amberfocus | Of the Vortex Born: Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-one: Ultimatum Answered

“Any change?” Rose asked wearily, rubbing her forehead as she entered bedroom of her daughter. The Doctor sat by Jamie’s side and held her hand. Luke was sitting in a chair against the wall snoring softly.

“Her mind is starting to gather some semblance of coherency. I think she’ll be awake by morning at the latest. How are things going out there?”

“Bureaucracy has never been my strong suit,” Rose muttered. “The rebuilding has started. Pete’s sent over an emergency construction unit from Moon Colony Two and they’ve already replaced one dome.”

“I thought he was retired,” the Doctor said.

“He still owns the company.”

“Has there been any change with Mickey or the Brig?” the Doctor asked.

“No. Still unconscious.”

The Doctor glanced at Rose who was studiously avoiding his gaze. It had been two days and they still hadn’t talked about his statement that he was taking Jamie with him when he left.

“Rose,” he began.

“No,” she said. “I know what you want to discuss and the answer is no. Until she wakes up, until I know that she’s going to be okay, I’m not talking about this with you.”

“You can’t keep avoiding it forever. And you can’t keep avoiding your own choice, either.”

“I’m not avoiding anything about your little ultimatum,” she snapped at him. “I’m focusing my attention on the most important thing right now and that’s my daughter.”

“Our daughter,” he said sharply.

“I didn’t mean--.”

“I know very well what you meant, Rose,” he said darkly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you raise our children, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t mine, too. It’s not like I knew. It’s not like I didn’t try to get back to you. I tried so hard, Rose. I tried for eighty-seven years! Every single thing I could think of, I tried. Maybe it was easy for you to move on, but I never could!” He kept his voice low so as not to wake Luke, but the intensity of his tone was so strong that he may as well have shouted it at her.

Rose winced and her eyes went still. “Out there. Now,” she ordered pointing to the living room. When he stood up she shoved him through the door and shut it tightly behind them. “If you think that I ever managed to move on after you…then you don’t know me as well as I thought you did.”

“Then why won’t you come back with me?” He allowed his frustration and his anger and hurt to well into his voice. “How can you even stand the idea of being separated from me when you don’t have to be? Rose, why don’t you love me?”

“How can you say that? How can you even think that? There’s not been one day, not one day that has gone by where I didn’t miss you so much it threatened my sanity. I had to force those emotions down into a tiny little ball and bury it so that I could even keep breathing after I lost you. The very idea of you going away without me is killing me inside. But damn it, Doctor! I cannot leave this world undefended!”

“You owe it nothing.”

“It’s not about what’s owed, Doctor. It’s about what’s right. You taught me that,” she said.

“What’s right is you and me, Rose. Together. Not apart. How can it ever be right for us to be apart?” he asked her brokenly. Rose closed her eyes. When she opened them again he had closed the distance between them. “You promised me forever, Rose,” he told her.

She felt his hands grip her upper arms and she looked up into his eyes. She wasn’t able to answer him so instead she brushed her lips against his. His fingers tightened convulsively and she wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t have handprint shaped bruises tomorrow, but she didn’t care because he was deepening the kiss, his urgency almost painful.

He began to back her across the living room and towards her bedroom and she didn’t fight him as his tongue claimed her mouth and his body asserted dominance. Once through the doorway he shut it forcefully with his foot and she heard the snick of the lock, and then he was pushing her again until she felt the bed behind her and her knees gave. She sat down and scrambled backwards, lying down with her head on the pillows and gazing up at him.

He stood there for a long time just looking at her. Then with single minded determination he shrugged out of his suit jacket. His hands rose to his tie and worked it off quickly, dropping it at his feet. His eyes never left her face as he unbuttoned the shirt and skimmed it off. The light-weight t-shirt came off next and her eyes dropped from his to drink in the wealth of skin now on display for her.

He leant onto the bed, crawling towards her in a very predatory manner, so intense it almost frightened her. It would have if she hadn’t been feeling very much the same way at the moment. His body lowered to the bed and his fingers quickly made short work of her blouse. He pulled her to him and took possession of her mouth once again while his hands rather forcefully caressed her body.

Rose gave herself over to the sensations he brought forth. Nothing mattered at that moment, nothing at all, but the feel of skin under fingertips and the caress of tongues. It felt like she had been waiting for this moment her entire life. She wanted this, wanted him, wanted a life together. She wanted--.

A loud, harsh knock on the bedroom door brought them both back to reality rather abruptly. “Rose? Doctor?” Luke’s voice. “I’m really sorry to bother you, but I thought you should know. Jamie’s awake.”

The Doctor rolled off her and sat up on the edge of the bed. He tried to speak but it came out more of a high-pitched squeak instead. He coughed and tried again. “Okay, Luke,” he managed. “We’ll be right there.”

Rose groaned but managed to pull herself back together. The Doctor skinned his t-shirt back on over his head and then picked up his dress shirt and put it on without bothering to button it. “I need a minute to compose myself,” the Doctor said.

Rose’s eyes trailed down his body and he said,” That’s not helping.”

She grinned and smoothed down her hair. “Tonight,” she said determinedly and then she unlocked the door and went to see her daughter.

Jamie rested on the pillow, her skin pale, but there was a definite improvement from its previous sallowness. “Mum,” she said. “Mummy.”

“I’m here, love.”

“Mummy.” And Jamie collapsed into tears. “I killed him, Mummy. I killed him,” she said over and over again. Rose pulled her daughter tightly into her arms.

“I know, sweetheart. I know,” she whispered against Jamie’s ear.

The Doctor appeared a moment later and went around to the far side of Jamie’s bed. He sat down and put a hand on Jamie’s back. Jamie pulled back from her mother. “I don’t want it, Daddy,” she told him. “I don’t want that power inside me.”

“It’s part of you, love. But I can teach you to control it so it never takes you over again,” he said.

“I killed.”

“I know.” There was no trace of judgment in his voice.

“It hurts me,” she whimpered.

“It’s supposed to. If killing were easy you wouldn’t be the girl I raised,” Rose said.

“Teach me control,” she whispered to her father, moving into his arms.

“I will. That’s my responsibility. You’ll come back with me,” he said. “And I’ll train you. We won’t let this unbridled use of power happen ever again.” His eyes moved back to Rose’s. “It has to be this way,” he told her.

Rose sighed and looked down at her daughter as she clung to her father. She made her decision. “All right,” she agreed realizing it was what was best for her child. “Jamie goes with you.”

Of the Vortex Born: Chapter Twenty-one

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