Thank you guys so much for the comments! Now, let's see what our favourite idiots are up to after their separation. . .

Chapter 27

Clara was woken by the sound of her phone and she instantly noticed the heavy throbbing in her temples that was most certainly the result of a bottle of red wine and crying herself to sleep once more. She was definitely going to give her students some reading today so they would be quiet – hopefully.

But there was still that annoying phone that wouldn't shut up and that continued to send surges of pain through her head, so Clara decided to answer it. It wouldn't be John. She had been hoping for him to call for a week now and she hadn't heard a single word from him. It was time for her to bury that hope.

"Yeah?" she croaked into the phone.

"You need to call him!" Missy's voice rang through her ears, shrill and sharp and too high-pitched for her current state.

Clara groaned in reply and scrambled into a sitting position. The room was spinning a little and she was utterly dehydrated. Maybe she should call in sick just for the hell of it and continue to wallow in self pity for a while longer. Who could possibly hold it against her?

"Clara, you really need to call him."

Missy. Missy would hold it against her.

"He left me," Clara argued, "Why would I call him?"

"He moved out temporarily so you could start dating like a normal couple," she replied, "Call him and start dating!"

"If he wants to start dating, why doesn't he call me?"

"You do realize we're talking about John here, right?"

Clara rolled her eyes at the phone. Of course she knew how John was and that it would probably take him ages to call her because he was shy and he was an idiot – but he had left despite her begging and pleading, despite seeing how much it hurt her. A part of her had even come to understand why he had done it, but he had still left and she was hurting because of it. He had said that he needed time and right now Clara was willing to give that to him.

"Do you want to know what he's up to right now?" Missy asked her and she sounded a little cross, "He's moping in his room. He's been doing that all week. He doesn't talk, he doesn't do anything. He just sits in his room, listening to his silly music that I can't bear to hear for another day. Even his beard is growing back. Please, Clara, just call him. He's miserable without you."

"Well, that makes two of us," she mumbled.

"John knows he hurt you, so he's waiting for you to call and tell him when you're ready."

"I'm not ready," Clara replied truthfully. She missed him terribly, but she wasn't strong enough for another disappointment. Just a few more days. Just a couple more. She would call him when she was sure she wouldn't burst into tears upon seeing him. "Now I'm the one who needs time."

Missy sighed on the other end of the line. "Great, just great. Just leave it to Missy to pick up the pieces."

"You'll take care of him, right?" she enquired.

"I always do," she groaned, "This is why I got him you. So I could take a break."

Clara wanted to reply something, but before she had the chance, Missy had hung up and all she could hear was the endless beeping on the other end of the line. She sighed and rose from her bed. Calling in sick and walloping in self pity wouldn't help her either.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Missy asked while John was already halfway out of the door. He had almost groaned in annoyance. He had overslept and was already late, he didn't have time for his friend's guessing games.

"What?" he spat.

"Breakfast?"

"Not hungry," John growled in reply and headed out before Missy could say anything else. He wasn't in the mood for one of her lectures, he wasn't in the mood to discuss Clara, which was all Missy seemed to want at the moment. Call Clara. Move back in with her. At least send her a text. It had been going on since the day he had moved into Missy's guest bedroom. John wished he could just call her because there was one thing he had noticed the very next day: he missed her. He missed coming home to her, having her around, hearing her voice or her laugh. John just wanted to be with her, but he couldn't. Not right now. He had hurt Clara terribly when he had left and John wasn't sure whether she had forgiven him by now. Clara would probably let him know when she was ready, right? She knew he was waiting for her call, didn't she? John hoped that she did.

When he stepped inside his practice, Nardole was already busy arranging the magazines and John watched him step back and admire his own work. He wished that his receptionist was as accurate in all of his tasks, but usually Nardole challenged every task assigned to him and only did them grudgingly. Then a far more important question started to form in his mind.

"Why is it looking cleaner than usual?" John asked carefully.

Nardole turned around and a rather false looking smile appeared on his face. "Oh, he noticed," he remarked, "I cleaned up."

"That's. . . great," he replied, a frown wrinkling his forehead, "Why though?"

"Because of the student," Nardole said as if it should have been obvious.

"The student? What student?"

"Med school student. She will be here all week, shadowing you," his receptionist explained and wrinkled his nose, "I wanted to tell her to go away, but you insisted."

"Ah," John said, "That was before my accident, right?"

"Right," Nardole nodded.

"And you didn't think to remind me of that earlier?" John inhaled deeply. Well, it didn't matter now. The student would already be on her way. "Nevermind. When will she be here?"

Nardole checked his watch right as the door behind them burst open and John turned around to watch a young woman step inside. She smiled broadly at the two of them.

"Am I on time?" she asked happily.

John smiled at her in reply and thought that it definitely could have been worse. At least she seemed enthusiastic and he hoped that some of her enthusiasm would rub off on him over the course of the week. He certainly needed a boost.