Hehe, thank you so much for the reviews :) Now, let's see how that dinner goes, huh?

Chapter 4

Clara didn't look nearly as happy as she had this morning when she walked back into her office where the Doctor had already been waiting for her, leaning against the door frame that connected their offices.

She would be going out with him and his heart jumped at the pure thought of it. Yes, she was still engaged and she might not fancy him at all, but a little voice told him that maybe she didn't fancy her fiancé so much either. At least not enough to remember her engagement ring. The Doctor knew he shouldn't be happy about that fact, but he was. Oh, but he was. He still had a tiny chance and he was determined to use it as best as he possibly could.

"How was the first day?" he asked curiously while Clara dropped her papers on her desk with a sigh, "Teach anything good?"

When she looked at him the Doctor almost feared that Clara would cancel on him. She didn't just look not happy. She looked extremely exhausted.

"Can we not talk about work?" Clara asked back, "I mean, not about my classes. We can talk about yours. I'd love to hear about yours."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Didn't go so well?"

With a groaned Clara leaned back against her desk. "They hated me. All of them," she complained and when her eyes were back on him they were almost pleading, "Please, let's just go to that sushi place now. I'm starving."

"Ready when you are," he beamed at her and something about that seemed to make her smile. If he could make her smile, that was worth something.

Her spirits lifted visibly as soon as they were out of the building and walking in the direction of the restaurant even though they talked very little and only about unimportant matters, but the Doctor caught her smiling a couple of times when their eyes met. Maybe he could still make that horrible first day a little better for her.

"So," he began when they took a seat at the back of the cosy restaurant, "You really don't want to talk about it?"

With a sigh Clara raised her head, letting her gaze wander around the room. The restaurant was elegant, yet simple, just like the Doctor remembered it. He had come here a couple of times all those years ago, but never before with Clara. A small waitress stopped by their table, handing each of them a menu, while the Doctor ordered sake for them both. Once she had left, he raised his eyebrows at Clara again, reminding her that he still hadn't gotten an answer to his question.

She uttered a soft groan in reply. "It went terribly. Or even worse than that. I have no idea what I was thinking when I decided to teach at uni. Why did I think it was a good idea?" Clara blurted out, her eyes wide when she looked at him and when he realized just how miserable she seemed, the Doctor couldn't help but laugh.

"Did I ever tell you about my first day?" he chuckled.

"No?" she asked sheepishly.

Still he laughed when he leaned back in his seat, the memory of it a little fuzzy after all those years, but no less hilarious in retrospect.

"They threw their books at me," he explained and watched as Clara's eyes widened either in shock or surprise.

"Their books?" she gawked at him, "And what did you do?"

The Doctor gave a light shrug of his shoulders. "I stormed out," he said plainly, "And the week after I collected all of their books at the beginning of class. Then they threw their folders, I collected them as well. By the end of the first month they had nothing to take notes on and then I had them take a test, which everyone failed. They respected me a little more after that."

He smiled at her and to his relief Clara smiled back at him, obviously regaining some of her hope. The waitress returned with the wine, setting a glass down in front of each of them and taking their order for the food before she vanished through a door in the back.

"I think it's always a little tough to be the new one, it takes a while before they realize they can learn a lot from you – and that that's what they're here for," the Doctor told her, taking a large sip from the wine, "I don't have the slightest doubt that you can do it."

Clara drank from her sake and sighed when she set the glass back down. "I hope so," she said but then the smile was back on her face when she came to look at him, "But let's bury that subject now. How have you been all these years?" she asked sincerely.

The Doctor leaned back once more and took a deep breath. "Good, I think," he said, "I taught in Oxford and Glasgow, it was good."

"But now you're back," Clara remarked with a smirk as she took another sip of wine.

"Yeah," he agreed, "Now I'm back."

He noticed that Clara's phone buzzed next to her on the table, but she merely glanced at it before turning her attention back towards him. Again there was this smirk on her lips that made him feel as if she was up to no good at all.

"So, now that you're not my professor anymore," she began cautiously, "How about you tell me your first name? Every professor and lecturer made theirs public on the website, all except you. Why's that?"

The Doctor cleared his throat and briefly glanced away. His name was one of his best kept secrets along with his crush for his former student. Hardly anyone knew it. "The Doctor," he replied.

Clara laughed in response. "Your first name can hardly be the Doctor."

"My first name is nobody's business," he retorted, frowning at her.

"Is it something embarrassing?" she giggled, "It is, isn't it? It's something like Hugo or Ragnarök.

"It most definitely isn't," the Doctor protested harshly, "Ragnarök? Seriously?"

"Then tell me," Clara coaxed him, still laughing.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest, knowing that Clara would never again take him seriously if she knew his name because it was, in fact, a little bit embarrassing. "No," he said simply.

"Fine," she replied, "I'm a patient woman. I'll figured it out eventually."

The waitress came back, setting their plates down in front of them and the Doctor instantly reached for a chopstick, sticking it right in the middle of a piece of sushi that he stuffed into his mouth. It was a delicious as he remembered it, but then suddenly Clara's laughter tore him out of his thoughts.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Eating," he replied, his mouth still full, "It's good."

"Yeah, but-" she broke off, still laughing, "Nevermind."

"You can use chopsticks the way you like, I use them the way I like," he said but was interrupted by the continuous buzzing of her phone that Clara kept ignoring, "Aren't you gonna answer that?"

"Later," Clara said and the way she spoke made him feel as if the person on the other end annoyed her with their text messages, "It's my boyfriend. He probably just wants to know about my day."

The Doctor cocked an eyebrow at her. "Don't you mean fiancé?"

When Clara raised her head towards him she looked as if she had been caught and the Doctor realized to his delight that she truly wasn't as crazy about him as she should be. Maybe, with a bit of luck, that man would be out of her life sooner rather than later.

"The fiancé thing is quite new," she confessed, "I haven't really adjusted to it yet."

Still the Doctor threw her a questioning glance, prompting her to go on. Clara simply growled, dropped the chopsticks and glared at him, even though the Doctor knew that this look wasn't meant for him.

"Danny proposed on the London Eye with fifteen other people around. I couldn't just say no," Clara argued angrily, "And I do love him, so I guess it's not that bad we're engaged now. It would have happened sooner or later."

The Doctor flinched at her words about her fiancé, the jealousy stinging just a little, but he knew that he shouldn't give up hope just yet. Something about Danny bothered Clara and he would do the thing he had never thought he would do. The Doctor would bide his time and wait because maybe, just maybe, he would have a little bit of luck for once. And for now he decided to just enjoy her company. He had run away last time and he wouldn't do it again. Having Clara around brought a light into his life that he had missed so much these last few years. Clara had said that she was a patient woman, well, he could be patient as well if he wanted to be.