I never know why. I only know who. (AU)

Chapter 33

If you didn't  know Clara Oswald, you would know she was almost definitely pregnant now. She was still at the stage where she heard the occasional "Is she pregnant or just really randomly fat" whisper, but it was now clear to the world.

But Clara had never felt more okay with that. She had people beside her who were supporting her and giving her so much love. John was so faithful, it even annoyed her a bit. She was constantly snapping at him due to her mood swings, but he never complained once. He was just exactly what she needed and so perfect.

But of course, nothing was exactly easy. School had to be the number one priority on that list. Simply having family members and friends and people in the street staring at you all the time seemed to be quite intimidating, but everyone at school added into the mix made everything so much worse. They all anted a chance to gossip or look at the pregnant girl, forgetting she actually had a name and a personality and a life. It was like going to the zoo and being a meerkat. And then, there were the people who would randomly sit down next to Clara to talk about the baby. Most of the time, she'd never even realised these people existed, let alone went to her school. She tried to be polite at first, but eventually she gave up and resorted to giving them some rather colourful swearwords as a way of telling them to get lost.

Nether-the-less, John didn't mind and mostly giggled when this happened. It made him happy to see that Clara hadn't at least lost her spirit.

John had never known himself to have a particularly protective side, but it definitely came out when it came down to Clara. She would often tell him to leave it alone if he overheard bad words being said in the corridor or people giggling, but it didn't stop him from holding her tighter and being rude about them, to their faces or simply to her. It was comforting to Clara to know he cared that much at least, although the protectiveness could become quite annoying.

Thursday Mornings were always annoying to Clara. She had double English, which the classrooms were in the building that had to be furthest away from anywhere. She hated the walk down for lunch to go and meet John, who was in Physics. It was mostly that lonely feeling you get when you just want someone to walk beside so you don't look like the loner amongst them all.

Just to add onto that, it was beginning to rain too and Clara had forgotten her coat, so she was feeling extra miserable. She hoped her day would perk up soon enough, not wanting to be boring again. It tended to bring out the worst mood swings in her.

As Clara walked down the corridor towards the sixth form lounge, she began to think about the baby. She was doing that a lot more now than she had ever used to. Her and John had begun to make the baby box.

It wasn't much so far, but it wasn't meant to be. They planned to put things in there that said a little bit about them and how much they loved their daughter. Clara had already put in a few scan photos and John had made a few items that he thought would be quite meaningful one day. They both wrote a letter when Clara turned six months, so that they could have a collection of their thoughts and feelings for the baby. It was small things like that which, despite not seeming like much, actually meant the world to John and Clara. Even though it had been agreed and was being arranged that they would definitely give up their daughter for adoption, it was still hard to let go of these little precious things.

Clara smiled at the memory of when John showed her the box they would use. They hadn't even spoken of it since Clara had first mentioned it, but it seemed it had stuck in John's head as a good idea. He had built a big box, which had outlines of small animals sticking out of the lid so that when they painted the box, they could paint over the animals. Clara had found it adorable, not to mention the look on John's face when he presented it to her. She knew it was hard on him to know he'd never get to know his child, but he was definitely wanting to be a part of his life in some way, no matter how small that part could someday be.