December 24th

She wasn't going to do this again. She wasn't going to wait until the very last minute to do all her preparations. She was going to plan ahead. She was going to save herself the stress.

But if only she'd decided on all of these things at the right time.

"Clara, do we really have to do this again?" Dave Oswald asked, exasperated, reclining slightly in his seat at the dining table as he watched Clara buzz from one end of the flat to the other. "I told you we should have done this at your Gran's."

"Not as if I'd have done much better." Her Gran muttered. "Ever since your father died, David, I'm just as lazy as you are."

"Excuse me?"

"Both of you..." Clara sighed, leaning back against the dining room wall with her palm over her eyes. "Please just shut up for a minute." She glanced around for a moment, eyes narrowing in consideration. "Where's Linda?"

"Home with the flu." Her dad informed her. "I told you that already, sweetheart."

"Yes, yes. Sorry. Right." She wrung her hands together with a sort of firm, determined frown. "Okay."

"How's the turkey coming along?" Dave prompted, not bothering to in anyway shield the impatience in his tone.

"Er..." Clara hesitated and forced an encouraging smile. "It's definitely coming." She cleared her throat as she began backing away towards her bedroom door. "If you'll just excuse me a moment." And with that, she spun around and darted into the bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Doctor, I need you." She hissed to the man seated with boredom on the edge of her bed.

"What happened to, 'Oh, stay in here, Doctor.'" He said in a high pitched voice. "'Don't mess things up, Doctor.' 'Don't let them know you're here, Doctor.'"

"Shut up!" Clara groaned, walking up and seizing his hand, hauling him up. "Please. Just help me."

"Well, you have to be a little more specific than that." He argued. "Help you with what, exactly?"

"I did it again! I put the turkey in too late, and its not ready yet." She let out a sort of strangled moan as she knocked her head against the wall, scolding herself for her own errors.

"Well we can't use the TARDIS, in case you haven't noticed." The Doctor pointed out, knuckles rapping lightly on the blue box's doors for show. "So what do you suppose I can do?"

"Your screwdriver. Its been a good while since last Christmas." She smiled hopefully. "Does it do turkey now by any chance?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes and made to retort a sharp Of course it doesn't. But then his features contorted slightly in consideration. "Actually-"

"No time to explain! Gimme, gimme!" Clara reached inside his jacket and began fishing for the item, but her hands were swatted away with an annoyed scowl.

"Hold on." He retrieved it himself and peered at the emitter, thumb pressing against the button a few times before he finally passed it over. "Its already set. Aim it at the turkey for about twenty seconds, give in a extra fives minutes in the oven, and it should be edible."

"Should?"

"I can't do all the work around here! Now go! Shoo! Shoo!" He spun her around and pushed her lightly towards the door, waving her on and immediately closing the door behind her.

"Well, then." Clara sighed, leaning against the closed door once all her guests had vacated the area. "That didn't go completely horrible." She found herself laughing, closing her eyes with relief, and locking the door with a triumphant smile before walking off. "Doctor, you can come out now!" She called.

"Its about time." The Doctor grumbled, voice gradually growing in volume as the bedroom door opened wider and wider. "That family of yours sure knows how to chatter."

"Thank you." She laughed out, internally squealing. "Thank you so much." She walked up to him and gave his chest a light pat, grinning with a little nod of satisfaction. "You know, I underestimated you." She noted.

"In what way?"

"Just didn't expect you to listen, for one." She admitted, then shrugged. "But I dunno. Just..." She smiled. "Thanks."

"Well, I did save your pitiful excuse for a Christmas Eve dinner, so I guess a thank you will do for your demonstrated gratitude." He said in an almost posh voice, but his hardened expression faltered into a warm grin. "You're welcome.