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Chapter One, Chapter Two,Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five
Six - Fear of Thunder
Rose had been surprisingly understanding about his penis getting wedged in her again; she seemed to need the consequential prolonged closeness as much as his semi-sentient organ and he. She’d lain, sprawled atop him, sheened in sweat and patently exhausted, and snuggled into his chest, happy to simply rest with him within her. Eventually, after a brief doze, she’d risen above him, rocking gently, and they’d made slow, languid love, giving and receiving comfort with a tenderness that had left them both teary eyed. Their respective climaxes had been equally subdued, a gentle spiral of skittering pulses, in complete contrast to the explosiveness of their earlier release. In the aftermath, Rose had fallen asleep against him as he gently stroked her back, his penis still stubbornly refusing to leave her body.
The Doctor had been more than a little surprised by their predicament; Rose had already conceived and was thirty-one weeks pregnant so there was no empirical reason for his penis to couple them so firmly. Eventually, he came to the sheepish conclusion that it was not, on this occasion, the bit of his brain that resided in his groin that had caused their current tight spot, but his higher functioning and clearly nervous proper intellect. He was afraid of losing her; had been ever since, well, ever since meeting her, if he was honest, but it hadn’t become quite so insistent and gnawing and all but debilitating until they’d been stranded on Krop Tor and her dreams had started manifesting reality. Then had come the Beast’s threat and the last threads of his unravelling composure had broken free and he was left, trembling and exposed, before the unpredictable might of the Universe.
Finally, in the security of her embrace, surrounded by her warmth and swamped in her ineffable scent, his mind had relaxed enough for him to relinquish his desperate hold on her and he had been able to roll her clear of him. She’d whimpered in her sleep at the loss, though, so he had curled himself around her, holding her against his chest and soothing her, like a child, through her disruptive dreams. When she’d woken, screaming, sobbing as she fell into darkness, he was there to catch her and sooth her back to sleep. His mind, however, worried at her nightmare until Rose reached the end of her sleep cycle and stirred to wakefulness beside him. He’d come to a decision while she slept, though, and was prepared for her; she might not let him frequent planets of bubble wrap, cotton wool and candy floss, but he could curtail their movements to Earth. If he kept them away from the uncertainty of Space then he could preserve her from the darkness which seemed to haunt her. Earth was familiar and known and as safe as he could make travelling with him. And so it was that, after a leisurely, healthy, perfectly balanced breakfast (followed by a few less healthy pancakes) he took them to Earth, England, 2012, to watch the Olympics.
********
The Doctor was not impressed. Earth was meant to be safe. Well, marginally more safe than most places. Honestly, how many aborted invasions and alien infestations could one planet have, anyway? He should have known, he supposed, when he managed to land with the front door blocked. He certainly should have turned tail and run when, on emerging from the repositioned TARDIS, they discovered the TARDIS flanked by two gates, one proclaiming "DANGER - KEEP OUT" and the other saying "NO PARKING IN FRONT OF THESE GATES". He really had no one to blame but himself, Mr Thick Thick Thickety Thick Face, from Thicktown Thinkania, for failing to heed the rather obvious clue regarding the inadvisability of staying put. By the time he realised his mistake it was too late; Rose had spotted the posters for missing children and any thought of leaving became moot. The loss of children would always have excited Rose’s compassion, but now, well – her hand had drifted to her tummy and her eyes had become liquid pools of distressed empathy and he’d known that nothing, not even the ravaging hordes of Bode, could drag her from this mystery.
Which was how he found himself poking about a suburban street when he’d expected to be watching an impressive and surprising showing from Papua New Guinea in the shot put. Rose was further up the street, out of sight but within the threshold of his awareness, while he sought out the source of the power that was stealing children… and cats. He was fairly certain he’d sent her off in the least likely direction; lots of front gardens and pot-hole filling council men rather than whatever was harnessing ionic power on an almost unfathomable scale.
It was odd, though. More odd than just the oddness of finding a being with that much power on Earth, was finding a being with that much power haunting a boring, ordinary, unimportant street in London. Not that ordinary wasn’t very very important – upsetting the ordinary tended to cause catastrophic things to occur – but disrupting the ordinary when there was a damn great, world-wide, important, notable, iconic event going on a few miles away, well, that was just peculiar. He frowned.
‘Right, I’m a not too bright alien who is attempting to take over the world one suburban street at a time, rather than just hijacking the Olympics and all those world leaders at the opening ceremony. Where would I hide?’ he mumbled to himself, wafting his sonic screwdriver about and trying to find something of anything to home in on. The screwdriver remained entirely silent. Disheartened, he spun on his heel, preparing to head back to Rose. It was then he felt it; Rose was anxious. And curious. He was running before her startled cry spilt the air.
As he rounded the bend his hearts lurched, seizing momentarily as the image of Rose, trapped against the ground and terrorised by some bizarre buzzing thing, burnt itself onto his retinas.
‘Stay still!’ he screamed, as, furious, he leapt forward and pointed his sonic screwdriver at the giant writhing ball that was swarming over Rose, breathing hard and fast as it convulsed and collapsed into a small ball. With utmost restraint, he managed not to scream, or faint, or weep, as Rose caught the offending article in her outstretched hands.
‘Okey dokey?’ he asked, trying to keep the rising tide of hysteria from swamping his voice.
Rose reached for his hand, grinning as he pulled her to her feet. ‘Yeah, cheers.’
His need to scream was almost strangling him now. ‘No probs,’ he said with entirely fake nonchalance, his mind whirling as he took in the pinkness in her cheeks, the steadiness of her breath and the firm presence of his child within her womb. She was fine. Completely fine. Absolutely nothing to worry about.
He grabbed her into a hug, wanting never ever to let her go, wondering if she would notice if he just held her for the next twenty or thirty years. Or he could get some of those reins he’d seen mothers keep their children under control with. Tethered to Rose; that could work. As long as they were invisible tethers and Rose didn’t know about them. Which was a bit of a flaw in the plan, because she’d be bound to notice, sooner or later… probably sooner, given her persistent need to visit the lavatory these days. He frowned, trying to think of another plan, but it was no good; Rose was holding the key to the mystery and he was expected to deduct. So he released her and peered at the ball and pretended that he cared about the world, when all he really wanted, needed, yearned to do was grab Rose, lock her in the TARDIS and spirit them away to the safety of the vortex.
He managed to coax her back to the TARDIS, though, to deduct. And, of course, she was brilliant, and spotted the glaring clue right away. Chloe, strange, silent, endlessly drawing Chloe. He was so close, to terribly close, to sorting the whole mess out and then it all went to hell.
************
The Doctor sat in the console room, trying and failing to shift the feeling of impending doom that seemed to have settled over his psyche. Rose had lost him, again, and even though she’d been fantastic and brave and smart and typically Rose and had found him again, it had left an indelible scar. She’d saved Chloe and her mum and she’d hugged him and promised never to leave him as fireworks exploded overhead, but as soon as she’d drifted into sleep the nightmares had come, fierce and frightening and all about loss. This time, though, it had been her that was falling, her that was swallowed by the dark, as a battle raged around her and he reached for her with useless fingers. He’d soothed her back to sleep, anaesthetised her mind so that no more dreams would bother her, but the chill that had started to form within him the moment he’d been snatched from her and trapped on paper kept growing and he knew of no Time Lord trick to anaesthetise that.
He could feel it, nudging against the very edges of his Time Sense, whispering in his ear, not quite loud enough to be deciphered but loud enough to feel; a storm was coming. Something terrible, something irrevocable, something deadly… something he was not at all certain he could fight.
He’d tried to throw it off, tinkering beneath the console, fiddling with wires and thumping panels into submission, but it lurked and taunted and teased his Sense until it was all he could do to breathe. He knew the Beast had lied. He knew that Rose’s dreams were not necessarily prophetic, but her previous nightmare had proved so accurate, him falling into an abyss, that, despite his every attempt at logical rebuttal, her latest dream terrified him.
He laid a weary hand against the TARDIS time rotor; he felt a intense need for comfort - despite himself, he felt the need for Jackie. Silent and afraid, he sent his beautiful ship towards Rose’s home.
Chapter Seven
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There, that's better. Well not really. . . .
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Now, I was able to pay enough people to keep this out of the papers but you might hear about the crazed American that tried to kidnap David Tennant and Patrick Stewart over the weekend. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful, thus insuring that Doomsday will happen in this story. It is okay though because I trust you and I know what ever you brake you will fix.
Luckily I entered the country in disguise and with a fake passport so my plans to come next summer are still in place.
Oh, hugs too. I hope you are feeling better.
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Blast - was looking forward to my lovely package of sexy male!
:-D
Thanks for the hugs - I rather think this comment from you has banished the last of my woe - had my giggling madly!! Just as well I live alone!!
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I love love, though, so... well... I will mend things, eventually!
Hugs
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Oh the poor man, he doesn’t know that to take her to Jackie’s is the worst possible thing he could do. *pets him and hugs him, because he’s going to need it*
(You feeling any happier today, missy?)
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But now, all I can think is, "Oh no! Going to Jackie for safety and comfort? You forgot to watch out for the evil creature that is irony!"
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I think the "dark storm cloud looming" feeling is even worse when you know what's going to happen. I don't *want* Rose to get trapped in another universe!!!! :(((
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I loved the bit about invisible tethers and Rose... and the Doctor was so cute in all of this. It's wonderful. Brava!
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And... I'm a member of a hopeless romantics anonymous group... so there is hope ;-D
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