Disclaimer: Dr. Who (the show and everything to do with it) are not mine and never will be. I'm just doing this for fun.
Author's Note:Original title, I know.I'm supposed to be researching for my Master's thesis, not writing fanfic.
I was writing Realization and decided I didn't want it to end. It had to, though, that was the point of that story; so I wrote an alternate ending version of slightly higher rating, which is what this is.
Author's Note 2: Used some of the text from Realization because I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered to re-write the lead-in. Sorry.
"Jack'll be back, he'll get us out," Rose says dismissively, holding out her hand to the Doctor. "So, come on. The world doesn't end cos the Doctor dances."
He turns off the sonic screwdriver and turns around. The look on his face is intense as he steps off the ledge he's standing on and moves in front of her. She's never seen him focused this completely on something and when that something is her…It's actually just a little frightening but she stands her ground.
He grabs her hands, one in each of his, and begins turning them over, examining them closely. Maybe this is the Time Lord version of dancing?
"Barrage balloon," he says, confusing her further, attention still on her hands.
"What?"
"You were hanging from a barrage balloon," he clarifies. He's certainly taking a long time examining her hands, turning them over and over in his own. Now he's made her nervous, so she begins to babble.
"Oh, yeah. About two minutes after you left me. Thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air raid, Union Jack all over my chest…" She moves her hands to make the point and he lets them move but doesn't let go.
"I've travelled with a lot of people," he comments, finally looking up from her hands. "But you're setting new records for jeopardy-friendly."
Enough is enough. "Is this you dancing?" she asks a little sharply. "Cos I've got notes."
"Hanging from a rope, thousands of feet above London," he states, looking at her now instead of her hands. "Not a cut, not a bruise," he says, finally releasing her hands, sounding pissed about it. His eyes demand an explanation.
"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up," she says casually, examining her nails. If he's not going to cooperate and dance with her, then she can at least needle him some.
"Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now?" he asks with that snippy tone back in his voice. How did this turn into a fight?
"Well, his name's Jack and he's a Captain," she explains.
"He's not really a Captain, Rose," he points out, patronizingly.
"D'you know what I think? I think you're experiencing Captain envy," she challenges him.
He nods, pressing his lips together tightly, and moves a couple of steps forward, taking her right hand in his left, as though preparing to dance.
"You'll find your feet at the end of your legs," she hints. "You may care to move 'em."
Another step and his right hand is on her waist, holding her against him. This doesn't feel like dancing, though it feels like it could become something else. He pulls her even closer as he says in a low voice, "If ever he was a Captain, he's been defrocked."
"Yeah?" she teases a little breathlessly. "Shame I missed that."
He just smirks a little, dips his head, and begins to move them to the music. He's holding her closer than Jack had on his ship, there's no space between them.
They're only barely moving at all. His head is down next to hers and she can feel his breath stirring the hairs on her neck, slightly cooler than any human male's. With a happy sigh she rests her head on his chest, breathing in the scent of him. His right arm has wrapped itself around her waist now. She finds herself hoping Jack takes his time about getting them out of there.
"Did you mean it?" he asks quietly, after several moments.
"Mhhh. Mean what?" she murmurs. Lost in the sensation of being close like this, it takes her a moment to gather her thoughts again.
With Jack, while he was great looking and sexy and all; he couldn't make her mind shut down just by holding her close. She'd been playing at it to get information, pulling her dumb blonde routine to get him to take her to the Doctor. Jimmy Stones had taught her not to trust a pretty face.
"When you said you trust him because he reminds you of me?"
"Yeah," she admits without thinking. "Why else would I trust him?"
"Why else?" he murmurs, sounding dazed. "But you don't think I'm great looking?" he asks after a moment. "Or that I'm a man?"
She tries to pull away a little but his arm only tightens around her waist as he continues to move them around the floor. Giving up, she hadn't been trying that hard, she puts her head back on his shoulder.
"I meant human males and you know it," she says. "I'd've thought you'd be insulted if I put you in with them..."
"Normally, I would," he admits. "But you're heterosexual…"
"What's that got to do with anything?" she asks.
"If you don't think of me as a man, what hope is there?" he asks after a long pause. His voice is almost too quiet to hear.
The breath stops in her throat. If that isn't clear, what is? She pulls her head away from his shoulder to look at him. Waiting until he turns his own head to look her in the eye before replying.
"There's this," she says matter-of-factly and lifts a hand up to pull his mouth to hers.
He freezes initially and she wonders for a moment if she has really misjudged him that badly. Then he begins to kiss her back, enthusiastically, and she relaxes.
His lips are cooler than she'd expected but they still send heat along her nerve endings. He teases her mouth open and his tongue makes its way in, tasting her. She hears a moan and isn't quite sure who made the sound.
Had she said the world wouldn't implode if he danced? Well, maybe she'd been right. After all, it hadn't imploded until they kissed.
They'd neither of them moved. Although their bodies were touching all the way down, one of his arms still wrapped around her waist, the other holding her right hand; that had been true since he'd taken her in his arms.
They aren't even moving around the floor anymore. Nothing's changed except that he does something with his mouth and she suddenly feels like her entire body is on fire. Only his grip on her waist is keeping her upright now.
This obviously wasn't the first time he'd…danced.
If he could make her feel like this with just his mouth on hers…Well, she started to wish she'd kissed him weeks ago in that dungeon in Cardiff, when they'd been getting ready for their last stand.
And then he does something else with his clever, talented mouth, and she stops thinking at all.
It's the Doctor who pulls away first. She manages to recapture his lips at least once before he reluctantly pulls far enough away from her that she can't. He gives her a few breaths to regain her sanity and then rests his forehead against hers.
"Don't look now," he says quietly. "But I think the world just imploded."
She laughs a little. "Yeah, mine did anyway."
"Rose…" he starts, the look in his eyes serious.
"Don't," she stops him. "Don't you dare try to tell me this was a mistake or some…heat of the moment thing that I'll regret later."
"How..?" he looks gobsmacked.
"Because I know you," she replies simply. "This isn't just yours to decide you know. I started this. I kissed you. I mean, come on, d'you really think it's an accident that the only men I'm attracted to anymore are the ones who remind me of you, only accessible?"
He searches her eyes for a moment and apparently finds what he's looking for because he nods sharply and smiles. Then he grins and she finds herself grinning back.
"You know," he comments. "If I wasn't so happy just now, I'd be insulted that you thought Adam and I were similar."
She laughs as he begins to pull her closer again.
"And that Captain Jack," he adds after a moment.
"I thought you said he'd been defrocked," she teases.
He just smirks a little, dips his head, and begins to move them to the music again.
"Actually I quit," Jack's voice interrupts them. "Nobody takes my frock."
Startled, Rose pulls away, looking around at Jack's ship. She's a little disappointed, at first, because she was finally getting somewhere with the Doctor. As she pulls out of his grip, he seems reluctant to let her go. Good.
"Most people notice when they've been teleported," Jack comments with a teasing smile. "You guys are so sweet."
She grins widely. Not only has Jack come through, proving that she's not that terrible a judge of character, but it's the first time she's been teleported and she's delighted. Whatever had started to happen with the Doctor would just have to wait. Though not, she thought with a sideways glance at the alien, for very long after they get back to the TARDIS.
Heh. Me again. I'm not sure if the first person view is working all that well. That's the only way it seems to want to write itself though. Any commentary would be appreciated. Thanks for your time and attention.