"Life... It's Full of Surprises..."

Chapter 43 - "Clearout..."

Chapter 43 - "Clearout..."

Clara's PoV

No sooner to Theta arriving were John and Clara being sifted up the stairs to get changed into some real clothes.

Clara went simple not being bothered to over dress.

She put a light touch of make up on not being overly bothered with that either as she knew she was to be at her grans house and was quite comfortable with John's presence, and quickly picked out some black leggings and polo top, with a jumper.

John only had skinny jeans and two polos on him so he went with that, and matched it with a breezy hoody that in Clara's opinion looked very comfortable.

'Isn't that my jumper?' John said with a raised eyebrow.

'Oh yeah? Guess I just kept it' she said with a blush remembering that it was indeed John's jumper and that she had kept it on purpose not wanting to part with it.

'Keep it' he said with a chuckle. 'At least I know what to get you for your birthdays'

'What?'

'A jumper that I wear for about a month. You'll love it. It'll be the best present that you ever get'

'Come on you two. Hurry up. We've got lots to do' Theta shouted up the stairs already having attached Nibbles to the lead and harness not wanting to leave him out.

- - -

'You are joking?' Clara said as her gran handed John some brown masking tape and pointed a few empty cardboard boxes then presented the pair with two torches.

'Nope. I was going to ask your to Dad to do it - but why waste a perfectly good Saturday?' she smirked. 'Box things up and get it into some order up there. Let me know if there's anything that your not sure on' she hummed walking down the stairs.

Clara rolled her eyes and climbed the silver ladder that was near enough a death trap - but got in the loft anyway. John was just behind her ready with open arms to catch her should he need too. She would actually much rather it be her that climbs up the ladder over her Gran anyway so she was kind of happy to do it.

It was highly exhilarating really to be clearing out the shit and it was the perfect job for Clara. She loves to get organised.

'I'm so sorry about this' Clara hummed. 'She has all these bright ideas but in reality their always worse than they look' Clara hummed embarrassed that the two had been dragged into this.

It wasn't such a shock for her. Her Gran came up with odd things like this to do all the time - but to John this was new.

'Hey? To even have a grandmother is cool. My Gran was a complete waste of space. The one that I knew anyway. It was a relief to us all when she died. And do you know what she left me in her will? A 20 pound note. Granted that was more than I had ever had for any birthday but that's not the point' John said realising he had rambled. 'Sorry. I'm rambling'

'Actually. It's nice to hear about you for a change' she said opening a box and taking it up before going to a pile of nic nacs and started boxing. 'What did you you spend the 20 pound note on?' She smirked.

'I dunno. I was 10. Probably sweets' he shrugged. 'So how do we know what's crap to throw and what's crap worth keeping?' John hummed poking at a bag of old clothes that he then coughed for 10 minutes for after from the dust.

'Your coughing?'

'So?' He spluttered. 'Answer my question' he shrugged moving away from the dust to an area of clean air. Not that it was much cleaner.

Everything he touched seemed to spit a layer of dust on him which made him want to cry - mainly because he was trying to stop himself having a coughing fit.

He really didn't want to look weak in front of Clara.

- - -

'Hey? What's wrong?' John coughed rushing towards where Clara was perched on a stool and packing up another box.

'This was all Mums stuff' she sniffed looking up and wiping her face. 'Sorry. Sorry I'm fine' she said.

'It's okay to cry. It's okay to miss her' John said wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

'I know that. I just don't want to be pathetic. Probably why Gran sent me up here. Then she didn't have to deal with it' Clara explained.

It was no secret that Dad didn't deal well with Ellie's death - so giving him an instant reminder might not go down too well.

'Hey? If you like I'll dress up in some of this fairy princess gear? That'll cheat you up' he said climbing over a box and pulling out some of Clara's old dressing up stuff.

'That's my old dressing up box' Clara laughed as he placed the crown on his forehead and wand in hand with the worlds smallest tutu for a 4 year old around his lanky hips. 'I haven't been near that stuff since I was 8' she laughed.

'See your all cheered up now' he said rather proudly and then crouched down starting to rummage through another box.

He heard Clara come crashing towards him like a bull in a China shop and suddenly felt the brown masking tape over his eyes.

'What the hell?' He growled as suddenly he was laying on the floor in Clara's loft with masking tape on him and Clara practically on top of him.

'It's fun' she grinned pecking him on the mouth as John had a very burning thought then regretted it almost instantly sitting up burning red cheeked. 'Wanna moment?"' Clara hummed realising how dirty minded John obviously was.

'No. No. I'm okay' he grumbled as Clara pulled the masking tape off and leant in for a much deeper kiss.

'Oi. I can hear you two kissing up there. Get back to organising boxes' theta shouted up he couldn't help the grin on her face.

She loved how Clara was so happy.