A/N An update as requested. I'll admit this is a short one, but hopefully satisfying nonetheless. One more chapter to go. I still have to really earn the M rating. Never written any smut before, should be interesting.
Chapter Five - Thunderstorms
Wordlessly the Doctor followed Clara into the Maitland's house. She led him into the living room and sat down on the couch. He followed suit, making sure to leave a very large distance between them. They sat there silently for a while, neither one of them able to look at the other, both pretending to be interested in the soft music coming out of the stereo.
Eventually Clara's curiosity beat out her embarrassment. Although she still wasn't able to make eye contact when she said, "So... when is 'it' going to happen?"
"Oh..." The Doctor thought back on the day and what he could remember of his first stop that morning, "sometime after the rain?"
"Right... and how exactly does 'it' happen?" she was stealing a glance at him, the ghost of her usual teasing grin appearing on her face.
"Well... when two people like each other very, very much-"
"Oh, so you like me?" she was looking in his eyes now, challenging him in her own way. Daring him to be honest.
"Of course I like you," it was a matter-of-fact statement, said so easily it pretty much revealed nothing.
"Yeah, but not like that".
"Why not?"
"Because... because you're the Doctor. You're like asexual or something."
"Asexual?!" the Doctor looked appalled. "Why would you... How could you think... Shut up." and there they were again, his hands tugging on his bow tie.
She was laughing now, "How could I think you were asexual? Just look at you, Doctor. You squirm at the mention of snogging, much less..." She couldn't quite finish that sentence, a blush creeping into her cheeks again.
"Yes?" he inquired, not letting her last words go unspoken. How was it that in that moment the tables had turned? How was he now staring at her confidently while she was lost for words?
"Much less... other things," there was a smug smile on his face, which she took as a challenge. She was Braveheart Clara after all, there was no way the flailing, spluttering Doctor was going to be more comfortable in this moment than her. "I didn't even know if you were equipped."
"Equipped?"
"Yeah, who knows what kind of alien parts you've got." He raise an eyebrow. "Well I know now," she was almost willing her face to not go any redder, "But I didn't know before."
"So you've thought about this before, then?"
She was staring at him. Scrunching her nose and assessing him thoroughly, "Occasionally," she admitted at last, her eyes still fixed on him. "Have you?"
"From time to time," his expression was one of confidence and defiance, but it soon changed into one of genuine wonder and delight, "but I honestly didn't think it would ever happen."
Clara smiled at him, their silly game of one-upmanship instantly forgotten in that moment of honesty, "Me neither."
"Well of course not. Not with the look on your face when you saw them... er... us. You were terrified."
"Terrified? I may have been a bit surprised-"
"Surprised? Ha. You, Clara Oswald, were scared," the Doctor's whole face lit up and it took all of his self control to prevent him from doing his 'I told you so' dance. "You were scared!"
"I will go as far as 'shocked'."
"Paralyzed with fear, more like. So, looks to me like there are still things that scare you."
"I never said otherwise."
"Yes you did. That's exactly what you said."
"Well I was... exaggerating. Of course there's still things that scare me. Like real haunted houses. And those old dolls who close their eyes when you turn them upside down. And..."
"Thunderstorms?" the Doctor asked hopefully.
"Thunderstorms?" Clara echoed, her eyebrow raised.
"Thunderstorms scare me."
She gave him the most curious look, "Doctor, you love thunderstorms."
"'Course I do. Because they scare me," and as if on cue lightning flashed in the front yard, quickly followed by a sharp crack of thunder. The Doctor let out a yelp and grabbed Clara's hand on instinct. He stared between her face and their interlocked fingers. "You scare me, too."
The rain began, falling heavily against the ground in big droplets. Clara and the Doctor didn't notice. They were already in each others arms.
