Wolf Moon: Chapter Six
Jan. 29th, 2008 04:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberfocusWolf Moon: Chapter Six
It took Rose an hour to come to terms with how badly she had overreacted to the Doctor’s statement. It wasn’t like he had said, “Oh, Rose, help me start a Time Lord dynasty,” or “Oh, Rose, let’s just sweep the breakfast dishes off this table and start making sweet lurve right now,” or “Kit off. Let’s get this puppy done.” He’d been calmly reasoning things through.
And maybe that was part of the problem, because she couldn’t be calm at the idea of sleeping with the Doctor. The idea of having sex with her old Doctor in either form had never been abhorrent to her. In fact she thought that the Doctor had been close to seeking a more physical relationship with her after that horrible time she’d had her face sucked off by the Wire and she had wanted that with him. She’d been sure he was about to make a move by the time they’d dealt with the Isolus. And then the end came… the end to every dream she’d ever had of staying with the Doctor forever.
And now here he was. Well, not him him, but still him. And he was the first him. Well, not the first first him, but her first him. “Brain’s stuck on ramble again, apparently,” she said. The ship responded with a quiet hum. Rose leaned back against the wall, soaking in the soft vibrations she had missed so much. She knew this wasn’t her TARDIS either, not even a version of her TARDIS. Well, his TARDIS, not her TARDIS but…
As she sat there in the dark, looking up at the starry sky the room’s ceiling resembled, she realized the thing was that she was attracted to the man. She had been as a girl, too. Loved his mind and the way he thought, even if she’d had trouble adapting to his morality. Loved his forceful, aggressive way of doing things, but the tender smile he’d always reserved for her. She had loved the gentle way he held her hand, the way he’d kiss her forehead or hug her like he was afraid to let go because if he did she’d evaporate into thin air like everything else he’d ever cared about. When he wasn’t calling her a stupid ape and confusing her and pushing her away, that is. And she remembered, though it had taken her years to do so, the way he had kissed her before he had died.
That kiss held new meaning to her now that this Doctor had given his explanation of what had transpired. She put her fingers to her lips, pressing against them, reliving that memory. She shook herself. Yes, she was attracted to him. She was more attracted to him physically now than she had been at nineteen. A lot more. Too much more, really, considering he wasn’t him, and yet he was him and oh, she was just really going to go mad with all this, wasn’t she?
Rose stood up and brushed herself off then retraced her steps back to the kitchen. She was rather surprised to see that he was still in there. She stood in the doorway watching him for a moment. He was lost in thought and brooding. She recognized the look. “I’m sorry,” she said hesitantly, stepping into the room. She went and sat down in the chair across from him and rested her arms on the table.
“I really overreacted and I’m sorry.” She met his eyes as she finished speaking. There was a faint hint of humor in them.
“Rose, I wasn’t propositioning you.”
“I know.” She waved her hand in the air. “I know. It’s like you said before. You’re not interested in me.”
He swallowed and looked away from her. “I…” He stopped. “You were drunk and you were flirting and I was trying to make you stop. I might have been a little harsh with you.”
“You knew I was drunk?” She asked.
“Well, I could smell it on you. It comes out in your sweat,” he said.
“So I stink now?” She said.
“No!” He said hastily. “No, it’s just Time Lord senses are very acute. I can smell things, like when you’re nervous, or scared, or,” his eyes narrowed, “putting me on.”
She grinned. “Can you really smell that? If I’m putting you on?” She asked.
“Could tell you weren’t angry or offended, certainly. It may take me a bit of time to figure you out, but your body language says--.”
“Oh, so you’re reading my body language, are you?” She asked dropping her voice an octave.
“This you flirting again? He asked.
“I don’t know. Is it? Am I putting out pheromones? The other Doctor used to complain about me putting out pheromones all over the place. Of course I was only nineteen, didn’t have much control over the lusting.”
“Rose?”
“Yes?”
“That’s more than I needed to know,” he told her. “And no, you aren’t putting out pheromones.” Was it her imagination or did he seem slightly put out by that?
“Ah,” she said then narrowed back in on the original subject. “So you said you told me you weren’t interested to shut me up. Does that mean that you are interested in me then?” She asked cheekily.
“Is there a graceful way out of this conversation?” He muttered.
“No,” she said with a chuckle. “You’re rather stuck with it.”
“Sort of like I’m rather stuck with you,” he said softly.
“Look, you can drop me back off at my flat any time you want. I didn’t ask for you to come barging into my life. I was perfectly happy living my life day to day. I had plenty of adventure with my line of work and I’d adapted to being planet bound. You’re the one who said there was something wrong about me, that I needed to come with you,” she said sharply.
“Rose.” He held up one hand. “Being stuck with you isn’t a bad thing.”
“It’s not?” She asked in genuine surprise.
“No. Look, I haven’t had a…a companion on my ship since before the Time War. I’ve spent the last decade alone. My people were gone. I was alone and I liked it that way. I don’t know, maybe I’ll be sorry tomorrow or next week, but right now having you on board is…interesting.”
“Interesting,” she said slowly.
“Nothing wrong with interesting. So what do you say, Rose Tyler? Think you can put up with a cranky old man and a time ship with a personality disorder?” The TARDIS ground a gear in disapproval. “You stay out of it,” he told the ceiling. “Let me figure out what’s going on with you and your energy signature and maybe see the universe to boot?”
“Are you asking me to sign on?”
“I suppose I am.” He held out his hand. “Welcome aboard.” She reached out and shook it, watching as the sparks of gold raced up and down his arm.
“That’s weird,” she said. She pulled her hand away. “So when did you want me to get naked then?” She asked a little too innocently.
“What?” He gulped.
“Yesterday. In the MedBay. You said to take off my clothes and get on the table. To do the exam. I’m assuming you’re still needing me to disrobe?”
“Er…um, I think maybe if you put on swim togs, I could work around it. I just need as much skin exposed as possible. I’m sure the TARDIS can find something suitable in the wardrobe room. It’s this way.” He stood up and gestured for her to follow. He wasn’t wearing his leather jacket, just black jeans and a black t-shirt. She frowned. Was he wearing a jumper last night? She didn’t recall. Well, maybe he didn’t wear them. His jacket was brown not black so this could be different, too.
She tilted her head to watch him walk. If anything, this version of the Doctor had an even tighter bum than her original. She clamped down tight on that thought. The last thing she needed right now was to suddenly start dumping pheromones. She bit down on her bottom lip and closed her eyes then shook it off and quickened her pace before she was walking beside him. She almost grabbed his hand out of old habit but stopped herself.
“Here we are,” said the Doctor, completely unaware of the turmoil she’d just put herself through by treating him like eye candy. “I think…ah, yes, here you go. Put this on and we’ll get you down to the infirmary.”
Rose took the tiny strips of cloth he handed her. “Bit small, isn’t it?” She asked.
He smirked. “It’ll cover the bits that need covering,” he told her.
“Barely,” she huffed. “Any reason why it’s got yellow polka dots on it?”
“Romana liked the song. That was hers,” he said before he thought.
“Romana?” She asked gently.
“Time Lady. The ship used to be hers,” he said gruffly. He turned and said, “I’ll wait in the corridor while you change.”
Rose nodded and quickly slipped behind a rack of clothes to change. The thing definitely qualified as itsy bitsy teeny weeny, but the Doctor had been right and the important bits were covered. Mostly. She was not, however, walking down the hall with him behind her.
She took an extra moment and found an over-sized man’s shirt that she slipped into and buttoned up. That would solve that issue, at least until they got to the medical bay. She left her clothes on a shelf, figuring she’d come back here to change. If the Doctor was surprised at the shirt he didn’t say anything. Had that been disappointment she’d seen flash briefly in his eyes? They walked quickly back to the infirmary.
The Doctor busied himself pulling a few items out of drawers and setting them on a tray next to the examining table. Rose stood patiently waiting until he finally turned to her. “Okay, shirt off, please,” he said in what he hoped was a professional manner because suddenly he didn’t feel very professional. Actually, he felt kind of warm, which was odd since his body temperature always kept him feeling nicely cool. Rose unbuttoned the shirt and let it fall off her body, catching it just before it hit the floor and he swallowed hard. She hung it up on a hook on the wall and his eyes trailed after her.
He couldn’t help admiring the way her curves seemed to fit into the bikini just right but he was careful to keep his face stoic. It was, after all, okay to admire beautiful things, and he could admit she was beautiful, but sometimes beautiful things might think you were leering at them and slap you. Still, his eyes lingered just a little too long on her chest.
Rose coughed, which didn’t help, but her wry, “Doctor, I’m up here,” accompanied by a little wave beside her head brought his attention back to where it needed to be at.
“Lay down on your back,” he said. Rose jumped up on the table and he turned away abruptly and picked up the scanner so as not to get caught staring at the way she’d just bounced. What was going on with him? He’d been fine a few minutes ago. It couldn’t be the bikini. Or rather, it couldn’t just be the bikini. He didn’t get turned on easily like a human male so why was he suddenly reacting like one?
“Close your eyes,” he said. “This scanner emits a blue laser light and you don’t want to harm your vision.” That wasn’t the full truth, he’d have to shine the light directly into her eyes for it to harm them, but if he went off kilter again and started staring at her more attractive qualities at least she couldn’t see him doing it. “You may feel this,” he said. “It’ll be no more than a light tickle if you do.”
He began to run the scanner over her body. It transmitted its findings to a computer across the room. It took him ten minutes to fully scan one side of her body. “Turn over now, and please keep your eyes closed.” She flipped over, again bouncing distractingly.
“Oh,” said Rose suddenly when he was nearly done with her legs. “What’s that wonderful smell?”
“Smell?” He asked as he ran the device over her back.
“Well, there’s you,” she said. “I can smell you, too, even without special Time Lord senses. You smell like your bed, honey and leather and sage. But there’s something else now. Do you have on cologne or something?”
“No. Why? What do you smell?” He asked as he finished her back and moved on to her left arm.
“Um…something citrusy. Not oranges exactly, or lime either. More like a piña colada. Or maybe just pineapples. Anyway, it’s gorgeous. Makes me want to eat it right up. Rather desperately, actually.”
“Oh, damn,” he muttered.
“What? Is something wrong with the scan?”
“Hold still,” he said trying to keep from panicking as he recognized another more obvious sign of what was occurring. “I’ve just got your arm to do and then I’m done.” He finished up quickly then grabbed her shirt off the hook. “Done,” he said and when she sat up he tossed the shirt at her quickly.
“So, what’s wrong? Why’d you swear?” She asked him.
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong,” he told her. She just looked at him in disbelief. He sighed. “You know how you were worried about dumping pheromones a little bit ago?” He asked.
“Yeah. Oh. Am I?” She asked him. “Sorry.” She put her hand on his arm and another glow of sparks raced up and down it. She let go of him, frowned at her hand and then pulled the shirt on. “And it smells like pineapples?”
“No,” he said. “No, Rose. You’re not dumping pheromones and anyway, your pheromones don’t smell like pineapples.”
“Oh,” she said, giving him a confused look. Her eyes widened at his next statement.
“But mine do.”
Ch. 7: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/6198.html
Yellow Polka Dots and Pineapples
It took Rose an hour to come to terms with how badly she had overreacted to the Doctor’s statement. It wasn’t like he had said, “Oh, Rose, help me start a Time Lord dynasty,” or “Oh, Rose, let’s just sweep the breakfast dishes off this table and start making sweet lurve right now,” or “Kit off. Let’s get this puppy done.” He’d been calmly reasoning things through.
And maybe that was part of the problem, because she couldn’t be calm at the idea of sleeping with the Doctor. The idea of having sex with her old Doctor in either form had never been abhorrent to her. In fact she thought that the Doctor had been close to seeking a more physical relationship with her after that horrible time she’d had her face sucked off by the Wire and she had wanted that with him. She’d been sure he was about to make a move by the time they’d dealt with the Isolus. And then the end came… the end to every dream she’d ever had of staying with the Doctor forever.
And now here he was. Well, not him him, but still him. And he was the first him. Well, not the first first him, but her first him. “Brain’s stuck on ramble again, apparently,” she said. The ship responded with a quiet hum. Rose leaned back against the wall, soaking in the soft vibrations she had missed so much. She knew this wasn’t her TARDIS either, not even a version of her TARDIS. Well, his TARDIS, not her TARDIS but…
As she sat there in the dark, looking up at the starry sky the room’s ceiling resembled, she realized the thing was that she was attracted to the man. She had been as a girl, too. Loved his mind and the way he thought, even if she’d had trouble adapting to his morality. Loved his forceful, aggressive way of doing things, but the tender smile he’d always reserved for her. She had loved the gentle way he held her hand, the way he’d kiss her forehead or hug her like he was afraid to let go because if he did she’d evaporate into thin air like everything else he’d ever cared about. When he wasn’t calling her a stupid ape and confusing her and pushing her away, that is. And she remembered, though it had taken her years to do so, the way he had kissed her before he had died.
That kiss held new meaning to her now that this Doctor had given his explanation of what had transpired. She put her fingers to her lips, pressing against them, reliving that memory. She shook herself. Yes, she was attracted to him. She was more attracted to him physically now than she had been at nineteen. A lot more. Too much more, really, considering he wasn’t him, and yet he was him and oh, she was just really going to go mad with all this, wasn’t she?
Rose stood up and brushed herself off then retraced her steps back to the kitchen. She was rather surprised to see that he was still in there. She stood in the doorway watching him for a moment. He was lost in thought and brooding. She recognized the look. “I’m sorry,” she said hesitantly, stepping into the room. She went and sat down in the chair across from him and rested her arms on the table.
“I really overreacted and I’m sorry.” She met his eyes as she finished speaking. There was a faint hint of humor in them.
“Rose, I wasn’t propositioning you.”
“I know.” She waved her hand in the air. “I know. It’s like you said before. You’re not interested in me.”
He swallowed and looked away from her. “I…” He stopped. “You were drunk and you were flirting and I was trying to make you stop. I might have been a little harsh with you.”
“You knew I was drunk?” She asked.
“Well, I could smell it on you. It comes out in your sweat,” he said.
“So I stink now?” She said.
“No!” He said hastily. “No, it’s just Time Lord senses are very acute. I can smell things, like when you’re nervous, or scared, or,” his eyes narrowed, “putting me on.”
She grinned. “Can you really smell that? If I’m putting you on?” She asked.
“Could tell you weren’t angry or offended, certainly. It may take me a bit of time to figure you out, but your body language says--.”
“Oh, so you’re reading my body language, are you?” She asked dropping her voice an octave.
“This you flirting again? He asked.
“I don’t know. Is it? Am I putting out pheromones? The other Doctor used to complain about me putting out pheromones all over the place. Of course I was only nineteen, didn’t have much control over the lusting.”
“Rose?”
“Yes?”
“That’s more than I needed to know,” he told her. “And no, you aren’t putting out pheromones.” Was it her imagination or did he seem slightly put out by that?
“Ah,” she said then narrowed back in on the original subject. “So you said you told me you weren’t interested to shut me up. Does that mean that you are interested in me then?” She asked cheekily.
“Is there a graceful way out of this conversation?” He muttered.
“No,” she said with a chuckle. “You’re rather stuck with it.”
“Sort of like I’m rather stuck with you,” he said softly.
“Look, you can drop me back off at my flat any time you want. I didn’t ask for you to come barging into my life. I was perfectly happy living my life day to day. I had plenty of adventure with my line of work and I’d adapted to being planet bound. You’re the one who said there was something wrong about me, that I needed to come with you,” she said sharply.
“Rose.” He held up one hand. “Being stuck with you isn’t a bad thing.”
“It’s not?” She asked in genuine surprise.
“No. Look, I haven’t had a…a companion on my ship since before the Time War. I’ve spent the last decade alone. My people were gone. I was alone and I liked it that way. I don’t know, maybe I’ll be sorry tomorrow or next week, but right now having you on board is…interesting.”
“Interesting,” she said slowly.
“Nothing wrong with interesting. So what do you say, Rose Tyler? Think you can put up with a cranky old man and a time ship with a personality disorder?” The TARDIS ground a gear in disapproval. “You stay out of it,” he told the ceiling. “Let me figure out what’s going on with you and your energy signature and maybe see the universe to boot?”
“Are you asking me to sign on?”
“I suppose I am.” He held out his hand. “Welcome aboard.” She reached out and shook it, watching as the sparks of gold raced up and down his arm.
“That’s weird,” she said. She pulled her hand away. “So when did you want me to get naked then?” She asked a little too innocently.
“What?” He gulped.
“Yesterday. In the MedBay. You said to take off my clothes and get on the table. To do the exam. I’m assuming you’re still needing me to disrobe?”
“Er…um, I think maybe if you put on swim togs, I could work around it. I just need as much skin exposed as possible. I’m sure the TARDIS can find something suitable in the wardrobe room. It’s this way.” He stood up and gestured for her to follow. He wasn’t wearing his leather jacket, just black jeans and a black t-shirt. She frowned. Was he wearing a jumper last night? She didn’t recall. Well, maybe he didn’t wear them. His jacket was brown not black so this could be different, too.
She tilted her head to watch him walk. If anything, this version of the Doctor had an even tighter bum than her original. She clamped down tight on that thought. The last thing she needed right now was to suddenly start dumping pheromones. She bit down on her bottom lip and closed her eyes then shook it off and quickened her pace before she was walking beside him. She almost grabbed his hand out of old habit but stopped herself.
“Here we are,” said the Doctor, completely unaware of the turmoil she’d just put herself through by treating him like eye candy. “I think…ah, yes, here you go. Put this on and we’ll get you down to the infirmary.”
Rose took the tiny strips of cloth he handed her. “Bit small, isn’t it?” She asked.
He smirked. “It’ll cover the bits that need covering,” he told her.
“Barely,” she huffed. “Any reason why it’s got yellow polka dots on it?”
“Romana liked the song. That was hers,” he said before he thought.
“Romana?” She asked gently.
“Time Lady. The ship used to be hers,” he said gruffly. He turned and said, “I’ll wait in the corridor while you change.”
Rose nodded and quickly slipped behind a rack of clothes to change. The thing definitely qualified as itsy bitsy teeny weeny, but the Doctor had been right and the important bits were covered. Mostly. She was not, however, walking down the hall with him behind her.
She took an extra moment and found an over-sized man’s shirt that she slipped into and buttoned up. That would solve that issue, at least until they got to the medical bay. She left her clothes on a shelf, figuring she’d come back here to change. If the Doctor was surprised at the shirt he didn’t say anything. Had that been disappointment she’d seen flash briefly in his eyes? They walked quickly back to the infirmary.
The Doctor busied himself pulling a few items out of drawers and setting them on a tray next to the examining table. Rose stood patiently waiting until he finally turned to her. “Okay, shirt off, please,” he said in what he hoped was a professional manner because suddenly he didn’t feel very professional. Actually, he felt kind of warm, which was odd since his body temperature always kept him feeling nicely cool. Rose unbuttoned the shirt and let it fall off her body, catching it just before it hit the floor and he swallowed hard. She hung it up on a hook on the wall and his eyes trailed after her.
He couldn’t help admiring the way her curves seemed to fit into the bikini just right but he was careful to keep his face stoic. It was, after all, okay to admire beautiful things, and he could admit she was beautiful, but sometimes beautiful things might think you were leering at them and slap you. Still, his eyes lingered just a little too long on her chest.
Rose coughed, which didn’t help, but her wry, “Doctor, I’m up here,” accompanied by a little wave beside her head brought his attention back to where it needed to be at.
“Lay down on your back,” he said. Rose jumped up on the table and he turned away abruptly and picked up the scanner so as not to get caught staring at the way she’d just bounced. What was going on with him? He’d been fine a few minutes ago. It couldn’t be the bikini. Or rather, it couldn’t just be the bikini. He didn’t get turned on easily like a human male so why was he suddenly reacting like one?
“Close your eyes,” he said. “This scanner emits a blue laser light and you don’t want to harm your vision.” That wasn’t the full truth, he’d have to shine the light directly into her eyes for it to harm them, but if he went off kilter again and started staring at her more attractive qualities at least she couldn’t see him doing it. “You may feel this,” he said. “It’ll be no more than a light tickle if you do.”
He began to run the scanner over her body. It transmitted its findings to a computer across the room. It took him ten minutes to fully scan one side of her body. “Turn over now, and please keep your eyes closed.” She flipped over, again bouncing distractingly.
“Oh,” said Rose suddenly when he was nearly done with her legs. “What’s that wonderful smell?”
“Smell?” He asked as he ran the device over her back.
“Well, there’s you,” she said. “I can smell you, too, even without special Time Lord senses. You smell like your bed, honey and leather and sage. But there’s something else now. Do you have on cologne or something?”
“No. Why? What do you smell?” He asked as he finished her back and moved on to her left arm.
“Um…something citrusy. Not oranges exactly, or lime either. More like a piña colada. Or maybe just pineapples. Anyway, it’s gorgeous. Makes me want to eat it right up. Rather desperately, actually.”
“Oh, damn,” he muttered.
“What? Is something wrong with the scan?”
“Hold still,” he said trying to keep from panicking as he recognized another more obvious sign of what was occurring. “I’ve just got your arm to do and then I’m done.” He finished up quickly then grabbed her shirt off the hook. “Done,” he said and when she sat up he tossed the shirt at her quickly.
“So, what’s wrong? Why’d you swear?” She asked him.
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong,” he told her. She just looked at him in disbelief. He sighed. “You know how you were worried about dumping pheromones a little bit ago?” He asked.
“Yeah. Oh. Am I?” She asked him. “Sorry.” She put her hand on his arm and another glow of sparks raced up and down it. She let go of him, frowned at her hand and then pulled the shirt on. “And it smells like pineapples?”
“No,” he said. “No, Rose. You’re not dumping pheromones and anyway, your pheromones don’t smell like pineapples.”
“Oh,” she said, giving him a confused look. Her eyes widened at his next statement.
“But mine do.”
Ch. 7: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/6198.html
