Hello! Welcome to this new fanfic! I've been working on this for quite a while now so I hope you enjoy the story! Cheers!
"Miss, why do we have to go to the hall?" a student whined to his teacher as groups of people began flooding the school hall.
Clara Oswald wanted nothing more than to bang her head against the wall. This was the sixth time one of her students had asked her the same question. "There's going to be a talk by someone from Met."
"It's going to be boring," the student continued complaining. "It's just going to be like last year."
"Yeah, why do we have to go through this again?"
Truth to be told, she wondered the same thing. It had become an annual event where the school would invite a detective from Scotland Yard to talk about everything from drugs to criminal sentences. "It's so that you don't become a criminal," she answered before ushering her students to take their seats.
"But it's the same thing over and over again."
"Evan, please take your seat," she said. "It will be over before you know it."
"Yes, Miss Oswin," Evan answered begrudgingly.
The teacher then chuckled before walking to the very back of the hall to join her colleagues.
"They're sending someone new this year," Anna commented. "I heard Mr Armitage talking on the phone – Smith or something."
"I doubt that it'll be any different compared to last year," Clara replied, taking her seat.
A few moments later, another colleague joined them. "Saw the new detective," Mitch whispered. "He's wearing a uniform, too."
"Oh, did they send a chief or something?" Anna asked.
Mitch shrugged. "Don't know - doesn't seem too happy to be here, but he's quite the looker, though."
Oh, great. The gossiping is about to start. Clara decided to tune out by making sure that all of her students were present because God forbid one of them… yep. Courtney Woods is missing. She stood up. "Not again," she muttered.
"A certain student went missing again?" Anna questioned sympathetically.
"Who else?" Clara sighed before she left the hall in search of her student.
The hallways were unsurprisingly empty, and it didn't take Clara long to take a guess where Courtney might be hiding. Her student might be a troublemaker, but she's no idiot either.
The men's room.
Clara stopped in front of the door to listen to any sort of sound coming from inside and when she heard the shuffling of feet, she knew her student was inside.
Without a moment's hesitation, she pushed the door and was greeted by the sight of a man. In a uniform. Washing his hands.
They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Clara realised her mistake. "Sorry, I thought one of my students was hiding in here," she said before rushing out.
Just as a precautionary and to hopefully avoid the man, she entered the ladies' restroom and did not discover Courtney.
"You look like you were ready to murder someone in there," he commented the moment she strode out.
Clara wanted to do nothing more than to disappear out of thin air. Thank goodness he was just washing his hands. "You have no idea how rambunctious students can be when they feel like it," she replied. "You must be the new guy."
John Smith nodded. "Chief Inspector Clarkson has a..." he said. "Family emergency."
"You don't sound too pleased."
It had nothing to do with the talk. He didn't mind all that much. It was the bloody uniform he was asked to wear. Apparently, Kate wanted the kids to take the talk seriously and she thought that the best way to do that was to be in uniform. He hated it. "No, I just hate wearing this."
Clara examined him from head to toe. "You don't look that bad."
"I prefer being in plainclothes."
"The kids wouldn't care, regardless."
"That's what I told my boss."
They then smiled at each other.
"Smith, John Smith."
"Oswin," Clara replied. "Clara Oswin."
"So, the talk?"
She snapped out of her thoughts and nodded her head to the left. "The hall's down that way."
Together, they made their way to the hall where it was now completely full of students and staff.
"Detective," Mr Armitage greeted. "Finally found your way here, have you?"
He nodded. "Thanks to Clara."
It was then she remembered that she still needed to find Courtney. "I have to go and find my missing student."
"No need," a voice from behind announced as Courtney Woods tailed behind him. "Found her hiding in one of the classrooms."
"Thank you, Mr Pink," the headmaster said. "Right, I think we can get started."
Danny Pink and Clara exchanged looks before she mouthed 'thank you' to him and he nodded curtly.
"Looks like Mr Pink has new competition," Anna whispered to Mitch. They had expected Clara to return with Courtney Woods, but never would they guess that she would return looking slightly flustered while standing next to the new police officer.
"Yeah, the looks on their faces," Mitch added. "He must have flirted with her or something."
"Nah, doesn't seem the type to simply flirt around," Anna said before silencing herself as Clara sat next to them.
"What?" she asked, wondering why her colleagues were staring at her.
Mitch nodded to the detective walking up the stage.
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I bumped into him while looking for Courtney," she explained, leaving out the details.
"Yeah, and?"
She shrugged. "Nothing, he just asked me where the hall is."
Mitch and Anna knew Clara was withholding information from them, but they decided not to push her as the talk was about to start.
When Mr Armitage approached the podium, Clara looked over her shoulder and locked eyes with Danny. He then shifted his gaze elsewhere.
"Good morning," the headmaster began. "I'm sure that everyone by now is familiar with what's going on today, so I won't take much of your time, but I would like to thank Detective Chief Superintendent Smith for taking the time to give a talk on public safety and drug abuse."
Clara couldn't help but shift in her seat slightly to get a better look at the detective, drowning out the speech. The uniform really suits him.
She wasn't sure how long she had been staring, but when she noticed he was looking straight at her, she shifted her eyes back to the headmaster who was finally finishing his speech.
"And now, I would like to invite DCS Smith up to the stage," Mr Armitage said before some barely audible claps were heard.
From the moment John stood behind the podium to the very end of the speech, Clara wasn't able to take her eyes off of him. What's even more surprising is that he kept looking in her direction.
By the time the talk was over, most of the students were more than eager to leave the hall.
"See, Miss Oswin," Clara's student said as he shuffled past her. "It was another boring talk."
If was indeed boring, then she didn't notice it. She didn't even listen to him talk, well, she did, but her mind was elsewhere, not that anyone needed to know that.
The English teacher forced a smile. "Alright, alright, you've made your point, now back to the classroom."
She decided to stay for a bit longer, watching the pupils leave the hall and halfway through, she turned around, feeling a pair of eyes staring at her. Surely enough, it was the DCS and he immediately looked away. It seems that he wasn't listening much to whatever Mr Armitage is saying.
"You did a splendid job, DCS," the headmaster complimented as he only spotted a number of students sleeping compared to last year when half of them were. "I dare say they were engaged."
"Yes, I suppose," John answered, unsure of what to say and unable to shift his attention away from a particular teacher. "Would you excuse me for one moment?" he said before mustering the courage to walk up to Clara.
He tried to look as confident as possible when she turned around and glanced straight at him. He had the scenario played out in his head perfectly. Just ask her if she would like to have coffee sometime, though he hopes it wouldn't necessarily have to be coffee since he prefers something a bit sweeter. "Student."
The teacher knitted her eyebrows. "What?"
"Your student," he said quickly. "Did you manage to find her?" he asked even though both knew it was a stupid question. He was present when Mr Pink escorted Courtney into the hall.
"Yeah, she was hiding in the classroom."
"Someone's about to go on a date," Mitch commented quietly to Anna. "I can't make out what he's saying, though."
"Someone's about to get jealous," she replied, pretending to watch the students leave.
John nodded. "That's good then, the part where she was found, not that she was hiding."
Clara wasn't able to help herself from smiling. She knew exactly what was coming and waited for him to say it, ignoring the cheeky looks from the small number of remaining students in the hall as they slowly trotted out.
Unsure of what else to say to steer the conversation, he decided to just go straight for the kill. "I know this café which serves the best hot chocolate in London and is actually good rather than claiming to be good."
"I'd love that," Clara replied, unaware that Danny was silently observing the exchange from a distance.
John raised both eyebrows, surprised that she agreed. He was prepared for rejection. "So, when…"
"After school?" she suggested. "Around half-four?"
He grinned. "Fantastic."
"Did you really see what happened?" a student asked as she sat down in her seat.
"Yeah, I think Miss Oswin fancies the detective," her friend answered. "They were giving each other heart eyes."
"Hang on, I thought Miss Oswin is dating Mr Pink?" another girl who sat behind them said.
"No, no, Mr Pink likes Miss Oswin."
"Ooooh."
"So she's dating that old detective?"
It was then Courtney Woods joined in. "I heard them talking while she was looking for me," the pupil said. "So, yeah."
"I heard that some women like silver foxes."
"Poor Mr Pink."
Just when they thought that the gossiping was over, one of the girls, Violet, muttered, "I'm sure Miss Oswin is dating Mr Pink."
Courtney leaned back against the chair. "Why?" she asked sarcastically. "Because they come to school together?"
"Like I said, it's a one-sided thing on his end."
The girls' gossiping session was put to an end when their maths teacher strolled in. "Good afternoon," he greeted, and the Year 10s began scrambling back to their seats. He had a feeling that they had been talking about him since almost each and every single one had that look. That typical mischievous look.
"I hope the talk didn't bore you too much."
If anything, the talk was surprising. The DCS might have forgotten that he was talking to a large of secondary school students and didn't spare a single detail over how gruesome crime can be.
"We're going to continue where we last left off – surds."
The sighing and groaning always amused him. "Don't fall asleep, yeah?" he said as he began writing on the whiteboard. Danny wondered if Clara was indeed going on a date with the detective. He knew he should have asked her out when he had the chance, but never had the guts to.
There's only one way to find out and that's when they take the tube together.
At around four in the afternoon, he returned to the staffroom and was surprised to see that Clara had already packed her things. She flashed him a kind smile. "Hey, just wanted to let you know that I won't be taking the tube today."
The former soldier nodded before forcing a smile. "Going on a date?" he guessed.
The English teacher's smile grew wider, but she shrugged. "See you tomorrow and please, don't tell anyone about this," she whispered pointedly.
Without another word, she walked past him and headed straight for the exit. Clara made her way to the main gate and spotted John waiting by the corner and what surprised her was that he had ditched his uniform for a pair of black slacks, white shirt, black jacket and to shield him from the chilly air, a black coat with red lining.
"For a second there, I didn't recognise you," she commented. "You look more like a magician than a detective now."
"This is my favourite coat," he replied. "I like this coat."
Well, it certainly suited him as much as the uniform did.
"I like your messenger bag," he commented, realising that he should have complimented her according to that dating book he read.
Clara glanced at the worn-out bag she had been using for almost four years now. "Thanks," she replied, beaming. "The café with the amazing hot chocolate, then?"
John grinned and nodded to his left. "It's this way."