amberfocus | Hunger Moon (26/?)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Not a Neutral Country

“Well, good luck to them trying to get Canada to release the missiles,” snorted Jake. “Even if the quorum says yes, you know how the Canadians are. Immovable when they don’t believe in the cause. That’s why they have final say after a quorum.”

“True.” One of the first things Rose had learned about the history of her adopted universe was that after the total annihilation of New Germania in the Second Great War by a nuclear bomb, the Allied Union of Nations had demanded full control of the decision making on whether or when to launch any type of massive weaponry. No one nation was allowed to unilaterally make that decision, even the nation the technology had come from. Reeling from the scope of the destruction, the First Nations and Colonial Union of North America had agreed to submit unanimously.

Unlike the simpler atomic bombs that had been dropped on Japan in her home universe, the more advanced technology had allowed for far greater destruction. In her home world, what would have been Germany, Poland, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and parts of Hungary and Denmark were gone. A half century later the land was still untenable. Millions of people had died.

The fall out had drifted into Russia and the Scandinavian countries leaving much of the land there radioactive. There had been massive emigration out of those countries, most people wanting to get as far away from the contaminated land as possible, and eventually the majority had settled in Canada ensuring their part in stopping that kind of disaster from ever happening again.

“Did she happen to mention what Canada is thinking?” Rose asked Ianto.

“No, but apparently the incidents across North and South America began a full six months before the first incursions were noticed here. If the Union wants to blow up the alien ship it’s likely that means their government hasn’t been infiltrated, at least not at the highest levels. They wouldn’t be trying to blow themselves up. We have no real knowledge of what Canada wants to do at this time,” Ianto said.

“Is Torchwood Canada talking?” asked Tosh.

Ianto turned a disapproving look on Tosh and she backed up a step. “You know as well as I do that Torchwood Canada is ridiculously tight-lipped. Why don’t you see if that friend of yours, Tookie—.”

“Suki,” corrected Tosh.

“Right. Why don’t you see if you can get anything out of Suki? If we’re going nuclear I want to know before it happens,” Ianto said. He rubbed wearily at the bridge of his nose. “Andy and Katie are spending the night in the hub. Tosh, you can head home after talking to Suki if you like, but I’ll need you overnight tomorrow, so plan on it when you come back.”

He glanced over at Rose. “I’d like to keep Davin on call working with Tosh until this whole mess is mopped up. Suzie, too, if you can spare her. We don’t really have anyone cataloguing anymore and I’m afraid we’re missing too much.”

“That’s up to Suzie,” Rose replied. “But you can have Davin. Better he works under your command right now.”

“Suzie’s not well,” said Mickey.

“It’s morning sickness, Mickey. I’m not made of glass,” Suzie snapped, still slightly out of sorts from the sphere’s pulse which seemed to have affected her more than anyone else in the hub.

“What is wrong with you?” Jake asked. “The pulse is shut down. This isn’t like you, Suzie.”

The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and turned to his wife’s friend. “I don’t want to be poked with your damn stick,” Suzie snarled, anger once again rising to the surface.

“I’m not going to poke you,” the Doctor said soothingly. He pointed it at Suzie’s head and it thrummed. “Oh, of course!” he said a moment later. “I should have thought of that.”

“What?” Jake and Mickey asked in unison as he moved the sonic screwdriver down and waved it across Suzie’s stomach.

“Three brains in one body,” he said. “These spheres affect brain chemistry and Suzie’s carrying twins. All of those excess brain chemicals dumping into her system at once made this worse for her than anyone else. And for some reason she’s not coming back to herself like everyone else.”

“I’m fine! And stop talking about me like I’m not even in the room!” groused Suzie slapping his hand away from her body.

“You are not fine, Suzie. Your hormones are cycling out of control. We need to get you back to the TARDIS and into the Zero Room. If we don’t stop this now it could harm the fetuses. Permanently,” the Doctor said with deadly seriousness. “You could lose them.”

Suzie’s hand flew down to protectively cover her belly. “The babies?” Concern overwhelmed her irrational anger.

“Go,” ordered Ianto sharply. “Get her where she’ll be safe. And let me know what happens.” He turned to Tosh. “I know you hate cataloguing but I’m going to need someone doing it if Suzie’s indisposed. I need you to stay in the hub tonight after all.”

“Yes, sir,” said Tosh.

Suzie swayed suddenly and started to collapse. The Doctor caught her easily and then handed the unconscious woman over to Mickey. “We need to get her to the ship. Now.”

“Doctor, bring the ship here! It’ll be faster,” Rose suggested panic filling her as a trail of blood emerged from Suzie’s nose. “We don’t know how bad it still is. We can’t take Suzie out into that. Ianto, can we park the TARDIS in here?”

“Put it in Conference Room B,” he said pointing. The Doctor bounded up the stairs, Rose behind him. He took a quick reading of coordinates with the sonic screwdriver before the two hurried on and out into the chaos of the Cardiff night.

Crossing the plass was a nightmare and Rose had to use her tae kwon do training to protect herself more than once. Even the Doctor, who abhorred physical violence unless absolutely necessary, was using some form of martial arts that Rose didn’t recognize. “What is that?” she asked him as they entered the ship at last.

“Venusian Aikido,” he said. “With a bit of Earth jujitsu thrown in for good measure.” He dashed to the controls and entered the coordinates for Conference Room B. “Oh,” he said. “Oh!” He touched his head. “Damn.”

“What?” Rose asked as he began throwing knobs and levers, flipping switches and starting the dematerialization process.

“I—can’t you feel it, Rose? The spheres, what they did, it was interfering with our link. Not as bad as when we shut it down ourselves but it did affect it.”

As Rose thought about it she realized that the strain she hadn’t even been aware she’d been under had eased away into nothingness. “That why you were such a prat about Davin?” she asked him.

The Doctor’s face darkened. “I wasn’t being a prat. I was…the link was threatened, Rose. I get…obsessive about you when that happens. Jealous. Can’t help it. Besides, you…you and him—.”

“Are nothing,” she said. “Friends. He and I will never be anything more than friends.”

“I know that,” he said. “Rationally, I know that. This is…this is beyond the rational. You’re mine and he needs to know he can’t have you back.”

“He knows it!” Rose said in frustration. “More importantly, I know it. Even if I could go back to him, I wouldn’t want him. I don’t love him like that and I never did. I’d be with you even without the link, even without the bond. Don’t you know, yet, what you mean to me?” she demanded.

Jackie emerged into the console room then stared at the fighting couple a moment. “Oi, you two. We can hear you arguing all the way down by the pool room. What the hell is wrong with you and why are we moving?” she asked.

“Suzie fainted. She’s bleeding. We need to get her back on the ship as quickly as possible,” the Doctor explained tersely. The noise of the ship materializing filled the control room. “There we are,” said the Doctor checking the monitor. “Two minutes after we left the hub.” He patted the console. “Thank you, girl, perfect landing.” The TARDIS hummed happily under his touch.

Mickey was at the doors of the ship, Suzie in his arms when Rose opened the doors. “Where’s this Zero Room then? The other Doctor didn’t have one on his ship.”

“It was jettisoned years ago after my regeneration into my fifth body,” the Doctor said. He strode to the opening to the corridor. “Follow me,” he said.

The TARDIS had moved the Zero Room next to the medical bay so it was only a short stride down the hall and to the left. “There’s no gravity in there so be careful. I need to get some equipment from the infirmary.”

Rose followed Mickey into the stark white room and they all floated free of the floor. Jackie stayed in the hallway, watching. The Doctor was back a moment later pulling a heavy machine behind him. He strode into the room, for some reason not floating up like the rest of them. “Why aren’t you floating?” Rose asked him.

“I have magnetic boots on,” he told her. Rose looked down at his feet to see that he’d changed his footwear. “Come on, we need to get Suzie inside this machine. It’ll stabilize her brain and the brains of the twins.”

Mickey relinquished Suzie and the Doctor maneuvered her into the machine. “Can’t you turn the gravity on in here?” Mickey asked.

“No, I can’t. The Zero Room is designed to keep out all outside influences. Noise, gravity, outside thoughts and signals. Nothing psychic can hurt your wife in here. She’ll recover, but it’s going to take a day or so. This machine puts her body into stasis while her brain heals from the damage that signal did to her.”

He headed back to the door. “Come on, both of you. I need to shut her in by herself.”

“I’m not leaving her alone,” snapped Mickey.

“You’ve got no choice. Her brain needs absolute silence to heal. That means no stray thoughts from you, Mickey Smith.”

“But I’m not psychic!” Mickey protested.

“Don’t need to be. Her mind is wide open right now. If she doesn’t have a chance to heal without picking up on your thoughts she could die, Mickey. Her brain could just shut down. She wouldn’t even know you were here if you were to stay. She’ll be unconscious the entire time,” the Doctor explained.

He pushed Mickey out the door and the man nearly fell to the floor as gravity returned to him. The Doctor shut the door behind them. “The TARDIS is with her. She’s not alone. The ship will keep her safe. There’s nothing else you can do.”

Rose sighed as she and the Doctor prepared for bed that night. The day had been both emotionally and physically tough on both of them and she was still smarting a bit from the Doctor’s earlier anger over Davin, but she pushed the emotions out of her head and tried to focus her thoughts. “How badly was I affected by the spheres?” Rose asked him.

“I’m not sure. Not as badly as the other humans. You want me to check?” he asked her.

Rose hesitated. Normally the Doctor only went into her mind during sex and she still had some residual issues about anyone playing around in her head even though he’d long since healed the last of the damage inflicted by the Teroc’manu all those many years ago. “Yeah,” she finally said.

Rose laid down on the bed on her back and the Doctor prodded her legs apart, laying on top of her for full body contact, supporting his weight on his elbows, his hands going to her temples, his face inches from hers. “Just breathe,” he told her and she closed her eyes.

She felt him gently nudging his way inside her mind and laying down soothing thoughts against the frazzled corners as he worked his way through them. Rose felt all of her anxiety leaving her. “I’m going to put some blocks in to prevent those spheres from affecting your mind again,” he told her and she nodded under his hands.

It only took him a couple of minutes and then she felt safe and warm and loved as he layered his own emotions on top of hers. She felt his lips move lightly over her own and she sighed as he slipped back out of her mind. The Doctor rolled off of her then and settled beside her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “About Davin, I mean. I don’t mean to get all possessive like that. I know—I do know, Rose—that he’s your friend.”

“He’s not a threat to you.”

“There’s a piece of me, it’s small, buried in my head, but it’s there, that goes back to my people’s roots,” the Doctor admitted. “Back when we were all savagery and very little thought, we didn’t allow rivals for our mates to live. Or if we wanted a mate that was someone else’s, the only way to do that, the only way to break the bond and take someone else’s mate was to kill them.”

“You telling me you want to kill, Davin?” She didn’t really think so but the Doctor’s point was a bit buried.

“No,” he said emphatically. “I’m telling you that it’s not something a bonded mate ever had to deal with. If there had been someone who had come before, they would have died one way or another. There would never have been a living former lover around because mating can’t happen if there’s another link. It just didn’t happen. I’m fighting against that little bit of my biology every time I see the man near you. I’m not proud of it, but there it is.”

“Is this going to be a problem?” she wanted to know.

“Not so long as you stay away from him and our link isn’t compromised,” the Doctor told her. “I think the worst of it would go away if he bonded with another woman.”

“He never bonded with me. Humans can’t bond like this,” she told him.

“Not true,” he said. “It’s rare but it can happen. Jake’s bonded to Suzie.”

“What? How do you know that?” Rose asked curiously.

“Felt it today in the hub during the pulse. All of the human minds were thrown wide open,” he said. “Jake’s as fully bonded to Suzie as you and I are to each other.”

“What about Mickey?” Rose asked.

“It’s not the same. There’s a link, there’s love, but Jake’s only fully bonded to Suzie. Suzie isn’t actually bonded to either man and Mickey isn’t bonded to either Suzie or Jake. They’re held by some sort of connection but the original linkage was artificial,” he said.

“It was an alien influence,” Rose said. “An accident with some pollen and an artifact in the field. So are you telling me you think Davin’s capable of bonding with a woman?”

“I don’t know. It might be enough if he just beds someone to break this instinct.”

“He hasn’t slept with anyone since I left,” Rose admitted. “He told me that when we were tied together with the Lurvins. I don’t know that you’re going to see anything like that happening anytime soon. You’re just going to have to learn to deal with it all like a grown up.”

“I’m not being childish, Rose. It’s mating instinct. I can’t help it,” he replied.

“Oh, I think you can help some of it. You don’t need to be baiting him all the time like you do. And as for me, I’ll do my best to not…to not make you jealous with my concern for the man’s well-being. I just feel guilty over the way I left him,” Rose said.

“He knew the arrangement, Rose,” the Doctor began.

“But I’m the one who was too blind, too selfish to realize that he always wanted more. I thought he was okay with what we were. I didn’t…I never thought he was so serious. I never stopped to think it might hurt him. Now I think about it. I can’t help it. I don’t like hurting my friends and he loved me. Loves me.”

“He can’t have you, though, and the sooner he understands that, really understands that, the better it’ll be for all of us,” the Doctor insisted.

“I know,” she huffed. “I know that, Doctor. And I think he does, too. Doesn’t make his feelings go away, though. You don’t just stop loving someone overnight.”

“Is that why you can’t leave him alone?” he asked.

“I don’t feel like that about him!” she snapped. “Why won’t you listen to me? Why are you so damn insecure?!”

“I just told you why! In my culture he wouldn’t even be alive to be a threat!” growled the Doctor.

“He’s not a threat now. He’s never been a threat. I love you. I only want you. I will never, ever want him again. You are my heart, Doctor. You are not just my bond mate, you are my soul’s mate. I want no other man. I just want you. Only you. You.”

She rolled over and raised her face above his and brought her lips down on his in a fierce and possessive kiss. When she broke it she said, “There will never be another man. Bond or no bond, there never, ever could be.”

Ch. 27: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/226535.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

solarflar3.livejournal.com

The Doctor has got some serious issues - think the next chapter calls for some hot smut so Rose can reassure him....!

(You cant blame me for trying!)

Brilliant chapter! I do love this series.

From:

Not Rose-Colored Glasses

Hunger Moon (26/?)

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