A huge thank you to everyone who followed and read and reviewed this story! It makes me so happy to know that my fics are loved are your reviews are life! Thank you so much for that!

I have a new Whouffaldi fic in the works already, which is a Hippie AU but I can't start posting immediately. First of all it's going to need a little more planning and second, I am looking at a stressful couple of weeks at work which will end after the 3rd of April when inventory is finally over. I will probably start posting then but I might throw in a oneshot ;)

Chapter 26

"Wanna go to bed?" the Doctor asked, giggling, once their lips parted. They had been lying on the sofa for hours and the film they had been watching was long over and yet they couldn't find the willpower to stop kissing and actually move upstairs.

With a sigh Clara rested her head on his chest. "Only if you carry me."

"Carry you?" he laughed, "Honey, if I carry you, you'll have to carry me to the hospital next. I'm afraid my back won't be able to take that."

"Hey, I'm not that heavy," Clara protested, pinching his belly a little through his shirt as revenge to which the Doctor only laughed more.

"I know you're not," he kissed her forehead softly and closed his arms around her. Lying here with Clara was like a dream come true and a part of him somehow still couldn't believe it.

"How did you convince Joe to leave us alone for another night?"

"I didn't even have to," the Doctor replied, "Joe is on a date tonight. With Missy."

Suddenly Clara sat up and stared at him in disbelief and the Doctor was sure that was about the same expression that had been on his face when Joe had first told him about his crush on Missy.

"Joe and Missy?!" Clara gawked at him, "I thought they hated each other."

"They did, or at least Missy hated Joe but they ran into each other and-" the Doctor suddenly stopped to pull Clara closer again, "Does it really matter? Can't we just be thankful to have the house to ourselves?"

She smiled at him in reply. "Of course we can," she said and leaned forward to lock their lips again and when the Doctor sank back onto the sofa with Clara on top of him he was so lost in her touch that he barely noticed the door opening.

"Well, there's a surprise!"

The Doctor and Clara both shot up immediately and to his horror he realized that Joe hadn't come home alone but in the company of Missy.

"Dude!" Joe exclaimed, "I thought you were alone!"

"Obviously I'm not," the Doctor sat up straight while Clara next to him hurried to button her blouse back up that had come undone some point.

"You knew about this?" Missy asked curiously, turning towards Joe again.

"We can explain," Clara suddenly said, "Please. Just listen to us."

"Oh yes, the Doctor will explain himself to me. Tomorrow morning in my office," she said before facing Joe, "I think we should reschedule the rest of the night. I'm free during the weekend."

The Doctor watched while Joe nodded.

"Good. I'll take the Tube home," Missy said and was already halfway to the door before she turned around again, looking straight at the Doctor, "Let me just say that I would have expected this from any of the professors. But not from you."

As soon as the door closed behind her Joe hurried towards the sofa.

"Doctor, I am seriously and terribly sorry. I had no idea Clara would be here tonight. I swear, if I had known-"

"You couldn't have cause I didn't tell you. It's not your fault," the Doctor replied. Maybe after the shock of what had just happened subsided he would start to blame Joe at least a little but right now he couldn't bring himself to. It all seemed to be nothing but an unfortunate chain of events.

"But I could have warned you that I might bring Missy home!"

He snorted. "Even if you had I would have never believed you. Joe, it's not your fault. It really isn't."

"What are you gonna do now?" Clara suddenly asked very quietly and when the Doctor looked at her she seemed utterly miserable.

Gently he reached out to take her hand. "Don't worry. I'll think of something."

The Doctor rose from the couch and pulled Clara up after him. "Let's just go to bed now. There's nothing we can do before tomorrow morning and you don't need to worry about anything anyway. This is my mess."

"But-"

This time it was the Doctor who silenced her with a short kiss.

"Are you sure you don't want me to leave?"

"Never," he confirmed.

OOO

Clara couldn't take it. Even though she had promised the Doctor to stay out of it and to leave it all to him she waited around the corner until he had left Missy's office to go and talk to her. After a short knock she entered the room and found Missy behind her desk.

"Ah, Clara," she said upon seeing her, "I'm assuming you've come to change my mind about firing the Doctor."

Clara cleared her throat and stood up straight. So she had already made up her mind about firing him, that was anything but good news.

"Yes," Clara said, "I don't see why he would have to lose his job over me. We're both adults, we both love each other and he is professional enough not to let that get into the way of his teaching. He's a great professor. No, in fact, he's the best. And it's absolutely unfair that he shouldn't be allowed to have both."

"I agree."

Clara opened her mouth to say more but paused when what Missy had said started to seep through to her brain. A frown spread over her face. "You agree?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Trust me, losing the Doctor as a professor at this university is the last thing I want. I thought about it last night and offered him a new contract that wouldn't include the clause about relationships with his students but he declined!"

"He did what? Why would he do such a thing?"

Missy smiled at her. "Because he's an idiot, always has been. Now, I suggest you go and talk to him because I have some more work to do."

Slowly Clara nodded and left her office, still utterly confused about what was going on and so she made her way straight to the Doctor's office, which she entered without knocking.

"What were you thinking?!" she asked him immediately when she saw him at his desk.

"Hey Clara," he smiled at her, "What's wrong?"

For a moment Clara could do nothing but stare at him. The Doctor didn't seem sad or confused or angry or anything except content.

"You declined Missy's offer about changing your contract. What's going on? What does that mean?"

The Doctor sighed but the smile remained on his lips the entire time. "The old contract is right. A professor shouldn't be in a relationship with one of his students no matter how sincere they both are and no matter how serious it is. It's just not right. When I was grading your essay I was trying so hard to be objective and I think I gave you the grade you deserve but objectivity shouldn't be that hard and I am most certainly not giving you up because of my job. You mean too much to me."

"So you're giving your job up for me?"

"Not quite," he said, "I'm not having as much fun as I used to, I've noticed that even before we met and I think a break would do me good. You were right, I should write another book, or at least try to. I can always return to teaching, either here or at a different university. I will finish this semester and we should probably try to keep a low profile as long as I'm still here but I think it's the best solution."

The Doctor made a gesture for her to come closer and after taking a few steps Clara sat down in his lap while he closed his arms around her.

"Are you happy with your decision?" Clara asked. She just needed to know. After all she was the reason he had gotten into this mess in the first place.

"Absolutely," he replied.

Clara took a deep breath. "Good," she said, "I still don't think it's fair that Joe has been sleeping around forever and it's you they catch at the first attempt."

The Doctor chuckled. "If Missy is stupid enough to take him I think Joe's wild days will be over. And he also decided to move out. I think he deserves a bit of luck. He's not always a jerk, you know."

"I know," Clara replied and suddenly burst into laughter. "Joe and Missy, it seems ridiculous."

The Doctor shrugged. "To some others we might seem ridiculous. The idiot and the school teacher."

She smiled kindly at him. "You're not an idiot, not always."

As Clara bent down to kiss him she felt again overwhelmed by happiness because even though he sometimes truly was an idiot, the only important thing was that he was her idiot.

The End