Let's see what Paris still has in store for them, shall we? Thanks for the sweet reviews :)

Chapter 16

They spent the rest of the afternoon mostly in silence, Clara reading her book and the Doctor finishing his painting of her and when they talked it was about simple matters like what they would cook for dinner or what they were going to do the next day.

The Doctor went to sleep on the opposite end of the bed and Clara was beginning to regret kissing him and ruining the closeness that had come to be between the two of them when he turned over in his sleep and placed his arms around her once more. He didn't want to have these walls around him and Clara was sure that if it weren't for the demons of his past, whatever they were, she would already be more than just a friend to him. Before she closed her eyes to sleep Clara vowed that she would make the Doctor see that she would never hurt him.

OOO

After packing their luggage for the flight in the evening they both headed out the next day, arm in arm and the Doctor seemed happy to finally be able to show Clara the city. They started with a breakfast in a nice café and the Doctor appeared to be back to normal, acting as if the kiss and the sleepy hug had never happened. After breakfast he showed her the Eiffel Tower with Clara insisting on a selfie of the two of them in front of it to show to her grandmother later.

"How about I just take a picture of you?" the Doctor suggested.

"You can do that, too but I want a reminder of us both being here," she smiled at him and switched on the front camera, taking a picture before he even realized what had happened and giggled when she saw the hilarious outcome.

"Come on," Clara laughed, "Take a decent one with me."

Finally the Doctor complied and smiled into the camera when she took a picture.

"There! Wasn't so horrible, was it?" she teased and slid the phone back into her pocket.

"Wanna go up?" the Doctor asked her.

Clara looked up at the tall tower and frowned. "No, I think I'm good down here. I really am afraid of height."

"Okay," he said, "Let's go to Notre Dame then."

The ride in the taxi didn't take long and soon Clara found herself in front of the massive cathedral with the Doctor standing next to her, humming a slightly familiar melody. She turned around to look at him.

"What is that?"

"Morning in Paris, the city awakes to the bells of Notre Dame."

Clara giggled. "You've seen the Disney movie?"

She wasn't sure what surprised her more. The fact that he had watched it and even remembered the lyrics or the fact that he could sing. The Doctor only shrugged.

"Amy made me."

Suddenly the phone in Clara's pocket rang and she reached for it only to realize that her grandmother was calling her.

"It's my grandma," Clara uttered.

"Well, answer it," the Doctor told her.

Reluctantly Clara pressed the green button and put the phone to her ear.

"Hey granny, I told you I'd call as soon as I'm back."

"Clara," her grandmother said gravely, "Your father is in the hospital."

"What?!"

"Don't worry, honey, he'll be fine. I just wanted to let you know in case you wanted to go and see him tonight after you come back," the old woman told her in a calm voice.

"Why? What happened?"

"He slipped on the stairs. Don't worry about him, it's all going to be fine. He's at the Royal Hope Hospital, Linda and I are with him. You can visit him when you get home or tomorrow."

"Why is he in the hospital?" Clara wanted to know, thinking that if her dad was indeed fine he wouldn't need to be there.

"We can discuss all of that when you get home, honey. Enjoy Paris, the details can wait!"

"How can I enjoy Paris when you won't tell me what's wrong?!"

Her grandmother sighed on the other end of the line. "He broke two lumbar vertebrae when he fell, they're preparing him for surgery as we speak. It's okay, Clara," her granny said sincerely, "The surgery is standard procedure. They'll fix it with some screws and he'll be fine. He'll have woken up when you land in London and there is nothing you can do in the meantime. So just enjoy Paris, okay?"

"Okay," Clara agreed weakly, "I'll see you at the hospital later."

Once she had hung up she turned towards the Doctor.

"My dad's in the hospital," she admitted.

"Will he be okay?" the Doctor wanted to know.

Clara nodded. "Grandma says I should enjoy Paris but how can I when I know my dad is having surgery at this very moment?"

"Well, there is nothing you can do from here, so she's right about that. Our flight leaves in a few hours. Do you want to get back to the apartment or do something else?"

"What other things did you have planned for today?"

"The Louvre," the Doctor told her.

With a sigh Clara nodded again. "Okay, let's do that then."

"I promise, as soon as we've landed in London we'll take the first taxi to the hospital," he said gently.

"We?"

"Uhm, I mean," he spluttered, "Unless you don't want me there, which is fine. You decide."

"I want you there," Clara admitted.

OOO

The rest of the day seemed to pass her by and Clara only started to come back to reality when she felt English soil under her feet. The Doctor called them both a taxi to take them to the hospital where she learned that her father had just woken up. Carefully she stepped into the hospital room while the Doctor told her he would wait outside.

Inside she found her dad lying in the hospital bed, hooked up to all kinds of machines and her grandmother was sitting next to it, smiling kindly at her. Linda was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey Dad," Clara smiled at him as she stepped closer, "What on earth did you do this for?"

He grinned at her but his smile soon turned into a grimace of pain. "Ah, you know, thought I could use some rest. Two weeks just lying here, breakfast in bed, room service, sounds a lot like a holiday to me."

"Stop joking," Clara scolded him as she took a seat next to her grandmother, "This could have ended worse."

Clara stayed for a while, talking to her father and grandmother about what exactly had happened, what kind of procedure they had performed on him and how long it would take to heal. Apparently Linda had gone home already and Clara wasn't surprised. She had never really liked that woman. Clara hugged her grandmother as soon as she remembered through all of this that today was her birthday and in return her granny promised her a party as soon her father was back on his feet. An hour had passed before they both decided to leave her dad to sleep and headed out of the room to where the Doctor was still waiting.

"What are you still doing here?" Clara asked in surprise, "You could've gone home."

He gave a slight shrug. "I wanted to hear how things went."

"It's okay," she told him, "My dad will be fine."

"Clara," she suddenly heard her grandmother's cheeky voice, "Don't you want to introduce us?"

It was at this moment that Clara realized how this must look to her grandmother and if she was quite honest she wasn't sure how she was going to explain it to her. Not even Clara knew what exactly she was to the Doctor.

"Grandma," she took a deep breath, "This is the Doctor. He teaches the art class I'm attending. Doctor, this is my grandmother."

The Doctor smiled courteously and when her grandmother attempted to shake hands, the Doctor took it and kissed the back of her hand like a true gentleman.

"Oh," she giggled and threw a wink at Clara, "I like a man with manners."

"I should probably go home," Clara said after a moment, "I'm pretty exhausted."

"Do you wanna-?" The Doctor didn't finish his sentence but she knew that he was asking her to come back to his place yet Clara felt that after this weekend she could use some time to herself.

She shook her head. "I'll call you," she said kindly.

"Okay, then," the Doctor nodded in their direction, "Bye."

Clara took a deep breath. This weekend had been one of the craziest in her life and between watching the Doctor walk away and watching her grandmother throw her some questioning glances Clara wasn't entirely sure what to make of it all. She needed time to think.