To Call Our Own (12/36)

[amberfocus]

Chapter Twelve:  Arrival at Sandoval

“We’ve arrived,” the Doctor said quietly catching Rose’s eyes across the console. She was curled up in the jump seat watching him with a steady, half-aroused look on her face. He didn’t know what had gotten into her. Well…he had, quite a bit lately actually, but anyway he liked it. He grinned at her and she smiled back in invitation.

“Honestly, Rose, we need to get checked in through customs first.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Rose said innocently.

“You looked it,” said the Doctor and she laughed.

“Can’t I look at my husband?” she asked eyes half-lidded and smoldering.

“Keep looking at me like that and I’ll take you right across the console,” he growled.

“Promises, promises.”

It was only a loud tapping on the door that prevented him from carrying out his threat. He walked over to the doors and threw them open. “Yes?” he said to the robot steward that had knocked.

“Here is your customs docket. Please fill out these forms before approaching the customs desk. When you have filed your paperwork and your stay has been approved you may take your craft to the surface. To find the customs desk follow the blue arrows. Thank you. Good day.”

The Doctor backed into the TARDIS shutting the doors and giving out a heartfelt sigh. “I hate the paperwork, but the planet is worth it.”

“Why don’t you just materialize down there, avoid it all?” Rose asked.

“Planet’s shielded,” he said. “Strongest shield outside the planet Tir. They’ve two Tirawlian herds in residence, one on either continent. One herd can protect an entire hemisphere.”

“Will we get to see any?” Rose asked self-consciously fingering her bullet wound scar that she’d gotten on the planet Tir.

“I don’t know. Not sure how they’re placed. We’ll be on the coast for awhile and then up in the mountains for a bit. I think the herds stay mostly on the central plains. They won’t be like the ones we met, in any case. It’s been 50,000 years,” the Doctor told her.

“Why don’t you go get those monitors Martha and Dare got us? We should put them on before leaving the ship,” he suggested.

“I thought we didn’t need to worry until Kranamar,” Rose said.

“I’d feel better if we had them now.” Rose nodded and disappeared into the ship to retrieve them while he began on the paperwork. He was done when Rose returned a few moments later with the box. She set it on the jump seat and opened it. She reached in and took the most delicate one out first. It went around her neck like a choker and she shivered as it touched her skin, the cool blue metal so thin it felt like fabric. It settled against her in a ripple and as she moved her hand over it, she could no longer discern that it was there by touch. She followed with a bracelet on either wrist and this time she saw it as it blended into her skin.

“You’ll have to take your shirt off for yours. They go on your upper arms.”

“Any excuse for you to get my shirt off,” he teased absently as he continued going over the forms, but began unbuttoning it. When he slipped it off, she glided forward and put the armlets over the fullest part of his upper arms. “Oh, that tickles,” he said his eyes going to the device as it smoothed against him.

“Are they working?” Rose asked.

The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment. “Yes. I've got a very strong location on you and it’s transmitting your blood pressure, pulses, temperature, and hormone levels. Well, that explains a lot,” he added.

“What does?”

“You’re hormone levels are through the roof. Still, it’s an acceptable range for the biological changes that made us compatible.” He smiled at her.

"I don't know if that's all of it. Mum always said she was a right randy woman the last two trimesters she was pregnant with me. Come to think of it, same thing happened with Johnny."

"Oh, did you have to? Now I’m going to have an image of your over-sexed mother in my head all afternoon!" protested the Doctor.

"Oh, I'm sure I can get your mind back on me easily enough," she said with a seductive smile.

He swallowed hard, but all he said was. “I’ve finished the paperwork. Let’s go to customs.”

Customs turned out to be a rather small office with an officious but pleasant yellow skinned man with completely normal, by Rose’s standards, blue eyes. His hair was the same shade of blue, a light sky blue. Earth sky blue.

The man asked them a few questions about the duration of their stay and whether they were importing anything for sale, and then he stamped their paperwork, gave them a copy of it, and issued ident microchips that attached to the pinky nail of their fingers and would fall off naturally on exit from the planet’s atmosphere.

The customs official gave them their destination coordinates and they hurried back to the TARDIS, anxious to be on their way down to the planet.



Rose lay in the warm sand of the private beach outside their woven grass and bamboo bungalow. It was safe to stay in the sun for as long as she wanted, for the Tirawlian shield kept harmful rays out as easily as it kept out anything else dangerous to the planet. The Doctor had rented out a one acre section of beachfront along with the bungalow and it had been wonderful not to worry about other people intruding on their idyll. And even if they had, the expanse of sand between the bungalow and about 100 yards out into the ocean, had a privacy shield triggered by their ident microchips. No one could see in or out. It was as near to being on a private tropical island as they could get without leaving the continent.

Rose flipped over onto her back, then raised herself onto one elbow as she heard a noise behind her. The Doctor had emerged from their hut with a tray. She could just see tropical drinks of some sort in glasses with lots of ice. When he arrived at her side, she sat up and he handed the tray down to her. She was happy to see a plate full of cheese and one full of fruit cubes.

“Thought you might be a bit hungry by now,” he said. “You’ve slept in the sun for three hours.”

She smiled at him. “I didn’t realize just how cold I’ve been until the feeling was finally gone.”

“Some of that is the pregnancy, but your body temperature has dropped a lot since the change. You’re a lot closer to mine now.” He picked up a piece of fruit, it looked like watermelon, and placed it at her lips. She accepted it, then made a little ‘o’ of surprise when it tasted like kiwi. Fortunately she liked the tartness of kiwi. He picked out other pieces and fed them to her, a green bit that tasted like pineapple and a purple chunk that tasted like bananas, and then something gold that finally tasted like watermelon.

She decided that two could play at that game and she started feeding the Doctor fruit as well, but that quickly turned to his licking and sucking on her fingers, then the palm of her hands and then one thing led to another and it was an hour and a half before they tasted the cheese and the ice had melted into their drinks. Fortunately it was fruit ice so they still tasted exceptionally good, even if a bit warm.

They sat in the sand for a long time, Rose with her back against the Doctor’s chest, and his arms and legs around her, his hands covering hers against her abdomen. “I love you,” he said softly.

She tilted her head back twisting her neck until she could kiss him. “I love you.” She turned back around, her eyes focusing back on the ocean and they watched as the moon appeared and slipped across the sky.

Ch. 13:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/69419.html