Danielle wasn't coming home. The Doctor had taken a day to process this, to squash his heartbreak and try and think up a new plan. She wasn't coming home, but there was a 'yet' to the end of that sentence that he clung his hopes to. She wasn't coming home yet, but she would. He would show her that there was nowhere else she would rather be than by his side, show her that he had changed, that he could be the husband she deserved and the one she used to have.
Of course, that had all come to a bit of a standstill as he tried to think up of a perfect date to take her on. What constituted a 'date', actually? Did he have to take her for a meal, by her flowers, wear a suit and tie? That not only sounded rather ordinary, he didn't want to just take her to a restaurant. He wanted to take her somewhere that would take her breath away.
But should he? As much as he wanted to dazzle her into coming home, should he really do that? She wasn't stupid and she would see through that act straight away. And, maybe, she would like to have a typically human date. In fact, maybe that was the way to go. She seemed to believe that he looked down on that side of her, when actually it was a great asset to her. The Time Lords ended up being such a let-down, the ones in power anyway, that he was so grateful that she wasn't like that at all. She was so much better than any of them could have hoped to be.
He needed help, he needed advice. He paced around the console room, changing his mind over and over again as he tried to decide the best person to go see. Clara had been his first thought, but Danielle would have been there, and he couldn't let her see how much he was already struggling.
Jack had a lot of experience with dating, so he changed direction and started the flight to the American Captain's house. Of course, then he remembered the punch at Amy and Rory's house when he'd accidently left her for a few months. He was sure that Jack's attitude would have improved with age, but he didn't want the ire of Danielle's father coming down on him just yet.
Another flip of the switch and he was flying to River, who seemed to believe that she knew Danielle best and that maybe that was what he needed. Of course, then he remembered how much he hated the archaeologist and she hated him, so that was a trip he was glad he didn't waste any time on.
Amy and Rory were long gone, and the fact was that it would take too much time to explain everything to them even if he did find them again. He paused for a moment, giving Donna the moment of thought she deserved before moving on. Even his past self crossed his mind, but that was met with a snort of derision. Twelve didn't deny that he held a lot of blame for their breakup, but the bow-tie wearing idiot's decision to send her away was the root of it all. He didn't know his wife well enough then, what use would he be now?
That left only one person he could think of who knew Danielle well enough to help, and wouldn't attack him for asking. She would, of course, give him a lecture about how he had let it get this far, one that he was deserve and take with only minimal protesting. He needed to defend himself, after all.
With confidence in his choice, the Doctor finally set a destination and flew off through the vortex without hesitation.
He was off to see Martha Jones.
~0~0~0~
Danni still hadn't found the best way to bring up Clara's return to the TARDIS. Every time she even thought it was a good time to suggest a return, Clara would somehow remind her of how angry she was at the Doctor. Danni didn't want to force her back into the blue box against her will, but she really had hoped that Clara would be willing to fall back into the companion and friend role she had been in since the moment they had met the first version of her.
Unfortunately, that seemed further and further away as the week went on, and now it was Friday evening and the Doctor was coming any minute for their first 'date'. She really had no idea what to expect, and the nerves were starting to get to her as she jumped into the shower to wash the workday off her.
The students had been so happy to see her back in the cafeteria, and Courtney had come to see her at break time to see if she was really there. It turns out that the Moon had done wonders for the teenager, and she came in gushing about how she'd managed to get a 97% on a maths test. Danni couldn't be happier for her. However, it was also a rather grimy job and so she had to wash it away before she even considered getting ready for her date.
A date.
Whenever she thought about it, her lips pull up into a smile despite the fact that she knew that this was only the start of a road to recovery for them. She had no doubt that they'd argue at some point, and that they would both say something incredibly stupid. But, secretly, she was just happy to be spending time with him again.
She missed him terribly, despite her reluctance to go home. It felt like part of her was missing, which really just highlighted how much they needed time part. It was one thing to feel happier when you were with the person you loved, it was quite another to not feel whole when they're not there. That came to light when he left her behind at Clara's to go back to Trenzalore, but only became more apparent due to recent events. She wanted to feel better with him there, not broken when he wasn't.
But what did she wear? In the past, they'd never really done dates. What ended up being considered a date was a day out where he hadn't picked it because he thought it would be a nice place to go, but rather somewhere he thought she would like, even if he wasn't too fussed about it. But those always ranged from fancy meals and dancing to hiking holidays. And then there was that time they'd fought over the best Captain America movie and he went to sulk with some otters. She'd not realised until she'd gone looking for him to find herself floating the vortex without him. They'd lived there together for a little while before coming home. Not exactly a date, but it could happen. How did she prepare for that, especially when most of her wardrobe was really just borrowed clothes from Clara?
She stood in front of Clara's mirror in her towel, frowning in worry as she turned from side to side. What the hell could she possibly wear that would work well in a restaurant and yet also in a river building a damn to stop her house from flooding?
Clara walked in a froze on the spot, stunned to see Danni, for all intents and purposes, naked apart from a towel. She really hadn't expected to walk in on that, and her eyes dropped to her legs, trailing up slightly to the edge of the dark purple towel before they shot up again.
Whether Danni noticed or not, Clara never found out. Instead she turned to look at her best friend, her face contorted to show the overwhelming nervousness she was feeling, "Help," she begged, "I haven't got any clothes!"
~0~0~0~
It had been a long day for Martha Smith-Jones, and it was barely past 3pm. It didn't help that she'd been up for almost 24 hours with work and the fact that Si, her and Mickey's three-year-old, had a stomach bug that didn't seem to want to shift.
So, it was safe to say that when the doorbell rang, Martha really wasn't in the mood for it. She just decided that whoever on the other side must have had a death wish, because she really wasn't going to put up with being sold to, or preached at, or whatever it was people wanted at three in the afternoon.
The man who had knocked looked like a magician, which she hadn't expected, but it didn't make her annoyance disappear any. She just looked at him with an impatient look on her face, waiting for him to tell her why he was there.
There was a moment of silence, then the man looked decidedly offended, "Well, I had expected a warmer welcome that this," he drawled in a Glaswegian accent.
"I'm sorry?" Martha replied, a laugh of disbelief in her tone.
"As you should be," he replied, like she had actually been apologising, "it's been almost a thousand years since we've seen each other, I would have thought that at least a 'hello' would have been appropriate."
Martha didn't really know what to say to that. Part of her wondered if she should just slam the door in his face and go check on Si, but the other had her eyes darting around as if to spot a threat. Her life had taught her that anything weird was worth looking into, because most of the time something came from it that needed to be dealt with.
Her eyes checked every car, every person on the street almost in barely a second before her eyes fell on the blue police box that no one on the street seemed to be playing attention to. The blue box that was still in her dreams, and represented a brilliant and awful time in her life in equal measure. The home of her two best friends, and one that tended to bring trouble with it whenever she saw it.
She turned back to the Scottish man, looking at him in a slightly different light. He still looked impatient, waiting expectantly for the question he knew she was going to ask, "Doctor?"
He rolled his times, "My, you used to be quicker, I'm sure of it," he drawled, "aren't you going to let me in?"
His rudeness proved it, but Martha still didn't appreciate being told what to do, "How do I know it's you?" She asked him.
"Of course it's me," he all but snapped in reply, "I don't have time for this."
"Where's Danni?" Martha asked. She watched as he deflated slightly at the question, like he had been hoping she wouldn't have asked about the other time traveller.
"She's currently living with Clara," he explained, glancing around as if he didn't want anyone else to overhear them, "can we go inside?" This time his request sounded rather desperate, and she realised she'd teased the Time Lord enough, so she let him in.
Both she and Mickey had rather well-paying jobs when they were working, so she was rather impressed with her own house. She rolled her eyes as the Doctor barely took in any of it, heading into the first room that he had decided was the living room. She knew she should have felt a bit annoyed at his disregard, but as it was plainly obvious that he was there to talk about Danni she wasn't surprised at all. He could never focus on anything but her.
She walked in to find him sat on the sofa, right in the middle to make sure that she had nowhere to sit. So she sat in the chair across from him, "So, what did you do?" She asked him.
"Nothing," he replied much too quickly for her to believe, "it was just a misunderstanding, but it had become a little out of hand," which was a giant understatement on his part, "and so I need your help."
"You want me to talk to her?" Martha guessed, "Because, unless you tell me what happened, I can't really make a good case for you."
He shook his head. He doubted any more talk would help the situation out right now. Besides, the only ones who could fix their marriage were himself and Danielle, "No, I think anyone else trying to convince her might just anger her further," he replied, "I need your help deciding on where to take her for a date."
"A date?"
He shot her a look at her disbelieving tone, "Yes, a date," he snapped, "she wants us to get to know each other better, and seems to think dating is the way to go about it. But I don't know what she wants, and I hoped that you would have an idea or two. You always were the smart one."
Martha smirked slightly, "Well, that was always true," she said modestly, "but you said I'd barely seen you in a thousand years," she shot him a look, "and we'll discuss that later," she warned, "the Danni I know might not exist anymore."
He shook his head, "No, no, no," he corrected, "it's only been about six hundred years since you last saw Danielle. You'll be fine. You're human, I need a human date."
Nothing he said was making any sense, which was just like normal if Martha thought on it, "Hang on, what do you mean by that?"
"I mean, a human date that humans go on," he replied, "Danielle seems to believe that I think that the human part of her isn't a good thing. She's wrong, of course, but I need to show her that. I thought that I could take her out for dinner and maybe a show, but that seemed rather boring so I've come to you," he waved his hands at her, "for help on what else I could do."
"I think Danni would like dinner and a show," Martha offered with a shrug, "since when do you called her Danielle?"
"It's her name, isn't it?" The Doctor retorted and Martha shook her head.
"No, her name is Danni, it's always been Danni. In fact, you've always called her 'Danni-Girl'."
He stared for a moment, taking in that information but Martha didn't let his imposing gaze make her feel uncomfortable, "Do you think she would like that?" He asked and, again, Martha shrugged.
"I can't tell you," she replied, "no one can. Just like no one can tell you how what kind of date to take her on. She wants to know that you know her still, so you have to prove that on your own."
Again, he sat in silence for a long moment, "You were always too smart for your own good, Martha," he grumbled, because she was right. He had known that was the way to go, but he'd wanted someone to prove him wrong. Alas, he guessed that was never going to happen.
"Probably," she replied and the smile she shot him reminded him of the sacrifice she'd made for him, and by extension Danielle, all those years ago. Walking around the world so no one would have to suffer again.
"Thank you," he told her and she shrugged, because she hadn't really done much at all.
"So, a thousand years?!" She scolded, falling into mother-mode, "With no even a phone call? How did Danni even allow you to do that?"
"It's actually more like eight hundred," he corrected but that obviously wasn't what Martha had wanted to hear.
He sighed, "We were at war," he told her to her surprise, "we didn't have much of a choice. The TARDIS went missing for five hundred years, it wasn't like we could just take a small jaunt to the Earth."
"At war?" She repeated, "What happened?"
~0~0~0~
Clara turned the hair dryer off, quickly brushing the stray bits of Danni's hair into place, "How's that?" She asked. Danni turned her head one way, then the other to see the finished product in the mirror. Truthfully Clara hadn't done anything different to it than Danni would normally do – which really was just drying it – but Danni had insisted that her hair had to look good, and that it was apparently a two-person job.
"I like it," Danni replied and Clara smiled at her, placing the brush down before clapping her hands on her bare shoulders.
"How about we get dressed, then?" She asked her friend. Danni had only managed to get into her underwear before deciding that she didn't have anything to wear, and that it was too hard a decision, and that she would come back to it after she had sorted her hair.
"But I can't decide what to wear!" Danni exclaimed, standing up off Clara's dresser's stool, walking over to the bed and picking up a black dress Clara had chosen, "Look at this! It's lovely, but what if we go somewhere that's outdoors? It's just going to get ruined, and the shoes aren't made for walking!"
Clara, pointedly trying to ignore her friend's state of dress, walked over and picked up a skirt and nice blouse, "This has flats, and it's nice."
"But what if he takes me on the Orient Express?" Danni challenged, "He's told me he's going to do that more than once, what if today's the day?"
"It won't matter," Clara replied, holding the outfit out to her, "you're making too much effort for him."
Danni shot her a look, "He is still your friend," she reminded, "and my husband. You shouldn't say things like that." Still, she took the outfit off her. She could dress it up with something from the TARDIS should she need to. It would be a good excuse to get some clothes and other bits and bobs from the TARDIS.
Clara crossed her arms, "Friends don't do what he did," she retorted, "and he still hasn't apologised like he means it to me, why should I believe him?"
"Maybe he will," Danni replied softly, "Just give him a chance, alright? Please?"
Clara sighed, unable to deny her when she sounded so sad, "Okay, fine," she grumbled and Danni's face broke out into a grin, "only if you get dressed." Again she had to force her eyes forward, remembering Danny's accusation when he first found out about the two aliens. She didn't fancy Danni; it was just hard to focus when your friend was in her underwear.
"Deal!" Danni exclaimed, quickly chucking the blouse on and doing up the buttons, "Will you help me with some makeup?"
Clara rolled her eyes, "Why not?"
~0~0~0~
The Doctor had left Martha when Mickey came home from work. Whilst he and the other man had put aside their differences long ago, he really hadn't appreciated the teasing that had come when Martha had explained why he was there in the first place.
He'd started flying to Clara's, but at the last moment stopped off at a flower shop in the early 1990's in London. He knew that they were one of the best to exist, and he wanted to get her something pretty. It wasn't much, just a small bouquet of pastel coloured flowers but he didn't want to go over the top either.
He stepped out into Clara's hallway just in time to see his wife appear from the living room. She paused in her step, smiling softly and a flush appeared on her cheeks like it truly was their very first date together, "Hi," she greeted shyly and he couldn't help but smirk.
"Danielle," he said in reply, "I do hope I'm on time."
She nodded, "Definitely," she promised, "do I need a coat? Because I don't actually have a coat here, so I'll need to grab one from the TARDIS."
"No, you're dressed perfectly," he replied, "you must have guessed where we're going."
She hadn't, she still didn't know anything but she took the compliment, "Okay, well, let's go," she stated lamely. The Doctor nodded, then realised the flowers he held behind his back, so he held them out.
"I believe it's customary on a date to bring flowers," he explained, although the smile that appeared on her face told him he didn't need to make up any excuses at all.
"They're lovely," she told him honestly, taking the bouquet off him and sniffing them, "oh, and they smell lovely as well," she looked back up at him, "thank you. I'll just go put them in a vase."
He watched her walk away, taking the moment alone to calm himself down. This was ridiculous. He was better than this. He wasn't some lovesick teenager; he was two thousand years old. He'd lived with her for centuries, they'd been around the universe together. It was just another trip together, that's all it was.
Then she came back out of the living room and he realised he was a lovesick teenager, regardless of his age. He adored her, and the way she walked up to him was enough to hold his attention. He truly hoped that he'd chosen the right destination.
"Shall we?" She asked and he nodded, bending down to place a kiss on her cheek.
"Let's, my Pet," he agreed, holding the door open for her. She flushed again, at both the kiss and his manners, and stepped inside. He quickly followed, "Do you have any preferences on our destination?"
"No, I'm happy wherever," she replied and he smirked.
"Good. I have just the place."
~0~0~0~
Stepping out of the TARDIS onto new soil felt so much more familiar than the last two weeks has. This felt like they had always been. The Doctor watched Danielle open the doors, listening for her reaction, quickly stepping into place to watch the look on her face.
Danni let herself fall into the moment completely. They were on top of building looking over a city, her mouth open slightly at the sight. The planet's sun was setting, giving the sky a lovely purple hue, but that wasn't what was holding her attention. It was the fact that, amongst the hustle and bustle of the city were animals, walking around like they were out in the wild. She held onto the edge of the roof tightly as she leant over to get a better look.
"That's…" She breathed, trailing off as she watched a traffic light change colours and people cross a road, "that's a giraffe!"
He walked over to her side, watching her try and spot all the different animals in the area, "I thought we could go for dinner, then head to a musical I thought you would enjoy, then afterwards go on a midnight safari around the city. I know you like animals, and people."
She nodded, watching the citizens down below walking around, dodging the animals but doing so like they weren't even paying them much attention. It was the norm to have a couple of zebras just heading down the street, it would seem.
She turned back to the Doctor, smiling at him, "This is amazing," she told him honestly, "where are we?"
As she walked over to his side, he wondered if he should take her hand. He'd not held her in so long, he just wanted to feel her skin on his, but he wanted to show her he was taking this seriously, and holding hands on a first date didn't seem appropriate. He held out his arm for her to take, which she did much to his relief, "This is a little-known planet in the 42rd Century, under the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire. It was a bit of an experiment that the locals enjoyed."
He led her off the roof, through a door into the building, "What kind of an experiment involves releasing wild animals into a city?"
"A stupid one," the Doctor replied bluntly and she giggled, "however, for whatever reason, it worked."
"It's amazing how some of the most stupid ideas become the best," Danni commented as the Doctor opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, motioning her inside. They stepped out into a restaurant with enough lighting for the patrons to be able to see what they were eating whilst also providing a level of intimacy needed for evening dining. It was lovely, really, and definitely not the first time he had taken her out for a meal. Or, in fact, the first time she had taken him out for a meal either. He knew the ins and outs of the universe better than she did, but she tried to treat him when she could.
She frowned slightly to herself as he motioned to a waiter, saying that they had a reservation under the name 'Mr and Mrs Smith'. It was her idea for them to date, after all. Maybe she should have taken him somewhere first? But, then again, they were only in this situation because of his actions, so maybe he should be trying to make it up to her.
He even held her seat out for her, pushing her in and she shot him a smile, and for a while they just made small talk. Danni told him about her new job, about how nice the students were and how she kinda wished it wasn't temporary, but that was the way things went.
The Doctor told her about the little trip to Huin, where he was 'gifted' a tiara for his visit. He left out the fact that he'd taken it for himself, and that he'd been shot. He kept his story more on what he'd see, and the nice part before then, tempting her with images of a new place in the universe. Unfortunately, is wasn't one he'd be able to take her back to anywhere near when he had visited. He was sure he would be a wanted man there for quite a while.
The food was very well presented, but blander than he had hoped for. Still, they served spaghetti, and he knew she would like that, and if she was happy with it he could eat it. It didn't stop him complaining about it, but it was only a couple of small comments and Danni could forgive him that.
In fact, he'd been rather lovely so far and she could tell he was trying. Not that she wanted him to not be himself, but it was nice he was trying, "You're being a real gentleman tonight," she teased lightly, "you don't need to be, you can be just be yourself."
He wasn't sure if that a dig at his personality or not, but the smile on her face suggested it wasn't, "Yeah, well, that's what humans do on a date, isn't it?" He asked in reply "Be polite, make small talk about nothing of importance? That's all human dates are."
She had been about to take a bite of her food, but his words made her pause. That was a very specific thing to bring up, and it get like he wasn't too happy with the idea either, "A human date?" She repeated, "Why a human date?"
Her voice was quiet, but her expression was tense, like she wasn't happy and he realised that maybe he shouldn't have brought it up, "I thought you would like a human date," he explained, "because, you know, you're human."
She closed the menu, "Seriously, you're doing this now?" She hissed, her anger flaring, "We've not seen each other properly in ages and you're already insulting me!"
"I'm not insulting you," he retorted, "what gave you that idea?"
"A 'human' date," she repeated again, this time with air quotes around the word, "you still see me as less than you for it, don't you?"
He shook his head, placing his fork down on the table, "Of course not," he replied.
"Then why not a 'Time Lord' date?" She challenged, motioning between them, "There's more Time Lord than human here, why not do something for both of us unless you're trying to point it out?"
"Because Time Lords never really date," he replied, a little defensive because he had really tried to find something she would like, "this whole concept has only come about because of you."
She frowned, "Wait, what about you and… you know, your first wife?" She asked, "Mrs Doctor-The-First? Didn't you date her?" The Doctor shook his head, "Then how did you even get together?"
He shrugged, because it wasn't very interesting, and definitely not as interesting as how he met his Danielle, "We were in the same class together at the Academy. We both hated our Cybernetics professor, and eventually we decided to get married."
Danni blinked, because this was news to her. They had talked in the past about his first wife, but only really about his actual married life with her. Danni didn't even know her name.
"You just decided?" She asked, confused, "But, how did you know you would work together? Did you share hobbies, or want the same goals in life?"
"It wasn't particularly important," he explained, "we got along, she was kind and she let me be nosy when no one else would. We made a good time, so our union was almost expected."
"Oh," Danni replied, sitting back in her chair with all of her wind knocked out of her, "that's rather sad."
"Why?" He asked, "Because we never had a date?"
"No, because you never really had a chance to fall in love," she replied, "you just sorta were. Like us, remember? All those times with Ten when you were just a little bit more in love with me, and the same the other way around? You didn't get that with her, and that seems like a shame."
She did genuinely look rather upset for him, which puzzled him further. Wasn't she supposed to be jealous of any woman he'd had a relationship with? But then again, she'd never really been like that. She'd only been jealous of someone trying to tempt him, but never of anything that had happened before her. She'd been the same with his ill-thought non-romance with Rose.
"I don't believe we would have managed to get that far should we have dated," he replied, hoping to reassure her with his honesty, "it was the way it was at the time."
She nodded slowly, "Well, I guess I do have a lot to learn about Time Lord life," she admitted, feeling slightly bad about getting angry at him. She sat up again, starting on her food, "Tell me about it."
"I've told you about it before," he reminded her, again watching her closely for her reaction. One minute angry, next minute curious and a little sheepish; was this what it was like to live with him?
"Not really," she replied, "you've told me about Gallifrey, and about society, but not about day to day life. What did you do when you weren't in school? Or when you went on holidays?"
Ah, this was what he missed. Her looking to him, interested in what he had to say, wanting to learn more, to understand more. She was so beautiful when she was craving more knowledge, so how could he resist?
"Well, when I was a young boy, we used to love to play in the desert sand…"
~0~0~0~
"It was just a musical, Theta," Danni groaned as they walked down the street away from the theatre. She'd very much been looking forward to going to see a show of any kind. It had been centuries since they'd been to the theatre, but throughout the entire performance all she had heard was the Doctor huff and puff about what was happening on stage.
To his credit, he had kept his opinions otherwise to himself during that time, but the moment they were out on the dark street his mouth was open and he'd not shut up about every single thing he had found wrong. The lighting, the stage direction. Somehow he'd found objection with the plants they'd used, even though they were actually real.
"Anyone with half an ear could tell you that singing in that key was entirely inappropriate for a musical about a killer plant."
"I thought he sang just fine," Danni replied, because she truly hadn't been able to see his issue with the man playing the dentist. She was very happy to see the Little Shop of Horrors would have a revival in the 43nd century, and she had just enjoyed it.
He hadn't evidently, "And that was obviously based on the Sunflower, which is not, in any way, a carnivorous plant. It never evolves into a carnivorous plant. It's just a whole mess."
She had to admit, that had annoyed her a little bit as well, but once she'd gotten over the initial confusion of a giant singing sunflower, it hadn't really bothered her too much, "Well, I enjoyed it," she told him.
He frowned as he looked at her. Had she really? He'd noticed her having a little sing along to the some of the songs, but he had thought she was just being polite to the people on stage. Maybe she had really enjoyed it, after all that was the aim of the night out.
"Good," he replied, "at least it served its purpose after all."
She shook her head, "No, if you didn't enjoy it, then it didn't." He looked confused so she sighed, "We're both supposed to be having a good time, not just me. A date is for both parties, not just for one. If you didn't enjoy yourself, then it wasn't very good."
The Doctor didn't like the sound of that. If it wasn't very good, that meant his attempt at a date wasn't very good either, right? But he couldn't just lie about how terrible it was, "I will make sure to take you to a proper performance another time," he settled on.
She smiled, "I'd like that," she replied and he felt himself relax, "not next week, though. You have to take me on a date you would like to go on."
His brows furrowed slightly, "Next week?"
"Next Friday," she reminded, "when you pick me up." His hearts dropped slightly; he had hoped that this date would be enough to bring her home, apparently it wasn't the case.
He couldn't blame her, though. So far this date had been nice, but only because he got to spend it with her. Overall the events had been rather dull. Yes, next time he would do better.
"Are you still angry?" He asked her and she looked up at him, surprised at the softness of his tone.
"No," she replied, "but I don't think I can trust you yet. Sorry."
He looked straight ahead, "Don't be," he told her. "The safari meeting point is just up here. I managed to book all of the places, but unfortunately we still need a guide."
She giggled, hugging his arm lightly, "Nice to know you're still as antisocial as ever," she teased.
"I'm not anti-social, I just don't want to spend my time with morons."
"Oh, should I go then?" She motioned over her shoulder with her thumb, but she couldn't keep the grin off her face as he fell straight for her teasing.
"I didn't say you, why do you always think..." He trailed off when he noticed her trying to stop giggling, "Oh, you're not being serious."
She shook her head, "Take me to see some giraffes," She commanded, holding onto his arm tighter, "I hope you brought a camera, because I didn't."
"I did," he said, almost proudly. He reached into his never-ending pocket and frowned as he failed to find it, "one moment." Danni giggled, glad that they were having a good time together once again.
~0~0~0~
Clara looked up from her book, heart racing out of habit at the sound of the TARDIS materialising once again in her hallway. It was nearing 11pm now, so the fact that they'd been a few hours seemed to suggest a successful date.
She got up, heading as quietly as she could to the doorway, dipping her head as close as she dared so she could listen in. For Danni's own good, of course. Not because she was nosy.
"Are you sure you won't stay?" The Doctor asked his wife and Clara felt a wave of sympathy at the tint of desperation she heard in his otherwise brisk voice.
"You did it again, Theta!" Danni replied, like she was trying to keep her voice quiet even though all she wanted to do was shout, "The moment the tour guide said something you didn't like, it was 'he's one of your lot'."
"But he was," The Doctor protested, "you're both human, I don't understand why you think that's a bad thing."
"I don't, you do!" She hissed in reply, "The moment you don't want to have any interest in something remotely human it's 'one of your lot'. Shifting all responsibility onto me!"
"So you want me to have it? Haven't I bloody done enough?" The Doctor snapped in reply, and Clara almost winced, "You're not supposed to be like the rest!"
"How dare you?" Danni snarled, "I don't want you to do it on your own. We should be doing it together! You're the one who keeps dividing us up! I want to be on your side as much as I want you on mine, but we can't if you keep putting us on different teams!"
There was silence and Clara wanted to run out and hug them both separately and together. The pain in their argument was tangible, and the silence felt more heart-breaking than their words.
"Will I see you next Friday?" The Doctor asked softly.
"You'll see me next Wednesday when you pick up Clara," she replied and Clara frowned, brows furrowing as she mouthed 'what?' to herself.
"Please, Danielle," the Doctor beseeched.
"Of course you will," Danni promised and Clara would have smiled if she hadn't just been promised to the Time Lord for a day.
There was another moment, where she assumed a kiss was exchanged, but it was over quickly and so it must have been just on the cheek.
"Oh, Martha has requested that I take you to visit in the near future," the Doctor told his wife.
"You went to see Martha?" Was Danni's bewildered reply, "What for?"
"No matter," the Doctor dismissed, "did you pack enough in your suitcase?"
"I think so. Thank you."
Another pause, "Goodnight, my Danielle," the Doctor murmured.
"Goodnight, Theta," Danni replied in the same remorseful tone. The flat filled with the sound of the TARDIS dematerialising a few moments later, and then Clara stepped into the hallway.
"Hey," Clara said softly and Danni turned to look at her, "how did it go?"
"Very well," She replied just as softly, and the smile that appeared on her face suggested she really did mean it, "I'm going to head to bed, is that okay?"
Clara nodded, "Of course. We'll debrief in the morning." She rubbed Danni on the arm, then the blonde left in the hallway.