A/N: My obsession with Tegan/Five continues. Although this part is pretty tame, what will follow in the next couple of chapters is possibly the filthiest thing I've ever written. And yet even in a pure smutfest like this story, I think I've managed to sneak in some actual character development and a thought-provoking moment or two. Many thanks as always to my awesome beta, Moonmama, who always pushes me not to just settle for "good enough".
"Tegan, you're not listening!"
"And you're not saying anything new! So why should I?!"
The two combatants exchanged glares as they stood nose to nose in the Console Room. Neither had noticed when Nyssa bolted from the room, too caught up in their own drama to spare time for hers.
Nor did they notice how close they'd moved toward each other, the way their fists were clenched equally by their sides, as if ready to deliver physical blows as well as the verbal ones they'd already been exchanging.
When the Doctor made no response to her last accusation, Tegan jutted her chin aggressively. "Well? You still haven't given me one good reason why we can't fly your time machine," the last spoken with heavily emphasized irony, "back in time to rescue Adric!"
Well and truly giving the impression of a man whose last nerve has been thoroughly trod upon, he replied through gritted teeth: "Because, Tegan. It's. Not. SAFE!"
The last word was shouted, literally into her face, and she flinched back as he spun on his heel and strode out of the Console Room, radiating outrage and frustration.
No one had ever called Tegan Jovanka a coward. She'd relished driving the heavy machinery on the family ranch, she'd absolutely loved learning to pilot their twin-engine Cessna, and her decision to become an air hostess rather than a pilot had been based solely on which option would give her the chance to see the world quicker.
She'd stepped into an antique police call box and found herself literally in another world, traveling with aliens. She'd been on alien planets and watched the Doctor regenerate into an entirely different person.
She'd be damned if she was going to drop this argument, no matter how much of a "let it go or else" vibe he was giving off.
She'd never backed off from a challenge in her life.
With a fierce scowl marring her otherwise pleasant features, high heels ticking noisily on the uncarpeted TARDIS floor, she hurried after the Doctor.
oOo
She caught up with him just outside the door to his private quarters. She'd never been inside, but didn't hesitate to continue after him when he opened the door and stepped inside.
He must have heard her following him, but instead of stopping her at the entrance or slamming the door in her face, he left it open, allowed her entry. Or so she chose to interpret that open door; as an invitation to continue haranguing him.
That seeming courtesy took a bit of the wind out of her sails, but her dander was well and truly roused and nothing was going to stop her from having it out with him.
"Why isn't it safe?" she asked, exactly as if they hadn't just spent five minutes traversing numerous corridors since last speaking.
The Doctor was standing in front of a wooden desk, head down, one hand fiddling with some papers, the other held behind his back. For a moment Tegan thought he wasn't going to answer her, that he was finally going to snap at her to get out of his private rooms, when he turned to face her.
The anger that had suffused his features in the Console Room appeared to be back under control; his face was calm, his expression absolutely neutral. "Do you have a degree in temporal mechanics?" he asked. "Did you study temporal ethics along with tea service in first class? Hmm? Are you perhaps a Time Lord in disguise?"
Not so under control after all; those last, cutting remarks were meant to hurt. Tegan crossed her arms and glared at him. "You know I'm not," she spat out, the spark of anger easily rekindled by his condescending tone. "I don't even know what any of those other things are, and you know that, too."
"And that is why I can't explain it to you better," he replied, his voice once again cool and controlled – although a closer look revealed a twitch in his jaw that might imply he was grinding his back teeth in an effort to resist the urge to shout at her again. "If we try to rescue Adric, if we go back right now to that freighter – which has already crashed into Earth 65 million years ago – we risk upsetting a delicate temporal balance. His death is now a fixed point – "
Tegan waved away his attempt at an explanation with an impatient huff. "Yeah, you said all that already. But I still don't know how you know that. No one saw him die, we were in the TARDIS. Sure, we saw the freighter crash, but who's to say we didn't – don't – go back right now and fetch him out? The freighter will still crash, but Adric won't be on board. Everybody wins – us and the laws of time and space or whatever."
She was rather pleased with herself for coming up with this solution, but of course the Doctor was ready to smash her argument to bits. "You wouldn't think that if the human race suddenly vanished," he snapped, then fell silent with a look of dismayed chagrin, as if she'd goaded him into saying something he hadn't meant to.
Tegan pounced on his words, taking a step further into the room as she demanded to know what he was talking about. "How could the Human race just vanish?"
He sighed and tucked his hands into his pockets, eyes downcast, before returning his gaze to meet hers. To tell her something she clearly wasn't going to like. "Adric is from an entirely different universe, you know that much, correct?"
Tegan gave a wary nod in response. "Yeah, but what's that got to do – "
"Just listen!" the Doctor snapped. His hands had gone back to clenching and unclenching at his sides, and with visible effort he loosened them so he could clasp them behind his back. "Adric is from E Space, yet if you and he had conceived a child, there would be no medical intervention needed during the pregnancy, and you would give birth to a healthy, human-looking child after the normal amount of time had passed. What does that tell you?"
Tegan gave him a blank stare; he was getting at something, sure, but she had no idea what. "That you've been secretly planning a cross-species breeding program?" she finally asked, falling back on sarcasm to keep from feeling as slow and stupid as she frequently did around him. "I dunno, Doc, what's it supposed to tell me?"
"That Human DNA and Alzarian DNA are extremely similar," came his overly patient, lecturing-to-a-slow-student reply. "Which is statistically impossible, given your disparate origins. Why do you suppose that is?"
Oh, how she loathed that tone of his. Still, he was asking her a question that must hold a hint for her, so she did her best to ignore the tone and actually consider what he was saying. Without luck. "I must be stupid," she muttered unwillingly. She always hated admitting ignorance about anything to the Doctor. "You have to spell it out."
"The freighter, carrying Adric's DNA, exploded, bringing an end to the age of the dinosaurs and heralding a brave new world ruled by mammals. Including your ancestors," he added pointedly as she stared up at him.
The penny finally dropped. Tegan's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait, are you saying, that if Adric hadn't died in that crash, humans wouldn't have evolved? That's – that's just crazy!"
"Crazy or not, it is a fact," he replied, turning away from her again and shrugging out of his coat. He tossed it in the direction of a wooden coat rack standing in a corner of the small room; of course it landed neatly on the peg, where it was rapidly joined by his jumper. "Now if you'll excuse me, Tegan, I am desperately in need of some rest."
Tears welled up in her eyes as Tegan struggled to process the enormity of what the Doctor had just revealed. "So you're saying…the only reason Humans exist…is because Adric had to die?" Then, as something else occurred to her: "Wait, when did you know this stuff about our DNA? How long did you suspect something like this was going to happen?"
Just like that she switched back into attack mode. It was so much easier to be angry than to be confused and frightened.
They'd been standing in what she took to be a sort of anteroom, or perhaps a very small study, a room occupied only by the plain wooden desk, its matching chair, and the coat rack. The Doctor had turned his back on her again and was heading through another door. Presumably it led into the rest of his suite of rooms; bedroom or sitting room, library or kitchen, who knew? Either way, she stormed in after him as she shouted her last question.
Bedroom. She took in that much before zeroing in on the Doctor, who was standing in front of a dresser, his back to her. She noted with part of her mind that he'd kicked off his shoes and unbuttoned his cuffs – giving her a pointed, non-verbal message that he wanted to be left alone if she'd been in any mood to notice such things – but she was too caught up in her emotional upheaval to care. She reached out and pounded him on the back with her fist, demanding his full attention. "How long have you known this?" she yelled.
The yell turned abruptly into a yelp as he whirled and grabbed her wrist in a punishing hold, blue eyes glittering with fury. "Tegan, you're upset, we're all upset about Adric's death, but a childish temper tantrum won't do either of us any good!"
She slapped him. Hard.
The change in his demeanor was immediate, and Tegan realized she'd gone too far. She tried to pull out of his hold, only to have him grab her other wrist and take the two steps needed to slam her against the wall. Her breath went out of her in a whoosh as she fixed her gaze on the Doctor's furious face.
She knew she should probably offer an apology and just slink back to the room she shared with Nyssa, but some demon kept the words from leaving her lips. Instead, as her breath returned she found herself kicking and struggling against the Doctor's inhumanly strong hold, demanding that he let her go.
She may as well have railed at the Universe. He simply glared down at her, his gaze fixed, cheeks flushed, and she found herself wondering, inappropriately enough, if she'd ever seen eyes that exact shade of blue before.
When she opened her mouth again the Doctor shocked her to her very soul by swooping his head down and crashing his lips against hers in a punishing kiss.