Andromeda Rising: Chapter Eleven
Dec. 9th, 2008 03:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberfocus
A/N: The Doctor and Rose discover some news that doesn't bode well for some of their loved ones. Jack and Andromeda visit a nearby pleasure island. Not that type of pleasure! But very fluffy to make up for the very unfluffy beginning. No pack, they're still enroute.
Chapter Eleven: Hand of Sorrow, Hand of Joy
The Doctor frowned as he looked into the eyepiece of the microscope. He’d been keeping an eye on the progress of Cassi’s bultungin virus test for Daniel, and hoping to maybe speed the process along with some extra slides of her blood culture he’d taken from what was left in the vial after Daniel had finished his own testing.
“Rose?” he called out. Rose, who had been washing up in the kitchen next door popped her head into the doorway, wiping her hands on a dish towel.
“Yes, love?” she said.
“Can you come look at something? I just want to confirm that I haven’t lost my mind,” he said.
“Well, if you have,” she said cheekily, “I know all the best hiding places to look for it." But at his serious expression she came over and took a peak at the slide in the microscope.
“This better not be my blood test,” she muttered at him, pulling herself away and giving him the evil eye. The Doctor had run her through a standard physical the day before Andromeda had run away.
“It’s not,” he said heavily. “I’d almost rather it was.”
“Do you have any idea of how much trouble you’d be in if it was?” She glared at him. “Wait. If it’s not mine…Oh, please don’t tell me this is Teganna’s workup?” Rose sounded panicked.
“No, no,” the Doctor hastily assured her. “No!” He added again emphatically.
“Oh, it’s got to be Martha’s then?” Rose’s mind jumped to the logical conclusion.
“No, love, it’s not. It’s Cassi’s.”
The color drained from Rose’s face and she sat down, hard. Rather harder than she’d expected to as she forgot to check for a chair first and ended up on the floor. “Cassi’s?” she squeaked. “But…but the bultungin…we don’t even know… How are we going to tell them?”
“Side by side and hand in hand, the way we do everything else?” The Doctor suggested softly. He reached down and helped her stand up, pulling her against him, loving the way she still fit so perfectly. She raised her face for a kiss that was gentle and slow and then pulled back with a sigh, resting her head against his chest and listening to the soothing double thump of his heartbeat.
They stood together for awhile before reluctantly breaking apart and heading towards the airlock. Several minutes later they had entered Cassi’s ship. Daniel, who’d been alerted by Philia, was waiting in the console room.
He took one look at the grave expression on his wife’s parent’s faces and asked, “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Daniel, sweetie,” Rose said, “We need to tell you and Cassi something.”
“What?”
“Together,” said the Doctor firmly.
Daniel nodded at him. “She’s feeling a bit better today. She’s in the solarium.” He gestured to the couple to precede him. When they opened the door to the solarium, a large sun-lit, or fake sun-lit, room with large glass windows that looked out onto a scene that was nowhere near their current location, they saw Cassi laying on an outdoor divan reading a book. Soft music swelled around them and the twitter of birdsong accompanied it.
A golden finch came in for a landing on a large birdfeeder and gobbled up some birdseed before taking note of the small group coming closer and flitting away. “You’ve got real birds now?” Rose asked, delighted.
Cassi’s head turned around and she smiled at her mother before she sat up. “For a couple of months now. They’ve adapted quite well. Hello, Mum, Dad. What are you doing here?”
The Doctor and Rose came around in front of her and sat down in a wicker loveseat while Daniel hovered behind his wife, placing his hands on her shoulder. “They have something to tell us and insisted that we hear it together.”
“Ah,” said Cassi. She looked questioningly at her parents. “What is it?”
“I was running some tests on the extra slides of your blood,” the Doctor said, “Experimenting to see whether or not I could speed up the process of determining whether or not you caught the bultungin virus and I...well, I…” He trailed off and looked away from Cassi’s piercing stare.
“Out with it, Dad,” she said.
Rose coughed. “What your father is trying to say is he found something.”
“I have the virus?” she asked jumping to that conclusion.
“No, dear. I mean, we don’t know. This is…something else,” Rose said.
“Well, spit it out already, Mum,” she said impatiently.
Rose reached for the Doctor’s hand and squeezed it in reassurance. “Well, Cassi,” the Doctor began, “It seems that you’re…well, you’re…”
“Pregnant,” said Rose finally.
“Are you…are you…sure?” Cassi asked faintly.
“Quite sure. I ran the test several times and had your mother confirm my findings,” the Doctor said able to talk easily now that the cat was out of the bag.
Cassi sat upright and Daniel came around and sat down beside her. She leaned her head against his shoulder trying to absorb some of his quiet strength. “I can’t go six months without knowing if I’m sick,” she said.
“I know. We need to uncouple the ships and you need to go into the future and retrieve the experiment from my TARDIS,” the Doctor said. “If…if the worst is true…well…”
“I can’t terminate this baby,” said Cassi. “I won’t.”
“You wouldn’t have to,” the Doctor said. “If you have the bultungin virus the baby would terminate naturally.” He looked down. “The Gallifreyan DNA wouldn’t allow the pregnancy to proceed after the fourth or fifth month. Even if it did, and the pregnancy continued, the result would be a stillbirth around month seven.”
“Isn’t there a cure?” Cassi asked hopelessly.
“Not that I’m aware of,” the Doctor said.
“In all of time and space, there’s not one place that might hold a cure?” Daniel asked.
The Doctor thought hard. “Well, there’s one place. And the ethics involved are iffy, and I can’t go there and neither can Rose because we’ve already been and it would cause all sorts of paradoxes. But you could go and maybe, maybe they could cure you.”
“But first,” said Rose, “Let’s see if you even have the virus. Undock the ships and take Philia six months into the future. We’ll make sure we’re there when the day comes.”
“And if I do have the virus?” Cassi asked.
“Then come back and tell us and we’ll take you where you need to go. Come back regardless. Either way, we need to know.”
Daniel nodded and helped his wife to stand. When the Doctor and Rose were safely back on the TARDIS she turned to him. “We’re taking them to New Earth, aren’t we?” she asked him.
“Only place I can think of,” the Doctor said. “If we take them there six months before we visited, it should be safe enough.”
“But the ethics of that place…”
“Well, we did shut it down…”
“It’s a different morality out here…”
“Who’re we trying to convince?” the Doctor asked.
“We can’t change anything sooner or it’ll impact the timelines,” Rose said. “You’ve taught me that. And if it’ll save our child and our grandchild…”
The Doctor took Rose into his arms. “I know,” he said. “I don’t believe it either.”
“What do you think about this one?” Jack asked Andromeda holding up a brilliant red string bikini.
“I think there’s more cloth in a handkerchief than in that…that…bit of nothing,” she admonished.
“I think you’d look dead sexy in it,” he told her, his eyes burning as he glanced up and down her body.
“That may well be,” she said with a blush, “But consider what we’re planning on doing today. It mightn’t stay on with all the friction and do you really want other men staring at your…at me?” she finished a bit hesitantly.
“No, can’t say as I want anyone else looking at my wife that way,” he said without even thinking to hesitate at the word wife. Andromeda blushed. “But,” he said, “Let’s get it anyway. For in private.” If it was possible, Andromeda blushed an even deeper shade of crimson.
“Won’t stay on for long,” she mumbled.
“Count on it,” he shot back. He turned and perused the racks again. “Here,” he said reaching into the depths of the rack and emerging with a canary yellow and turquoise tankini, “This’ll do.”
She glanced at it then up at him. “You seem to have a knack for picking out the perfect thing,” she told him taking the swimwear from him and hustling towards the changing room. A few moments later she emerged in the suit.
“You’re gorgeous,” he said. Andromeda pulled a bit at the yellow tank piece that didn’t quite meet the turquoise bikini bottom. She would have preferred a one-piece but if Jack liked her in this than she’d be happy to wear it. And at least it should stay on with their planned vigorous afternoon activities.
“What about you, did you find anything?” she asked him.
He held up a pair of trunks in turquoise with a slash of yellow across them that matched the yellow of her own suit. “So people will know we’re together,” he said with a grin.
“You don’t think the hand holding and touching and snogging will give it away, then?” she teased.
“Not taking any chances,” he said, pulling her up against him and kissing her soundly.
“Ahem,” came the soft voice of the sales creature behind them. “Did you find what you needed?”
Jack released Andromeda. “Yes, we did, thank you.” He handed the items to the creature’s dominant tentacle and said, “We’ll take these.” The creature glided towards the check out counter, undulating gracefully, little shimmers of pink and purple washing through its odd jelly-fish like trunk.
Jack paid for their purchases and then they took the water lift back up to their suite to change into them. Andromeda insisted on getting dressed in separate rooms or, “We’ll never make it out of here and I want to do what we’ve got planned.”
With a moue of disappointment that made her want to go and suck on the lower lip that came out with his pout, Jack disappeared into his room. She sighed and laughed softly to herself before going into her own room and pulling on the tankini. She pulled her hair back and rapidly twisted it into a long braid down her back. Her quick glance in the mirror made her stop and take a closer look.
She almost didn’t recognize herself. It wasn’t because she looked any different, that she’d changed in any describable way. It was her eyes. She looked happy. It was odd because she didn’t really remember herself as being unhappy before, but she’d not been like this either, full of joy and light and energy. This was what finding the right person was about. It was about happiness.
She grinned at herself and walked out into the living room. Her breath hitched when she saw Jack standing there in his trunks. Her eyes roamed across his chest then down over his muscled thighs and legs and she immediately felt a wave of desire course through her body. “Best not be looking at me that way, Andromeda,” Jack warned. "Or we'll never leave the hotel."
“Can’t help it,” she said, but she tore her eyes away from him. “Come on,” she said, “Let’s get out of here before we get distracted.”
“I think I’m already distracted.”
“Here,” she said throwing him a t-shirt. “Put this on.” She reached for the sarong she’d left on the sofa and wrapped it around her waist. Jack hefted a duffel bag and held his hand out for Andromeda’s and they made their way back down to the docks. As it happened they were just on time for the departing bubbler.
Jack’s arm was tight around her waist as they rode the little tour boat over to the next island. She watched as bubbles forced their way through water tubes underfoot and behind them. Most of the tubes were clear but every fifth or sixth one was tinted with color. Her eyes were drawn mostly to the vivid orange and magenta bubbles.
Somehow, and her Standard Basic wasn’t quite good enough to understand the rambling explanation the boat operator gave, the bubbles were forced through the tubes and the resulting movement powered the boat. She had taken for granted the translation programs of her parent’s and grandparent’s sentient timeships and she felt a slight longing for such a program now.
She knew several languages anyway, her Gallifreyan genes made the learning of such things easy for her, but Standard Basic was a conglomerate of languages that followed no simple or even complex set of rules. It just was. Maybe she’d be able to ask Jack about it later, because it seemed like a fascinating process. At least 51st century Terran, which was what Jack spoke to her in, was a language she had a firm grasp on. Of course, Philia had still been in her mind on Deneb 8 when they’d met, but even away from it, her telepathy would have translated Jack when the partial linkage was made.
She sighed, snuggled into Jack, and watched the bubbles shoot through the tubes. Well, for once she could just be a normal girl and think, ‘Ooo, bubbles, pretty,’ and not have to figure out the mathematical concepts and intricate details that would normally keep her fascinated much longer than observing the function itself. Take the time to stop and smell the roses, so to speak, though that was a phrase in itself that was seldom uttered in her family. Grandmother said it was too close to too many puns and that expression and the one about looking through rose-colored glasses had been banned on their TARDIS.
The bubbler pulled into the marina of the next island within twenty minutes of its departure. Jack handed her up out of the boat and they made their way down the gangway. Their destination was immediately in front of them and Andromeda nearly clapped her hands in delight. Jack was grinning from ear to ear as well.
They made their way to the base of the coral structure, bought their tickets and secured a locker for their belongings. As they made their way through an interior cave to the center of the structure, Andromeda squeezed Jack’s hand. The center opened into a cavern. Beneath their feet the walkway ended and a rush of ocean water shot through beneath them.
A creature similar to the tentacle jelly-fish creature at the sales shop gestured to a large inner tube with an enclosed bottom and indicated that they were to climb inside. Jack got in first and spread his legs, bringing up his knees and Andromeda dropped down between them, her back to his chest and her knees tucked up under her chin. Jack’s arms came around her knees and she rested her own hands on top of them.
With a nod to the creature, it released their inner tube into the water and they were off in a rush of noise and wet. The tube bumped its way along into a tunnel lit only by the bioluminescence of aquatic life forms. They moved too quickly for her to determine whether or not they were plant or animal life, but their soft green and gold light made them gorgeous whatever they were.
Suddenly the tube shot upwards in a geyser of water that lifted them a good hundred yards high and tilted them into a coral chute. For a moment the tube lingered and they caught their breath from the adrenaline rush of being fired up into the air so quickly. Then a gate released them and the tube made its way forward.
They were exposed to the air, up on the very top level of the structure, and from there they could see various islands dotting the ocean around them. The water was such a pure turquoise blue that Andromeda didn’t think she’d ever seen such a shade before in her life.
An abrupt dip dropped them back into the tunnels and they spun rapidly through a rather turbulent section before dropping again and slowing in a small pool. Crystalline structures in shades of ice white and blue glimmered at them and slowly moved about the ceilings and the walls of the pink coral, leaving streaks of green and gold. Perhaps the bioluminescence below was caused by these creatures?
The tube eased through the pool and into another tunnel and in complete darkness they could hear the rush of water getting faster. “I think there’s a big drop coming up,” Jack warned in her ear. His hot breath made her shiver but she had little time to think of it as the anticipated drop came and they fell at least twenty feet. Andromeda had let out a little squeal of delight and she heard Jack’s low chuckle behind her as well as felt it as it rumbled through his chest.
The lighting came back, this time caused by glowing schools of fish encased in two large glass aquariums embedded in the walls that ran the length of the twisting, sinuous section of chute. Several more rapid drops led them beneath sea level and huge glass panels allowed them to observe the sea life in its natural habitat.
Andromeda shrieked when they bumped into one glass wall and as the tube turned around she was face to face with something that very much resembled a shark. “I’m okay,” she replied to Jack’s sounds of concern. “It just startled me.” She started laughing. “This is so amazing,” she said.
“It is,” he agreed with her and she could hear the smile in his voice. She craned her head around and gave him a light kiss before returning to her previous position. Finally the inner tube popped back out of the cavern and into a circular opening that again shot them 100 yards into the air. This time when they were dumped forward it was into a large bubble that snapped shut around their tube, and then expanded through the midsection to hold their bodies in place but keep their heads free to see what was going on.
The bubble shot forward and down a sharply angled 100 yard drop that had them both screaming in delight. The splash at the bottom completely submerged the bubble for thirty seconds and the colors that swirled around them were unbelievable. At last the bubble popped to the surface and caught along a wall. It deflated their safety restraints and gently dumped the inner tube out. They floated a little bit further down the way and the tube bumped up along the dock they had started on.
The jelly-fish creature clamped it in place and they climbed out. “That was amazing,” Andromeda told Jack. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
He hugged her into his side and smiled. “Any time, sweetheart.” The ride had lasted an hour and there were other amusements on the island to explore. The ticket for the coral chutes was good for any other ride on the island and they took advantage of many.
They ate the sort of wonderful tasting but nutritionally lacking food that cropped up on fairways universe wide. Didn’t matter the culture or the species, aliens everywhere had invented funnel cakes, cotton candy, flavored shaved ice and breaded meat on a stick. Jack won her a very large stuffed dolphin at one of the midway game booths that was so large they had to put it in their storage locker just to be able to walk around unencumbered.
As the day drew to a close and the stars appeared, Jack got her on a large wheel that resembled the London Eye in 21st century Britain. Only it was three times as large and the ride lasted a lot longer, too. The ocean world was beautiful under the clear sky and Jack snuck in as many kisses as she’d allow him. Which to tell the truth were as many as he wanted.
She was reluctant for the ride to end but finally it was time to collect their belongings and return to the docks to catch the bubbler back to their hotel. At night the bubbler was even more fascinating to watch as more of the tubes turned color than had in the daytime.
The slow walk back to the hotel was blissful and as they rode the water lift back to their room, Andromeda finally knew the meaning of perfection.
Ch. 12: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/186790.html
