Proof Positive (1/3)

[amberfocus]

                                                    banner by lady_mage 

Title:  Proof Positive
Author:  amberfocus
Characters/Pairings:  Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Genre:  Romance
Rating:  Adult
Betas:  amyo67, jeprdyfrndly
Summary:  When the crown prince of Ranabella seeks to marry Rose against her will, the Doctor has to find a way out for his companion.
A/N:  This is a very belated birthday fic for lillibetm3.  I hope you enjoy it, sweetie.
 

Chapter One

 “It’s not funny, Doctor.” She was beautiful when she was angry, her eyes flashing, her mouth—no, better not to think about her mouth.

“Maybe it’s a little bit funny,” he said. He couldn’t help smirking. After all, he’d warned her time and again about getting in over her head, of looking before she leapt. She hadn’t listened and now he had a good mind to make her go through with it. Not that he really would. Life without Rose didn’t bear thinking about, but she didn’t need to know that. She didn’t need to know that he would move heaven and Earth to prevent this from happening. Rose Tyler was his and no snot-nosed—.

“Get me out of here!” she snapped at him.

“You mean you don’t want to be queen of Ranabella?” he asked glancing around at the gorgeously appointed bed chamber. It was the most sumptuous jail cell he’d ever seen. After all, the prince didn’t want to frighten Rose. He simply didn’t want to let her go. Rose glared at him in response. The things that did to his insides should really be illegal.

“No!” she spat. “Honestly, Doctor. How can you even ask me that?”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have flirted with prince Arnon, then. He took you quite seriously.” He really shouldn’t be enjoying this quite so much. He adored Rose Tyler, quite possibly even…well, but anyway, this was almost as much fun as running for their lives. Which they still might have to do.

“He’s fifteen years old!” she growled. “And I don’t care what he says. I was just being friendly. I wasn’t flirting.”

“He wants to reward you for saving the planet,” teased the Doctor. “It’s a great honor, Rose. You should be thrilled.”

“Marriage to him is not my kind of reward,” she said. “Besides, you saved the planet. I just helped. You marry him.”

“But he doesn’t want to marry me. Are you sure, Rose? It would be a life of luxury,” he tempted. “Your every whim catered to. Your every desire fulfilled.”

“I’d like to think you have a more intimate knowledge of what I desire than that, Doctor.” He swallowed hard because her voice had dropped to an almost seductive range, but then it returned to normal as she continued blithely on. “Besides, I’d have to leave you, and that’s never gonna happen.” His hearts leapt far more at those words than they ever should have done. Her hands went to her hips. “Now make this stop.”

“All right,” he said. “But these things can be very delicate. Turning down a crown prince two days before his inauguration to be king can be dangerous.”

“He’s a child. He can’t possibly have thought I’d say yes!” Rose protested.

“He’s a child who’s always been given everything he wants. Right now he wants you.”

“Tough,” she said. “I don’t want him. I want y—never mind what I want. I don’t care what I have to do to get out of it. Whatever it takes. Find a way!”

“Your wish is my command,” he said, “but—.”

“I know, I know. Be careful what I wish for. Just do it. Please, Doctor?” she said. She bit her lower lip and he was done for.

“I’ll find a way,” he said. She threw herself into his arms. He took advantage of the hug, holding her tight. Knowing the laws of Ranabella the way he did, this might be the last time she hugged him in a while.



“You told them what?” Rose squeaked nearly three hours later when the Doctor returned to her side.

“That we were engaged,” the Doctor said giving her that irritated look he did when she wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying. “There was only one way to get you out of it. You had to already be married or betrothed,” he said.

“What and you couldn’t have just told them I had some nameless husband back at home?” she demanded.

“No, I couldn’t. Remember, they don’t know we’re from off world. They think we’re from the Northern Province. Women from the North can’t travel on their own without a familial chaperone, a husband, or a betrothed.”

“And couldn’t you just tell them we aren’t really from the North?”

“Not with the xenophobia inherent in some of this species. It’s not worth the risk. If I’d said I was your father or your brother, it wouldn’t have gotten you out of the wedding. Well, out of the wedding to the prince, anyway,” he said, muttering the last bit.

“What do you mean by that?” Rose asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Well, I’m not entirely sure he believed me when I said I was your fiancé. He’s sort of…well, he’s forcing us to prove it.”

“Prove it? How?” she wanted to know.

“We’re to be married at dusk,” he said reluctantly.

“What?” Rose squealed.

“The prince is demanding proof positive. And there’s nothing that’ll prove it like…well, before they’ll let us leave here, we have to get married.”

“To each other?” she asked, her heart suddenly pounding a mile a minute..

“Well, you don’t have to sound so horrified,” he said taking offense. “It’s just words said under duress on some mindless little backwater. It won’t be binding. But it will get you out of a marriage to the prince, which is what you said you wanted. Whatever it takes, you said.”

“Why didn’t you just tell them we were already married?” she said.

“It’s not exactly like we’ve been sleeping in the same bed, Rose. Or even acting like a married couple. They aren’t stupid. They’ll have seen we’re not married. But with the amount of affection we do show each other, the hugs and hand holding, I could pull off an engagement. This is the only way, Rose.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I don’t mean to be ungrateful. I just…I’m not sure I can do it.”

“Fine,” snapped the Doctor. “I’ll just go and tell the prince you’ve changed your mind, then, shall I? Oh, and then I’ll pop back to Earth and pick up your mother for the wedding and you can explain to her why she never gets to see her daughter again. I’m sure they’ll let me go as long as you stay here under lock and key.”

“No,” she said quickly. “No. I’ll do it. I’ll marry you.”

“Great,” he said sarcastically. “And when you say the vows, can you at least act like you mean them? I’d really like to get off this planet in one piece.”

She nodded. “Doctor, it’s not…I mean, I don’t…” A knock on the door echoed through the chamber and Rose broke off in relief, before she said something stupid.

“That’ll be the handmaidens come to prepare you for the wedding. Remember, Rose, you’re a happy bride. Try to look it or this is never going to work.” He fixed her with a ferocious glare until she offered him a bright, if tremulous smile. “That’s better,” he said, dropping his anger as quickly as it had come and pulling her in for a hug. Her arms clutched him tightly. “You’ll do fine.” His last gentle words almost relaxed her.

The Doctor strode to answer the door and made his escape from the women who began carrying in buckets of warm, scented water and dumping them into the bath in the corner. Rose was slightly embarrassed as she was stripped and ushered into the tub and then bathed. She had tried to protest that she could do it herself but was told quite emphatically that she might be from the North, but in the South they followed the wedding rituals to the letter.

She sighed and gave in. After the bath the women gave her a manicure and a pedicure and wove her hair with pale blue ribbons into some kind of luxurious updo. Long tendrils of hair descended in fat curls on either side of her face. A large, teardrop-shaped blue jewel hung down in the middle of her forehead, held in place by a double strand of white pearls attached to either side of her head.

The gown she was brought to wear was simple yet exquisitely beautiful. It was pale blue like the ribbons in her hair and the bodice fit closely to her body. It was off the shoulders, the thick band at the top covered in fine, dark blue lace. The dress fell to mid-calf, another thick band of lace at its hemline. Pale, silk stockings were rolled onto her legs and clipped to a garter belt, and ivory slippers were placed upon her feet. The final touch was a bit of makeup, a brushing of pinks and blues on her eyes, something rosy on her cheeks and a deeper red stain painted on her lips.

A mirror was brought before her and she stared in astonishment. She’d never seen herself so beautifully put together. If ever she were to get married for real, she’d want to look just like this. She wondered what the Doctor would think. Not that it mattered. None of this was real. It was all for show. Not that she wanted it to be real. Not exactly. She wasn’t ready to be married to anyone by any stretch of the imagination, whether it was to the Doctor or to some precocious young prince.

It was just…Rose was attracted to the Doctor. More than attracted, really. If she was honest with herself, she had a small thrill run through her every time he took her hand. It was that thrill that had sent her racing to his side every time a sane woman would have run in the opposite direction. It was that thrill that had made it easy to leave everything, everyone behind, that thrill that had ended things with Mickey. But being attracted to him, even wanting him, even—even falling in love with him, was not the same thing as standing up and saying vows to love and honor and cherish, or whatever it was they would say on this planet.

She was sure it would put the kibosh on what was developing between them naturally. If she knew the Doctor, and she liked to think that she did after all these months of travelling together, something so intimate, so domestic as a wedding, no matter how forced, would set them back weeks, if not months. When it came to romance, she got the feeling that the Doctor was unaccountably shy. She’d never pushed for anything, figuring if he wanted her, he’d get around to acting on his feelings eventually. After all, she wasn’t going anywhere.

She knew the man had feelings for her. Sometimes for no reason whatsoever, he’d look at her and blush to the tips of his ears. Rose was never quite sure what to make of it. She’d catch him looking at her with such longing, but almost instantly he’d look away, occupy himself with some task that needed doing immediately, and it would be a while again before he’d even meet her eyes. When he did, he was usually grumpy and snappish and any stray hope she had that his affection for her was more than friendly would vanish. At least until he’d do something ridiculously sweet and considerate for no very good reason.

There were also times when they were forced to hide in very small hiding places, where a maximum of body contact was unavoidable and there were certain unmistakable signs his body couldn’t seem to prevent from happening when it was pressed so tightly against her own. Alien he might be, but one part of his anatomy behaved very much like that of any human male. She’d never commented on it. He never apologized for it. It was something they were both very good at ignoring. But this…this was not something they were going to be able to ignore.

Well, still, taking five steps back with the Doctor was better than getting stuck married to some child king. She sighed and smoothed the fabric of her skirt down firmly before squaring her shoulders and following one of ladies in waiting who had been sent to fetch her for the ceremony. They’d get through this, maybe even have a laugh about it when it was over, and life would go on.

“Wait here,” the woman said at the entrance to a pair of double doors. She slipped quietly inside and then Rose heard music begin and the woman beckoned her forward, handing her a spray of white oleanders and blue morning glories or something very similar. Rose swallowed hard and stepped onto the rich blue aisle runner that ran the length of the chamber. All eyes turned on her and a moment later a small door to one side opened and the Doctor appeared, striding forward to the center of the altar where he turned and caught sight of her.

Rose watched as a series of emotions, none truly identifiable, washed over his face. She must have looked frightened because suddenly his sure, steadying smile appeared. She took a deep breath and began her slow walk down the aisle, her eyes never leaving his face. When she finally made it to the end of the aisle without tripping, throwing up, or running screaming from the room, he visibly relaxed.

She studied him for a moment. She’d never seen him in anything fancier than a jumper so she took some time to drink in the novelty of his appearance. He wore a simple, long-sleeved, v-necked tunic in a soft greenish-blue, over which was fastened a hip-length waist coat in a heavy, blue-gray fabric. It was sleeveless and had two thick lines of black brocade running down both sides of its length from the collar all the way to the hem. It was fastened with a series of five black, leather buckles and cinched at the waist with a thin blue belt. His trousers were simple, flowing, and black and on his feet were soft leather boots that came up over his strong calves and matched his under tunic. He was beautiful and her heart skipped a beat as she drank him in.

When her gaze rose to his face at last, the look there unnerved her. That expression was back in his eyes again, softness and longing, but almost as soon as she recognized it, it disappeared as if it had never been there. He jerked his head, motioning impatiently for her to come forward at the same time as someone pushed her from behind. She stumbled on the last few steps to the altar before she recovered her balance and turned to glare for a brief second at the person behind her before resuming her walk. Butterflies flitted through her stomach as she approached him and it was with relief that she finally succeeded in crossing the chamber to stand by the Doctor’s side.

“You look beautiful, Rose,” he said softly and she flushed at the admiration—and no longer hidden desire—that was suddenly in his voice and on his face.

“So do you,” she said feeling shy for the first time since junior school. He reached out a hand and gratefully she tucked hers into his and with a deep breath they both turned to face the High Chancellor.

Ch. 2:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/313976.html