Characters are not mine, and all that cal.
Enjoy, I hope.
Strobe lights flickered wildly, revealing the throng of dancing bodies in the club, gyrating fervently to the pounding bass being driven through an inadequate sound system. He never really did understand the appeal of dance music to humans, but for the moment he could put up with the discomfort on his ears. Leaning his elbows on the table and dropping his chin into his hands, he glanced over to the left and spotted Rose half dancing, half barging her way through the crowd, carrying two drinks. An overeager drunk staggered towards her, arms held wide for a hug, and was quickly met by a knee in the groin and a flashed smile. The Doctor grinned. He always did pick companions with a bit of zest.
She turned back towards him, and nearly tripped over someone who had clearly had too much and was sitting dazedly on the floor. Catching her balance, she almost collided with an antique grandfather clock- an odd touch for a club like this, but you never could tell with humans. Blushing a little, Rose straightened and kept walking, finally reaching the table and putting his drink in front of him. He smiled in thanks and raised it to his lips, sipping gently. His eyebrow raised.
"Vodka?" he asked as she flopped down next to him. "I could have sworn I asked for water."
"In a place like this? Good luck." She flashed another dazzling grin. "Besides, you need to branch out a bit, be a bit more adventurous."
"What, me? More adventurous? I'd have some trouble there."
"You know what I mean," she said, sipping her own drink. "Ranging through time and space for however many years, fighting things I couldn't even imagine, and you still want water in a nightclub." She giggled.
"Different metabolism, remember? Too much alcohol and I get heartburn. In both hearts."
"You've got two hearts?" A look of disbelief crossed her face. "Come on, you expect me to believe that?"
"I'm serious. Here, check yourself." Grinning, he tilted his head on one side, letting her place fingers against the side of his neck, finding the pulse. The rhythm was unmistakeable; beat-beat … beat-beat. He couldn't be faking the strange time signature- two hearts were definitely pumping the blood around his body. He chuckled at the startled look on her face.
"So what, you never thought about mentioning that?" she managed to get out through her amazement.
"It never seemed particularly important," he said, shrugging. "I thought you'd be expecting weird things like that by now. You've done a fair bit of ranging through time and space yourself."
"I'm not sure I'll ever get used to travelling with you," she laughed. "About the only thing I am sure of with you is that my life won't get boring anytime soon." She finished her drink and brought it down on the table with a flourish. "More?"
"Not if it's going to be more alcohol," the Doctor replied, to receive a shrug from Rose.
"Fair enough. I'm not that thirsty anyway." She lifted her legs up onto the cushions of the booth and leaned into the Doctor's shoulder, wriggling to get comfortable against the leather jacket. The Time Lord cast a puzzled glance down at his companion, giving way quickly to an acquiescent smile, and again the thought ran across his mind. You never could tell with humans- particularly human women.
They sat there, not speaking, for a few minutes, watching the dancers thrash around the floor, the very picture of inelegance to the Doctor's eyes. Exhausted couples cast envious glances at the booth, but his boyish smile said plainly; we're not moving. Eventually, Rose piped up again.
"So why are we here?"
"Don't give me that, it was your idea in the first place." Rose hadn't exactly been thrilled with the extent of the TARDIS wardrobe. Fine, if you happened to be male, or auditioning for a period drama, but too little to suit her tastes. She had demanded they go shopping, and London had seemed as good a place as any. Secretly, the Doctor suspected the TARDIS had rather a lot more in its wardrobe than it was letting on. It was a playful thing, prone to rearranging rooms and corridors from day to day. It couldn't very well fool him, but it got his human companions every time. Still, even if that was the case, a little shopping trip couldn't do Rose any harm.
She hit his arm playfully. "I know about the shopping, I mean why are we here? In this nightclub? You don't usually take me to places like this."
His perpetual grin widened. "You're making it sound like a date." This earned him another punch on the arm. "But anyway, while you were charging half of the contents of London's clothing stores to the TARDIS credit card, I thought I'd have a bit of a nose around, see if I could rustle up an adventure. I think I might have something." His eyes, which had been surveying the packed room for some time, alighted on something. "Ah, here we go."
Rose sat up and peered in the direction he was looking, a smile playing on her features. "This should be good. What am I looking for, exactly?"
"Right in the middle of the dance floor." He gestured, and Rose focused on the couple he was indicating. The man was tall and angular, a ponytail running down his back over a sharp black shirt. He had his arms wrapped around the girl, who looked to be several years his younger, and was kissing her furiously. Rose giggled unbelievingly.
"That's it? We're here to spy on young lovers?"
"Oh come on," the Doctor said dryly. "I've taught you better than that, surely. Look closer."
Rose did. The girl's hands hung limply at her side, fingers brushing the bottom of her obscenely short skirt, and she certainly didn't seem to be enjoying the experience. Also, on closer glance he wasn't kissing her mouth, but her neck. Or was it a kiss? A tiny trail of red ran across the expanse of cleavage she had on show. The colour drained from Rose's face as she realised the gaunt man had his teeth in the girl's neck.
"So this is your idea of a fun night out?" she asked, shakily.
The Doctor couldn't help the grin. "Yup. Vampires."