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Clara understood and sympathized with the Doctor’s disappointment, but he didn’t have to go to all this trouble. Yes, she loved it when he gave her planets. She loved the adventure, the thrill and the rush of adrenaline just when she thought they were going to die (and that happened way too often for it to be healthy) - but, the Doctor did not have to make sure she was sky diving through the time vortex or rescuing whole civilizations all of the time.
(Could she really sky dive through the vortex? She made a mental note on that.)
Yet, the Doctor was determined, and after their last two Christmases together, he more than wanted to make up for their troubles.
“Really, it’s okay!” Clara said, and she watched the Doctor angrily tinker with the knobs of the center console and mutter curses under his breath.
He had tried to take them to this planet that was nothing but a huge theme park - rides, roller coasters, haunted houses and circuses galore. The Doctor described the place like it was a world she’d never dreamed of before, that she would be screaming, crying and laughing with so much excitement she’d never want to leave.
It was his Christmas present to her, and the moment they came to the coordinates, the planet was obviously abandoned. The theme parks were direlects. The Doctor was shocked and he started ranting in anger. He tried to pick coordinates in the TARDIS for an earlier time when the theme park planet was active, but the old ship wouldn’t let him.
He muttered something about crossing timelines and Clara only assumed he meant his own timelines. He couldn’t go back in the past this time. At least the TARDIS wouldn’t let him.
So Clara had to reassure him that going anywhere with him for Christmas was fine. He didn’t need to break time and space to take her to a good place.
“Honestly, a nice dinner with music and a peaceful setting would be a welcome change,” she said as he busied around the TARDIS. Her words made him stop and contemplate something, and she felt a wave of relief that his anger had dissipated. He was no longer perseverating on the theme park planet and a new idea had come to mind.
“I got it!” he said, and she watched him as he moved around the TARDIS again. The smile had returned to his face, and he looked almost devious knowing a secret that she was not yet privy to. She anticipated the surprise.
Even for requests for rest and relaxation, the Doctor always delivered a memorable event.
He spun around the TARDIS with more bounce in his demeanor, almost reminding her of when he was his younger self - the same spirit and energy that she had loved about him. She grinned as he came up to her.
“Now, Clara, go to the wardrobe. Pick out something nice,” he said. “Or, go like that. Whichever. The weather is nice though. You may not need a sweater.”
“Got it,” she said and she happily set out to choose clothes. The Doctor set off on another direction, and Clara turned to watch him, curious to what he had in store for them.
*
The TARDIS brought them to the Doctor’s new destination without a fight or incident. Clara changed into a blue summer dress with a gray shall, the Doctor looked at her once, nodded and then took her arm. When the doors open, the Doctor gestured for her to go through first. Clara followed the light music that was calling to them. When her feet stepped onto the soft turquoise grass, she could feel the coolness of the blades softly brush against her feet through her sandals.
The Doctor didn’t change much, but he did put on the coat she loved, the dark one with the red lining. He took her arm again as he lead them both out into the night festival of this quiet planet.
Clara’s gaze swept the area. The air was warm, but it seemed to be snowing. The snow wasn’t cold, more for decorations, and the trees that sprinkled in the open areas were decorated with colorful tea lights and shimmering garland.
“This is an Earth Colony called Scotia May. The majority of humans here are from Nova Scotia, but unlike the weather from there, this planet is warmer and doesn’t have snow. The tradition during Christmas is to keep the holiday spirit. They emulate snow with nanotechnology. They seem real but they are not cold - just decoration,” the Doctor said.
“It’s wonderful,” Clara said, looking around at all the people in their own groups, enjoying themselves, and singing along to Christmas tunes.
“This is the most peaceful place in the universe that I know. Unfortunately, this planet… well, in two hundred years…”
“Shhhh,” Clara said. “Don’t spoil it, Doctor. I don’t need to know. Let’s just live in the moment.” The Doctor nodded, understanding that she didn’t want to know this planet’s dire future. Clara just wanted to enjoy the here and now, knowing that tomorrow these people would still be happy from the holiday spirit.
The Doctor led her to the restaurant area, where the host had seated them on a side table next to a bubbling pond and bushes decorated with the nanotech snow. Clara smiled as a group of carolers walked through the open area of the seating and began to sing Holy Night.
Soon they were served drinks and their dinners. The Doctor was mostly quiet, watching her as she soaked in the atmosphere and gaiety of the people. Some time through the silence, Clara had reached out and took the Doctor’s hand across the table. He had squeezed hers, letting her small hand settle in his warmth.
Some laughter behind them caught Clara’s attention, and she turned to see the excitement. She almost jumped out of her chair when she saw what was happening.
“Doctor, look!” she said, and she watched with wide eyes as couples began to dance to the music, but as they moved over a circular dance floor swirling with green and red smoke, the dancers were lifted off the ground, flying and twirling through the air.
“More nanotechnology to simulate dancing on air, or even ice skating if you like, since this planet is too warm for ice,” he said.
“It looks really fun,” Clara said, and she stood up and held out her hand. “May I have this dance?”
The Doctor scoffed. “I’m not here to dance.” Clara pouted at him.
“Doctor, this is my Christmas present!” she insisted.
“And I don’t dance. Well, not now. Look how silly that is, Clara.” he said, resisting.
But he couldn’t resist long. She stared at him and kept her hand firmly outstretched toward him. He caved, as usual, when it came to Clara.
When they took their positions in the smoky circle like everyone else, Clara bounced with elation and the Doctor tried not to be annoyed.
“Relax! Remember, it’s Christmas!” she said, and squeaked when she felt lighter, her feet hovering above the ground. She wobbled a bit, and then she let the nanotech glide with her. She moved her feet in the air, and the Doctor followed her lead.
He flailed a bit in the beginning, but he too eased into the dance with the nanotech as he pulled Clara along. She giggled as the danced around the others, and the Doctor pressed them to go higher than everyone else. Clara was happy they did, and the nanotech took them as highest as the could - just above the top of the trees, and then they lightly pulled them back down, floating like a cloud in a dream.
Their feet met the soft ground again, and they returned to their tables as others took their spots on the dance floor, flying like fairies in a festive holiday night.
The food was warm and filling, and the Doctor sipped a bourbon with ice as Clara tried an unusual mixed drink with fluorescent blue coloring that burned a fake fire along the rim.
“This place is amazing,” she finally said as she took a small bite of dessert.
“Cheers, Clara,” the Doctor said, holding up his drink. She clinked her drink to his in a toast.
Cheers to you too, Doctor,” she said. The servers brought them hats and they wore them as another song began.
“You know, coming here has made me think about something,” she said, and for a moment Clara felt pulled into a spell. She couldn’t explain it, but after all her travels with the Doctor, all their life or death situations, she wondered if one of these days their time together might end. And would it end without the Doctor really ever knowing how she felt about him? She was sure he had some inkling, and she already knew he felt something for her.
“What is that,” the Doctor said, though his focus seemed to be on the dancers again. Clara squeezed his hand to get his attention.
“Doctor,” she said, and he turned and met serious eyes.
“Clara,” he said, matching her firmness.
“Don’t be like that,” she said, exasperated. “I’m trying to say something important. I don’t want to go another day without telling you…”
“Clara, please, you don’t need to say anything…” he interrupted her.
“Will you just let me say it? You’ve stopped me so many times,” she said.
“But you don’t need to say it; I already know it, you know it, and that’s all that needs to be done,” he said.
“You are and idiot, sometimes!” Clara said. “It’s Christmas, and you take me to this lovely place, all these lovely places in fact, and we’ve been through so much together, so why can't you just listen for once…”
“I told you once I’m not your boyfriend,” the Doctor said to her, and his tone felt so cold.
“Yes, and you know that I don’t care about that,” she said. “You’re so much more to me than a stupid boyfriend, Doctor!”
“Is that what you’re trying to say?” the Doctor said, amused with himself. Clara knew he was deflecting.
“You’re impossible,” she said.
“You’re the impossible one, Clara. Don’t forget,” he said, and Clara felt defeated into confiding with him. The rest of their dinner she had grown much quieter, and she let the Doctor talk on about the history of Scotia May to fill the silence.
As they were walking back to the TARDIS, Clara was happy with the evening and the Doctor’s present to her, but she felt somewhat slighted by their conversation. She wasn’t fully satisfied.
She used to tell Danny how she felt all the time, and she even told Danny how she felt about the Doctor. She’d told total strangers about the Doctor, and it just seemed like everyone else knew her feelings but the Doctor himself.
Clara fell a few steps behind the Doctor and then she stopped, noticing the atmosphere around them change. Fireflies had started dancing around them, lighting their evening as this colony planet had a dark moon that night.
The fireflies were no doubt nanotechnology as well, and they were emitting red and green colors as if they were untethered Christmas lights. She was in awe of them, and she let her mind wander as she stilled to watch them. The Doctor stopped when she wasn’t right behind him, and then he saw where her attention had gone.
He took steps back to her, and met her eyes, watching her as sporadic colors of red and green painted her face in the dark.
“Doctor,” Clara said. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but you’re going to know it.” He said nothing, but Clara could tell, even in the flickering light, he looked conflicted. “I love you.”
“I know,” he said. “Clara, you know how I feel about you.”
“Yes, and I know you can’t bring yourself to say it. You don’t need to. You show me how you feel all of the time. I just couldn’t go another day without telling you - especially on Christmas. Doctor, that’s my gift to you.”
She arched up to his face, and right between their noses was a flickering green firefly. It fluttered away the moment their lips met. Warmth spread to her toes, and Clara pulled away giving the Doctor a smile.
“Merry Christmas,” she said, and when the Doctor said nothing, she walked onward to the TARDIS without him. She went inside and soon he fell in step beside her at the console.
When the Doctor looked at her again, his face was at peace and he was smiling.
“Now, how about that next adventure?” she asked him. The Doctor obliged.
END.
