Disclaimer: Not my characters, however hard I wish that they were (especially my tiny ninja Jo). Just mindless Three/Jo fluff, because no one can convince me that they aren't the cutest thing in the universe. Enjoy.
"No ! No, he's a good man. Kill me, not him…"
"Kill me. Not him"
Jo's words to the daemon Azal reverberated in the Doctor's mind as they drove back to UNIT HQ in Bessie, the Doctor's antiquated yellow Edwardian roadster. In all his years, he reflected in shock, there had never once been someone quite as willing as Josephine Grant to give up their own life in order to save his, not even his previous self's companion Jamie had ever done that, which in itself was surprising seeing as Jamie had been one of the most loyal people the Time Lord had had the good fortune to meet. As he mused, his glance fell upon his young companion, who had dropped off, head falling to one side, short blonde hair covering part of her face in an endearing way. He smiled fondly, feeling incredibly proud of her, as well as more than a little touched by her selfless action of self sacrifice. Perhaps he should be angry with her, the Time Lord pondered, after all she could have died and then what would he have done? The girl meant the world to him; he couldn't bear to see her fire and optimism doused by anything, let alone by her own morals. The worst thing was that Jo seemed utterly oblivious to all of this, never seemed to realise just how close she had come to death in the past few days, after all Azal was only one thing but several other instances sprang to mind. He sighed, she really was ridiculously brave at times, but he had to admit to rather liking that particular trait in her.
A bump in the road, unseen in the darkness and by the Doctor's inattention to the road, caused Bessie to lurch violently, jolting a bleary-eyed Jo out of her sleep.
"Doctor?"
"It's alright. Go back to sleep Jo, I'll wake you up when we get there."
The blonde shook her head, getting rid of the lingering sleep, and smiled brightly. "Not a chance Doctor, I'm awake now! Where are we?"
"We're about halfway to HQ, still quite a way to go yet I'm afraid."
"Right…Are you sure you're going the right way? We did get lost on the way here, remember." Jo pointed out, still smiling at him.
The Doctor smiled back, under any other circumstances he would have glared at her, and reminded her that she had been the one to get them lost in the first place due to her poor map-reading skills, instead he simply replied, "Of course I'm sure, a path trodden, never forgotten after all." He was of course, referring to his time lordian memory, which permitted him to remember his way perfectly.
She laughed quietly, understanding what he wasn't saying, and the pair lapsed into a comfortable silence, which lasted several minutes, during which Jo frequently shot her friend confused looks. After a while, the questions she'd been dying to ask let themselves free. "Doctor, are you angry at me for what I did back in Devil's End, you didn't exactly look to happy."
"Of course I'm not Jo" the Doctor replied shortly, not taking his eyes off the road.
His young friend gave him a look of disbelief, about to tell him that she didn't believe a word of it, especially not when he answered like that. But the Doctor cut her off before she could even start.
"…and there's no point in looking at me like that Miss Grant, I'm telling the truth, I am not in the least bit angry. Merely frustrated. But even then, it's towards myself and not towards you."
"Why?" She asked curiously, after all he didn't have a reason to be frustrated at himself, she was the one who had put herself in danger.
"Well, I'm supposed to look after you my dear Jo, and today I couldn't do that, the situation was far out of my control and I could have lost you. I was scared that I would lose you, and that is something I would hate to do." He answered, tapping her nose in a familiar gesture, smiling kindly, though his smile seemed vaguely sad to Jo.
"But you didn't lose me at all Doctor, and you never will you know," Jo exclaimed determinedly. "I'm going to stay with you forever Doctor, nobody will be able to separate us, you'll see. Wherever you go, I'm going to be right there with you. After all, I am your assistant, it is my job."
The Time Lord laughed at her determination. "Yes, alright Jo. I believe you," he paused. "You're quite extraordinary you know Miss Grant. The very first time I saw you, I would've done anything to get rid of you, you were the ridiculous little human who ruined my experiment!" he reminisced teasingly, causing her to grin sheepishly as he continued. "And now look at me, I want nothing more than to show you the universe and keep you by my side. I suppose that is what happens when a Time Lord finds their…" the Doctor trailed off, knowing however, that it was far too late, as his assistant's curiosity would have been piqued.
"Finds their what?"
The white-haired man groaned internally, one day he would learn to keep his mouth shut, especially around one as curious as Josephine Grant. He had no choice at this point but to tell her, she was unlikely to give it a rest until he explained, or at least gave a form of explanation. She didn't need all the details.
"Finds their soulmate Jo."
"Soulmate?" Jo inquired, that sounded rather like he was in love with her, which was entirely impossible because they were far too different. Admittedly, she had always secretly rather liked him in that sense and secretly cherished the moments when he would take her hand or hug her protectively, but that was besides the point. The point was that he, the Doctor, could not be in love with her, after all, she was nothing special really, she thought bitterly, barely able to get into UNIT even with her uncle backing her up, unable to pass her A-levels. He was far too good for her.
"Jo...Jo?" His voiced snapped her out of her reverie.
"Yes? Sorry Doctor, I must've been day dreaming. What were you saying? Something about soulmates?"
"Yes Jo," he said patiently. "I was telling you that you are mine, and inversely I am entirely yours, at least for this regeneration. In other words you are my soulmate and therefore essential to my existence."
"This is some sort of Time Lord thing that you can't really explain to me because it's far too complicated for me, isn't it." It wasn't a question; Jo could always tell when he was keeping stuff from her, especially when it concerned the Time Lords.
UNIT's scientific advisor simply nodded. What Jo had said wasn't strictly true, while it was in fact a Time Lord thing, it wasn't too complicated for her to understand at all, it was just that there were certain aspects of it that were less than pleasant and he would never, could never, expose Jo to that sort of thing. Bad enough that she was already getting herself into the most terrible trouble, if he told her, who knows what she'd be willing to do. Of course, it might have a calming effect on her, but that prospect was highly unlikely seeing as the girl could be just as reckless as he was at times and always ran into danger head first.
"In simpler terms Jo," he went on. "It means that I love you, unconditionally."
"You…?" Jo was stunned. He did love her!
Her silence disturbed the Doctor, who had been expecting an outburst of questions, and he risked a glance in her direction, where he was shocked to discover her large brown eyes filled with silent tears.
Wordlessly, he took one gloved hand off the steering wheel to carefully wipe away a stray tear, before cupping her cheek, stroking it soothingly.
"Now, my dear Jo, what on Earth are all of these for?" he inquired kindly, flashing her a warm smile.
The girl said nothing and smiled back, pushing herself out of her seat to lean up and kiss him quickly, much to the Doctor's surprise before pulling back, grinning cheekily.
"I love you Doctor."
"I love you too, Jo. Though perhaps you shouldn't do that again, wouldn't want to cause a car crash. I don't think that the Brigadier would be overly pleased if that happened, do you?"
She smiled cutely up at him. "Alright then, back at HQ? Or will he disapprove of that too do you think?"
The Doctor nodded, Alistair would most definitely disapprove of the two of them kissing in the lab, but, he could hardly stop them. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed her yawn and extended his arm over her shoulder, allowing her to snuggle closer to his side as the pair continued the rest of their journey.