.
Clara grinned, "don't look so surprised. How's your morning been?"
"Wonderful so far, my aunt and uncle came over with my cousins for presents - my parents are going up with them to see the rest of the family later," he explained. "How about you?"
Clara nodded, "yep, really good. My Mum's family clubbed together to get me a playstation of all things."
"Well that's our afternoon sorted then," Danny grinned. "Is your jumper new as well?"
"You're good. Yep, Dad got this - it's gorgeous," she told him.
"Oi you two, you'll see each other later. It's my turn now," Dave spoke from the doorway.
They both laughed. "I'm on my way Dad, 2 seconds - promise." Once he'd left she looked back to the phone. "I'd better go. I'll see you after lunch though yet?"
"Definitely. Love you loads," she smiled and they hung up.
They had lunch together and once they'd finished eating both Clara and her Dad sat back on the sofa, hands on their stomachs in an almost protective way. "That was so good but I can't eat another thing," Clara chuckled but winced at the movement of her stomach.
"It was worth it, but I'm not moving for a few minutes," Dave replied. "Thank you for giving us this time alone."
"I hope you don't think Danny's round too much Dad, you know I love spending time with you and-"
"Clara shush, you know I don't mind it. We had plenty of time together before the holidays and I know you two can barely keep your hands off each other," he teased and Clara hit him softly. "Ah it's fine love, I recognise your relationship all too well - I'm not going to be the person that stops it."
Clara smiled, "love you Dad." She leant onto his shoulder and dropped off.
When Danny arrived he let himself in as Dave had instructed him to do so via text. "Hi, Mum and Dad were going to come in but when you said she was asleep I figured there wasn't much point," he smiled. "She looks very peaceful. Can I do anything seeing as you are stuck?"
"I was hoping you might take over, my arm is actually a little numb," Dave chuckled. Danny nodded and they somehow managed to switch places without waking Clara. "I'm not quite sure why she's so tired, maybe just a lot of emotions today."
"Yeah, she'll probably wake in a bit. Thanks," Danny smiled and settled back while she slept.
Sure enough about an hour later she woke up and stretched out. "Merry Christmas sweetheart," Danny smiled as it started to occur to her that he was there. "Okay?"
"Perfect," she smiled and kissed him. "Merry Christmas. Where's Dad?"
"Washing up I believe. Mum and Dad send their love, but they didn't want to wake you," Danny told her.
Clara smiled, sitting back in the chair. "Oh! Here," she reached over and picked up his present from under the tree. "Merry Christmas." Danny took the gift and unwrapped it, laughing as he pulled out the socks from the wrapping paper. "You said you wanted socks for Christmas."
"I did," he replied, "they're wonderful socks."
"I thought as much. Now check inside the socks," she suggested. Danny looked intrigued and unfolded them, opening the sock up and finding an envelope inside which he pulled out. "What have you done Clara Oswald?" he asked and Clara shrugged. He opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper inside. "What?"
"You can read can't you?" she teased him.
Danny laughed, "yes of course. This is just…"
"Don't you dare say it's too much. It's partly from my Dad as well for both of us. The place belongs to my aunt so we got it on mates rates and it's right near them incase we need anyone - you know, being 15 and all that. It's a beautiful village, you'll love it," she smiled and kissed him.
"It's perfect," he hugged her, "thank you. And now it's your turn. This one is from my parents."
Clara smiled and opened the present up, "oh wow…" she carefully revealed the canvas in front of her which had a print of a wide shot from her birthday party printed on. It was a moment when they were dancing together. "That's beautiful."
"I know, they almost outdid me on the presents," he chuckled. "It's a beautiful photo, I didn't even know they had it. There's a smaller version back at home for you to take to school too."
"They thought of everything," she reflected, "it's wonderful."
Danny smiled and grabbed the other present from his bag. "And now to obviously the best present of the lot."
"Of course," she grinned and took it from him to unwrap. Her jaw dropped when she realised what she was holding. A set of four beautiful classics from the Bronte sisters, she knew this wouldn't have been cheap. "Danny these are amazing."
"I did a bit of research, you know I'm not really in on what books are what and why some are more important than others but the internet is a wonderful tool," he chuckled.
"You did good," she smiled and leaned over to hug him, "thank you so much."
Danny sat back with her now, "anything for my girl."