Disclaimer: Doctor Who owns my soul, I own nothing.
Spoilers: If you blink, Doomsday
Thanks To: Mitashade, Amyo67and Rachelbeann for the beta.
Author's Notes: Written for Measi, who won me during the April 2009 Support Stacie Author Auction. She wanted hurt/comfort and for me to do my worst...I sort of failed at the worst bit.
"Okay, spill. Where are we?" Rose asked, bouncing in place, gaze darting everywhere, trying to take in everything at once. Trying not to miss a single thing.
A different solar system. A different planet.
Her first in five years.
Too excited to wait for a response, she stepped out onto the alien ground, listened to the soil crunching beneath her feet, and then nearly jumped out of her skin when the Doctor grabbed her by the arm, yanking her back onto the TARDIS. Throwing him a surprised look, ready to take him to task for scaring her like that, she saw the uncertainty in his eyes, the firm set of his jaw, and bit back her response.
"Doctor? What is it?"
He shook his head, watching carefully out the open door. "Don't know yet." His fingers clenched tight against her arm, nails biting into her skin, not enough to hurt, but enough to concern her.She hadn't seen him this nervous in...well, never. "Something doesn't feel right."
Following his gaze, the cool night air gently caressing her face, she scanned the darkness as well, trying to figure out what it was that had him so spooked. Daleks and Cybermen and Slitheen. Davros. The Doctor had faced so much in his 900 years, most of it barely fazing him, but this, this...unknown isomething/i had him hesitating, stopping her from leaving the safety of the TARDIS. It wasn't like him, wasn't like the Doctor she knew and loved. They should be rushing out that door together, embracing the unknown and, yes, even the danger, with arms open wide. And yet...
Then she saw it.
Slithering along the ground, half hidden in shadows, it looked like a cross between a snake, a duck and a caterpillar. It was about the size of a kitten, its body slimy and slick, with multiple legs jutting out from both sides, ending in tiny, pink-webbed feet. Its head was small, with a long tongue, and furry antenna sticking out on top. Whatever it was, it didn't look all that dangerous.
In fact, she thought it looked a bit daft.
She was just about to open her mouth to say as much when the Doctor's body relaxed next to hers and he breathed out a loud sigh of relief. "Just a Guharorkra slug. Completely harmless." But despite his reassurances, his voice still sounded strained.
She raised a questioning brow in his direction.
Licking his lips nervously, his gaze flitted from her to the panoramic scene outside, and then back again. "I, ah--" He shook his head. "I just..." Swallowing thickly, he dropped his head back and stared up at the ceiling.
She watched his Adam's apple bob up and down, waiting patiently for what seemed like an eternity, not wanting to push or upset him anymore than he already was. Whatever was going through his head, it was bad enough it'd rendered him nearly completely speechless. Which was something she knew from experience was difficult to do.
"Sometimes," he finally continued, voice quiet, eyes full of darkness, seeking out and finding hers, "if you look hard enough..."
The way he was looking at her, like she was something fragile, breakable, made understanding settle in her gut: he didn't want to risk losing her again. "You find trouble where there is none," she finished for him, squeezing his hand tight.
This was their first trip together since Canary Wharf. Their first adventure after losing each other with a finality that neither thought they'd be able to overcome. They'd only just got one another back, and whereas she couldn't wait to jump back into danger feet first, he was acting a bit more cautious. A bit more afraid.
Squeezing his hand again, she tried to reassure him as best as she could. "It'll be fine, yeah? Nothing's gonna happen."
"You can't know that," he bit out, shaking his head. "Could be dangerous out there. And you wouldn't know until you'd stepped right into the thick of it."
"Could." She nodded in agreement. "But it could be completely safe too, and we'd never know it. Not if we stay here nattering on about it."
"But, don't you see?" he pleaded with her, with his words, his voice, his eyes. "I can't risk that. Can't risk you. Not again."
"So what, then? We stay on the TARDIS forever? Never leave, not even for chips?" He had to understand that anywhere they went was dangerous. Even Earth. Especially Earth.
"Plenty to do on the TARDIS to keep us busy for years."
She rolled her eyes. "No offense, Doctor, but I think we'd go a bit mental with only each other to talk to."
"I wouldn't," he said solemnly, cupping her cheek and running his thumb lightly across her skin. Something in his voice made her stomach do flip-flops and she had to force herself not to lean into his touch.
As seductive as a thought as it was, having him all to herself like that, she knew that he didn't really mean it. Two days without leaving the TARDIS and he'd be going mental. Driving her mental as well. Besides, she wasn't willing to give up the adventure. Not because of some irrational fear of losing each other.
"I could take us someplace else, someplace safe," he continued, obviously taking note of her reluctance. "The fifth moon of Verboarase during the Cheet'ha dynasty."
"Cheetah?"
"Cheet'ha," he corrected her, emphasizing the second syllable. "Or someplace on Earth maybe? London, forty-fifth century is quiet. Peaceful."
She shook her head. "Knowing your driving we'd just as soon end up in the middle of a war."
But he didn't laugh. Instead his eyes filled with a sadness deeper than she'd seen before. "Don't wanna lose you again."
"Don't wanna lose you either." And she didn't. But they couldn't live a half-life together like that.
He took a deep, shuddering breath. "You're right. We can't hide away forever. You're so jeopardy-friendly, trouble would find us anywhere." He smiled a bit but it was forced and the skin around his eyes barely crinkled at all. She could still see the pain and the fear behind the teasing.
"Oi," she exclaimed, feigning offense, trying to keep up the charade that she knew was the only thing keeping him from tying her to the console and setting them into the vortex for the rest of her life. "I'm not the only one. The Isolus?" She dropped his hand and crossed her arms over her chest, challenging him.
"Werewolves in Scotland ring any bells?"
"You forgot about me! Got all posh with the Queen while I got abducted."
"Gelth."
"Your fault."
"Guharorkra slug."
"You--" She tossed him a confused look. "Wait. What? But we haven't..."
"Exactly. And we won't either unless you stop arguing with me and get on with it." He nodded in the direction of the open door. "You haven't seen anything on evolution until you've seen a Guharorkra slug's life cycle. From primordial ooze to more intelligent than a human in 3.32 Earth hours. Approximately."
She blinked, not sure she'd heard him right. "Pull the other one."
"Would I lie just to impress you?" he asked with all seriousness, then, no doubt seeing the look on her face, "Never mind. Don't answer that." Intertwining his fingers with hers, he walked out onto the alien planet--her first in five years--tugging her out with him.
Excitement shot through her, and she grinned at him. This was it. Finally, after all those years, she was back doing what she loved most; traveling, exploring, meeting new people and new creatures. With the Doctor.
It didn't get any better than this.
But then, not more than five feet from the TARDIS, the sky suddenly opened up and rain poured down on them. The storm came on suddenly, lightning streaking across the sky in brilliant yellows and blues. Bushes whipped about in the wind and for a second Rose swayed on her feet, stunned by the force of it all.
"Guharorkran thunderstorms," the Doctor groaned.
"What?" Rose yelled, unable to hear him over the roll of thunder.
"Guharorkran thunderstorms," he said, more slowly this time, over enunciating the words. Because that made it easier to hear him. She groaned. "They only happen at night. Which is why the locals get inside, board up doors and windows before sunset." He tugged at his ear with a sheepish expression on his face. "Guess I forgot about it."
She groaned again, rolling her eyes in his direction. "You're such an idiot."
Nodding his head toward his ship, he asked, "You wanna ride it out in the TARDIS?"
"Dunno." She shrugged her shoulders. "Is it dangerous?"
"Not particularly, no. Not as long as we stay away from large bodies of water."
She eyed him, the sky, the TARDIS, trying to decide what they should do. But what was the point of traveling with the Doctor if she was just going to turn tail and run because of a little storm?
Smiling at him, she tugged on his hand, pulling him away from the TARDIS and toward the large forest in front of them. She almost expected him to try to pull her back, to tell her that they shouldn't risk it. That he couldn't risk her. But he didn't. He came with her willingly, bouncing in excitement the whole way.