AN: The only spoilers this has is for Web of Fear. Nothing on Fury From the Deep, although I considered adding it on at the end. I decided it was better to leave it off. You can decide if the ending is happy or bittersweet for you. Understand, though, that this was intended just to be fluff, but it got a bit angsty in the middle without my permission. I obviously don't own these characters. Rated T primarily for the creepy factor of watching other people sleep, as well as for an abnormal excess of caffeine. Don't drink too much espresso, kiddies. It'll get to your brain after a while.
Jamie didn't seem to find much time to sleep on the TARDIS. They were always jumping from one adventure to the next, exploring the outside world the moment that their ship landed. He was grateful for a break after a second encounter with the Yeti and the Great Intelligence.
He could tell that Victoria was grateful, too. The minute they had re-entered the doors of the spaceship, Victoria had trudged off to her room, collapsing on her bed without bothering to shut her door or change clothes. Jamie felt a bit guilty for watching for a couple of minutes (after all, she was a refined young lady), but she just seemed so peaceful.
And beautiful.
Jamie shook the thought from his head. He had always thought Victoria was beautiful, certainly, but so was Polly. So was Kirsty. So was Samantha. So were so many other girls Jamie had encountered while travelling with the Doctor. Still, for some reason, Victoria stuck out as the most beautiful he'd seen yet. She was elegant. She was proper. And, as Jamie noticed, she had become less averse to wearing shorter dresses. Not as short as Polly used to wear, perhaps, but short enough to catch Jamie's attention.
He tore his stare away as he decided that he, too, should go off to sleep.
Through the night, Jamie dreamt of her as he had first met her, in that enormous and impractical (yet very attractive) gown, frolicking through the highlands with him. Of course, the dream grew stranger, as dreams were wont to do, but it seemed as though the plaid Daleks and bagpipe-playing spiders were somehow unrelated, and he chose instead to focus on the frolicking.
In his dreams, he held Victoria close. He could practically feel his heart pounding in his chest as he kissed her. Time seemed to slow in a bubble around him as the world outside changed at a faster pace. He would have been more than happy to remain in the realm of dreams for quite some time longer. Indeed, it was a great disappointment to him when he awoke.
After a few unsuccessful minutes of trying to reclaim his dream, Jamie finally accepted his reality once more and trudged back to the console room. Victoria was evidently already awake, darting around the room rather aimlessly while the Doctor was still off sleeping elsewhere. Little bits of his reverie flitted back to him, and he imagined how it would feel if he simply wrapped his arms around her right then. Reality won out of course, as could easily picture her response: Now, really, Jamie! You ought to keep your hands to yourself, thank you very much. That was quite improper, and we had best find something else to do, please! Jamie knew her too well to try to snatch her up in a random embrace. He settled for greeting her with a warm, "G'morning."
She smiled as she turned to the sound of his voice. "Good morning, Jamie." She was incredibly cheerful considering how tired she had been when she had gone off to sleep the evening before. "I've discovered the most wonderful drink in the TARDIS kitchen. It's called espresso, apparently, and I don't seem to feel sleepy at all anymore! I suspect I've had about three cups now. Would you care for some?" She was simply brimming with energy as she offered him the remains of her demitasse.
Jamie found that he had to laugh just a little bit. He thought he recalled Ben and Polly drinking something of that sort on occasion, although they seemed much calmer after drinking it than she did now. "Nae, I think I'll pass."
Victoria continued her half-hopping throughout the room, pausing every so often to interject random comments about how she might choose to never sleep again, or how very glad she was that Jamie decided to get up, because the control room did get rather lonely after a while. Jamie, however, was considerably distracted by the fact that Victoria was jumping just a tad and was still in the rather short dress she had worn the day before. His mind wandered off to how often the two of them had almost been lost forever, how one wrong step might have kept him from seeing happy moments such as this. His grin spread as he realized just how grateful he was to have gotten out of bed to see this moment.
He was brought back to reality quite suddenly when Victoria said, "You know, I had the strangest dream last night." Her face was quite serious, which made for an odd sight when juxtaposed with her undone hair and somewhat wrinkled dress. She looked up at Jamie. "You were in it."
He was in it? Jamie was thoroughly intrigued, his heart racing as he hoped it might have been similar to his own.
"And so were the Doctor and Professor Travers."
Jamie's heart slowed down again.
"And…" Victoria looked as though she had changed her mind about what she was going to say. "Oh, never mind."
"Well, ye were in my dream last night, too, lassie."
Victoria quickly looked straight at him. "Really?" she asked, her attention rapt.
"Och, aye. 'Course, so were some giant metal beasties and such…" He trailed off a bit as her face fell slightly. He suddenly remembered the context under which he had met Victoria –and the metal beasties- for the first time. It was horrible. His initial purpose in telling her was to disappoint her as she had disappointed him, but perhaps this was a step too far. The guilt from such a statement was overwhelming.
Much to his relief, though, Victoria's response was, "You mean there were others there?" Her eyes showed great concern.
"There were others in yer dream too, now. Remember that." He smirked just a bit.
"Well, yes, but…" She couldn't seem to come up with an excuse. "Oh, I suppose you're right." She went on prancing about the room, examining the controls which so suddenly seemed to fascinate her. Jamie leaned against the wall, watching her once more.
His mind slipped back to a dream-like state, imagining how easy it would be to just go up behind her, to wrap his arms around her, to bury his face in her hair. The daydream was so pleasant, so lifelike; he could almost feel the texture of her tresses against his face, the light fabric of her dress against his hands.
Jamie pulled himself from the reverie for fear of making it come true too suddenly. For a very brief second, he considered actually taking Victoria into his arms. Instead, on an impulse that he couldn't quite explain to himself, he darted out of the console room. Before he knew it, he was pacing around his own bedroom in frustration. It was as though he could no longer just imagine happiness. No, instead, imagining was causing him pain of sorts. When a very confused Victoria knocked on his door, he returned a false smile to his face.
"Jamie? Are you alright?" she asked him, furrowing her brow a little, peering into his room.
"Aye, I'm fine."
"Then, why, exactly, did you just run away from me?"
Jamie blinked absently, unable to think of a lie that made any more sense than why he did run out so suddenly. He walked away from her yet again, going to sit on the edge of his bed and cover his face with his hands.
Victoria followed, sitting down next to him. "Well, Jamie, I can't say I know what you're upset about, but it's obviously very important to you." She sighed. "Having been through so much in the past year, though, I know it helps to simply have someone listening. Why, I imagine, this past year would have been much worse if I couldn't confide in you or the Doctor. Even if you don't tell me, I'd like to let you know that I would very much be open to listening."
He looked back at her slowly. She was half-smiling, her hair still an absolute mess, her eyes a little bloodshot from a lack of sleep and an excess of caffeine. Even as an overtired wreck, Jamie thought she was beautiful. She obviously wanted to know what was bothering him, and he couldn't deny her the opportunity to learn that, even if his reply would not be in words. Ignoring that sense of propriety which he usually worked so hard to maintain, Jamie leaned over and kissed Victoria.
When he pulled away, Victoria's expression was a blend of shock and wonder. "Oh, for goodness' sake, Jamie! What was that for?" She was not so much angry as she was bewildered.
"Well didnae ye like it?" He smirked at her.
"I suppose, yes, it was pleasant," Victoria stated in an effort to maintain decorum, "but you haven't even told me what your problem was yet-"
She was rather suddenly cut off by another kiss from Jamie. His lips moved gently against hers, and, this time, she responded, letting Jamie know that she really didn't mind all that much.
He smiled against her mouth. "Ye, lassie. Ye were my problem," he murmured.
"Me?" She pulled her head back just a bit, puzzled. "Whatever do you mean?"
"Well, for one matter, ye're the most bonnie lass I've ever seen. For another, I couldnae even bear to look at ye without my heart racing. I just had to run away, or I might have kissed ye right there in the console room."
Victoria smiled at him as he pulled her head back for yet another kiss. She was evidently making progress in her attitudes as well as her outfits, because she soon wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself in closer. Jamie was rather pleased with this outcome, as he had almost expected a slap on the face after he'd taken that first chance. He could feel his heart pounding as her lips continued to move against his own.
The kiss grew more passionate, causing the two to topple backwards and wrenching them apart. Victoria's laughter rang in Jamie's ear. He pulled her closer, burying his face in her hair. Despite having not bathed since the events at the Underground, she smelled of roses and wild berries. Jamie could imagine no sweeter scent. As he raised his head once more, he could see that her eyes were fluttering closed as she attempted to burrow her head into his chest, the effects of her earlier intake of espresso reaching their finale. He wrapped her arms around her, stroking the back of her head with one hand, as he, too, closed his eyes and returned to sleep.
When he woke, Victoria was still sleeping soundly in his arms. Jamie smiled, vowing never to let her go.