Thank you so much for your reviews! I'm not sure if I can keep up the update pace the following day because of work. But I will definitely try. As you may have noticed, the game is on now in my FanFic ;) And for those of you who want to read a bit m-rated content and haven't seen it yet, I uploaded a little OneShot called "The First Hurrah" a few days ago ;)

Chapter 11

Clara was dreading to leave her bedroom the following morning. Part of her was hoping that the Doctor had gone away with Isabel and she could just sneak out, get breakfast and hide again. After the anger of last night had passed away, she was starting to understand. Of course, she had asked the Doctor to be nicer to her, to show that he liked her and last night had probably been his way of showing her. But it was too much, it was the wrong kind of being nice. He was trying to bring back John Smith, the man she had loved, the man that had simply ceased to exist. Just when she was starting to get over him, the Doctor had tried to bring him back and Clara now knew that things would never be like that ever again. The Doctor didn't love her the way John Smith had. He would never want her in that way. It was about time to look into other directions, and one of those directions being Randall.

After gathering all her courage, Clara went downstairs and found the Doctor already waiting for her in the dining room, where he had prepared a delicious looking breakfast. Unfortunately, Clara suddenly didn't feel hungry any more.

"Good morning," Clara said, still a little shy.

The Doctor nodded towards her and shifted his weight from one foot to another. He was nervous, probably feeling guilty.

"I wanted to apologize for last night," he began, "Bringing back that song was not a good move."

"You're absolutely right. It wasn't," Clara simply said.

"I thought I was doing what you wanted me to do. Before we came here, in the TARDIS, you said you wanted me to show you that I like you."

"I get it," she answered, "But pretending to be him, pretending to be John Smith, even after telling me it would never be like this again, it was just cruel."

Clara turned away from the Doctor. She didn't really want to look him in the eyes while saying the things she was about to say.

"I didn't mean to be cruel, Clara. Please, believe me. And about last night . . ."

"I've been thinking about that conversation, too," Clara interrupted him. She turned back around to face the Doctor. "I changed my mind. I don't want to be in a relationship with you."

The Doctor's face was blank, unreadable to her. So she just continued. "Actually, I can't be in a relationship with you. Not while you're being like you are. It's just too much."

He frowned. "So you want me to change? Is that it? Change, so I fit into your happy human relationship pattern? Clara, I'm sorry, I can't do that and you know it."

"I don't want you to change."

"Then what do you want?" the Doctor asked angrily, "What is it that would please you?"

"I don't know, okay?" she screamed at him, "But certainly not this. Don't you see I'm trying to take the pressure off here? You didn't really want a relationship with me to begin with. So, now we can go back to the way it was. Just you and me, travelling the universe, occasionally babysitting Isabel. You don't have to pretend to like me. Just be you."

"So, you're breaking up with me?" the Doctor just stared at her.

Clara started to laugh. "For me to break up with you, there first would have to be a relationship."

When the Doctor's face didn't change, but remained a calm, sinister mask, it suddenly began to dawn on her.

"Wait, no. No, no, no," the Doctor made an attempt to leave the room, but Clara followed him, "You're not saying you actually considered this a relationship?"

"What do you want me to say, Clara? I'm an alien who travels time and space in a blue box and you just told me you don't want to be with me."

"I was just asking . . ." she started, but he interrupted her brutally.

"Well, stop asking then and get lost," the bellowed at her. When she didn't move, he shoved her out of the room.

OOO

They hadn't spoken for the rest of the day and Clara wasn't sure how long their silence would last. One thing she was absolutely sure of was that she had misread every single sign he had given her. The kiss, the oddly placed question, the song – he hadn't done it for her. Well, not exactly. She had made her intentions clear before they had arrived in London and he, though a bit slow in processing it, had acted on her wish and tried to show her that he indeed liked her. But the Doctor was the Doctor, and he was odd. He probably hadn't known any other way. What had shocked her most of all was that apparently he had been assuming that they had been in a relationship ever since the 60s, something that hadn't even crossed her mind. And how could it have? He had never shown the slightest interest in her until she had asked him too.

What Clara absolutely didn't know was how she was going to fix it, and whether she even wanted to. It always turned out to be so hard once all hope had been lost. And she had already given up the hope that there could ever be anything more between her and her Doctor.

But now she was sitting in a restaurant, ready for her date with Randall. And Randall was late. After 15 minutes Clara had considered leaving, really not sure whether she should add more confusion to her current situation, when the man finally showed up.

"I'm sorry, Clara, traffic was awful," he apologized and sat down in front of her.

He had dressed up to meet her, wearing a suit, but as much as Clara liked well dressed men, it didn't have the same effect on Randall.

"It's okay."

"Is something wrong?" he asked, "You seem sad."

"I had an annoying day. That's all."

"Because of the other guy?"

"I really don't want to talk about him right now. I'm sorry, you really picked the wrong day for a date with me," Clara said, but without really meaning it. She doubted that tomorrow or the day after it would have been much different. She had come here for all the wrong reasons.

"That's okay. Maybe I can make your evening a little bit better," Randall said and reached for her hand. Clara was inclined to pull hers away, but decided against it. She could really use some comfort right now.

As the evening went on, Randall talked about his child and how well behaved she was, about his gruesome ex-wife, his house and his new car and Clara realized more with every passing minute how boring that man really was. It was natural she had caught his eye on the school ground. Clara was a beautiful young woman, no point in denying that. And Randall was looking for exactly that. A beautiful woman to put into his beautiful house. With every new topic he picked, Clara despised him more and mentally scolded herself for not realizing how shallow he was from the beginning. All she wanted was to be home, with the Doctor. She didn't even care if she wanted to be there as his lover or his friend. She just wanted to be far, far away from Randall.

"Randall, I'm sorry," Clara finally said, "I think I should go home now. I'm tired."

"That's a shame," he replied, "But you don't have to go home. You can stay at my place, if you want to. I have the most beautiful guest room."

Clara knew that as soon as she arrived at his place, Randall would do everything to convince her to not sleep in the guest bedroom.

"I'd really prefer my own bed."

"But if the other guy has upset you so much, maybe you should stay away, just for one night. I insist."

"Well, if you insist. But I need to powder my nose first," Clara said and got up to find the bathroom.

There was no way in hell she would be going home with that man. As soon as she had locked herself into one of the bathroom stalls, she pulled her cellphone from her purse and dialled the TARDIS phone number.

"Please, please, pick up," she said to herself and finally heard the encouraging click on the other end, "Doctor, please, help me. I need you to pick me up."

And now she was only hoping the Doctor wasn't so mad at her as to abandon her on the most horrible date in history.