I do not own Doctor Who, and I hope you enjoy.
The next day the Doctor awoke to a wonderful sight. Clara was lying next to him peaceful, and happy. Some of her silky brown hair was cascading over her face, and the Doctor carefully reached over to tuck it behind her ear. A small smile crept onto her face as his hand rested on her cheek. He rubbed it with his thumb soothingly, and he took in the beautiful sight before him. He smiled as he heard her shallow breaths, and appreciated how at peace she looked at that moment. She must've been dreaming, because her smile grew just a little bit larger. The Doctor sighed, kissed her forehead, and started to get out of the bed.
He quietly made his way to the restroom. He could tell that his hair was a mess, and he didn't want Clara seeing him like that. As he entered he closed the door behind him and turned on the light. He looked at the person in the mirror, but he could barely recognize them. It was him, of course, but he looked nothing like himself. There were bags under his eyes; he didn't get much sleep last night. He stayed awake for most of the night, looking up at the ceiling and thinking. He thought about Artie and Angie a lot. The way that they had looked at him. That would be the cause of the tear stains on his cheeks. His hair was a tangled mop of greasy strands. He realized how long it had been since he'd bathed.
He frowned at his reflection, and stood there, as if he were waiting for something to change. He eventually rubbed his face, and then turned to the shower. He might as well get presentable. He turned on the water and watched it stream out of the shower head. It came out fast and warm. He put a hand under it to check if it was a suitable temperature, and cringed at how hot it was. He quickly pulled his hand away. He carefully reached into the shower and adjusted the temperature of the water. Once he found one that he was comfortable with he locked the door and started to undress himself. His clothes were dirty, and they stank of sweat. He reasoned that he would wash them after his shower, and slowly stepped into it.
He stood there and savored the warm feeling of the water hitting his skin. His worn out skin. He stretched and ruffled his hair. He started looking around for the body wash, but it was difficult with his hair causing droplets of water to fall into is eyes. He pushed it away, and eventually found the body wash. He started bathing himself, but stopped abruptly when he heard a banging on the door. He heard a muffled call of, "Artie?! You took a shower last night! Don't waste the water! You know your dad is already having trouble with the bills!" He realized it was Clara.
He stuck his head out of the curtain and called, "I'm not Artie!"
She called back with, "What?! You're having a party?!"
He sighed and stuck his head out further. "It's me Clara! The Doctor!"
"Oh! I won't bother you then!" She called back. He nodded to himself, and tried not to think about the fact that he had just had a short conversation with Clara while he was naked. He shook his head and ran it under the water again. He turned around and let it run along his back. He sighed as it soothed his bones. His old and tired bones. He continued to bathe himself, and he reluctantly got out when he was done. He realized he still needed to wash his clothes, so he grabbed a towel that was on hanging by the shower curtain and wrapped it around his mid-section. He got a smaller towel and started drying his hair. He looked in the mirror again, and this time he could actually see that it was him. The tear stains were gone, and the bags under his eyes were harder to see now. He smiled at his reflection and grabbed his clothes. He walked out of the restroom and walked towards Clara's room.
As he entered he saw that she was pulling up her hair. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. He playfully threw the towel he had used to dry his hair at her. She giggled and he said, "I need to wash my clothes. Can you show me where I can do that?"
She nodded and said, "Sure, do you want me to wash it for you? I don't really want the kids to accidently see you with your towel on like that and getting traumatized."
He frowned and looked down. "What's wrong with my towel?" He asked.
She smirked and said, "Oh please. Like you didn't put it on like that on purpose. It's barely staying on, you have it so low. If it slipped just a centimeter you'd be stark naked. I know what you're trying to pull here, mister." He still frowned at her in confusion. She shook her head and said, "Naughty Doctor. Acting like he doesn't know what he's doing." She glanced down at his mid-section, where the towel was barely hanging on. She blushed when he caught her staring, and then she grabbed his clothes from him. "I'll have these ready for you in about thirty minutes. You can ask Martin if you can borrow some of his clothes if you'd like."
The Doctor nodded, still confused on why she was going on about his towel. He didn't see anything wrong with it. Clara could tell that he honestly didn't know by the way he wasn't blushing. She should have known that the Doctor would be the only one oblivious of what that towel was doing to her. He just had to wear it really low and loose, didn't he? She smirked at that thought and immediately wiped it off of her face as she saw Angie. "Good morning, Angie." Clara said.
Angie rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, the Doctor stayed over again."
Clara frowned and asked, "Why are you so keen on disliking him lately?"
"He slapped you! Do you not remember that happening? He's just as bad as Tommy now. It's stupid that you left Tommy for hitting you, but now you won't leave the Doctor." Angie replied.
Clara put a hand on Angie's shoulder and said, "Hey, the Doctor and Tommy are two very different people. It's not fair to say that they are the same. And it's none of your business who I stay with and who I don't. You don't get to decide that." Angie just rolled her eyes and went into her room. Clara sighed too, and went to go wash the Doctor's clothes.
ooooOOOoooo
The Doctor knocked on the door to Mr. Maitland's bedroom. He quickly answered and his eyes went wide at the sight of the Doctor. "Ah, I see you have stayed over with Clara tonight. Um, did you… need something?" Martin asked.
The Doctor nodded and said, "Clara's washing my clothes, and I don't really want to walk around your home with only a towel as clothing. I was wondering if I could borrow something of yours."
Martin nodded and turned to his room. He walked over to his closet and pulled out a white t-shirt and jeans. "Will this work?" He asked.
The Doctor nodded and said, "Do you have any pants I could borrow?" Martin thought for a second, and then decided he'd rather not have the Doctor wearing his pants. He shook his head and the Doctor nodded. "Thank you, very much." He quickly turned around and walked back to Clara's room. He changed, and found that the clothes didn't exactly fit him. The shirt was too wide, and the jeans were a little baggy. He walked into the restroom to look at his reflection, and realized his hair still needed to be combed. He looked around until he found a small black comb, and fixed his hair. He smiled at his reflection and headed for the kitchen.
Clara was sitting in the kitchen eating cereal. She giggled when he walked in. She smirked as she said, "I much rather prefer the towel."
He smiled and said, "Yeah, me too. These clothes aren't very comfortable. What do they have for breakfast?"
Clara nodded to the counter and said, "There's some cereal right there."
He shook his head and said, "Cereal's boring! Do we have any fish sticks?" He stuck his head inside of the refrigerator in search of custard.
Clara was about to reply when Artie entered the kitchen. She smiled to him and said, "Good morning, Artie. Sleep well last night?"
Artie nodded and looked to the refrigerator. All he could see was his father's jeans, so he said, "Morning, Dad."
The Doctor popped out of the fridge and said, "Good morning, Artie. Although I'm not your father." He smiled at Artie.
Artie said, "Oh." And turned back to the living room. His face looked sad, and regretful. He walked back to the living room, and when Clara turned to the Doctor she saw that he was looking down at his shoes. He looked depressed, and Clara quickly stood up and walked over to him.
She rubbed his back and said, "Doctor, don't worry about that. I'm pretty sure we have some fish sticks around here somewhere. We could focus on that. You want to do that?"
The Doctor looked to her, and he gave her a sad smile. "Sure." He said quietly.
Clara smiled back and nodded. She grabbed the Doctor's hand and used the other to start looking for the fish sticks.
Angie walked in while the Doctor and Clara were sitting down at the table and enjoying some nice fish sticks and custard. The Doctor smiled at Angie, and was about to say something when she asked, "Why are you wearing my dad's clothes?"
There was such anger in her question that it took the Doctor a second to reply. When he did it was, "Um, well… I took a shower and… I'm sorry. I'll go change… sorry." He was slowly getting up. He had the same defeated look that he had had yesterday, and Clara glared at Angie.
"No, Doctor, you stay here. I'm going to have a little chat with the kids." Clara said. She got up and led Angie to the living room where Artie was watching the tele. She sat Angie beside Artie and turned off the television. Then she turned to them and crossed her arms. "What's this all about then?" She asked.
Angie shrugged and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Clara sighed and said, "Don't you even try to act like you don't know what's going on. You both are just being plain rude to him, and that's not right of you. He hasn't done anything wrong!" Martin walked down the stairs then and said goodbye to the group in the living room. He was heading off to work, and he wouldn't be back until late in the afternoon.
When he left Artie said, "But, the Doctor has done something wrong. He… hit you."
Clara sighed and said, "Why do I have to keep telling you this! It was only to wake me up from a bad dream! It was just a small slap!" The Doctor couldn't help but hear them now. Clara was speaking rather loudly. That small slap had made a red mark on her cheek. He buried his head in his hands as he remembered that night.
Angie said, "Did Tommy give you small slaps too? Or is he completely different from the Doctor?"
Clara sighed and said, "You know damn well that the Doctor and Tommy are nothing alike! Why do you always have to bring Tommy in to this? Would you rather have me dating Tommy and getting beaten every time I do something wrong?! Is that what you guys want?!"
Artie's eyes were watering now. "No, Clara. We just want you to be safe." The Doctor buried his head farther into his hands as he listened to the small, broken voice of a sad child. He knew that he was the one causing this again. It was always his fault.
Angie nodded and said, "Yeah! And if you weren't so stupid we wouldn't have to be worrying about that!"
Clara glared at her and said, "Don't you dare raise your voice at me. I am not in the mood."
Angie stood up and said, "Well, I'm not in the mood to have to be watching your back all of the time! Do you even think about who the guys you go out with are?! First off you meet a guy at some random place and then all of a sudden you guys are dating and he's beating you! Then after that's over you immediately run to your precious Doctor! You obviously don't know him very well if he starts hitting you too!" The Doctor had to push away the tears as he heard Angie yelling these words with such conviction. He pushed his hands as hard as he could into his face.
Clara had tears in her eyes as she said, "You have no idea how well I know the Doctor! He didn't hit me just for the fun of it! He was waking me up from a bad dream! He was helping me! And don't even get me started on how well I know him, because I know him better than he probably knows himself!"
Artie was crying now. He sniffed and said, "Can you just stop fighting!" The Doctor lost it at those five words. They were desperate, and kids shouldn't have to feel desperate. He slammed the bowl of custard off of table with such a force that it shattered. Everyone turned to the sound, and they saw the Doctor walking towards them. His eyes were red from how he had been holding back his tears, and he looked so sad.
"Enough! I'm sorry! I didn't want this to happen! I'm turning you all against each other, and it's not right!" He yelled, standing in between Clara and Angie. Clara put a hand on his cheek to wipe away a single tear that had fallen. He put one of his hands on hers, and slowly moved it away. "No, Clara. I don't deserve to be comforted right now. I am the cause of this, and I need to fix it." He turned to Artie and Angie. "Kids, I'm so sorry for hitting Clara. I am immensely sorry. There's not a word that could explain how sorry I am! I never wanted to hurt your nanny, and I never intend to ever let her get hurt again. I promise that no matter what I do, she will come first. I just wish… that you would forgive me. You're both such clever kids. I know that you only want what's best for Clara. I want that too. Please… just please forgive me." The Doctor was pleading now. He didn't know why, but he needed these kids to trust him.
Artie smiled through his tears and ran to the Doctor. He hugged him tight, and the Doctor lifted him up slightly. When Artie let go the Doctor gave him a genuine smile. "I forgive you, Doctor." Artie said.
The Doctor hugged Artie again and said, "Thank you, so much."
Artie went back to sit on the couch, and he wiped his cheeks. Angie looked from the Doctor to Clara. Clara was waiting to see what Angie would say, and the Doctor was looking at her desperately. After a while Angie finally said, "Sure, whatever." They sounded like meaningless words, but they all knew she meant a lot by them. Especially when she hugged the Doctor a little too tight. When they pulled away from each other she looked up at him and said, "Just promise me that you'll never hurt her again. Neither physically nor mentally."
He smiled and said, "I promise. I love your nanny too much to let that happen again."
Angie smiled, and Clara was the final one to give him a hug. When they pulled apart Clara smiled and said, "I love you too."
He smiled wide and pulled her in for a kiss. It was a long one, and it took them a while to realize that the kids had left ages ago. The Doctor smiled down at Clara and asked, "Do you think they actually meant it?"
She cupped his cheek as she said, "You know they did."
I hope you enjoyed, and please review to tell me what you think!