Disclaimer: I own neither Doctor Who nor the music presented in the chapter. If I did, The Doctor and Clara would have gone to see the Beatles.
The Doctor sat there, sweat running down his face as he struck the songs last chord. He waited for the crowd to respond and in the few seconds he caught the eyes of Amelia Pond. She looked absolutely shocked at the performance. Before The Doctor could gesture, the crowd erupted into a cheer and Amy was removed from his sight.
With a weak smile, The Doctor stood and felt his legs wobble. Even after his performance, he was still nervous. If Amy was here, so was Rory and then Craig and Sophie too. He still was sure if he wanted to face them yet. He had been avoiding them and in his opinion, doing it well. A part of him was nervous they would like Clara or how she has changed him.
Getting off the stage, John wandered to Clara and gripped her in a tight hug. She just laughed and returned it before heading to the stage to announce the next performer. The next one was a female John knew from school, Sally something, who played a Rolling Stones song. It was upbeat and got the crowd jumping.
John watched as Clara bounced on her feet and started a crowd clap throughout the number. It brought a face splitting smile to him. To see his Impossible Girl having fun was a wonderful feeling in his heart. He wanted to move over to her and jut dance through the night. But he had to prepare for his next act and the conversation between his other friends.
The song ended and the cheering began anew. Next was a band called Torchwood. It was made up of Gwen Cooper on bass, Owen Harper on the drums, Toshiko Sato playing the keyboard and Ianto Jones who played the guitar and was the backup vocals. The lead singer of the band was Jack Harkness, who by association with David earned the nickname Captain. David and Jack were old friends from high school but Jack went to study in Cardiff while David stayed in town.
The band blared through two punk rock songs and by the end most of the females were rioting and swooning over Jack. Well some of the men were too but that's Jack effect on people. He gave a smirk towards John and then smiled at David. It wasn't hidden knowledge that Jack had a crush on the older Smith brother but had long accepted nothing would happen. Still Jack's smirk to John was one of challenge and John couldn't help but get excited over the contest between the two.
The next few acts were nothing note worthy. Most were students John went to school with. As the last song finished, Clara made her way to the stage.
"Well that was a great first half, wasn't it?" Clara asked the crowd.
The crowd cheered loudly and John smiled with the group behind the desk. The night had proven to be successful for the shop. Granddad had already sold about fifty books and the sales were still increasing.
"The show will resume after a twenty minute intermission. The first act will be The Doctor once again. Until then feel free to look around the shop or head to the little concessions. We have some desserts and drinks available." Clara informed the group.
Clara jumped off the stage and ran to the counter. John met her and pulled her into an embrace, picking her up and spinning her around. She just smiled and moved up to kiss his cheek. He blushed and turned to look out at the audience. No gingers stood out, which was a good sign.
"Are you alright John?" Clara questioned, worry on her face.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just thought I saw someone."
"If you're referring to Amy, she's here and wants to talk to you." Donna yelled behind a register.
"I know and I saw her but I'm not sure I'm ready to talk." John responded, slumping into a chair.
Clara sat down with John and took his hand. She squeezed it and began. "John, I know it's scary and you're still upset with her but you need to talk. Do you want to lose your friendship for good?" Clara asked softly, meeting his gaze.
"You're right of course Clara. But I don't want to come back to them to soon. The group is made of two new couples that need space to change. Do you think they've had enough?" John questioned, worry for his friends consuming his gaze.
"She's reaching out to you John. I think they're more than ready."
"Okay, Clara. I promise after the show is over I'll go and talk to them."
"Good. Now you have a song to prepare for." Clara responded with a wink.
John stood up and reluctantly let go of Clara's hand. With a smile he walked on stage and began to prepare his guitar. A quick tuning, a few strums and he was ready.
It was simple enough. Just a deep breath and begin with a simple little riff. From there it was a set of ooh's and then begin the strumming. Throughout the song, The Doctor would look into the crowd and find Amy. It was almost of the words that poured from him we're in part to her. He would then switch his gaze to Clara and find the strength to continue from her smile.
As the song slowed down and The Doctor finished the outro, the crowd was mesmerized. They could tell that The Doctor was pouring his heart and soul into the sound and at its end they remained quite. Many were afraid making a noise would ruin the song.
John stood and gave the smallest of nods. Starting from the back of the room, a wave of cheers and applause rumbled. Clara stood next to Rose and both had tears in their eyes. That scared John a little, as all crying girls did. He just smiled and step off stage letting Clara go to announce the next performance.
Which happened to Rose and David who thought it be fun to sing a Shins song. Well as they claim it is 'their' song so it was allowed to slide. The entire time you could tell that singing wasn't David's favorite things but when he would look at Rose, his smile grew and they had fun. By the ending they couldn't look away from each other and rushed off stage to the audience's amusement.
While the next few performances went on, The Doctor received a visit by the Rolling Stones girl, whose name turned out to be Sally Sparrow, and was asked to consider forming a band with her. He smile and accepted her number and decided he would think of it.
"So John, find another dame?" Rose asked, watching Sally walk away. "And a year above you. Eager aren't we?"
"Shut it Rose. I saw you crying during the song." John smirked back.
"Was not."
"You and Clara both were misty eyed." John accused.
"Well anyway, thanks for playing it. I didn't realize you had learned it." Rose said with a soft smile.
"You asked me to so I did. I listen to you. After all I'll have to sweep you off your feet when you get bored of David's Shakespeare and Rowling quotes." John responded with a wink, causing Rose to laugh.
"Not going to happen little brother." David responded, wrapping an arm around the blonde girl. "She'll never bore of my amazing skills."
"Keep telling yourself that loverboy." Rose replied with a rolling of her eyes.
The next hour past slowly for The Doctor. All he wanted to do was spend the time with Clara, but she was always off making sure everything went smoothly. He kept an eye on Amelia and the gang. They seemed content to hanging around the back, laughing and watching the acts.
Mickey Smith and his girlfriend Martha Jones, both friends of David, finished their little duet. The Doctor knew that he was up for the final song. The group at the counter all gave encouraging smiles and nods, prompting him to take the stage. He walked up to the microphone to talk to the crowd.
"Before I start I have a few things to say. Firstly I'm going to ask everyone move all the seats to the walls. If you could clear as much space as possible that would be lovely. I know you'll thank me for it." A flash of his grin. "While you do that I just want to thank Clara Oswald for all of this. She was the one who arranged it and kept it running. So a big round of applause for her."
The crowd broke into it once again and John saw his Impossible Girl blush beat red. Over from the counter, David was whistling while the girls cheered her. After a few moments the noise died down and John began to speak again.
"Now, I hope you all enjoyed the shop, and I wanted to thank Granddad Smith for allowing us to use it and help things run smoothly."
"Of course I did. Was I supposed to leave it to a clumsy giraffe in a dickey tie?" Granddad yelled back, with the usual smirk on his face.
"And finally I wanted to thank everyone who came out to play or listen. You all were and are kinda vital to the whole evening so thank you." John smiled.
"As I have said all I needed, is everyone ready for some good ole' Rock an' Roll." John yelled to the crowd. He was met with enthusiastic shouting back.
"Okay I'll take that as a yes. This is a mushy song so you might want to find someone to have fun with for it."
With that John had the lights go out except for the empty area in the center of the shop. John decided to stand for this song and played a few notes. What came out of his guitar was The Beatles' Eight Day a Week. When the upbeat sound hit the crowd, cheers of joy were made and people flooded the space dancing to their hearts content.
John saw David and Rose take the center, dancing like it was wedding. That made him smile. He also saw the Pond and Williams couple moving together too. When Rory turned his way, John gave him a wink and amused smile. Granddad and Wilf had even moved to the floor in what seemed like who could break a hip first.
Out of the corner of his eye, John saw Clara standing alone watching by herself. So without stopping the music, he motioned for her to join him on stage. With a smile she did and quickly jumped into the chorus. The two of them sang for the next two minutes, hoping it would never end.
The smiles on their faces were ones of true joy, both outshining any in the store.
After the show was finished, and the crew had taken apart the stage, John and Clara found themselves on the roof for a quick break before the meeting with friends. The two were sitting on the ledge and staring at the stars, happy to be in each other's company.
"I'm guessing you learned that for me?" Clara asked with her usual smirk.
"Of course. I know it's your favorite. Did you enjoy it?" John responded, suddenly nervous.
"I loved it you daft sod. It's the sweetest things anyone has done for me." The girl blushed.
"Clara I was waiting to say this at the right time and this is as good as any." John began. "Clara Oswald, I lik-"
"Oh shut up, Chin-Boy." Clara muttered, leaning over to kiss him.
The kiss wasn't full of passion but one of gentle reminding. They both needed to know that this was happening here at the time. They broke apart and John had a goofy smile on his face.
"I think I've wanted to do that since I was little." He said, looking at the sky. Clara just laughed and scooted over to him. He move so that was arm was around her and she rested her head in his shoulder. She could hear his heart beat and smiled further. Both stayed like that for another ten minutes, neither wanting to leave the peace evening.
But all that is good must come to an end.
The couple walked down and waiting there was hell the form of a Scottish ginger.
"Doctor. We need to talk."
Authors Notes: Okay so everyone asked about Amy and the gang returning. Well here they are. I just wanted Clara and John to have some alone time first. And well they got it huh? :) The three songs that John played were What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club (At the beginning of the chapter), The Wolves by Ben Howard (Half way through) and then Eight Days Day a Week by The Beatles. I would recommend listening to those three songs when reading this. I hope to have a fanmix made soon for this and I will post a link.
Now my next update might be a bit as I want to write a few chapters to have so I can release regularly. With school, I'm thinking maybe late January or early February for my next update. Sorry if that seems long.
Anyway as always, please review as I love input on how I'm doing. :)