It was hot. Too hot. So hot. Danni could barely breathe as the sun shone high up above the desert, pouring down so much heat she could see it coming off the sand and she could feel the sweat dripping off her dirty face that was glowing pink from the heat.
"This could have gone better." She murmured, leaning against the stone pillar she was chained to. She really wanted to wipe her face, but her hands were also chained up in front of her, making it impossible to do anything but not be blinded by the sun she was faced.
"There's no way out of this." Clara declared almost monotonic, leaning against the back of the pillar that was next to Danni, "We're going to die here."
The Doctor, who was chained to the other side of the pillar Danni was chained to, had really had enough of her moaning, "Pass me the vibro-cutters."
"They're in my pocket." Clara declared, much to his confusion.
"Come on then, pass them to me." He told her as she rocked to one side. Danni was looking around the corner, and could see on Clara's face immediately that she wasn't just telling him where they were on her person.
"In my other jacket." Clara explained apologetically, "At home."
The Doctor looked at her incredulously, "Why have you got two jackets? Is one of them faulty?" He exclaimed.
"Look, I don't have the vibro-cutters." Clara snapped in reply, "If I had the vibro-cutters, I wouldn't be able to pass you the vibro-cutters." She shook her hands pointedly, reminding him that they were all chained up. She rolled her head back onto the pillar, looking out into the desert, "We're going to starve to death out here."
"Of course we won't starve." The Doctor snapped, "The sand piranhas will get us long before that." Clara jumped, her chains rattling as she looked around, horrified and terrified as she tried to spot the piranhas in the sand.
"I thought they only came out during the second half of the planet's rotation?" Danni asked, "We're in the first, right?"
The Doctor nodded after musing on it for a while, "You know, I think you're right." He replied like Danni had just corrected him on a maths problem rather than their imminent death, "I do apologise Clara, we probably would starve to death first." Clara just stared in disbelief at the pair.
"It's much too hot for the piranhas." Danni explained like she was teaching a class, "They like a more tropical climate, where the airs full of water for them to move around in. They'd just burn out here, much like we will."
"Oh great." Clara exclaimed, "Not only will we starve to death, but we're going to do so looking like bloody lobsters!"
"Of course not." The Doctor snapped, "Time Lords don't burn in this heat, only you will look like a lobster."
"Really?" Danni interrupted, sounding pleasantly surprised and Clara would have chucked her hands up in the air if she hadn't been chained down, "That's rather nice to know. I do worry sometimes about not wearing sunscreen."
"Always better to be safe than sorry, my Pet." The Doctor replied, "Wouldn't want your delicious skin to get tainted now, would we?" Danni's face turned a deeper tint of pink while Clara just groaned at the implications of his flirting.
"Please stop it." She begged, "I don't want to listen to you two flirting while I die!"
"Sorry." Danni replied with genuine remorse in her tone. She never liked to make Clara uncomfortable. There was a pregnant pause, "You know, if you lean closer, I might be able to twist enough to get the screwdriver out of your jacket pocket." She told the Doctor.
"It's in my trouser pocket." The Doctor pointed out and Danni shrugged, a smirk appearing on her face.
"I probably can reach there too." She replied, a hint of a flirt in her voice and Clara groaned again, closing her eyes tightly as the Doctor perked up at the idea of his wife groping him.
"I am at Disneyland." She repeated to herself to drown out the sound of Danni giggling in an entirely inappropriate way, "Disneyland!"
~0~0~0~
"We can't go get Clara!" Danni insisted as the Doctor spun around the console, carefully but skilfully flying them towards Clara's flat, "I promised her that when she had a date we'd leave her alone!"
The Doctor scoffed, "She's our friend." He pointed out, "Our travelling partner. We should be able to pick her up when we have something to show her." He flicked a switch, which Danni flicked back afterwards.
"Yes, but you remember the colour she turned after we left San Frios. She had to go on a date looking like she'd been on a two-week vacation with no explanation! She deserves a date where she doesn't have to explain us away."
The Doctor wasn't convinced. He knew Clara would love the trip he had planned, and that Danni would love having their friend there as well. They hadn't seen Clara in a couple of months now, he knew Danielle was missing her, and he had to admit he liked having Clara around as well, "The only person she wants to date is you." He told his Danielle factually, "Anyone else is just her procrastinating and she'd be happy for the interruption."
"Will you stop saying things like that?" Danni scolded yet again. She had to wonder if he had overheard her and Clara talking about Mr Danny Pink when they'd been talking on the phone. She hoped not, because Clara didn't want him to know she was dating an ex-solider, but that was the only explanation for his constant insistence that Clara wanted to date her, "I told her we wouldn't, so we can't. End of."
The Doctor stopped his flying just for a moment, deciding to focus all of his intentions on convincing his wife. He took a step closer, a smirk on his face and Danni could see that excitement for something new shining in his eyes, "Fish. People." He told her temptingly and Danni's frown wasn't out of confusion, more out of her trying to convince herself that she wasn't falling for it.
"Like the Saturnyns in Venice?" She asked, trying to hide her intrigue and the Doctor shook his head. His hand fell to her hip, stroking her gently, temptingly, through the fabric of her skirt.
"No." He replied in a purr, "Something new."
She fought it. Oh, how she fought that excitement, the thrill of something new and amazing and she was going to be able to see it. He watched it flicker on her face. The way her lips would start to pull up into a smile, which she'd quickly turn into a frown to hide it, but he knew it was there, "Something you've never seen before, my Pet." He continued, voice low, "Something I have never seen before."
She sighed before her face broke out into a grin. He knew she'd never be able to resist, "Alright, lets pick up Clara!" She exclaimed happily, "Oh, she's going to love this!" She practically bounced to the console, but he didn't let her go far. Trapping her tightly between the cold metal and his warm body, he flew them to Clara's earlier than he needed to, ensuring they had plenty of time to waste before she got home from work.
~0~0~0~
Clara gingerly handed Danni her glass of wine, trying not to smudge either her nails or Danni's before sitting on the sofa next to her. Danni had insisted on a 'proper' girly night in. And, apparently, that involved doing their nails and wearing fluffy white robes while watching something simply awful on television.
Clara didn't own a fluffy white robe, but Danni had brought two, always prepared.
"Do we really have to watch this?" Clara asked, nodding towards the television. Whist it was considered a rather classic movie, and despite the fact that Clara was partial to romantic comedy, she had never really liked 'When Harry Met Sally'.
"According to the TARDIS, it's the perfect rom-com for this particular time in history." Danni replied with a bit of a shrug, "Well, actually, she did first suggest 'The Time Traveller's Wife', but that felt a bit too on the nose." Clara nodded, although she wasn't sure that was what Danni really meant. She didn't know too much about her time before she regenerated, but she knew it can't have been easy. Jumping around the Doctor's time line with no control over when and where she would land, whilst falling in love and marrying the man she loved was pretty much the film's theme, and Clara had had more than one dream about Dannis who were devastated by the terrible life she'd been forced to lead.
Of course, Clara wasn't going to bring it up unless Danni wanted to, "Fine. Clichéd and badly written trash it is." Danni nodded before shifting on the sofa as the movie started.
"So, did Mr Pink mind me stealing you for the evening?" She asked and Clara had to resist rolling her eyes. She didn't even wait until the movie had properly started going before asking about her love life.
"No, just told him I was spending a night with my friend." Clara replied, "We've made plans for tomorrow night instead."
"Oh? He knows about me?" Danni asked and Clara nodded.
"I may have mentioned you once or twice." Clara lied, "We're not too serious, it doesn't matter."
Danni laughed, "Of course not. That's why you rescheduled for the next day." She nudged Clara, "Clara's got a boyfriend!" She sang before falling into a fit of giggles.
Clara tried not to turn bright pink, "Shut it." She warned, "Otherwise I'm going to take your wine off you."
Danni still giggled slightly, but seemed to calm down a little, "So, how long until you tell him?"
"Tell him what?" Clara asked after taking a sip of her own wine.
"About the fact that you travel in time and space with a couple of Time Lords." Danni clarified, "And, at one point, scattered yourself across one's time line to ensure that they both survived, creating an untold amount of copies of yourself."
"Not yet." Clara replied after taking a moment to think about it. She knew she had to tell Danny about her… unusual other life. Despite what she had told Danni, she really was hoping that the relationship was getting serious. She felt like it was, but she didn't want to pressure him into anything either. Oh, she'd forgotten how much of a minefield this whole dating thing was, "Plus, if I do, he'll want to see inside the TARDIS, and you know what Captain Eyebrows thinks about soldiers."
Danni grimaced slightly. That was very true. That had been very much evident on any adventure they'd had since he'd regenerated where they'd even seen a soldier. Even an ex-soldier wasn't going to go down with her husband well. She understood as well, after all he'd spent the last eight hundred years of his life stuck in an endless war he was destined to lose. She wasn't exactly fond of the concept of soldiers either, but she could also separate the people from their occupation. If Clara liked Danny Pink, then so could she, "He's an ex-soldier?" She offered as a weak argument, "He's got that going for him?"
Clara let out a little sob, her head falling onto the back of the sofa, "What am I going to do?" She exclaimed, "They're not going to get on!"
Danni smiled softly, placing her glass down to pull Clara in for a hug that the girl sagged happily into, "Don't worry about it for now." She told her, "Leave it with me. I'm sure I'll be able to sort something else."
"Really?" Clara asked, sounding both desperate and relieved when she pulled back to look at Danni. The blonde smiled, pulling Clara's face gently down to place a kiss on her forehead. Immediately Clara felt a lot better and she could feel the smile pulling at her lips.
"Leave it to me." Danni repeated before they both settled down on the sofa, both watching the movie for the whole of two minutes before Danni sat up straight.
"This is garbage. Let's what Whose Line is it Anyway?" She declared and Clara laughed, pointing at her as she scrambled to find the remote.
"I told you!" She said through her laughter, "Didn't I tell you?"
~0~0~0~
Clara was so on top of her life. She could totally juggle being a girlfriend to a maths teacher who didn't know about her secret life as a time traveller, and her life as a time traveller with her two friends, one of which didn't know that the ex-soldier boyfriend even existed. She could totally spend all night running for her life, and all morning running for 'fitness'.
She was so prepared that when the TARDIS appeared in her hallway, she was dressed, her makeup done and she was ready to leave to whatever far-off place Danni and the Doctor were wanted to take her. She definitely did not just want to sleep away her evening.
She chucked the doors to the TARDIS open with both hands, stepping inside and closing them both behind her, "So, where we off to?" She asked as her greeting. The Doctor was at the top of the stairs by his chalkboards, but Danni was nowhere to be seen, which was rather concerning.
"Clara, you, you look lovely today." He told her with a bit of a stutter in his voice as he headed down the stairs towards her, "Have you had a wash?"
Clara, who had been heading towards him, slowed down as she looked him over. He didn't look hurt, or particularly concerned, so it can't have been anything to do with Danni, who still hadn't appeared. "Why are you being nice?" She asked him.
"Because it works on you." He replied before getting straight to the point, "Listen, I'm sorry but there's going to be no trip today. I'm sorry. Er, We've got to do a thing. It might take a while." He caught Clara trying to check the monitor, trying to work out what he was talking about so he pulled it out of her way.
Clara followed him just as slowly as he walked the monitor away from her, "What thing?"
"Just a thing." Was all he offered and she narrowed her eyes. Why was he trying to keep her out? Why tell her about it? They did things without her all the time without even a text to tell her, and she expected them to. So why tell her? Did he need her help?
She took another glance around the console room, but there really was no sign of the blonde, "Does Danni know that you're doing a thing?"
"Of course she does." He snapped like she was stupid for asking, "She's just getting ready now."
"You're being mysterious, and do you know what means?" Clara commented offhandedly.
"I'm a man of mystery." The Doctor replied almost proudly.
"Hmm." Clara smiled slightly, "It means that you are a very clever man making the mistake, common to very clever people, of assuming that everybody else is stupid." She laughed as she made a grab for the monitor, but he switched the display before she could say anything, "Where are you going?"
"Undercover." He offered, "Deep cover."
Clara frowned. That seemed rather dangerous, and while Clara had all the faith in the universe for her friend, even this Doctor seemed rather protective of her, "What, with Danni?"
"Yes with Danielle." He snapped, turning her around, "And she is very sad that she missed you, but it was unavoidable. So we'll see you when I see you." He gave her a little shove forward before clicking his fingers to open the door. Clara quickly copied, the doors closing again and she turned around.
"When's that?" She demanded and the Doctor clicked his fingers again.
"When we see you." He replied firmly. Clara took another, suspicious, look at him as she tried to work out what his plan was. However, he just stood there, looking like the magician he was, so she backed out of the TARDIS.
"Make sure you say hi to Danni for me." She told him pointedly.
"I'm sure she'll survive one day without you." The Doctor retorted and Clara shot him a glare before stepping out. He quickly set the TARDIS into flight, sending him and his wife a little bit away from Clara distance-wise, but rather than that evening, it was the next morning.
Danni appeared at out of the hallway wearing a light blue, plain dressed with a matching hat on her head, "Did we move?" She asked, a frown on her face. She was sure that she'd felt the TARDIS land.
"Of course not." He replied. She nodded, like she was accepting his answer, even as she stepped into the console room, looking around for something out of the ordinary. She couldn't see anything that struck her as odd, so she decided to ignore the feeling.
"Are you sure we shouldn't tell Clara?" She asked him, "It's her school, she really should know."
He shook his head, "She'll just worry, and that will draw attention to us. We'll go completely undercover and she'll never know we're there." Danni nodded again, although she still wasn't happy about not telling Clara what they were doing. But, if Theta thought it was for the best, then she couldn't argue with him. Plus, Clara wasn't stupid. She'd notice they were there sooner or later, so maybe it was just best to wait it out until then.
"How's the uniform?" She asked, spinning around to show him the whole thing, "It's nicer than Rose's was, isn't it?"
He watched her turn, not even trying to hide his appreciation of the mid-thigh length dress, or her bare legs. Even in a dinner lady's outfit, she looked absolutely delicious. She stumbled slightly at her over-enthusiastic turn but he caught her, "Much better." He purred, "And if we didn't have a serious and important task ahead, you wouldn't be wearing it much longer."
"Theta!" She exclaimed, flushing slightly and he chuckled as his hand ran up to her chest, pressing just between her hearts.
"My, Mrs Fielding, your hearts are racing." He murmured lowly, "I wonder why that could be."
"Serious and important task, remember?" She reminded him, "You can find out later." She stretched as she stepped out his grasp, causing him to groan at the arch of her back, "Come along, Theta. Time for work."
~0~0~0~
Clara was only just paying attention to the morning announcements, but then again she'd managed to train herself to listen for anything that would involve her and dismiss anything that was irrelevant to her. She could even make herself look like she was paying attention by taking notes that had absolutely nothing to do with what the headmaster was saying, but also seemed like they were.
She'd promised the next few days to Danny, and she had to admit she was really looking forward to it. She adored her life of running and seeing things that most people couldn't even imagine, let alone dream of seeing, but it was going to be a welcomed change to not worry about being caught out about it. She really was planning on telling Danny, but she needed more of a sign that it was the right thing to do. Last thing she needed was to scare him off because he couldn't handle the idea of her best friends being aliens. She really did just want them all to get along. She knew Danni would get on with Danny
Everyone began standing, indicating that Armitage was done with his morning briefing, so Clara joined them, ready to head to her first class.
"Hold on," Armitage called and the staff slowed down their packing, giving him their attention, "there is just one more thing. Atif's off sick, so we've got a newbie, I did ask him to come along." There was a well-timed knock at the door and Armitage smiled as he walked over to open the door, "Ah, here he is." He opened the door, motioning for the new guy to walk in. Clara took a quick glance at the man before her face froze in horror. There, in a brown jacket and holding a broom like he did it every day, was the Doctor. She was vaguely aware of him introducing himself as 'John Smith', but she couldn't hear him over the angry, confused, repeating of 'what the hell is he doing here?!' that was echoing in her head.
Her first thought was that he was doing this to embarrass her. She wasn't sure why, but had she been able to move, she would have shot over when Danny introduced himself to the Time Lord and marched him out. Unfortunately, she was so completely blindsided by his actual appearance in her school, all she could do was slowly follow the rest of her colleagues out of the door, who barely paid attention to the Time Lord. Maybe that's what she should do. Just ignore it. Let him get on with whatever 'deep cover' he was trying to pull off, and just be a teacher. Spend her few days with Danny – Danny Pink – and just ignore it.
Nope. She couldn't do it.
She abandoned a very confused Danny in the hallway, rushing back to the staffroom and storming inside.
"So, you recognised me, then." The Doctor commented as she shut the door behind her. She waved her hand at him.
"You're wearing a different coat!" She exclaimed and he sighed.
"But you saw straight through that." He commented, like he was disappointed. She didn't really have time to think on that though.
"Deep cover in my school?" She stormed towards him but he raised his broom like he was trying to keep her away, "Why? Where's Atif, what have you done with him?" She demanded.
"He's fine. Hypnotised." He explained as Clara tried to circle him. He kept the broom between them, though, not trusting her to keep her distance, "He thinks he's got the 'flu. Also a flying car and three wives. It's going to be a rude awakening."
"Oh, this is fantastic!" Clara ran her hand through her hair before catching herself. She was so angry at him for keeping her in the dark that the picked-up mannerism just pissed her off even more. She started pacing slightly, "There's aliens, isn't there?" She deduced, "Aliens, in my school. There can't be aliens. Not here." She stopped in her tracks, turning and pointing at him, "Where's Danni? Why isn't she here stopping you? She wouldn't have kept this from me! She would have told me that you both were going to play janitors. Where is she?"
"Danielle's fine." He quickly snapped, "She wanted to tell you, but I thought it would be best to keep you in the dark. Couldn't have you panicking or anything, we're under cover, you know?"
"She actually agreed to playing caretaker?" Clara retorted.
"No, she wanted to be a dinner lady." The Doctor replied with a sneer, because he still wasn't happy with it. While her point had been valid about them getting a better feel for the school if they were split up, he'd been rather looking forward to sharing a cupboard with his wife. It was going to be a slow process; he could have used the distraction.
Clara blinked, "A dinner lady?" She asked, confused, before shaking her head, "Are there aliens in this school?" She demanded.
"Listen, it's lovely talking to you," he started, obviously dismissing herm "but I've really got to get on. I'm a caretaker now. Look, I've got a brush." He raised it up to show her. He had really hoped the Clara wouldn't have seen through his disguise for a while, yet. At least not until she'd seen his wife. Danielle was so much better at calming people down that he was, she was naturally trustworthy, whereas he could tell Clara wasn't falling for his attempt to pretend everything was okay at all. He did wonder if sending Clara to find her now would have been the best option, but instead he did his best to keep her calm.
"Doctor, is there an alien in this school?" Clara demanded again.
"Yes, me and my wife." He snapped, getting tired with the repetitive nature of their conversation, "Now, go. The walls need sponging and there's a sinister puddle."
"You can't do this." Clara told him, "Danni, maybe, but you cannot pass yourself off as a real person among actual people."
"I lived among otters once for a month." He replied like it was a reason he could pull this off, "Well, I sulked. Danielle and I, we had this big fight…" He smiled to himself as he thought over the memory. He couldn't even remember what he and Danielle had fought over, it can't have been anything too important, but she hadn't been able to stay away for long. After a week she'd joined him, and they'd made full use of living outdoors. She'd complained about not being able to have a proper shower, though, so they'd not stayed too long. Maybe he should take her back, she had really enjoyed the outing.
"Human beings are not otters!" Clara exclaimed, interrupting him and he nodded.
"Exactly. It'll be even easier." He told her before quickly ushering her out. She was worried about the children, he understood that. It was the only reason he'd managed to convince Danielle to keep quiet about their presence in the school. But they would soon save the day and Clara could join them again. But she was too close, and everything needed to appear as normal as to not scare their target away.
"I hate you." Clara hissed after him as he left her to go play caretaker.
"That's fine. That's a perfectly normal reaction." He called back. Maybe a quick nip into the kitchens to make sure nothing had been spilt was in order.
~0~0~0~
Between the first and second lesson of the day was the first break. Usually the canteen opened and offered a few breakfast options for the hungry teenagers who may not have eaten before they came to school, and even if they had. It wasn't half as busy as it was during lunch, but Clara still had to push her way through a sizable group of students to get to the front where the hot food was being served from.
"There you go, sweetie." Danni told the girl she was serving with the biggest grin on her face before she caught sight of Clara, "Clara!" She exclaimed before catching herself, "I mean, Miss Oswald. Sorry, I'm still struggling with being back at school." She reached down, picking up a premade bacon bun, "Want one?"
"Undercover?" Was Clara's reply. In all fairness, Danni blended in a lot better with the staff than the Doctor did. She was slightly cheerier than the rest of the lunch staff, but she actually rather suited the uniform. Even the hairnet looked rather good on her, "He was wearing a brown coat."
Danni handed the bacon butty to the young lad who declared he wanted it, a slightly exasperated look on her face, "Oh, I don't know what his fascination is with it. You know, he came into the console room and told me to 'not worry because he was still my husband underneath'." She smiled at the next kid, "What can I get you, sweetie?"
"Sausage and bacon, please." Danni nodded as she began preparing the sandwich.
"Why are you at my school?" Clara asked, rather than demanded like she had the Doctor.
"I'll have to tell you later, sweetie." Danni replied, sounding genuinely apologetic, "After lunch. I did try and tell him that we should tell you, but he was insistent and I knew you'd find out either way so…" She trailed off, blinking in surprise at the person next in the queue. Clara turned slightly to see Adrian, the drama teacher, waiting to be served, "I'm sorry, sweetie, what can I get you?"
Clara frowned for a moment as she tried to see what had Danni so captivated. She'd not seen Danni look so close to being flustered in a long time. She gave Adrian a quick look over. Same brown quiff, bow tie, rather large jaw line…
An amused smirk spread across Clara's face as she realised just why Danni had been so taken aback by Adrian. She'd never really made the connection between him and the Doctor's previous body, but now she'd seen it, it was all she could see.
"Oh, I was just after some toast." He said pleasantly to Danni, "They should have some made for me, I have whole wheat, you see."
Danni nodded eagerly, "Of course, give me just a moment. I'll go have a look." And she dashed off, looking for his order. Adrian turned to Clara, who tried to hide how terribly amused she was.
"She's new, isn't she?" He asked and Clara nodded.
"That's Danni." She replied, "She only started this morning. Very eager to do her best." Danni came back, all happy smiles as she passed him his plate.
"There you are, sir." She replied politely and he shot her a smile.
"Thank you, Danni." He replied and she looked mildly confused, "Miss Oswald told me you've just started."
She nodded again, "Only this morning. I'll have it ready on time for you tomorrow, sir." He smiled, thanked her again and walked off, leaving Clara with Danni.
"That's Adrian, if you were wondering." Clara told Danni before leaning in closer, "And he and his floppy hair are single."
"Clara!" Danni scolded, composing herself, "I'm married, remember?"
"I'm not the one forgetting." Clara teased, "I'm coming to find you after lunch, you're telling me everything."
Danni nodded, crossing her hearts as Clara walked off. She served the next student and couldn't help but wonder why she felt so sad that Adrian had gone.
~0~0~0~
The teachers very rarely chose to eat cafeteria food. However, occasionally, someone forgot their lunch or simply couldn't be bothered making it up the night before. Today had been one of those days for Danny Pink. Luckily all the teachers needed to do was drop in before lunch, choose what they wanted, and the serving staff would save them a portion for the end of lunch so they didn't have to eat with the entire student body. He just liked to eat his lunch in peace, perhaps do a little marking and check his Facebook without being interrupted. The lunch staff were cleaning up around him as he spread across one of the many tables, homework from his Year 8s staring up at him, taunting him. Why did he even assign it? It had seemed like a good idea at the time, now he had one period to get them marked before he saw them again and had to hand it back.
He picked up Lucas Dermot's attempt at long division and felt like eating it instead of the lukewarm chips and gravy. He knew Lucas knew this stuff. He was going to have to have another word with him. He could be getting A's if he just tried a little harder. As it was, this was barely half marks.
The chair in front of Danny shifted as someone sat down and he stared, almost startled, at the woman who had sat down in front of him. She had the biggest grin on her face, even if her face was slightly red, "Hello." She greeted happily.
"Er, hi." He replied slowly, not quite sure what was going on.
"I'm Danni." She introduced and he nodded, again rather slowly.
"Ah." Was his reply, "M-Me too." She nodded eagerly, her blonde hair bobbing slightly in her hairnet.
"Oh, I know. Clara told me." She explained and his brows furrowed. He sat up a little straighter as his keen eyes looked her over again. She knew Clara? Was he supposed to know her? "I'm sorry, I just had to come and say hi. She speaks so highly of you; I couldn't help myself." He hadn't really met any of Clara's friends, but the blonde haired woman did look familiar. Not like he'd met her before, he knew he hadn't, but he'd seen her face before.
His eyes widened minutely as he realised that it was because her face was plastered around Clara's living room. She was the Danni that Clara couldn't stop talking about, "You're Clara's Danni." He commented and the woman broke out into a grin.
"Well, kinda." She agreed before reaching over, giving him a nudge on the arm with her fingertips, "You're her Danny now, though. Well, I guess, I'm her Danni with an 'I', you're her Danny with a 'Y'." She mused.
He didn't really know how to answer that, so he just nodded slightly, "She talks a lot about you too." He replied, not telling her just how much. Even he could tell early on that Clara had a bit of a crush on this mysterious 'Danni', but he'd never had to meet her before. Now he could see her, and see just how pretty she actually was, he did wonder for a moment if he should be worried about her being there. Only for a moment, though, because he knew him and Clara were strong already. It had only been a few months, but he had faith in their relationship, "She said you were travelling?" He pointed out, confused.
Danni shrugged it off, "Oh, I've stopped for a little while." She explained, "Ian- I mean, Mr Chesterton needed a caretaker and a dinner lady for a little while, and me and my husband volunteered."
"Wait, you're married to the caretaker?" He asked, because Clara hadn't mentioned she was married at all. Or had she? He found it hard to keep up with her stories at times. When she talked about something she cared about, her passion shone on her face. It was very beautiful, and very distracting… But the woman in front of him was only late 20's, and the caretaker? Well, he definitely wasn't.
"Yeah, I know." Danni replied like she'd seen his train of thoughts, "His dress sense isn't fantastic, but for some reason he can still pull it off."
That wasn't what he was thinking, but Danny still nodded, "Yeah…"
"How are your chips?" The question took him off guard and he just blinked at her, so she nodded towards his plate, "Are they warm enough? I can get you some fresh ones, if you like."
He smiled, surprised but he couldn't refuse some fresh chips, "Yeah, alright then. I won't say no." She grinned, standing up and picking up his plate.
"I won't be a moment, Mr Pink." She told him before all but running out of the cafeteria. He didn't know if he should follow her, because it was also the complete opposite direction to the kitchens.
Danni rushed as fast as she could to the TARDIS, hoping her old friend could warm up the plate for her, or better yet give her some fresh ones. She beamed at Clara, who was obviously heading to the cafeteria looking for her, "He's so cute!" She gushed about Danny on her way past, "I won't be a moment."
Clara just stared after her before shaking her head, chuckling slightly. She must have seen Adrian again. She was going to have fun teasing the Doctor about that later, and the Eleven part of her was positively ecstatic at her apparent little crush on a man who looked like him. She continued on to large dining room, spotting Danny at one end. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of him marking, and made a beeline straight for him.
He looked up as she sat down in front of him, "I just met your friend." He told her and her eyes widened in realisation that Danni hadn't been talking about Adrian at all. Oh no. She hadn't wanted them to cross unless she had a chance to mediate, "Danni with an 'I'."
"Was…" Clara didn't even know what to say, or in fact what she wanted to say. Actually, she did. She wanted to know if Danny knew her friend was an alien, but she couldn't just come out and say that, "Oh? What did you think?" She settled on.
"She was very friendly." He replied, and Clara almost sobbed in relief, "Very weird, I can see why you like her."
"Are you saying I'm weird?" Clara counted, a teasing smirk on her lips and he nodded.
"Very." He confirmed, "Now, help me mark."
~0~0~0~
Danni leant into the food counter, sponge in hand as she started scrubbing the stainless steel to rid it of the pasta sauce that had over spilled over lunch. She was a bit too short for this job, but she didn't mind, she just reached as far as she could and when she was done, she'd go around the front to finish it off.
She'd not managed to get to Clara to explain why she and the Doctor had hidden themselves away in her school. She'd headed back into the dining room to find Clara and Danny Pink huddled together marking. She'd just sneaked over, placed his newly made chips on his table/desk for them both to munch and had given Clara a rub on the arm before walking off to finish her duties.
She was so happy for Clara. Danni knew her life had been hard, she'd lived through so much death and destruction, through the longest of wars and through having no control of where and when she lived. Those first five years in this universe were devastating, but she'd found love. She'd found her husband, found someone to share it with. She was never one to think you needed a relationship to be happy, but life was just a bit easier if there was someone, anyone to help you through it. Danni was so happy that Clara might have found that for herself, boyfriend or not.
Danni quickly hopped around to the front of the counter, where the students had lined up, a happy grin on her face. What was Clara on about? Having a job was so much fun! Once she'd done this, she was onto the desert counter, and it would sparkle.
As she reached forward, trying to get the furthest point she could reach, two hands planted themselves on her hips. The momentary shot of fright disappeared as she felt the long digits dig into her slightly and she smirked to herself.
"Do you mind?" She asked calmly, "I'm trying to clean." The figure bent over slightly, rubbing against her as he did, making sure that they maintained contact.
"You do insist on bending over in front of me in a skirt, my Pet." The Doctor purred, as if she should have known he'd been there all along "But I have to ask, why are you cleaning?" She sighed, standing up and tearing herself out of his grasp, despite his slightly annoyed look at her moving away from him.
"Because it's my job." She explained pointedly, "Ian allowed us to work here on the condition we actually do the jobs as well as look for alien lifeforms, you know?"
"It's just a little human job." He dismissed, "Boring and unimportant, like most of the things they are." She placed a hand on her hip, looking at him rather sternly. He had been getting better at insulting the part of what made up her rather unique species, but he still couldn't let it go.
"Is that what you think?" She asked and he shot her a smug look, pulling her up against him.
"You're not 'just' anything." He promised, leaning down, before reconsidering, "Well, actually. You're just incredibly sexy, just absolutely," his hand ran down to her backside, his favourite place to hold onto her, "firm, and just so..." He brushed his lips against hers, "delicious." She pushed him away, hearts pounding in her chest as she glared slightly. He knew that they were working, and anything that was running through his mind – and now hers – was strictly off limits. He'd also learnt just what his voice could do to her, and he really was starting to use it against her.
"Go do your job, Theta." She told him, pointing to the doorway out of the dining hall. He huffed slightly, because he didn't want to. He wanted to spend time with her. He did briefly consider helping her clean up the rest of the displays, but he also knew she'd take it as an insult to her ability to do so herself. He'd have even let her work, content to just be in her presence, to tease back and forth between each other. She looked delicious, but he just craved being with her.
She felt too far away on the other side of the school to where he had been searching for more signs of what was happening around the school. He couldn't even really feel her in his mind, it had just been that feeling of someone close, but it wasn't her. Eventually he'd been forced to give up what he was doing and seek her out. And now he was having to break that brief relief.
"How long are you going to be?" He all but demanded. She forced herself to ignore his snappy tone, having now learnt that it was just his way of speaking, looking around.
"I don't know." She admitted honestly, "Half an hour, I think?" He nodded; that was acceptable.
"I shall come escort you back to the TARDIS on the hour, then." He told her. She smiled, knowing that he wasn't just trying to be gentlemanly, but was rather keen on making sure she was safe and close by.
"I'd like that." She replied, "But I do need to finish. Go do what you do best, sweetie." She placed a hand on his arm, pushing onto her tiptoes to place a kiss on his cheek. He quickly turned his head, catching her lips for an all-too-innocent kiss.
"I would, but you're not coming with me." He purred but did as he was told, picking up his discarded broom from where it had been leaning against the counter. She flushed again, nudging him away. He chuckled, walking off and leaving her to her cleaning. She did her best to tune him out, picking up her bucket full of hot, soapy water and heading over to the desert counter. She caught her reflection in the scuffed stainless steel. Her cheeks were pink and her smile was huge. He made her so happy, but so frustrated as well. How would he like it if she'd left him like this?
The sound of him chuckling in her head caused her to spin around to find him standing in the doorway, leaning on his broom and looking incredibly proud of himself. Her eyes narrowed and she pulled her tongue out at him.
"It's okay." She called over cheekily, "I'll fix it myself tonight." Ha! That made him glower and storm out, didn't it? Stupid Time Lord. Getting her all worked up while she was trying to be a good human and do her job.