With Fragile Promises (Doctor Who Fanfiction)

Chapter Two: Aurora Borealis

  Chapter Two: Aurora Borealis

  They ate breakfast together in quiet content. The rest of the morning they spent talking about anything and everything except the events of Trenzalore. Clara just didn’t want to get into the discussion because she knew the Doctor would make a fuss of her, and equally, the Doctor didn’t want to talk about it in case he triggered Clara’s sensitive memory. Due to this, however, an awkward tension hung in the room, neither person quite sure how to move around the subject.

  The Doctor stared into his cereal bowl of caramel milk and chocolate moons and stars, suddenly not hungry anymore. His eyes strayed over to Clara, who was picking at her food, and a hollow pain echoed in his chest. He frowned and shook himself. He had to get rid of that feeling, he’d felt it before but never with Clara. He’d make it up to her, all of it. Anything she wanted, he would give her. The only thing was he knew she wouldn’t ask, so he had to improvise.

  “How about we take it easy today?” he considered. “Do something simple. Something to…”

  He trailed off, not really wanting to mention anything on the sensitive subject. He gestured with his hand to show what he meant. Clara shot him a gentle smile, her spoon hanging loosely in her hand.

  “Yeah. Yeah I think I’d like that.” She pushed away her bowl and sat closer to him over the table. “Do you have anything in mind?”

  “Yeah, I do actually.” He beamed. “All you need to do is get dressed – wear something warm. Dress for winter.”

  He stood up and went to walk out of the room when he decided against it. He paused, a strange feeling encompassing him as he stared at Clara who was glancing downwards at the floor. He walked beside her, placing a delicate hand on the top of her head. Before he could help himself, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss into her hair. Clara closed her eyes at his touch, holding onto that feeling. She sighed as she felt him move away, leaving her alone in the empty kitchen.

  When Clara joined the Doctor in the console room, she was wearing a white fluffy coat with a furry hood, a red scarf was hugging her neck and she had cream snowy uggs to match. The Doctor stopped his fiddling and glanced over at her, an involuntary smile pulling at his lips at the very sight of her. She looked like a tiny huggable teddy bear. He moved behind the central beam to hide the faint blush on his cheeks and called over to her from the other side.

  “You’re going to love this! A sight only seen every thousand years or so. Generations upon generations wish to see it once in their lives and only a few actually do.”

  “How come you told me to dress for winter but you didn’t?” Clara questioned, following him around the opposite side of the beam.

  The Doctor smirked and pushed his hand into his pocket. He extracted a TARDIS blue scarf from the depths and held it out to her, like a schoolboy showing his favourite teacher his new project. Clara raised an eyebrow and snatched it from his grasp. She stood on her tiptoes and reached up to him – the Doctor helped her out by slouching – and she securely knotted the silky material around his neck and tucked it into his waistcoat. Once she was satisfied, she leant away and observed her work. The Doctor had to fight against all of his initial instincts, because all he really wanted to do was pick her up and engulf her in a hug and show her just how much she meant to him. Something must’ve shown in his expression; now Clara was staring at him funny, as if she was considering something herself. Was she having similar thoughts? Did he have something on his face?

  “That scarf,” she said, edging onto the subject cautiously, “it looks… cute. It looks cute on you.”

  Oh, she was calling him cute? She had no idea.