Wolf Moon: Chapter Twelve
Feb. 6th, 2008 10:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberfocusAncient Planet
“So where are we?” Rose asked. The TARDIS had just set down on a likely looking planet and the Doctor was reading the computer screen.
“Don’t know,” he said. “Brand new pocket universe that shouldn’t exist but does, remember?”
“Brand new?” Rose asked. “As in just came into existence brand new?”
“Well, no,” said the Doctor. “But everything indicates it didn’t exist until just before…” He stopped and swallowed and then met her eyes. “Just before the Time War,” he continued.
“You mean…” She stopped, wrinkled her forehead and puzzled something out. “This universe was created just for us? Part of the plan?”
“I don’t know about that, but then Romana didn’t tell me everything.” He looked back to the screen and frowned. “Now that’s just odd.”
“What is?” She asked coming to stand beside him and peer at the screen. She grimaced at the unfamiliar symbols wishing that the TARDIS would translate Gallifreyan. Seemed some things didn’t change. As she continued to stare at it she felt the stirrings of music in her mind. The sensation was slightly painful and she turned away, put her back to the console and looked up at him.
“This pocket universe is only a little over a decade old,” he said, “But according to these readings this planet is ancient.”
“How is that possible?” Rose asked.
“It could have been moved here to preserve it. Or it could be the pocket universe was built around it somehow, which is rather more likely. You'd have to fit the planet with engines to move it. Not that it couldn't be done, has been done in the past. I'm sure it was put here to hide it from the onslaught of the war,” he said thoughtfully.
“Why? Why would anyone do that?” Rose asked.
“Let’s find out. There’s a breathable atmosphere and the TARDIS has identified what she says are ruins less than a mile away,” the Doctor said with a grin. “Maybe we can find a library or seat of government type building.”
“Or the local planning commissioner’s office?” Rose asked with a giggle. “Blueprints nicely laid out marked ‘Plans to Move a Planet’ or 'How to Build a Universe' or something?”
“It could happen.” He looked sheepish. “Probably won’t though. Are you ready?”
“What about supplies?” Rose asked. “Is there a water source or should we carry canteens?”
The Doctor looked at her. “I’m sure we’ll find something.”
“I don’t think so,” said Rose. “I’ll be back in a minute.” She headed towards the kitchen and rummaged in the cupboards for a couple of canteens that she filled full of water. She grabbed a few lightweight foods: a bag of cereal, raisins, nuts and some vacuum-sealed dried meat. She added a couple of bananas and then found a light insulated backpack under the sink.
She piled the food into the pack and put it on her shoulders, fastening the waist belt around her. Rose was a lot older now than the last time she’d gone planet hopping with the Doctor and she did not want to be scrambling for food and water in an emergency. Her training with Torchwood would have made it hard to go anywhere unprepared like that anymore.
She found a hunter’s knife in the drawers and looped its sheath through the belt of her jeans. All set, she turned back towards the door only to find the Doctor watching her in silent bemusement. “You’ll probably end up thanking me for it later,” she said.
“It kind of takes all the spontaneity out of things,” he grumbled.
“I walked off with you in practically a heartbeat. I think that is more than enough spontaneous things for the week,” she said. Then she blushed, remembering that she’d also climbed into bed with him half naked. That had been rather impulsive as well, even if he had been unconscious at the time. It’s not like she hadn’t known he’d wake up. Still, she forced that from her mind and said, “Lead on.”
She followed him back through the TARDIS and out onto the surface of the planet. The Doctor reached an arm back through the doors and grabbed something. “Here, let me put this in your pack.” He was holding up a red leather coat. She turned her back to him and he folded the coat and put it back inside. “In case it gets cold.”
“See, you’re not against planning ahead,” she teased as she set off. He fell into step beside her, their feet making prints in the dusty, red soil.
“I’d have been perfectly willing to keep you warm with my body heat, such as it is,” he said with a wicked smile. “But since we’re supposed to be getting to know each other emotionally,” and the last word was said in a somewhat mocking way, “The coat is probably the way you’d prefer to go.”
“Don’t know about prefer,” Rose muttered under her breath before she could stop herself. She shot him a look to see if he had heard her and from his somewhat smug expression she was sure he had. He was gracious enough not to tease her about it, though.
After about fifteen minutes of silence Rose said, “I went to the Painted Desert in Arizona on a case once. This reminds me of there.” She looked around at the rugged landscape. “Never understood why they called them badlands. They were really so beautiful. Those are the same kind of bands there,” she pointed.
“It’s a stratified layering of minerals and decaying organic material. That’s what gives it the red and grey bands. And the different badlands scattered across the American Union are called that because they were not conducive to raising crops. You’ll note the original peoples never called them badlands. Just the colonial immigrants,” he told her.
“If you’re from the other universe, I mean originally, before the split, how come you know about the history of the other Earth?” Rose asked. “It’s so different.”
“I can see all of time and space, Rose. Even if I can’t get into all of it anymore, I can still see it if I look. And Earth, well, it’s a bit of a troublemaker, isn’t it?” He explained. “So I made it my business to upload everything about it off your computer nets every time I’m in the neighborhood,” he told her. “In fact, that’s what I was doing when the TARDIS picked up you radiating your energy all over the place.”
As they came up over a precipice Rose gasped. They ground to a halt, edging forward and looking down at the sheer drop of the cliff face beneath them. “I think we’re going to have to find another route,” Rose said, her eyes crossing the canyon.
The Doctor scanned the ground to the east and the west and then pointed west. “That looks like there’s a path over there. It may lead down to the canyon floor.”
“Could be a river down there,” said Rose.
“Probably. Pretty standard for canyons. But the ruins are that way.” He pointed ahead. “And up the other side of the canyon.”
“Less than a mile, my eye,” said Rose.
“Ah, well it probably is as the crow flies,” said the Doctor.
“Do I look like a crow to you?” She asked.
The Doctor let his eyes trace their way down her body and then back again, giving her a lazy grin when he got to her eyes. “Not particularly,” he said.
“Knock that off,” she told him sternly.
“Knock what off?” He asked innocently but there was mischief in his steel blue eyes.
“You know very well what. Stop looking at me like you want to jump me,” she said.
“But I do want to jump you,” he said, “So how else should I look at you?”
“You agreed that we’d wait,” she said crossing her arms.
“I agreed that you made sense, Rose.” He closed the distance between them and cupped the side of her face with the palm of his hand. “But I never, ever agreed that I would make it easy on you.” His thumb traced across her cheekbone and then across her bottom lip. She wanted to open her mouth and scrape her teeth across his thumb but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
Still, when he pulled his hand away from her face she had to use a will of steel to keep herself from moving forward towards it. He moved his face close to hers and then whispered in her ear. “I intend to make this every bit as hard for you as you’re currently making me,” he said. “Innuendo intended.”
He pulled her up against him just long enough for her to feel exactly how hard that was before releasing her. He strode off towards the path a little awkwardly. What had she gotten herself into? She wondered. Taking a deep breath she followed the Doctor towards the downward leading path. Oh, well, whatever it was the view was certainly good. Even better than her surroundings.
It took four hours to descend to the canyon floor and there were several times when the Doctor would turn and very solicitously hand her down a particularly rough section of trail. A couple of times they had to scramble nearly straight down, but there were plenty of handholds and footholds.
She did note how many times the Doctor went first, and then would catch her as she descended, his hand either going supportively to her bum or he’d allow her to simply slide all the way down his body. He was so doing that on purpose. She could tell from his smirk.
Part of Rose wanted to escalate things into a full-fledged war, but she had a feeling that using her own body for taunting and teasing him might just end with him taking her against the side of the craggy rock face and she didn’t think that would be the least bit comfortable. Besides, she didn’t want it to be like that. For the life of her she couldn’t actually remember why she didn’t want it to be like that.
There was indeed a river at the bottom of the canyon and it was pretty wide. “We’ll have to wade across it,” the Doctor said as they made short trips up either side to see if there was any narrowing of the riverbed visible. “I don’t think it’s too deep, just wide.” He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the river. “Nothing dangerous in the water. Just fish.”
“No barracudas or piranhas?” She asked just to be sure.
“Nope,” he said.
Rose sat down on the bank and took off her shoes and socks, then rolled up her jeans to above her knees. The Doctor on the other hand had not only stripped off his boots but had skinned off his jeans. “I think it’s deeper than that,” he said. “If you don’t want wet jeans all afternoon, maybe you ought to take them off.”
“Don’t think so,” she told him.
“I’ve already seen you in your knickers,” he told her with a straight face.
Damn the man. “Fine,” she said. She stood up and put her hand on the button, slowly undoing it. She met his eyes as she pulled down the zipper, then nervously she slipped out of them. His eyes lingered on her legs and she almost flung the blue jeans at his head. “Stop it,” she growled.
“I’m only looking,” he told her.
She picked up her clothes and shoes and dumped them into her backpack and then waded out into the river. She knew he was watching her bum, she could feel his eyes on it, and so she added a little saucy wiggle to her hips. Unfortunately it was that rather bad decision that caused her to twist her ankle and lose her balance a few steps later. She tumbled ungracefully into the water.
Great, she thought as she struggled for the surface, There goes my dignity. She got her head above the surface of the water and pushed herself to her knees then suddenly felt herself being lifted from underneath her arms. The Doctor hauled her to her feet and then up into his arms. “I’m fine,” she muttered. “I just slipped. Let me down.”
“Don’t think so,” he said and proceeded to cross the river carrying her. Despite her knowledge that it was completely unnecessary for him to carry her she draped her arms around his neck and snuggled her head against his shoulder. She felt very safe in his arms, safer than she’d felt in years. And even though she knew sooner or later he’d be putting her in mortal danger, she’d be just fine if he was right there beside her while he was doing it.
He left the water and set her down on the opposite bank, his hands lingering on her waist until he was sure she had her balance. “You okay?” He asked.
“I was always okay,” she said. “I just stumbled because I…well, because I did,” she said with a blush.
“You know, you don’t have to wiggle your hips to get my attention. I was already looking,” he told her.
She whirled on him. “I was not--.”
“You really were.”
“I really was,” she admitted, the fight going out of her. “I’m sorry. Mixed signals.”
“What is it that you want, Rose? What is it that you really want?” He asked her. She sat down on a rock and brought her knees up under her chin.
“A dry pair of knickers?” She asked with a rueful grin. The Doctor fished around in his pocket and hauled out the yellow polka dotted bikini.
“This do?” He asked.
“Do I even want to know why you had that in your pocket?” She asked him.
He blushed. He actually blushed. Right up to the tips of his prominent ears. “Figured there might be a lake or a river somewhere we could go swimming in. If I couldn’t get you to go skinny dipping this was backup.”
“Are you telling me the truth?” She asked.
“Sort of, yeah.” She let her eyes bore into him. “Damn,” he muttered. “It was a souvenir, okay?”
She nodded at him. “Okay,” she said simply. He looked surprised. “And Doctor?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry I tried to tease you.”
“You don’t need to, you know. You being within arms reach, that’s tease enough. I’m going to go scout down river and see if there is a better way up that cliff face. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He strode off and Rose looked around her. She ducked behind a pile of boulders and changed into the bikini and then spread her shirt, knickers and bra out to dry on the rocks. She looked in the backpack and fortunately everything inside it was dry. It must have been water tight. She pulled out her jeans and slid them on, followed by her socks and trainers, and then put on the red leather coat. The sun was starting to descend and it was beginning to get cold, especially with her recent dunking and her currently soaking wet hair.
Suitably attired again she sat down and waited for the Doctor to return.
Ch. 13: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/9607.html
“So where are we?” Rose asked. The TARDIS had just set down on a likely looking planet and the Doctor was reading the computer screen.
“Don’t know,” he said. “Brand new pocket universe that shouldn’t exist but does, remember?”
“Brand new?” Rose asked. “As in just came into existence brand new?”
“Well, no,” said the Doctor. “But everything indicates it didn’t exist until just before…” He stopped and swallowed and then met her eyes. “Just before the Time War,” he continued.
“You mean…” She stopped, wrinkled her forehead and puzzled something out. “This universe was created just for us? Part of the plan?”
“I don’t know about that, but then Romana didn’t tell me everything.” He looked back to the screen and frowned. “Now that’s just odd.”
“What is?” She asked coming to stand beside him and peer at the screen. She grimaced at the unfamiliar symbols wishing that the TARDIS would translate Gallifreyan. Seemed some things didn’t change. As she continued to stare at it she felt the stirrings of music in her mind. The sensation was slightly painful and she turned away, put her back to the console and looked up at him.
“This pocket universe is only a little over a decade old,” he said, “But according to these readings this planet is ancient.”
“How is that possible?” Rose asked.
“It could have been moved here to preserve it. Or it could be the pocket universe was built around it somehow, which is rather more likely. You'd have to fit the planet with engines to move it. Not that it couldn't be done, has been done in the past. I'm sure it was put here to hide it from the onslaught of the war,” he said thoughtfully.
“Why? Why would anyone do that?” Rose asked.
“Let’s find out. There’s a breathable atmosphere and the TARDIS has identified what she says are ruins less than a mile away,” the Doctor said with a grin. “Maybe we can find a library or seat of government type building.”
“Or the local planning commissioner’s office?” Rose asked with a giggle. “Blueprints nicely laid out marked ‘Plans to Move a Planet’ or 'How to Build a Universe' or something?”
“It could happen.” He looked sheepish. “Probably won’t though. Are you ready?”
“What about supplies?” Rose asked. “Is there a water source or should we carry canteens?”
The Doctor looked at her. “I’m sure we’ll find something.”
“I don’t think so,” said Rose. “I’ll be back in a minute.” She headed towards the kitchen and rummaged in the cupboards for a couple of canteens that she filled full of water. She grabbed a few lightweight foods: a bag of cereal, raisins, nuts and some vacuum-sealed dried meat. She added a couple of bananas and then found a light insulated backpack under the sink.
She piled the food into the pack and put it on her shoulders, fastening the waist belt around her. Rose was a lot older now than the last time she’d gone planet hopping with the Doctor and she did not want to be scrambling for food and water in an emergency. Her training with Torchwood would have made it hard to go anywhere unprepared like that anymore.
She found a hunter’s knife in the drawers and looped its sheath through the belt of her jeans. All set, she turned back towards the door only to find the Doctor watching her in silent bemusement. “You’ll probably end up thanking me for it later,” she said.
“It kind of takes all the spontaneity out of things,” he grumbled.
“I walked off with you in practically a heartbeat. I think that is more than enough spontaneous things for the week,” she said. Then she blushed, remembering that she’d also climbed into bed with him half naked. That had been rather impulsive as well, even if he had been unconscious at the time. It’s not like she hadn’t known he’d wake up. Still, she forced that from her mind and said, “Lead on.”
She followed him back through the TARDIS and out onto the surface of the planet. The Doctor reached an arm back through the doors and grabbed something. “Here, let me put this in your pack.” He was holding up a red leather coat. She turned her back to him and he folded the coat and put it back inside. “In case it gets cold.”
“See, you’re not against planning ahead,” she teased as she set off. He fell into step beside her, their feet making prints in the dusty, red soil.
“I’d have been perfectly willing to keep you warm with my body heat, such as it is,” he said with a wicked smile. “But since we’re supposed to be getting to know each other emotionally,” and the last word was said in a somewhat mocking way, “The coat is probably the way you’d prefer to go.”
“Don’t know about prefer,” Rose muttered under her breath before she could stop herself. She shot him a look to see if he had heard her and from his somewhat smug expression she was sure he had. He was gracious enough not to tease her about it, though.
After about fifteen minutes of silence Rose said, “I went to the Painted Desert in Arizona on a case once. This reminds me of there.” She looked around at the rugged landscape. “Never understood why they called them badlands. They were really so beautiful. Those are the same kind of bands there,” she pointed.
“It’s a stratified layering of minerals and decaying organic material. That’s what gives it the red and grey bands. And the different badlands scattered across the American Union are called that because they were not conducive to raising crops. You’ll note the original peoples never called them badlands. Just the colonial immigrants,” he told her.
“If you’re from the other universe, I mean originally, before the split, how come you know about the history of the other Earth?” Rose asked. “It’s so different.”
“I can see all of time and space, Rose. Even if I can’t get into all of it anymore, I can still see it if I look. And Earth, well, it’s a bit of a troublemaker, isn’t it?” He explained. “So I made it my business to upload everything about it off your computer nets every time I’m in the neighborhood,” he told her. “In fact, that’s what I was doing when the TARDIS picked up you radiating your energy all over the place.”
As they came up over a precipice Rose gasped. They ground to a halt, edging forward and looking down at the sheer drop of the cliff face beneath them. “I think we’re going to have to find another route,” Rose said, her eyes crossing the canyon.
The Doctor scanned the ground to the east and the west and then pointed west. “That looks like there’s a path over there. It may lead down to the canyon floor.”
“Could be a river down there,” said Rose.
“Probably. Pretty standard for canyons. But the ruins are that way.” He pointed ahead. “And up the other side of the canyon.”
“Less than a mile, my eye,” said Rose.
“Ah, well it probably is as the crow flies,” said the Doctor.
“Do I look like a crow to you?” She asked.
The Doctor let his eyes trace their way down her body and then back again, giving her a lazy grin when he got to her eyes. “Not particularly,” he said.
“Knock that off,” she told him sternly.
“Knock what off?” He asked innocently but there was mischief in his steel blue eyes.
“You know very well what. Stop looking at me like you want to jump me,” she said.
“But I do want to jump you,” he said, “So how else should I look at you?”
“You agreed that we’d wait,” she said crossing her arms.
“I agreed that you made sense, Rose.” He closed the distance between them and cupped the side of her face with the palm of his hand. “But I never, ever agreed that I would make it easy on you.” His thumb traced across her cheekbone and then across her bottom lip. She wanted to open her mouth and scrape her teeth across his thumb but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
Still, when he pulled his hand away from her face she had to use a will of steel to keep herself from moving forward towards it. He moved his face close to hers and then whispered in her ear. “I intend to make this every bit as hard for you as you’re currently making me,” he said. “Innuendo intended.”
He pulled her up against him just long enough for her to feel exactly how hard that was before releasing her. He strode off towards the path a little awkwardly. What had she gotten herself into? She wondered. Taking a deep breath she followed the Doctor towards the downward leading path. Oh, well, whatever it was the view was certainly good. Even better than her surroundings.
It took four hours to descend to the canyon floor and there were several times when the Doctor would turn and very solicitously hand her down a particularly rough section of trail. A couple of times they had to scramble nearly straight down, but there were plenty of handholds and footholds.
She did note how many times the Doctor went first, and then would catch her as she descended, his hand either going supportively to her bum or he’d allow her to simply slide all the way down his body. He was so doing that on purpose. She could tell from his smirk.
Part of Rose wanted to escalate things into a full-fledged war, but she had a feeling that using her own body for taunting and teasing him might just end with him taking her against the side of the craggy rock face and she didn’t think that would be the least bit comfortable. Besides, she didn’t want it to be like that. For the life of her she couldn’t actually remember why she didn’t want it to be like that.
There was indeed a river at the bottom of the canyon and it was pretty wide. “We’ll have to wade across it,” the Doctor said as they made short trips up either side to see if there was any narrowing of the riverbed visible. “I don’t think it’s too deep, just wide.” He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the river. “Nothing dangerous in the water. Just fish.”
“No barracudas or piranhas?” She asked just to be sure.
“Nope,” he said.
Rose sat down on the bank and took off her shoes and socks, then rolled up her jeans to above her knees. The Doctor on the other hand had not only stripped off his boots but had skinned off his jeans. “I think it’s deeper than that,” he said. “If you don’t want wet jeans all afternoon, maybe you ought to take them off.”
“Don’t think so,” she told him.
“I’ve already seen you in your knickers,” he told her with a straight face.
Damn the man. “Fine,” she said. She stood up and put her hand on the button, slowly undoing it. She met his eyes as she pulled down the zipper, then nervously she slipped out of them. His eyes lingered on her legs and she almost flung the blue jeans at his head. “Stop it,” she growled.
“I’m only looking,” he told her.
She picked up her clothes and shoes and dumped them into her backpack and then waded out into the river. She knew he was watching her bum, she could feel his eyes on it, and so she added a little saucy wiggle to her hips. Unfortunately it was that rather bad decision that caused her to twist her ankle and lose her balance a few steps later. She tumbled ungracefully into the water.
Great, she thought as she struggled for the surface, There goes my dignity. She got her head above the surface of the water and pushed herself to her knees then suddenly felt herself being lifted from underneath her arms. The Doctor hauled her to her feet and then up into his arms. “I’m fine,” she muttered. “I just slipped. Let me down.”
“Don’t think so,” he said and proceeded to cross the river carrying her. Despite her knowledge that it was completely unnecessary for him to carry her she draped her arms around his neck and snuggled her head against his shoulder. She felt very safe in his arms, safer than she’d felt in years. And even though she knew sooner or later he’d be putting her in mortal danger, she’d be just fine if he was right there beside her while he was doing it.
He left the water and set her down on the opposite bank, his hands lingering on her waist until he was sure she had her balance. “You okay?” He asked.
“I was always okay,” she said. “I just stumbled because I…well, because I did,” she said with a blush.
“You know, you don’t have to wiggle your hips to get my attention. I was already looking,” he told her.
She whirled on him. “I was not--.”
“You really were.”
“I really was,” she admitted, the fight going out of her. “I’m sorry. Mixed signals.”
“What is it that you want, Rose? What is it that you really want?” He asked her. She sat down on a rock and brought her knees up under her chin.
“A dry pair of knickers?” She asked with a rueful grin. The Doctor fished around in his pocket and hauled out the yellow polka dotted bikini.
“This do?” He asked.
“Do I even want to know why you had that in your pocket?” She asked him.
He blushed. He actually blushed. Right up to the tips of his prominent ears. “Figured there might be a lake or a river somewhere we could go swimming in. If I couldn’t get you to go skinny dipping this was backup.”
“Are you telling me the truth?” She asked.
“Sort of, yeah.” She let her eyes bore into him. “Damn,” he muttered. “It was a souvenir, okay?”
She nodded at him. “Okay,” she said simply. He looked surprised. “And Doctor?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry I tried to tease you.”
“You don’t need to, you know. You being within arms reach, that’s tease enough. I’m going to go scout down river and see if there is a better way up that cliff face. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He strode off and Rose looked around her. She ducked behind a pile of boulders and changed into the bikini and then spread her shirt, knickers and bra out to dry on the rocks. She looked in the backpack and fortunately everything inside it was dry. It must have been water tight. She pulled out her jeans and slid them on, followed by her socks and trainers, and then put on the red leather coat. The sun was starting to descend and it was beginning to get cold, especially with her recent dunking and her currently soaking wet hair.
Suitably attired again she sat down and waited for the Doctor to return.
Ch. 13: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/9607.html
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 06:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 07:05 am (UTC)Love this!
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Date: 2008-02-07 05:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-09 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-09 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 08:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 08:53 am (UTC)“Do I even want to know why you had that in your pocket?” She asked him.
He blushed. He actually blushed. Right up to the tips of his prominent ears. “Figured there might be a lake or a river somewhere we could go swimming in. If I couldn’t get you to go skinny dipping this was backup.”
Heeeee... Loved that! And I also loved that Rose was sensible enough to pack a backpack. I mean, the whole "let's just impetuously rush out into who-know's-what with no supplies or gear" looks good on TV but it's just not very practical. ;)
Great chapter! Looking forward to more, as always! :D ♥!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-07 09:30 am (UTC)Oh, yes, he does! Lol!
Please, write more soon!
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Date: 2008-02-07 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-15 12:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-17 06:42 am (UTC)