Authors Note: More Kate Stewart and have way too many ideas for her and The Doctor going on adventures/falling more in love with each other.
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with the show or characters.
Kate moved quietly along the first floor of her house, quite terrified of the noises that had awoken her from below a few minutes ago, she shouted down the stairs after she had picked up the gun she had stored under spare towels in the hall cupboard, "I will not be afraid to shoot whoever you are!"
A voice shouted back to her in the darkness - it was only just after three o'clock in the morning. "I would hope by now we were past the threatening stage."
"Doctor?!"
She looked exhausted in a pair of pyjamas and her dishevelled hair but it still worked beautifully on her.
"You are as bad as my task forces, why won't people just learn to knock?! What are you doing here?"
"I must have miscalculated or the TARDIS decided that it had been too long since we last met."
"It's only been two days in my timeline."
"Do you want something to drink?" She asked, rubbing her tired eyes.
"No, I'll just leave and let you go back to sleep."
"You've woke me now so just stay. I would be getting up in a couple of hours anyway."
"Kate, would you like to go on a trip before you have to work?"
"I don't think I'm adequately dressed."
"I can wait, but you are more than passable as you are."
"Fine, give me five minutes."
Twenty minutes later she eventually appeared back downstairs while he was midway through gazing across through her DVD collection. "You watch some nonsense Ms Stewart."
"That coming from the man who has no fixed home and goes around playing with a magic screwdriver-"
"Sonic."
"Whatever. You get the point. And by the way I don't appreciate the vase the TARDIS broke in my hall." He had the decency to look at her sheepishly before smirking.
"I will get you the nicest, most valuable vase from 18th Century Paris. We could go there now."
One of her lopsided grins emerged on her lips before she replied, "No, I want to go somewhere, a completely different planet that I would never hear of in my entire lifetime. Some place beautiful and special that is a sanctuary away from UNIT and here!" Since they had met he had only ever taken her to Earth when he turned up and after hearing about how spectacular off-world was from her dad that she wanted some of it.
The Doctor knew she loved her work but it was becoming evident that she never took a break for herself and that was one of the many reasons he enjoyed taking her on these trips.
In his head he was still trying to figure out how he came to be in her home - he knew for definite he had put in the coordinates for a small community on a far-out planet but it landed him here. If he didn't know the TARDIS' workings then he would think his machine knew exactly what Kate had wanted and made a stop on the way to collect her.
The Doctor stood behind her, watching over her shoulder as he told her how to start their flight, not realising that she was holding her breath because of their close proximity. She could not say precisely when the feelings had first announced themselves on her but the Kate Stewart of old would have refused to have chanced turning up late for work in favour of wandering around galaxies with the man who had entertained her father and Sarah Jane in the same fashion before vanishing into oblivion.
Yet it was fast becoming the most thrilling part of her weeks, UNIT should be enough for someone - she knew that - but he was like a drug to her. It wasn't the destinations; it was the experiences, it was simply being with him.
Every now and then when they caught each other's eyes she thought he felt the same fluttering in his chest or breathtaking connection she encountered most of the time they spent together. She tried to warn herself to stop getting her hopes up but the stares were happening far too frequently for her to completely discount her belief.
As she went to reach out for one of the levers on her right The Doctor reached out for the same one and his hand ended up on top of hers. Her eyes shut tightly while she pulled away from the controls yet he didn't seem to notice her discomfort and continued to stand against her back, his breath blowing over her bare collarbone next to the thin strap of her vest. Thoughts of what she wanted to happen next raced through Kate's head and she hated herself but simultaneously had no intention of halting them.
He was the first crush - god, she sounded like such a lovesick teenager when she used that word - she had had in years and wanted some proof that he was was reciprocating the feelings but then there were all the other times when he was like this: completely oblivious to the power he had over her.
"Kate Stewart, a natural Time Lord in the making! Now, just press that button right in front of you and we're done." She slowly opened her eyes and did as he said, trying to get her pulse rate down to a slightly more reasonable sped.
The right hand sleeve of her loose pale grey sweater was sliding further down her arm, revealing the strappy top beneath more, yet it actually made her feel less self-concious around him so she let it stay as it was. She had never been so brazen in her adult life - her late teens were not included for a certain number of reasons with more than a couple of guys - but for her whole life her house had centred around her father's stories about this man that she felt as though they had been travelling together for decades.
His fingers trailed across her back as she began to walk towards the doors of the police box and she involuntarily shuddered at the feather-light touch. The Doctor threw the door open, "Welcome to Calana, population tiny and exactly what you need."
As always he was completely correct. Everything was pristine and gorgeous to stare at, and they strolled across the luscious green grass until they reached a lake that apparently took up a vast area of the land's surface. He looked at her and realised she had yawned at least three times since leaving the TARDIS so he sat down on the gravel next to the water, Kate kept walking for another moment before she noticed he was no longer next to her and laughed gently when she saw his playful expression then joined him on the ground.
The air was quite cold as duck was falling on the planet so she pulled her knees up and under her chin, wrapping her arms around her legs with her sleeves covering the majority of her hands also. Blonde hair fell over her cheek and face and her eyelids were getting heavier every second, he couldn't remember thinking anybody had looked so adorable on an adventure like this, true; barely anyone fell asleep on days out but that was his fault too. He still did not understand how he had appeared in her house but he was losing interest in figuring it out because he had been wanting to see her in every spare minute there was.
When they had been in the TARDIS and stood so close he assumed she would get the wrong idea - even if deep down it would have been correct - about why he should be miles and miles away from her body if he had moved, so had stayed as near as he would with any of his companions.
Kate was almost sound asleep by this point and she seemed to be shivering from the chill, he noticed the top of her jumper was still nowhere near her shoulder and reached out to fix it. He had watched its migration down her arm which had been a huge distraction when teaching her the controls since he couldn't take his eyes off her exposed skin. She looked as though she had no clue what had been going on in his mind when they spent hours together which made it a little easier for him as he would not have to try to tell her he was unable to have the type of relationship she deserved.
Pulling the top of her sweater up he allowed himself a gentle brush of his fingers against her flawless collarbone as her eyes stayed shut, her breathing settled into a peaceful slumber rate. In her dreams Kate was living a normal, suburban life with a family and a pet dog, but even her subconscious knew that she could not settle for that now and would rather turn up late to UNIT as long as she was able to spend her days with The Doctor. He moved closer to her and she shifted in her sleep eventually resting her head on his shoulder as he stared out on to this planet that was their personal haven at this particular moment on this particular morning.
