Waiting For You

Chapter 1: The New Girl

A Doctor Who/Whouffle AU where the Doctor is head chef and Clara is the new waitress at Restaurant TARDIS. Many other past companions also feature as staff in the story.

"This will be your peg to leave your coat and bag…and here is your apron." The tall woman instructed, leading Clara Oswald through the back corridor of Restaurant TARDIS. She gestured towards a small vacant hook on a wall of many and handed the petite woman a white apron. "Your apron must be worn at all times whilst on duty."

The woman then led Clara into a room towards the end of the corridor with a plaque saying 'Manager's Office' on the door. She picked up a small notebook and pencil off the large desk which occupied most of the tiny room and handed them to Clara. "These are for taking orders from the customers, as you have probably guessed."

Clara nodded wearily and glanced around the room. "Sorry, what is your name again?"

"Vastra. I am the manager here at Restaurant TARDIS and Jenny, who you will probably meet later, is deputy manager."

Clara nodded again. "So, will I get some induction training? Sorry, it's just I've never been a waitress before. The last couple of years I've been a nanny."

"Yes, of course." Vastra eyed Clara up and down making her feel self-conscious. "Wait here, I will go and fetch your supervisor. She will teach you about your jobs duties."

Vastra left the room promptly, leaving Clara to fall back against the desk and sigh. It was her first day at her new job at Restaurant TARDIS, a modern, 3 star Restaurant near the centre of London. Once George Maitland had told Clara they would no longer be requiring her as a nanny, she had wanted to get out of the way as fast as possible. George had told her she was welcome live there as long as she liked, but Clara felt like she was outliving her stay. This meant the first thing she did was look for a small, comfortable flat to live in and a nearby job. However, due to the low amount of places available, the best job she had been able to find at short notice was being a waitress at Restaurant TARDIS. Clara guessed this would have to do whilst she searched for a better paid job which she preferred.

She decided to put on the apron over her skirt and place the notebook and pencil in the front pocket. Vastra then entered the room again with a red haired woman following close behind her.

"Clara Oswald, this is Donna Noble."

Donna stepped forward and put on a small smile. "Yeah, hi."

Vastra raised her eyebrows disapprovingly at Donna's informality. "Donna, can you please take Clara into the kitchen and start her waiting some tables? You'll be looking after her until she finds her feet."

Donna led Clara out of the manager's office and once the door closed let out a large groan. "God, sorry about her. She takes everything so seriously."

Clara chuckled and followed Donna into the kitchen. It was a very large room full of counters and big ovens with food covering all the surfaces. There were 4 chefs darting around quickly preparing food and waiters and waitresses skipping between them. Most were carrying dishes in and out of 2 swinging doors on the other side of the room.

There was a bit of shouting between chefs for orders and the sound of sizzling food echoed through the kitchen. Donna led Clara to the front of the kitchen and began to sort through orders. "This is the busiest I've seen the place in a while. But I guess it's always busy on Saturday afternoons."

Clara watched Donna grunt again as she helped her carry a pile of dirty dishes to the dishwasher.

"Donna, do you like your job here?" Clara asked curiously.

"Nah, I much preferred the job I had before this one. I got fired you see."

"Where did you work?"

"I was a temp…in Chiswick!"

-x-

Clara had taken the late bus back to her flat that night absolutely exhausted. Donna was right, Saturday's were busy…and they got even busier when it got to the evening. Clara had found that she quite liked Donna, even though she was over 10 years older, the pair got on quite well.

The next morning Clara made her way to Restaurant TARDIS for her Sunday morning shift. When she arrived, she was pleased to see that the place was pretty much dead with no customers yet, so went into the kitchen to see if anyone was around. From the corner of her eye she saw two chefs at the other side of the room leant over the breakfast menu, discussing a dish. In front of her was another waitress she hadn't seen the night before, leant back against the counter on her mobile phone texting.

Clara went up to the girl and smiled. "Hey, I'm Clara. I'm new here, started yesterday."

The girl put her mobile into her pocket and smiled back. Like Donna, the girl had long Red hair and fair skin, but looked about the same age as Clara. However, the girl was considerably taller and quite thin. "Hello, I'm Amy. Amy Pond." She spoke with a strong Scottish accent and Clara was relieved to hear her friendly tone.

"I didn't see you last night." Clara commented.

"Oh right, yesterday was my day off. I try to avoid Saturday's, they're a nightmare."

Clara agreed. "So who else works here? Donna didn't have a chance to explain to me yesterday."

"Well, I'm guessing you've met Vastra. She's the manager here. Then there's Jenny who's deputy."

"Haven't met her yet. What's she like?"

"Oh, Jenny's lovely. Not quite as nerving as her wife."

"Wait, Vastra and Jenny are married?"

"Yup. Then there are the chefs." Amy gestured towards the 2 men that were still discussing the breakfast menu inaudibly on the other side of the kitchen. "The one with the dark floppy hair and the bowtie is the Doctor. He's head chef."

Clara studied the tall man carefully. He was wearing a normal white chef's shirt with a black bowtie which looked slightly out of place. She also noticed his large chin and flailing arm movements as he explained something to the man beside him. Despite all that, she guessed he was kind of cute.

"The Doctor?" Clara asked quizzically.

"His real name is John Smith, but everybody calls him the Doctor. It's one of those nicknames which just kind of…stuck. He's one of my best mates; I've known him for ages." Amy explained. "Then the other guy is called Rory…"

Clara noticed how differently Amy looked at the other chef. "Are you and Rory…?"

"No. Well… I don't know. We flirt all the time but I'm still waiting for him to make a move. I'm not that sure if he likes me. Wait, is it obvious I like him?"

Clara shrugged awkwardly. "A little."

Amy sighed. "Men hey? Anyway, there are 2 other chefs. One's Jack Harkness, but he likes to be called 'Captain Jack'. Complete flirt, he'll be onto you as soon as he gets the chance…watch out for him. The other is Martha Jones. She's nice, but keeps herself to herself."

"And the waiters?"

"Hmm…there's me, I'm here most days. Then Donna who's the supervisor….she's supposed to be here now actually, but she's usually late. There's Strax, the short bald one, he's a little weird. Mickey, he's nice. Actually, I think he might be dating Martha. Then there's Sarah Jane, but she's only part time. Adam works here sometimes, but he's a bit annoying and unreliable. Oh, and there's Rose Tyler…she's only part time too. Spends most her time running off with her boyfriend by the sounds of things…but I don't know her that well. And lastly Jackie Tyler, the cleaner. She's Rose's Mum. I think that's it…oh and of course you, the new addition to team TARDIS."

The girls both chuckled before turning round and seeing Donna storm into the room absolutely soaking wet. Clara looked out the window puzzled to see it was only drizzling slightly. "What happened?!"

Donna groaned. "You would not believe the morning I'm havin'! I need a strong cup of coffee!"

Clara went to make her a coffee whilst Amy rolled her eyes and picked up a pile of menus. "Well, looks like I'm doing all the work myself this morning..."

-x-

It was a slow morning, with the restaurant only getting a couple of customers. The Doctor and Rory spent most of the time in the kitchen my themselves, preparing full English breakfasts and waffles. Once they ran out of things to do, the Doctor picked up the breakfast menu again and flapped it in front of Rory's eyes.

"No Doctor, we're not discussing this again!"

"Oh but Rory! A Jammie Dodger milkshake would be perfect on the breakfast menu! Plus I'm head chef, so I should decide what goes on their."

"But Jack, Martha and I vote against it, making it 3 against one."

The Doctor grumbled and threw the menu back onto the work surface. "You're boring."

"I'm a mature adult, deal with it."

Suddenly, Clara walked into the kitchen carrying a large stack of plates, wobbling slightly. "Woah, a little help please?!"

The Doctor dashed over and took the majority of the plates from her and took them to the dishwasher.

"Thanks, I think I'm a little small to be carrying so much." She replied. Before the Doctor could say anything, Clara spun on her heel and went back into the restaurant to help clear up, leaving the Doctor to stack the dishwasher.

"Who's the new girl?" The Doctor queried, still quite surprised that this random girl had thrown a load of plates on him.

"Oh, that's Clara...Oswald, I think it was. Donna told me about her last night, she's a new waitress here. I didn't see her yesterday either, probably because it was so busy."

The Doctor nodded and finished loading the dishwasher.

"Anyway, you were a bit eager there to help her out then, weren't you?" Rory teased.

"I was not! I was just being helpful..."

"Right...it's not because she's pretty then?"

"That had nothing to do with it!"

"So you admit she is pretty?"

"What are you trying to do here Nose?"

Rory sighed irritably at his nickname. "I'm just saying, the way you looked at her then...I haven't seen you look at someone like that since...you know."

The Doctor adjusted his bowtie anxiously. "I've only just met her!"

"But you fancy her, don't you?"

"What?! No...I...oh shut up!"

*A/N: Chapter 2 coming soon, please leave a review of what you thought of the first chapter!*