Author's Note: My beautifully faithful readers, welcome! I've tweaked this chapter so much I'm actually very proud of it. Not to say that the other chapters aren't worth some credit, but I've realized too late that there were some errors. Please forgive me for any mistakes you may see, I'm currently doing this un-beta'd and in a rush. Shameful, I know. On that note, if anyone is willing to Beta this story for me, I'll gladly take applications. Please PM me if you can! Anyway, let the show continue my dear readers!
Disclaimer: Don't own! Not even the TARDIS.
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Smaller on the Outside
"You're the man in my dreams." "Well I've never gotten that kind of response before." Oswin/Eleventh Doctor.
-x-
For the next two days Clara continued as if everything was normal. Technically everything was normal, just, you know, it wasn't every day you get a job offer for a prestigious design company, as well as receive the honor of presenting a major presentation to hundreds of potential clients and donors. Oh yeah, no sweat. But not only that, but it was also expected of her to still attend the actual gala as an employee for Louise's Desserts Plus, and then still find time to help out with the library itself before the gala.
'Don't freak out, don't freak out, don't freak out.' Clara reiterated in her mind. A hand suddenly touched her shoulder, breaking her from her reverie.
"Oh my God!" Clara jolted, and in turn caused the owner of the hand to retract quickly.
"Jesus, Clara, you're awfully jumpy," Donna observed. "Look, if you're worried about what others will think about you receiving the presentation, well, you shouldn't be. Worried, that is."
"What? Why?" Clara questioned. She knew there were easily a handful of people on this very floor who would blow a gasket at the thought of Clara-the-intern receiving the presentation. Actually, now that she thought about it, she felt as if she should fear for her life.
"Because you earned it! It wasn't just dropped onto your lap like a puppy. You did good. Wait, no, better than good, you did damn good, really good, fantastically good work. To the point that your efforts were the ones that were chosen, out of all the submissions. You should be proud of yourself! Hold your head up high and all that." While Donna was still attempting to gather Clara's spirits, the brunette was just happy they were in an empty hallway on the third floor, so no one could hear Donna's enthusiastic gesticulations.
"I…well…when you put it that way…" Clara surmised.
"You're the shit right now Clara. Just embrace it." Donna winked and walked away. The current/former intern could only watch Donna's retreating back in gracious confusion. Clara appreciated what Donna was trying to do, really she did, but it was more than the presentation that had Clara on edge. She still had yet to call Louise or Gemma. Well, that was a lie. Louise had called her out of frustration and all Clara could do was squeak in affirmative noises while Louise rattled off instructions. Gemma on the other hand was still busy with whatever it was the castle needed tending to and hadn't had the time to contact her.
"What am I going to do?" Clara grumbled to herself. The girl looked out of the window, seeing nothing but people, busy in their lives, walking to and fro. While she could barely make out their faces, a person's clothing and stature was easily identifiable. She leaned against the wall length window, perfectly content with watching people pass, uneager to continue the rest of the day.
Her eyes focused on a particular person walking down the sidewalk. The person was rather tall, and had a lankiness about him, as if he wasn't too sure about with his long limbs, but had grown accustomed to them out of necessity. He, she assumed the person was male, stood straight, as opposed to his colleagues around him who slouched. She spied a tweed jacket that hung around his frame as if he wore it many, many times before. Green trousers, good work boots, was that a satchel? He even had a-
'A bowtie.' Clara realized. That-no-that couldn't be.
She straightened and immediately moved away from the glass window. She moved forward, unwilling to believe what she was seeing. But yes, this stranger, he moved just like the man from her dreams. On the sidewalk, a baby dropped his toy from his stroller, and while the baby wailed for it the mother remained oblivious. This stranger who wasn't quite a stranger quickly picked up the toy and stopped the mother.
"Miss! Miss!" she could faintly hear him say through the window.
Yes. No. Yes. No!
"You…" Clara whispered in astonishment.
She sprinted to the stairwell, which was a marvelous feat considering she was in heels. They clapped noisily against the stairs and echoed harshly against her ears. But she didn't care. She rounded past the second floor. She needed answers and she knew the only one who would be willing to do so would be the bowtie wearing, tweed lugging mountain of a man. By God she was going to catch him even if she broke a heel on her expensive Jimmy Choos.
The ground floor stairwell door resisted against her push but it opened after a good deal. She clip-clopped across the ground floor reception area, unaware of those looking at her like a mad woman.
Bursting through the office doors she looked left and right, people moving past her as she did so. Where was he? This was impossible. This was insane! He was right here!
Giving a cursory glance to her surroundings she found the woman with the baby whose toy the Doctor returned. She hurried up to them, evading people as she did so.
"Excuse me! Excuse me, Miss, that man, who returned your babies toy, did you happen to see where he went?" She questioned, out of breath. The woman looked up at her, startled, before letting the question sink in.
"Oh, that gentleman? I'm sorry dear I didn't see where he went off to." She apologized.
Inwardly Clara gave a noise of annoyance and dismay, "Oh, that's fine. Thanks though."
"But I did manage to catch his name." The woman quickly said before Clara could walk away. But the brunette could only furrow her brows in confusion. Name? The Doctor was simply the Doctor he didn't have a name. Or, well, he probably did, but he doesn't tell anyone, especially not random strangers.
"John Smith. Doctor, John Smith. Awfully nice fellow, even bought Robert an ice cream." Clara looked down and saw that the baby did indeed have an ice cream.
"Oh, well that was nice of him." Clara faltered.
"Yes, yes it was." the woman smiled.
"Uhm well, thank you, I suppose."
"You're welcome dear."
Clara started to trek back to the office at a more subdued pace. Yes, she was going crazy. There was no other explanation for it. The man who helped this woman and bought her child an ice cream was a doctor, not the Doctor. There, that solved everything didn't it? The person she saw was just a figment of her imagination, he just happened to look so similar to the one in her dreams that she immediately just put his face on a person. Besides, that's all they were, dreams. Or nightmares, really. Clara sighed, all this stress was definitely getting to her.
-x-
For the announcement of the chosen submission everyone congregated in the main presentation room on the fifth floor. Normally, it could fit thirty comfortably, but since about every single person in the company was there, it was standing room only. Clara had gotten there late, so she had to push past some people in order to get a better view.
"Excuse me, sorry, pardon me." Clara wedged her way through the crowd, while others gave her contemptuous looks. Their judgment was so palpable it made her feel as if she was coated in oil under their stares. All ready she could imagine their thoughts, 'She's an intern, what is she even doing here?'
'Well boys and girls, this intern's work was chosen. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.' Clara thought in retaliation. Donna spotted her amongst the crowd and waved her over, indicating a seat she had saved just for her. Now practically everyone was staring at her with alternating expressions. Confusion, envy, and anger were just some she saw. Donna Noble saved her a seat. If that didn't speak waves, she didn't know what did.
Quickly, or as quickly as she could manage, she managed to get to the seat in one piece.
"Honestly, I thought you weren't going to make it." Donna has said to her by way of greeting.
"What?" Clara asked. My, she was awfully articulate today.
"I mean, I wouldn't have blamed you if you hadn't come. Actually, no, I would, so I'm glad you're here. But you're cutting it awfully close Clara." There was a small reprimand in her voice, Clara could tell.
"I'm sorry, I meant to come earlier but something…required my attention." Clara phrased carefully.
"Oh posh, you're here now, that's all that matters." Donna smiled at her and Clara knew she was forgiven for any transgressions, no matter how minor, she had committed. Clara smiled back because being in Donna Noble's good graces was just as necessary as coffee in this company.
A noise at the front caught everyone's attention and all the subdued conversations that were happening around the conference room ceased.
"Hello everyone! Thank you so much for coming to our presently crowded conference room," Jimmy started, smiling at everyone who had gathered.
"First and foremost I'll have to make a few announcements…" he then proceeded to make a laundry list of decisions and upkeeps that needed to be reiterated in regards to the upcoming gala. So-and-so was coming, be sure to suck up to him while you can. Any allergies that need to be taken care of? Or just not come at all, which would be nice too. Attire should be appropriately scandalous. Maximum of one and a half guests allowed per employee. Make sure to act in a way that would represent the company in a good light. Meaning, streaking in the nude throughout the gala was an a-okay. All of this Clara attempted to absorb but in the end she couldn't concentrate, hence the muddled information.
"And finally, the moment we've all been waiting for…" everyone visibly straightened in their seats, "the selected submission."
"Now, before I admit who it is, let me just say that there was an astounding amount of work that the board and I reviewed. They were all phenomenal in their own right and it was definitely a hard decision to choose just one. However, things being as they are, we indeed had to choose the one, and as you all know, we chose the best. Out of each and every one of you, we chose the one person whose work would best represent Bad Wolf in the best way possible. This particular submission was articulate, detailed, and the most imaginative. It was, to put it in a word, perfect." Jimmy was sure to make eye contact with each and every single person in the room, never spending too much time on just the one person. He had even skimmed over Clara for half a second, and even she thought she wasn't going to get it, despite him telling her beforehand. It was building the tension in the room masterfully, aware of the emotion of his audience and molding it to his will. It was masterful. It was cunning.
'This is bullshit.' Clara thought morosely. 'My submission was nowhere near as 'perfect' as he says.'
"So, now, I'm very, very happy to announce, that the chosen submission is…"
-x-
"See that wasn't all that bad." Donna nudged Clara with her elbow.
"Not that bad? Not that bad? Half the people in that room were looking at each other asking, 'Who's Clara?' and when I stood up the other half were glaring at me! I'm afraid to come to work tomorrow. I'm afraid that I might not even wake up in the morning." This was not an exaggeration. The Bad Wolf Corporation was by all means a competitive establishment. In order to get noticed their work had to be the best amongst the best. And it was still pretty hard to be noticed when everyone else in the workplace is equally as gifted as you, if not more so. But something about this particular project hit close to home for Clara.
She frequented the library ever since she was a little girl. Every single aspect of it she's known ever since she could read. The rickety bathroom doors to the crinkled papers in the Encyclopedia section. No one understood the library as well as she (expect maybe Gemma) and she could gladly say that she knew which things were in more disrepair than others. The others who've submitted probably went into the library for days at a time, observed, and left, not having dedicated as much time as she did.
So yes, her submission was detailed and well thought out because she knew the library intimately, inside and out. She knew that the mounted decorative clock that stood tall amongst the entrance hall was finicky, and while it looked spectacular, needed to be re-winded often. There was a particular tile in the non-fiction section that couldn't be moved despite being out of the place by the mold that's been collected around it. And the children's section was lacking in things that could make it an even better children's section. Toys, signs, posters, things that children can get hands-on interaction with.
"You, need to calm you silly little butt. No one's going to kill you, and if they do, you can always haunt them when you're dead. For now, I just need you to breath, and tell me that you'll be fine for the rest of the day. After all, it's not like you cheated." Donna was impeccable in her posture and her attitude, just watching her made Clara start to relax.
'Is that considered cheating? Having a home field advantage?' Clara mused, because it was true, she did feel as if her certain advantage gave her leverage. Hesitantly, she voiced her thoughts aloud.
"But, Donna, I've been spending my entire life in that library. I know every nook and cranny of the structure, the faults, the necessities, everything. Doesn't that, I don't know, make it unfair?" the brunette steeled herself for Donna's answer, knowing that whatever she said would be the truth, but sometimes painfully so.
"Hm. In my opinion? I think that justifies your submission being picked. Who else would better the library other than someone who knew it intimately?"
Donna smiled at the intern, "You just need to believe in yourself more often."
Right, because that's definitely something someone can fix overnight.
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Author's Note: NEXT CHAPTER IS THE CHAPTER YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! I'm excited, are you? Thank you for reading, I'll be sure to write as soon as I can.
