"Are you sure you don't mind this?" Craig asked her for the thirteenth time, as he hovered near the door of Clara's flat, one hand on the door handle.
Clara waved him away with her free hand, the other one clenched tightly in both of Alfie's little fists. "Of course I don't," She replied, taking in the man in front of her in. He looked exhausted, with bags under his eyes and all his weigh heavily leaning against the doorway. "You've barely gotten any sleep this week, what with the authorities coming 'round and all the paperwork. What was the story you decided on, anyway?"
Craig ran a hand through his short hair. "Almost the same thing as what actually happened, but with an armed man who thought we were harboring someone he was after. It was the best I could come up with."
"Sounds pretty solid." Clara told him with a small shrug. "In any case, I don't know how much better you could do. Now, hand over Lila and go get some sleep."
He groaned, bouncing the little girl slightly, still looking apprehensive. "Are you really sure? You've got the Doctor to look after and all, and since we can't pay you, you should be looking for a job…"
She waved it away. "I've got a month and a half 'till I need to worry about having a job," She insisted. "And you've just had your house blown up by an alien."
He chuckled. "Yes, well, I guess there's that," He replied, his tone suggesting he was finally giving in.
Clara smiled. "Good, now give me Lila and go on. We'll just get acquainted, us three."
"All right, all right." Craig shook his head and allowed Clara to gently lift the bundle out of his arms. "Now, you and Sophie go get some sleep. You must be exhausted."
He sighed. "We definitely are. And Clara—" He leaned a little closer and dropped his voice. "I told the Doctor to come by and help you some today, I hope you don't mind. I figured it would make it easier to keep an eye on him."
"Oh. Right." Clara gave a small nod. "Yeah, yeah, that'll be fine."
"Good. He'll be by soon, I think. He seemed rather excited to see you." Craig chuckled, and then waved. "Good-bye."
"Bye." Clara shut the door and, almost immediately, Alfie burst into tears. Clara groaned inwardly and leaned down, picking up the second child with her free arm and resting him against her hip. "Shh," She murmured. "It's okay."
He wailed something incoherent and Clara was forced to stumble over to the couch and sit down with both kids on her lap, murmuring quietly to comfort the distraught toddler. It was several moments before Nina appeared from the hallway, her hair frizzy and her eyes squinting against the light.
"For god's sake, Clara, what's all the noise about?" She asked with a yawn.
Clara gaped at her. "You were still asleep?"
"What of it?" Nina shot back as she stumbled across to the kitchen and started opening cabinets.
"It's almost noon. I've never seen you sleep in so much."
Her flatmate shrugged as she pulled a box of cereal out of the fridge, gave it a funny look, and poured some into a bowl. "Kinda out of it," She said, her back turned.
"What was that doing in the fridge?" Clara asked curiously, trying to ignore Lila, who had started tugging at a fistful of her hair.
"Dunno. Where'd you get the two kids from?" Nina set the cereal box down and brought her bowl over, plopping down in the chair opposite the couch. Her next words were spoken through a mouthful of Cheerios. "I thought your job was at their house."
Clara stared at the other woman. "Nina, their house blew up. I told you that."
She only shrugged. "Like I said, kinda out of it."
"No kidding," Clara said under her breath. "Wait, hold on, didn't you have a date at noon?"
"Didn't I have a—what?" Nina slowly met Clara's gaze, and then her brown eyes flew open and she almost spilled her breakfast jumping off the couch. "Oh god, you're right! I can't believe I slept in! Sorry, I'll just leave this here." She set the bowl down on the coffee table and bolted for the hall, her bare feet smacking against the hardwood floors.
Clara rolled her eyes and settled back into the couch, still holding Lila, watching as Alfie clambered off the couch and reached across the coffee table for the remote. He brandished it at her like a sword, saying nothing but climbing back up onto the sofa and fixing his gaze on the telly. She chuckled. "All right, you want to watch something?"
He nodded and shoved the plastic device into her hands. So far, she had yet to get one word out of the little boy, but Sophie had explained that he was just quiet. He settled himself down on the couch and Clara raised the remote, flicking on the telly and flipping through a few channels in search of one showing kid's programs. Lila squirmed in her arms at the sudden sound blaring from the speakers, and Clara had to set the remote down to calm down the upset infant, stopping on a news channel. Alfie stared at it for a few seconds, bored, before he picked up the controller and started messing with it on his own while Clara carried her younger charge away from the noise to calm her down. Lila refused to settle, eventually forcing Clara to open the door into the hallway and step out, close enough to hear whatever was going on inside the flat but far enough away for the noise to no longer bother Lila. After a few more moments of sniffling, the baby finally quieted down, and Clara let out a breath of relief.
It was a sudden knocking at the door the startled her next. She winced as Lila erupted into fresh tears, and went to open the door, thinking it was probably Craig having forgotten to tell her something.
To her surprise, when she pulled the door open she found none other than the Doctor, standing on her doorstep, grinning brightly. "Oh!" Her eyes widened and she took a tiny step backwards, one hand involuntarily flying up to brush through her unkempt hair. "John. Didn't expect to see you so soon."
He looked mortified at her comment, and stumbled forward a few steps, putting his hands out in a gesture of apology. "Sorry, sorry!" He replied. "I didn't realize you weren't expecting me. Um, I was just…" He stopped his blubbering and pointed vaguely behind him. "I was in the area, and he told me to come by soon and help you out, since Lila's all, well… that. But I can come back later! If you don't need me." He gave her a cautious grin, eyes sparkling.
His hurried apology tugged the corners of Clara's lips up into a smile. She opened the door wider and adjusted the crying baby in her arms, cooing softly to quiet her down. "It's fine, come in," She said, backing up so he could get by her.
He seemed cautious anyways. "Are you sure?" He asked. "I really didn't realize Craig hadn't told you when I'd be over."
She shook her head and laughed. "No, seriously, it's fine," She promised. "I don't mind. Alfie's inside."
John smiled. "Brilliant!" He squeezed past her in the narrow doorway and went inside the flat. Clara paused to watch him go in, marveling at how different he was like this. A simple shift in species, and he seemed so much… happier. No, that wasn't quite it. The Doctor was happy, too, but maybe John just had less to be sad about. She shut the door, quieted Lila and headed back into her flat.
The ex-Time Lord had sat himself on the couch, and to Clara's surprise he had Alfie sitting on his knee and was helping the child aim the remote at the telly and flip through the channels. Alfie was obviously taking the situation quite seriously, mouth set in a tiny pout and a crease between his fine eyebrows, but the Doctor was smiling. When she came in, he looked up. "Sorry! He was having trouble with the controls."
"No problem," She laughed. "I was going to help him anyways."
"I got it." He paused to catch the remote when Alfie fumbled with it, then gently took it from his hands and flicked to a channel playing cartoons. "There you go, kiddo."
Alfie made a tiny noise of satisfaction and clambered off the Doctor's lap, snuggling against the cushions with his eyes fixated on the screen. Clara chuckled as she sat down next to him on the couch, a little bit of space between her and the Doctor. There was a moment of silence, only broken the soft sound of the programme playing children's music. Lila was dozing in Clara's arms, and she found it remarkable how quickly babies could drift off when they didn't need to, but the moment it was nighttime they couldn't sleep a wink.
She bounced the little girl gently, pleased to see her falling asleep. To her surprise, when she glanced up again, she caught the Doctor watching her with the hint of a funny little smile on his face that she'd never seen before. Suddenly self-conscious, she felt her cheeks flush. "What is it?"
"Nothing, just…" He nodded to the sleeping Lila. "You're really good with her. Craig can barely get her to shut up."
"Oh." A tiny smile tugged at the corners of her lips, and she dropped her gaze. "Thanks."
Her stomach felt like it was on fire, blazing with guilt even as she smiled. It was ridiculous, the way she felt now that his guard had dropped down. He was acting different, and thus she was, too. It was harder to control her thoughts when he was looking at her like that.
She turned away. As a human, he was a lot more normal and simple than he ever would be as the Doctor. She just had to remember her trick: Don't fall in love. Remember that. Whatever you do, or whatever you feel, keep it under control. This is a temporary situation.
Her shoulders slumped slightly. This was much harder than she'd thought it would be.
A/n: Sorry this took so long to get up! I've been having a MASSIVE writer's block with this thing. If any of you guys are following the other fic I just started, Hollow Dreamer, I'm working on the next chapter of that one too and it'll be up by the end of the weekend if all goes well. Don't be afraid to leave feedback! I'd love to read it. c: