-UPDATED- I decided to go back and rewrite the earlier oneshots. Because they kind of sucked. So here's the first updated one. :)

When the oven beeped, Clara lifted her head from the book she'd been reading and sniffed the air. This time, there was no smoke smell, and she set aside the book, refusing to let her hopes get high. She walked carefully to the oven and opened it slowly, expecting a burst of smoke to blow in her face as usual. However, this time was different, and the souffle sat there on the top rack, beautiful. It looked just as it should.

Her heart started pounding, a smile finding its way onto her face as she took out the souffle. It was a chocolate one, different than the other recipes she'd tried. Apparently this one worked.

She set it on the stove and narrowed her eyes at it, realizing she couldn't eat the souffle by herself-she'd made too much. Taking off the oven mitts and taking out her phone, Clara called a certain timelord.

"Hello?" he sounded busy, but she was too excited to care. "Clara, s'that you?"

"Of course it's me. Who else would call you with my phone?"

"Your dad did once, and chewed me out for leaving you on Christmas. Just what did you tell your family about that, anyway?"

Clara sighed. Of course dad would do that. "That isn't important. Just come by."

"What, now?"

"Yes, now."

"But I'm in the middle of-"

"Do as you're told."

"I'll be right there."

Tucking her phone in her pocket, she turned around and took a couple of spoons out of the drawer. No point in dirtying two plates when they could just eat out of the dish itself.

Catching sight of her in the oven door, she shuddered. Her hair was an absolute mess, her face was streaked with flour, and her dress was wrinkled and stained. He doesn't care. He really didn't. He was almost blind to how people looked.

She decided to wait in the kitchen until the TARDIS materialized, but she didn't have to wait long. The first vworps of the machine's appearance began just after the decision was made.

The Doctor appeared in the kitchen a second later, his face covered in red and orange lines. Furrowing her brows, Clara turned and wet a dishcloth before walking over and leaning onto her toes, wiping off the lines.

"Where did you go?" she asked, having to scrub particularly roughly on a spot of pure red paint. '

"I have no idea," he admitted,"I let the TARDIS decide and she took me to a place where the locals stuck me on a throne and called me their king."

"Despite your protests, right?" she chuckled breathily, running the dishcloth on his jawline and pausing at the corner of his chin. Her eyes flickered up and met his. She could feel his breath, and she was sure he could feel hers, they were so close. Part of her wanted to reach up and connect, but as they stayed like that, the more awkward it became. He pulled away first, and she pulled away almost immediately, throwing the dishcloth into the sink and clearing her throat as he stammered a response to her earlier question.

"Uh, um, yes. Lots of protests. I told them no. Many protests. Why did you call me here?"

Clara nodded along to his awkward words until she realized he'd asked her a question. "Oh, yeah, I made a souffle."

The Doctor arched an eyebrow.

She crinkled her nose at his confused look. "It's not burnt. Or undercooked. I wanted to eat it with you."

He stared at her for a minute before relinquishing control and shrugging. He followed her as she carried the souffle to the coffee table in her living room. She handed him a spoon, which he took, and she waited for him to dig in.

He didn't.

"Go ahead, then," she nodded to the souffle, and he looked at her with a slightly nervous expression on his face.

"You made it, you should have the honor for trying it first." he replied, and Clara stifled the laugh bubbling up in her throat. He was trying to maintain a neutral expression while making her eat it first, and he was failing.

"You're just scared it'll kill you," she teased. He looked away, but a smile was tugging at his lips. She sighed and hovered her spoon above the souffle. "Fine, then." Scooping out a rather big spoonful and hovering it in front of her mouth, she took a deep breath and stuck the spoon in her mouth.

Chocolate flavor exploded in her mouth in a warm, welcoming way, and she couldn't help but close her eyes and moan. "It's so good," she murmured over the food in her mouth. She heard the Doctor's spoon cling against the dish, and she heard his slight grunt while tasting it.

Swallowing it, she stuck her spoon into the dish and brought another big spoonful to her mouth, suddenly eager to eat it. He was eager as well, it looked like he'd already taken more than a spoonful out of the dish.

Clara glanced at him, and he smiled slightly at her. "Good souffle," he explained.

"I know." she grinned at him, he grinned back, and she took another spoonful.

"Impossible girl." he laughed quietly. By how she barely caught the words, she knew he hadn't meant for her to hear, but she froze anyway. It was the first he had spoken those words since he changed. There was a sudden pull at her heart, and she struggled to swallow the rest of the bite in her mouth.

Once she had, she looked at him. He had taken up the dish by now and was scraping the sides, enjoying the chocolatey goodness. There was a content look about him, and she realized she was content as well. There was no more awkwardness between them. Well, nothing to truly call awkward.

He looked up at her, curiosity in his gaze. Courage swelled up in Clara's heart, and she leaned forward, connecting her lips to his briefly before the courage ran out and she grabbed the dish and ran out of the room. Her heart was pounding. Setting the dish gently in the sink, she wondered if she ought to run out of the flat and pretend she needed to get something from the market, or if she ought to go back in there and face the fact that she'd just kissed the timelord.

Deciding to go to the doorway of the room he was in, she peeked in and found him still on the sofa, frozen. His fingers were on his lips, and he seemed shocked at what had just happened. It wasn't a bad shocked, but from what she could see, it was more of a what the hell just happened and why did I like it shock. Or possibly a she kissed me shock.

Either way, it brought a smile to her lips. She realized the spoon was still in his other hand.

"I'm going to need that spoon back."