A Sky Without Zeppelins: Chapter Twenty-One

[amberfocus]

                                                   Chapter Twenty-one

Donna Noble thinks that she has been extraordinarily patient with James Lumin. From the moment he took her hand and dragged her out of the science building and made her run halfway across the university campus in three inch heels, which she can do, by the way, because she’s highly skilled, but that doesn’t mean she likes it, she has been understanding. But this is getting ridiculous.

“James,” she says sternly, “I need to go home.”

He turns startled eyes on her. It is rare for her to call him James, she only ever does so in privacy, and she’s honestly only felt comfortable with it despite his insistence on it for the past couple of weeks.

“Donna,” he says and his voice is strained and unsure. “If I let you go out there, I can’t protect you.”

Donna’s hands go to her hips and she glares at him. “Let me? Let me? I don’t need protecting, sunshine,” she says in annoyance. “And if I did, it’d be a gas mask that could protect me, not you anyway.”

“That wasn’t gas,” he tells her.

“Of course it was. Some kind of noxious chemical spill that had drifted onto the University campus,” she says. “It said so on the radio.”

“You ever hear of gas being dissipated by lasers, Donna? It’d be far more likely to explode and send the building up in a giant fireball. It wasn’t gas. It wasn’t a freak storm. And it wasn’t safe. It still isn’t,” he insists.

Donna’s hands move from her hips to cross over her ample chest. “So you know better than the news media?”

“Of course I do. Think about who I am, Donna,” he tells her without ego.

“What was it then?” she demands. Boss or not, the last several hours have been awful and if he knows the truth than he has a lot to answer for.

“The Caligo,” he told her.

“What?” He may as well be speaking Latin for all the sense the syllables make to her.

“The Caligo. It means darkness in Latin. That’s what they are. The Caligo are the darkness, they bring with them the absence of light and the ability to snuff out life that is nurtured by light.”

“You’re acting like it’s alive,” she says with a frown.

“They are,” he responds. “They are alive.”

“That’s crazy. It was a black cloud. And Rose and her laser made it disappear. It isn’t alive.”

“Donna, listen to me. That thing is a swarm of creatures whose sole purpose in this life is to stamp out a special kind of energy made out of light, a specific spectrum responsible for growth, particularly temporal growth. They feed on it and it makes them incredibly strong. If they gorge on it enough they can change…well, time.”

“Time?” She gives him a look of total disbelief. She has always respected this man, but now she thinks maybe he’s gone ’round the bend. He’s a genius, but a complete nutter nonetheless. “You can’t change time. It’s a straight line. Starts at one end and goes straight on to the other.”

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Donna Noble,” he says heavily.

“Don’t misquote Hamlet at me,” Donna says in annoyance. “I’m not stupid.”

“Whoever said that you were? I don’t suffer fools gladly and I certainly don’t employ idiots. But these things are real, they are creatures, they do affect time, and they are very, very dangerous. So you need to open up your eyes and take a good look around you and realize what’s going on,” James insists.

Donna twists her lips into a tight purse. “You say creatures, but what you mean…is…”

“Aliens.”

“You’re completely mad.”

“Aliens exist, Donna. Where do you think half our technology comes from?” he asks her. “Ships crash, pieces get brought to me by the government to sort out. We salvage what we can, improve it, and use it to help humanity advance. Other times, they come to me on their own.”

“Who comes to you?” She’s almost afraid of the answer.

“The aliens. They get stranded here and need help getting off planet, or blending in, or hiding, or whatever,” he explains. “Then they create a life for themselves here, making themselves no more conspicuous than any human hanging around Camden market. Less so, really,” he explains.

“You’re serious?” Donna asks thinking that might explain quite a few things about Camden market. The shock is starting to wear off and the thing is, if this is true, and that’s a big if, it would be James Lumin and Illuminate who would be in it up to their elbows.

“Have I ever lied to you, Donna?” he asks her softly.

Donna stops to think and realizes that James Lumin has, in fact, never lied to her. He’s not one of those men who answers questions with little white lies to spare feelings, he simply doesn’t answer them at all or turns it back around by asking you what you think or believe to be true. He does leave things out though. A lot of things, apparently.

“Aliens are real?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“There are aliens in London, walking around free as you please in the general population?”

“There are,” he says steadily, holding her gaze.

“Aliens.” She’s trying, she is, really hard to grasp the concept.

“Yes.”

“But…aliens?” It’s still not quite clicking into her brain.

“Yes.” And then the switch turns on.

“Wow.”

“You want to see one?” he asks her almost shyly, not sure how far to take this.

“You…you have an alien? Here? At Illuminate?” she asks in amazement.

“I do. More than one, actually. I have a…sanctuary. I am their protector,” he tells her.

“Just like you’re trying to be mine,” she says.

“Well, that’s a little bit different. It’s my duty to keep them all--.”

“All? How many more than one are there here?” Donna interrupts.

“There are five in residence at the moment. But what I was saying is it’s different with you. They’re my duty. You… Donna, you are my…my friend.” He sighs. “And despite my status on this planet, or maybe because of it, I don’t have a lot of those. So yes, I want you safe. And right now, that means here, with me.”

She glowers at him for a minute but he simply holds her gaze steadily. She thinks it’s a good thing she’s under a non-disclosure contract because this is the sort of thing she’d be telling girlfriends down the pub if she wasn’t. “My boss has gone completely bonkers. He says he keeps aliens in the building,” sort of thing. But as his look doesn’t change the unnerving feeling that this is somehow her new reality washes through her.

“Okay, then, show me your aliens.” Her entire world turns upside down when he does.



Rose wakes to find Jonathon stroking her hair. Her sleepy eyes blink open and the smile he gives her sends waves of warmth rushing through her belly and down into her groin. When his pink tongue flicks out and moistens his lips she can’t help but imitate him, licking her own in unconscious response. His legs are still tangled up with hers and she can feel that he is hard and ready against her thigh.

A sunbeam bathes the bed in its light and she wonders how morning has had the chance to creep up on her when it seems she’s only just shut her eyes after their glorious turn at making love. She smiles as the memory washes over her of their gentle, and not so gentle, passion. “I want to make love to you,” Jonathon says in a gravelly voice.

Rose grins up at him wanting the same thing very much but she has a more pressing need to attend to. “Hold that thought,” she tells him and manages to unwind herself from his arms and legs and with a few seconds fierce debate on whether or not she should wrap herself up in one of the blankets, she slips from the bed and heads to the loo naked. She can feel his eyes on her bum as she walks away.

The call of nature answered she brushes her teeth and then returns to the bed where his heavy-lidded eyes watch her slide back in. Jonathon pops up and disappears into the bathroom for a few moments and returns with a handful of condoms. He tosses all but one into the nightstand drawer. “Aren’t we the eager beaver?” Rose asks him.

“If I thought my body was capable, we’d use ‘em all today,” Jonathon growls and Rose’s eyes widen.

“But there were six.”

“Seven counting this one,” Jonathon says slipping it under his pillow.

“I don’t even think my body is capable of that,” Rose replies.

“Why don’t we just test out exactly what we’re both capable of?” Jonathon suggests with a waggle of his eyebrows that makes Rose giggle. He catches her laughter in his mouth, his lips descending and taking over hers as he slides his tongue gleefully around her mouth, the sweet mint of his toothpaste or hers hiding the appealing taste she has come to recognize as Jonathon.

Rose lets one hand wander up to his hair and she threads her fingers through the thick brown locks. She really, really adores his hair. She could play with it for hours. Her other hand strokes his back and bum, her fingers learning every inch of his body that she can reach. He supports himself on one hand hovering half over her and his free hand seeks out the softness of her breast, his thumb moving expertly to work the nipple, which rises up hard and aching with want under his caresses.

She moans into his mouth when he twists the little bud, crying out when he repeats the move a little more sharply. He breaks the kiss. “Was that okay?” he asks her. She nods and he recaptures her mouth, plundering her recesses as he maps out every hidden corner. Her hips buck upwards and his busy hand moves from her breast to stroke against the smooth skin of her belly. She sighs softly into his touch, squirming a little as he finds ticklish spots and wiggling a bit against his erection with her thigh.

Eventually his hand drops to the soft hair at her pelvis. Jonathon weaves his fingers through her curls before moving those few inches downwards to seek out the little jewel so important to her fulfillment. A few careful strokes and it emerges from its hood, standing at attention and begging for his touch. Rose writhes beneath him as he inserts a digit and finds her ready. His fingers trail down to her opening and one swipe across it leaves his fingers wet with moisture.

He trails it back up to her clitoris and rubs little circles around her until she is panting with need. Her hand slips down his body and pushes at him until she can encircle his penis with her hand. With an impatient tug she pulls him towards her. “Wait,” he says and slips his hand under the pillow and fishes around for the condom. He pulls it out with triumph and quickly opens the packet, slipping the little sleeve over his shaft and then settling himself between her thighs as if with long familiarity.

Rose hisses as he pushes into her and smiles at his triumphant, “Yes,” as he sinks home.

“Oh, I love being inside you,” he tells her.

“Not so bad from where I sit, either,” she says cheekily. “Or rather, lay.”

“Just not bad?” he asks putting his lower lip out in a pout. Rose pulls his head down and sucks on that lip as her body becomes accustomed to his presence within it.

“I’d say it’s brilliant,” she tells him when she lets him go again. “You were so worth the wait.”

“You’re worth everything,” he responds and then he begins to move inside her and all thoughts and words fade from their conscious minds as they focus solely on the joining of two bodies and souls.




Twenty-five minutes later they are lying in a sweaty heap of tangled limbs again. “I rather think I like sex,” Rose says impishly into his chest, trying to get a rise out of him.

“Do you?” he asks absently refusing to be baited, his fingers trailing up and down across the skin of her forearm. “I hadn’t quite noticed. You may have to convince me,” he tells her.

“Is that a challenge?” she asks him.

“A challenge? Could be.” His eyes twinkle merrily at her. She laughs and kisses his chest.

“I didn’t know making love could be like this,” she tells him a few moments later.

“Like what?”

“Like…love,” she says shrugging slightly against him. “It’s like…you know how they refer to orange juice as liquid sunshine? Well, making love with you is like…”

“Liquid sex?” he asks.

“Loses something in the translation, but yeah, it’s like being surrounded by this feeling of…of…contentment and warmth and peace and joy and it’s…it’s just…happiness. Making love with you is like the ultimate form of happiness,” she explains. “It makes me feel good, and not just in a physical way, but in every way.”

“Having sex when you’re in love with someone who loves you is very different from just having sex,” he says. “It’s a whole different connection in your head. It isn’t just about your physical pleasure, it’s about your partner’s, making it special for them which makes it more special for you, making it mean more than just two bodies fitting together and coming. Not that a good, hard shag for the sake of shagging doesn’t have its place, even between couples in love, but this…what we did…what we…what we have… Rose, I…I’ve never felt like this before,” he admits.

Rose turns into him a bit more and asks, “Even…even with your wife?”

He swallows hard and his eyes are pure naked emotion when he looks at her. “No,” he says honestly. “Not even with her. I loved Elisabeth, but…it wasn’t like this. It wasn’t…Rose, it’s so much more with you. So much more that it scares me to death, because I’ve already…I’ve already lost so much and now there’s you and you already fill every gap in my life I didn’t know I had before I met you, it’s consuming and, and…and I shouldn’t be telling you this, not so soon.”

“But you should,” she says and he can see her heart in her eyes. “Jonathon, I love you. And it scares me to death, too, because I’ve never felt so out of control in my thoughts and deeds and emotions. I’ve always thrived on control and now…when I’m with you, I don’t want control. I want to surrender it all to you and just…just…be yours.” She gulps. “It should be too much, it’s overpowering, but I don’t want it to stop. I don’t ever want it to stop because I…because I--.” She can’t even think how to finish her sentence so instead she pushes herself snuggly into his body and kisses him with desperate passion.

He kisses her back but lets her have control, or what passes for control in her rather out of control and uninhibited state. He is both surprised and unsurprised when he finds himself hardening again so soon. Not bad for an old man of thirty-four he thinks, keeping the smirk in his mind only because his mouth is otherwise occupied with Rose’s tongue.

When Rose finally deserts his mouth it is to move on in a frenzy of kisses that she slathers thickly across his skin, anywhere she can reach. She returns to his neck and settles on his Adam’s apple, suckling at it until he is writhing and twisting and his hips buck upwards seeking relief and a warm body to bury his penis in. Rose laughs and the vibrations against his throat only make it worse.

“Rose, please,” he begs her and she stops immediately. She scrambles across him to the nightstand and pulls out a condom. She struggles a bit at the tough package but finally gets it open.

She bites her lip then and looks at him nervously. “Um…how do I do this?” she wants to know.

“Let me,” he says holding out his hand but she shakes her head.

“No. I want to be able to do it myself. Teach me.”

He quickly shows her how to determine which way to unroll it so it’s not inside out, which would decrease the effectiveness of the spermicide, and how to roll it onto his shaft all the way down to the root, not too tightly, so as to leave room in the receptacle at the tip. Once the condom is properly in place, she moves to lay down on her back but he stops her.

“Can we…with you on top?” he asks softly.

Her eyes are enormous at his request, even wider than when he’d told her last night that he wanted to take her from behind. “I,” she swallows hard and tries again, “I don’t…know what to do.”

“Just climb on top, legs on either side of me and we’ll get it sorted.” She slides onto his body and her thighs straddle his hips. He reaches beneath her and guides himself forwards. “Lift up a little,” he tells her.

“I feel so naïve,” she says with an embarrassed grimace and she looks away from him. He sheathes himself inside her body with a joyful moan and pulls down on her hips until he can’t get any further inside her. She’s still not looking at him and so he reaches for her chin and turns her gaze back to meet his.

“I do not mind teaching you everything you need to know about making love, Rose. I feel honored. And I’m sure there’re things I don’t know that we can learn together. Don’t feel bad about your inexperience. I don’t.”

Finally she nods. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, Jonathon.”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you, Rose,” he throws right back at her. She leans forward to kiss him and he groans. She smiles and lays a quick kiss along his lips before leaning back and mimicking the same motion but without going all the way down to his lips again. It illicits the same response and she beams and starts rocking back and forth against him.

“See? You’re a quick study,” he tells her. His hands creep up to her breasts and he kneads them gently and steadily to her soft forward and backward rhythm. Eventually his hands slide to her waist and then to her hips and he’s encouraging her to move faster. Rose leans forward and braces her hands against his headboard and changes her movements to a quicker up and down motion.

He is thrusting up into her now and pulling down against her hips with every thrust. This new angle has his penis grinding against her clitoris with every stroke and it’s only a few minutes of this intensified pace before she is coming fiercely, her tight, hot walls, clenching so hard against him that he loses all control and his hips leave the bed in a violent thrust and he orgasms spectacularly up into her body.

Rose rides his orgasm out, hers continuing to milk every last drop from his shaft. Drops of sweat roll off her brow and onto him and as she finally shudders to a halt she collapses on top of him. He holds her tightly to him for as long as he can, before rolling her off of him. She whimpers at the loss, but he has to attend to the condom. He does so quickly and pulls her back to him.

“I love you so much,” he says ardently, his arms so tight around her he’s sure she’ll complain about not being able to breathe, but all she does is whisper his words back to him.

“Oh, Jonathon, I love you so much, too.” She is boneless atop him and he finds her weight the most delicious thing in the world. He could stay like this forever. Well, with the occasional visits inside her body, he amends with a grin. He kisses her hair and feels her smile tiredly against his neck.

Eventually she sighs and moves to pull away, but he’s not ready to let her go. “I’m itchy,” she says ruefully, “and I need a shower.” Reluctantly he lets her go, but pouts as she moves away from him. She can’t resist coming back to suck on that lip for a few seconds before she climbs out of bed and sashays over to the bathroom door. He’s sure she’s putting an extra sway into her walk.

She pauses at the doorway and turns back to look at him. “Join me?” she asks. He’s never moved so quickly in his life.

Ch. 22:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/155532.html 

Comments

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe it'll give you lovely dreams? They are just a bit randy but they're having to make up for two weeks of unresolved sexual tension, aren't they now? One could say they are quite...resolved. *giggles*