That Which One Cannot Be Without (8/9)
May. 13th, 2009 07:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberfocusTitle: That Which One Cannot Be Without (8/9)
Author: Amberfocus
Characters/Pairings: Nine/Rose, Jack
Genre: Romance, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff, smut (eventually)
Betas: Amyo67, JeopardyFriendly
Rating: Adult
Warnings: In this story Rose will be having flashbacks to a violent incident where she was beaten by a prison guard and hurt by another man. This is not rape fic and will not touch on that issue at all. I will keep the explicitness to a minimum, but I know this sort of thing can trigger memories in the victims of violence so wanted to post fair warning.
Summary: Rose has lost her equilibrium after a terrible experience and being back on a similar planet is not helping. The Doctor isn't quite sure what to do to rebuild her spirit, but he has to try because losing her is not an option. Neither is letting her go home.
Author's Notes: This fic was written for Wiggiemomsi who won me and 15,000 words in the Support Stacie Auction.
Ch. 1: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/240768.h
Ch. 2: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/241908.h
Ch. 3 http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/242739.h
Ch. 4: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/242950.h
Ch. 5: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/244016.h
Ch. 6: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/244402.h
Ch. 7: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/245163.html
Additional Author's Notes: Chapter Eight got far too long for my liking and would have really unbalanced the ending vs. the other chapters so there's going to be a Chapter Nine now. Unfortunately for some of you, chapter Nine is where the smut lives. But plenty of romance in this one to make you (mostly) happy.
Chapter Eight: Total Conviction
For a moment the Doctor froze. He pushed her slightly back from him so he could look into her eyes. When he saw the sincerity and emotion written all over her face he couldn’t hold back the enormous smile that crossed his. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is.”
“When we arrived at the villa you were uncertain,” he said. “What made you change your mind?”
“What you did for me today, bringing me here, showing me all of this… These people are thriving, they’re all okay, they got through it and now I know I can, too. I know that I don’t have to put my life on hold because of what happened. I know that I can reach out for what I want and make my life good again, for what I need to make me happy. That’s you, Doctor. You make me happy and I don’t want to wait another day to be with you.”
“That’s…that’s—.”
“Fantastic?” she interrupted.
“Fantastic,” he repeated, his voice a low rumble. “Just like you are.” He brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her gently. “Don’t suppose we can skip out on the feast and go straight back to our rooms?” he asked her when they pulled apart.
Rose laughed at him and his face lit up at the sound of her giggling. It had been so long since he’d heard it full and free like that. “We can’t,” she said firmly. “It would be rude.”
“I can be rude,” he said. “I have absolutely no problem with being rude.”
“Yes, I know, but I’m hungry and it all smells so good,” she said. “And they’ve gone to all this trouble. I want to stay.”
He smiled at her, unable to deny her anything and they walked hand in hand over to the part of the beach where hundreds of blankets lay over the sand. Jencyn waved them to a thick red one and they sat down upon it. Heaping plates of seafood, fruits, and vegetables were passed through the community by several children in brightly colored outfits. Music wafted on the breeze from the far side of the communal kitchen where a group of musicians sat playing a mishmash of reed and string instruments. A soft drum beat underscored everything.
“This is what I love best about travelling with you,” Rose said.
“Tribal festivities?” he asked.
“No. It’s like…even after things go completely wrong, I still get moments like these. Perfect little moments where it’s just you and me together doing something so easy and simple. And I get to see that smile of yours and know that at least for right now you’re as happy as I am.”
“It’s easy to be happy when I’m around you, Rose.”
Rose gave him a wide smile and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. At the last moment he turned his head and caught her lips instead. After a surprised little noise that sounded suspiciously like, “Sneaky,” she kissed him back enthusiastically and it was only a polite cough from Melica as things were getting heated that broke them apart. It was her turn to grin stupidly and try to come back to herself as she blinked up at the village leader.
“The dancing’s about to start,” Melica began. Rose and the Doctor glanced at each other with slightly sheepish looks before realizing there was no way the woman would know about their euphemism or their plans for later in the evening. “We’d like you to lead off the first dance.”
“We don’t know your custom,” the Doctor said.
“It is new to us and simple. We were not allowed dancing on Drifalia or any kind of spirited music. If you’ll go behind the kitchen hut with me I’ll teach you the steps.”
The Doctor sprang quickly to his feet and then helped Rose to hers. They followed Melica behind the hut. A small space was cleared and torches lit its four corners. She ran through the steps which they both thought were far more complicated than any ‘new and simple’ dance should be, but after a half hour of intensive concentration they were able to pick it up well enough. Finally Melica led them back out to a makeshift dancing area.
Melica clapped her hands sharply for attention and a hush fell over the gathering. “Bella Rosa and her Doctor have agreed to lead off the evening’s festivities,” the woman announced. Rose blushed, but the moniker had followed her around all day and she’d come to accept it. They walked to the head of the dancing square and the music started. The ‘simple’ reel left them both breathless, an impressive feat considering the Doctor’s respiratory bypass system, but they were laughing as the song ended and they were joined by the other villagers.
When the dancing finally became too athletic and aggressive, the Doctor and Rose slipped back to their blanket. A bundle that turned out to be their clean clothing had been left there for them. “You think it’s too soon to slip back to the villa?” he murmured into her ear.
“Probably,” Rose said. She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. Some of the younger children were passing through the crowd now with plates of desserts. The Doctor snagged a couple of small bowls off one plate that were filled with a fluffy concoction that looked and tasted like a cross between chocolate mousse and Angel Delight.
They watched the dancers on the square as the music changed from horns and strings to percussion and the rhythmic beat of several different tones of drums and tambourines filled the air. The tribal, jungle beat took over the dancers and they jerked and stomped in unison and the dance became almost primal. Rose had seen such things on war painted, barely dressed tribal members all over the universe. She’d never seen it before on a group of mostly women dressed in simple, vivid clothing. It should have been incongruous. Instead it was simply beautiful and somehow perfectly right. A bit like her and the Doctor she supposed.
The dance went on for around fifteen minutes before ending with the lead dancer in front of the Doctor and Rose. She held out a necklace of large white flowers twined together with turquoise fishing line and Rose leaned forward, ducking her head. The woman placed it around her neck and smiled at Rose. She turned next to the Doctor and twined on a thick braiding of the turquoise fishing line was a highly polished piece of twisted purple driftwood. She dropped it over his head and it settled around his neck, hanging down to just above the slit in his neckline.
The dancers broke up then and faded into the rest of the crowd, finding blankets and feasting as a new round of children carried more food around. The sun was just beginning to set when Rose finally felt they’d stayed long enough not to be rude in leaving. Carmaan, the Masterfisher, offered to take them back to the beach by their villa and they accepted her kind offer.
They were rowed out to Carmaan’s sailboat and the Doctor helped to steady Rose as she climbed up the thick rope ladder, scrambling from the canoe to the larger vessel. Once safely on board they settled on the deck and waited while the small crew made ready the sails and tied the canoe in place near the stern. The stars twinkled into visibility as the ship began to move.
The sail back was quiet and peaceful, the swells gentle and easy as they made their way along the coast. It took very little time and they were soon back in the canoe and being rowed to shore. Holding their shoes and their clean clothes in their hands they stepped into the shallows and waded through the water to the beach. They waved and called out their good-byes as the crew left them to their own devices. Once on dry beach they sat on a log and put their shoes back on.
A series of solar lights had come on at the base of the cliff, lighting the pathway up to their villa. “Why is Bella Rosa Village so primitive in comparison to the rest of the technology here on New Haven?” Rose wanted to know.
“It’s part of the immigration rules of the planet. Any new colony has to prove itself viable for a year before they can apply for energy generation permits. The Drifalians have done much in the few weeks they have been here. I made sure they took plenty from the coffers of their home world to get them started well enough, able to purchase their boats and piping for water and the tools and buildings supplies they needed. And I put them in a location where it would be easy to harvest food and where there is a natural hot springs so they can bring in hot water.”
They had reached the top gate that led to the pool and then climbed up to their balcony. The Doctor opened the door to their rooms and they went inside. Rose put her bundle of clothing away while the Doctor did the same, then she turned back to him, suddenly shy.
The Doctor reached out for the flowers around her neck and took them off, carefully depositing them on the nightstand beside the bed. He placed his own necklace with it then turned back to Rose who had kicked off her shoes and grabbed a nightgown.
“I need to use the loo,” she managed before escaping across the room to the large, sumptuously appointed bathroom. She took her time washing up. She knew from a couple of comments that the Doctor had made over the past several months that he liked it best when she wasn’t wearing any makeup, so she made sure she got it all off.
It took a bit longer to get her hair down and all the ribbons out of it. She brushed through the somewhat tangled mess, noting how long her hair had gotten lately and that she was due for much more than a trim the next time they went back to Earth. Maybe she ought to cut it to her shoulders.
Recognizing her wandering mind as a stalling tactic she quickly undressed and slipped the pretty teal nightgown over her head. She paused for a moment before removing her knickers. She hoped that wasn’t something he had wanted to do himself, but right now she needed as much control over the situation as she could have and that meant making herself ready on her own terms even if it was over such a silly little thing.
She reached out and opened the door. The Doctor was already under the covers waiting for her to join him. He’d turned off all the lights but one small lamp that cast more shadows than illumination into the room. His eyes lit up as he saw her and they wandered down her body in a way she’d never seen them do before. She hesitated before approaching him.
“Rose?” he asked softly. “You all right?”
“Yes.” Her heart was beating very fast and nerves clutched at her stomach. She walked slowly across the room.
“We don’t have to do this,” he told her gently. “It can wait if you’re not ready. I can wait. As long as you need.”
“No,” she said. “No. I’m ready. I—I want to. I want you.” She looked up at him from under heavy lashes and wet her lips. She pulled back the blankets and slipped under with him.
“Are you scared?” he asked as they lay there both staring up at the ceiling, practically clinging to opposite sides of the bed.
“Of you? I could never be scared of you,” she told him. “It’s just…what if this changes things between us?”
“I’m hoping it does,” he told her.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“I know, Rose.” He reached out for her hand and she met him halfway. “You will always be my best friend, whether we become lovers or not. Nothing that happens tonight, or doesn’t happen tonight, is going to change how I feel about you. I already feel it. It’s not going to go away because we make things more physical. You’re in my hearts, Rose. You have been for a very long time.”
Rose’s breath hitched in her chest at his words. The Doctor had always held his feelings in so closely that she had spent the last several months wondering if those occasional flashes she saw were real. Oh, he’d flirted, quite shamelessly at times, but his real, true emotions had so rarely come to the surface, especially since Jack had joined them. To hear that he actually felt so much for her was amazing. She’d seen it today, of course, but having it spoken aloud was like an extra gift.
“Now, I hate to ruin the moment,” he continued, “but I need to ask. Are you still on the pill or do we need to use condoms?”
“You brought condoms? Were you planning to seduce me?” she asked.
“I planned for what I hoped would happen,” he said simply.
“Oh.” She blushed and smiled. “Can you even get me pregnant?” she asked.
“Possibly,” he said. “The probability is pretty low, but it’s not impossible. Humans can successfully cross breed with pretty much every bi-pedal species in the universe. They’ve got the most…flexible DNA I’ve ever seen. That’s why there were laws against my people fraternizing with humans. Time Lords wanted to think they were better than any other species, but if the lowly human species could successfully combine its genetic material with their own, then they weren’t so high and mighty, were they?”
“I kind of got the impression your people were sterile. You said something about creating children by genetic engineering once.”
“Well, they did that more because childbirth exacted a heavy price on our females, and not because it wasn’t possible to conceive naturally. It was rare, but not impossible. It was just a lot safer to grow them outside the womb and they could tinker with the genetic code, correct any chromosomal damage, encourage traits they wanted, like time sense, that sort of thing. So…?”
“So…I’m on the pill, but I think if there’s any chance at all that I could end up going home and telling my mum I’m having an alien baby, we should use condoms. She already thinks we’re shagging. She doesn’t need proof,” Rose said.
“She thinks…what?” he asked in shock.
“Mum thinks we’re shagging,” she said matter-of-factly.
“But I told her I’d take care of you,” he said.
“She thinks you take care of me very well indeed. If you came up once in a while when we visited you’d know that.” Rose laughed. “I’ve told her we weren’t like that, but she doesn’t believe me. It’s hard to say it with any kind of conviction when I’ve wanted you for so long.” She turned towards him in the bed and reached out to stroke the side of his face.
“I’m going to get a slap next time I take you home, aren’t I?” He didn’t seem at all worried as he leaned into her touch.
“Home is with you,” she said. “Not Mum. Can we stop talking about her now? She doesn’t belong in our bed.” The Doctor shuddered and Rose gave him a light smack on the shoulder. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“The very idea is going to give me nightmares for months,” the Doctor said. He moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into his body.
“Guess I’ll have to do something that’ll make your dreams sweet then,” Rose told him somewhat breathlessly. And then she kissed him.
Ch. 9: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/247254.html
Author: Amberfocus
Characters/Pairings: Nine/Rose, Jack
Genre: Romance, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff, smut (eventually)
Betas: Amyo67, JeopardyFriendly
Rating: Adult
Warnings: In this story Rose will be having flashbacks to a violent incident where she was beaten by a prison guard and hurt by another man. This is not rape fic and will not touch on that issue at all. I will keep the explicitness to a minimum, but I know this sort of thing can trigger memories in the victims of violence so wanted to post fair warning.
Summary: Rose has lost her equilibrium after a terrible experience and being back on a similar planet is not helping. The Doctor isn't quite sure what to do to rebuild her spirit, but he has to try because losing her is not an option. Neither is letting her go home.
Author's Notes: This fic was written for Wiggiemomsi who won me and 15,000 words in the Support Stacie Auction.
Ch. 1: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/240768.h
Ch. 2: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/241908.h
Ch. 3 http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/242739.h
Ch. 4: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/242950.h
Ch. 5: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/244016.h
Ch. 6: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/244402.h
Ch. 7: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/245163.html
Additional Author's Notes: Chapter Eight got far too long for my liking and would have really unbalanced the ending vs. the other chapters so there's going to be a Chapter Nine now. Unfortunately for some of you, chapter Nine is where the smut lives. But plenty of romance in this one to make you (mostly) happy.
Chapter Eight: Total Conviction
For a moment the Doctor froze. He pushed her slightly back from him so he could look into her eyes. When he saw the sincerity and emotion written all over her face he couldn’t hold back the enormous smile that crossed his. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is.”
“When we arrived at the villa you were uncertain,” he said. “What made you change your mind?”
“What you did for me today, bringing me here, showing me all of this… These people are thriving, they’re all okay, they got through it and now I know I can, too. I know that I don’t have to put my life on hold because of what happened. I know that I can reach out for what I want and make my life good again, for what I need to make me happy. That’s you, Doctor. You make me happy and I don’t want to wait another day to be with you.”
“That’s…that’s—.”
“Fantastic?” she interrupted.
“Fantastic,” he repeated, his voice a low rumble. “Just like you are.” He brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her gently. “Don’t suppose we can skip out on the feast and go straight back to our rooms?” he asked her when they pulled apart.
Rose laughed at him and his face lit up at the sound of her giggling. It had been so long since he’d heard it full and free like that. “We can’t,” she said firmly. “It would be rude.”
“I can be rude,” he said. “I have absolutely no problem with being rude.”
“Yes, I know, but I’m hungry and it all smells so good,” she said. “And they’ve gone to all this trouble. I want to stay.”
He smiled at her, unable to deny her anything and they walked hand in hand over to the part of the beach where hundreds of blankets lay over the sand. Jencyn waved them to a thick red one and they sat down upon it. Heaping plates of seafood, fruits, and vegetables were passed through the community by several children in brightly colored outfits. Music wafted on the breeze from the far side of the communal kitchen where a group of musicians sat playing a mishmash of reed and string instruments. A soft drum beat underscored everything.
“This is what I love best about travelling with you,” Rose said.
“Tribal festivities?” he asked.
“No. It’s like…even after things go completely wrong, I still get moments like these. Perfect little moments where it’s just you and me together doing something so easy and simple. And I get to see that smile of yours and know that at least for right now you’re as happy as I am.”
“It’s easy to be happy when I’m around you, Rose.”
Rose gave him a wide smile and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. At the last moment he turned his head and caught her lips instead. After a surprised little noise that sounded suspiciously like, “Sneaky,” she kissed him back enthusiastically and it was only a polite cough from Melica as things were getting heated that broke them apart. It was her turn to grin stupidly and try to come back to herself as she blinked up at the village leader.
“The dancing’s about to start,” Melica began. Rose and the Doctor glanced at each other with slightly sheepish looks before realizing there was no way the woman would know about their euphemism or their plans for later in the evening. “We’d like you to lead off the first dance.”
“We don’t know your custom,” the Doctor said.
“It is new to us and simple. We were not allowed dancing on Drifalia or any kind of spirited music. If you’ll go behind the kitchen hut with me I’ll teach you the steps.”
The Doctor sprang quickly to his feet and then helped Rose to hers. They followed Melica behind the hut. A small space was cleared and torches lit its four corners. She ran through the steps which they both thought were far more complicated than any ‘new and simple’ dance should be, but after a half hour of intensive concentration they were able to pick it up well enough. Finally Melica led them back out to a makeshift dancing area.
Melica clapped her hands sharply for attention and a hush fell over the gathering. “Bella Rosa and her Doctor have agreed to lead off the evening’s festivities,” the woman announced. Rose blushed, but the moniker had followed her around all day and she’d come to accept it. They walked to the head of the dancing square and the music started. The ‘simple’ reel left them both breathless, an impressive feat considering the Doctor’s respiratory bypass system, but they were laughing as the song ended and they were joined by the other villagers.
When the dancing finally became too athletic and aggressive, the Doctor and Rose slipped back to their blanket. A bundle that turned out to be their clean clothing had been left there for them. “You think it’s too soon to slip back to the villa?” he murmured into her ear.
“Probably,” Rose said. She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. Some of the younger children were passing through the crowd now with plates of desserts. The Doctor snagged a couple of small bowls off one plate that were filled with a fluffy concoction that looked and tasted like a cross between chocolate mousse and Angel Delight.
They watched the dancers on the square as the music changed from horns and strings to percussion and the rhythmic beat of several different tones of drums and tambourines filled the air. The tribal, jungle beat took over the dancers and they jerked and stomped in unison and the dance became almost primal. Rose had seen such things on war painted, barely dressed tribal members all over the universe. She’d never seen it before on a group of mostly women dressed in simple, vivid clothing. It should have been incongruous. Instead it was simply beautiful and somehow perfectly right. A bit like her and the Doctor she supposed.
The dance went on for around fifteen minutes before ending with the lead dancer in front of the Doctor and Rose. She held out a necklace of large white flowers twined together with turquoise fishing line and Rose leaned forward, ducking her head. The woman placed it around her neck and smiled at Rose. She turned next to the Doctor and twined on a thick braiding of the turquoise fishing line was a highly polished piece of twisted purple driftwood. She dropped it over his head and it settled around his neck, hanging down to just above the slit in his neckline.
The dancers broke up then and faded into the rest of the crowd, finding blankets and feasting as a new round of children carried more food around. The sun was just beginning to set when Rose finally felt they’d stayed long enough not to be rude in leaving. Carmaan, the Masterfisher, offered to take them back to the beach by their villa and they accepted her kind offer.
They were rowed out to Carmaan’s sailboat and the Doctor helped to steady Rose as she climbed up the thick rope ladder, scrambling from the canoe to the larger vessel. Once safely on board they settled on the deck and waited while the small crew made ready the sails and tied the canoe in place near the stern. The stars twinkled into visibility as the ship began to move.
The sail back was quiet and peaceful, the swells gentle and easy as they made their way along the coast. It took very little time and they were soon back in the canoe and being rowed to shore. Holding their shoes and their clean clothes in their hands they stepped into the shallows and waded through the water to the beach. They waved and called out their good-byes as the crew left them to their own devices. Once on dry beach they sat on a log and put their shoes back on.
A series of solar lights had come on at the base of the cliff, lighting the pathway up to their villa. “Why is Bella Rosa Village so primitive in comparison to the rest of the technology here on New Haven?” Rose wanted to know.
“It’s part of the immigration rules of the planet. Any new colony has to prove itself viable for a year before they can apply for energy generation permits. The Drifalians have done much in the few weeks they have been here. I made sure they took plenty from the coffers of their home world to get them started well enough, able to purchase their boats and piping for water and the tools and buildings supplies they needed. And I put them in a location where it would be easy to harvest food and where there is a natural hot springs so they can bring in hot water.”
They had reached the top gate that led to the pool and then climbed up to their balcony. The Doctor opened the door to their rooms and they went inside. Rose put her bundle of clothing away while the Doctor did the same, then she turned back to him, suddenly shy.
The Doctor reached out for the flowers around her neck and took them off, carefully depositing them on the nightstand beside the bed. He placed his own necklace with it then turned back to Rose who had kicked off her shoes and grabbed a nightgown.
“I need to use the loo,” she managed before escaping across the room to the large, sumptuously appointed bathroom. She took her time washing up. She knew from a couple of comments that the Doctor had made over the past several months that he liked it best when she wasn’t wearing any makeup, so she made sure she got it all off.
It took a bit longer to get her hair down and all the ribbons out of it. She brushed through the somewhat tangled mess, noting how long her hair had gotten lately and that she was due for much more than a trim the next time they went back to Earth. Maybe she ought to cut it to her shoulders.
Recognizing her wandering mind as a stalling tactic she quickly undressed and slipped the pretty teal nightgown over her head. She paused for a moment before removing her knickers. She hoped that wasn’t something he had wanted to do himself, but right now she needed as much control over the situation as she could have and that meant making herself ready on her own terms even if it was over such a silly little thing.
She reached out and opened the door. The Doctor was already under the covers waiting for her to join him. He’d turned off all the lights but one small lamp that cast more shadows than illumination into the room. His eyes lit up as he saw her and they wandered down her body in a way she’d never seen them do before. She hesitated before approaching him.
“Rose?” he asked softly. “You all right?”
“Yes.” Her heart was beating very fast and nerves clutched at her stomach. She walked slowly across the room.
“We don’t have to do this,” he told her gently. “It can wait if you’re not ready. I can wait. As long as you need.”
“No,” she said. “No. I’m ready. I—I want to. I want you.” She looked up at him from under heavy lashes and wet her lips. She pulled back the blankets and slipped under with him.
“Are you scared?” he asked as they lay there both staring up at the ceiling, practically clinging to opposite sides of the bed.
“Of you? I could never be scared of you,” she told him. “It’s just…what if this changes things between us?”
“I’m hoping it does,” he told her.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“I know, Rose.” He reached out for her hand and she met him halfway. “You will always be my best friend, whether we become lovers or not. Nothing that happens tonight, or doesn’t happen tonight, is going to change how I feel about you. I already feel it. It’s not going to go away because we make things more physical. You’re in my hearts, Rose. You have been for a very long time.”
Rose’s breath hitched in her chest at his words. The Doctor had always held his feelings in so closely that she had spent the last several months wondering if those occasional flashes she saw were real. Oh, he’d flirted, quite shamelessly at times, but his real, true emotions had so rarely come to the surface, especially since Jack had joined them. To hear that he actually felt so much for her was amazing. She’d seen it today, of course, but having it spoken aloud was like an extra gift.
“Now, I hate to ruin the moment,” he continued, “but I need to ask. Are you still on the pill or do we need to use condoms?”
“You brought condoms? Were you planning to seduce me?” she asked.
“I planned for what I hoped would happen,” he said simply.
“Oh.” She blushed and smiled. “Can you even get me pregnant?” she asked.
“Possibly,” he said. “The probability is pretty low, but it’s not impossible. Humans can successfully cross breed with pretty much every bi-pedal species in the universe. They’ve got the most…flexible DNA I’ve ever seen. That’s why there were laws against my people fraternizing with humans. Time Lords wanted to think they were better than any other species, but if the lowly human species could successfully combine its genetic material with their own, then they weren’t so high and mighty, were they?”
“I kind of got the impression your people were sterile. You said something about creating children by genetic engineering once.”
“Well, they did that more because childbirth exacted a heavy price on our females, and not because it wasn’t possible to conceive naturally. It was rare, but not impossible. It was just a lot safer to grow them outside the womb and they could tinker with the genetic code, correct any chromosomal damage, encourage traits they wanted, like time sense, that sort of thing. So…?”
“So…I’m on the pill, but I think if there’s any chance at all that I could end up going home and telling my mum I’m having an alien baby, we should use condoms. She already thinks we’re shagging. She doesn’t need proof,” Rose said.
“She thinks…what?” he asked in shock.
“Mum thinks we’re shagging,” she said matter-of-factly.
“But I told her I’d take care of you,” he said.
“She thinks you take care of me very well indeed. If you came up once in a while when we visited you’d know that.” Rose laughed. “I’ve told her we weren’t like that, but she doesn’t believe me. It’s hard to say it with any kind of conviction when I’ve wanted you for so long.” She turned towards him in the bed and reached out to stroke the side of his face.
“I’m going to get a slap next time I take you home, aren’t I?” He didn’t seem at all worried as he leaned into her touch.
“Home is with you,” she said. “Not Mum. Can we stop talking about her now? She doesn’t belong in our bed.” The Doctor shuddered and Rose gave him a light smack on the shoulder. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“The very idea is going to give me nightmares for months,” the Doctor said. He moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into his body.
“Guess I’ll have to do something that’ll make your dreams sweet then,” Rose told him somewhat breathlessly. And then she kissed him.
Ch. 9: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/247254.html
