Thirteenth X Clara - Alternative

Chapter 22: Back to Work

Travelling with the Doctor always was an adventure. It went one hundred miles an hour, and it never stopped for anything. Dating the Doctor was usually more of the same, but with a lot more quiet time than before, and a lot of kissing. Clara enjoyed a lot of the advantages of dating the Doctor (particularly the kissing), but sometimes there felt like there was something missing. Zooming off to The Rings of Akhaten or taking a brief trip to Naples in the 60s for date night was fine and all, but it wasn't enough to keep her satisfied.

The first few months had been lovely. Being the sole inhabitants of the Tardis majority of the time left the Doctor and herself with a lot of time to travel and spend time alone, but lately, something felt different. The adventures and the travels were still fun, alone and with the Fam, but it was the time lounging around the ship that seemed to wear thin for Clara. She wanted to do... something. Not travel or go on adventures, but something to keep her active. She had read all the books she requested from the Doctor and had explored the new Tardis to her heart's content, but an immortal girl can only do so much before boredom sets in. She had her own ideas for what she thought could quell the boredom, but most of them weren't as good as she envisioned them when she thought them through. There was one idea that stuck out, but she would have to run it by the Doctor first. So she decided that one night, before they fell asleep together in bed, she would drop the question on her girlfriend and try to convince her to go along with it.

The Doctor sat in bed, glasses down on her nose, as she wired a radio to pick up channels from across the galaxy. Outside of wanting Clara to hear music from Kasorb, known for its soothing and relaxing melodies (seriously, it puts you to sleep in 30 seconds), the Doctor wired stuff to relax more. She had asked the Fam about ways to possibly deal with her anxiety and stress over Gallifrey and wiring became the result of their talks. This radio was quite easy to do as she chose it to make time while Clara got ready. She never understood why Clara took so long to get ready for bed. All she did was take a shower, brush her teeth, put on her pajamas and into bed she went. But she had to admit, Clara was taking longer than usual this time. She gave the Doctor the odd look during dinner but she didn't really pay it much attention. If anything was wrong, she trusted Clara to tell her what it was. She had just about finished wiring the radio when Clara's voice got her attention.

"Doctor. Can I ask you a question?" Clara asked as she came out of the bathroom, toothbrush and toothpaste in hand. She had wanted to brush her teeth first and complete her night routine before she talked to the Doctor but nerves prompted her to just get it out as soon as possible.

"It's nothing to do with the toothpaste, is it? I promised I'd never do that again." the Doctor asked, wanting to know the nature of her question. When she was that white-haired Scotsman, she fiddled around with Clara's toothpaste in her bathroom in her flat. One minute later, the walls were covered with toothpaste and the Doctor spent the afternoon cleaning it up.

"No, it's not about that. It's more than that. It's kinda important." Clara responded as she let the Doctor mull over that statement as she went to start brushing her teeth. The word "important", even if preceded by kinda, still held enough weight to concern the Doctor. Her mind raced with possibilities of what it could be, each being more worrisome than the last.

"Is everything alright? Are you ok?" the Doctor quickly asked her, wanting to get her attention. The two of them had kept enough secrets from each other and the Doctor hoped she wasn't finding out something too late.

"No, no! Everything's ok. It's fine. I'm fine," Clara reassured her as she finished up brushing her teeth, "honestly I don't even know why I'm going to ask this question. It's probably stupid."

"No, don't say that. No question from you is stupid to me. Whatever you need to ask of me, I will gleefully answer for you." the Doctor told her with a smile on her face as she did so as she saw Clara come back into the bedroom. Big or small, long or short, anything her Impossible Girl wanted to know, she would try her best to get it done.