So half of this chapter has been written for about 2 months, the rest of it I wrote tonight on a sudden burst of inspiration. Our favourite teens are back!
New year's eve was shaping up perfectly. Clara and Danny had travelled into central London with their parents but were given permission to go off and explore together for a little while, giving each family a chance to meet the other. They went down to the Thames, walking along the embankment holding hands. "It's such a nice day," Clara smiled. "Very romantic."
"I ordered the weather especially for you," Danny replied which made her laugh, a sight he would never tire of seeing. "Come on I want to take you somewhere." He turned them up a road away from the river. They wound through a few side streets before they reached a café that seemed a little tucked away, and yet was pretty busy for new years eve. "This belongs to my parent's friends," he explained and they went in.
One of the owners immediately greeted Danny, "oh you must be Clara! It's so good to meet you. Come, I have your table ready." Clara looked confused but followed the woman over to a table in the corner where there was already an afternoon tea style lunch set up for them. "Have a wonderful lunch. Let me know if you need anything at all," she left them to it.
Clara sat down, "and what exactly is all this?"
"Christmas part 2," he smiled. "You didn't think I just got you books did you?"
"They were expensive and beautiful books Danny Pink, there's no 'just' about them - never insult the books," she pointed a finger at him.
Danny held his hands up, "sorry, I will not offend the books again. But still, this is your surprise so enjoy it and stop questioning my motives."
"Fair enough, I am pretty hungry," she replied. Danny smiled and poured them both tea while Clara got started on the finger sandwiches. "These are very good."
"Best café in central London," he grinned. "They taught my parents everything they know," Danny explained. "They owned our café before, and then they found this place but they didn't want ours to close. My parents were regular customers, they were still pretty young - I was very young, and Dad says they always wanted to do something together. Dyleth and Ken gave them the café, they pay them minimum rent but that's it. We owe them a lot."
It was as he spoke Clara realised how little she knew of Danny's history, that explained a lot. She made a mental note to find out more soon, but now wasn't really the time. "They sounds like awesome people. Your parents are equally fantastic at what they do."
They ate up, both pretty hungry. The food was fantastic and they grinned to each other as they ate. "You know what Clara Oswald, I love spending time with you," he smiled.
"Mmm you're alright," Clara shrugged and grinned as she sipped her tea. "I cannot eat another thing that was amazing."
Danny reached over and linked their hands, "bit like you."
"You are in a very complimentary mood today. What have you done?" she asked.
"Just being nice," he smiled.
Clara still questioned his motive, "hmmm if you say so."
Their fingers intertwined and played their own little game on the table while they chatted and finished up the pot of tea. Dyleth smiled over at them occasionally but hadn't interrupted. They still had a bit of time before they had to leave to reunite with their parents and were determined to make the most of it.
After some distracted conversation about their Christmas week and a bit about school Danny went quiet for a moment before he spoke up, "okay I had a small alterior motive for bringing you here."
"Knew it," she smirked, but he actually looked quite serious.
Danny smiled slightly at her reaction but it didn't last. "I have to go away tomorrow night. There's some family stuff going on, you know my Dad's family that live in France? My Gran's ill and there are some arguments going on about treatment or something… we have to go over. It might be a few weeks, we don't know for sure. Apparently, my parents spoke to school before Christmas about me going back late, but they didn't want to tell me about it until after Christmas. I didn't know how to tell you, I'd sort of had this planned anyway but I really wanted us to have a wonderful new year before I had to go."
A silence fell over the table for a moment as Clara processed what he'd just said. She rearranged their hands so she could hold his while she thought. "Is your Gran going to be okay?" she eventually asked.
"I don't know. She's pretty ill but they don't know how long she'll go on for - it could be months for all we know, but we won't be there that whole time. It's something to do with where she's being treated," Danny explained.
Of course she understood, and Clara wasn't going to stop him going either. She nodded slowly, "what about the work we've got to do?"
"We'll get an extension, apparently that's all been sorted too. I am a little angry they didn't tell me earlier but can't change that now," he told her. "Are you alright?"
Good question. "Yeah, it's important that you go honestly. I'm just sorry I can't be there to support you, but you know you can call me."
Danny lifted her hand and kissed it softly, "I love you too, don't worry I'll be fine. I'm just sorry I won't be there for you going back but Jess and Faye will look after you, I'll be back before you know it."
Clara smiled now, she wasn't going to let this stop them enjoying their day. They had 24 hours, it was better to make the most of them. "Course you will. We'll be fine I've got loads of support and you'll be with your family. We've coped apart before and we can do it again."
"Very true. In that case why don't we make our way back out and take a slow walk back towards our parents along the river," he suggested and they did so, mostly in silence.
#-#-#-#
When they returned back home, to Danny's place, they went upstairs to do some more work. Clara's Dad and Gran were over for the night and downstairs chatting to Danny's parents.
"She seems to be alright so far," Grace suggested. "I like to think Clara is stronger than we all expect."
"Of course, I just hope we didn't make the wrong decision by leaving it till now to tell them," Gina smiled.
Dave shook his head, "if you'd have told them earlier then it would have overshadowed Christmas and they deserved to enjoy that. You did the right thing I'm sure of it. Clara'll have her friends when she's back at school and she has us while she's not. Plus the magic of technology means they'll probably be talking all the time!"
"Good point," Phil chuckled. "It's such a strange situation all this, who'd have thought our children would be here at this stage in their lives."
"Very true, we can't really complain," Dave smiled and they all changed conversation away from the kids for a while.
Upstairs, Danny and Clara were working away and their chat hadn't strayed from the project at all. It was productive, but they both knew they were avoiding the elephant in the room. Nevertheless, they kept working and managed to get 2 of the 3 projects finished over the course of the afternoon. "Who needs extensions eh?" Clara joked as they closed up another folder.
"We're just too good," Danny smiled and sat back. "How are you feeling, now you've had time to think?"
Clara sat up with him, leaning against the side of his bed. "I'm okay, genuinely. Of course, I'll miss you, who wouldn't? But you need to do this and maybe it'll be good for me in a weird kind of way. Jess and Faye will look after me."
He smiled, "good. You can always phone me too."
"Likewise," Clara replied and took his hand, "and how are you? You don't fool me Danny Pink I know this is hard for you."
"No need to worry about me, my parents will do enough of that," Danny chuckled a little.
Clara nodded, "alright, we'll make an agreement then shall we? I won't worry about you if you don't worry about me."
"I guess we can do that," Danny smiled. "Let's make the most of tonight then. Tea?"
"Tea would be amazing."
#-#-#-#
Waking up on New Year's day was bittersweet. They'd all seen in the new year together, making promises to each other about the year ahead. "Morning beautiful," Danny brushed her hair out of her face as she opened her , on realising what day it was, shut her eyes again. "Nah you can't fool me."
"If I don't wake up then today hasn't started yet," she sighed quietly.
He smiled, "but if you stay asleep longer then we don't have as much time to enjoy together."
Clara groaned. "Why are you always right?"
"It's a speciality of mine," he grinned. "Fancy helping me pack? You know I'm useless."
"You're right about that too," she chuckled. "Alright then, it's a deal."
Once they were up and ready for the day Clara immediately got to work getting him packed, setting up a little production line for the two of them. She went through his wardrobe to get what he needed. "You are amazing I wouldn't have a clue what to take," Danny chuckled.
"Stop getting distracted and pack that lot," Clara pointed to the pile and grinned at him.
As told, he started to pack his case but couldn't help laughing a little, "you're very distracting."
Clara rolled her eyes and threw a pair of socks at him, "I despair. You need to fold those jeans better or you'll never fit everything in."
"Wow you're so bossy."
"Someone's got to look after you," she replied. "That's everything you should need. Want a hand getting it all in?"
After briefly considering arguing that he could do it, Danny relented and let her join.
They immediately got into a routine and the packing was quickly sorted. Clara zipped the case up and stuck his passport on top to make sure he had it. "You are going to be fine," she smiled. "And so am I. Dad has great plans for the next week, I think I'll be going back to school for a rest if I'm honest."
Danny chuckled, "bless he's really trying."
"Sometimes too hard, but it's fine," she leant back into him. "How long do we have?"
"Not long enough. About an hour," Danny replied. "Anything you want to do?"
"Not leave your side for the next hour," she sighed gently.
#-#-#-#
Despite a long goodbye it was still hard for Clara to watch him leave. Her Dad came over to pick her up just as they were getting ready to go. When the car left her put his arms around her carefully and guided her back to the car. "Come on love, let's head home." She went with him, but slightly dazed. It was weird not knowing when she'd next see Danny, but she had to be okay. Clara wanted to know she could get through this without Danny by her side all the time, maybe it would be good for her. "Hey, we're home."
Clara hadn't even realised they'd driven, but they were indeed outside her house. She left the car silently and made her way inside. When she glanced back she noticed her Dad smiling a little as he locked the car. Thinking nothing of it she opened the door and made her way into the lounge. "Surprise!" Clara jumped a little when Faye jumped out from behind the sofa before running over to hug her. "Happy new year!"
Immediately she felt lightened and hugged her back, "oh man it's so good to see you. How come you're here?"
"Well you went all quiet so I messaged Danny and he told me what was going on, then I called your Dad," she grinned. "How are you feeling now?"
Clara went through to the kitchen to put the kettle on, "I don't know. I want to prove to myself that I can do this, so I'm trying to control it all. It's quite nice having some distraction," she smiled. "Tea?"
"Definitely. And I'm here as long as you need me, it gets really dull around my place after new year so I'd much rather be hanging around with you," Faye chuckled.
They sat down in front of the TV with their tea and chatted away while they relaxed, it completely took Clara's mind off the current situation which she was so grateful for.
"Oh look at this, girls chatting away and binge watching a show on that flixnet thing," her Gran had obviously decided to come over.
Faye and Clara laughed, "it's netflix Gran. Good to see you too. You're welcome to join in girls night if you fancy."
"Oh gosh no you don't want me hanging around. I'm just here to have a word with your Dad. Carry on without me," she left the room again.
Clara rolled her eyes but Faye laughed, "I love your Gran. She's looking really well."
She sat up a little having slumped right down on the sofa, "she's been round here every 2 minutes since I've been home, and if I've not been here I've had texts every hour. Definitely worrying about everything and if it's not me it's Dad. I'll be glad when I get back to school and Dad gets back to work - she might settle a bit."
Faye tutted a little, "and you're worrying about her again. You lot are a nightmare! Let her mother you a bit Clara."
"I know I know, you two are going to be watching me like hawks when I get back aren't you?" Clara stood up now, stretching a little. "Fancy hot chocolate?"
"Absolutely yes, but why don't we get into our PJs first? Proper sleepover style," Faye suggested and they both went to change. Clara had just finished changing when her phone went.
Made it across the channel. Hope you're having fun with Faye xxx
She sat down on the bed, staring at the message and sighing a little. While her mind had been off Danny she'd been fine, but this was a reminder just how long he could be gone for.
Pyjamas on, TV going and hot chocolate on the way. I'm great! Look after yourself xxx
She was having fun with Faye of course she was, but that didn't stop the nerves about how she was going to cope. A knock at the door got her out of the daze. Faye walked over and sat down on Clara's bed. "Danny?" she gestured to the phone in Clara's hand. "You know before he went he messaged Jess and I with a whole lecture to make sure we look after you properly. This is your time to show you don't need no man," she grinned. "You've come so far in the last few months - we know you can do this."
"I know, I know I can. I went through countless sessions in that place to make sure I can. It's just… scary," Clara shrugged.
Faye nodded, "well I say you leave that phone up here, grab your duvet and we are snuggling on that sofa with a movie. I vote disney!"
Clara laughed at her enthusiasm as she was pulled up to her feet. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.