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embrassemoi · 3 years

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Surrounded by the Moon and Stars ✷ 25

Pairings: Sirius B, Remus L, [F]Reader CW: Language, implied sexual content, angst

【 Masterlist: Previous Chapter | Next Chapter 】

Chapter 25: Theories of Emotions

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April 30th, 1976

“HAHAHA!” Y/N let out a scream of mirth. She laughed so hard that her knees buckled, meeting the soft grass beneath and wand slipped from her grasp. Her eyes swam with heavy tears, gasping for air as she rocked back and forth, clutching her ribs. Nonplussed and unamused, Regulus gawked at her.

“You wart. You said you wouldn’t laugh!”

It was a passing joke, that she would teach Regulus how to swim but he took it a little too literally. Now, swimming — or attempting to swim in the shallow area of the black lake, wearing bright yellow floaties to keep him afloat, Regulus kept making large splashes; his arms failed around, legs unsynchronized as he kicked to propel his body.

“When you said your swimming skills were horrific, I thought you were being humble!”

Regulus’s face turned a dark pink, but he wore a sheepish grin. He doggy paddled his way out of the lake, which made her laugh even harder and waddled on land. Y/N got up, threw him a towel and ruffled his hair.

Regulus had been looking a little more lively lately, and Y/N was just happy that he seemed to be doing better.

“We can work with this!”

Regulus tossed her a dirty look, “Promise me you’ll never become a professor.”

“Whatever you say, Reggie —” “Hey!”

Once dry, they walked back to the castle and broke off into separate directions. Y/N promised to meet Remus a little earlier than usual at the library, but before then, she stepped into McGonagall’s office and sat in the chair opposite to her. Career meetings have been going on and her scheduled meeting had been weighing her down.

“Hello, Ms. L/N. Biscuit?” McGonagall gestured to the metal tin in front of her.

“No, it’s okay.” “Don’t be absurd.” Y/N was too afraid to reject again, so she took one.

“So, how are you feeling about the upcoming exams?”

“Nervous. Anxious.”

“I can imagine. You did struggle with the change of curriculum at the beginning of the year, but you’ve consistently improved.” McGonagall flipped through her stack of notes; her little glasses perched up high. She cleared her throat again. “You've always excelled in Defense, Potions and Transfigurations — and I’ve talked to Flitwick, he’s said you’ve improved drastically. Although, you struggle with History of Magic.”

Y/N sighed and nodded. Professor Binns wasn’t exactly helpful. “It’s never been a… strong suit of mine.”

“We all have our strengths and weaknesses, no? It doesn’t concern me much. I’ve heard you and Mr. Lupin are quite amicable — you two do study with each other..?”

“Yes, I attend his study sessions.”

McGonagall flashed her a rare smile and Y/N felt immense pride fill her. McGonagall smiling was almost as rare as getting a letter from her mother. “I can proudly say I have faith in you.”

“Thank you.”

“Then, I can assume you’ve given thought to what career you want to pursue?”

This was what she was dreading; thinking about her future. She’d give thought, loads, but it felt like there was such little time to decide the rest of her life. McGonagall waited for an answer as she watched Y/N struggle. “Do you have plans of continuing your education in America or..?”

She tried to make eye contact and her palms suddenly became damp. “I’m having doubts about working in the wizarding world.”

McGonagall pursed her lips.

“It’s not like I don’t want to — I do!” She explained, “I’ve thought about being a Healer. My mother is a Muggle Doctor.”

Professor McGonagall soaked in her words. “Are you struggling because you’re not sure if you want to become one, or do you feel pressured by your mother’s decisions?”

She sat straighter at this. “Er — Yes? No? That’s not my problem — honestly, I think my mom would discourage me from becoming one. It’s just… I mean…” She looked back to McGonagall who nodded encouragingly. “It’s just… the war… I’m not sure if I can…”

“What do you mean?” Her voice shifted, becoming brittle and it took Y/N by surprise. McGonagall wore a look so unlike her. Any trace of her firm, yet strict-kindness facade vanished. It was replaced with deep exhaustion.

“I’m a New — Muggleborn… most people — wizards — aren’t kind to someone like me… and I heard that they’re training them to be medics. I would be in the midst.”

McGonagall took off her spectacles, unveiling her red-rimmed eyes like she’d lost sleep or been crying. She sighed, so sorrowful and heavy that it even affected Y/N. “I won’t lie and say you’re wrong…” Her palms rubbed her tired eyes. “But you can’t let them win. Don’t let go of your dreams to submit to them. I won’t let my students diminish their talents and dreams.”

The professor took a long pause. “I know several institutes that transfer magical credits into Muggle credits if you’re seriously considering disconnecting from Magic. But, I urge you, think about it.”

She nodded gravely. There was already a considerable disconnect from her and the Muggle world that going back seemed impossible, but it was probably the safest.

McGonagall broke the silence, reshuffling her papers.

They continued to talk for some time, jumping from courses and mark requirements for NEWT level courses and Y/N left with a stack of papers and mock schedules. With a heavy heart, she headed towards the library. It seemed like every week when exams neared, the earlier group sessions would be.

Y/N flopped down on one of the couches near the back and let her head loll to rest on the cushion. She wasn’t alone for long before she felt the couch dip beside her. She peeked open one eye; Sirius in all his glory was there. In one hand, he held the Marauder’s map before she snatched it.

“Now you’re stalking me?”

His head made a funny gesture. “You know about the map?”

“... James.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“I haven’t told anyone. I promise!”

He beamed and when Y/N flipped through the papers McGonagall gave her, she felt Sirius place a hand on her thigh, slowly inching up.

Snogging — shagging — it made life a lot more fun. Unresolved anger between each other? Broom closet with heated words between kisses. One of them was stressed? Take it out on the other. Wanted fun? Sneak up to Sirius’s dorm. Sirius being a fucking asshole? Kiss him and he’ll shut up (although, Y/N had a sneaking suspicion that he knew this and was purposely being a dick to get a reaction now). Their anger was slowly dwindling to extinction. Moreover, rather than brooding exchanges across the hall, there were one or two sly smiles.

But, they had four unspoken rules they followed:

Never talk about whatever they were,

Because surely, neither meant anything to the other,

If they were with anyone else, they would have to tell the other,

And most importantly; never, ever, tell anyone.

“You look ravishing.”

Y/N felt her face heat. “I wish I could say the same about you."

Sirius smirked, his fingers trailing dangerously close to her inner thigh.

“Here?" She hissed, "What are you doing?"

“The thrill is the fun part.” He pressed a few sneaky kisses to her jaw, “You spend too much time here with Lupin and not enough time with me.”

“Jealous?” Y/N’s brow rose and she turned to look at him. “Of Lupin?”

Sirius didn’t answer but momentarily pulls away. “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?”

She rolled her eyes. “Slag.”

“You know French?”

“Second official language in Canada.”

Sirius nodded. “Well, I’m a slag… for you.” She teasingly smacked him on the head with her papers.

“I can’t stand you sometimes.”

“Feelings mutual, princess.”

Y/N hid a smirk, resuming to ignore him as she flicked through the stack of papers. There was a dreadful feeling settled deep within. Everything was moving too fast and she felt like she had nowhere to turn. Overwhelmed, she pressed herself into the couch further and groaned out, “Fuck —”

“Maybe we can do that later?”

An involuntary chuckle slipped out which had Sirius grinningly like a fool. There it was again, that Sirius Black grin… it made her heart do wild flips. “You’re a literal dog.”

“And aren’t you a lovely witch?”

Y/N rolled her eyes, flipped him off and went to tug on Sirius’ hair to pull him off before a loud moan ripped from him and echoed throughout the library. Y/N’s eyes grew large, mouth agape. Sirius was unapologetic though; his smile grew bigger.

“I promise I’ll let you slap me, lightly,” he winked and wiggled his brows. “Or hard, whatever you want.”

She shook her head and shoved her things into her bag and pulled Sirius to his feet before he led her up to his dorm. His name spewed from her lips like a prayer and consumed every thought.

At some point, they flopped down on Sirius’ bed as they breathed in deeply, catching their breaths. Y/N was filled with content and went to turn on her side, facing Sirius and cuddling up to him. Gently and mindlessly, pressed a series of light kisses to his forehead while massaging his scalp.

The sun made one last feeble appearance before being engulfed by dusk. Rays of golden glow spilled in as she embraced him. Her hands ran feather-light touches up and down his bare skin and Sirius’ head hugged close to her chest. The soft touches were filled with nothing but her (not so) hidden affection and calm peace. She didn’t think much about her actions.

Something she’d come to learn during their stolen kisses and nights under white satin sheets; Sirius was beautiful in a wild, carefree way. He was wild like how wind sweeps through the branches of willows trees and meadows on a cool summer's eve or carefree in the way waves from the ocean crashed upon rocks. He was hauntingly beautiful in a turbulent, pliable way — wild in not just beauty, but essence too.

And it hurt. What were they doing?

Everything moved so quickly. Not even a month ago, she was supposed to be hating Sirius — now their limbs were tangled together. The ever-present war crept up during the worst times and she and Lily hadn’t spoken since their fight.

Lily…

Y/N tried to be indirect, catching her eyes during class or in their dorms, but nothing. She would always re-direct her gaze. It’d grown awkward in the dorms; Marlene and Dorcas caught in the crossfire.

She really missed Lily. Their late night talks, silly games, Lily keeping her in line and Y/N getting Lily to let loose; everything and more.

Usually, once she and Sirius were done with each other, they would leave, peel off each other but Y/N was so tired of — well, everything.

Trapped in thoughts, she hadn’t noticed Sirius’ body go rigid until his body began to tremble. Sirius made a small strangled noise that she originally mistaken as a laugh or snore until she felt wet droplets fall on her skin.

Y/N pulled back to find Sirius silently crying. She watched him, thinking that she should comfort him but was rooted in place and eyes drifted to the door, thinking of leaving. It felt like an intrusion being there with him and comforting someone was not on her list.

“Er — Sirius?” She whispered, alarmed. Her smile fading and his breath hitched. She awkwardly patted him before going to stiffly stroke his arm, but it only seemed to make him cry harder. She quickly ripped back her hand and put distance between them. Her mind raced a mile a minute as she listened to him. “Sirius? Hey — what’s wrong?”

“Get out.”

She froze and looked back at him. “Do you want me to get someone —”

“GET OUT!” He yelled. It scared her so much that her body jolted and Sirius hid his face with his hands. Sirius crying and screaming at her unprovoked made her panic and recline. He stayed quiet after that, rolling over, pulling his blankets above his head.

She chewed on her bottom lip so hard that a metallic taste flooded her mouth. In a rush, she quickly threw on her clothes and grabbed her bag. She shuffled towards the door but then looked back at Sirius; he looked so small and his cries made her fill with immense sadness. She debated; should she leave and respect his wishes? But the way he was crying, so hysterically and abruptly — she worried he might’ve done something impulsive and stupid.

She decided on leaving and sat right outside the door just in case. She listened to his sobs that managed to seep through the walls.

She waited there for a very, very long time that she almost fell asleep before she heard his muffled voice and swore he said her name.

She knocked twice, “You okay?”

There was a knock back.

“Was I that bad of a kisser?” She tried to joke after some time. Luckily, she heard Sirius choke out a heartbroken giggle. This time there were two knocks. A no, she assumed.

Silence crept back in and Y/N leaned against the door and looked around the hall. Nobody else was there, but just in case put up a spell for any prying ears.

“Do you still want me to leave?” She asked. “Just say the word.” Communication with him felt weird.

Sirius remained quiet but then she heard him hop off his bed, feet coming closer to the door. She then felt a small nudge against the door as Sirius slid down to sit on the opposite side.

“You can talk to me,” Y/N said nervously, not wanting him to blow up again. “Did I do something? I promise I didn’t mean it.” She remained still, listening to his quiet sniffling.

Two knocks.

“Er — I won't push and you don’t need to tell me but — um, I promise I won’t tell a soul. Not even the other Marauders. It’ll be our little secret.”

It takes a long time before Sirius eventually stops sniffling and she listens to his uneven breaths; she's extremely uncomfortable and baffled. He tries to speak several times but ends up cutting himself off.

A sharp exhale came from him, shallow and irregular. In a small, weak voice that made it feel like an invisible weight pressed against her chest, he finally spoke.

“Je suis —” Sirius started before switching to another foreign language. Y/N was able to pick up on a few words: it was Italian.

“Nessuno dei miei amanti mi ha toccato così senza volere qualcosa in cambio. Non mi fai sentire usato e ne ho he terrorizza.”

More silence ensues; Y/N thinks that he might’ve walked away until he speaks again.

“Il modo in cui mi fai sentire mi spaventa e non riesco a gestirlo.” Sirius stops, taking a shaky inhale, “Non sono ancora pronto.”

Then, she hears the door click open and the knob turns. She backs away until it opens and her head peaks in. Sirius is staring at the ground to avoid her eyes, hair acting as a curtain to hide his face. She shuffles in, Sirius leans against the door and shuts it. Y/N shifts to sit in front of him. He’s dressed again, but the sleeves of his shirt were damp with tears.

She inches closer to place an encouraging hand on his but stops, remembering earlier. “Can I touch you?”

He closes his eyes — like the question was a mental battle before he nods. Y/N reaches up, pushing back the strands of fallen hair, revealing his red, puffy eyes. Her thumb strokes over his skin tenderly — intimately, but it causes a broken whimper to escape him, but leans into the touch.

“Whatever you said,” Y/N mutters, “Thank you for telling me.”

Pink floods his cheeks and he hesitantly reaches out, his arms going around her waist to pull her into a hug.

“Mi sbagliavo su di te.” He mumbled to her shoulder and Y/N was left to think.

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They both missed the study group and dinner. Eventually, Sirius fell asleep and Y/N snuck out of his room before the Marauders came in. She didn’t want to go back to her dorm to face Lily and was extremely hungry. She then thought back to Sirius before going to grab food for both of them.

She slipped out into the night, being accompanied by Nearly Headless Nick who had a worried expression on his face. Y/N didn’t think much of it, if anything, she was rather annoyed; after the day she’s had, she wanted to be alone for a while.

The house-elves helped to line a large platter of food before she thanked them, making her way out of the kitchens. Nearly Headless Nick floated close, urging her to speed up.

“Sir Nick, I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you following me?”

“Making sure you get back to Gryffindor’s tower safely.”

That caught her attention. “Safely?”

Sir Nick’s eyes widened. “My poor girl, haven’t you heard?”

She and Sirius missed a lot when they were together. Nobody was quite sure what happened to Mary; she wouldn’t speak a word of it, not even to Marlene. All anyone knew was that Mary was a victim of Dark Magic and was found in a torpid state by Hufflepuff’s Head Girl; used as an initiation for Mulciber for the Death Eater ranks.

Word ran wild around the school of Mulciber’s expulsion and everyone was left on edge. Rumours went around of the Imperius curse. Mary was fine physically, Sir Nick told her, but mentally…

Y/N’s blood ran cold while Nick had a sorrowful smile of reassurance. “You’ll be fine — your friend will be fine but you need to come with me, now.”

But out of the corner of her eye, she’d seen a shadowy figure peek out from the shadows and Y/N drew her wand, Sir Nick floating right behind her.

“Lumos!”

There, tall and unwavering was Snape.

He marched up to her, but Y/N began to quickly walk away until he reached out and yanked her back by her shoulder with bone-crushing strength.

“Lay your hands off!” Sir Nick cut in.

Snape ignored him, “What did you say to her?!” His cheeks were tear-stained; eyes glowing with something dangerous and Y/N wanted to run. “She won’t even talk to me!”

Lily must’ve finally confronted him.

“Let go of her! Let go, let go!” Sir Nick chanted, wisping through Snape until he stumbled back.

Y/N turned around, and heard Snape mutter darkly, running off. A cold wave embalmed her as every hair on the back of her neck rose.

“Come with me now,” the ghost said. She didn’t need to be told twice.

The moment she stepped inside the common room, Y/N felt every bone in her body relax. Her footsteps were quiet and rounded into the main area when she saw everyone there. James and Lily were pacing back and forth. James tugged down on his hair; Peter was by Dorcas and Remus, Marlene looked deathly pale, the two Head Boy and Girls were there. Sirius sat in a chair, his arms cradling Toulouse as he nervously swallowed, face imprinted with distress.

Remus was the first to notice, his head snapping up once he sensed her presence. He stood, “Y/N!”

Everyone’s head snapped towards her. James shouted, running up to her. “Are you okay?” His hands went straight to her face and handled her like a doll. “My Godric! We were so worried — we were about to go and search for you!”

Sirius abruptly stood up; chair screeching, eyes wide but then quickly took a seat as everyone tossed him an odd look.

“I’m fine! I’m fine! I just missed dinner and wanted to get food!”

James tackled her into a hug and she almost dropped the plate of food.

Her eyes then travelled to Lily, who looked like she was on the verge of tears. Lily made a move to go up to her, hand slightly outstretched before stopping and quickly ran up the staircase. Everyone noticed but didn’t mention it. Then the Head Girl and Boy exited wordlessly.

Lily leaving fucking hurt.

“I heard from Headless Nick, how’s Mary?”

There was a collective sigh. Marlene got up, going over to her and pulled her into another hug and pulled back. Her usually smooth skin was now littered with furrowed lines. “She’s with Madam Pomfrey, I’m going to sneak into her room now. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Should any of us come?” Peter interjected.

“No… I don’t think she even wants me there. It might overwhelm her.”

“Be safe,” Dorcas said, her eyes wide with worry. And then she left.

Y/N made her way to sit down, James practically glued himself onto her as she plopped down next to Sirius, but still far enough to avoid suspicion.

“I’m glad you’re alright,” Remus said. “When you didn’t show up for the study sessions and dinner we all… thought the worst.”

“Sorry…” Then her eyes wandered to the staircase, thinking about Lily again.

Dorcas stirred in her seat. “Don’t take Lily’s absence as offence. She was really worried.”

“She suggested we go out to find you,” Peter said. “Also had a nasty row with Snape in the courtyards too. Everyone saw it. What a bell end, Snape.”

“I think, for now, we all ought to start pairing up,” came Remus. A solemn noise of agreement went around. Nobody talked for a while and Y/N placed the large metal tray of food on the table, no longer having the appetite to eat.

James was the one who broke the silence. “Where were you?”

Sirius stopped petting Toulouse and listened carefully. “I was busy talking to McGonagall. Something about careers. Then I just got tired and ended up sleeping through dinner.”

It technically wasn’t a lie and everyone seemed to believe it.

The air was tense and James wouldn’t stop fretting. Ultimately, Dorcas began to talk to Peter, Remus had a pensive look before going to crack open his book but seemed tense. It was only until she felt Sirius nudge her foot. She shifted her head gradually to examine him.

‘You okay?’ He mouthed, searching for any kind of lie or injury. His eyes were still puffy but overall looked better.

She shook her head. ‘I’m okay, you?’

A nod.

His reaction earlier had new questions arising but she saved that for another time. Her eyes darted to the plate of food and then to him. ‘It’s for you.’

But then she peered up and saw Remus watching their interaction. He seemed to be deep in thought and took a large inhale. She swore his eyes flashed a golden glow. Worried he was catching on, she initiated a conversation. “Moony?” She teased.

When he wore a judicious look during times like these, Y/N is reminded just how smart and intimidating he could be. It was like he knew everything before anyone else did.

“Sorry — thinking ‘bout something. Anyway —”

While occupied with Remus, Sirius glanced shyly over to Y/N and bent over to take a treacle tart, biting into it. The gesture was so heartbreakingly touching to him; so unexpected coming from her.

Sirius was left in a transitional phase. A lot of the inner turmoil he held — or thought he had — was released today and he didn’t know how to feel about it. Whatever irritation he held towards Y/N vanished. He looked forward to their bickering, shy forehead kisses and the feeling he got that was the opposite of dread or disgust after being with someone.

It felt nice, doing something he truly wanted for once — not engaging in intimacy out of coping rather than genuine interest.

But then, it unleashed everything else he wasn’t ready to deal with yet. His reaction to touch earlier had set off a bomb buried so deep within him but Merlin — he hadn’t realized it would’ve affected him that much.

Truth be told, now all he wanted to do was ruin her to bits and pieces but he was getting too ahead of himself — becoming attached too quickly and he already felt himself disconnecting. The only thought that lapsed in his mind was: run, boy, run.

It echoed through his head again, love wasn’t — isn’t a magic potion, far from it. So what was he doing? He needed to make a decision; continue doing whatever they were doing, work on himself or run.

Running away is easy. It’s always been easy. But he was tired of it.

And after the intense fear that paralyzed him, that made his mouth go dry and heart pound in his chest when nobody could find her when she left — after knowing what happened to Mary; it almost caused Sirius to spike and go into a panic attack.

Sirius wasn’t afraid of many things. After all, he’d already gone through so much that there wasn’t much to be afraid of anymore. But if he had to choose, and it was at the forefront of his mind, it would’ve been her.

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Y/N headed to bed early as Dorcas waited for Marlene to return to the common room. It left her alone with Lily.

It was already dark, aside from a small lit candle that seeped through the cracks of Lily’s bed drapes. She did her evening routine before slipping into bed, listening to Lily faintly scribble in her diary. Only when Y/N felt herself relax, she heard Lily get out of bed and drew closer to her.

“Y/N?” Her voice was apprehensive. Y/N’s back faced her. She pretended to be asleep. “Psst… hey?”

Lily sighed before she sat down on the edge of the bed and didn't move for a long time. When they heard footsteps coming to their dorm was when she rose and uttered, “I’m glad you’re alright…Gave me a bit of a fright there… I’m sorry.”

Lily rushed back to her bed, drawing her curtains together when Marlene and Dorcas entered.

Y/N finally exhaled heavily, balling her blankets tightly. A thousand words, questions and thoughts were left unsaid. But, when she knew everyone finally was asleep, she uttered out an inaudible, I’m sorry too, and shut her eyes.

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Translations

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?

Do you want to sleep with me?

Nessuno dei miei amanti mi ha toccato così senza volere qualcosa in cambio. Non mi fai sentire usato e ne ho he terrorizza.

None of my lovers have touched me like this without wanting something in return. You don't make me feel used and I'm terrified (of it).

Il modo in cui mi fai sentire mi spaventa e non riesco a gestirlo. / Non sono ancora pronto.

The way you make me feel scares me and I can't handle it. / I'm not ready yet.

Mi sbagliavo su di te.

I was wrong about you.

108 notes · View notes

writingithink · 4 years

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The Full Pub Experience Pairing: Ten x Rose Rated: T Wordcount: 3,834 Summary: The Doctor suffers through another honeymoon interruption for Earth wedding related things. Notes: FINALLY, this is my fic for Day 7 of @timepetalsweek ! And it's a free day. So you would think that it wouldn't be so late, but everything in my WIP folder rn promises to be long.

This fic would definitely make more sense if you've read the ones that came before it. That being said, I still think that if you know they accidentally got bonded that's also probably enough to jump in.

Super special thanks to @hey-there-juliet for betaing!! <3

All mistakes are mine.

I own nothing.

READ IT ON AO3 -> copy/paste link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25590310

With a sigh, the Doctor kicked his feet up onto the armrest and sunk into the sofa. Finishing up their honeymoon was starting to seem like a nigh impossible task. Who would have thought that trying to do seven romantic trips in a row would prove so difficult?

Sure, they’d had to sort out the Isolus when he took them to the Olympics, but after that things had gone on without a hitch. And yes, they had taken a day to do wedding planning things with Jackie midway, but then they’d gotten right back to it. Now, though, it was starting to get irritating.

His attempt to take Rose to a winter village on Sirius Colony VI had failed - they landed three years late and ended up having to stop a coup. Then he tried to take her to see the Rings of Akhaten but something went wrong with the TARDIS and they were flung out of the vortex, landing on an asteroid being used as an illegal zoo of endangered species. He’d almost been turned into an exhibit!

Once they finally made it back to the TARDIS, before he could come up with a new honeymoon destination Rose got a text from her mate Shareen. Now here they were, back at Jackie’s flat, for more wedding planning type things (he wasn’t sure on the details, just that this time he wasn’t ‘needed’).

(Not that he’d even been needed last time).

“Oh, cheer up,” his wife urged, leaning over the back of the sofa and running a hand through his hair. “How bored would you have gotten if we didn’t have a few adventures?”

The Doctor did not dignify that with a response, but did lean into her touch.

“Y’know, we could still try to get to that cabin again. We don’t know for sure if we actually missed the reservation,” she suggested.

“I suppose,” he huffed, trying to resist moving away from his foul mood. Maybe he wanted to sulk.

“Oh, come off it. Why don’t you find something to watch on the telly? Or play in the kitchen? Mum’s out, so I’m sure you could work on the perfect piece of toast.”

It was annoying, how she seemed to know just what to say. (It actually wasn’t, he was a terrible liar).

“C’mere,” the Doctor muttered before pulling her down further and giving her a kiss.

A kiss that quickly turned into a snog, him hauling her the rest of the way over the couch to sprawl on top of him. Just as he moved his hand under her shirt and up her back, there was a loud rapping on the door.

“Ugh,” he sighed, dropping back down onto the sofa as Rose quickly stood up, trying to fix her hair and clothing. For a Time Lord, he really did have an atrocious sense of timing sometimes.

We can pick up where we left off later, y’know, she telepathically reminded him.

He wondered if he could just nip into the TARDIS and move forward just a little, early evening, when ‘later’ was likely to be ‘soon’. This got him a quick zap through the bond before Rose opened the door.

“Rose!!”

Then there were hugs and squealing and he didn’t think he’d ever heard his bondmate’s voice get quite so high pitched. But the worst part was that her barriers had shot up, so all he could get from their connection was her general state. The Doctor did find himself pleased, however, when the squealing became about Rose’s ring - he had made it himself, after all. The gemstones and metal weren’t of Earth origin, but looked similar enough to the untrained eye. The center stone was quite diamond-like, surrounded by two gems that could be mistaken for morganite. He’d used an old, broken TARDIS part to create the band, which Jackie had criticized as looking too copper-like, but they had both ignored her. The Gallifreyan metal had unique properties, meaning he was able to biotune it to Rose’s finger. It would always fit perfectly, and only she could take it off.

Most importantly, Rose loved it.

“And hullo, Doctor.”

He looked up to see Shareen peering at him from the other end of the couch, and she really didn’t have to say his name as if it was a joke.

“Hello.” He hoped his smile was cheery, that’s what he was going for.

“’S it fine if I call you, what was it- oh, John?” she asked.

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Well, I don’t get why you go around havin’ everyone call you ‘Doctor’. I get that John Smith is a boring name, but really.”

A glance at Rose revealed her trying, and mostly failing, to not laugh. Not even her barriers could keep him from feeling how amused she was.

“Anyway, how are you?” he drawled, trying to remember what his wife had last told him about her best mate (on Earth, that is).

“‘M fine. Aren’t you headin’ out?”

His brows furrowed and he opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to figure out what kind of segue that was supposed to be.

“Heading out?” the Doctor ended up repeating.

“Yeah. To like, I dunno, hang out with mates down the pub or somethin’?”

“Hang out wi- ? Down th- ? Why would I do that?” he sputtered.

“Well we’re gonna plan out Rose’s hen night! No blokes allowed! ‘Specially not the groom.”

“Oh, that’s not fair, he can stay,” his wife came to his defense before he could say anything else idiotic.

“Nope.” Shareen crossed her arms. “I hardly ever get to see ya anymore, and this is a girls thing. You two could do with some time spent apart.”

And as much as he didn’t want to, the Doctor worried that maybe Rose’s friend was right. They did spend pretty much all of their time together, even before they accidentally bonded. Sure, sometimes they would split up for a little while if they were on a safe planet, but that hadn’t really happened since they started their honeymoon.

So he found himself standing up and saying, “Fine, fine, I can get out of your hair.”

“Are you sure?” his bondmate frowned, walking up to him and needlessly adjusting his tie.

“Yeah, yeah … I’ll, erm, be back this evening.”

“But what are you gonna do?” You don’t actually have mates to go down the pub with, she laughed in his head.

“I- I can definitely ‘go down to the pub with my mates’,” he informed her, not really helping his own point by doing air quotes. “I’ll- I’ll ring Sarah Jane! I’m sure she’d love a trip to the pub.”

Actually, he wasn’t sure at all that she’d love that. But that wasn’t really the point.

“Sarah Jane ? He’s off to spend time with another woman?” Shareen asked Rose, though honestly she did it so loudly and right in front of him, she might as well have just asked him.

“The Doctor’s allowed,” Rose huffed, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. “He ain’t Tommy.”

Shareen winced. “Tommy’s changed, though. Whole new man, really.”

“What?! Don’t tell me you’re still hangin’ round with him!”

This seemed like the perfect time to leave, so the Doctor silently (and quickly!) exited the flat, telling his wife goodbye over the bond before putting his own barriers up. He had, after all, overheard many of Rose’s phone calls with Shareen and was aware of who this ‘Tommy’ was. Now that he realized her best mate had pretty much been accusing him of cheating on his bondmate, his thoughts were less than flattering.

Eventually he found himself standing outside the flats, a bit at a loss. He put his hands on his hips and looked around, surveying the area. Was he really going to ring Sarah Jane and go to the pub?

It was just- it was so … humany.

There had to be something more interesting for him to do.

The sun was shining, a few children were playing with sidewalk chalk, people were walking about. Everything was calm. Not a lick of danger in sight.

With a sigh, the Doctor walked over to the nearest phone booth, lifted the receiver and sonicked it. After a moment it started ringing. And ringing. And ringing.

He was just about to hang up when she answered.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Sarah Jane!”

“Doctor?!”

“Yes! How are you?”

“What’s going on?” she asked, not answering his - very polite, not rude at all, very much knowing how phone calls are supposed to go, ta - question.

“Oh, erm, I don’t kno-”

“How in danger are we?”

Oh, oh.

“No danger! None at all. Why does there have to be danger?”

He could actually go for a spot of danger, but it would probably get taken the wrong way if he told her that now.

“So this is a social call?” Her obvious skepticism was offensive.

“It is! What’s wrong with a social call?”

“I mean, nothing. I just didn’t think that was something that you did.”

“Well, it is.” Now, at least. Apparently. “I was wondering if you’d fancy going to the pub?” The words felt very wrong on his tongue.

“Where are Rose and Mickey?” she asked him, once again ignoring a question.

The Doctor scowled before sighing. “Mickey moved universes. Rose is busy. I’ve been kicked out of her mum’s flat, which I didn’t want to be at in the first place, really. So it’s all worked out for the best, don’t you think? It was suggested that I go down to the pub, and isn’t it interesting that which pub isn’t specified? So really, if you want to go, any pub you like. Though I do know which pub they meant, because they always talk about the same one. It’s the one down the street. Rose dragged me there once for New Years. It’s … fine, I guess. I mean, they’re all pretty interchangeable, if you ask me. A bunch of humans drinking, watching the match, maybe playing a spot of darts. Or billiards! We could play billiards! If you’d like, I could turn off my alcohol-inhibiting enzymes. I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten drunk on Earth alcohol before. If I have, I don’t remember. Or we don’t have to drink at all. We could, I don’t know, have lunch? I know they have chips, or most pubs have chips? Well, the pub Rose goes to has chips, which is probably why Rose goes there. So what do you say?”

“I- blimey. Yes, I can go to the pub. I’m sure the one you’re near is fine, just give me the address.”

So he did, and shortly after she rang off. He wasn’t sure how long it would take for Sarah Jane to get there, but since he obviously had nothing better to do, the Doctor headed over to the pub. Since it was midday, there weren’t too many people around - definitely not as packed as it was for New Years. So he ordered a pint, realized that he hated beer, spat it back into the glass and then ordered a banana daiquiri. The bartender didn’t seem very impressed with him, so once he had his cocktail the Doctor slunk away to a booth to wait for Sarah Jane.

By the time he noticed her walking into the pub, he was on his second drink and debating the merits of trying out jalapeño poppers.

“Sarah Jane! Hi! Over here!” he called, waving his arms in a wide arc to make sure that she noticed him - she did. “Have you ever had jalapeño poppers?”

With a disbelieving laugh she walked over, taking off her jacket and sitting down her bag before sliding across from him. “Can’t say I’ve ever tried them. Suppose we could give it a go.” She got comfortable in her seat, looked around them, then focused on him. It felt almost as if he was being analyzed. Then the tension broke, she shook her head and let out a small laugh. “This is so strange.”

“Strange? Why’s it strange?” he asked, even though he agreed with her. The thing is, he knew why he felt it was strange, but she was human. This was something humans did - hang out with mates at the pub.

“Well, I mean, you’re you. I didn’t think this was something you did.”

Ah, same reason, then.

Before he could respond to that, a waitress appeared to take Sarah Jane’s order. They got the jalapeño poppers, but also each an order of chips in case those turned out to be rubbish. She also ordered a pint (but why? They were not good) so the Doctor preemptively ordered another cocktail so that he could avoid having to be subtly mocked by the bartender again.

“How many of those have you had?” Sarah Jane asked once the waitress was out of sight.

“This one is my second.”

“And did you turn off your, what did you say on the phone again? This you talks so quickly sometimes and the connection was so poor, I was having a hard time keeping up.”

“Ah, yeah, was calling on an old payphone. But yes, alcohol-inhibiting enzymes. I have them. Turned them off. It’s starting to get a little tingly. Reminds me of Rose laughing.”

“What?”

“You knooooow. Or you probably don’t, actually. I wonder if the daiquiris are affecting me more than I’d thought. It’s like … oh, I don’t know. English is a rubbish language for describing telepathy. Cancel your beer and get two banana daiquiris and that will be like if someone is laughing in your head. The nice kind of laughing. Not the you-just-did-something-stupid kind of laughing.”

“I think I’ll pass, but good to know,” she laughed. “Wait. What happened that had you and Rose connected telepathically? I thought you usually avoided that kind of thing. And as far as questions go, you said Mickey moved universes? I think we have a lot of catching up to do since I last saw you. Not to mention everything before then. It sounds like you’ve been busy.”

She wasn’t wrong. So first he told her about the parallel world, and the Cybermen, and Mickey deciding to stay there. Then he told her about Rose, and a very edited story of how they accidentally ended up bonded. Married. Same thing, really.

“Wow.”

“I know,” he agreed, finishing off his third drink and wondering if he should order a fourth.

Sarah Jane opened her mouth to say something, but then their food arrived. She ended up finding the jalapeño poppers surprisingly good, while he felt that they didn’t go as well with banana as chips did (he ordered the fourth drink - might as well get the full Earth drinking experience, right?).

“Am I going to end up having to carry you back to the TARDIS?” Sarah Jane asked him.

“Nooooo. If anything, you’d have to carry me back to Jackie’s flat. That’s where Rose is. Unless you rang her and told her to meet you at the TARDIS. Or you could ring her and have her carry me back to the TARDIS. I’d rather not have her mum see me drunk. I’ve never actually been drunk in this body before. Don’t know what it’ll be like. I pretended to be drunk once. To fool some robots. Rose didn’t think it was funny.”

She chuckled, shaking her head a bit. “I just can’t believe you’re married.”

“Why’s that? I’ve been married before this. I don’t know how many of them actually count, but I’m over 900 years old, I’ve been around.”

“Yeah, I’m getting that.” Sarah Jane rolled her eyes. “When were you married before?”

“Well, I was definitely married on Gallifrey. Arranged union of houses. Very proper. Loomed some children and everything. I, er, wasn’t a very good husband. But I’ve also never been a very good Time Lord. It’s complicated,” he sighed, leaned back, picked up a chip and fidgeted with it.

“Considering you were exiled when we met, I think I believe you. What about these other times?”

“Oh, I’m not sure they really count. One of them happened in an anti-matter universe, pretty sure it was fictional. I did actually marry a human once. For world saving reasons. It ended up going decently well, actually, but it didn’t really last. And now that Rose and I are bonded, I feel like … I don’t know, I think I was wrong about how deep our connection really was,” he admitted.

“What’s an anti-matter universe?!”

Before he could answer, his cocktail arrived. Thank Rassilon, because he could definitely use another drink if this is what they were going to be talking about.

“Sooooo what’s new with you?” he asked after taking a long sip.

“Oh, I don’t think so. We’re not done talking about you and the fact that you’ve just gotten married.”

“Not according to Jackie,” the Doctor rolled his eyes. “She’s having us do an Earth wedding. Ancient Gallifreyan bonding isn’t good enough for her. To be fair, I haven’t actually researched it properly yet. Maybe once I can explain it better, Rose’s mum will- ahhhh what am I saying. The day I’m able to reason with Jackie Tyler will probably herald an apocalypse.”

She laughed, which was good. Things were much more tense with Sarah Jane now than they were back when they traveled together. And, of course, that was his fault. But it was nice, spending time with her again. Even if it was in a boring old pub.

“And what does Rose think of all of this?”

“Ohh, she’s got mixed feelings. Sometimes she’s excited about planning the wedding, sometimes she wants to cancel. Apparently I’m not much help, but really I-”

“Not about that, about you two being married,” she corrected.

“Oh! We’re both very, very happy about that.”

“Good. I’m not going to lie, it does seem a bit fast. Then again, I don’t know how long it’s actually been for you.”

“Mmm … maybe about, I don’t know, how long has it been for you since you last saw us?”

“It’s only been about 2 months.”

“Nearly a year, then,” he quickly calculated.

“Really?”

“Rose wanted to catch up her real age to the age she’s supposed to be on Earth. Don’t tell Jackie.” His eyes widened at the potential slap that would get him.

“I’m sure if I ever meet her it won’t come up,” Sarah Jane laughed.

“What do you mean ‘if you ever meet her’? Aren’t you coming to the wedding?”

“Oh. Well, I didn’t want to assume-”

“Of course you’re invited! Not only are you one of my oldest friends, you’re one of my best friends!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“Don’t know how I feel about oldest friend.”

“Please, I’m much older than you are,” he rolled his eyes and leaned back, propping his feet on the table, idly playing with his newest little umbrella. He had quite the collection accumulating.

“Yes, but you seem to be regenerating younger.”

The Doctor winced a bit and tugged his ear.

“What?” she asked, after finishing her drink.

“I may have picked this regeneration on purpose, a bit.”

“Oh? I didn’t know it worked like that.” Sarah Jane raised her eyebrows.

“Takes a lot of effort. Usually I don’t care which body I get, but …”

“Had a reason for looking young?” she teased.

“881 year age gap,” he frowned.

“Obviously can’t be much of an issue, considering what you told me about the bond you two have now.”

“Eh.”

He downed the rest of his drink.

“Be right back!” the Doctor announced, standing up. “I’m going to see about getting a pitcher of these. Provided they put a lot of umbrellas in. I’m using them to keep count.”

“Keep count of what?”

“I want to see how many it takes to get me drunk. Even without the enzymes, I still have a superior biology. And Earth alcohol is famously tame.”

“Are you, really?”

“I’m getting the full pub experience! What do you say to billiards when I get back?”

“Doctor, how long are you planning on staying here?”

“I told her I’d be back in the evening. And I mean, we don’t have to stay here. We could go someplace else, if you’d like. But, as I said, as far as I know and for certain in this body, I’ve never been drunk in a pub. Plus, it’s not like I’m planning on having a stag night, and you and I are both here right now, and you’re my only friend on Earth aside from Rose, so maybe this would count, right? I mean, from what I’ve seen on films, getting drunk in a pub is pretty much what a stag night is … well, there’s also ones with strippers, but that’s all a bit too human for me. Not that there’s anything wrong with it! I’m just sayi-”

“Doctor!” Sarah Jane interrupted him with a laugh. “I swear, the gob on you this go around! Of course this can be your stag night. There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.”

“Yeah, but who needs predictable, eh?”

“Yeah,” she smiled.

The Doctor put on his best grin as he went to see a man about a pitcher.

Hours - and many daiquiris - later, he felt a surge of amusement across the bond before Rose’s barriers dropped. He turned around, and there she was.

“Rose!” he bounded over, quick to wrap her in a hug, lifting his wife off her feet in the process.

“Hi there,” she smiled up at him when he put her down before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Not that I’m not glad you’re here! I’m very, very glad you’re here.”

She laughed, and the feel of it combined with the alcohol was indescribable. “Shareen and I were drinkin’ wine and laughing at bad telly when I got a call from Sarah Jane.”

“Oh? What was it about?”

“She said I should get down here quick or I’d miss a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“Really?! What’s that?” Also, why wouldn’t Sarah Jane tell him about it? She’d just agreed to be his groom-party-best-person, whatever it was, and it was his stag night!

“Doctor, you were about to perform, remember?” When had Sarah Jane come up behind him like that?

“Oh, right!” he bounced on his toes a little. “Karaoke! I’m about to go up!”

“You were right, this is gonna be amazing!” Shareen laughed, pulling out her phone.

“I’ve already queued up the song, I didn’t know you’d be coming, but we can sign up for a duet!” the Doctor said, getting even more excited.

“I’ll think about it,” Rose giggled. “Think you’re a few drinks ahead of me for karaoke.”

“It’s funny that you say ‘a few’,” Sarah Jane laughed.

And he was about to ask her why, but then his name got called. He’d have to ask her later.

#timepetalsweek #ficandchips #dw fanfic #ten x rose #timepetals #dw fic #tenrose #dw fanfiction #fandom: doctor who #pairing: rose x doctor #fic: the full pub experience #my fic

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riathel · 4 years

Text

Thoughts about Shelley and the Unresolved Questions of Season 12

Well, I am writing a meta post about the Timeless Children and why I think it adds such an interesting complexity to the Master’s relationship with the Doctor, but in the meantime, while I process that finale, I wanted to write about something I’ve noticed this entire season.

The connection to the Shelleys and to Byron.

To TL;DR this post: I think that next season, we’ll get an answer to who the Kasaavin are, it will tie into Percy having had the Cyberium in him (and it having been around Byron’s house), and we’ll get some huge development for Yaz, the Master and the Doctor, as they’ve all been in the Kasaavin realm.

Let’s recap all the times we’ve lingered around Byron and the Shelleys this season, shall we? This includes some very brief history lessons, and I will be including links!

Episode 2: Spyfall Part 2

We meet Ada Lovelace, who has a connection to the Kasaavin. She sees them in her dreams, she’s the one to rescue the Doctor from their realm. Brief history lesson: Ada Lovelace was an absolutely BRILLIANT mathematician and the parent of computers. She was also the only legitimate child of Lord Byron and his wife. She died in 1852 at age 36, taken far too young. I’ll post the scene here for benefit:

[Kasaavin realm] ADA: Please be assured all this will pass. I shall be recovered momentarily. DOCTOR: When you say recovered, what do you mean? ADA: The paralysis will fade. DOCTOR: You don't look paralysed. ADA: Not in this realm, but in my earthly aspect. DOCTOR: Right. What's your name? ADA: I am Ada. DOCTOR: And what do you think this realm is, Ada? ADA: I believe it to be my mind. Though I have not met another here before. DOCTOR: Then what do you think I am? ADA: I presume you are a consequence of my thoughts. DOCTOR: No. I'm the Doctor, and I'm very real. But you've been here before? ADA: Many times. When the paralysis subsides, I find myself fully back in my body, restored in the physical realm. If you are real, do you have your own solution for egress from here? DOCTOR: No exit strategy. Before I leave, I need to work out what this place is. Oh! Those fragments of light or energy, why are they surrounding you? ADA: They are always here with me. They place a word in my mind. Kasaavin? (One of the light creatures appears.) DOCTOR: Ada, step away. ADA: Do not be afraid. This is my guardian. DOCTOR: This is their realm. This is where they're from. But how did you bring us here? Unless... You can't be. But you must be. What, gateways? We go through you and arrive in your realm? I say realm. It's not a planet, not really a void. A separate dimension? Are we beyond our... my universe? ADA: Little of what you are saying makes sense to me, but I am concerned you'll be marooned here. When my guardian has returned... DOCTOR: They're not your guardians. ADA: I can offer you my hand. We may leave this place together. DOCTOR: I don't think that will work. ADA: How will you know if you do not try? Decide, Doctor.

Later in the episode:

DOCTOR: If you're Charles Babbage, then you're not just any old Ada. You're Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron and Annabella Milbanke, one of the great minds. ADA: I am Ada Gordon, madam. DOCTOR: 1834. Of course you are. Well, maybe one day, who knows, you might meet a nice Earl. This changes everything! This isn't an accident. Ada Lovelace in Babbage's house? You're clues. You're important.

Charles Babbage has the Silver Lady (aka the Kasaavin device) in his house, but Ada is the one who has been being visited by them.

DOCTOR: Ada, when was your first paralysis? ADA: I was 13 years old. That is when I was first transported to the place where we met, and I first saw an apparition. DOCTOR: And over the years, the paralysis recurs with the same effect? ADA: Yes. No doctor has ever been able to diagnose the cause. DOCTOR: Well, this Doctor may be able to. An apparition, from this machine. BABBAGE: Correct. DOCTOR: So, they take you, Ada, multiple times from here and they study you in their dimension, which means they can't be in this dimension for long. But maybe they gain an ally, a mastermind who builds them a machine which stabilises them in this world long enough for them to send spies and to spread their work and start a plan. 'Cause I've seen the map in his hut. Multiple Earths. Except not. Not multiple Earths. Multiple time periods. These creatures aren't just alien spies on Earth, they're spies through Time, through history, starting with you.

Or, at the very least, the Doctor assumed they were starting with Ada. Maybe they started earlier - with her parents. Or maybe the Master found out about the events of The Haunting of Villa Diodati with the Cyberium - but we’ll get to that in time.

Again, Spyfall ends with a neat-ish conclusion as to them being focussed on “computing history” and “human DNA”

DOCTOR: I know what this is. A temporal map, showing every significant person in the development of computers through history, starting with you, Ada. This is the plan. See? BOTH: No. ADA: Wh... what is a computer? DOCTOR: Oh, forget you heard that word, otherwise I've just disrupted the whole of history. Again. Okay. Ah, my brain's fizzing. Good. The Kasaavin posted an agent on every person on that map, because that's what spies do, what Barton does. They gather all the data. Where does the DNA fit in? Kasaavin, technology, DNA. How are they all connected? Oh! Human DNA. That's what they were testing.

Episode 8: The Haunting of Villa Diodati

Gif by itberice.

This is the big episode, where I started to notice it especially. Huh, a bit a coincidence they’re doing Byron when Ada was his daughter. Interesting.

DOCTOR: Okay, so there was a spot of rain, and gale-force winds and a super-long walk. But I got us here, didn't I? And Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, soon to be Shelley, screamed in your face. Quality historical experience, that. Gold. YASMIN: (sotto) On that night that inspired Frankenstein. FLETCHER: If... you'd be so kind. GRAHAM: Blimey. DOCTOR: Excuse me, Yaz. I was very clear about the rules. RYAN: Nobody mention Frankenstein, and don't interfere. YASMIN: And nobody snog Byron.

This is because, as Tumblr has already noted, Byron is a thot/fuckboi.

BYRON: She walks in beauty, like the night. DOCTOR: Of cloudless climes and starry skies. BYRON: I'm intensely flattered you're familiar with my work, Mrs Doctor. DOCTOR: Just Doctor is fine. I'm quite into Shelley's stuff too. He about?

Then enters the Lone Cyberman (aka Ashad). It is scouring the villa for Percy, to obtain the Cyberium, and cannot find him. When it starts charging up, it begins to quote Percy’s poetry (specifically Queen Mab book 2 and Queen Mab book 3)

CYBERMAN (glowing with energy): There's not one atom of yon Earth, but once was living man. (Book 2) The sword that stabs his peace; He cherisheth The snakes that gnaw his heart; he raises up the tyrant whose delight Is in his woe. (Book 3)

As the episode progresses, Ashad gets the Cyberium back from Percy (who has been dying with it). Even more interestingly though - the Cyberium wants to choose the Doctor.

DOCTOR: And it chooses me. Interesting. Time Lord magnetism. Looks like I'm the true Guardian. (The Cyberium passes into the Doctor.) CYBERMAN: Surrender it or I will execute you. DOCTOR: I'd be very careful with those execution threats. I can feel it already, fusing to me. It feels very at home. Recognising great host material. Not to big myself up, but I don't think it'll vacate me without a fight.

But now we know - she’s not just a Time Lord. So can the Cyberium sense that? Did it know? Or perhaps, even if she were just a Time Lord, it would have preferred her... Anyway, this deviates too hard into my other, upcoming post. I think this episode, the Villa episode, was VITAL in determining what will happen next season.

Episode 10: The Timeless Children

MASTER: Look upon my work, Doctor, and despair.

This is an homage to Percy Shelley’s sonnet, Ozymandias, which contains the iconic lines:

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Oh, cute, what a fun little addition, I first thought when I heard it in the finale. (It now occurs to me, while writing this, that the Master might have quoted Shelley to the Doctor because he knows she loves his work. My poor shipper heart.)

Then I thought - hang on. That’s a lot of “coincidental” involvement with the Byrons & Shelleys in this season, especially when the rest of the plots have been so deftly woven with surprises.

The Master mentions to Ashad/the Cyberium that he has the entire Matrix in his head and then he ends up absorbing the Cyberium into him, linking it with him in ways that will have consequences we haven’t even seen yet. It all sets up such a juicy, interesting thread into the next season.

Summary:

What does it all mean? Who can say? I hope this will give us some answer for what the Kasaavin are, where their universe is (is it beyond the Boundary? is it another Boundary?), how the Master found them (was it in the Matrix? did the Time Lords know about them?)

Most importantly: I think Yaz will play a huge role in the next season, given she was in the Kasaavin realm, as will the Doctor and (I suspect/hope) the Master again. This Kasaavin plot-line is still left unresolved, and I will be incredibly interested to see what Chibnall’s plan contains.

This could all just be a very cute, season-long homage to Byron/Shelley... but... it’s very suspicious. Especially given they have an entire two episodes focussed on them/their progeny.

If anyone has any other examples of Percy & Byron or descendants in season 11/12, please add them through reblogs! :D I worry that I haven’t gotten every single moment, or that I missed a couple of them.

Links to biographies:

Ada Lovelace Mary Shelley Percy Shelley Lord Byron

#doctor who #doctor who spoilers #dw spoilers #thirteenth doctor #dhawan!master #best enemies #ashad #spyfall part 2 #the haunting of villa diodati #the timeless children #dw meta #just a fun little meta post about something i found really curious!#thoschei #thirsacha

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blueboxesandtrafficcones · 5 years

Text

Barcelona is for Lovers - Chapter 6

Chapter 6! Many thanks to @stupidsatsuma for beta’ing. @doctorroseprompts

Chapter 7 will be available on May 6th

General warnings for: hanky panky. Take the ‘lovers’ part of the title seriously.

Masterlist

Summary

Three months after Rose and the Doctor are reunited and promptly ditched on a beach in Norway, they are still trying to find their feet. Rose plans a trip to Barcelona for them to relax, reconnect, and hopefully consummate their relationship.

Rose came to slowly, her well-trained senses already cataloguing everything around her before she even opened her eyes. The sun was shining brightly, wind whistling gently. The sheets were soft beneath her, and, most importantly of all, a warm body lay inches away, almost close enough to touch.

Her eyes fluttered open, meeting the Doctor’s, and she only had a moment to smile and take in his intense expression before he rolled her onto her back, pressing their mouths together. She gasped softly, melting into his kiss and the mattress as he did his damnedest to devour her. Pleasure and desire coursed through her, setting her on fire, her thighs naturally parting to let him settle against her, hips rolling up against his. Hands roamed, her mind going hazy as she wondered Is this it? Is this our moment?

He was hard, rocking down to meet her, and she was just sliding her hands down his back and into his shorts at his bum when he abruptly pulled away, smoothly rolling off the bed to stand beside her, panting.

“Wha’?” Confused, she sat upright, staring at him. His eyes were impossibly dark and focused on her chest, watching it move with her breath, and she shook her head slightly to clear it. “What’s wrong?”

“I should go make breakfast,” was all he said, gaze trailing over her body and fixing at the juncture of her thighs. When dressing for bed she’d gone for the nightie only, not bothering with knickers; their epic snog and wandering hands had shifted the hem up to her hips, leaving her bare to his view for the first time. “You should shower.”

Rose’s brow furrowed, and she shifted until she was kneeling in front of him; because of their height differential, she still only came up to mid-chest. “Or you could come back to bed,” she invited, unsurprised but still disappointed when he shook his head and sighed.

“No.” He leaned down, kissing her deeply until she whimpered, one cheeky hand finding and cupping her breast, teasing the nipple to a hard peak. “Shower and breakfast.” He turned and spun on his heel, marching out of the room without a single glance back and leaving her alone and conflicted in the middle of their bed.

“Okay?”

Twenty minutes later she joined him in the kitchen, showered and wearing only her dressing gown and a face full of makeup. Standing in the bathroom staring at her reflection, she’d decided to go with just the gown, tying it loosely. “Hey.”

“Hi!” he greeted her enthusiastically enough, kissing her quickly. Bacon still sizzled in the frying pan as he plated fried eggs, hash browns already spooned out. “This’ll just be another minute, d’you want to do the tea?”

“Okay.” It was already made, all she had to do was add cream and sugar to taste, but he took so much sugar in his by the time she moved the mugs to the table everything else was done. “So-”

“So, I was thinking we could go wine tasting today!” He dug into the food with relish, talking as he chewed and making her wrinkle her nose. “I booked us a private tour so we don’t have to worry about driving. We’re scheduled for five, with lunch at the third. Oh! Did you know Catalonia has its own answer to champagne? It’s called cava, and it’s a sparkling wine. The area is full of wineries, and has been for… two and a half millennia? Greeks planted the first vines around then, though the Romans expanded the idea across the whole area. There are actually twelve different wine regions just in Catalonia!”

Rose picked at her food, listening to him ramble. Something was clearly off, but she couldn’t quite figure out what. He was talking too fast, bouncing his leg and making the table rattle, with an overall mad scientist look in his eye. Was he overwhelmed by their growing physical relationship? But he initiated the snog this morning! Was he bored? This isn’t boredom.

Whatever it was, it was making her nervous and she could barely choke down the beautiful spread, anxiety and fear swirling in her stomach and leaving no room for food.

By the time they were done he’d barely stopped for breath, and she hadn’t said a word until she cut him off mid-sentence as they stood from the table.

“Doctor!”

He paused, blinking down at her, mouth still open mid-word. “Yes?”

The fear in his eyes made her frown, but all she said was, “I’ll handle clean up – why don’t you go shower and get ready? What time is the car coming?”

“An hour.” He relaxed slightly, shoulders unhunching, though he still seemed uncertain. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

She watched him go, mostly out of concern but a little to watch his bum – it was certainly a good one. Down, girl. Setting to work and feeling guilty about enjoying the peaceful silence, she hummed quietly to herself as she listened to the shower run.

In the three months he’d been here, in this universe, she’d gotten to know his routine quite well. By far the largest time-suck was doing his hair in the morning (no surprise), but he was usually quick in the shower – too quick, perhaps, but he often suggested (damn near pleaded, really) that she be in the room with him doing her makeup as he washed up. With an opaque shower door revealing only his outline she usually agreed, understanding that after so long apart he didn’t want to be separated from her more than necessary – something she wholeheartedly agreed with.

The mornings that he didn’t invite her, however, were also the mornings without fail that he took long, lingering showers, and she didn’t have to be a genius to know what was happening then.

The water was still running when she finished clearing the table, and she smirked to herself as she headed for the bedroom to get dressed for the day. It was always reassuring to know she affected him as much as he did her, that they both wanted each other that way. Crossing that final hurdle was just around the corner, she knew it in her bones, but couldn’t help wondering if one would die of sexual frustration first. For a moment her thoughts drifted towards the tiny vibrator hidden in her makeup bag – she’d originally expected it would be quietly retired once they were reunited, but in the last three months it had seen more use than the five years previous.

Rose licked her lips as, unbidden, an image of him in the shower popped into her mind. Warm water streaming over him, soapy suds clinging to muscles, eyes sliding closed as his hand wrapped around his-

“All right?”

Her own eyes popped open, starting as the Doctor entered the room with just a towel slung low on his hips. “Uh huh.” She scanned him slowly as she finished with her jewelry, tongue peeking out of the corner of her mouth as she grinned, smile widening when his eyes darkened.

“Minx,” he accused, walking up behind her and wrapping his strong arms around her, pulling her back against him as she shrieked with laughter. Rose couldn’t help grinding her bum back against him, tilting her head to catch his eye.

“Careful, or you’ll get me wet.” It came out even breathier than she’d been going for, but it had the desired effect on him as he groaned, burying his nose in her hair.

They swayed together for a long moment before he sighed, pulling away slowly. “The hired car’ll be here in twenty.”

“Okay.” Rose moved towards her purse to check she had everything she needed, pausing as she bent over to blink innocently up at him. “D’you want me to wait outside while you get dressed?”

He flushed, the tantalizing pink spreading down his neck, but he met her eye head on. “You’re fine.”

The towel dropped, and her heart stopped for a single beat before taking off running. She might have even gasped, but wasn’t paying enough attention to know as she blatantly stared. Sure, she’d seen it in passing when he first regenerated, but he’d been unconscious and they’d been… ambiguous – plus the minor alien-spaceship-heading-for-Earth-to-enslave-them thing.

Now… now, she was allowed to look, and she liked what she saw very much.

When he pulled his boxers up over his hips she let out an involuntary whimper, making him snicker. “Sorry.”

“I love you,” she murmured, crossing the room to kiss him deeply, resting her hands on his deceptively strong biceps. “I’m so happy I get to spend my life with you.”

“Me too,” he whispered back, clenching her hips and holding her close. “I love you so much.”

They kissed for a long moment, leisurely sipping at each other’s lips, until someone’s phone beeped. He pulled back first, eyes staying closed as he inhaled. “That’s probably the car – he said he’d called ten minutes out.”

“Okay.” The idea of just giving in, of going to bed, was incredibly tempting and distracting, and it was only through sheer force of will she was able to step away. “I’ll… I’ll wait in the living room.”

Nabbing her purse she paused at the door, watching as he pulled a tee over his head before fully leaving the room.

I get to wake up to this every morning. Forever.

The idea made her smile.

The car he had hired was a vintage Rolls Royce, properly posh, and Rose felt very fancy sliding into it in her summer dress and low, strappy heels. (She’d learned very early on with him that if she was going to do heels, straps were a must. Even bloody Cinderella couldn’t run in them.)

The Doctor climbed in behind her, and despite the spacious backseat wedged himself next to her so they were touching from knee to shoulder. Their feet naturally tangled together as he spread his arm along the back of the seat, a welcome if not warm weight across her shoulders, his fingers instantly tangling in her hair. Wanting to touch him as much as he did her she curved into him, resting her head on his shoulder and throwing her arm across his lap, settling her hand on his knee and tracing meaningless designs.

He hummed happily, letting out a sigh of contentment as they pulled away from the house. Rose tried to pay attention to the view as they headed for the first winery, but all she could focus on was the man next to her.

“Doctor?”

“Yes?” He tensed, and she turned her head to press her lips to his neck where his button-up gaped.

“I meant what I said, yesterday.” She kept her voice low, not so much to prevent the driver from hearing as to keep him calm, though that was an added bonus. “I’m not going to ask about… anything we discussed. I’m happy to talk about it, but not without you starting the conversation. Alright?” It had occurred to her, as she waited for him to finish dressing, that perhaps he was trying to keep her occupied and distracted so she couldn’t badger him about Susan, Peri, and any of the other women who had travelled with him over the centuries.

“I wasn’t worried,” he lied, even as the tension bled out of him. “But… thanks. Someday, maybe. Not now.”

Rose pulled back far enough for him to see her reassuring smile. “Whenever. I’ll be here.”

A bright, happy smile spread across his face and he dipped his head, kissing her.

It hadn’t seemed like they snogged all that long, just a few lingering smooches, but they only pulled away when the car stopped and their driver said, “Estamos aquí.”

“Gracias.” The Doctor pulled away first, opening the door and climbing out before offering Rose his hand. Smoothing her hair down and adjusting her hem to avoid flashing anyone, she eased out as well but kept hold of his hand as they started towards the open door.

It was a gorgeous day – bright blue sky, a small smattering of white, puffy clouds, a gentle breeze. Warm but not too hot, some of the other female guests were in sweaters, though Rose didn’t see the need for one.

“This is lovely,” she murmured, hiding a smile when he preened at the praise.

“We’ve got a tour then a tasting,” the Doctor said in his best tour guide voice, checking his watch even though she knew his time senses were still sharp enough for him to never need one. “And we’re about to be late. What is it with women and heels?”

Rose rolled her eyes, trotting alongside him. As an heiress she’d had to get used to the blasted things, but she hadn’t been prepared to keep up with his speed walking. “Because they make our bums look amazing. Duh.”

He actually, God help her, made her stop then took a step back, blatantly ogling her. Rose flushed as an older couple just to the left of them noticed, rolling their eyes and huffing.

“Doctor!”

After a moment he started walking again, offering her his arm. “I’d personally use the word fantastic, but that’s just me.” They shared a grin at the memory of his previous self as they made their way through the door, just in time for the tour.

Rose kept her eyes down as she signed the credit card slip, wincing at the exorbitant amount of money she was spending on wine she’d never be able to drink. Damn the Doctor and his new human body and hormones; she wasn’t looking forward to explaining to her mother she’d bought three cases of wine because they’d toppled over and shattered when her boyfriend tried to snog her against them.

“A few bottles were salvageable,” the irritated manager told her, setting a box carefully on the counter. “But please, never return.”

“I’m so sorry,” she repeated, blushing, focusing on putting her card away and grabbing the wine so she didn’t have to meet his eye; he, and the rest of their tour group, had gotten a good look at her thong and bare bumcheeks when the cases went over – well, what they could see around the Doctor’s hands. She was mortified, and the only comfort was that no one had appeared to be recording, so the chances of Vitex Heiress Caught Playing Grab-Ass being the next headline were low. She hoped.

Keeping her head down she hurried outside, lugging the box of wine bottles. Their driver, Tomas, met her halfway, taking and storing it in the boot as she climbed into the car.

“I’m sorry, Rose.” The Doctor was waiting for her, properly contrite, eyes wide as though he was expecting a proper bollocksing.

Smoothing her skirt and sinking into the seat, she settled her sunglasses firmly on her nose before patting his hand. “S’all right. Let’s just keep to walls, yeah?”

“Okay.” He perked up at that, before shoulders slumping again. “But this was the one where we were gonna have lunch.”

“Oh.” Rose frowned, peering out the window at the picturesque patio that overlooked the vineyard and sighed. “It’s okay, doesn’t look that nice anyway,” she lied, scooting closer as the car started down the driveway.

The Doctor took her hand, lacing their fingers together. “To the next one?”

She licked her lips, debating. They’d already been to three, and while they were interesting, they were all very much the same in most ways. Plus, they were properly buzzed from decent samples – hence the wandering hands in the first place. “Maybe we could just get takeaway and hang out at the house?”

“Oh, thank you,” he breathed, making her laugh. “Blimey, I didn’t expect it to be that boring!”

“If you thought it would be boring, why’d you book it?” Rose asked, amused, holding up a finger for him to wait before leaning forward towards the driver.

“Know good takeaway,” Tomas said before she could speak. “Fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you!” Snuggling back against the Doctor, she gestured. “Sorry. Continue?”

He was blushing, which was unusual and concerning.

“What?”

He rubbed at the back of his neck, tentatively meeting her eye. “I read an article,” he muttered, “about planning dates with your girlfriend. I thought you’d enjoy it.”

Rose’s heart melted, and she couldn’t help but coo. “Awww, Doctor!” She kissed him briefly. “That’s so sweet of you.” It meant the world to her, that he was trying, and she fought back the urge to tease him. “What else did it suggest?”

Shrugging, he relaxed slightly. “Dinner. Dancing. Um… a show.”

“Those sound good to me,” she encouraged, rubbing her thumb along his jaw. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“What, if anything, of that do you want to do? I don’t want to just do things I’m interested in and you’ll hate.”

He raised a sardonic eyebrow. “Like wine tasting?”

Rose flushed. “This is going to sound stupid, but… I don’t think we’re quite to that level of adult yet. Wine tasting, brunch… That’s, like, level three adult. I think we’re at about level one.”

“I dunno about you, but I’m still in the tutorial,” he joked, and Rose couldn’t have resisted the comeback that bubbled to her lips if her life depended on it.

“Spending a lot of time fiddling with the joystick, eh? Testing it out?”

His blank stare made her laugh, and the dawning look of horror made her laugh harder until she was sobbing with it.

“Rose!” Flustered, he made a series of incoherent sputtering sounds as she howled. “Really?!”

Burying her head in his chest she rode the laughter out, gasping for breath as it refused to break. She hadn’t laughed like this in years, and it felt good - freeing.

“Rose!” His voice broke, squeaking, indignation and desire warring on his face.

The car came to a stop, but she was still too deep into the laughing fit to get out, making him go get the food instead.

Drying her eyes as it subsided and checking her face in the compact mirror she carried, she smiled at the happy face staring back at her. The miserable, lonely life she’d been leading not three months before was a thing of the past, nearly forgotten, the darkness in her then driven out by the sunshine of the Doctor’s smile, the warmth of his hand in hers, and the happiness in her heart.

The future was bright.

#bbatcfic #doctorroseprompts #ficandchips #Doctor Who #TenTooxRose #TenToo #Rose Tyler #prompted #Barcelona is for Lovers #lemons

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chocolatequeennk · 6 years

Text

Forever and Never Apart, 33/42

Summary: After taking a year to recover from the Master, the Doctor and Rose are ready to travel again. But Time keeps pushing them forward, and instead of going back to their old life, they slowly realise that they’re stepping into a new life. Friends new and old are meeting on the TARDIS, and when the stars start going out, the Doctor and Rose face the biggest change of all: the return of Bad Wolf.

Series 4 with Rose, part 7 of Being to Timelessness; sequel to Taking Time (AO3 | FF.NET | TSP)

Betaed by @lastbluetardis, @rudennotgingr, @jabber-who-key, and @pellaaearien. Thank you so much!

AO3 | FF.NET | TSP

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 | Ch 9 | Ch 10| Ch 11 | Ch 12 | Ch 13 | Ch 14 | Ch 15 | Ch 16 | Ch 17 | Ch 18| Ch 19 | Ch 20 | Ch 21 | Ch 22 | Ch 23 | Ch 24 | Ch 25 | Ch 26| Ch 27 | Ch 28 | Ch 29 | Ch 30 | Ch 31 Ch 32

Chapter Thirty-three: Winning the Lottery

Life. Vibrant colours. Dozens of voices talking all around her. Unfamiliar scents of unfamiliar foods, and a slight salty tang in the air if she breathed deeply enough.

Rose took the Doctor’s arm and beamed up at him. “Do you know what?” she murmured as she kissed his jaw. “Travelling with you—I love it.”

He turned his head slightly to catch her lips in a kiss. Yeah? Me too.

Warm happiness flooded Rose at his agreement as she melted into his kiss. It had been over a month since Midnight, and so far, they’d only taken trips back to places they were familiar with. Ones the Doctor trusted to be safe. She never complained, and didn’t even mind, really… but it hurt to watch him struggle to heal and know she couldn’t do anything to help.

Shan Shen wasn’t a huge step outside of his comfort zone, since he’d visited the planet before, but they’d never been there together. And more importantly, coming here had been his suggestion, completely unprompted.

The Doctor nipped at her lip. You’re thinking too much, love.

Just thinking about how I can’t imagine my life without you, she countered, smiling against his lips when he hummed happily in reply.

“Oi! Lovebirds! Stop snogging and start shopping.”

Rose giggled as she pulled away from the Doctor, then turned towards Donna. Jenny stood beside her, bouncing on her toes the same way the Doctor did when he was eager to explore a new world.

“Yeah, all right. Let’s go.” She reached for the Doctor’s hand and laced their fingers together. “Which way, Doctor?”

He swung their hands between them as he scanned the alleys splitting off in all directions. “This way,” he said, pointing towards a narrow street with his free hand, then diving into the melee of vendors and tourists filling the space.

Rose couldn’t stop looking around as they weaved their way through the stalls. Paper lanterns, parasols, and banners with Chinese characters hung overhead, and the natives appeared to be dressed in traditional Chinese garb. Giddy excitement bubbled up inside her as she soaked it all in.

When she felt a hint of guilt from the Doctor, it was easy to suss out its source and dismiss it. You needed a break, she reminded him. I’m never gonna push you to do more than you’re comfortable with. A partnership only works if both partners are comfortable.

He brushed his thumb over her knuckles, and his guilt was replaced by gratitude. Then he pulled her over to a stall selling his favourite drink. “Come on, ladies,” he said, buying four mugs of the foaming concoction and handing them out. “Bottoms up!”

Rose clinked her cup against Jenny’s and winked at her before they both tipped their mugs up and took big gulps. “Ohhh, that is amazing,” Rose moaned as the rich coffee flavour of the alien cappuccino hit her tongue.

“I’d rather have a water,” Donna protested.

“No,” the Doctor insisted, taking his own drink. “You are going to love it.” Donna sighed, but lifted the cup to her lips. “One, two, three!” They both tipped their drinks back.

“Lovely!” Donna agreed a moment later as she licked the foam moustache from her top lip.

“See, I told you!”

They hovered near the coffee stand while they finished their drinks, so they could hand the ceramic mugs back when they were done. Jenny sidled over to Rose as they browsed the nearby stalls, and Rose spotted the Doctor ducking into a tiny shop as soon as their daughter had her occupied.

“Did you need something, Jenny, or did the Doctor just ask you to distract me while he stepped in there to buy me a present?”

Jenny pressed her tongue to the back of her teeth, and Rose laughed. “I won’t peek at what kind of shop it is,” she promised.

“Actually, I was wondering if maybe you and Dad would like to wander alone for a bit,” Jenny said. “I mean…” She gestured at Donna. “Donna promised to show me how haggling works.”

Rose nodded. “Of course. Ask the Doctor before you take off if haggling is acceptable on this planet, but you’re always welcome to explore on your own.”

The Doctor exited the shop just as she finished her sentence, and Rose quickly looked away before he spotted her watching for him. “What are you up to?” he said as he joined her and Jenny.

Donna returned from dropping off the mugs. “I was planning to take Jenny and introduce her to the ancient practice of haggling.”

“Is haggling allowed on Shan Shen?” Rose asked.

The Doctor nodded quickly. “Oh, absolutely. And Shan Shen is perfectly harmless—I can’t think of anything you need to watch out for.”

Donna snorted. “I’m gonna be looking for a salt shaker so I can toss some salt over my left shoulder, thanks to that statement,” she muttered. “Come on, Jenny!”

The Doctor shook his head as they watched the two women blend into the crowd. “What is it?” Rose asked.

“Jenny and Donna,” he mused. “It’s not a friendship you’d think of automatically, but somehow, it works.”

Rose shrugged. “Well, they both love to travel. They love the adventure of new places and doing things they’ve never done before.” She tugged on the lapel of the Doctor’s overcoat. “Those are all the reasons they make excellent travelling companions, after all,” she pointed out.

The Doctor wrapped an arm around her waist and hugged her quickly. “Quite right,” he agreed. Then he started down a different alley, and Rose easily kept up with him.

An idea built in the back of Rose’s mind as they weaved their way through the stalls. As the Doctor slid the fancy new teapot they’d just purchased into his pocket, Rose bit her lip and looked up at him.

“Oh, no,” he groaned.

“What?”

“You’re biting your lip, which means you’re about to suggest something I’m not going to like, but you’ll convince me to go along with it because I’m rubbish at saying no to you.”

Rose clasped her hands in front of her and leaned towards the Doctor, looking up at him through her eyelashes. “We could just skip to the part where you say yes?”

The Doctor rubbed at his forehead, but Rose could see the smile he was trying to hide. “What am I saying yes to, love?”

“Would you mind if I had a wander, just for a bit?”

Fear flickered over the bond, but it felt more like a habit than a genuine emotion, so Rose pressed on. “Shan Shen is safe, right? Perfectly harmless, you said.”

The Doctor nodded slowly. “Right, yes. But… I thought we were going to explore it together.”

“And we will. I promise.” She put her hand on his chest. “I want to get you something, Doctor. Just… I really want to surprise you with something, and I can’t do that if you’re with me the whole time.” She looked up at him pleadingly. “You should be able to understand that—don’t think I didn’t see you dart into that stall earlier while I was talking to Jenny.”

His hand reached automatically for his coat pocket, then he flushed when he realised he’d given himself away. “All right, in that case, why don’t we meet right back here in an hour?”

Rose beamed at him, then pushed herself up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you!” she called out as she pivoted and darted into the crowds.

They were in the middle of a food section of the market, and she worked her way past fruit and vegetable vendors hawking things like shukina and peshmoni. Much as the Doctor loved alien foods, she doubted there was much here that he hadn’t tried before, so she kept going, intent on finding him something truly special.

She couldn’t explain why she was so determined to find him something from Shan Shen—maybe it was because this was the first trip they’d taken since Midnight where he’d seemed truly relaxed. For whatever reason, she knew she wanted him to have something that would remind him of their visit here.

A flash of gold caught her eye, and she turned around, thinking she’d found a clothing stall. Instead, it was a young woman dressed in black and gold, with her thick black hair pulled back in a braid.

“Oh, hi,” Rose said.

The young woman smiled mysteriously. “Tell your fortune, lady. The future predicted. Your life foretold.”

Rose nearly laughed. Of all the things a stranger could offer a time traveller, predictions of the future had to be the absolute last thing that would be of interest. “Nah, I’m much more interested in the present, thanks.”

Time’s in flux anyway, so anything you showed me would only be one possible future.

The woman tilted her head, the tiniest crease of a frown in the middle of her forehead. “Don’t you want to know if you’re going to be happy?”

Rose snorted. “You’re a rubbish fortune teller, mate, or you’d know I’m already very happy.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “The man you were with. He will laugh when you tell him my ridiculous ideas of your future.”

That got a genuine laugh from Rose. “All right, you’ve convinced me,” she said, and allowed herself to be led into the dimly lit stall.

The fortune teller stoked the fire in the brazier and gestured for Rose to take one of the two chairs beside it. Rose rolled her eyes again, but sat down and didn’t pull back when the woman took her hands.

“Oh, yes, very different,” she said, then looked up at Rose. “The man you are with. He is the most remarkable man. How did you meet him?”

Rose arched an eyebrow. “Aren’t you supposed to be giving me the answers, not the other way around?” The smell of incense in the stall was cloying, and she really wanted to just pull her hands away and walk off.

As if sensing this, the woman tightened her grip just slightly. “I see the future,” she said curtly. “Tell me the past. When did your lives cross?”

Rose sighed, but answered the question. “He blew up my job.”

“That is what happened, but what led you to that meeting?” the woman pressed.

Rose heard a rustling behind her and shifted in her chair, making sure her bag was tightly between her feet so no one could steal it. She wouldn’t normally suspect a scam, but the way the woman had been so insistent that she allow her fortune to be read was suspicious.

She considered the question, a faint smile on her face. “Yeah… we met because I took the lottery money down that night.”

Rose regretted the words as soon as they passed her lips. Time seemed to move sideways for just an instant, and her head swam as the details of the last six years of her life went out of focus, before sharpening again.

“What’s happening?”

“It’s the incense,” the fortune teller told her. “Just breathe deep.”

Rose tried, but she still wanted to throw up. “I should… I should go.”

“Tell me more,” the fortune teller said desperately. “You said you took the lottery money down the night you met him. What would have happened if you hadn’t?”

“Well, I wouldn’t have met him.” But that wasn’t all. Rose remembered what the Doctor had told her about his plans for that night—he would have died.

“Why did you take the money down? Was it your turn?”

“No.” Rose blinked, trying to remember the details that seemed so fuzzy all of a sudden. “No, it was supposed to be Keisha.”

The fortune teller narrowed her eyes. “Your life could have gone one way or the other,” she intoned. “When was the moment. When did you choose?”

“Hey, Rose. D’you have plans tonight?”

Rose rolled her eyes as she carefully stacked the neatly folded jumper. “Nah. I think there’s a match on, so me and Mickey might go to the pub. Why?”

Keisha twisted her necklace, and Rose grinned at her friend. “Hot date?”

“Maybe.”

“All right then. I’ll take care of your closing list so you can skip out early.”

Keisha squealed and wrapped Rose in a hug. “Thanks, babe!”

“I… my friend, she had a date and she asked me to do it.”

The rustling sound was louder, and Rose almost thought she felt something on her back. Different timelines swirled around her, so fast they made her head spin. Then, for just an instant, she saw a future where she’d never met the Doctor, one where he died in the explosion and their entire life together was erased.

With the last bit of strength she had, Rose yanked her hands from the fortune teller’s and stood up. “What are you doing to me?” she gasped.

The fortune teller’s eyes were wide, and Rose knew, somehow, that she wasn’t supposed to be aware of whatever the other woman was doing to manipulate the timelines. But as quickly as she realised that, her vision greyed out again, and she knew she was going to fall.

“What are you doing to my wife?” the Doctor snarled as he pushed his way into the stall, just in time to catch Rose. She felt him pluck something off her back and toss it onto the fire.

The fortune teller cowered before them. “You were so strong. What are you?”

“Time Lords,” the Doctor snapped. “Which means your little Time Beetle won’t work on us. Go back to the Trickster and tell him to try again.”

The woman turned and ran, and the Doctor scooped Rose up into his arms. “Come on,” he murmured. “Let’s go home.”

“Donna and Jenny,” Rose protested, her voice weak.

“We can text Donna when we get back to the TARDIS, and she’ll tell Jenny. You’ll feel better once you’re on the ship. She exists in a state of temporal grace, so it’ll help the nausea pass.” He clenched his jaw. “She’ll feel better once you’re home, too. She’s a bit panicked right now. We both are.”

Rose tried to lift her hand to stroke his jaw, but she was too tired. Instead, she rested her head on his shoulder and let him carry her home.

The TARDIS whistled loudly when they stepped inside, making even the Doctor wince. “I know,” he told her. “But it didn’t happen.” He carried Rose through the console room into the corridor, and a door flew open on his right.

The Doctor set Rose down on the infirmary bed and put a hand on her shoulder when she tried to get up. “Why’re we here?” she asked, her voice slurred.

“Because someone just tried to change time around you, and I need to make sure you’re all right,” he said as he ran the sonic over her.

“M’fine, Doctor.” Rose tried to reach for his hand, but like before, she was too weak.

“Maybe, but I want to be sure.” Finished with the scans, he sat down on the edge of the bed and brushed the hair out of her eyes. She leaned into his touch and that tiny caress nearly broke his control.

He clenched his jaw and took a few deep breaths, until he thought he could speak without his voice cracking. “What kinds of questions did the fortune teller ask you?”

Rose wrinkled her nose as she thought. “She wanted… She wanted to know how we met. And then she kept pushing me to tell her what would have happened if my day had gone differently, if I hadn’t taken the lottery money down.”

The Doctor shuddered. They’d talked about that before, and it wasn’t a happy prospect. “She wanted to rewrite your life so you never met me,” he realised.

“I think so.” Rose sighed and rested her head on the pillow for a few moments, then she looked at him again. “Doctor? How did you know?”

“Our timelines are linked,” he reminded her. “So when the Time Beetle started changing your past, I could feel the way time went wibbly around you.” It was only half the answer, but it was the part she didn’t already know—he didn’t need to tell her that he’d felt her discomfort like a shiver down his own spine.

“Wibbly?” Rose smiled weakly. “Is that a technical term?”

“Something like that.”

“Is that what made me dizzy and nauseated?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Fiddling with another person’s timelines is usually undetected, but Time Lords are uniquely equipped to sense shifting timelines. And when the Time Lord has a bond, the ramifications of the shift are expounded, making it uncomfortable or even painful.”

Rose tried to ignore the unspoken truth that if she were still human, she wouldn’t have noticed what was happening. She scooted closer to him and rested her hand on his knee. “What did she do? You called it a… Time Beetle?”

The Doctor scowled. “Part of the Trickster’s Brigade,” he explained, unable to keep the anger out of his voice. “They were just hoping to cause a slight shift in timelines, but you… well, that’s not how it worked.”

Rose didn’t respond, and the Doctor watched for a few moments as she fought valiantly against sleep. He shook his head, then brushed a kiss over her forehead. “Go to sleep, love,” he whispered.

Stay with me?

The Doctor swallowed hard, then swung his legs up so he was sitting beside Rose on the bed. She immediately shifted towards him, ending up with her head in his lap and an arm slung over his legs, as if to anchor him in place. He sighed and combed his fingers through her hair. After the way their timelines had been disrupted, he needed to be touching her—and it seemed she felt the same way.

Rose had been asleep for half an hour when the terminal beeped with the scan results. He carefully slid off the bed to read over the results. Relief coursed through him a moment later. Despite the best effort of the Trickster’s Brigade, Rose was just fine.

Alone on the bed, Rose whimpered in her sleep and rolled in search of him. The Doctor picked her up once more, this time to carry her to their room. Shhh, he said when she snuffled softly. We’re just going to bed.

In their room, Rose woke up just long enough to not be a total deadweight when he changed her into her pyjamas. Come to bed, love, she requested as she slid between the covers. Wanna cuddle with you.

The Doctor smiled and changed into his own pyjamas. To his surprise, Rose was still awake when he slid under the covers. “Is something the matter?” he asked, sensing that she was almost fully awake now.

She propped herself up on her elbow and looked down at him. “Tell me what’s bothering you.”

He reached out and brushed hair out of her face, than ran his fingers over her features. Rose reached up and held his hand to her face, and that tenderness finally broke his control.

Two tears slipped down his face. “I thought… I didn’t know what was happening to you,” he told her, his voice raspy. “I was just shopping for an anniversary present, and suddenly, our bond went haywire as your timeline stretched and bent.”

He shuddered at the memory. “I dropped whatever I was holding and ran out of the stall. The bond snapped back into focus and I was able to follow it to you. Then just before I reached you, I could feel your fear.”

Rose nodded. “I knew something was wrong. My memories kept swimming in and out of focus. And she wouldn’t let me go.”

The Doctor felt the muscle in his jaw twitch. “Oh, she would have,” he said grimly. “If you hadn’t already been halfway to rescuing yourself when I got to you, I would have made sure she let you go.”

Rose grinned up at him, her tongue peeking out. “It was a two-person operation, for sure,” she agreed. “I’m glad you were there to catch me.” She put her hand on his chest. “You always catch me before I fall.”

He shook his head. “Not always.” A dark thought crossed his mind, and he couldn’t stop it before it slipped past his lips. “Do you ever wish you hadn’t bonded with me?”

Rose had been on the verge of drifting off again, but that woke her up completely. She pushed herself upright and stared down at the Doctor. He was avoiding her gaze, leaving her to stare at the top of his head.

“How can you ask me that?”

He looked at her then, and the guilt in his eyes surprised her. “This is the second time in less than two months that you’ve been hurt because of our bond.”

Rose shook her head. “Today wasn’t about the bond,” she argued. “That woman just knew that I travelled with you, not that we have a bond. And in the end, it was the bond that gave me the strength to hold out against her.”

“That still leaves the entity,” he reminded her.

A hard knot settled in the pit of Rose’s stomach. “Doctor,” she asked carefully, “do you regret our bond?”

“No,” he answered immediately. Then his lips twisted into a self-deprecating smile. “And how selfish does that make me?” He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “But I can’t bring myself to regret something that’s given me so much joy, even though I know it’s put you in danger.”

Rose rolled her eyes and lightly tapped him on the back of his head with the flat of her hand. His forehead wrinkled, and he pouted. “What was that for?”

“For being a space dunce, as Donna would say,” Rose answered acerbically. “If I don’t regret our bond, do you really think it’s selfish of you not to? Doctor, I don’t want you to regret it. It makes me so happy to hear you talk about how happy it’s made you, because that’s exactly how I feel. And when you ask if I wish we’d never bonded…” She swallowed. “That hurt, Doctor.”

She felt the moment understanding replaced the guilt that had shortsighted him. “Oh,” he breathed. “Oh, Rose.”

He lay back down and opened his arms to her, and Rose sniffed as she curled up against his side. “Don’t do that again, please,” she whispered.

“I won’t. I won’t, love—I promise.”

“So we’re agreed? Our bond is a good thing, even if sometimes it gets used against us?”

The Doctor brushed her hair back over her ear and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Absolutely.”

Rose took a deep breath and let the honey and clove scent of his skin relax her. Then a yawn caught her by surprise, and suddenly, her eyelids were heavy.

The Doctor chuckled and rested his hand in the small of her back. “Go to sleep, Rose. You’re safe now.”

oOoOoOoOo

The sound of an alarm blaring woke Rose up, but even as her hand went up to slap it, something felt off. She hadn’t woken up to an alarm in years.

What’s going on? she wondered as her eyes fluttered open.

As soon as she caught sight of the pink walls, she was wide awake and sitting up in bed. She hadn’t slept in this room in… well, nearly as long as it had been since she’d woken up to an alarm.

There was something else off, and it took her a moment to place it. The insistent throbbing in her head finally helped her pinpoint it.

The bond was gone.

“What the hell is happening?” she yelled as she jumped out of bed.

Even the missing bond didn’t feel the way it should. Instead of being constant, migraine level pain, it was just a sense of wrongness in her head—sort of like the dull throbbing of a hangover.

The phone on the nightstand beeped, and Rose absently realised as she grabbed it that this was her old phone, the one she’d had when she met the Doctor.

There were dozens of missed calls and voicemails, plus a few text messages that seemed to be condolences. Rose frowned; what was going on??

Looking down at herself, a niggling possibility presented itself. She was in her old pyjamas, in her old room, with her old phone.

“Oh, my God, what is happening?” she muttered as she shuffled out of her room.

“Yeah, it’s a bit strange, I’ll give you that.”

Rose screamed and threw her phone at the unexpected person sitting on her sofa. “Mickey! What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in Pete’s World?”

Mickey Smith chuckled. “I told them. I told them you’d be able to remember the prime timeline, but no one believed me.”

“What do you mean, the prime timeline? And why do I feel like I’m back to my life before I met the Doctor?”

Mickey’s grin disappeared. “Because you are, babe. Well, more like your life if you’d never met the Doctor.”

Rose’s stomach turned. “That’s what that woman tried to get me to do,” she whispered. “She tried to get me to change my past so I wouldn’t meet the Doctor… and then he’d die when he blew up Henrik’s.”

Mickey nodded. “And then the two of you wouldn’t be able to stop the Nestene Consciousness the next day,” he continued.

“The condolences on my phone…” Tears welled up in her eyes, and it was hard to breathe. “Mum was in town shopping that night.”

Mickey stood up and put his hands on her shoulders. “Look at me, Rose.” He waited until she’d taken a deep breath and was looking into his eyes before he continued. “None of this is real. Remember that. This is just an alternate timeline.”

Rose brushed a tear away from her eyes. “Right. I know that.” She tilted her head and looked at Mickey. “You never told me… why are you here?”

“Come on, sit with me.”

They sat down on the couch, and Mickey handed Rose a cup of tea. “It may have been five years since I saw you last, but I reckon I still know how to make tea the way you like it.”

“Five years?” Rose felt a pang of sorrow.

“Well, I’m not counting the few hours at Canary Wharf.” Mickey nudged her. “You should have heard your mum going on when you disappeared right out of Pete’s arms, by the way.”

Rose laughed. “Yeah, I bet. Now, tell me what’s going on. How are you even here? We closed the walls between the worlds.”

“Yeah, about that. When you get back to the Doctor, you need to tell him. Tell him the stars are going out, Rose.”

She blinked. “What do you mean, the stars are going out?”

But even as she asked the question, she could feel another tug, and she knew she only had a few seconds left to talk to Mickey.

“Just tell him that, Rose,” he ordered. “Reality is breaking down, and the stars are going out.”

oOoOoOoOo

Rose woke up again, and this time, everything felt just as right as it had felt wrong before. She could hear the Doctor’s hearts beating beneath her ear, and his arm was a comforting, familiar weight around her waist. When she opened her eyes, the walls were the sandy/coral colour she’d chosen when she’d decided to paint a few months before, and she and the Doctor were both wrapped up in their blue duvet.

But most importantly, she could feel him in her mind, the bond connecting them just as it always did.

That same bond woke the Doctor up when he sensed her anxiety, and she traced a finger over his eyebrow as his eyes opened. “You weren’t out for long,” he observed, his voice still gravelly from sleep.

“Bad dream,” she told him.

“Want to tell me about it?”

“I think I need to.”

Fully awake now, the Doctor narrowed his eyes and studied Rose for a moment. What he’d taken for lingering fear from a nightmare he now realised ran deeper than that. “Why don’t we go sit in the study?” he suggested.

Rose nodded, and they both rolled out of bed and pulled on their dressing gowns. When they entered the study, there was a fire going in the fireplace and tea waiting for them on the coffee table.

The Doctor waited until Rose had lifted her mug and breathed deeply of the tea before asking, “What did you dream about?”

She took a sip and considered the question. “I think it was… I think it was what would have happened, if the Trickster had succeeded today. I was back in my old room at the flat, and I had dozens of messages on my phone because Mum had died in the Auton attack.”

She blinked back tears, and the Doctor took her hand. “It’s just an aborted timeline, Rose,” he soothed. “That never happened.”

Rose shook her head. “No, I know that. But the important part is what comes next. Because when I got up, Mickey was waiting for me in the lounge. Only… not the Mickey from back then, this was an older Mickey.” Her fingers tightened on the handle of her mug. “Remember, I told you I thought he was the one returning.”

The Doctor’s time senses started buzzing when Rose mentioned Mickey. “Go on,” he said, his voice tense.

“Mickey said he was there because… the stars are going out.” She closed her eyes, trying to remember more details. “I asked how he got there, since the walls between the worlds are closed, and that’s what he said. The stars are going out.”

The Doctor wanted to protest that all this had happened in a timeline that didn’t even exist, but he could feel in his bones that it wasn’t true. “Well,” he said, trying to be cheerful. “We did wonder how your family could possibly have moved back to this universe, like Melody said.”

“So you think it’s real then?” Rose asked.

The Doctor nodded. “It fits too well with other things that have happened to not be real.”

“Then what do we do?”

He stood up and pulled Rose to her feet, and they walked back to their room. “Well, first we need to text Donna—we never did that earlier—and ask her and Jenny to come back to the TARDIS.” He continued detailing his plan as they got dressed. “Once we’re all on board, we’ll take a quick hop back to Earth, maybe check in with UNIT and see if they’ve noticed anything about stars going out.”

“Weird thing about that dream,” Rose said as she texted Donna. “It was supposed to be an alternate timeline, right? So I was nineteen-year-old Rose, who’d never met you—didn’t even know you existed.”

“Yep.” The Doctor loosened his tie so it didn’t feel so tight against the lump in his throat.

She slid her phone into her jeans pocket and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “Well, then how come I remembered you? And I knew we were supposed to have a bond?”

“Well, you weren’t really stuck in that timeline,” he pointed out reasonably. “You must have caught just enough of a glimpse of that timeline this morning to remember the important detail—Mickey saying the stars were going out. And then your brain turned it into a dream so you would remember to tell me.”

“Right… so because it was a dream, I was able to be both younger Rose and the real Rose, at once. Got it.”

Rose held out her hand and offered the Doctor a smile. Her dream had reminded them of the life they would have been stuck in if the fortune teller had succeeded, and they were both trying to forget that sober almost-reality.

She let out a little sigh of relief when he smiled back and took her hand. “Come on.” She nodded towards the door. “Jenny and Donna will be back any minute.”

Despite the uncertainty and the obvious danger of the situation Mickey had described—the stars were going out?—Rose felt just a little bit of excitement trickle in as they walked to the console room. The Doctor was right. This might be what allowed her family to come to this universe… and that meant she might see her mum again soon.

But all thoughts of seeing her mum and meeting her baby brother or sister vanished when the Doctor pulled the door open. They both sucked in a breath when they saw two words repeated over and over on every surface.

Bad Wolf.

AN: We are almost to the final arc of the story! Next week, we'll get a quick glimpse of Pete, Mickey, and Jackie, and then in January, we'll start with Stolen Earth!

#ficandchips #ten x rose #dwfic #fic by Nancy #series: Being to Timelessness #cq's fic: forever and never apart #turn left!#i'm so excited for this chapter #because it is SO different from canon #can't wait to hear what you think!

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