Chamber of Hearts - Solumess (2024)

Chapter 1: Chamber of Hearts

Chapter Text

Chapter I

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Chamber of Hearts

Rose let out a huff as she flipped over on her side, cradling the duvet in her arms. To say that she was feeling conflicted was an understatement. Two weeks had passed since their adventure–or, more accurately, the Doctor's adventure–to 18th century France. It wasn't unusual for that familiar tinge of jealousy to flare up in her chest when an attractive alien batted her eyelashes at the Doctor, but this was a new level of frustration, and Reinette was no alien.

“But you and I both know, don't we, Rose, the Doctor is worth the monsters.”

Reinette's words seemed to play on repeat in her mind every moment she wasn't occupied with something to distract her. Mickey had wanted a trip back home to run some errands, so she had been left alone to her thoughts. What frustrated her most was the fact that she felt guilty. It may not have been clear to Mickey, but Rose could see just how much their departure had hurt the Doctor. He had clearly cared greatly for Reinette, and here she was upset like a little jealous schoolgirl . So why couldn't she get over it? She had made up her mind a long time ago that she would stay with him forever, even if that meant her feelings would never be known or requited. Why was this such a big deal for her? Rose recalled a conversation between her and Mickey while waiting aboard the ship for the Doctor to return.

“So, that Doctor, eh?” Mickey said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Well. Madame de Pompadour. Sarah Jane Smith. Cleopatra.” He simply responded.

“Cleopatra. He mentioned her once.” She tried to brush it off.

“Yeah, but he called her Cleo.”

“So?” She raised an eyebrow, a bit annoyed with whatever point he was trying to make.

“I’m just saying babe.” He shrugged, and she felt her gut twist.

Those five painstakingly long hours aboard the ship gave Rose unwanted time to ponder the nature of their relationship. Ever since his regeneration Rose could feel things were different between her and the Doctor, but now more than ever. He would never admit it, of course, but she knew he knew. Even though she had come to accept and love his new face all the same, part of her still longed for their old dynamic. She couldn’t kid herself and say she felt nothing when he was still in leather, but it was innocent and harmless back then. It was the type of crush that was playful and exciting. Now, it felt like her feelings were suffocating her. Despite their warm nights reading or watching films in the TARDIS, somehow Rose had the creeping suspicion that this Doctor was becoming tired of her. She figured it was only a matter of time before he had enough of her ‘ape-like’ ways before he dropped her back off at the Estate without another word.

Without even realising it, Rose had bitten her nails until she tasted metal and her stomach let out an insistent growl, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She needed a snack, preferably something sweet. The past few nights she had purposefully avoided the Doctor, too afraid to speak to him without an otherworldly problem lingering over their heads. Nights on the TARDIS were quiet and dim. No loud chatter, no laughter, just the soft hum of the engine. Rose didn't think she could stomach being alone with him in such a setting when her nerves and hormones were so awry. Accepting that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep until she ate, she sat up and left her room.

To her dreadful surprise, the Doctor was in the galley, peeling a banana.

Her heart began to gallop at a concerning pace as she slipped past him to look in the cupboard for something to eat. Internally praying he would just ignore her, she searched the shelves as quickly as she could before settling on fixing herself a bowl of cereal. She could feel his eyes on her as she turned around to grab the milk.

“Are you alright?” He was the first to speak, shattering the tense silence.

“Yeah, ‘course. Why?” She quickly responded, not meeting his gaze.

“Well, nothing, I suppose. You just seem a bit…I dunno.” he trailed off.

“A bit what?” She turned to look at the Doctor who was running hand through his hair in avoidance.

“You just seem a bit agitated, is all.” He finished, eyes dropping to the floor between them.

“I’m fine, Doctor. Really.”

He seemed to drop it when he walked away, and Rose deflated in relief, only to nearly jump when he called out to her again.

“You know you can go home anytime, Rose. I’m not holding you hostage here.” he said from the doorway.

“S'cuse me?” She whipped her head around, offended he would even say such a thing. “I never thought anything of the sort!”

The Doctor seemed unconvinced. “Oh really ? Where have you been the past few days then, hmm? Because it seems an awful lot to me like you're avoiding me.”

Rose was silent as she stared back at him like she had just been stabbed, and he immediately regretted his words. “Do you want me to?” She almost whispered.

Taking a breath before softening his expression, he continued. “No, of course not. I only meant that I don't ever want you to feel like you need to escape me, Rose. You have the option to leave at any time, how I feel about the matter is irrelevant.”

“No it's not . It matters a lot, actually. Y’know, sometimes it feels like you don’t even–” She stopped herself. Like you don’t even want me anymore , she almost said.

“Like I don't what?”

“ Nothing .” She grit out as she hastily grabbed her bowl of cereal and made a run for the door. Just as she slipped past him though, he seized her shoulder and pinned her against the door frame.

“Like I don’t what, Rose? Finish your sentence.” He said demandingly, and Rose felt utterly paralyzed under his dark eyes.

Swallowing hard, she couldn't help but notice how close they were, stuck in the doorway. With each shallow breath she took, she could smell his delicious cologne mixed with the faint scent of aftershave and hair product. She couldnt help but let her gaze drop to his lips and back up to his eyes and f*ck, he noticed. Suddenly feeling all too hot and claustrophobic, Rose shook free of his grip and darted down the corridor. Eternally grateful he didn't follow or call after her, Rose closed her door and locked it, falling to the floor. Her appetite was ruined.. She wasn't hungry for food anymore.

“Oh my god…what have I done?” She mumbled to herself as her eyes began to burn.

She felt like she was a little girl who had touched something she wasn't supposed to touch and was being scolded for it. Somehow, she had crossed the threshold of no return, and now her and the Doctor would never be the same. He even suggested bringing her home . Feeling sick at the thought, she curled up into a ball, burying her face in her knees. How were they supposed to go on? How was she supposed to go on? What frustrated her the most though was that despite her despair, she wanted him more than anything in the universe.

Bringing her fingertips up to graze her lips, she indulged–just for a moment–she thought of what would happen if she moved a few centimetres and closed the gap between them. Would he reciprocate? Would he shover her away? Deep down she knew all too well it would have been the latter, but she couldn't help but entertain her fantasy. Closing her eyes, she imagined the feeling of his velvety lips on hers, moving fast and desperate for more. She imagined how her fingers would find their way to his head, ruffling his adorable, fantastic hair, and if he did the same to her.

Opening her eyes and releasing a shaky breath, she realised she had to put an end to this. It was pure torture, not to mention highly immoral. The Doctor clearly didn't feel that way about her and here she was, using him to fuel her deepest desires. Wiping away the half dried tears on her cheeks, Rose stood up and washed her face deciding that from now on, her feelings didn't exist. He was the Doctor, a godlike figure with centuries of knowledge and wisdom and she was just… Rose Tyler, from the Powell Estate. It would have never worked anyways and it was incredibly immature and naive to think otherwise.

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The Doctor slammed the door to his study and fell into his chair. He was a smart man with a lot of solutions to a lot of things, but this particular thing was not one of them. He knew from the very beginning when he took her hand in her old shop that Rose would leave him one day, and there was nothing he could do about it. However, it seemed their ‘forever’ was coming to an end sooner than anticipated. He just wished it was out of their control instead of her own choice.

The Doctor was even confusing himself these days. He had no idea why he offered to take Rose home. He knew that was the very last thing he wanted, and yet he still offered just to see how far he could push her. Rose’s avoidance was not lost on him the past few weeks. It seemed that ever since he regenerated things were different. He remembered how she begged him to ‘bring him back’ when he regenerated, as if he could simply change back into his former self. He thought he had made progress on New Earth and Scotland, but clearly he was mistaken.

She didn't even feel comfortable around him anymore. It was a mistake to confront her in the galley. She wasn't ready to talk to him about what was bothering her and he pressured her and it backfired. Now she was probably all alone in her room and he was frustrated in his study, useless to help her.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to hold back around her now. In leather he had better self control, but this body was forged from the very love that killed him. There was no denying that he was made for Rose, fueled by his latent desires in his previous incarnation. What was the use of it if she wasn't interested? Was he even interested? The Doctor had developed a cynical outlook on romance and relationships these past few centuries, understanding that his partners would all inevitably leave him. It was something he could easily ignore, but with Rose, all she had to do was ask and he was hers.

Waking up with a start, Rose stared at her ceiling through the thick darkness of her room. A new day, a new adventure. The Doctor and Rose, travelling together through space and time…as friends.

She should be delighted at the thought. One in a billion get to travel with someone as wonderful as the Doctor, and yet she couldn't ignore the nagging feeling of disappointment and dissatisfaction that clung to it. It was time she started living in reality. That kind of relationship with the Doctor just wasn't possible, they were from two totally different worlds–literally!

It was at times like these Rose wished she had the composure he had, she had grown quite annoyed at her pestering human emotions compared to the Doctor’s iron clad resolve. Rose knew all too well that wishing for things she couldn't have was a waste of time and begrudgingly rolled out of bed and jumped in the shower. An hour later, Rose was ready.

Walking out to the console, she found the Doctor staring at the main viewer with a look of concern.

“What is it? What’s wrong Doctor?” She asked, immediately picking up on his mood.

He acknowledged her for a moment before he spoke. She released a breath she didn't know she was holding. They were gonna be okay. She was gonna be okay.

“The TARDIS received a rather urgent distress signal from a nearby system.”

“What does it say?” She peaked over to view the monitor, only to be met with a singular word; HELP.

“We have to see what it's about.” She said, stepping back, realising how close she got to him.

“You're right. No time to waste.” He chirped as he began throwing in the coordinates.

“Aren't we gonna pick up Mickey?”

“Oh Mr. Mickey will be just fine on his own for one day.” He said, brushing off her words as he reached for a lever on the console to vehemently tug.

After a few moments, the TARDIS rematerialized and they went to investigate the planet they landed on. Opening the TARDIS doors, the Doctor and Rose were met with a grand landscape of tall chrome skyscrapers against an almost crimson coloured sky. The sun was either setting or in a permanent state of dancing across the horizon from this part of the planet. The wildlife grew lush and the meadows were rich with indigo grass. Rose squinted her eyes to see flying vehicles among the city in the distance. Wherever they were, these people clearly had wealth.

“Doctor what planet is this?” She asked, inhaling a breath of honey scented air. “It’s beautiful.” She smiled.

“Lyris Z4 of the New Grand Republic.”

“What do you know about them? This doesn't seem very much like a civilization ‘in distress’ to me.” She said, looking around the TARDIS for another city.

“No it doesn't.” He murmured. “I actually don’t know much about them, but I have heard it's a very private system–travel bans, controlled media, deeply ingrained Xenophobia.”

“Then why are we here? If they are well off and they hate outsiders, then why send a useless distress call?”

“I haven't the faintest idea.” He said, squinting at the city in search of answers. “I guess we better go and find out then, yeah?”

After a few steps of trekking through a gorgeous field of indigo grass and yellow wildflowers, an uncomfortable silence settled between them.

“I’m sorry…about last night.” He started, keeping his eyes on the wildflowers. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

In an instant, it felt like all of her troubles came back crashing into her like a bus. It was going to take time to fully suppress them, but Rose just wished he would forget about it.

“It’s okay Doctor, I understand.” She finally said.

Rose could see the Doctor frown in discontentment in her peripheral vision.

“I don't want you to leave Rose. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, ‘course.”

He stopped in his tracks and Rose came to a halt as well. “Somethin’ wrong Doctor?”

“You tell me Rose, because clearly something is.” He said a bit more sternly now, annoyance from the previous night coming back to him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” she feigned ignorance.

“No–s’got nothing to do with Mickey, Doctor. Hardly. ”

“Then what is it Rose? Talk to me, please?” He begged, and Rose felt a stab of guilt in her chest. The Doctor didn't deserve to be played with like this.

She sighed and avoided his pleading eyes before speaking, “I jus’ feel like… you're bored of me. Like you'll drop me off with my mum any second now–drop me off just like you did to Sarah Jane.” She sniffled, feelings gushing out an uncontrollable pace.

“Why would you think that?” He asked, offended, and Rose scoffed.

“Honestly Doctor, you don’t know? Leaving me all alone on that ship while you partied and shagged Madame de Pompadour ! All while me and Micks are about to get turned into household ornaments!” She said, angry with conviction.

“I didn't—I never—”

“I’m not stupid, Doctor. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what you had been up to while we were strapped to those tables.”

”But I saved you guys– you were fine, Rose!” He persuaded, stepping closer.

“Yeah, sure. But it doesn’t change the fact that you treated us like an afterthought , Doctor.” She spat out. “I guess that's all I am to you.”

When he didn't respond, Rose knew she had hit the nail on its head. Despite knowing that this was probably the breaking point, she had never felt more calm. It was like the calm after a hurricane. Too calm. Rose began to feel a bit off. She tried to quell the discomfort and persevere but the dizziness persisted.

“Rose…I…” The Doctor mumbled, but she couldn’t see his face clearly to see if he said anything else.

“Doctor, I don’t feel…” She started, unable to find the words to complete her sentence before she collapsed to the ground, the Doctor following soon after.

Chapter 2: Heart Ache

Chapter Text

Chapter II

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Heart Ache

Chapter 3: Hearts Aglow

Chapter Text

Chapter III

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Hearts Aglow

The Doctor had been awake for the past 4 hours, 27 minutes and 38 seconds since his forced unconsciousness. In that time he had thought of approximately 504 things, 387 of which were of Rose. The rest were things of lesser importance, such as all the places an alien would store a sonic screwdriver they had no idea was a sonic screwdriver, the worst way to torture the guards that insisted on Rose’s and his separation, how much pleasure he would take on burning this planet to the ground, and how he would inevitably find a cure for them, even though they didn’t deserve it.

Even in non-dire situations, the distribution of his thoughts still followed this pattern. Rose had managed to make herself a primary subject in the Doctor’s mind without him even realising it. That was a lie. He allowed his infatuation for Rose to grow despite knowing how wrong and unethical it was. All those years training at the academy left him utterly unqualified when he met the pink and yellow human. It had to be the will of some cruel god to bless him with Rose, just to inevitably take her away from him. The Doctor knew the universe did not look kindly upon him, but this was another level of wickedness.

To pinpoint the exact moment he knew he had irrevocably fallen for her was difficult. He had known he was attracted to her for a long time; ever since she walked out of the dressing rooms in that beautiful 19th century gown. He had felt raw jealousy for the first time in a few centuries when that smug tosser Adam came aboard his ship. He remembered how he tinkered and fiddled with the TARDIS all night until he actually broke something. The fleeting feeling of possessiveness was nothing new since Rose had joined him, even starting all the way back with Mickey the idiot, but that was the first time he couldn't ignore it. How was he supposed to when they could have been shagging on the next room over on his TARDIS?

He started loving her in his 9th incarnation and was born loving her in his 10th, which made his feelings that much more potent. It also explained why his actions were so sporadic. In all truthness, his feelings for Rose frightened him. As much as he wanted to lean into them, he also wanted to run away from them. Snogging Reinette and abandoning Rose was an unintended consequence of that. He had metaphorically and physically ran away from her, and it cost him their friendship. They were never going to be the same and he could see the effects in the weeks following. Even though his feelings frightened him, he never wanted to make Rose feel unwanted.

The Doctor felt like an idiot. All this time he was convinced she was uncomfortable with his new incarnation, not that she felt unwanted. He spent so long thinking of the places he could bring her and things they could do to distract himself from the burden of his heart that he forgot to tend to their friendship. He let the wound he opened fester, and Rose interpreted it in the worst way possible. And just when he thought he couldn't make it any worse, he couldn't stop himself from kissing her. If lines between close companionship and romantic intimacy weren’t blurred before, they certainly were now. A part of him wished she had taken the outlet he had given her instead of leaning into his affection. He had practically taken advantage of her in a high stress situation and she was clearly confused by it. When it came to Rose, his impulse control was just as good as nonexistent.

The Doctor sighed, moving in what little confines he had. The guards strapped him down to his bed once they caught him. It was going to take a lot more to get out of these restraints. He was patiently waiting for Dr. Kannei to return so he could make a break for it. As if right on target, the door opened.

“Good morning, Doctor. I see you are back in your cell after last night's adventure.”

“None of that would have happened if you had just let me speak to her.” He back-talked.

“If you had simply waited a few more hours, we would have given you the opportunity. Today is the day you make your decision after all.” Dr. Kannei smiled, void of any empathy. “I believe it is also important to note the leniency we have allowed for you and your mate.”

“She’s not my mate.” He spat, becoming increasingly frustrated with their demeaning usage of the word. These people were not progressivists, they were just as bad as the rest of them.

“Typically when a prisoner escapes their holdings for any reason, they are executed–however, you Doctor, have particularly valuable genetic code we would like to incorporate with our gene pool.” Dr. Kannei looked at his tablet, seemingly unsatisfied at the time the conversion was taking up. “Once again I will remind you of your choices. You may reproduce with Rose, or you may reproduce with another compatible female, and she will be matched with another compatible male.”

“What will happen after insemination?” He asked through gritted teeth.

“Rose will be monitored and provided for over the duration of her pregnancy and you will be released. We do not ask anything of you other than this small task.”

“ Small task .” He mocked. “You're forcing us to—”

“I am doing nothing of the such. You have the choice, Doctor.”

“That–that isn't a choice!” He shouted hysterically. “And if this is my choice, what kind of ‘choice’ does Rose have? You haven't even communicated with her! And if you did, you wiped her memory clean!” The Doctor yelled.

“That was an accident. We never meant to go that far. She saw something confidential, we only meant to wipe that moment–”

“Whether you ‘meant to’ or not is irrelevant! You could have explained everything to her after the fact and apologised! But no , you threw her in a cage by herself, no further questions, ‘ta !”

“It may be different for your culture, Doctor, but we typically do not enlighten females on such facts that are out of their control.” Dr. Kannei said calmly, and the Doctor exploded.

“So on top of being a highly xenophobic, racist, and inhumane society, you're also sexist? Honestly I should have seen it coming. I refuse to go along with your solution.”

“Is that so? That is unfortunate.” Dr. Kannei pulled a syringe out of his lab coat pocket and walked towards the Doctor. “It’s a shame it had to come to this, Doctor.”

“ Wait –wait! I have a ship, it's called the TARDIS–it can travel anywhere in space and time–I can find a cure for you! One that's fast and doesn’t involve capturing innocent people!” The Doctor pleaded as Dr. Kannei lined the syringe up with his neck. “ Please ! Just let me show you!” He shouted, struggling to move further away from the needle.

“Do not resist Doctor, it will only make this harder.” Dr. Kannei simply said as he pushed the syringe into his neck.

With a little pinch, the Doctor could his consciousness draining from him.

“Guards, take him and Female 86 to observation room 21.”

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The Doctor was the first one to awaken. He could immediately discern two things; Rose was unconscious beside him, and they were in a new room. This room was certainly more ‘homely’ than his previous prison cell, the fluorescent lights replaced with dim, flickering candles, but still stood as a testament to the cruelty they both endured here. Everything was a pharmaceutical white, spotless of any imperfections and dirt. The walls were tall, just like they were everywhere else in the facility they had found themselves trapped in. There were no windows or openings, to his relief. At least they had some semblance of privacy. Sitting up, he rubbed his head in pain. The last thing he remembered was being held down and sedated by Dr. Kannei. It frustrated him that these people would rather waste government funding on torturing passerbys than allocate funds on building a vaccine–something he could have helped with if the scientist had simply listened to him.

“Doctor…” Rose mumbled beside him, rolling over to grab his hand, pulling it closer to her.

The Doctor peered down upon his Rose, resting peacefully on top of the creme coloured duvet. In any other situation, he would find this endearing. For a moment it made him reminiscent of their long nights in the library, her falling asleep beside him by accident, murmuring incomprehensible nothings. It was something he missed, and something he would never have again after tonight.

His eyes wondered downwards as he took in new bones that were visible amongst the weight loss she’d endured from malnutrition. His vision settled on her wrists, where visible struggle had left its mark around them. She had resisted too.

Gently tugging his hand away, careful not to startle her, he brushed away stands of blond hair to reveal a syringe mark on her neck. The Doctor grit his teeth with despair and anger. Who had the right to use them like puppets? If there ever was a first time with Rose, he would have burned a thousand worlds to the ground before choosing to do it here, in this doomed facility. What disgusted him even more was that he and Rose were not the first to suffer the same fate in the name of saving the population. How many had come before them? How many had died before them?

The Doctor began to trace Rose’s jaw, wondering how their relationship could ever recover after something like this. She was so innocent and so young. She didn't deserve any of this, and he led them right to it like the bumbling idiot he was. If he could have taken away his actions in 18th century France a few weeks ago, he would have. If he could have taken every moment to appreciate her beauty and compliment her for it, he would have. Anything to change the fact that their last moments were spent arguing over his own selfishness and insecurity. A silent sob escaped him, and he quickly wiped away the evidence before she could notice. Detecting the movement, she began to stir.

“Where are we?” She asked, rubbing her eyes.

“We are… exactly where they want us to be.” He said after a moment, trying to regain his composure with a lingering sense of dread in his voice. “Rose, I am so sorry. I tried everything, but I couldn’t get us out of here fast enough. Please forgive me.”

“S’okay, we just have to wait for the right moment to escape–”

“ No , no Rose you don’t understand! I–”

“ Male 238 and Female 86 have approximately 60 minutes remaining to complete consummation until reassignment.” A distant voice said over the speaker above them.

“ Consummation …w-what are they talking about–Doctor, what do they want us to do?” She asked, frantically searching for any other answer than the obvious one.

“They erm, they want us to…” He ran a hand over his face. “They want us to reproduce . To help the dwindling population. There was some kind of genetic disease that caused infertility and they want us to… donate …our uninfected genetic code.” He finally said, unable to meet her eyes.

“Oh.” She said, her eyes dropping to the bed beneath them. Of course , she thought. The dots began to connect together in her mind and she felt more horrified as the moment passed by. The Doctor was being forced to shag her against his will. It was like rape, and she felt nauseous.

“And they can’t get it another way?” She asked, voice small.

“Of course they can. They just won't listen to me.”

An uncomfortable silence settled between them as the prospect of what they had to do lingered over them.

“I can… go in your mind afterwards, if you want me to.” he offered after a moment, voice so small she could have mistaken it for her own imagination.

“What do you mean?” She asked, feeling betrayed.

“I can make you forget.”

“No . No you won't!” She got up and stomped away from the bed.

“I know how this looks, but we can get through this!”

“No we can’t . It must be easy for you, Doctor. You can go around shaggin’ anybody you want but for me it's different ! I can't just go through a portal and shag a historical figure and come back, just like how I can’t just shag my best mate and pretend that everythin’ is fine afterwards!”

“I never shagged her!”

“What?” she looked back at him, disbelief and confusion swarming her expression.

“I said I never did that with her. She offered but I turned her down!”

“I thought you…never mind. It doesn't matter. It still doesn't change the fact that I can't just do this,” she gestured to the bed, “and go back to normal. And I certainly won't let you erase it from my memory either. I've had enough of that.”

“It's not like that for me either, Rose.” He said once she had caught her breath. “You're the most important person in the universe to me. I don’t want to pretend like everything is fine. I don’t want to forget either.”

“Then I guess it's settled.”

“What?”

“You know, have sex? So you can just bring me home already since clearly I’m that revolting!”

“You are not revolting! And I don’t want you to go home, I thought we already settled this.”

“I'm not gonna force myself on you for the ‘greater good!” She shouted, her cheeks burning with fury and embarrassment.

“You wouldn't be forcing yourself on me, Rose.” He mumbled, so silently she could have missed it over the sounds of her own sniffles.

“What?”

He took a deep breath and arose from the bed, walking over to her. “I said, you wouldn't be forcing yourself on me.” His eyes darted back and forth, searching for any sign of reciprocation in hers.

“I…I wouldn’t?”

“No. Not at all.” His words were soft as he reached out to comb his fingers through her hair, looking at her with such fierce intensity it made her legs weak. “Not one bit.”

“But last night–you weren't in your right mind–it's not right–” she began, avoiding his gaze.

“Rose.” He beckoned. “Rose, look at me.”

Tentatively, her eyes shifted back to his. It was increasingly difficult to say no over and over again to a pleading Doctor. It was not lost on her that his pupils were dilated. In the soft glow of the candle light, his face was only a few inches away from hers. Suddenly overcome with the aching need to cradle his face and snog him, she bit her lip in frustration.

“I knew exactly what I was doing last night.” He said, eyes dropping to her lips only for a second. “You must know…” he reached for her hand, bringing it to his chest. She felt the fast gallop of his hearts beneath his skin, and sharply inhaled. “Oh Rose, you must know.”

“Doctor…” she whispered, astonished at the desire that pulsated from him.

“You always have a choice. They can always pair you with someone else, but I can’t guarantee–”

“No .” She stopped him, knowing what he would say next. “I want it to be with you.”

“Yeah?” he asked after a moment, a small smile tugging on his lips.

“Yeah.” She said, expression softening.

The Doctor leaned forward, ever so slightly, closing the gap between them. It was just a gentle touch, a reassuring action, but when she began to move her lips against his, it was clear she wanted more. Taking it as a que to deepen the kiss, his hands moved to her nape and lower back to pull her closer. A soft sigh escaped his lips when she ran her fingers through his hair, not overlooking the way she tugged on it when his tongue darted out along the seam of her lip.

In a moment of confidence, Rose grabbed the Doctor’s hands and moved them to her stomach, encouraging him to explore upwards. Still mid-kiss, the Doctor understood the invitation and obliged, relishing how hot her skin felt through the fabric of her gown. When his fingers skimmed the edges of her breasts, he came to the realisation that she was wearing nothing beneath. It was a logical conclusion to draw, but it still surprised him nonetheless. Not wasting anymore time teasing her, he began to gently massage them, running the tips of his thumbs along her firm nipples. Even through the barrier, he could ascertain a surprising amount of detail. Still, it wasn’t enough. He needed to see her, feel her, and be inside her.

Pulling away with a gasp, Rose’s chest heaved as she caught her breath. Her eyes widened when she noticed his erection protruding out towards her. A deep cherry blush captured her face as she realised the Doctor was staring at her properly snogged figure.

“Are you sure you want this?”

She nodded, too emotional for any good words to come out.

“I think I can make this good for you.” He said, eyes dark and full of intent.

“You don’t have to…” she protested.

“I want to. It's the least you deserve.” Before she could respond, he swept her off her feet and carried her to the bed, gently setting her down and climbing on top of her.

“I had a plan on how I would do this, but I suppose this will have to do.” He said to himself, as he brushed a strand of hair out her face.

“You had a plan?” She whispered, heart racing with nervousness.

“Oh, yes. A good one too.”

“Well, can you tell me about it?” She smiled up at him, rubbing a hand on his forearm in a soothing manner. “Only if you want to, that is.”

“Of course. Anything you want.” He said softly as he dipped down to kiss her once again. A rather exciting idea popped into his mind enticing him to search for spots where she was sensitive. Leaving her supple lips, her skin tasted sweet and was reminiscent of honey. Placing a trail of kisses along her jaw, he felt her jump when he reached where her jaw joined to her neck.

“I was going to take you to this planet. Similar to earth, but the oceans are violet and the sky is pink. I thought you would appreciate it.” He said close to ear as his hand moved to make quick work of untying her gown. “There's a village near the shore we were going to stay at. They have these cottages that have perfect views of the shore.”

Gently pulling away the dingy piece of fabric, the Doctor took in the sight of her with hungry eyes. “I had imagined this so many times.”

“You have?” She asked, “As good as you imagined?”

“Not even close. Better.”

Rose turned her head away as a violent red spread all over her face and chest in embarrassment. “T-tell me more…”

“I wanted to make you dinner, and then take you out for a swim at night. The moons are spectacular.” He said, leaving a trail of kisses from her neck, across her clavicle, down her sternum, and to the swell of her breast. She shuddered with desire and arousal as he teased his way around her areola before enveloping her nipple with his mouth. His other hand, which had remained free, began to massage the other mound. Gasping, her hands found themselves gripping the duvet beneath them.

Releasing her with a pop, he continued. “After we swam, I wanted to lay a towel down for us to lay on the beach. I was going to tell you…” He hesitated, unsure if it was the right thing to say at that moment. Detecting his reluctance, she cradled his face and pulled him into a kiss. “It’s okay if you don't want to tell me. Don’t force yourself.”

She was always so caring and considerate, his Rose. He felt his heart swell with endearment at the thought. “I was going to make love to you on that beach, beneath the stars.” He continued, reformulating his words.

“Make love to me, Doctor.” She whispered, stroking his face with pure, unfiltered need. “Please. And take this off.” She smiled, pointing to his ratty gown.

Hesitating for only a moment, he decided he would give Rose his all. Every ounce of love that his heart contained, he would show her in this moment and with no fear of what came next, what happened tomorrow, or the day after that, he took off his gown.

He watched her as her eyes roamed all over his naked form, studying him intently as if it was her last time ever seeing it. All she had to do was give him the word, and he would take it off as many times as she liked.

“See something you like?” He teased, hiding the fact he was just as scared as she was.

Deciding a verbal answer was not needed, she took him in her hand and began to stroke.

“Ahh–” he moaned, stunned at her display of lust as she studied his co*ck. She continued stroking him before gently licking the tip, causing him to involuntarily jerk forward. Damn needy hips, he chastised himself. Deciding she was heading in the right direction, she licked a line on the underside of him from his base to the tip again, and a moan–clear as day–escaped his lips. It was the hottest thing he'd ever seen, and before he could catalogue the image away permanently, she had already taken him inside her mouth. Soft, wet lips enveloped him and sucked his throbbing co*ck with passion. Rose closed her eyes as she focused on taking him deeper.

“Rose… ohh …” When he felt him hit the back of her mouth, threw his head back. After several centuries of no contact down there, he had grown quite sensitive, and it seemed she was taking full advantage of that.

This was not Rose’s first time, but it was her first time truly enjoying the act. Listening to the Doctor nonsensically ramble under his breath while releasing moans of pleasure in response to her, was driving her mad. She wouldn’t be surprised if she was dripping onto the bed by now. Remembering a trick that had previously worked wonders on her previous lovers, she reached a hand to cradle his testicl*s, softly needing them.

“Oh f*ck !” he grit out, louder this time. Whatever she was doing was bringing to the brink of oblivion, and he had to stop it before he came into her mouth (however tempting the thought was). This was supposed to be about her, and he intended to see that through. Accumulating all the strength and will power he had within him, he gently nudged her head off of him, ignoring the crying need to thrust further.

“Did I do something wrong?” she asked, and his co*ck twitched at the way her lips glistened with a mixture of her saliva and his precum.

“No. Y-you're doing fantastic.” He swallowed, trying to redirect blood flow before he accidentally released himself all over her pretty face. “Let me… let me taste you. Is that okay?” He said, tilting her chin up. “Yes .” she nodded, and he laid her down against the mattress before settling between her thighs.

The Doctor wrapped his hands around her legs and pulled her hips closer to him. “Show me how you pleasure yourself.” He said, kissing her inner thigh.

Reaching a trembling hand between her legs, she began to rub small circles around her cl*t. After a few moments, she was gushing with pleasure and it was killing him to just watch. He had thought about this during many long nights in the TARDIS, but his imagination paled in comparison to the reality of it. He was so unbelievably hard, he didn't know how he was going to last. Stopping her hand, he replaced her fingers with his mouth, licking and gently sucking the sensitive nub.

“Doctor!” She moaned.

Her pheromones flooded his mouth and nose as he lapped at her. She was the most wonderful and unique thing he had ever tasted. His hand, which was drawing circles on the inside of her thigh, had moved to her entrance, gently prodding upwards. He shuddered at the feeling of her around his fingers, incomprehensibly slick. Gripping the bedsheets with one hand and muffling her cries of pleasure with another, the Doctor began to pump in and out of her before adding another finger to her dripping c*nt.

“You taste brilliant.” he murmured before resuming his quick work on her cl*t.

“S-so do you… ahh –” She managed to get out, and the Doctor felt his co*ck throb with demand. Oh, blimey. He couldn't put it off any longer, and from the way she was writhing at his touch, she couldn’t either.

Climbing atop of her once more, he positioned himself with her entrance before looking to her for confirmation. “Are you… is this…?”

She nodded hastily, still in disbelief that this was really happening. The Doctor nudged the tip of his co*ck into her hot entrance and shuddered. Sinking deeper into her with no resistance, the Doctor found it incredibly hard to ignore the feeling of blood pumping around his co*ck. She was so hot and wet, it was driving him mad. Pulling back a bit, he thrust deeper, watching her eyes roll back.

“ f*ck !” She moaned and bit her lip, unable to contain herself.

“Rose,” he began as he started rocking back and forth at a slow and languid pace, “you mean so much to me…” he closed his eyes, trying to withdraw his impending org*sm. He couldn't come now, he had to give her more. “How could I ever deny you.”

His words swirled in her ears as she tried to ignore the feeling of guilt creeping in the back of her mind. Was he being sincere or was it all for show? Was he simply pretending to get themselves out of their situation faster? Was she wrong to enjoy it as much as she did? She was far too gone to answer any of those questions with a clear conscience. His co*ck felt bloody spectacular inside of her, splitting her open. She would deal with the consequences later.

Reaching a hand to hold on to the headboard above them and another to grip her waist for steadiness, he met her gaze, “I’m going to go faster, is that alright?”

“f*ck me, Doctor.” She insisted and he began to move with vehemence. Pulling back to the very tip, he thrust back in hard and fast, repeating the motion several times. Noticing the way her breasts bounced back and forth from the movement only made it harder to hold back. The feeling of her nails digging into his back was completely lost as he was irrevocably swaddled with rapture.

There were many times when Rose imagined what sex with the Doctor would feel like. She imagined how his co*ck would feel inside of her body, pulsating and dripping with arousal. But none of her fantasies compared to the reality of it. It was only natural that he was also ridiculously good at sex. Mickey and Jimmy were nothing compared to him. Even in the most unideal situation, the Doctor made her feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

He was well endowed, she knew it from the moment he took his gown off. He was stretching her and rubbing up against a sensitive spot within her she had no idea existed. To be f*cked by the Doctor was to go to heaven and back. Feeling the edge of her org*sm approach, she began to rock with him, leaning into each thrust he took. She knew he was close too, seeing the way every muscle in his body contracted to hold himself back.

“Doctor! I’m close…” she whimpered.

Taking her words into account, the Doctor’s hand slithered down to where they were joined and began to rub sloppy circles around her cl*t. A cry escaped his beloved’s lips, and his heart swelled with pride. Even if she hated him after this, even if she never spoke to him again, he knew at that moment that she was enjoying it, and he was responsible.

“Rose, I’m about to…I-I can’t hold it back anymore…” he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut.

With a few more thrusts, Rose was over the edge as worlds collided, exploding with pure white ecstasy. All motor function ceased as she came on his co*ck, and the Doctor followed soon after with a strangled moan into the bedsheets beside her ear. Reality slowly seeped into her consciousness as she felt him spill his cum inside of her.

A weak and shaky hand found itself in the Doctor’s hair, now damp from sweat, gently stroking the back of his head. He had completely collapsed on top of her, grunting and moaning into the sheets, but she didn't mind. After a few seconds of it though, Rose began to grow weary.

“Doctor?”

“Sorry…” He mumbled , turning his head to look at her. “I’m still…” His eyes beckoned hers downward.

He was still inside of her and oh … he was still coming.

“Oh. ”

“Different biology… ahh– ” He turned his head back to the sheets to hide his embarrassment. “It’ll just take a moment…I didn't expect– ahh – your org*sm to feel the way it did.”

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Involuntary muscle spasms …you're squeezing me to death.” He laughed.

“Does it hurt? We can stop–” She frantically asked.

“No ! No, god, no. It’s…incredible, Rose. It's incredible.”

Well, this was something she could get used to. The feeling of being filled by him felt so good. She could feel him throb within her, and it was unlike anything she'd ever experienced. Any human male would pull out the moment they finished and be on their way. This was a new level of intimacy she was looking forward to experiencing again in the future…if that was even possible.

A dreadful fear finally settled within her. Was this going to be the last time she saw the Doctor? Was this the end?

“No, it's not the end. Only if you want it to be.” He said, turning to look at her again. “I don't want it to be.”

“How did you hear that?” she asked, brows furrowed.

The Doctor raised a hand and tapped on his head. “When we are joined like this, our telepathic connection is the strongest. Before my species moved away from physical intimacy, this was a common way to… be with each other.”

“But I’m not a timelord…” She said, still confused.

“No, but humans are slightly telepathic. Not to the level my species were, but enough for me to experience this. The only way it would be stronger is if I physically had my fingers on your temples. I can block it, if you don’t want me in your head.” He offered, a lingering disappointment in his words.

“No…’s okay. I think you're the only person I want muckin’ about up there. Just ignore any weird thoughts I have…” Rose said, silently pleading her mind didn't wander to some place inappropriate.

“Inappropriate.” he scoffed. “I am literally inside of you right now, Rose Tyler.”

“Shut up!” She squealed with embarrassment, hitting him on the shoulder as he laughed.

“Male 238 and Female 86 have approximately 30 minutes remaining to complete consummation until reassignment.”

The gravity of the situation hit them both like a bus as they realised where they were. Rose felt the Doctor finally soften and leave her with a feeling of emptiness and dissatisfaction.

“There will be more times to experience it.” He said, nonchalantly.

“I thought you said you could only hear me when you were inside of me.”

“Lingering connection–but I mean it. Only if you’re agreeable to it, that is.” He tugged on his ear, awaiting her response with anticipation.

A ferocious blush spread across her face at the thought. Her and the Doctor, companions by day, lovers by night. It was a completely lewd idea, and she tried to ignore how badly her centre throbbed at the thought.

“Yeah. I think I’d like that.”

“I told you we’d be okay.” He said, leaning in to kiss her forehead.

Rose rolled on her side and nestled up against the Doctor, not caring for her nakedness. She just wanted to stay like this forever. “What happens next?”

“I’m not sure. I will get us out of here, but I had to make sure that you weren’t going to be forcefully…by someone or some thing you didn’t know. I’m sorry it had to be this way.”

“Do you regret it?” she asked softly after a few seconds of silence.

His face wavered with uncertainty for a moment before speaking. “I just wish we were somewhere else.”

“Please don’t regret it, Doctor. It was brilliant, the best I’ve ever had, honestly.”

“Yeah?” He looked at her with a prideful smirk.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t know you were good, you git.”

“Honestly, it's been several centuries.”

She whipped her head to look at him. “Centuries !? Could’ve fooled me!”

He laughed. He didn't want to leave her. They were meant to be like this. To hell with the timelords and their sacred celibacy. This was something he never wanted to give up.

“I don’t want to leave you, Doctor. I’m scared.” She said, hugging him tighter.

“If only I knew where my blasted sonic was.”

“Maybe…” she trailed off in thought.

“What?”

“Maybe I could help… if I could remember what happened in my missing time.” She said, and like a light switch, the Doctor abruptly sat up.

“Oh yes! Rose Tyler, you are brilliant! If you’ll allow me, I can go into your mind and retrieve those repressed memories–” his expression dropped.

“What is it, Doctor? What's wrong?”

“You would remember everything.”

Chapter 4: Heart and Soul

Chapter Text

Chapter IV

─── ⋅ ∙ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅ ───

Heart and Soul

It was a decision that only required a second’s thought. She deserved to know what happened to her, even if it was bad. Just because she didn't remember it, did not change the fact that it still happened to her. If it could help them get out, she wanted to remember. Not just for her sake but for the Doctor’s as well. She could deal with the trauma later.

“I can do it. I know I can. Let me help, Doctor, please.” She pleaded.

“There must be another way. Maybe I can sneak my way past the guards once that door opens and—”

“Doctor.” She stopped him. “It’s my right to remember. I want to know what happened to me and I want to help us get out of this hell as fast as we can. I’m asking you to help me. You don't have to agree, but I hope you understand why I want to do this.”

“Are you absolutely sure? Rose there’s no guarantee that what you see won't be traumatic. ” He said dubiously.

“Yes. I know what I want, I can deal with the consequences later. I’ve been useless locked up for a week now and I want to help, even if it's painful.”

His eyes darted back and forth between hers, deliberating whether he should honour her wishes or not. It was near impossible to turn her down for anything, but when it came to potentially hurting her in the process, the decision was difficult. Far too many times had he decided for her and he repeatedly found himself reprimanded for it. She was right, it wasn't his place to dictate her memory.

“Okay.” He surrendered, “This may feel strange, considering it's your first time. Try to relax and accept the feeling of me pushing into your mind.”

The doctor brings his fingers to rest on her temples, tucking loose hair behind her ears and offering a small smile of reassurance. Taking one last look at her before closing his eyes, his consciousness brushes up against hers. He felt her breath falter, sensing his presence. He doesn't enter her mind yet, only giving her a sense that she's not alone anymore.

“I'm going to come in now, are you ready?” He whispers, eyes still closed.

“Yes…wait–will you see everything I think? Like, all my memories?” She asks, and he can feel the anxiety wisp off of her.

“No, not necessarily. I’ll see any fleeting thoughts or feelings you have but your memories are sealed. I can’t see those unless I purposefully look for them. As a…non-telepathic user, your defensive skills are weak. I would never purposefully intrude upon something you don't want me to see.” He says, and she can't quite tell if it was aloud or through her mind.

“Both, actually. But we can move inside here,” he taps a finger on her left temple, “if you want.”

“Yeah, we can do that.” She says, and she can feel his excitement.

Can you hear me? He asks her telepathically.

“Yeah.” She giggles at the strangeness of it. “It’s weird, but I can. It’s like I’m imagining your voice.”

You can do it too. Try to say something inside your mind.

Like this?

Yes! You’re doing great. He praises her, and she blushes.

It had been centuries since the Doctor had communicated with someone in this way that wasn't invasive or painful, and it was almost too much to bear. Beneath the carefully constructed barriers of his mind, it was becoming increasingly harder for him to contain himself inside of Rose. Before, all he had to protect himself from was outside threats. Now, he had to protect himself from inside thoughts. Her soul’s aroma was so rich and thick and wonderfully human, he wasn't even fully inside her mind and it was suffocating. It was an entirely new level of intimacy, and it caused a rather violent reaction within him. Clearing his throat, he continued.

I’m gonna push further, okay? It's gonna feel like something is expanding, but try to embrace it.

Giving a mental nod of consent, Rose felt him prodding into her bubble, prying open his own entrance in her inexperienced, virgin mind. In this state, she could truly feel the vastness of him in a way appearance and words could not communicate. 900 years of memories, thoughts, feelings, and knowledge entered her small feeble mind, and it felt like her head was bloating at an incredible rate. Her face contracted as she felt him encroach upon a territory only she had access to for the past 20 years. Remembering his words to ‘relax’ , she took a shaky breath, trying to calm her nerves and accept the presence while containing him. It was like trying to hold a million things with just two hands, and she found it hard to concentrate.

Don’t focus on it too much. I know it's uncomfortable, but you're doing great. He reassured her. The Doctor could detect her shuffling around in her head, unsure of what to do with him. Her mind rocked back and forth, trying to settle but failed to find a definitive steadiness. It was becoming clear that her consciousness was actively rejecting him.

Doctor, I can’t… I can’t see the end of you, She said, confused and frustrated at her restless mind.

The Doctor slipped out of her mind with ease, and immediate relief filled her empty mind. Opening her eyes, she was met with the Doctor’s concerned expression. He didn't have to be inside her to understand that he was disappointed, and she felt angry with herself for not being able to accept him. This was the Doctor! He wasn't someone she wanted to reject and yet her stupid human brain couldn't fathom him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to kick you out.” She says defeatedly.

“Oh Rose, you did wonderful for your first time. You’re stronger than you think, you just need some practice. You have the facilities, you just need some guidance.” He said, lightly stroking the side of her face in reassurance.

“Oh yes. I can…be that guidance–if you want.”

“That would be lovely, Doctor.” She smiled. “Can we try again? I’m ready to have another go at it.”

“I don’t want to exhaust you.” He said, expression turning worrisome. “Telepathy on an inexperienced mind can be extremely mentally taxing. It's like doing a full workout on a muscle you've never used.”

“I feel fine. Let me try again. Please?” Shaking off the lingering feeling of tiredness.

“Alright.” He yields after a moment, returning his fingers to her temples. “Try not to think about the size or weight of me this time, and instead focus on maintaining the bubble of your mind. Instead of moving around to accommodate me, think of it as simply stretching a muscle a little longer. Almost like…a mental hug.” He says, trying to find an analogy she would resonate with.

“Okay, I think I understand.” She says, and he's skimming the edges of her mind again.

I'm entering, alright? He notifies, and she feels him protrude into her bubble again, but less intrusive this time. Instead of the splitting, cutting feeling of him entering her, it feels as if the entrance was already there, and he's simply slipping past it.

That’s correct. The first time is always the most difficult. The more we do this, the easier it is for me to come in and out. He says, and it echoes through her.

Once she feels the entirety of him flow into her, she concentrates on maintaining the shape of her bubble, keeping it perfectly round as she gently allows for the bloating to continue. It's difficult and uncomfortable, but feels less smothering than the first time. Eventually, she finds an equilibrium and holds on to it, finally maintaining a stable balance between her mind and his. Turning her attention to the Doctor, she feels his aura for the first time. It’s warm and wise, radiating positive, encouraging energy with each beat of his hearts. It's wonderful, and she basks in his light.

I-I can see you! She thinks.

And I can see you, Rose Tyler. He replies.

This is unlike anythin’ I’ve ever experienced. It feels…good. Really good. You’ve been keeping this from me this whole time ?

Well, it's not like this was something I could have just asked offhandedly…He mentally blushes.

Why not ?

Aside from the fact that you made it abundantly clear that you disliked things messing with your head, it's an extremely intimate thing to ask of someone… especially for me. He admits, and she swears a tinge of arousal seeps through their connection.

Oh.

Both of them go quiet for a moment, as Rose realises this is the time lord equivalent of foreplay and the Doctor realises that she’s realised. Before she can stop herself, her mind wanders how a telepathic element would play into their sex life as lewd scenes of them in different positions and locations flash through her mind. Immediately after realising her mistake, she feels the Doctor react rather heavily to it, a heavy exhale escaping his lips. Her eyes fly open and her hand covers her mouth.

“I’m sorry Doctor, I didn’t mean to–”

“It's okay, Rose. It's just been a very, very long time since someone I…I care about has been inside my mind like this. It's just a bit overstimulating is all.”

“I see.” She says smally, trying to ignore his pleading erection between them. “Do you need a mo’?”

“No–no I'll be alright. We don’t have the time to…” She looks at him with an innocent expression and his blush deepens, “Never mind. Let's try this one more time.”

Bringing his fingers to her temples for a 3rd time, he gives her no warning before slipping past her entrance. She takes a moment to stretch around him again before finding a balance. He finds her newfound pride adorable.

Remember what I said before about your memories ?

You said you wouldn’t be able to see them unless you purposefully went looking for them. She replies dutifully.

Yes, very good. However, I'll need some help this time since you can’t remember anything.

Whatever you need me to do, Doctor.

I need you to think of the very last thing you remember before passing out. Think hard.

“Male 238 and Female 86 have approximately 15 minutes remaining to complete consummation until reassignment.”

The announcement interrupts her focus, and he can feel her mind begin to shift back and forth with discontentment once again.

Don’t listen to it, we’re not out there. We’re in here. You’re okay. He sends warmth and motivation through the bond.

Worry and panic transforms into hope and calm, and she finds her balance once again. She turns her attention to the last thing she remembered before waking up into the prison cell. Her eyebrows furrow for a moment as she remembers it wasn't a pleasant one. It was something she was trying to run away from, and now she had to paint a perfect picture of it. She never wanted to argue with the Doctor, and it was something she deeply regretted.

It’s okay, I regret it too. He says, as if standing beside her looking through the window of the memory. We all want to forget the bad memories, but we all fail to recognize that they're just as important as the good ones. People and their relationships are forged from the good and the bad memories. Nobody learns anything by just having good experiences. Don’t feel ashamed of it.

Swallowing her fear, she proceeded. Colours of that fateful day were blotched onto the blank canvas of her mind. She remembered the way the indigo grass wisped in the wind, and how the warm sun glowed against a crimson horizon. Such a beautiful planet should have never been given to such horrible people.

“There are some people in society that find opportunities in suffering. They disguise their actions as ‘help’, when in reality, it was just a way to express their evil with public compliance.” She hears the Doctor speak beside her, and finds that they've manifested in physical forms within her memory.

“How…?”

“I’m helping out a bit.” He says, turning towards her.

“Well if we’re here, where's the other ‘us’?”

He looks past her and nods his head. Turning around, she watches as two of them, 8 days younger, make their way through the field. She can feel the emotional tension radiating between them, and it makes her heart ache.

“Can they see us?” She asks as they begin to bicker in the distance.

“No. It's just a figment of your imagination.” The Doctor watches as he stumbles around his words, frustrated with his own feelings. While grappling with his own trepidation, he ended up hurting her in the process. It was clear to him watching from afar. “I’m sorry.” He said, reliving the mistakes his former self made.

“It's okay, you already apologised. It's me who should be saying sorry.” She said, wincing as they argued.

“No, you don't. You never did anything wrong. I've been running away from my problems for too long.”

“What do you mean?” She looked up, brushing away her hair as it danced in the wind.

“I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like I didn’t want you or even that you were replaceable, because the truth is you're not. You're anything but. And it scares me. That's why I do these stupid, irresponsible things–like partying in France–all just to run away from it–from you. And I know it's not fair to you, but I am just so, so scared of losing you…” his gaze drops vacantly to the grass beneath them, “Maybe there was a part of me that hoped you would walk out on your own.”

And there it was, the thing he feared most; telling her. There were so many things he wanted to tell Rose. He wanted to tell her that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He wanted to tell her that he loved her recklessly with abandon. Sometimes he would even imagine telling her these things, and tried not to focus on the timelines he foresaw where she responded enthusiastically. He knew better than everyone that they weren’t fixed, and that the future is never so concrete. So he decided to bury it all. If he never spoke about it or gave in, maybe there was a chance she would grow tiresome of his avoidance and leave. It would hurt, but it would be for the better. Maybe she would once they were free of their current situation, but it was past the point of return for him. Nothing could erase the mark she left on him tonight, and he didn't want to erase it either. His internal barriers were crumbling, and he was confident she could feel his insecurities.

Despite this, Rose simply reached a hand to his face and sent feelings of love and admiration his way, learning from him earlier. Raising his head, he was met with the woman he loved offering nothing but a look of empathy. “I told you, I’m never gonna leave you.”

For just a moment, the Doctor could see timelines contract and expand around her as her eyes glowed a familiar gold. And before he could take the time to understand what it all meant, it was gone, and Rose’s deep brown eyes were looking back at him. The memory faded into darkness and their physical forms dissipated.

Doctor? Something wrong? She asked, detecting his unease.

I…don’t know. Something to check when we're back on the TARDIS. For now, let's focus on your memory. He said, quickly sweeping away the dreadful feeling that Bad Wolf persisted in Rose.

I don’t see anything, though.

Yes you do. It's small, but it's there. Concentrate.

In the emptiness of her mind, Rose focused on any abnormalities. The Doctor was right, she could feel something was missing. She mentally traced the edges of her mind, feeling around for any anomalies. The feeling felt similar to trying to remember a dream she knew happened, but just couldn't place the events. And then she found it; there was a gap between the known and forgotten, and in between it was where the lost time went. The Doctor had sensed she found the hole, and dove into it, dragging her along with him.

It all happened so fast, she hardly had time to process it before it was over. A bright light entered her gaze, and she flinched at the harshness of it. Flashes of a medical examination table, being strapped down, and being examined like a lab rat flashed through her mind. Researchers, whose faces were constantly morphing and unstable within the context of her memory, entered and exited the room she was staying in, continuously hooking up bags of fluid being fed through her arm intravenously. Some were painful, some were harmless and she remembered it all–every prick and pinch. Conversations happened all around her, but none of them mattered. She felt numb and paralyzed, lying beneath the harsh white light. It never turned off and she never turned off. On the 5th day a doctor came in and asked her questions about meaningless things. She never responded until the Doctor was mentioned, telling her that they could save the planet if she agreed to do the procedure with him. Unknowing of the horrific torture they did to many other species, she agreed. On the 6th day, a guard arrived to take her to a holding cell. Once the restraints were lifted, she bolted out of the room and down a hallway. Bare feet slapping against the cold, tiled floor, she burst into a random laboratory seven doors down to the left, frantically searching for any sign of the Doctor. Instead she was met with alien researchers studying his sonic screwdriver. Before she could yell out his name, something cold and metal reached her temples and pain ripped through her mind like a violent crack of thunder. It’s unforgiving wrath was mind melting and she felt the Doctor inhale sharply as he experienced it through her eyes. And then there was nothing.

The Doctor carefully lifted his fingertips from the sides of her head, careful not to stir any residual phantom pain from the memory. In complete shock, Rose was in a state of reliving every touch over and over again as tears swelled in her eyes. Even though the Doctor had left her mind, she felt herself disassociate from what was reality and what was memory.

“Rose?”

When she didn’t respond he decided to reach out to her mentally before she swatted his hands away from her face with a look of fear. It was clear she was experiencing some form of post traumatic stress, and he could feel her heart race with terror. Panic gnawed at the back of his mind as he tried to think of a solution to ground her, being all too familiar with the feeling.

“Rose…let me help you.” He attempted, speaking in a calm tone.

“No…no! Stay away from me!” She grit out, struggling to crawl out of the bed.

“Rose. It's me. I’m not going to hurt you.” he looked intently in her eyes, “You’re not there anymore. You’re here with me, okay?”

When her expression began to soften, he knew she was beginning to calm back down. Very carefully, he reached out to cradle her face, avoiding her temples. “Listen to me. You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay. Just stay with me…please.”

After a few moments her breathing stabilised and her tense, guarded position softened. “I…I’m sorry Doctor, I didn’t mean to push you away…” she sobbed, feeling immediate guilt.

“It’s okay.” He simply said, pulling her into a tight embrace. “Don’t apologise, I understand. I understand more than anyone.”

“Male 238 and Female 86 have approximately 5 minutes remaining to complete consummation until reassignment.”

“Awfully fast that would have been.” He said and she chuckled, relief blooming in his chest.

“What’s gonna happen? I don't…I don’t wanna go back there.”

“Well, now that I know exactly where my sonic is, we’re going to escape. As far as how I plan to do that, I’m not sure yet. The scientist that was in charge of my examinations ensured that you would be kept in a safe holding room until they could test you for pregnancy, different from your other one. As for me… he said I would be free, but I have a creeping suspicion they have more in mind. They wanted my genetic code, and it would take more than one offspring to successfully interweave it into the general population.”

“About that…I’m not…I wasn’t on birth control, Doctor.”

“Theoretically, it should be impossible but we can give you a contraceptive when we're back on the TARDIS, if that would make you feel better.” He said, and she nodded in agreement.

What he failed to mention though, was that Rose wasn't entirely human. Her biology and DNA were permanently altered the moment she became Bad Wolf, and he had yet to see the effects of it. Despite the backwards logic these scientists used, there had to be a reason why the compatibility test came back positive. Perhaps they were more alike than he originally thought.

“I think the best course of action is to comply with them until tomorrow night. Like I said before, I have their patrol patterns memorised so it would be easier for us to escape that way.”

Rose stayed silent, swimming with worry about being away from the Doctor. She didn’t want to wait, and she certainly didn’t want to be thrown into another examination room.

“Hey.” He called, sensing her reluctance. “No matter what happens, we’ll be okay. I promise you it's only for a day. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“...Okay.” She agreed, and they were tying their gowns back on before the guards came in.

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

As the Doctor had told her, Rose was brought to a holding room. While she didn’t appreciate her extended status as a prisoner, she was thankful that these quarters did not resemble her old ones. Her previous cell had been bleak and devoid of character but this room was more inviting and lively. There were even books to read and paintings to admire to satisfy her boredom. Not that any of it mattered in the grand scheme of captivity, but she appreciated the change of scenery.

“You will remain here for the duration of your pregnancy.” The guard said sternly from the doorway. “I will take my leave now.”

“Wait! Am I supposed to be alone here?” She asked, surprised there were no further instructions.

“A nurse will be assigned to you within the next hour. She will attend to any needs you have. Now if you'll excuse me.” The guard took a step back, closing the door and making sure to lock it.

A nurse… Rose thought curiously to herself. In all her previous encounters, the aliens that had examined her were male. Perhaps there was some common ground she could find to relate to the nurse. This planet didn't seem to look kindly upon females, and if her suspicions were correct, this nurse had likely bore the burden of its prejudice like so many others.

However, until she could test her theories, the room remained to be explored. There was a door in the corner of the room that led to a bathroom, large, white and spacious. Almost as big as her old prison cell. On the left side of the bed was a dresser full of clothes that looked much warmer and comfortable than her scrap of a hospital gown she had been wearing. Suddenly becoming acutely aware of the sweat and grime she had accumulated in the past hour, she decided it was a good idea to hop in the bath.

It felt wonderful to finally feel hot water for the first time in 7 days, and she felt completely and utterly safe within its embrace. The porcelain tub was spacious and made her feel small but protected.

Within the confines of comfort, she felt her mind begin to drift along its edges and venture into dangerous territories of worry. It was impossible to keep it tucked away in the back of her mind when it called out to her, demanding her attention.

She had sex with the Doctor.

She had thoroughly, properly shagged the Doctor.

And perhaps the most terrifying of all, she could be pregnant.

Rose slid further into the water, trying to sink her way out of her own thoughts. She knew that the dynamics between her and the Doctor were tense before–maybe even irreparably changed, but now there was no denying it. Whatever relationship they used to have was long gone, now replaced with a terrifying amalgamation of feelings and hardships. To say it was intimidating was a criminally large understatement.

It seemed she had a massive problem on her hands, one that left her with more questions than the first. Before, she had no way to gauge whether he ever saw her in an attractive light. Now she knew, and it was throwing everything she understood for a loop.

Rose knew with certainty that the Doctor was not going to leave her, which left only one other possibility; she stays with him…and they sort out their newfound relationship. He expressed enthusiasm for teaching her telepathy and even continuing their intimacy, but something irked her.

Rose had known for a long time that she loved the Doctor. She had loved him more than she had loved anyone else. She loved him in his old face, new face, and she would continue loving him in any other new faces to come. But did the Doctor feel the same? There was a difference between feeling attraction and feeling love. And if the Doctor did love her, what was to guarantee it wasn't just in a best-mate-you’re-kind-of-attracted-to sort of way? The question made her feel sick. After what happened tonight, she couldn't bear to continue hiding her feelings any longer.

How much longer did she have, anyways? The Doctor could live on forever while her lifetime was fixed. Even if the Doctor did want her now, what's to say he wouldn't in 30 years? It was an awful question, one she felt despicable for even thinking. The Doctor wasn't as shallow as her looks, and it was a crime to his character to think that way. An image of Rose as an old lady and the Doctor, dashing as ever, flashed through her mind, causing her to shiver.

“What am I even thinking?” She muttered allowed, pull yourself together, Rose. There’s more important things at hand right now.

Trying to wash off her shame and guilt, she scrubbed at her skin. Exiting the tub, she dressed herself with grey sweats and walked out of the bathroom, jumping at the nurse that had appeared.

“I’m sorry miss, didn’t mean to startle you.” She said, “Have a seat. Please.”

Obliging, Rose noticed that the females of this species were smaller than the males, closer to the size of large human males. The nurse was not young and within the lens of human ageing, she looked to be in her mid 50s. Frail and sun damaged hands reached for a clipboard that hung in the pocket of her coat.

“What’s your name, dear?”

“Rose. Rose Tyler.”

After writing for a moment, she stopped and turned her gaze towards the window. The night's darkness had shrouded the city but it continued to glow an array of colours.

“I just wanted to tell you how thankful I am that you’re doing this.” She finally said, turning back to Rose. “How thankful we all are.”

Rose smiled, but it was devoid of enthusiasm. It was clear that the woman meant what she said with good intentions but it still reminded Rose that she had no say in the matter.

“My husband and I were trying so hard for a child in my younger years. But we were never…successful.” She mumbled with disdain. “It means a lot that we’re being given a second chance. Our race will live on because of you.” She smiled, and Rose shivered.

“You’re welcome…” she said, swallowing the need to argue.

“Now, I just need to run a few check ups, Miss Tyler. You won't feel a thing.”

She nodded and the nurse began to hover a device over her body, taking notes about its readings. After a few moments of awkward silence, she couldn’t help herself. “What’s your name?”

“My name?” She looked up, stunned as if it was the first time anyone had ever bothered. “My name is Keris, Miss. But you need not address me that. Just ‘Nurse’ will do.” She smiled warmly.

“Everyone’s got a name Keris. We all deserved to be called it.”

“Well, I appreciate your generosity, Miss. You’re too kind.”

“Keris, let me ask you. What do you think happens to the girls who can't get pregnant here?”

This time, Keris looked up and her expression was one of seriousness. “Erm, no idea, Miss. I’m sure they’re provided for in a different facility.”

“Have you ever thought to ask yourself the question?” Rose pressed. “Even thought about it?”

“It’s out of my jurisdiction, miss. Something I shouldn't speak about.” She resumed reading her scanner.

“Is that what they told you?”

“Erm, who are you referring to?”

“Your superiors. The men you work for. Did they tell you not to ask questions?”

Setting down her device, the nurse inhaled a deep breath. “To tell you the truth of it Miss, yes. And I have no desire to seek out knowledge I serve no use learning. Now please, stay still.”

Leaning back into her bed, Rose sighed. How could someone be so willingly ignorant to their own oppression? “What if I told you there was another way?”

“Sorry?”

“I said, what if there was a better solution than this? One that didn’t involve forcefully impregnating innocent girls for the betterment of society?”

“I think if there was a different way, we would have found it by now, Miss. And I would prefer it if you didn’t use that term.” She said, and Rose knew she had struck something within Keris.

“What? ‘Forcefully impregnate’?” Kerise’s expression wavered. “Rape?”

“T-that's enough!” Keris shouted.

Rose watched as Keris scrambled to pick up the pieces of her shattered composure. She had a feeling there was more to this woman than what meets the eye. Something had happened to her, and Rose was pretty sure it had something to do with this facility.

“Keris? You alright? You know you can tell me what happened, right? S’not like I've got anyone to tell here.”

Keris bounced back and forth between opening up and putting the mask back on and Rose could see the conflict in her eyes. “I…can’t.”

“What happened to you, Keris?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” And like a light switch, Rose watched the nurse throw her mind in reverse, completely burying any evidence of struggle on her face.

“I don’t think that’s true.”

“You must be tired, Miss. Your readings show elevated cortisol levels. Perhaps it is best that I leave you to rest.”

“You can't be serious–”

“--Goodnight, Miss.” Keris hurriedly shuffled out of the room.

Falling back onto the bed, Rose groaned in frustration. She thought she had been so close to finding out the truth, but it seemed like she was miles away from any meaningful connection with the Keris. It was clear she had been brainwashed, mentally chained into submission by the evil men that ran the facility. It was going to take a little more coaxing to get her to tell her story. It had to do with this place, it had to .

She was right about one thing though, Rose was exhausted. She refused to yield to the Doctor’s warnings about mental exertion when practising telepathy. As exciting as it was, it had worn her thin. Even though she was tired, she didn’t want to sleep. It felt wrong to let her guard down in this place, and she knew she would never properly fall asleep with her mind heavy with worry. Maybe a book would help her.

Walking over to the bookshelf, she looked through the titles with heavy eyelids. Many had boring titles, and some even looked like propaganda for the New Grand Republic. Not a very creative catalogue … she thought to herself before something caught her attention in her peripheral vision. It was only for a split second, a mere frame in her mind–but she didn’t miss it. Something glimmered with reflection on the top shelf. Books were not reflective.

Moving the existing books out of the way, a small black device fell from their crevices and onto the ground. Picking it up and blowing off the dust, Rose shined it in the light. It was the unmistakable lens of a camera. She was being watched, and so was that nurse.

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

As he had suspected, the Doctor was not immediately released upon shagging Rose. Instead, he was brought back to his original examination room to wait for Dr. Kennai to come in. Not trusting him to stay put by himself, one of his arms was handcuffed to the bed. While it was more comfortable than being strapped down to a table, he was still unappreciative of the restraint.

31 minutes and 7 seconds had passed since the guards had left him there, and in his freetime he had the opportunity to face his actions of the past hour. A lot had happened, and even for his superior time lord brain, it was going to take a while to fully comprehend the impact of what they had done.

First and foremost, the Doctor and Rose had sex. He and Rose had sex . It was the most wonderfully spectacular and terrifying thing he’d ever experienced. In all honesty, the situation could have gone much worse in many different ways. She could have refused him, yet she didn’t. She also could have been unenthusiastic, but it was very clear she was definitely affected by him. This led him to two conclusions; she was already attracted to him and she already wanted to have sex with him.

As exciting as the thought was, it would be permissive of him to assume that was what she wanted going forward. Not only that, but it begged the question of whether he should even allow it himself. Becoming physically intimate without a declaration of love was going to be extremely hard for him, and it would destroy him if she left.

If, he thought. There was an overarching problem on top of everything else. Rose was not entirely Rose anymore, proven by the compatibility test and whatever strange encounter he had inside her mind. But that’s impossible , he had taken every last bit of the vortex out of her mind on Gamestation. That amount of exposure to the heart of the TARDIS should have killed her.

Maybe it did , a dark part of his mind whispered to him, and he shivered. Something wasn’t adding up. When he was inside of her mind he detected no abnormalities. As far as he could tell, she was just a human with a little bit more exposure to telepathy (he could thank the TARDIS for that).

And finally, the Doctor found it incredibly hard to contain his excitement over their recent mental bond. When the Doctor had brought Rose aboard the TARDIS, there was one thing he forgot to factor in; how exhilarating a young, pink and yellow human would be to have around, always teasing and making him smile. She was an addictive substance to his touch starved brain and body. It took months to construct his composure around her without having to run off and deal with a certain situation down south. Having her very essence surround his mind and swallow him completely…was a feeling he could not possibly purge from his mind even if he wanted to. Questions of ethics and allowance meant nothing when everything in him insistently begged for more. The Doctor was drowning in her, and she wasn't even in the same room as him.

One thing he knew with confidence; they had a lot to talk about once they were back on the TARDIS. A knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts, and Dr. Kennai stepped through holding a clipboard. “How are you, Doctor?”

“Freedom tastes lovely, what can I say.” he remarked with sarcasm, jiggling the handcuffs against the bed railing. “How is Rose?”

“Quite the romantic, you are.” The scientist chuckles wryly. “Rose is fine. She is being taken care of in the maternity ward.”

“Was that before or after you forcefully examined her and wiped her memory again for seemingly no reason.” He asked, hoping to rouse the scientist.

“We did nothing of the sort. Her pregnancy will be tested in two weeks. There is no need for invasive procedures and as I said before, the nature of her memory loss was unintentional. We have our own way of checking consummation took place.”

“You sick bastards rigged the room with a mic, didn't you?" The Doctor asks, expression twisted and sour.

"Would you have rather it been a camera?" He asks rhetorically. “Doctor, we seem to have a problem on our hands.” Dr. Kennai said, placing the clipboard on the bed beside the Doctor. “It seems as though one of our researchers made a slight lapse in judgement. In order to successfully incorporate your genetic code into the population, I’m afraid we will require more than one sample.” His eyes flicker to the clipboard and back to the Doctor. “Everything you need to know is in those papers.”

The Doctor did not bother to pick up the clipboard.

“I see you are already aware then. What do you say, Doctor?”

“What compels you to believe I would ever agree to do what you say again?” The Doctor surveyed him with fury in his eyes.

“I had a feeling you would say that.” Dr. Kennai reached to pick up his clipboard, flipping through papers until settling on one and handing it back to the Doctor. “Those are all the compatible female candidates. I will give you a day and you will tell me your decisions tomorrow evening.”

“I will not .” The Doctor scoffed, tossing the clipboard aside.

“I’m afraid you do not have a choice, Doctor.” Dr. Kennai reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out a radio transmitter. “I have men ready and waiting for me to give the order to harm your mate.”

“You expect me to believe that? You’re telling me you went through all of this just to kill your only successful subject?”

“You are mistaken, we have no intentions to kill her. However, we can erase more than a week's memory. You do the math, Doctor.” Dr. Kennai smiled, evil and cynical, and for the first time the Doctor understood just how tangled they had become in his web of depravity. “You may also forget whatever escape plan you have. The flaws in our night shift rotation have been corrected.”

Rage began to boil in the Doctor’s throat. His hearts raced with vengeance at what the scientist was suggesting. “I was going to spare you all. I was seriously going to come back with a cure to your problem but it's clear to me you don’t deserve one. You deserve to rot out of existence!”

“We don’t need your ‘ cure’ when we already have one. I trust the concreteness of science more than the ramblings of a madman with false promises. Good night, Doctor.” Dr. Kennai left the room, slamming the door behind him.

A deafening silence filled the room as he slumped back against the bed in defeat. He scoffed at the irony of Dr. Kennai calling him a madman. Sure, he was–but not like this. This was not “science”, this was insanity. There was one thing he hated doing more than anything in the world; lying to Rose. He had promised her it would only be one day, but there was no way he was going to risk her life now. Sure, he could always go into her mind and find her memories, but that kind of memory loss would have unforeseen damage on her mind. She wouldn’t be the same person anymore, it would fry her brain. The Doctor knew the pain would be unimaginable and he winced at the memory of her pain over just a week’s loss. Despite all this, he had one last card to play that the scientist didn’t know about, or at least didn't know the name to.

His sonic.

Chapter 5: The Escape

Chapter Text

Chapter V

─── ⋅ ∙ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅ ───

The Escape

Soft sounds of Keris’s medical scanner fill Rose’s peripheral hearing as she begins to wake up. The morning light is warm and the crimson sky casts a beautiful copper glow on the city from her window. She wipes sleep from her eyes as Keris takes notes of the scanner’s readings.

“Good morning, miss.” Keris says, not a hint of yesterday's conversation in her demeanour. “How are you feeling today?”

“Fine…I guess.” She sits up and looks at the tray of breakfast brought before her. It seemed to be two eggs (certainly not from a chicken, given their blue shade) and a depressing piece of bread. Heeding to the Doctor’s warnings about the food, she picks at the eggs and nibbles on the bread. It's stale and flavourless.

“Something wrong?” The nurse asks, noticing her supposed lack of appetite.

“You tell me.” Rose simply says, halfway through a bite of bread.

“If the food is not to your liking I can request a different dish.” She says, and Rose feels irritated. Mornings were never her strong suit.

“Doesn’t matter what they give me. M’not gonna eat it.” She says, pushing the tray away once she's had enough bread. “Unless it's more bread. I like the bread.” She smiles sarcastically at the nurse.

“You need a well balanced meal with lots of nutrients, Miss. I can’t just give you bread.”

“You mean lots of drugs?” Rose murmurs, and the nurse’s expression turns sour for a moment. “But you already knew that didn’t you? Just like you know about–”

“Miss!” Keris interrupted, “I would rather not have this conversation.”

“Me neither!” Rose says enthusiastically, jumping out of bed. “I’d rather take a bath. Would you care to help me, Kris? My foot hurts.”

“Of course, Miss.” She says hesitantly, surprised by Rose’s sudden outburst.

Rose skips into the bathroom, no sign of injury, and shuts the door behind them. She quickly begins rummaging through the cabinets and crevices, in search of something.

“May I ask what you are looking for, Miss?”

“A camera, Keris.” She replies, shutting the cabinet doors and turning towards the nurse. “A camera. Just like the one I found in my room. You wouldn’t happen to know about that, would you?”

Keris is silent, and Rose returns to her search efforts. She climbs onto the toilet and begins to unscrew the light fixture above it to check there. “Something that happened rather frequently while travelling with the Doctor…” the light fixture comes off, and Rose pulls out a tiny microphone tied around the bulb, “...is that we got into trouble more times that I can count. Sometimes, we were even thrown in jail.” She continues, screwing the light fixture back on and hopping off the toilet, “And if there’s one thing I learned from my experience in captivity…it's to always look for a hidden camera or microphone.” She finishes, and drops the mic in the toilet, flushing it.

“Now Keris, either you’re the most gullible nurse they've ever hired or you know a lot more than you’re letting on. I’m willing to bet a couple of quid it's the latter.”

“There’s no point. You’ll never escape no matter what I tell you.” Keris finally responds.

“I knew it! You do know something!”

“I’m not telling you anything.” Keris says, stubborn and stern.

“But why? Why give the men in charge what they want? Do you have any self respect? Any morals?”

“Of course I do, Miss. My morals tell me to tend to your needs for the duration of your pregnancy.”

“And ignore all the women that are being abused–”

“Please stop–”

“You’re really just going to turn a blind eye? How is rape good for the population? Because I don’t see a single improvement–”

“Stop! Please!” Keris shouted, throwing her medical scanner on the floor with a loud crack. “I-It is working–it will work!”

“Do you really believe that, Keris? Honestly, ask yourself, do you really believe that?”

The nurse is silent, but Rose can see the storm of internal conflict in her eyes.

“There’s no one listening here but me. You can tell me. Whatever happened to you, you can tell me. It’s alright, really.” She offers, softening her expression. “Even if it doesn’t help me, everyone deserves to be heard and something tells me there haven't been many people that have listened to you. But I’m here–I want to listen to you, so please, tell me what happened to you.”

“I was just like you once.” She said after a moment, giving in. “My mother was working on a cargo ship that brought supplies to this planet when she was taken. So many bad things happened to her…and she eventually conceived me. She died in childbirth, and it was put on me to keep up the lineage, so when I became of age I was taken to the same facility and…” she sniffled, several decades of baggage clawing its way out of her, “they tried to put a baby inside of me. But something was wrong, and my body was too unstable for pregnancy.”

“I’m so sorry Keris.” Rose whispered.

“Afterwards they kicked me out. And I was left unwanted, soiled, and a mut. I got an education and became the only thing my kind was good for. A nurse. I hoped that somehow my efforts would prevent the same mistakes from happening. Which is why it's so important for you to succeed, Miss!”

“But don’t you see how wrong it is? I had no choice! I was incredibly lucky that I…I knew the man that was assigned to me–but what if I didn’t? What about all the other girls who didn’t?”

“It–it doesn't matter, they don’t matter anymore. You’re our best hope! You’re our only hope! You’re the first promising patient we’ve seen in years! I’m sorry, but it just has to be this way.”

“ No –no it doesn’t Keris! What happens when I’m not pregnant? What happens when I can’t get pregnant? How can you remember your mother and yourself and seriously think you’re doing this for a good cause?”

“But it's for the betterment–”

“Betterment of society? You really don’t think there's another way? That’s what they've been telling you! It's all lies! Look, I have a friend, the Doctor, he can help us find a cure! One that spares the lives of all these poor girls!”

“I’m sure your friend is a smart man, Miss, but I’m afraid my faith lies in you. I have to go.” She says, and she pivots towards the door.”

“Wait!” Rose shouts, reaching for her shoulder. “You told me the story of you and your mum. Do you think it's fair what happened to her?”

“No, I don’t.” The nurse replies after a few seconds, refusing to meet Rose’s gaze.

“Then fine. You can leave and we can pretend like none of this ever happened. You keep your job and I’ll shut up. But I want you to remember Keris. Remember the pain you went through. Remember what it feels like to grow up without a mother, only to be dragged back to the place that killed her and asked to do the same thing. I want you to imagine how many other young girls will grow up the same way because nobody stands up against them . Just do that for me, okay? There's a better way–there always has been. Ask yourself if the men in charge have always had your best interests in mind or if they've just been treating you like their science experiments this whole time.”

Keris shakes free of Rose’s grip and exits the bathroom, leaving Rose alone. Maybe, if she was lucky, Keris would start to see things her way.

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

The Doctor did not sleep. He hadn’t really slept the whole week, aside from being forcefully sedated. How could he sleep, really, with everything he had to process the last 13 and a half hours. Between Rose and Kennai–his mind was running a million miles an hour trying to come up with a realistic solution that prevented him from following what his captors wanted. His findings were…sparse. He could not possibly fathom himself complying with Dr. Kennai’s demands and…doing horrible things…to another girl. Rose was quite enough, and he hadn’t even been able to unpack that situation with her yet. There was no way he was going to give in. He would kill himself before he did and Kennai knew he would.

That’s why the son of a bitch dangled Rose’s life over his head like a Christmas ornament he could crush in the palm of his enlarged, gloved hand. Dr. Kennai knew he had to put the one thing he loved on the line for him to actually listen. The Doctor would die a thousand times just to protect her, and the scientist was taking full advantage of his vulnerability.

With no warning, the door to his room opened, and the dreaded scientist himself waltzed in as if secretly relishing in his ability to control them like puppets. He was happy, enjoying himself even, and it made the Doctor want to rip his spine out and let the vortex incinerate his mind to ashes.

“Have we made a decision yet, Doctor?”

The Doctor weighed his options. Truthfully, there was a moment where he did look at the list. There were several hundred names, and he didn’t recognize a single one. Kennai was giving him the illusion of choice, when in reality it may as well have been a blind draw. Any name he answered would taste bitter and foul on his lips, and he couldn’t bring himself to actually participate in whatever sick game Kennai wanted him to play. But if the Doctor refused to answer, what was stopping him from sedating him again and throwing him in the dreaded room with a random girl. Bargaining with the alien was like talking to a brick wall, and it left him with no clear path of action. His only conclusion was to somehow buy time before the inevitable.

“Erm. Well, of course I did–but, I was wondering if you had any other questions for me.”

“I beg your pardon?” The scientist asks.

“Well, you know, you do have 900 years of Timelord brilliance at your feet, I’m sure there’s something else you could get out of me beside my sem*n.”

Dr. Kennai seemed to actually consider it for a moment, and the Doctor was in disbelief. Perhaps there was some sort of compromise he could reach if he played his cards right. “There must be something , I mean, you lot did rummage through my pockets. Not a single question about what’s in them? Not even the whole ‘bigger on the inside’ thing?”

“That was…most intriguing.” Kennai remarked.

“I know you want answers, and here I am! I’m an open book!”

“You’re stalling.” Kennai says, and the Doctor doesn’t back down.

“So what if I am? Clearly there’s something you want to know, so ask away.”

Kennai squints his eyes, searching for deception in the Doctor’s. “There are a few things I would like to know,” he starts, “but if you lie to me, your mate’s memories are mine.”

The Doctor swallows hard. “Then I encourage you to keep an open mind. My species is hardly ordinary.”

“As I have seen, Doctor.” After a moment, he reaches a gloved hand into his lab coat and pulls out his sonic. The Doctor keeps his expression neutral. It was for the better if Kennai didn’t know how important it was to his escape.

“My team and I have been analysing this particular item of yours, and we can’t quite seem to determine its purpose. It can emit several different wavelengths and frequencies, but what is it for?”

“It’s a medical scanner.” He answered, only half lying. It was indeed a medical scanner…and a bunch of other things, but what the scientist didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. “Would you mind if I…” he gestured, offering to show him how it worked.

Reluctantly, the scientist handed him his sonic. While it would have been easy to disarm the alien in that moment, the Doctor decided it wasn’t worth the risk, especially if Rose’s life was on the line. Careful not to make any jarring moments, the Doctor flipped on his sonic and pointed it at Dr. Kennai, getting his body readings.

“Species is Lyro Honos, body temperature is 48.8 degrees Celsius, all organ systems seem to be functioning normally, and you have no infections or viruses.” The Doctor says but Kennai is unphased.

"Honestly Doctor, do you take me for an idiot? Anyone with basic knowledge of our species could have guessed that."

"You want more? Fine, take out your scanner and check me." He grinned, pointing the sonic at him again. "Heart rate is 96 beats per minute, blood pressure is 280 over 180, and your blood oxygen level is 88 percent. Go on then."

The Doctor watches as Kennai aims his scanner towards himself and his eyes widen.

“How can it tell you these things?” He asks, and the Doctor swells with pride, finally feeling like he gained back some semblance of control over the scientist.

“How badly do you want to know?” He asks, taking a risk.

Dr. Kennai scoffs in realisation. If he wanted to know more, he was going to have to give the Doctor what he wanted. “You know I can give the order whenever I want.”

“If you give the order, I still wouldn’t tell you even after it's done, so what’s the point? I’m not asking for much. Just time. And my clothes. And to see her. That’s it, that’s all I want.”

The scientist mulls over his words, pacing back and forth in the small confines of his room before stopping and facing the Doctor. “Alright Doctor, I will play this game with you. But if you lie to me, I will not hesitate to–”

“I know.”

To his surprise, he had successfully convinced Dr. Kennai to oblige with his requests. He was uncuffed from his bed and was brought to the lab he had seen when he had escaped to visit Rose a few nights prior. Guards threw him and his clothes in a bathroom and the Doctor was elated to find himself clean and dressed in his usual attire once again.

Opening the door to the lab, Dr. Kennai approached him with an unfamiliar device. “A precautionary measure.” He says, taking the Doctor’s wrist and slapping the device around it. “If you try to escape, it will shock you and alert me. It also monitors your heart rate…or heart rates. If you lie, we will know.”

It was at times like these the Doctor thanked all things holy for his superior control over his body. All he had to do was focus on keeping a consistent heart rate, and they wouldn't suspect a thing.

The lab of the facility was pharmaceutical and charmless. Several areas of the room were being used to test various substances. Machinery whined in the background and in the middle of it all was a group of engorged aliens studying his belongings. Some were simple knick-knacks, some were weapons, and the Doctor began to conjure up lies for all of them.

Dr. Kennai points to two scientists huddled around a tiny, elongated piece of machinery. “As you can see, we have been trying to replicate your medical scanner, but we keep failing. Perhaps you could offer some valuable insight.”

“Why are you letting me see all of this?” The Doctor asked, skeptical of Kennai’s willingness.

“Oh don’t worry, you won’t be leaving this lab with any memories of it.” He says, holding up his memory eraser and the Doctor tries not to laugh.

Their ‘memory eraser’ was extremely primitive. It was nothing more than a memory scrambler, sending electric pulses into the brain to scramble up signals. The memories are never truly erased, just scrambled. If Rose was given more time, she would have been able to recall the last week within days. It only became a problem when they were using their pathetic toy for longer periods. ‘Erasing’ her entire memories would require very strong eclectic pulses. It would literally fry her brain. But for the purposes of his lab experience, the Doctor figured it would be nothing more than a pinch.

Walking over to their frankly sad attempt to recreate his sonic, he reached in his pockets for his glasses, only to find that they were gone too. He turns to the scientist, annoyed. “Where are my specs?”

Kennai walks over to another station of the lab and brings him his glasses, mumbling “Apologies, Doctor. Please continue.”

Taking a closer look, the Doctor tried not to cringe. They did not understand Gallifreyan technology and it was an eyesore to look at. “May I?” He asks as he sits down, and Dr. Kennai nods.

The screwdriver's primary function was to emit ultrasonic sound to complete its functions. The aliens had figured this out, but used all the wrong power sources and conductors. The ratio was wrong, and it would never work properly to scan someone's body.

“Your wiring is wrong, the voltage to frequency ratio is all wrong, and your power conductor is incorrectly fit.” He says, garnering a few grumbles from the aliens in lab coats standing around him. “But I can fix it.”

“What needs to be done?” Kennai asks, and the Doctor shakes his head.

“You’ve got to promise me you’ll let me see her.” He says, and the scientist sighs.

“5 minutes.”

“Not enough. I want the whole night.”

“You–I will not allow that.” He says, flabbergasted.

“Then you wont get your medical scanner or anything else in this room. You can forget about it.”

Dr. Kennai lets out a frustrated groan, struggling to remain his composure as he contemplates the Doctor’s offer. “Fine. Fix the damn scanner and I’ll consider it.”

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

Keris had not returned for the remaining hours of daylight. Rose began to worry that she had permanently scared her off and that she had truly gotten nowhere with the nurse. Waiting for a pregnancy test was proving to be a much more boring task than she originally anticipated.

There was no way she was pregnant from the Doctor, right? It didn't make sense, all his talk about how different their biology was, it just didn't seem possible to her. He even agreed that it should have been impossible, but something wasn’t adding up. Why would she even be assigned to the Doctor if they weren’t biologically compatible? It made her stomach churn with worry, and the sooner she got that contraception on the TARDIS, the better.

Her free time during the day was spent worrying about pregnancy (among other things), flipping through propaganda books, watching the hustle and bustle of the city from her window, stretching, doing jumping jacks, doing handstands, taking a long bath after her mini-workout session, flipping through propaganda books again, trying to analyse the weird paintings on the wall, and pacing around her room. Every once in a while, she would jiggle the door handle to see if it had magically unlocked itself, but to no avail. There was no sign of Keris, no sign of the Doctor, and no sign of quelling her immeasurable boredom.

Rose rolled over into the sheets, groaning loudly into her pillow while beating the mattress with her fists. She felt useless–she was useless, trapped in her room. She was just expected to wait for the Doctor to come get her, and it was driving her a bit mad. He promised it was only for one night and she trusted him.

Judging how the sun had dipped below the horizon, leaving a blossoming array of red and purple in its wake, it was around 7 or 8. There was no sign of the Doctor.

A knock at her door caused Rose to jump up and run to it in excitement. Keris walked through. Although Rose was a little disappointed to see it wasn’t the Doctor, she was glad to finally have someone to talk to. “Hi Keris!” She grinned, and the nurse threw a suspicious gaze back.

“Is everything alright, Miss?”

“Oh, aside from my mind numbing boredom, everything's fine.”

“I see.” Keris says. “I…I have to run some tests on you.”

“Okay.” Rose says, and she notices that Keris is not the same as she was yesterday or this morning. “Is everything alright with you?” She asks, sitting on the bed.

“I’m…fine, Miss.” She says, and Rose is unconvinced.

Deciding not to press, she lays back and allows Keris to scan her body and take notes. Rose notices that the nurse’s polite expression has turned into one of harsh concentration. Crinkles of worry have formed on her face and her hands have a slight tremor to them. Something happened, and it wasn't their conversation a few hours ago. Someone had scared her. Rose looks past Keris at the bookshelf, taking a mental note of the camera hidden away. It wasn’t a good idea to bring it up right now.

“Keris, can you help me in the bathroom? The toilet doesn't work.”

“I will call maintenance.” She says, setting her medical scanner aside and reaching for her radio but Rose stops her.

“No, I mean I want you to help me. Not them.” She says, hoping the nurse picks up on her hint.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Miss.” She says flatly, picking up her scanner and resuming her progress.

“What happened?” Rose whispers.

Keris ignores her and simply continues scanning.

“I can’t help you if you don't tell me anything.” Rose whispers once more.

“That’s right. You can’t help me.” She responds, and it becomes clear to Rose that one of her superiors had a ‘talk’ with her.

“That's not true, Keris. I can help you! So please, tell me what happened. What did they say to you?” She whispered, gently stopping her medical scanner, forcing Keris to look her in the eye.

Keris frowned, and her expression contained a thousand words. Slowly, she shook her head and Rose knew she couldn’t say anything. Not right now, not right here.

They both jumped when another knock came from the door, and a male alien dressed in a lab coat walked through the door. Rose’s heart skipped a beat when the Doctor followed, dressed in his classic pinstripes.

“Doctor!” She shouted, running up to him and jumping in his arms.

“One night, Doctor. One night.” The alien said before vanishing. Keris followed him out the door.

“I…I missed you.” She said, rubbing her hands down his arms, feeling the familiar fabric of his suit beneath her fingertips. It was soft, comforting.

“Me too.” He said, hesitating a moment before dipping down to kiss her.

The kiss was chaste and both were unsure of their boundaries anymore, but Rose reciprocated regardless. Pulling away, an awkward silence settled between them, as neither knew what to say.

“Your room is a lot nicer than mine.” He remarked after a moment, and Rose giggled.

“God, not when you’ve been forced to stare at it with nothin’ to do for the whole day.” She says, and suddenly feels the need to hug the Doctor again, for fear he might vanish again if she didn’t.

“You alright?”

“No.” She says, muffled in the Doctor's clothes.

“Hey, it's alright. I’m here now, yeah?” He says, and Rose yelps when he sweeps her off her feet and carries her to the bed, sitting on the edge of it. “What’s wrong?”

“Just…a lot. I've been doing a lot of thinking. I guess I’m just…I don’t know, it’s stupid.” She bites her lip.

“There is nothing stupid about your feelings, Rose. You can tell me.”

She contemplates what she wants to say for a moment, and the Doctor seems to pick up on her reluctance. “Would you rather tell me inside here?” He asks, tapping the side of his head, and she nods.

The Doctor scoots closer to her and carefully hovers his fingers over the side of her head. “Are you feeling alright from yesterday? First time is always the most difficult.”

“Yeah. Just had a massive headache this morning, is all.”

Deciding she was fit, he rests his fingertips on her temples and attempts to reach out before she jerks away in pain. “Rose! Are you okay?”

“Yeah…I think I just,” she blinks several times, trying to regain her grasp on reality, “I had a flashback. I’m alright, Doctor, really.”

He frowns despite her determination. “It’s okay if you can’t. Remembering that sort of trauma can trigger these kinds of things. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re not hurting me. It’s just my silly brain playing tricks. Let me try again.” She says, grabbing his wrists and positioning him on the sides of her face.

The Doctor hesitates before reaching out again and is relieved to find she does not jerk away this time. He slips into her mind with ease, and she only takes a few seconds to adjust and accommodate him. Upon entering her bubble, the Doctor finds several changes, mainly in the worry department. She’s upset, scared, and frustrated. With no mental barriers to guard her feelings with, the Doctor finds it hard to ignore the negativity she unintentionally projects his way. Something to teach her in the future , he mentally notes to himself.

You're upset. He says, and he knows tears are beginning to swell in her eyes. He can feel the sting in his own eyes. Rose’s emotions were always so powerful.

Yes. I couldn’t tell you what about outside. There's a camera on the bookshelf. The Doctor resists the urge to get up and crush it.

There’s a nurse that visits me to take medical scans. I think she’s in trouble. I knew she knew more than she was letting on, and when she told me…I couldn’t believe they put her through such a thing. I just hate that she has to work for the same men that did these things to her and I–

Slow down Rose, slow down. Can you show me what she said? He asks, and images of Rose’s memory with the nurse flash through his mind. Ahh.

She was just like me, Doctor. And so was her mum. I know she wants to leave this place but when I spoke to her a moment ago…she had been intimidated, Doctor. These people are horrible. I want to leave.

I know, and I’m working on it. I think I’m close but I need another day.

“Day?” She asked aloud, breaking the mental connection with a snap. “You said we would leave tonight.”

The Doctor clenches his jaw as Rose’s anger settles in. This was the part he was dreading. “I know, but they threw something at me I had to take care of. But listen–I’ve been buying time, showing them how my sonic works just so they won't throw me in that room with another girl. I think–”

“You’ve been working with them?” Rose asks, betrayal clouding her face.

“I…yes, but only to stop them–”

“You’re seriously working with them after everything they did to me? To us ? Doctor, you can’t negotiate with these men! They don’t give and take, they just take!”

“It’s not real help, Rose.” He retorts. “I’m just giving them bits and pieces. And they let me see you, that sounds like a ‘give’ to me.”

“You’re missing my point.” She turned away, frustrated. “You’re still helping them. Like you’re their ally . You promised me. You promised me it was just for today.”

“I…” he trailed off and sighed. He had broken his promise, and Rose was hurt because of it. He hurt Rose. “You’re right. I broke my promise. I’m sorry.” He pulls Rose into a hug.

Reluctant at first, she gives in and holds onto him tightly. The Doctor would never intentionally hurt her. He didn’t do anything wrong. “I forgive you.” She said, inhaling the scent of his lingering cologne, left over from their last night aboard the TARDIS.

“Can we…go back inside my mind now? I really like the feeling of you in my head.” Rose asks, and the Doctor finds her persistence endearing. Rose Tyler likes telepathy. Rose Tyler likes telepathy with him. It made him giddy.

The Doctor enters her mind and is glad to see her worry has been mostly contained, however he notices that there’s something else. What’s wrong?

Oh…I didn’t know you could feel that. She says timidly.

If it's not something you want me to know about I can ignore it . He offers, but still wonders what could be bothering her.

It’s…silly. I really shouldn’t be worried about it. She says, trying to ignore the nagging feeling.

What did I just say about your feelings?

That they're not stupid… She repeats.

It’s okay if you don’t feel comfortable telling me, but I’m not gonna chastise you for your emotions, Rose. Sometimes I worry over some silly things too. Nothing to be ashamed of. He says, trying to paint a coat of acceptance and validation over her.

She’s silent for a moment, and the Doctor can detect her trepidation. Something shifts in her mind and suddenly he’s bombarded with worries of being pregnant. Never having felt the fear of being pregnant himself, it was a weird thing to experience.

You think I’m weird. She says with conviction, pulling back her thoughts.

No! No, I wasn’t–I didn’t–I was taken aback by how your thoughts felt in my head. It was just an adjustment, is all. You are not weird, Rose, and I’m glad you decided to share them with me. He said, feeling a blush of embarrassment creep onto his face.

I know you said it wasn’t possible but I’ve got this weird feeling about it. She says, and the Doctor is scrambling to think of an excuse for why she was completely valid in her worries. It’s nothing, really. I mean all I need is that contraception on the TARDIS right?

Before the Doctor can answer, fleeting thoughts of him dumping Rose back off at the estate pregnant flash through her mind. In them, he feels her fear that something like pregnancy would put a divide so great between them, he would run off before she could even get the chance to protest. Shame creeps up his spine as he tries not to cringe at the heartless version of him that lives in Rose’s head. In theory, contraception should work. It was 61st century technology that had a 99.9% success rate. It could be used up until the two week mark, and it was nowhere near that. Considering her biology was still human on a physical scale, there was no justifiable reason for why it would fail. But if it did…what would he do? He certainly wouldn’t abandon Rose, not after it was his foolish curiosity that brought them to this place.

The Doctor was never into domestics. He hated them. Images from his memory of the Christmas party in Jackie’s flat flickered through his mind. If there was anyone who made domestics enjoyable…it was Rose. She was the only person he could see himself truly settling down with. If she was pregnant and she wanted to keep it, the Doctor knew with confidence that he would stay by her side and support her no matter what.

Doctor? Rose asks, and he releases the floodgates of his mind and allows her to see his thoughts. He was done lying to Rose. She deserved to be given the confidence that he would never leave her like that, and hopefully that cruel, imaginary version of him would be expelled from her thoughts.

But you would be unhappy…you would have to stop travelling just to take care of me. She murmurs through the bond, something she would probably never say aloud.

I’ve lived a long life, Rose. Maybe…it's time.

But you don’t love me. The thought crossed her mind before she had the time to shove him out. “You…forget you heard that. I didn’t mean it. It was nothing.” She says, burrowing her face in her knees.

Tears begin to fall from her eyes and soon she's sobbing. She’s angry with herself. Why couldn’t she stop her stupid ape brain from shutting up? The Doctor wasn’t supposed to hear that.

“Rose…” he says softly, and she refuses to lift her head. She knows what comes next and she wants to put it off for as long as she can.

“Rose, look at me.”

Slowly, she peeks up at him.

“I…” He started, but his words failed him. “You’re wrong. I wouldn’t be unhappy. You’re the most important person to me in the world.”

“Then…say it, Doctor.” She says, and his stomach churns with anxiety.

The Doctor was a coward. He knew exactly what she wanted to hear and he couldn’t say it. There had been too many times in his long life where he had trusted those words and they had hurt him for it. Somehow he knew that if he gave in with Rose, she would slip through his fingertips and wisp away. His silence spoke to her fears and he watched as more tears spilled from her puffy eyes.

“I…can’t. I need time.” He says as shame consumes him.

“Yeah, ‘course you do.” She says, flipping over on her side and obstructing his view of her face. “Just forget I even said anything.”

She’s upset and he hates himself for it. He bought time with the hopes that he would see Rose and get to sort it all out with her. It seems like he only did the opposite. It wasn’t that he didn’t love her, or didn’t want to say it…he just couldn’t . The words hung heavy in his mind, weighing down his conscience as if he were carrying an entire galaxy on his back. It was a declaration of commitment and vulnerability, two things he had continuously run from since the Time War.

The Doctor didn’t know who he would be if he never met that girl whose shop he blew up a year and a half ago. Rose had come into his dark and desolate life and painted her warmth and joy all over it. His 10th incarnation was born from the seeds of friendship she had planted in his 9th. Rose was in him–his mind, soul, and body–and it scared him more than anything to admit it aloud.

Part of him knew she would be frightened too. Rose had no idea the effect she had on him the past months. Something fundamental within him changed the day she opened the heart of the TARDIS and saved him. A human–a weak, young, and inexperienced human–had emotions so powerful she alone defined reality. He loved Rose. He feared Rose. He feared losing Rose.

Glancing back over to her, he noticed how her breathing had stabilised and her heart rate had slowed. She had fallen asleep. Thinking back to what she had mentioned earlier, the Doctor didn’t exactly fancy the idea of someone stalking her at all times. Walking over to the bookshelf, he shoved a book in front of the camera. Nobody was going to be spying on her tonight. Kicking off his shoes, he carefully positioned himself to sit up against the headboard beside her. Even if he didn’t sleep, he at least had the confidence to know that Rose was safe in his presence. He reached over to the night stand and turned off the lamp.

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

Everything was so bright. Her eyes burned, trying to adjust to the harsh light above her face. She had seen it before–yes, she had seen it in the examination room. Fear trickled down her spine as she realised where she was. They were experimenting on her again.

A large alien scientist stood over her, speaking words in a language she didn’t understand. Why? The TARDIS should translate it for her, why wasn’t it translated for her? And then she remembered, the Doctor had left her here. The scientist held a metal device with two prongs that seemed to sparkle under the white light.

It moved close to her head, and Rose yelled. She screamed. She screamed for the Doctor.

A cold and scaly hand clamped down over her mouth, silencing her. She could feel its claws digging and cutting into the side of her cheek. Squinting through the brightness, she could make out the creature’s silhouette. It was the same scientist she had seen with the Doctor.

“He’s coming, don’t worry.” He speaks in English, voice deep and distorted.

She says something into his palm, but it's lost against his thick skin.

“Look! He’s here!” The scientist says, looking at the alien holding the device. Rose follows his line of sight and finds that it's no longer an alien holding the device; it’s the Doctor.

She tries to scream, scared and confused, but once again her pleads are lost.

“Don’t worry Rose, it’ll all be over soon.” The Doctor says with a wicked smile, and she can feel the cold metal against her temples.

“Rose!” a voice erupts.

Rose wakes up with a gasp, sitting up in complete darkness. The air is thick and it’s hard to breathe. The Doctor flips on the lamp, brows furrowed with worry. “You were having a nightmare.” He says, and suddenly she's backing away from him, scrambling to get off the bed and running into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

“Rose! What happened?” He shouts from behind the door and she sinks down into the corner hyperventilating.

“Go…away…go…away!” She repeats, and he backs away from the door. “Go away!” She screams.

The Doctor rubs a hand over his face in distress. She was dreaming about him. He didn’t mean to doze off, but he had pushed his limits the past week. It was just for a moment, he had only been asleep for 27 minutes. Soft sounds of whimpering had torn him away from his slumber and he found Rose twisting and turning, heart racing with terror. If he had stayed awake, he could have woken her before it progressed to that point, but now Rose was terrified and locked in a bathroom all by herself.

Hesitantly, he knocked on the door. “Rose, it’s me.”

She doesn’t respond, and he fears what she might be doing on the other side of the door.

“Listen, I don’t know what happened or what you were dreaming about…but it’s not real, okay?” He says.

“I know what it’s like.” He starts, taking a deep breath. “There was a time where every time I closed my eyes I was ridden with nightmares. Horrible visions. Sometimes I would wake up and think they were real, but they weren’t, Rose. They were just dreams.”

He hears her sniffling and crying subside a bit, and he continues.

“It wasn’t that long ago actually. You were familiar with the face who had them the worst.” He smiles, remembering their times together in his old incarnation. “You know, you saved me, Rose. You stopped the nightmares and the visions. Even when I didn’t deserve it, you saved me. Sometimes I still have those nightmares, but I wake up and know that they're not real. I’m happy even, because I know what is real.”

He leans his head against the door. “ You, Rose Tyler, are very real and I never stopped believing in that.”

After a moment, he hears movement on the other side of the door, and it opens, revealing a disheveled and raw Rose. She lunges towards him, hugging him tightly. The room is dim and the city is casted with darkness. They had to be the only ones awake this early in the morning.

“I’m sorry.” She says, and the Doctor only holds her tighter. “I’m so sorry.”

They stay like that for a while, and Rose wishes she could freeze time and never move.

“Do you want to talk about it?” The Doctor finally says, pulling back just enough to view her face.

She grits her teeth and shakes her head. “You’re right–’S just a dream. It’s not important.”

“Just because it isn't real doesn’t make it any less important. It clearly scared the hell out of you. Talking about it can help you process it better…especially if it was a result of what happened to you.”

She shuts her eyes and tries not to focus on the images singed into her mind. The Doctor would never do those things. It was embarrassing that her subconscious mind would come up with such a thing. Looking back up at the Doctor, her gut twists with guilt. The Doctor was offering to help and talking about it sounded really tempting.

“Okay.” She agrees. “But…it's not me. You wouldn’t actually do those things, I know that. I just don’t want you to feel responsible for the things that happened, yeah? Like you said; they aren't real.”

He nods and they both sit back down on the bed. “What…did I do?” He asks after a moment.

She thinks about how to phrase her dream in the least graphic way possible before speaking. “Do you remember when you were inside my mind yesterday? And you saw what happened to me, what those aliens did?”

“Yes…” he says wearily.

“Well, it was kind of the same thing, just…you were there.” She says, avoiding his gaze.

“What was I doing?”

“You were erm…holding this metal device. You were gonna do something to my head. I couldn’t get away. He had me trapped. I was stuck. I think it was the same thing they did to me when I saw their lab. I could feel the coldness of the metal on my temples…I still can.”

The memory eraser , he thought to himself. It was a direct result of the trauma she had experienced when remembering what had happened to her the past week. He knew it was a bad idea and now she was suffering the consequences for his stupidity.

“Doctor?” She asks, and she can tell he’s swimming with anger. “Doctor, I said it’s not your fault I know you wouldn’t–”

“I should have never helped you remember what happened. It was too soon and too fast.”

“I made the decision. It was my choice–I did it to myself. I helped us!”

“It didn’t matter in the end, Rose–Dr. Kennai showed me everything anyway. I ended up seeing my sonic and now you have PTSD for nothing.”

“Dr. who?” She says, confused.

“The scientist who had dropped me off here. He showed me everything. The lab, my belongings, my sonic–he showed it all to me.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot. Since you two are best mates now.” She says, laughing dryly.

“We’re not, I told you it was to find a way out. You’re suffering and it’s all my fault.”

“How could you have guaranteed this Dr. Kennai would have helped you? I helped us regardless.”

“I couldn’t. But I’m sure I could have negotiated some sort of deal. It’s just not worth the pain you’re going through.”

“Fine, Doctor, I’m ‘in pain’. I’m ‘suffering’. But do you know what helps? It’s when you go off on tangents like the one earlier and make me feel like I’m not crazy. I will stand by my decision and I don’t appreciate being treated like a child. I can get past this, but I can’t do it without you, Doctor. So please…can we drop this? We’re still trapped here and we’re arguing over nothing. It’s what they want us to do. They want us to turn against each other.”

The Doctor felt whatever residual anger he had dissipate, and he felt stupid for even trying to argue over it. She was right, it didn’t matter. Even with all of time and space at his hands, that was one thing he couldn’t change. It was something he didn’t want to change either. He would rather burn alive than never go into Rose’s mind again.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Do you regret it?” She says after a few seconds. “Do you regret being inside my mind?”

“No. Not at all.” He responds, and soon she’s leaning across the bed to close the distance between them. Soft lips, swollen from crying, move against his and its pure bliss. When she pulls back, he savours the lingering taste of her on his mouth. “I can wait.” She says, and he doesn’t bother to ask what for. Instead, he closes the gap between them this time, gently taking her chin and guiding it towards him.

Petite hands find their place on his shoulders, gripping his sleeves and pulling him closer to her. He obliges and climbs on top of her, taking a mental snapshot of how her hair shines a mesmerising shade of gold in the softly lit room. Rose looked especially beautiful tonight. It was clear she was severely dehydrated the last time he had seen her and he was thankful to find her face was rosy and full of life today.

After a while, Rose began to grow restless beneath him, wriggling around with discontentment. Through the weak telepathic link that had formed from their prolonged contact, he knew it was for him. As much as he’d enjoy an early morning snog session, it begged the question of if he even should, given her recent state of mental anguish. Begrudgingly, he pulled back and Rose bit her lip to stop a needy whimper from escaping.

“I don’t think we should do this right now.” He says, and she avoids his eyes in shame.

“I didn’t mean to get carried away. I’m sorry.” She says, ashamedly.

“I only meant I’m not so sure it's such a good idea given what just happened. You need sleep, Rose.”

Something comparable to an eyeroll washed over her face and she sighed. “I guess so. Plus the camera.”

“Oh that? I faced it away from us when you fell asleep.” He says, and he can tell there’s something else at the tip of her tongue that she refuses to say. “Well, I suppose we should go back to sleep now.”

“Yep.” She agrees curtly.

The Doctor reaches over to turn the light off and he hears the rustling of sheets beside him. Out of fear she might have another nightmare, the Doctor does not doze off again. Instead he stays perfectly awake, back straightened against the headboard. After a few minutes of tossing and turning, Rose groans with frustration.

“Rose?”

“I can’t sleep.” She says, voice muffled.

“Are you afraid of having another nightmare?”

“No.”

“Is it uncomfortable? Too hot?”

“No.”

“Then…?”

“You’re not sleeping.”

“I don’t need to sleep. I run off much less sleep than humans.”

“I know, but could you at least lay down or something? It’s hard to fall asleep knowing you’re just sitting there, watching me.”

“Oh.” He says, feeling like a fool.

The sheets rustle and he slides beneath the covers. It’s warm. Warmer than his bed on the TARDIS. Probably because Rose was in it. Ah . He was sleeping. With Rose. Somehow this felt ten times more intimate than when they actually had sex yesterday.

The Doctor was thankful the light was minimal in the room as his face was surely red by now. And then the unthinkable happened when Rose threw a leg over his and wrapped an arm around his torso. Even through the fabric of his slacks he could make out the curvature of her thigh resting atop of his. She probably didn’t mean it to be provocative, right? He was just a perverted lunatic alone with the love of his life in a bed. They had cuddled like this a handful of times on the TARDIS and it was nothing more than two friends enjoying each other's company. How was this any different? The Doctor was purposefully ignorant.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt her hips shimmy closer to his and it wasn’t long before he felt the heat of her centre radiate onto his hip bone. Rose’s internal body temperature was a good bit hotter than his, which made every touch between them feel extreme. This was one of those times. Ever so slightly, he felt her finger draw circles over his collar bone through the fabric of his oxford. Even the smallest sensation of her touch was enough to scramble his brain.

“Rose.”

“Mhm?”

“If you keep doing what you’re doing, I’m afraid I can’t stay so gentlemanly.”

“Did I ask you to?”

It only took him two seconds to flip her over, vehemently kissing her through the thick blackness of the room. He didn’t need his eyes to feel her, and it seemed she didn’t either from the way her thighs wrapped around his hips, pulling him closer to her. His hands begin to roam over her figure, nimble fingers making their way beneath the hem over her sweatshirt. Her skin was like lava to him, and it beckoned him to explore further. His hands foud themselves on her breasts, squeezing and teasing her. She moans into his mouth.

“I need you, Doctor, please ...” she pleads, hands fumbling to unbutton his shirt. “Need you inside of me.”

His breathing becomes rapid and heavy, trying to keep up with Rose as she claws his shirt off. He can feel himself harden, restrained by his trousers and it annoys him. A fleeting thought crosses his mind about how wrong this is–how he shouldn’t be doing this here but he pushes it out of his mind. He doesn’t have a condom and she’s not on birth control. His only method of protection at this point is to pull out, and the thrill of it excites him. He doesn’t waste time unbuckling his belt, and he smirks when he feels Rose unzip him. She’s just as desperate as he is.

“Do you think they'll hear us?”

“Let ‘em.” He says, and he's pulling down her bottoms, knickers with them.

He slides a finger between her folds and she moans, “ Ah , Doctor…”

“You’re f*cking dripping .” He says, close to her ear. “All for me.”

He positions the head of his co*ck against her entrance, sliding it upwards over her cl*t and back.

“Oh f*ck …” She groans in response, and he plunges into her without warning. “Doctor!”

He moves fast this time, not having the strength or restraint to mess with foreplay this time around. Every thrust is followed by a string of ‘yes’s and ‘f*ck’s. The Doctor reached a hand around one of her thighs, slinging it over his shoulder as he pressed deeper inside of her. He can tell from the way she clenches around him it was the right move.

Rose can feel him split her open, and her empty c*nt is finally satisfied. When he switches positions, she can feel his tip rub up against a sensitive spot inside of her. It sends tingles of pleasure up her spine and she thinks she might come from penetration alone.

“Rose, I can’t hold on much longer…” He says, strained and hoarse. “I…have to pull out… f*ck! ”

They don’t have much time before he comes, but she can’t bring herself to ignore the overwhelming feeling of disappointment. If she was going to get contraception back on the TARDIS, why did it matter?

“Don’t…” she musters between incomprehensible noises of pleasure. “I want you to, ah , come inside of me.”

“I shouldn’t…” he says, feeling her disappointment and it takes everything in him to not come in that moment.

“ Please… ”

The Doctor’s thrust grows shallow and fast, continuously rubbing that spot inside of her and she can feel herself skate along the first glimmer of an org*sm, clenching around him. One last thrust, deep and hard does it, and they’re both over the edge.

“Rose!” He moans into her neck, breath hot and humid against her exposed skin.

Her orgasi*m is cosmic, building since the very moment he stepped in her room wearing his old clothes. He had been driving her mad all night and she was desperate to relieve herself. A small smile of satisfaction finds itself on her face as she feels him pour into her, filling her c*nt with warm cum.

“You, ah f*ck …had that planned.” He says after a moment, still coming inside of her. “You minx.”

She feels him finally soften inside of her and slowly slip out, his cum dripping out of her as he does. A daring idea pops into her mind and she reaches two fingers down to gather up some that had dripped out, bringing it to her lips and sucking it off her fingers. He tastes unique and a tad salty, better than human blokes—but it’s the Doctor, and she savours the taste of him.

“Did you just…” He asks, hearing her suck and lick her fingers like he was icing.

“Mhm hm.” She hums, releasing her fingers with a pop.

“Bloody hell.” He curses to himself, and she grins.

The Doctor lazily pulls up his pants and buckles his belt, leaving the bed. She catches his arm. “Where are you going?”

“Towel. No one ever bothered to clean you up after?” He asks, and her silence serves as a ‘yes’.

He’s gone for a moment and slides back beneath the covers, gently wiping her thighs clean. She jumps when he presses a kiss to her cl*t, still sensitive and swollen from his co*ck. A chuckle escapes him and he tosses the towel to the side, climbing beside her. She snuggles up against his side in his arms, humming softly with contentment. It’s only 5 minutes before she’s asleep again, and he finds himself nodding off as well. Perhaps he could sleep for a little while. They had just shagged, Rose was half naked in his arms, and he was feeling rather satisfied with himself. He would sleep tonight, only for a little while.

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

The soft glow of Lyris Z4’s sun beamed onto her eyelids. Slowly, memories of last night seeped into her consciousness, and she felt a jolt of excitement and joy flow through her. Rolling over to feel for the Doctor, she opens her eyes when she realises he’s not there. The room is empty, no one in it except her.

She frowns with disappointment, but it doesn’t last long before she sees a piece of psychic paper laying on the nightstand beside the bed. Picking it up, it read;

Rose,

I left to go back to the lab. I didn’t want them to interrupt your sleep to find me, plus you’re half naked. I’d rather them not see that.

She feels her cheeks heat up as she looks beneath the covers to find her bottoms were still missing.

I’m going to steal back my sonic today and get us out of here. The scientists that are picking my stuff apart don’t know the first thing about Gallifreyan technology and I suspect it will be easy to trick them. In the meantime, try to work on coaxing answers out of that nurse you were talking about. Anything helps. And one more thing, Rose. I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to belittle you. You were a huge help, and I’m just glad you’re even still with me after all of this. I have something I want to say to you but I just can’t say it here, so hold tight, okay? Also, if you open the first drawer you will find a pocket knife I was able to sneak with me. Keep it on you just in case.

P.S. Sorry about your knickers.

My knickers ? She asks herself, looking on the bed and around the room for them before realising they were gone. “That pervert…” she tries to suppress a grin and bites her lip. It shouldn’t excite her, but it did. Oh, it did.

Having no choice but to forfeit her pants for the day, she pulls up her bottoms and slips the knife in her pocket. She spins around when she hears keys jingling at the door and waits for it to open hoping it’s Keris but is disappointed to find an unfamiliar face standing before her.

“Erm, who are you?” She asks, and abruptly moves out of the way when the new alien steps in. It’s large, much larger than Keris, and it’s scales remind her of her nightmare. Goosebumps flare across her skin, and she’s worried what the mysterious alien will do.

“Nurse 778 has been resigned, I will be conducting your tests from now on.” The alien says, voice deep and gruff

So he’s one of the scientists , she thinks. “Where is Keris?”

“The matter is confidential. I must run tests. Please pull down your pants.” He says, pulling out a long metal device from his white coat. Rose swore she had seen one just like it at the OBGYN.

“I-I’m sorry?” She asks, blinking a few times in disbelief.

“Pull down your pants. I must grab a sample.”

“T-there’s no way in hell I’m doing that.” She backs up, heart galloping with fear. She keeps her hand close to her pocket, planning the best way to escape if he forces himself on her, but her ideas are bleak. The alien is at least 3-4 times larger than her, and she can’t imagine herself tackling him successfully. “I-I was under the assumption I wouldn’t have to go through those… procedures ever again.” She bargains, hoping he somehow listens to her and puts the scary metal thing away, but he doesn’t.

A grunt of frustration leaves him, and Rose searches for an area she can stab her knife into that would weaken him the most. She wasn’t going to let this happen. Not again.

“If you continue to protest I will have to sedate you. Usually I do not have to ask this twice of a female however it seems you are exceptionally stubborn–” the alien blabbers on and Rose lunges between his legs, slashing the knife at his ankle, close to where the achilles heel would be on a human. His skin is thick and it bruises her hands, but she's determined. The alien falls to his knees with a shout of pain, and she jumps on him from behind, grabbing his hair and holding the knife against his throat.

“Call your boss!”

The alien only groans in pain.

“Now!”

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

That morning, the Doctor had left Rose before she woke, careful not to disturb her peace. Dr. Kennai had several tasks to ask of him if he wanted to keep buying himself more time. Entering the lab, he was immediately commissioned to reproduce some explosive baubles he had in his pockets.

3 hours and 27 minutes had passed, and the Doctor had decided he needed to stretch. Getting up from the uncomfortable stool, he was stopped by Dr. Kennai, who dropped a vial of a dark red substance into his hands.

“You’re running out of things to stall me with Doctor.”

“Oh, this? This is just the stuff in my pockets. Imagine what I’ve got in my TARDIS.”

“I’m not interested in your make believe time-travel machine Doctor. I’m more interested in you .” He said, glancing at the vile and back at the Doctor.

“W-what do you wish to know?” The Doctor asked wearily.

“Why do we have no records of your species?”

“Well… that would be due to the fact that I’m the last one, I suppose.” He said, and the scientist grabbed his wrist, looking at the device.

“Don’t lie to me! Do you take me for a fool?!” He growled, dissatisfied with the bracelets' negative readings.

“I’m not! It’s the truth!”

Sir we have a disturbance in the maternity ward, section eight, over. A voice interrupted from his radio.

Dr. Kennai lifted the radio to his mouth and responded. “Which patient is causing the disturbance? Over.”

The human, sir. Over.

Kennai glanced at the Doctor, who suddenly felt his stomach drop. What was she doing ? He asked, internally praying Kennai’s next words weren’t what he dreaded them to be.

“What is the nature of this disturbance? Over.”

She’s threatening to kill a lab worker if she doesn’t speak to you, sir. I recommend we wipe her. Awaiting orders, over. The radio responded, and the Doctor wanted to beat the living hell out of the guard who dared to lay a finger on her.

“It seems as though your mate has a few questions, Doctor. Quite the woman, she is.”

“Don’t you dare hurt her. Not after everything I’ve done for you. I swear to God–”

“She is threatening one of our scientists, Doctor. This is a very serious offence. Any other woman would have been wiped by now.”

“She–she wouldn’t actually hurt them. She just wants to talk. Please. Don’t hurt her… please. ” The Doctor pleaded, already taking mental notes of the nearest weapon to kill the scientist with if he refused.

Lowering his gaze at the Doctor, he raises the radio to his mouth once again and speaks. “I will investigate the disturbance. You are not to take further action. Stand by, over.”

“Thank you.” The Doctor sighs with relief.

“Do not thank me Doctor. I have kept my word on your end. Any harm that comes to her will be of her own doing.”

“She’s stressed–she doesn’t understand where she is. It’s only natural she would be scared.”

“Your point?” Kennai asks.

“Just…don’t jump the gun if she is less than polite. Please.”

“No promises, Doctor.” The scientist says, and tells the guards to keep him inside the lab while he's gone.

Dr. Kennai exits the lab and the other scientists follow.

Two large guards step in front of the entrance to the lab, obstructing any opening in the doorway. The room is empty besides him and the two guards, and he thinks this might be his only chance to escape. However stupid it was for Rose to threaten someone’s life, it gave him an opportunity.

It made him confused. Rose would never threaten someone’s life. Something had happened between him leaving and now, and he didn’t favour to find out what it was. Instead, he decided to focus his efforts on escaping. The Doctor glances at his sonic and wonders what the guards will do if he tries to touch it. Carefully, he makes his way over to the other side of the lab where his sonic is and reaches for it.

He hears the co*ck of a gun and a guard says “Don’t move.”

It takes him 1.3 seconds to craft an excuse before whipping around. Surely the guards had no idea what it was. Their job was to look big and scary, not have any sort of intelligence. Their pathetic night patrol schedule was proof of that.

“This will overheat if it's left on the stand like this.” He says, gesturing to the device.

“I said, don’t move.” The guard responds, slower this time.

“I’m going to have to move at some point when this thing eventually blows up. How would your boss react if he found out you two were stupid enough to let a special, expensive piece of equipment blow up?”

The guard's stern demeanour falters a bit but he quickly corrects himself and aims the gun at the Doctor. “How…do I know you’re not lying.”

“Lying? Really? You think I could actually hurt someone with this tiny little thing? I mean, look at it. It’s not even sharp! It’s just a medical scanner, honestly.” He feigns laughter.

The guard, embarrassed by his caution, lowers his gun. “You may remove the device, then.”

“Thank you, blimey…” He says, reaching for his sonic.

In the blink of an eye, the Doctor is pointing his sonic at their guns and radios, jamming them.

“Hey!” They shout and try to fire, but their guns refuse to work. Throwing them on the ground, they lunge for the Doctor before he points it at the fluorescent above and causes them to explode, leaving the room in complete darkness. The guards stumble over clutter and machinery in the lab while the doctor nimbly makes his escape, grabbing one of the jammed guns in the process.

He had to find Rose and get the hell out of here.

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

Dr. Kennais' strides were long and fast, as he moved with purpose to the maternity ward. Abducting these two aliens that had miraculously happened to land on his planet had proved to be a harder task than he initially thought. He noticed their divergence from the rest of his test subjects the moment the girl had escaped, seeing the lab. None of his test subjects had ever escaped.

Admittedly, it angered him. He had gone home that night and locked himself in his study. His two young daughters pleaded for him to eat dinner with them, but he had more important matters to ponder. However, all of his disappointment in himself was discarded as he realised what he had unintentionally found when he captured the two, or rather, the one.

The Doctor was a maniacal, schizophrenic character, rambling on about a make believe time-machine and how he was simply called ‘the Doctor’. He had a god complex amongst many other undiagnosed disorders…but he was fascinating . Despite his eccentric personality, the Doctor had proven to be the most complex work of nature he had ever studied. From his strange, highly-advanced belongings to the second heart that resided within his chest cavity, Kennai had never seen another creature like him.

His attachment to this girl was childish and a waste of time, but he figured with the right mentorship and psychiatric evaluation, he could turn the Doctor into a dutiful servant of the state. The knowledge he had already taught him–which was supposedly just the tip of the iceberg–was something he could have never imagined from a foreigner. Although he claims his species to be gone, Kennai believed it was just a lie. Perhaps the Doctor was estranged from his planet, on the run and travelling with the girl for companionship. Yes, that had to be it.

When Kennai analysed the Doctor's DNA he found something truly astonishing. The Doctor had what appeared to be anti-aging properties in his genetic code, and he had even found evidence of regenerative properties to sustain it. All of his conclusions were theoretical at best, but it was essential to keep the Doctor around to check the validity of them.

He figured that keeping the girl would help. Dr. Kennai had already been more than liberal with the Doctor and his mate, but it was clear they were taking his kindness for granted. Never in his 17 years of research had a patient rebelled to the extent of threatening one of his subordinates' lives…certainly not a female patient, either. The two of them needed to be separated in order for his plans to work and he intended to set the record straight. The girl, while somewhat important to the cause, was nowhere near as valuable as the Doctor was and it was time someone told her.

Turning the corner to the girls room, he gestures for the guards to stand down and put their guns away. Entering the room, he finds one of the lab workers bleeding onto the tiled floor with a knife pressed up against his neck.

“Are you the boss?” The girl asks, voice high pitched and annoying.

Suppressing a sneer, he says, “Yes, I suppose you can call me that. You can let him go now. He won’t hurt you.”

“Are you sure about that, because I’ve been fed a whole bunch of lies since being here.”

“You have my word.”

Carefully, she retracts the knife from the lab worker's neck and climbs off of him. “Your scientist here was trying to molest me.” She says with accusation. “I thought all the invasive procedures were done, so why is he suddenly coming in here forcing me to take off my pants?”

“We needed a sample from your uterus. That was all.” He says.

“Well I don’t want to give you it. You can’t just forcefully pin me down and stick that… thing inside of me for no reason. You’ll get your damn test, so keep your stupid scientists out of my room!”

“I apologise if you were under false pretences, Ms. Tyler, but you have no jurisdiction over what we can and cannot do. If we want a sample, we will get the sample, with or without your input.”

“You won't. The Doctor would never agree with it.”

“I’m afraid he’s indifferent to the matter now.”

“What…?” She says after a moment, lowering her knife.

“That’s right. He agreed to work for me. He doesn’t care about you anymore.”

“T-thats a lie. He was just with me. I don’t believe that. He said he was just working with you to find a way out.”

“That may have been what he told you, but he only came to you to fulfil certain desires he had. That’s all you are to him now. He’s been working with me this whole time. In fact, he’s had the option to leave since the beginning, but he stayed to help.”

Rose only considers it for a split second. It was impossible, that everything the past several days was a facade. She just couldn’t bring herself to believe it. They had sex, twice , Rose knew the Doctor wasn’t in it to get his dick wet. Hell, she had practically begged the second time.

“You’re so full of sh*t .” She spits, and the scientist’s expression twists with disgust at her disobedience.

“Guards, pin her down!” He calls through the radio, but no guards enter through the door.

Instead, Dr. Kennai feels something cold and metal press into the back of his head.

“I second that statement.” The Doctor says, pressing the gun into the back of his head. “Turn around.”

“So you escaped. I should have known.” He says, and the Doctor pulls out his sonic.

“Who knew you would be stupid enough to practically give me back my sonic screwdriver? I had you convinced it was just a medical scanner.” The Doctor laughs. “You should spend less time believing everyone around you is so gullible, Dr. Kennai, and start focusing on yourself.”

“Bastard.” He mutters, completely paralysed under the barrel of the gun.

“Rose, are you alright?” He asks, and the girl nods and clings to his side like a magnet.

“While I could, and should shoot this gun, I'm going to instead ask for your radio.”

Dr. Kenna refuses to move and the Doctor steps forward to press the gun into his forehead. “Give me your radio. Or I'll shoot. Don’t believe I won't.”

“Doctor…” Rose says, gently objecting to his threat.

The scientist begrudgingly detaches his radio and hands it to the Doctor. “Kneel.”

“I will no–”

“Kneel!” The Doctor shouts, and Kennai has no choice but to get on his knees. He should have just wiped his memory. He knew it was a vulnerability having the Doctor work with him, and it was clear how big of a mistake his lapse in judgement was—

The Doctor slammed the gun into the side of his head, causing the scientist to black out and fall to the ground. Rose is astonished by his violence, and doesn’t dare to speak.

“When he wakes up he won’t call for backup.” He says. “Let’s go.”

The Doctor uses his sonic to bypass the lock of the door, opening it and fleeing out into the hallway. Rose gasps at the sight of all the unconscious guards and scientists in the hallway. “Doctor! What…did you do to them?”

“It was just a frequency I emitted with the sonic. They're not hurt. Just asleep.” He says, purposefully leaving out the part where they sustained permanent hearing damage. “We don’t have much time. Those are bad people, Rose. Don’t waste your time worrying about them.”

They continue down a section of hallways that he had taken from the lab, searching for any sign of an exit. Any directory they passed only contained directions to different wards of the facility, but no exit.

“Do you know where the exit is?” Rose asks. “How big is this facility anyways?”

“Nope. And apparently very large.” He says, and she laughs nervously.

They turn a corner and the Doctor grins when he sees a big giant door labelled ‘exit’. They reach the door and the Doctor’s fleeting moment of glory leaves him as he realises what's wrong.

“What is it? What’s wrong, Doctor?”

“It’s deadlocked. I can’t open it, at least not with amount of time...”

“I think I can help with that.” A female voice says from behind them.

“Keris!” Rose shouts, running up to her. “Where were you? They said you had been reassigned…”

“I was fired, actually, but I had to see you. My keycard still works and I wanted to help you get out… but it seems you two have done a good job of doing that yourselves.” She says, smiling proudly.

“Do you have the encryption key to this door?” The Doctor asks insistently, and the nurse reaches in her pocket to toss it to him. He fumbles with the card, eager to get out but stops when he remembers the second problem. “You won’t be able to breathe.” He glances at Rose. "I've got my respiratory bypass but you've...you've got nothing..."

“I also can help with that.” Keris says, reaching into the bag she was carrying to hand Rose a gas mask. “Go. Escape this place. Be the first to show these monsters they aren’t the gods they think they are.”

“But…what will happen to you?” Rose asks, taking one of Keris’s hands.

“Don’t mind me, Miss. Just…find a cure, alright? Promise me that. I thought about what you said to me, and you were right. I couldn’t believe it had taken me all these years to realise something you knew from the start. I’m not going to help these men any longer.”

“We will come back, I promise. Thank you Keris.” Rose says, and the Doctor is tugging her arm insisting that they leave immediately.

“My bike is outside, take that to your spaceship. Good luck!” And the Doctor and Rose are out of the door.

They find the bike and mount it, leaving the parking lot of the facility. It's a hoverbike, and the Doctor can see for miles if he gets high enough. Not that he needs to, mind you. The Doctor can feel the TARDIS in his head from this distance. They swerve and weave through traffic as they make their way out of the city, flying into the distant fields. He sees the faint silhouette of his TARDIS and he pushes the bike to the limits, riding it as fast as it will let him go to reach her.

When they arrive, he jumps off the bike and helps Rose off of it, bursting through the doors of his TARDIS with a gasp. He was finally home. After 10 long, miserable days. He was finally home.

Rose takes off her gas mask and laughs in triumph, hugging the Doctor. Everything felt right. They were together, safe, and back on the TARDIS. His relief is short lived though, when she pulls back.

“Doctor, we have to find a cure.” She says, and he simply throws the TARDIS in motion to enter the time vortex. “I was thinking about how we could help out with that. They must have some kind of vaccine in the future that would solve that, right?”

His silence continues.

“Right, Doctor?”

He looks towards Rose, face serious and regretful.

“You’re not going back…are you?”

Chapter 6: A Change of Heart

Chapter Text

Chapter VI

─── ⋅ ∙ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅ ───

A Change of Heart

She’s angry–furious even. Ten bloody days spent on that planet of nightmares and it was all for nothing. He wanted to run away and never look back like he always did and it vexed her. The Doctor stood at his consol, solemn and unwavering. Honestly, she should have known from the moment he avoided her questions about the scientists and guards. Any shred of sympathy or decency for the planet and its inhabitants had been long lost.

“Rose…” He started, but she cut him off.

“You don't plan on finding a cure. You never did. It was just easy words to get us out of there, wasn't it?”

“I can’t. I won’t–I’m sorry but I won’t. Not after what they did to us–what they did to you.”

“Yes, it was horrible! But there are other men and women going through the same thing that we went through–and they probably had it worse, at least we knew each other. We have to, Doctor!”

“A cure isn’t going to fix the problems they have going on. Whatever government charter that facility received was a part of a larger problem with their society. A vaccine wouldn’t fix deep rooted oppression.”

“As opposed to? Just letting them continue their experiments on innocent people until someone speaks up about it?”

“Tons of civilizations pull themselves out of dark periods.”

“So we’re just supposed to wait? Is that it?”

The Doctor stutters, and Rose scoffs.

“They can’t hurt us anymore, Doctor. We didn’t deserve what happened to us, but neither did Keris or any other poor girl on that planet. We owe it to them.” She says, lowering her voice.

The Doctor refuses to meet her gaze, staring vacantly at the consol before him. It glows a soothing green and the TARDIS hums around them. On the planet it was easy to believe things would change between them. There wasn’t an ever expanding spaceship to get lost in. The confines of their room were painfully finite and served as a testament to their imprisonment. The Doctor was exactly where he was supposed to be and where he always had been, and Rose could see the fight or flight in his eyes. It would be so easy for him to abandon and forget.

“I told you once what kind of man I was, Rose. No second chances. And they blew through about a hundred of them.”

“That’s what you're gonna go with? We have the power to change an entire planet for the better, and you just want to hold some grudge?” She asks, appalled he would still hold onto something so trivial. “This isn’t one person we’re talking about here, Doctor. It's millions–maybe even billions–and you just wanna back and wait for someone else to do what's right? All while hundreds of more people are tortured and–”

“Rose you don’t understand–those scientists, they don't deserve the satisfaction of a cure! It wont even matter! They’ll run their tests and do their experiments regardless because that's who they are! They’re evil. You can’t change evil–trust me, I’ve tried.”

Rose laughs. It was the only reaction she could have, really.

“I don't understand? I don’t understand?!” She grits her teeth, struggling to hold back the onslaught of fury that was trying to claw itself out of her chest. “I remember everything! I know full and well what they’re capable of, Doctor, I’m not some stupid ape! This isn’t about the damned scientists!”

“That’s not–I didn’t mean it that way. I only meant that I was the one who spent time talking to these people–to him!” He says, and Rose raises her eyebrows, gobsmacked.

“Him?’ You mean Dr. Kennai? You’re basing all of this off of your grudge with one man?” She shouts.

“I’m not going back, Rose.”

“Of course you’re not. Just run away like you always do, Doctor.” She spits, pivoting on her heel and heading towards her room.

“Rose,” he calls, but she refuses to turn around, “Rose, I need to run tests on you.” He attempts to follow her down the corridor but her door is promptly shut in his face. “Rose, I–”

“Go away!” She says from the other side, and he lingers at the foot of the door for a moment hoping she would open it, but to no avail.

When there’s no further response, he begrudgingly walks back to the centre console with defeat. Where there should have been Rose’s laughter and lively excitement, the TARDIS felt barren. Would she want to go home now? Would she realise it was a mistake to be with him and demand he take her back to earth? Or even worse, would she pretend it never happened?

They were questions he didn’t fancy to think about, not unoccupied at least. Climbing down beneath the TARDIS floor grates, he began a quick scan with his sonic to search for any pending repairs. He felt a wave of comfort and consolement breeze through him from his TARDIS, and a small smile found itself tugging on his lips. He had almost forgotten about the emptiness he had experienced while they were separated. Almost.

“I know Ol’ Girl, it's good to be back.” He responded, affectionately stroking the pillar that separated sections of the console.

Just as quick as her warmth had appeared, it was replaced with a scornful slap in his head. She was irritated about Rose, no less. It reminded him of Jackie Tyler.

“What was that for?” He flinched.

He was hit with another wave of discontentment from his ship, and he sighed.

“She doesn’t want to speak to me right now.” He said before unhooking tubes that fed into a module. “Blimey, how long has it been since these were cleaned…” he remarked, astonished at the amount of dust that accumulated, “on second thought, don’t answer that.”

If the TARDIS had eyes, she would have rolled them. As he began to clean the tubes, he felt the ship lurk in the corner of his mind, as if pouting at him. When his attention was unbroken, a cap came loose from above, shooting a few metres with a big cloud of steam spraying from it.

“There’s nothing I can do!” He finally says, jumping up to screw the cap back on. “I’m not going back there. It’s for her own good. And you can’t just self sabotage everytime I ignore you.”

Sitting back down, he plugs in the tubes and rests his head against the pillar. Images of him and Rose laughing and dancing around the TARDIS flash through his mind, and he furrows his brows in frustration.

“I’m not sure what you’re trying to tell me, but I can’t risk it. I can’t risk her. She wants to go home–fine. At least she’s safe with Jackie. I won’t give those bastards the satisfaction…”

Rose was not a stupid ape by any means. She had surpassed most of the human race the first day he met her. She was so clever–so willing to learn–and at the time it felt like she was the antithesis of him. Rose was compassionate, warmhearted, innocent, and people flocked to be around her. She had a natural tendency to empathise with people she hardly knew, even when it got her hurt, she kept her mercy. She had walked into his icy, thorny life and blossomed.

But she didn’t know when to stop. She would do anything to protect the people she loved and she had proven herself quite literally as a fiery goddess of time. If there was one thing he learned travelling over the years, it was that not everything needed his intervention. People were smart, and if he didn’t see an immediate threat, he would have left it for them to figure out. They always did. Only so much evil can be taken.

The question was whether that logic applied to this situation or not. Maybe Rose was right. Maybe the planet did need saving and he was just being a selfish bastard because of his own personal experience. If he did intervene and give them a cure, there was no guarantee the planet would magically fix itself. There wasn’t even a guarantee they would let it go public if he gave it to the men in charge of the facility.

He groaned in frustration. Assuming it did work and everyone was cured, how long would it take to mend the relationship between the men and women of the planet? Perhaps that wasn’t a question he should know the answer to. No matter their good intentions, it was up to the planet to decide whether they wanted to use it or not. Maybe they weren’t ready for a cure if that was a real possibility, and the Doctor was willing to bet it was.

Not with the lengths they were willing to go for the sake of research. Not with those men in power.

Although, there may have been a way to kill two birds with one stone, if he engineered the cure right.

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

Despite being sleep deprived, she could not close her eyes. Rose was familiar with the Doctor’s wrath. It was an all-consuming storm that ravaged and destroyed anything in its path. There were so many things she learned about the curious Timelord over the years, but quelling his temper was not one of them. When the Doctor had his mind set on something, it was almost impossible to convince him otherwise.

In a sense, arguing with the Doctor was like arguing with a brick wall. She loved the man–she adored him…but it didn’t mean she never felt annoyed by it. Knowing him, the Doctor was probably nestled up under his console, fidgeting away with something that didn’t need fixing just to not argue with her.

Maybe he just needs time. She thinks to herself, thankful for the abundance of it they had in the vortex. Yes, theoretically they could travel for a year and come back to the planet only minutes after they left…if the Doctor had his head screwed on properly. His driving was a bit of a toss up.

Hours had passed since they boarded the TARDIS, and Rose didn’t care to know what time it was. She was hungry.

Quietly exiting her room, she tip-toed down the corridor to the galley. Peeking around the doorway, she was relieved to find it empty. Practically prancing towards the cupboard, she grinned when she saw a strawberry Pocky box.

“Thanks Ol’ Girl.” She silently remarked to the TARDIS as she ripped open the box and bit into a Pocky stick with a hum of contentment.

Turning back around to sit down, she jumped when the Doctor was standing across the room already looking at her.

“Bloodyhell Doctor, you scared me.”

“Sorry.” He apologised, unmoving from his spot.

An uncomfortable silence settled in the room as neither of them moved or talked. The Doctor had one hand stuffed in his pocket and the other tugging on his ear lobe like he had something to say, but he kicked his feet and refused to talk.

Rose was rather famished, and really not in the mood to deal with an indecisive Timelord at the moment, so she shrugged and quickly moved past him before he caught her arm.

“Wait. I-I’m sorry.” He stuttered, but her eyes were fixated on the hand that grasped her arm. “I wasn’t thinking right earlier and the last thing I wanted to do was make you feel stupid, but I did–and I'm sorry.”

“S’ okay, Doctor.” She said passively.

“That’s it? No arguing? No slap?” He asked, dumbfounded.

Now that made her angry.

Jerking her arm away, she looked up at him with a cold, stern gaze. “Doctor, it is not my mission to start arguments with you, despite what you might think. I actually hate arguing with you. If your mind's made up, then your mind’s made up.” She shrugged.

“Were you not just going on about how terrible I was for abandoning the planet a few hours ago? And now you’re indifferent to it?” He scoffed.

“I told you I can wait. Not just for…that, but also for this. I happen to be quite good at waiting, Doctor. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” She tried to turn around but was caught once again by his grip. “Will you stop grabbin’ me–”

“I was coming to tell you I would do it, Rose.”

She fell silent beneath him.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” he added.

“It means you are impossibly daft.”

Roses lips were on his before he could speak and she slid her hands up to pull him in by the nape of his neck. He responded by gripping her hips and pushing her back against the wall. It was warm against her backside, and she mentally thanked the TARDIS for the foresight. His lips were restless against her skin, kissing and sucking from her jaw down her throat. Spiralling with pleasure, she didn’t know what to do with her hands. The Doctor pulled back momentarily and grabbed them both to pin them up against her head with his hand. Damned telepathy, she thought, and she felt him grin against the swell of her breast. Wearing nothing but a camisole, it would be so easy for him to yank it down and have her, but he pulled back.

They both let out an involuntary chuckle, chests heaving and out of breath.

“No more arguing.” She said breathily. “We’re right back where we started, me an’ you.” Her eyes darted around the galley, reminiscent of their fight days ago.

“I suppose you’re right.” He agreed. “Sorry, I always wanted to do that.” He admitted, an acute blush creeping onto his face.

“What, shag me in the galley? Really? Bit of a food violation if you ask me.” She teased.

“Not just here…” he said under his breath.

“What was that?” She leaned her ear towards him.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Yeah actually, I would. Remind me why you stopped that magnificence back there?”

“I actually do need to run tests on you.” He said, scratching the back of his neck.

“Does it have to be now?” She whined, rubbing her hands against his chest.

“Yes. That’s the deal. I’ll give the bastards their damned cure if you let me run tests on you.”

“Kinky…” she teased, and he rolled eyes before swooping her up and throwing her over his shoulder to carry her to med bay.

“Doctor!” She protested, hitting his back. “Put me down!”

“No I don’t think I will.” He grinned, giving her a slap on the bum for good measure.

She shouted, hoping he wouldn’t sense how insanely turned on she was. They reached med bay all too soon and he set her down on the stiff bed. She watched him retrieve a small blue bottle of pills from a cabinet of medication, dropping it in her palm.

“This is the contraception. Dissolves as soon as it hits your tongue. No water needed.”

Her eyes widened at the bottle in her hand, remembering she might actually be pregnant from him. The glass was cold against her skin, and she watched the pills move as she rocked the bottle back and forth. She should take it. The Doctor would notice if she kept staring at it forever. Her eyes floated up, looking at the Doctor preparing some kind of scanner in the corner. Why was she hesitating? She didn’t want to be pregnant, did she?

“Doctor.” She called softly, and he turned around. “Is there any way…to test now? I mean, they have instant everything in the future.”

“Is that what you want?” He asked.

“Yes. I’d like to know before I do this. That alright?”

He furrowed his brows in thought, and for a moment she thought he might’ve been offended, but he went to dig in another cabinet and approached her with a cotton swab.

“Say ‘Ah”

She opened her mouth and he rubbed the cotton swab around the inside of her cheeks and gums. When he felt he had collected a healthy sample, he pulled it from her and stuck it in a gimmick built into the TARDIS interior.

He waited for a moment, and Rose thought she might die of suspense.

“You’re…not.” He says flatly.

There wasn’t really a reaction that was appropriate for the situation. She didn’t even know what she wanted anymore. It was good news, right? So why was there a part of her that was disappointed?

“You alright?” He asked.

“Yeah…I think. How accurate is that?”

“About that. This is only good two days after. So I can’t really account for what happened last night.” He says sheepishly. “It’s up to you, Rose. You don’t have to take the pill if you don’t want to. I told you I would support you no matter what.”

According to the Doctor, it should have been impossible. She probably could get away without taking it, but why did she feel the need to? It was just a pill. Shaking her head, she opened the bottle and took one without thinking anymore about it. It was a box she could open again some day…but not now. Just as he said, the pill dissolved as soon as it hit her tongue, leaving an artificial blueberry aftertaste in her mouth.

“Are you okay?” A hand rested on hers.

“Yeah.” She smiled. “What were those tests you had to run on me again?”

“Oh, just some things I need to check. You know, make sure you’re not dehydrated or deficient in anything. Eating bread for a week will do that to you.” He says. “I need a blood sample, is that okay?”

“Sure…but aren’t these things you can check with your sonic?” She asked suspiciously as he prepared a needle.

“Of course I can,” he wipes the skin on her arm with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol, “but I want to be positively sure.” The needle presses into her skin, but she doesn’t hiss. The Doctor was skilled when it came to these types of things. And she might’ve been distracted by the way his specs sat on his gorgeous face.

Gently, he retacts the needle and gloved fingers press against the tiny puncture wound before concealing it with a pink bandaid. He offers her a small smile and takes the vile of blood to another area in the bed bay. Rose kicks her feet off the end of the bed in boredom.

On the other hand, the Doctor was not so tranquil. Truthfully, he didn’t know what he was expecting to find when he stuck Rose’s blood sample in the DNA scanner, but he knew what he saw. He would recognize that warm golden glow anywhere and he had to know where it was coming from.

“So I was thinking,” Rose says from across the room, but he barely hears it over the sound of his own two heartbeats. The scanner continues analysing. “Maybe we could go somewhere once this is done, yeah?”

The machine dings, and her DNA code is displayed on screen.

“Doctor?” She turns her head to find his eyes glued on the machine. “Something wrong?”

“Depends on your definition of ‘wrong’” He replies, tone unreadable.

Hopping down from the bed, she goes to investigate what he was focused on, only to find unreadable code. “What am I looking at?”

“You’re DNA.” He says, eyes sporadic and darting across the screen rapidly.

“I thought you said you were looking at my vitamin levels and what not?” He doesn’t speak, but she can tell he’s afraid of something. “What is it, Doctor, what’s wrong with me?”

“The rate at which apoptosis is occurring in your body has slowed tremendously.”

“English, Doctor.”

“Cell death.” He finally turns toward her. “Your cells are dividing and dying at a much slower rate.”

Her forehead creases in confusion. “So my cells…aren’t doing anything, you mean? But I feel fine?” She says, quickly looking down at herself.

“Well, yes–and no. Yes to that they aren’t dying off and reproducing at a normal rate but all of your cellular functions are occurring normally. I suppose I could run a more in depth test on cellular processes–”

“Doctor.” She interrupts. “What does it mean? How bad is it–am I gonna die soon!?”

“No–no not at all, actually. The opposite, in fact. If this continues it means you’re going to live for a long time. Which could be considered bad, like I said, depending on your definition of bad.”

“How…?”

“I thought I had taken every last bit of the vortex out of you.” He remarks. “This shouldn’t be possible. Your DNA is…”

“It's what?”

“It’s more like mine than human, which would explain why you were positive for compatibility. I should have kept a close eye on you ever since gamestation but I didn’t. This is my fault.” He whirls around and stomps for the door.

“Doctor! You couldn’t have stopped it? Could you?” She asks, following his quick footsteps down the corridor.

“No, not likely, but it happened right under my nose and I wasn’t paying enough attention. I should have known! It was so easy to slip in and out of your mind–why didn’t I connect the dots then?” He circles the centre console. “Did you know?” He asks his ship. “Of course you did! Why am I surprised…”

“Doctor…” she says softly, watching him pretend to plug in coordinates. “Doctor.”

He finally looks up at her.

“Is this really such a bad thing?”

“It's–you won't–you’ll never be human again!” He stammers.

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Rose, I’ve watched humans for a long time. They’re selfish, immature, and so very vulnerable–but I love them. The most beautiful thing about them is their mortality. They have such little time yet they make the most out of it. They laugh and cry, they fall in love and they have hope.” He takes his specs off and runs a hand over his face. “You don’t want to be like me. Immortality is not all it’s cracked up to be. You watch everyone around you wither and die. You don’t want that, Rose.”

He didn’t know when she had done it, but he felt her arms wrap around his torso, hugging him. “When are you gonna learn to stop thinking for me?” She pulls back.

“Before I took your hand, I knew exactly how my life was gonna play out. No A-levels, no money– all I had was mum and Micky and my stupid job and Henricks. Everyday for the rest of my life I was going to wake up, go to work, come home, watch the telly, eat chips, and go to sleep. The difference between me and you, Doctor, is that you get to see humanity for what it is over billions of years while I have my small meaningless life nestled away in an insignificant, short part of history.”

“Your life is not meaningless.” He interjects and she shakes her head.

“But it was! I was doing nothing with my life until you showed up. You showed me a better way to live my life. Sure, I could have gotten my A-levels and worked somewhere with better pay but honestly, what’s that got on this?”

“You underestimate the value of group effort.”

“No, I think you do, Doctor. You’ve lived alone for so long–been doing this by yourself forever now. I wasn’t joking when I said I would stay with you forever. Maybe there was some part of Bad Wolf that saw that and made sure my wish came true. I’m happy, really happy. I love this life, I love this ship, and I love you. How many times do I have to say it for it to get past your daft, thick skull?”

“I…” He trailed off, stunned by her words.

“You don’t have to say it back, Doctor. I can wait. Got all the time in the world.” She grinned.

“No. I…love you too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He said, and she's pulling him into a kiss. His hands snake up her thighs and lift her up by her bum, sitting her on the end of the console. Her hands find themselves gripping and pulling at his hair, begging for more. “I love you,” he says between kisses, “so much.” His hands make quick work of her camisole, pulling it over her head. “My hearts burn for you Rose,” he dips down to kiss the tops of her breasts that peek out from her bra, “with more ferocity than a trillion suns.”

As his fingers reach for the clasp of her bra, the TARDIS jolts them sideways. “What was that for? Honestly I’ve been interrupted enough today…” He asks, holding Rose.

The cure.

“I heard that!” Rose says, amazed.

“You had the ability since game station but she wanted to leave it as a surprise…for both of us.” he says with annoyance.

“She’s right though, Doctor. We really should get them the cure.”

“We're in the Vortex! We’re not on a schedule–you said it yourself!”

“Sure, but wasn’t there a certain plan you had in mind? Something we could do after we saved the planet?”

“Ah.” He says.

She hums.

“Well, in that case. Allons-y!”

Chapter 7: Heartless

Chapter Text

Chapter VII

─── ⋅ ∙ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅ ───

The clock ticked rhythmically as Ryo Kennai typed his report for the week. The sun had long since dipped beneath the skyline but his work beckoned him to stay awake. He had been at it for decades now, dedicating his life to work for the state. Every week had become monotonous and identical, every report showed the same numbers. As the council of representatives on Zapryo L6 grew impatient with his lack of results, Ryo became increasingly desperate for a breakthrough.

So he started pushing the limits of ethics. He requested that aliens be taken in for examination under the Immediate Crisis Act. When permission was granted, he forged reports about what was really happening to them in his facility. The posh sods never visited his planet anyway and what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. According to his charter, Ryo was to take noninvasive genetic samples and conduct research independently once the subject was released. When that turned out to take longer than anticipated, he had to cut corners. The next time he travelled to stand in front of the council, he brought concrete results, and they compensated him generously.

Not too many years later, Ryo had a breakthrough. Not in his work, but in his personal life. His beautiful wife Kerda had conceived twins. It was his greatest achievement to date, and when she gave birth, all of his pride dissipated as he realised they were girls. They would never know true womanhood in the state their planet was. They would never experience the joys of being a mother or having a mate. Both he and Kerda carried the gene for infertility, and it was more present in females than males.

That night he made a promise to himself. He would find a cure for his two beautiful daughters. He would keep the council on a hook, retaining a steady flow of charter while he searched tirelessly for the solution. They would be the first patients to receive it before anyone else.

Ryo grit his teeth in frustration and his hands stilled. He had come so close ! The cure was within the palm of his hand when the Doctor and his stupid girl stole it from him. They had made a mockery of him and his facility, stolen acquired alien technology, and broke out of the building. The nurse responsible for such a despicable act was promptly thrown into custody. He had been on the verge of so many new discoveries because of that Doctor, he could taste the triumph on his tongue, hear the cheers of his name echo through his ears.

And they had slipped right through his fingers. They were gone forever, and with them, the cure.

“Dammit!” He growled, throwing his cup of tea at the wall.

It shattered with a loud bang and he soon heard footsteps leading to his office.

“Papa?” A child’s voice called from the crack of his door, frightened.

“It’s okay sweetheart, Papa’s just a little upset. Come in, baby.”

His daughter, Kai, tip-toed through.

“What’s the matter?” She asked.

“There were just some bad patients at work today. What about you? What are you doing up?”

“Can’t sleep. Kaydell is listening to her trashy music.” She rolled her eyes at the mention of her sister. “Can I stay in here?”

“Of course, baby. I suppose it’s about time we get you two different bedrooms.”

“Really? Awesome!”

Ryo chuckled at his dearest’s amazement but his face fell as he turned back towards the report. He still had to catalogue his failures and present them to the council next Monday. It was a mistake to ever alert them of the Doctor. He was going to make a fool of himself.

“So…what did the bad patients do, Papa?”

“They just…didn’t follow orders very well.”

“Did they hurt you?” She dared to ask, looking at the bandaged gash on his left temple.

Ryo ran a finger across the tender area, ashamed of his wound. It was proof of his weakness.

“They did…didn’t they?”

“Yes, they did. But you shouldn’t think about those things, Kai. Those are not topics a young lady needs to worry about.”

“But they hurt you, Papa!”

“Kai…” he warned her.

“Fine. I just hope you handcuffed them and sent them to the dwarf planet!” Her lip curled with determination.

“Where did you hear about that?”

When she pouted, he raised his eyebrows expectantly.

“I heard you talking to Mama about it.” She admits.

“Eavesdropping is a bad habit, Kai. I should send you to your room for that.”

“I’m sorry Papa, I won’t do it again! I promise! Anything but her music, please!”

“Fine.” He chuckled, “Just don’t make too much noise. Papa needs to work some more.”

She hastily nodded and he returned to typing his report. After a few paragraphs, soft snoring began to fill the room and Ryo smiled as he peered over the edge of his computer to find his daughter sound asleep on the sofa. He would do anything for her. Even if it meant killing the only person who held the cure. He would rip apart space and time to find the Doctor again.

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

The Doctor was swift on his feet as he plugged in the coordinates for Lyris Z4. Rose wanted a cure, he was going to give her one (and one hell of a trip after). When the TARDIS materialised, he rushed towards the door.

“Wait, Doctor!” She called, and he turned to find her putting her camisole back on. “I can’t go out there, remember? The whole ‘the-air-is-toxic’ thing?”

“That’s because you aren’t going out there. I just need a sample. It’ll only take a mo’.”

She frowned and crossed her arms. “I thought we were past you stopping me from helping–”

“No, honestly, Rose. It’ll only be a second. I just need a single scale off of them. That's it.”

When her disapproving attitude failed to leave her, he walked up to her. “I’ll be back within 30 seconds. A minute at the most.”

“Famous last words.” She muttered.

“There’s no sense in you going out there, Rose. You can put on the mask but you’d stick out like a sore thumb. And I really don’t like the idea of the men of this planet ogling you like a fresh piece of meat.”

“But–”

“Trust me, alright?”

She bit her lip. “Okay.”

He leaned into press kiss against her forehead before turning for the door once more. “30 seconds. Time me.”

Taking a deep breath, he stepped outside of the TARDIS into a grimey alleyway. Ahead, tons of people walked past and he figured that would be his best bet for a DNA sample. Careful not to draw attention to himself, he peaked around the corner to pick a passerby to take a sample from. Once he set his sights on the most exposed male, he waited for him to round the corner before swiftly plucking a scale from his arm.

“What the hell?” He whipped around, but the Doctor had already started running for his TARDIS. “Hey! Come back here!”

“Afraid I can’t do that. Got more important business to attend to. Ta!” And he disappeared into its doors.

“51 seconds.”

“See, I told you.”

“You said 30 seconds.”

“I said a minute at the latest.”

“At the latest.” She parroted, mocking him.

“I got the sample.” The Doctor held up the scale.

“What do you have to do to it?” She asked, following him to med bay.

“I have to extract the DNA to make a vaccine.” He brought the scale to a metal box and opened the lid to set it in. “Which in your time is a long process of phenol-chloroform extractions and ethanol precipitations–for me, it’s a click of this button.” He grinned and pushed the power button to the box. “48th century DNA extractor. Locates DNA components and incinerates the rest of it into nothing.”

“You think you’re so impressive.”

“I am so impressive!”

The extractor dinged, and he took out the sample that was left. Rose glanced at it with a look of disgust.

“It’s just white slime.” She says.

“Were you expecting something grand?” He asks as he takes the sample to a microscope.

“I dunno, they always made it look so cool in the pictures back in school…”

“Oh this is better than that. You can’t make anything with pieces of paper in a textbook but this,” he looked into the microscope, “you could do magic with this.”

“The code affected by the virus Kennai was talking about.”

“How long’s it gonna take you?” She asked, yawning.

He pulled back and looked up at her. She was exhausted. She had been up for over 24 hours but continued to stand by his side. “Better go to sleep. This will take a while.” He lied, but she needed rest.

“No,” she yawned again, “I wanna stay with you until you find a cure.”

“Your body has gone through all types of stress this past week, physically and mentally. If we're gonna save the planet, it would be best to do it when you’re functioning in tip-top condition.”

“I feel fine–”

“Rose…”

“Okay–okay, I’ll go to sleep. Even though I am,” another yawn, “very wide awake right now.”

“Good night, Rose.”

She hovered for a moment, reluctant to leave.

“What?” He asked.

“Can you say it again?” She asked shyly.

“Say what?”

“That you love me.”

He chuckled and stood up, grabbing her hips and tugging them to his, closing the distance between them. “I love you. Now, good night.”

“Good night Doctor!” She giggled, kissing his cheek and skipping out of med bay down to her room.

The Doctor sunk back down into his seat, face falling from endearment to strict concentration. There were some errands he had to run before she woke up–things he preferred she didn’t know. Rose would undoubtedly object to his plan. He was going to give Kennai a cure that worked for everyone on the planet except for his bloodline. Someone who continuously violated the reproductive rights of countless others didn’t deserve the liberty himself.

Once he located the code of interest, he checked to make sure Rose was sound asleep before throwing his TARDIS in motion. Before he and Rose escaped, the Doctor downloaded the entire staff directory from the facilities security system. He knew exactly where Kennai lived and he planned to pay him a visit.

Parking his ship on the side of an enormous mansion, the Doctor stealthily made his way to the back entrance, unlocking the door with his sonic. The house was quiet and dark, not a soul awake in the dead of night. His movements were calculated and quiet as he made his way upstairs to check each room for Kennai. The first two rooms were empty, the third room had two children in it, and by the fourth room, he spotted the scientist asleep with his wife.

Kennai slept soundly as the Doctor stood at the foot of his bed. The monster looked like an ordinary family man from his point of view, and the Doctor wondered if his children even knew what he did. His children . The universe had a sick sense of humour blessing him with children and no one else.

Kennai shifted in his sleep and mumbled something incomprehensive, lost in a dream. The Doctor glanced at his sonic and back at the scientist. He could kill him right here if he wanted to. He could make it so the man would never wake up and never know the light of day again.

It was tempting, but it wasn’t his way. The Doctor didn’t kill uselessly, and a man like him didn’t deserve the mercy of a painless death. Swiftly plucking one of Kennai’s scales he hastily left the room before the alien could notice.

When he passed the third door once more, the Doctor stopped to peek in the room again. Squinting his eyes through near complete darkness, he could tell they were two young girls (given his limited knowledge on the biology of Kennai’s species). One slept with headphones in and the other slept with her arms wrapped around a stuffed animal. They were perfectly normal and innocent children, unknowing of the horrors their father committed. Guilt began to gnaw at the back of his mind when he looked down at Kennai’s scale, but when a light turned on down the hall he quickly discarded the feeling and fled down the stairs.

Several hours later, the Doctor was in the middle of drafting a comprehensive list of ingredients when he felt a pair of warm arms wrap around him from behind as a drift of Rose scented air wafted his way.

“Good morning.” She said drowsily. “How long did I sleep?”

“15 hours and 38 minutes.”

“Blimey, and you’ve been working on it this whole time?” She says, and he can feel her breath against his ear. “Not even one break?”

“Nope. Just about done though.” He gathers up the paperwork and lets it fall against the desk to straighten out.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I’m afraid all the boring lab work is done, but you can help me break into the lab.” He waggles his eyebrows.

“What’s the plan?”

“I downloaded the entire security system of the facility.” He starts walking towards the centre console and Rose follows. “I have the encryption keys to every locked door. One click with my sonic and they open. But that would take too long if we’re trying to free everyone in the building. I programmed a virus to unlock and overload the system the second we unlock a single door.”

“You unlock one, you unlock all?”

“Exactly. Once we're in, we’ll split up. You go to the holding and maternity ward to get out any stragglers while I hand the cure to Kennai. Sound good?”

“Yeah, except for the fact that I’m not going in there again without a weapon. Preferably a big one.”

“Say no more.” He said as he ran down the corridor to a storage room, digging around until he found a menacing gun to hand her.

“Pull the trigger and it emits a teleportation beam. Teleports anyone caught in it to whatever setting you set it to. For your purposes, we’ll do…” he spins the dial on its side until it reaches its maximum distance, “20,000 metres. That's enough?”

“Yeah, I think.” She scoffs, slinging the gun around her back.

They run back to the centre console and the Doctor plugs in the coordinates for the facility.

“Hold your breath. It won’t take but a second to unlock the door.”

She nods and takes a deep breath before the TARDIS doors open and they run up to the back entrance. The Doctor hits the lock with his sonic and bursts through the door.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” She smiled.

“Got your mobile?” He asks, and she pulls it out of her pocket to show it to him. “Meet you back here then. Oh, and Rose?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful.”

“You too, Doctor.”

And they were running their separate ways.

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

Amidst drafting a procedural guide for a new research project to present to the council, a knock came from his office door.

“Come in.”

One of his more favourable subordinates walked through and handed him a folder. “The results, sir.”

“Thank you, Kenjai, you may leave now.”

Once the door closed, Kennai deflated and released a disappointed sigh at the nondescript folder. He preferred not to look at it, the results were going to be mundane regardless. He had gotten a rather rough start to his day. His sleep was restless and inconsistent, waking up in the middle of the night and struggling to go back to sleep. Kennai blamed the Doctor for his troubles and himself for letting the man go. He had ordered a search team as soon as they escaped but their findings had been fruitless.

Without warning, Dr. Kenjai burst through his door again, chest heaving. “Sir! The security system is offline!”

“What?” He asked, leaning forward to pull up the security cameras on his computer, only to be met with black screens. “Assemble the guards, tell them to block the exits. I’ll work to bring it back online.”

“Yes, sir.”

Not only did the security system appear to be offline, it was impossible to bring it back online on account of something blocking his security credentials. After several attempts to bypass the firewall, Kennai focused his priorities towards activating the emergency protocols before those failed as well. This was not a simple glitch in his programming. Kennai had spent months creating an infallible system, no–someone was intentionally sabotaging it.

“Impossible!” He yelled. Grabbing his radio, he called out to the guards. “Have the exits been secured?”

“ No, sir! ”

“Why not!?”

“ There was a problem–a female had a weapon, she stopped us and released most of the subjects. ”

“What kind of weapon?” He grit out.

“ A teleportation device, sir. We tried to stop her but– ”

“Who was the girl?”

“ Female 86, sir. ”

“Put the radio down, Kennai.” A familiar voice said from behind him.

“You!” He turned around, gaze filling with recognition as he saw the Doctor. “I should have known you would be behind this. Insulting my dignity not enough?”

“I could care less about your dignity. What I care about is shutting down this illegal operation you’re running.”

“I told you, everything we do is state funded.” Kennai said.

“Oh come off it, I downloaded your entire archive at the facility. Security system, maps, and confidential documents. Do you wanna know what I found in those documents?” The Doctor stepped closer. “That your charter was given on the promise that you would perform non-invasive experiments on aliens. Funny, the things I can find, aren't they?”

“So what do you plan to do, Doctor? Tattle on me?”

“I’m afraid I already did. Sorry.”

“You–you’re bluffing!”

“Like I’m going to actually answer them.” Kennai spits, and the Doctor pulls out his sonic and aims it at him.

“That wouldn’t be wise.”

“What are you going to do, scan me with your medical scanner?” He laughs.

“This does a lot more than scan organs, Kennai. I just told you it did.” He points it at an ornamental vase next to his desk and shatters it. Silence befalls the scientist, and the Doctor takes pleasure in the man’s fear. “Now that that's settled…why? I’ve had several days to ask myself the question and I don’t understand. Why do all this?”

“I want to find a cure.” He says, and the Doctor shakes his head.

“No, no, no, that's not it. Normal people don’t torture others to find a cure. There’s something else.”

“My daughters. I want to find the cure for my daughters.” He admits.

When Kennai refuses to speak, the Doctor reaches into his pocket and tosses him a vial of liquid.

“What’s this?”

“Your cure.”

“You can’t be serious…” He said, disbelievingly.

“Here’s the paperwork to prove it.” He hands him a file and watches as the scientist flips through the pages with wide eyes.

“Of course…I can’t believe I didn’t see it before…” he murmurs to himself. “Thank you, Doctor. Even if they do send me away–even if my family hates me, my daughters will have a chance at a happy life. That’s enough for me.”

“That’s a cure. Not your cure.”

“I don’t understand.”

“That cure will work on everyone except you, and any subsequent offspring.”

His face falls as horror replaces his victorious expression. “No…” he breaths.

“What goes around, comes around.”

“No! You can’t do this!”

“But I can, and I did.”

“I don’t believe it! Doctor, please, anything but my girls, please! Hurt me! Kill me! Just leave them alone!”

“If you want it, you’re gonna have to figure it out yourself. Papers tell you everything. Or don’t. I’d imagine that to be difficult sitting in a prison cell. Don’t exactly have the most state-of-the-art equipment in there.”

“Bastard! I demand you fix this, now!” Kennai threw down the folder and lunged towards the Doctor, but he aimed the sonic at his leg, cutting the muscle fibres of his thigh causing him to fall to the ground.

“Good bye, Kennai.” The Doctor pivoted and left the office, ignoring the screams of pain from the scientist. A smile formed when he saw Rose waiting for him at the exit.

“Were you able to get everyone out?”

“Mostly. The guards quit trying to stop me when they started disappearing anyway. Why’s there screaming coming from that hallway?”

“Don’t worry about it, let's go.” He said, lopping his fingers around hers and running out the door into the TARDIS.

“Something happened, didn’t it?”

“I gave the man what he wanted.” He simply says, prepping the TARDIS to enter the time vortex.

“Then why was he screaming?”

“He was so happy he got his cure.” He sarcastically remarked.

“Doctor.” She places hand on his arm, stopping him. “What did you do?”

Sighing, he turned to face her. “I gave him a cure that would work for everyone but him…and his daughters.”

“You promised me…” she backs up. “You promised me you would give them a cure that worked for everyone Doctor, you can’t just leave someone’s entire bloodline out because you don’t like them! What did his daughters do–”

“Rose. It was a lie. I only let him think that. He’ll never know otherwise sitting in a jail cell.”

“Oh.”

“No, I deserved it. There were several hours where I was seriously considering it. The failsafe has a complete cure in it.”

“Failsafe?”

He reaches in his pocket and hands her a small vial of clear liquid. "Our failsafe. I dumped it into the drinking supply of the city while you were asleep. The cure gets dispersed through ingestion or skin contact. I had a feeling that entrusting a vaccine with those people wasn’t going to cut it. This is to make sure a cure is delivered no matter what.”

A smile finds itself on her face and she hugs him. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Doing the right thing. I know it wasn’t easy.”

“It shouldn't need thanking. It was just what needed to be done.” He qualifies.

“I think it does. So thank you.” Her embrace tightened around him, and he reciprocated. Rose’s opinion was the only one he truly cared about anyways. “Do you think we can go home now?”

He pulls back. “Y-you want to go home?”

“Relax, I just want to visit. It’s been a long week. I’d like to see my mum…if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, your wish is my command.” He grinned, plugging in the coordinates for the Powell Estate.

The Doctor found he missed things he thought he would never miss as they stepped foot on London soil in 2007. He found himself enjoying the familiar haze of the city, the sound of Jackie’s bickering on the phone in the room over, and the bitter tea she made for him. The thing he enjoyed most of all though, was the feeling of Rose nestled beside him as they watched Jackie’s telly. That was a feeling he could get used to, domestic or not.

Jackie ogled the two with suspicion when she left the kitchen. “What’s this?” She leaned in to feel Rose’s forehead. “Rose, sweetheart, are you feeling alright?”

“Yes, mum, I’m fine.”

“Then why are you two…?”

“S’okay, we’re…” she looked at him, searching for the correct word.

“Please don’t say boyfriend…” he muttered and she rolled her eyes.

“We’re together now.”

“About time…I guess I can’t believe it finally happened, with that stick he had up his–”

“Mum!” Rose interrupted.

“Oh alright. Well since you’re here, how long are you planning to stay? Howard was going to come over but I suppose I could cancel–”

“That’s alright, we’ll be on our way before you know it.” The Doctor answers.

“Are you sure?”

“Yep!”

“Alright, well. Come see me before you go.” She says to Rose before walking back in the kitchen.

“Why do we have to be on our way again?” She asks, poking the Doctor’s side.

“As much as I am enjoying this cuddle, you made a deal with me and I intend to follow through on that.”

“Deal…” she says, furrowing her brows trying to remember.

“My plan.”

“Oh.”

“Quite right.”

Chapter 8: Cross My Heart

Chapter Text

Chapter VIII

─── ⋅ ∙ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅ ───

Cross My Heart

“So what’s this planet called?” Rose asked, circling the Doctor as he pushed buttons and pulled levers on the TARDIS console.

“If I told you what it was called, that would ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it?” He replied with a cheeky grin.

“Not much of a surprise if I already know what it looks like.”

“I merely described it. Words don’t do it much justice. Not to mention I was also a bit…distracted.” He said, the TARDIS coming to a final thud.

Excited to see what the planet finally looked like, Rose ran to the TARDIS door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He asked, crossing his arms.

“Outside.”

“Not like that, you aren’t.” He nodded towards her outfit. “It's a tropical planet. Jeans and a jacket won’t cut it.” She blinked. “Well go on, get changed! You might also want to pack a swimsuit.” He added as she skipped past him.

Bursting through her door, she quickly came to a halt as she realised she never packed a swimsuit. The Doctor and her had never gone swimming before and there wasn’t much use for one back home. Opening her wardrobe, Rose smiled at the brand new bikini hanging up.

“Thanks Ol’ Girl.” She said, snatching the pale pink bikini and throwing it in her bag. A few minutes later Rose had replaced her trousers and jacket with shorts and a blouse. The Doctor was waiting patiently for her in board shorts and a Hawaiian shirt and she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her.

“What?” He asked, not seeing anything wrong with what he was wearing.

“Nothing, ‘s just I’ve never seen you in a Hawaiian shirt before.”

“I can put my old clothes back on–”

“No! No, I like it. C’mon let's go.” She suppressed another laugh as she looped her fingers with his and headed for the TARDIS door prepared this time.

A warm, citrus scented breeze encircled them as they stepped into a sandy landscape. Rose’s breath hitched as she took in the view before her. Coral clouds danced across the mauve horizon as the rising moon casted an enchanting glow on the magenta sea. The beach they stood on was untouched by artificial infrastructure and gorgeous wildlife grew lush beyond the sand dunes. Besides a few birds and a couple of tiny figures miles down, they appeared to be the only people on the shoreline.

“The planet’s called Rose. From space the planet appears pink due to the colour of the oceans, despite the land being mostly green.”

Rose turned to him in shock.

“ Well , it's actually called a similar flower in the native language of the planet but the most direct translation is ‘Rose’. The two plants are nearly identical, so it's how the TARDIS will translate it. Do you like it?”

Overcome with awe and adoration for the man standing beside her, she leapt up and pulled him in a tight embrace. Before she could stop herself, a dampness adorned her eyes, spilling over. Detecting her surge of emotions, the Doctor pulled back with concern. “Are you alright? Do you not like it?”

“No.” She shook her head and sniffled. “Of course I like it. Thank you, Doctor, for everything.”

“Don’t thank me. You deserve this after everything you went through.” He said, a shadow of resentment casting his face.

“Hey, we deserve this. We both went through a lot. The best thing we can do now is enjoy this beautiful planet and forget all about what happened, yeah?” She took his hand and squeezed, attempting to send a wave of affirmation through it, even if he wasn’t touching her head.

“Yeah.” He squeezed.

“Where are we gonna stay?”

The Doctor pointed past her and she followed the direction of his finger to a cliff overseeing the shore. Certainly too steep to climb, Rose asked, “How do we get up there?”

“You’ll see.” He said as he began to trek in the direction of the cliff.

Following close behind him, Rose began to notice more things about ‘Rose’. The moon she thought was rising was actually moving adjacent to the horizon, and a new moon had appeared beyond the peaks of the mountains in the north. The sun had stood static for the past several minutes, and she realised she had no real idea of what time it was.

“What time is it?”

“Oh I’d say,” he glanced at the second moon in relation to the first one, “about 11 in the morning.”

“Just 11? It looks like sunset…”

“We’re at an angle to the sun of the planet. It stays at sunset for about 10 hours before it becomes night. Since the planet is so close to the sun, this little cove happens to be the perfect place to support life.”

As they hiked closer and closer to the cliff, Rose noticed the planet was not uninhabited. Tons of natives laboured around the cliff, moving materials and chipping away at rock. They were stumpy and stocky aliens, built for manual labour and lifting heavy things. Unparalleled joy filled their faces as they worked, and Rose thought she’d be just as happy if she lived on such a planet.

Finally arriving at the foot of the cliff, Rose could discern the natives had built a platform raised by pulleys beneath it to carry people up. For a planet that was supposedly a vacation spot, there didn’t seem to be many tourists.

The Doctor handed the alien working the lift some form of currency, and they boarded. Having no railing or edges to protect them, Rose held onto the Doctor as they rode upwards. “Where is everyone?”

“I believe we passed by a few of them working.” He said, peeking down at the ground below.

“No, I mean tourists.” She corrected herself.

“There are none. Not many, anyways. This planet is in a bit of an obscure location. The kind of location only something like the TARDIS could reach. Which was one of the reasons I wanted to take you here. There’s no chance of trouble here.”

“Wouldn’t that bother the natives? Us aliens muckin’ about on their planet…”

“The Corrthillians are a peaceful race. As long as you don't cause a disturbance and pay them, they don’t mind your presence.”

The lift cleared the surface, and they hopped off. Dozens of small cottages were scattered across the top of the cliff, all centred around a town square where several natives set up shop and played performances. Rose found the milieu endearing and oddly homely. They were witnessing a culture that didn’t pretend to be anything other than itself for visitors. It was beautifully authentic, and she couldn’t wait to explore it.

The Doctor led them to a cottage close to the cliff's edge with a near perfect view of the sea. The water’s shimmer seemed to glow even more brilliantly from above, and she found it hard to tear her eyes away.

Stepping through the stonework doorway of the cottage, the inside was divided into a kitchen and a single bedroom, leaving little room for debate on sleeping arrangements. Lush flowers and vines grew throughout and Rose noticed there was little to no electricity, a single light fixture hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen. Instead, the radiance of the day illuminated the cottage. With no internal heating, she wondered if it would get too cold to sleep at night. Her questions were answered when they set their things down in the bedroom next to the fireplace. The dwelling was free of any modern technology, leaving for a very classic romantic feel. To her relief, a toilet with plumbing resided just beyond the bedroom.

“S’ beautiful, Doctor.” She turned to him with a warm smile. “I love it.”

“We can make a fire if you get too cold at night. I was going to pick up some wood at the market. I need food for dinner anyways.”

“Speaking of food, I’m starving.”

“Let's get some lunch then!” He said, and they walked out of the cottage.

The wind was beginning to pick up on the cliff and the Doctor found his beautiful companion clinging to him for stability. Internally, he knew Rose could handle herself quite fine on her own, but the feeling of her at his side was one he never objected to. As they walked through the stone pathways of the town, he noticed a few of the males throw interested glances her direction, prompting him to send glares right back.

Everything felt right. There wasn’t an impending danger looming over the heads, begging to be solved. It was just him and Rose on a beautiful planet, exploring and having fun. It was as it should be. As much as he loved the fighting and mystery bits, it seemed they interrupted his plans for a nice vacation with Rose more times than he could count. This was his opportunity to fill in for all the lost time. Everything he did tonight would be for her.

The Doctor watched Rose’s face light up with intrigue and excitement as she explored the shops that lined the market. Close behind her, he bought firewood, cooking supplies, and food for later. When he caught up to her, he found her ogling a pink pendant at a jewelry tent.

“I see you have picked up the jewel of the sea, my dear.” The shop woman said, hobbling over towards Rose.

“What’s it made out of?” Rose asked curiously, mesmerised by its glimmer.

“It’s made of the finest camelliasite in the north. But that’s not all. Hold it to your wrist, dear.” Rose did as the shop woman told her, and held the cool pendant to her skin, marvelling when it turned a deep TARDIS blue. “Camelliasite will turn a different colour if a person is truly happy. It seems to respond fondly to you. Such a necklace is meant for you.”

“Oh, I can't–”

“How much?” The Doctor stepped in.

“For your wife, I will give you a discounted price. Only 20 bits.”

Before she could protest, the Doctor quickly handed the woman the coins and thanked her.

“You didn’t have to buy me that. It was just a mood necklace.” She said as they walked away.

“It's much more than a cheap mood necklace you’d find on earth. Camelliasite really does change colours with mood. The mineral is very reactive to certain hormones in your brain.”

“I thought she was just playing it up for the tourists.”

“In a sense she was. Camelliasite is not a rare mineral. It’s very common in the north. The chain is probably worth more than the pendant. But the pendant is worth more than a mood necklace.” He waggled his eyebrows.

“Well, whatever it is, I love it. Can you help me put it on?”

Scooping her hair out of the way, Rose exposed the back of her neck as the Doctor reached around and latched the necklace. She ceased breathing when he felt his slim fingers brush up against the skin there, and she struggled to quell the goosebumps that had surely made themselves visible to him. She bit her lip as he lingered for a moment, as if purposefully torturing her, and she nearly jumped when he murmured something incomprehensible in her ear and felt him press a kiss into her temple. If he couldn’t see the effect he was having on her before, he certainly could now.

“What was that?” She asked, flustered. “Was that…?”

“Gallifreyan.” He replied as his eyes lingered on the pendant around her neck. He traced the rock with his fingers. “She was right, it does suit you.”

“What does it mean?”

“Oh, just a term of endearment.” He brushed her question off as they continued walking.

“Doctor. What does it mean?”

“There is no direct translation. The closest translation in English doesn’t quite fit it.”

“Well, can’t I at least know what it is in English? Even if it isn't up to your Timelord grandness.” She teased.

“The closest phrase would be something like ‘my sun’, except sun in this case is more of a metaphor for the entire space-time-continuum , and that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. Unless you want me to call you my space-time-continuum, that is.” He explained, and she began to giggle.

“I suppose you're right. That is a bit of a mouthful. Can you say it again? I’d like to hear it one more time.” She asked, and a vivid blush spread across the Timelord’s face.

“It’s not exactly something that should be said in public.” He said sheepishly.

“What, like ‘come inside my mind, dear Doctor’?” She annunciated the words sensually, pleased by his embarrassed reaction. Seeing the Doctor flustered was a rare sight, it was usually her who was flustered by him. It was something she would savour as long as it lasted.

“I’m a bit hungry, aren’t you?” He quickly changed subjects, searching over her for a food stand they could grab lunch from.

Two hours and 6 bags of groceries later, the Doctor and Rose returned to the cottage. As he put them up, Rose changed into her bikini. Making sure all of her bits were covered and secure.

Standing before the mirror, she felt a sudden onslaught of insecurity at being so exposed. She had been naked in front of the Doctor a few days ago. A bikini should have been nothing. Despite her reassurance, she grabbed the sarong out of her bag and tied it around her hips. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to push aside whatever anxiety she was having for the time being. Sheepishly walking from the loo to the kitchen, the Doctor dropped the glass of water he was drinking from, shattering on the floor beneath them.

“Blimey, Doctor, you know how to make a girl blush.” She said as he scrambled to clean up the broken class.

“It’s just you look so–you are–erm–y-you look great, Rose. You look…brilliant.” He stammered, struggling to keep his gaze off the curvature of her chest and hips.

As if he had flipped a switch within her, any doubt she had before was quickly disappearing. The Doctor would never insult her appearance like that. With each dart of his eyes and nervous fidget, her confidence rose. Walking in the bedroom, she retrieved the sun cream and dared to be bold. Squirting a glob of it on her hands, she began working the thick cream into her skin. With a hard swallow, the Doctor watched her movements carefully.

“W-what are you doing?” He asked, watching her hands trail from her ankle to her upper thigh.

“Protecting myself. We don’t all have perfect skin, Doctor.”

“Not perfect, different…” he corrected her but trailed off as her hands slipped over the tops over her breasts and up her neck.

“Can you help me put some on my back? I can’t reach it.” She frowned, handing him the bottle. “You don’t mind do you?”

“Er, no.” He said, awkwardly walking over to her and she once again moved her hair out of the way for him.

The thrill of it was positively exhilarating. Teasing the Doctor had to be one of her new favourite hobbies. A gasp escaped her as she felt the cold cream slide across her back. Slightly shaky fingers worked the cream into her skin in circular motions and she reached around to undo the clasp of her bikini top to give him better access. She bit back a grin as the Doctor nervously exhaled at the sight of her bare back, and his rubbing became less coherent as he moved lower. Unable to hold back any longer, she released a tiny moan, which caused him to nearly fall over in embarrassment. When he finished, she quickly clasped her bikini top and flashed him an innocent smile as if nothing happened.

“Thanks!” She said, skipping out of the cottage leaving him in a daze.

Thoroughly dishevelled, the Doctor ran a hand through his hair and began a treacherous journey of collecting his composure as he followed her.

When they reached the shore once again, Rose could hardly wait to be in the water. It had been so long since she swam at the beach. Forgetting to take off her sarong, she ran towards the water, feeling it caress her ankles as she went deeper. It was the perfect temperature, not frigid or awkwardly warm. Letting herself fall back into its embrace, she bathed in the crimson sun. Dipping her head beneath the water, she popped back up to find the Doctor standing just before the water began.

“You’re just gonna stand there?” She asked, flipping her wet hair back.

“I don't want to get wet before I cook dinner.”

“Surely you can take a little water.” She teased, splashing a bit in his direction. “You’re really not gonna join me?” She pouted.

“You're gonna have to drag me in. I really shouldn’t.”

What was initially an innocent response to her plea, turned into a massive mistake as the Doctor watched Rose emerge from the water. The fabric she draped around her waist clung to it in a way that made his trousers grow tighter. Her divinely feminine figure dripped with ocean water and she seemed to move in slow motion as she walked towards him. He was the luckiest man in the universe.

So distracted with his thoughts, he hardly registered her tugging.

“Rose.” He warned.

“You said to drag you in. So that’s what I’m doing.” She grinned, and it took everything in his body to not let his eyes drift downwards.

“I-I don’t think–I’m not so sure that's–” he stuttered, but the words were lost at the sway of her hips.

“What was that?” She called.

“I er…should take off my shirt.” He said, inevitably giving in. Sod the plan to cook with dry clothes.

Stopping to unbutton it, he discarded the shirt on the sand. Rose shamelessly stared at the half naked time lord, memorising every freckle and mole on the pale expanse of his chest. When his eyes found hers, it was clear he caught her in the act, and she covered herself by splashing water on him.

“Hey!”

“You're still dry. I’m soaking wet. How's that fair?”

“Alright, you asked for it.” He challenged as he started towards her.

Rose dove into the ocean with a squeal as the Doctor swam in her direction. Due to the clarity of the water, it was useless trying to hide beneath its surface and he found her almost immediately. When she popped back up, she found herself face to face with a dripping wet Doctor. His hair was tousled and water droplets fell from his nose. He was sexy , Rose thought, and she struggled to restrain herself. They were still on a semi-public beach.

“Your hair…” she giggled.

“What? Is it bad?” he looked upwards in search of something out of place.

“Hold on.” She bit her lip as she brought her fingers up to mess with his hair. In a genuine effort to sculpt it to its usual flow, she missed the way the Doctor drew towards her touch. Lost in the ecstasy of Rose Tyler’s nails lightly scratching against his sensitive scalp, he hummed. Just as she found a position that somewhat resembled its dry structure, the Doctor’s fingers wrapped around one of her wrists, and gently tugged it towards his mouth. She sharply inhaled when his lips pressed against her knuckles, still damp with sea water.

“Thank you.” He said in a low voice.

Oh, this was bad . He had to know what kind of effect that had on her. Her body itched to pounce on him but was shackled by the light of day and the possibility of the natives seeing from above. The embarrassment of getting kicked off a planet for public indecency would kill her. She really should put some distance between them, move her legs–do something , but before she could pull away, the Doctor closed the gap between them, mashing his lips with hers in a hungry desperation she hadn’t seen before. More than happy to oblige, she responded enthusiastically, hands ruining all the work she did as they ruffled his damp hair. Trailing sloppy kisses from her swollen lips to her collar bone, Rose became aware of the direction he was heading in when a hand began to snake up her side beneath the warm water. His intentions were confirmed when they reached the clasp of her bikini, and she yanked herself out of the daze he put her in.

“Doctor! We can’t–”

“Why not?” She felt him smile against her skin, the git!

“B-because there’s people.”

“They can’t see us. We’re too far out.” Her nails dug into his back as his fingers ghosted the curvature of her breasts. “Not with what I’m about to do, anyways.”

“A-are you sure?”

“Very.” He finally said before he dipped below the surface of the water and a new sensation replaced his fingers. Lifting up the fabric of the bikini, the Doctor latched his lips around her hardened nipple and began sucking and lapping at the delicate skin. He hand flew to her mouth to stop a cry of pleasure as he continued his work, using his free hand to tease the other side. Not sure she could take this kind of attention with no output, her hips began to buck helplessly with nothing to grind into. After what felt like an eternity, the Doctor returned to the surface with a gasp. If there was a more inappropriate use for his respiratory bypass, she didn’t know what it was. Frustrated and unsatisfied, she tried to resume their snog before he clasped a hand over her mouth. Rose released a muffled groan into his palm.

“That’s all you get.”

“Please, touch me , Doctor.” She pleaded, licking his palm. “Please?”

“You're just gonna leave me like this?” She cried.

“Least you deserve after your little sun cream stunt earlier. Nearly had me ripping that tight bikini off and ravishing you.”

“You could’ve, you know.” She gazed at him through lowered eyes.

“Nice try, but I'm saving you for desert.”

A frown replaced her seductive expression and she crossed her arms. “Don’t take too long.”

“It’ll be ready before you know it. Oh, and if any of the village boys try to make a pass at you, tell em’ you're spoken for.” He leaned in to press one last kiss to her lips before trudging out of the water.

“With pleasure.” Not missing the opportunity to check out his bum, Rose watched with admiration as he disappeared beyond the sand dunes.

Left to herself, she let her body fall backwards to float for several minutes, simply experiencing the push and pull of the tide. Waiting for the Doctor to return to worshipping her body was going to be a difficult but rewarding task. There was no man she trusted more in the universe and if he had a plan, she could trust that was good too. Smiling, she found herself overcome with joy. They were on a beautiful planet, nestled away in the middle of nowhere. She loved everything about it; the beach, the cottage, the market. If it were up to her, she could spend an eternity here.

An eternity. It seemed as though she did have forever. Her newfound immortality was something she hadn’t quite processed yet. She didn’t even know how to go about telling her mum–and she really didn’t want to be thinking about her mum on a vacation with the Doctor. They had their chance at forever now, and she didn’t even know what to do with it.

Leaving the water to dry herself off, Rose sat in the warm sand and became lost in the scene of a permanent sunset affixed in the sky, a third moon now dancing across it. She really could spend forever in some place like this. As long as the Doctor was by her side, she could see a future painted before her; the Doctor holding her hand as she gave birth, a cottage of their own, beautiful kids running around– and they look just like their father .

A familiar sting nipped at her eyes as tears fell from them. She had no idea just how much she wanted it until it seemed attainable. It was within her grasp, and she took the pill anyway. Remembering the Doctor’s words about supporting her no matter what, a sob broke and she was properly crying. She loved him so much it hurt. He was always there for her, even in the darkest of situations. He gave her his undivided attention if she so looked his way and he knew just how to cheer her up when she felt down. She remembered every gift, from the red bicycle he bought her when she was 12 to the beautiful dusk she was now gazing upon. Even with an eternity, she could never fall out of love with the Doctor. He was just too good.

⋅ ⋅ ❦ ☽ ♥ ☾ ❧ ⋅ ⋅

The sun had finally dipped below the horizon, leaving only the moons in the sky as the Doctor cooked. With the temperature drop and the cottage growing dark, the Doctor made a fire and lit lamps to brighten the place up a bit.

Amidst sautéing some locally grown vegetables, the creak of the door filled the kitchen and he turned around to find a half dry Rose with a towel draped over her. She looked as fantastic as she did when he left.

“Was the swim good?”

“Mhm hm.” she nodded and he could detect something was off.

“Hey.” he caught her wrist before she disappeared into the bedroom. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah. Everything’s just fine.” She offered a sweet smile that only confused him further. “You mind if I take a shower before we eat?”

“‘Course not. Dinner will be ready by the time you're out.”

Standing on her tiptoes to reach him, she pressed a kiss into his cheek before closing the bedroom door behind her. Still unsure of how to read her actions, the Doctor returned to cooking. It didn’t make sense. She was happy and cheerful the last time he saw her, he didn’t know what could have happened in between that could have caused her sour mood. Maybe it was a native–but it didn’t make sense, given their hospitable nature. Perhaps she was just tired. Yes, that must be it.

As he sprinkled spices on the fish he grilled minutes later, he couldn’t bring himself to shake the nagging feeling it wasn’t just exhaustion. A tiny voice whispered to him she regretted it–regretted everything. Maybe she had come to terms with the fact that he had permanently taken away her ability to live a normal, mortal life and she secretly resented him for it. She could have been second guessing her decision to come here with him and before he knew it she’d run home and never come back. Maybe the worst thing of all, she was afraid of him. There was no barrier between them now and the Doctor let go of all of his reservations to proclaim his love. Rose could have been overwhelmed and he didn’t even think of it. Maybe she detected their growing telepathic connection and realised what it was turning into. A true bond.

“Doctor?” A voice interrupted his chain of thought.

Turning towards its source, a freshly washed, bare-faced Rose ogled him with concern. “I called you but you didn’t hear me. Is everything okay?”

“Oh, err, yes–just fine.”

“Then why are the vegetables burning?”

“Burning? Oh!” Quickly pulling the pan off the stove, he grimaced at the blackened mess.

“It’s okay, we don’t need vegetables. What were you thinking about?” She asked as she took the pan away and set it in the sink.

“Oh you know, just…timey-wimey things. All sorts of stuff, like, the roman empire–or the great and bountiful human empire. Did you know that you humans have a blind spot in your eyes? If you close one eye and hold your finger up and slowly move it–it’ll disappear. How fascinating is that?”

“C’mon, out with it.” She crossed her arms.

“Honestly. I really was thinking about that.” He said dismissively, setting the platter of fish on the table.

“Doctor.”

“Would you like a cuppa? I made some over the fire?”

“Doctor!” She shouted, and he froze. “Now, you know better than to try and distract me when you're hurting–I can see right through it. What’s got you like this?”

A dejected silence settled between them as his face fell.

“What about you?”

“Me? This isn’t about me. I want to know what you’re feeling.” She deflected.

“But it is –it is about you. You were off when you came in.”

Her brows furrowed with frustration. “T-that wasn't–it's nothing. Not important. I’m fine, Doctor, more than fine. I’m happy to be here.”

“You don’t look happy.” He said softly.

“You misunderstand, it’s not that–nevermind.”

“Rose. Please tell me what’s wrong. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. If you need time away to process things or anything like that, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Is that what you think I'm sad over?”

“You’re not?”

“No.” An involuntary laugh escaped her. Their quarrel was over nothing. “No, Doctor, I’m ‘sad’ because I…I love you so much. ”

“What?”

“I know, it’s silly. But I just can't stop thinking about us, a life together, settling down, having a baby and all that. I just want it so much and I never even realised it until a few hours ago. Seeing all these people and families on this planet is just beautiful. This planet is beautiful. The more I think about it the more I want it. I want that life…with you.”

“So you don’t regret everything?”

“No, you daft alien.” She scoffed, tugging him into a hug. “It couldn’t have happened better.”

“Well, if you want it, I want it too.” He returned her embrace, but stiffened up after a moment.

“Something wrong?” She asked.

“We have to tell Jackie.”

“Doctor.” She pulled back, a great seriousness possessing her. “Let me make it very clear. I’d like a few more years under my belt before that point.”

“Oh thank god.” He sighed, and she started laughing. “That would have been one hell of a slap.”

“You’re tellin’ me, I wouldn’t hear the end of it.”

“Food’s getting cold, let's eat.”

“Mhm, I’m starving.” She agreed.

As expected, any food prepared by the Doctor was professionally culinary (aside from a few singed vegetables). Wondering where he’d gotten the spices from, he admitted to making a quick trip to earth to grab the ‘finest spices in Italy’. One conversation about immortal jellyfish later, they finished eating and Rose began to collect the dishes to be washed in the sink.

“Why don’t you leave the cleaning to me and make yourself comfortable on the beach.” He kissed her temple as he took the dishes away from her hands.

“Are you sure, I feel bad leaving you to do all the work.”

“Trust me, I enjoy doing things for you as much as you enjoy receiving them.” He said, which prompted a suggestive glance from her. “Always the nasty thoughts with you humans.”

“I’d take that back if I were you, I've been inside your head, Doctor.” She grinned, tongue peaking out in a way that drove him wild.

“I’ll be down in a mo’.”

By the time Rose reached the shore, the moons had pulled the tide up quite a bit and the sky had fully darkened. Never having been at the beach at night, she found it positively enchanting. The air had cooled a few degrees and a crisp breeze wisped through her hair. She closed her eyes, letting herself enjoy its ambience before she felt the Doctor’s presence approach from behind. Their telepathic link grew stronger each day since they first shared a mind, and it became easier to detect the man she loved when he was near.

“Doctor.” She whispered as he planted a trail of kisses from the nape of her neck down to her shoulder.

“We don’t have to do anything,” he said after a moment, “if you don’t want to. We can just look at the stars. I brought a blanket.”

“I’d like that.” She leaned into his figure, craning her head to kiss him softly.

Resting the blanket on the dry sand, they laid down and were met with a colourful night sky. Blotches of purple and pink surrounded millions of stars, sprinkled like dust.

“Over there,” he pointed north, and she followed, “is the Reigorsapia constellation. I’m not too well versed on the legends of these people, but many years ago a native told me the story of that particular constellation.”

“Can I hear?”

“I’m not so sure you want to. It’s rather sad.”

“Maybe telling it will make it less sad.” She smiled.

He took a deep breath before he spoke. “The Yulo people were a clan that lived in the north and guarded the south from the monsters of the mountains. Of course, these monsters were most likely overgrown Iguilas–sort of similar to bears–but to short Yulos, they were massive. The south never visited the Yulo people or made any efforts to communicate until invaders from the east ravished one of the villages. The south, having little protection of their own, sent a representative to the north to ask for some. They sent the village head’s daughter, a girl–around your age–named Sapia.”

“Why didn’t the village head go?”

“Some say he was sickly and incapacitated, but other stories claim Sapia volunteered of her own volition, driven by the love of her home and people. I’m more inclined to believe the latter.”

“So am I.” Rose agreed.

“Anyways, when she reached the mountains of the north, she wasn’t taken seriously. A mere southern girl travelling all the way to the north to ask for help after years of radio silence? To the northern men it seemed like a prank of sorts. But she stayed. She helped out with the daunting labour every day until she proved herself worthy to be listened to. As she worked the leader of the northern men, Reigor, took an interest in her and decided to give her a chance. The first night they met, it was said he fell in love with her. Now of course, Sapia had no interest in falling in love, she demanded protection.”

“Atta’ girl.” Rose remarked.

“Reigor asked Sapia to be his wife, but she refused. Eventually they came to a compromise. Sapia would marry Reigor and in return protection would be given to her people. Weeks passed and Sapia slowly grew to love the north as much as her home in the south. She brightened the overcast darkness of the north and Reigor noticed it in the improved moods of his men. Soon, she even began to see the man she married in a kinder light, melting away the frozen exterior he forged around himself.”

Rose was now looking at the Doctor, forgetting the constellation above. She wasn’t sure if he was talking about the story anymore.

“But tragedy struck. The northern soldiers failed to protect the south from eastern invaders and her home fell. Stricken by grief, Sapia left the north and ran to the south without Reigor’s permission. When he noticed she was gone, he ran after her. When he finally arrived in the south…he found Sapia dead. Overcome with sadness, he took his own life.”

“That is sad.” Rose admitted, wiping a tear from her eye.

“I told you so.” A bittersweet smile formed as he gazed upon the constellation. “There is a silver lining though. It’s said they found eachother again in the afterlife. Forever dancing over the mountains of the north.”

“I like that ending much more.”

“Agreed.”

Together forever in the afterlife. It reminded her of her first Doctor. His face and thick northern accent may have been gone forever, but she knew he was still inside this Doctor. He would always be with her, just as Reigor would forever be with Sapia. She noticed how every star had a neighbour as they danced across the night sky, keeping them company for millions of years, and she suddenly felt empty.

“Can we go inside my mind?” She asked, turning her head to him.

“Sure, I’d like to try something a little different this time, if that’s okay with you.”

“Anything.”

“Our connection should be strong enough now that I should be able to do this without touching your temples.” His fingers laced with hers, and she felt him brush up against her mind, slipping in without resistance. Like this.

That’s better. This feels right, somehow. I can’t explain it. She admitted through the bond.

You’re probably picking a bit of that up from me. This is natural for my species–in romantic relationships anyways.

Maybe. Or I just really like being close to you like this. It sucks that we can only do this when we're touching. She frowned.

The Doctor is silent for a moment, and Rose can’t penetrate his barriers to hear his thoughts. There is a way.

There is? Like practice? I could get better with practice? She asked.

Well, yes and no. The contact without physical contact can only happen one way. You’ll get better at telepathy the more you practise it though, regardless. But you still need that physical spark to start the flame.

Then what is it?

I haven’t exactly been truthful, Rose, but I’m scared. I don’t want to scare you. It’s a lot to ask and I wouldn’t want you to feel pressured. He says, and she feels they’re on the verge of something big.

Doctor, whatever it is, you can tell me. Even if my answer is no, nothing can change the way I feel about you, yeah? Nothing. She reassures him.

What we have is the beginnings of what my people called a bond, which was only formed between a married couple. I didn’t want to go too far in and unintentionally complete it without you knowing first. It's…a bit hard to control myself inside our minds like this. Especially when it's you. Bloody intoxicating, you are.

A bond doesn’t sound so bad. Talking inside without touching sounds pretty nice.I can do it whenever.

A bond isn’t just no contact telepathy, Rose. Its complete and irrevocable commitment. You share everything with the other person, and vice versa. There is no hiding the past, present, or future. Your minds become one. It’s an incredible thing to ask of you. He corrects her, and he feels her trepidation.

All at once?

No. It’s gradual. A process of trial and error–learning to devote yourself wholly and completely. Like I said before, we have the beginnings of a bond, if we continue to communicate telepathically and open up to each other, it will inevitably grow into a bond. But its irreversible Rose. To break a bond would be to break a person, and you need to know that if we’re gonna do this.

Rose is silent, and he feels the wheels turning in her head.

This is your choice, but you should know if you choose to not proceed with the bond, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to engage with you telepathically very often. It's very difficult for me to do something like that with someone I love. And I love you, Rose. More than I’ve loved anyone. Which is why it scares me. You don’t have to give me an answer now–

I want it. She interrupts. I feel like something’s been missing since we left Lyris Z4, like we’re destined for more, you and me. Maybe this is what I’ve been looking for.

Are you sure? This is a monumental decision, I just want to make sure you’re making the right choice. And you can still back out—

I know what I want, Doctor. And it's you. It's always been you. I don’t care if it's a long road ahead. We have all the time in the world. She leans over to straddle him.

Soft lips move against his and he can’t believe any of it’s real. The woman he loves just agreed to telepathically bond with him, and now she was kissing him. The Doctor knew he didn’t deserve her, but he was a selfish man. There was no letting go now. Not ever. He was incomprehensibly smitten with the pink and yellow not-so-human girl and his hearts burned with the ferocity of a thousand suns, all for her.

Attentive hands drifted towards the hem of her camisole, gently prodding beneath it. Marvelling in the heat of her skin, a sigh escaped him. Gently pushing her back, the Doctor took a moment to admire her beauty, splayed across the blanket, barely lit from the moonlight above. Her eyes sparkled with its brilliance and was reminiscent of her incandescence as Badwolf.

Do you still want this? He asked.

God, yes.

Surrendering all reservations, the Doctor dipped down to kiss her. Trailing down her jaw and to her neck he reaches a pulse point. Fascinated by the rhythm of her heart, he lingers for a moment, and she titles her head back for better access. Taking that as a cue to keep moving, he gently tugs the camisole off of her and returns to her chest. Nipping and sucking at the space between her breasts, he detects some feedback of the pleasure he’s giving her, and it’s unlike anything he’s ever experienced before.

“Doctor, please ,” she whimpers, and he gives into temptation, engulfing her nipple with his mouth. He quite likes her breasts. Heaven knows the time he’d spent thinking about them.

I’ll be sure to remember that. She sends through their connection, weak and dazed.

Frustrated with his insistent teasing, she angles her hips upwards and grinds against him, now settled between her thighs. It’s only a moment’s hesitation before his attention fixates on her knickers, fingers wrapping themselves around the edges of her trousers and oh, they're lace.

He drags her trousers down in a painfully slow manner, making sure to savour each whimper, toss, and turn that became her. Finally reaching her knickers, he ghosts a finger over her core, and shudders at the moisture that had accumulated since she’d taken a shower.

So bloody wet. All for me.

Dragging the skimpy piece of fabric down her thighs, his olfactory was graced with Rose’s pheromones, begging to be remedied by him. Running a finger down her drenched folds, she shutters and gasps, struggling to contain herself. Finding the sensitive bundle of nerves he circles two fingers around it, and her hips buck up unashamedly with need. He returns to kissing her, swallowing every moan and gasp she released with every movement of his fingers.

I would do this every day if you asked, Rose. I would do anything for you. I’m yours.

His fingers dip lower and prod into her sex, causing her back to arch against the now sandy blanket. He pumps in and out, making sure to stroke the spot that feels oh-so-wonderful within her. The only noises that filled his senses were Rose’s pleas of pleasure and the soft sounds of waves crashing into the shore. He would stop time right here and never be unsatisfied. Everything was perfect. His beautiful Rose.

The feedback loop he’d created from their bond was raging inside his mind, every touch he adorned her with flowed back to him, and he wondered if she’d feel the same once he buried himself inside of her. When he thought to move his hand to force his trousers down, Rose had already responded, sloppily tugging downwards to free him. Always one step ahead, she was.

The Doctor pulled away from Rose with a needy groan (one she’d replay over and over again later) and she watched as he hastily shoved his trousers down and peeled off his shirt. Her centre ached for him, and couldn’t wait to be filled by him again.

Please, I can’t wait anymore…

Angeling himself with her entrance, he teased the head of his co*ck with her cl*t, sliding it back and forth over the swollen nub, and she couldn’t tell if she was feeling his pleasure or her own. Deciding the co*cktail of their ecstasy was much more favourable than trying to sort out the logistics of it, she moaned and moved her hips with his length. Testing his limits, he lined himself up with her entrance, restraining from burying himself inside in one quick thrust.

I need you, Doctor!

“Rose, I love you,” he says, and words in his language follow. She doesn’t understand them–she doesn’t need to. Everything he conveys verbally, reaches her mentally. His love wraps itself around her like a warm blanket in the dead of night, caressing her, keeping her safe. And when he presses into her, it's more than two bodies connecting. Its two worlds colliding. Sensations are metaphysical, and she feels her own pleasure weave with his.

He thrusts with no urgency, no exigency–just driven by the euphoria their bond irradiated with. It’s beautiful and ascends beyond a physical plane. Their existence extends to the sand beneath them, the seafoam the waves carry, the moon, the stars and everything in between.

I love you. He says, or maybe she says.

Rose can feel her org*sm’s steadfast approach as the Doctor lifts her legs up to press deeper inside her. Every thrust is accompanied by a wave of pleasure from the Doctor, and she’s not sure how many minutes have passed since he entered her. Time is relative when she’s with him–time is meaningless when they’re like this. His length rubs up against something delicate inside her, and it builds a coil of tension that begs to keel over. His movements grow ragged and desperate, and he falls beside her as he pumps unabashedly. When it breaks, a ragged cry releases from deep inside her and all she can see is the stars above them.

He releases inside her with a strangled moan, gripping her wrist so hard it’ll leave bruises. She feels his hot cum spill inside of her, coupled with the sensation of his org*sm. It thrums through her, humming a sweet tune of their tangled bodies. His release continues for a few more moments before he finally rolls off of her and catches his breath.

“God, I hope nobody saw us.” She says after a moment, and he laughs.

“I love you.”

“Yeah?” she grins, and it's the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

“Oh yeah.”

“Me too. I love you. Forever.”