Notes: Yes, I've decided that the one shot is turning into another full story. This will soon take us to a point after Ménage a Troi, but for now, we are jumping back to the time when Will and Deanna were dating on Betazed, before the Enterprise. Please review!
Chapter 2 – Meeting the Past
Rose, Alex, and Evander were exploring some underwater ruins. Her Doctors had provided a device that was some kind of futuristic diving mask. It fit around their necks and created a transparent bubble around their heads, continuously supplying the perfect mix of breathable air. They couldn't talk to each other through it, but with their telepathic connection, they didn't need to.
~'So, what was this place before it was at the bottom of the ocean?'~ Rose asked them.
~'Atlantis,'~ Evander replied and smirked at her shocked expression.
~'Seriously?'~ she asked.
~'Well, yes... Sort of,'~ Alex replied. ~'Atlantis proper was mostly destroyed, but this was a nearby community that sank in the destruction of it all. The cities were very similar, so you wouldn't really see any difference in the day to day life.'~
~'It's beautiful. Even like this. Can we go back and see it when it was new?'~ Rose wondered.
~'If you like. I'm not particularly keen on getting back into a toga though, thank you,'~ Evander grumbled.
~'Well, we already know how good I look in a toga, right Rose?'~ Alex preened, sending both of them his memories of their trip to Rome when they had been turned to stone.
~'Very handsome. As long as I'm not mistaken for Fortuna,'~ she teased.
~'Why do I have a feeling that I've seen myself in Roman attire before?'~ Evander questioned suddenly, his brow furrowed in confusion.
~'What?!'~ Alex asked as he searched through his memories and came across his experience with Donna in Pompeii. ~'Caecilius! Why did you regenerate with the face of Caecilius?'~
~'Oh, I really hope that I just copied his face and it wasn't a version of me,'~ he groaned, clearly not pleased with that possibility.
~'No matter what the case, there isn't any way to change it. Let's plan our little trip, and at least we know you'll look just as handsome in a toga, love. Mmm, easy access,'~ Rose teased and began swimming back towards the TARDIS.
Rose and her Doctors had kept up the routine of separate date nights from time to time, but they planned for this to be a shared date. The three of them were attired to blend in during their visit to Atlantis and worked together to pilot their beloved ship to their destination.
As soon as the ship landed with its usual thump, Rose checked the scanner to see that they had landed in the right place. They usually just dashed out the doors, but Rose had a feeling that if they landed in the wrong place with all of them attired in togas, there might be a problem. Sure enough, it didn't look like they landed on Earth from the enormous, unfamiliar flowers that she saw on the screen.
"Doctors, I don't think we've landed quite where we planned," she called to her husbands.
"What?" Evander grumbled and looked over her shoulder. "Oh! This is even better! I mean, we should change clothes, but Alex, we're on Betazed!"
"Really?" Alex called back as he popped his head around the console. "What time period? Don't want to land there too early or they wouldn't be welcoming of off-worlders."
"2361. Nothing to worry about," Evander replied and tugged Rose by the hand back towards the wardrobe room to change again.
Alex ran after them and caught up easily to take Rose's other hand. "We could go to the theatre! Lovely theatre on Betazed," he suggested.
"I thought Rose might like to walk through the gardens. We could pack a picnic. What do you think, darling?" Evander questioned with a pleading look.
Rose looked back and forth between her Doctors as she considered their suggestions. "Well, a show at the theatre probably wouldn't be until later, yeah? We could go for a picnic first and then see a show later, couldn't we?" she asked them.
"Sure, yeah. Whatever you want, love," Alex replied, failing to hide the slight disappointment that his suggestion was relegated to second place on the agenda. "Dress for a night out then. Wouldn't want to be late just because we needed to change clothes again."
Rose parted ways with them in the wardrobe room as she went to look for a dress. The TARDIS would make suggestions that were appropriate for the planet and time period if she asked.
Alex and Evander wandered through the wardrobe room. They both decided that they would try something different for this trip. Rose was going to dress up for their date and they wanted to impress her as well. Approximately half an hour later, all three of them met back at the entrance to the wardrobe room and the Doctors froze as they stared at what the other was wearing. They had somehow managed to choose the exact same suit. Alex had paired his burgundy velvet suit with a black shirt and matching tie, while Evander had chosen a white shirt and black waistcoat.
"My, my. Don't you two look handsome," Rose told them admiringly as she ran her hands down the soft velvet of their lapels.
"What are you wearing that for?" Evander questioned Alex indignantly.
"I wanted to look nice for the theatre. Why are you wearing that? Not really your style is it?" Alex responded as he looked over the suit on his partner.
"Don't see why not," he replied and buttoned up the jacket, offering Rose his arm, which she took happily before snagging Alex's arm as well.
"You both look fantastic, so you can stop comparing," Rose insisted as she pulled them both from the room and back toward the kitchen to gather their picnic. The knee length skirt on her pale green dress swished around her legs in soft ruffles. She had covered the short sleeves with a black jacket at the recommendation of the TARDIS since the weather on Betazed was known to shift rather suddenly and it was best to be prepared.
As the trio walked out the doors of the TARDIS, they found themselves in a beautiful garden. There was a lovely tinkling noise that sounded almost like little bells ringing nearby and Rose looked around to see if she could discern where it was coming from. The Doctors noticed this and chuckled.
"That, my darling Rose, is the sound of the Muktok flower. They only grow here on Betazed and can live for hundreds of years," Evander said softly and guided her towards the sound.
They walked with their arms linked together, Evander carrying their picnic in a bigger on the inside cooler. As they approached the area, they saw a young couple standing together nearby, laughing at something. There were only two Muktok flowers in the garden, though the sound had made Rose think there should be far more than that.
"How can those two little plants make all that noise?" Rose wondered.
"The plants are slightly telepathic. They sound much louder to telepathic species such as yourselves," the woman nearby answered. "Welcome to Betazed."
"Thank you. I could go into a slightly more detailed and scientific explanation of the flower's biology, love, but I think you'd probably prefer hers," Alex told her, disappointed that he couldn't impress everyone with his superior knowledge.
"You can dazzle me with all that later. I'm Rose, and these are my husbands, Alex and Evander," she said in introduction to the couple.
"Very nice to meet you. I'm Deanna and this is my Imzadi, Will," the dark haired woman replied with a friendly smile.
"Imzadi?" Rose asked, looking to Evander for an explanation of the word that didn't seem to translate.
"Ooh, difficult to explain, darling. There's a telepathic link created, similar to the first level of bonding for us, though Betazoids don't require touch the way we do, and I believe it starts out as a much weaker connection..." Evander tried to convey the different type of bonding.
"Something like that," Deanna laughed. "Will and I have chosen to create a bond between us. It is permanent, and there can never be another Imzadi for us, even if the relationship ends. The strength of the telepathic link, as you called it starts out very weak, but he couple can strengthen it by strengthening their relationship over time. Since Will is human and I'm only half Betazoid, it is taking him a while to learn how to use it," she explained, smiling fondly at Will.
"I'm doing my best, you know. It's not like this was part of the telepathic training at the Academy," he responded and tickled her side.
"Ah, are you in Starfleet, then?" Alex asked at the mention of the Academy.
"We both are actually, though I'm on leave to study psychology here for the time being," Deanna replied.
"I've been stationed here for now, but you never know when I might get transferred to a Starship," Will added.
~'Starfleet? You've got to be kidding,'~ Rose thought to her husbands.
~'Nope. A few of the official logs got displaced in time and the entire Star Trek franchise was based off of the real stories they found in there. The records of the show were lost in the wars before what humans at the time thought was first contact with aliens and the United Federation of Planets as well as Starfleet were formed without actually having been influenced by past humans making a fiction of it,'~ Alex explained telepathically.
"You should be aware that you need to shield your thoughts around here to keep those conversations private," Deanna warned them and Rose looked at her wide-eyed.
"Oh, did we..?" Rose gasped.
"Don't worry, love, I'm sure it sounded more confusing than anything. You see, we're time travellers and Rose isn't as experienced as we are," Alex explained.
"Time travellers? That's impossible," Will argued.
"Now there's a word that we've decided doesn't apply to our lives anymore, right you two?" Evander teased.
"The Stuff of Legend, that's us!" Rose laughed. "Now, we were about to have a picnic. Would you care to join us?"
"We would be delighted," Deanna replied as she took hold of Will's arm the way Rose had her partners.
They walked together towards a clearing by a large pond and Evander pulled a blanket from his bigger on the inside pocket to spread on the ground. Both Will and Deanna raised their eyebrows at that.
"You think you're so impressive," Rose teased.
"As you well know at this point, darling, I am so impressive," he countered and knelt down to start pulling things from the little cooler.
"Bigger on the inside," Alex told their new friends with a wink.
Will and Deanna gaped at the sheer quantity of items that came from the small container, thinking there had to be some kind of replicator or teleportation technology inside to keep it going. Rose laughed at their confused looks and grabbed a container that she knew was filled with chips.
"Mmmm, you spoil me, love," she sighed as she eagerly stuffed a few of the greasy treats into her mouth.
"What have we here? Things from your planet?" Deanna asked curiously as she looked over the items.
"Nope! Well, not from our planet," Alex told her with a gesture between he and Evander, "But Rose is originally from Earth, so mostly things from her planet."
"But, she isn't human. She's telepathic, I can feel it. And not in the way of the few human telepaths I've run across," Deanna argued.
"Yes, well, I sort of did something to save them a while back that ended up with me sort of changing species," Rose admitted sheepishly.
"But that's.." Will began.
"What did we say about impossible?" Alex interrupted and nuzzled his nose against Rose's playfully. "Rose doesn't exactly like to follow the rules of impossible."
"It was some kind of accident, then?" Will asked curiously.
"Yes and no. I absorbed the whole of the Time Vortex and became his sort of goddess. I decided to change species using those powers so that I could stay with him," Rose explained with a beaming smile.
"You see, Evander and I come from a very long lived species, and against our better judgement, fell in love with a human. Understand that I'm over a thousand and he's over two thousand. The life of one precious little human would be over in the blink of an eye, but she promised forever, and found a way to deliver on it," Alex added, still slightly awestruck at what the Bad Wolf had given them.
"That's wonderful," Deanna responded, her eyes slightly glassy. "How are you adapting to being telepathic now, then Rose? It can't be easy after being raised as a human."
"It's lovely actually, I was able to form a bond with him before I changed, so it was more the other physical changes that threw me, really," Rose replied.
"It's not quite what you're thinking, Deanna, our species are touch telepaths. So she isn't being bombarded by strangers' thoughts, just the two of us that are bonded to her," Evander interjected.
"And what does that mean exactly?" Will wondered.
"It means that we can feel what the others are feeling and can talk to each other in our heads. It's wonderful really, being able to feel their emotions, what they like and dislike," Rose explained with a little smirk at the last part that made Deanna blush and Will chuckle.
"Well," Alex squeaked, clearly embarrassed by the implications. "Feel free to have some of whatever you'd like. Most of it is from twenty-first century Earth, but there appear to be a few of Rose's favourites from other planets as well."
"What century did you say we were in now?" Rose questioned around a mouthful of chips.
"The twenty-fourth, darling. I brought some of that Venusian hot chocolate that you like," Evander said as he handed her a thermos.
"Oh, Doctor, you two are really turning on the charm for this date," Rose sighed as she poured a cup for herself. "Would you like some?" she asked their new friends.
"I'd never turn down the offer of chocolate," Deanna replied. "Did you have any other plans for your visit to Betazed?"
"We're taking Rose to the theatre!" Alex announced proudly and took her hand to lace their fingers together.
"Might not compare with Mozart, yeah?" Rose teased.
"We never actually made it there outside of the dream world, did we?" Alex mused. "We should definitely try that trip again, without the alien invasion this time."
"I'd hardly call one love-sick Ornithian an invasion," Evander argued.
Deanna laughed at their banter and Will just shook his head, still not believing their audacious claims of time travel.
"Will, unfortunately, is on duty tonight and I have a paper due tomorrow. But, perhaps our paths will cross again. Will you be staying long?" Deanna wondered.
"Probably not after the play. We had actually been aiming for Atlantis when we ended up here," Evander admitted.
"Maybe if you'd let me drive once in a while, we might get where we planned for a change," Rose teased.
"Cheeky, you forget who's giving you lessons," Alex countered.
"Well, it was lovely to meet you in any case. Perhaps we'll meet again," Will said politely as he shook each of their hands and helped Deanna back to her feet.
"Thank you for sharing your picnic," the half-Betazoid added with a wave.
Their trip to the theatre was extremely romantic, as they had chosen a sweet love story to watch. They enjoyed themselves immensely, especially when they got to save the entire theatre from a telepathic attack. One of the actors had set up a device that sent out a painful telepathic pulse to everyone in the building, in the hopes of creating a hostage situation. Rose and her Doctors however, found the device quickly and disabled it. While they were affected by the pulse, their telepathy functioned slightly differently and they were able to sneak out of the room before the perpetrator noticed them. Once the device was destroyed and the authorities contacted, they went back to the TARDIS to finish off their date night with more private recreational activities.
"Have I mentioned how much I really like you two in velvet?" Rose purred as the rubbed her hand down the lapels of each of their jackets appreciatively.
"Mmm, I don't think you have, love. Are these suits something that we ought to keep handy in the future?" Alex asked, pulling her hips tightly against his own.
"Maybe," she replied with a wink.
"Perhaps we should find you something in velvet as well, so that we can enjoy a similar experience?" Evander suggested as he pressed up against her from behind and the Doctors sandwiched her between them.
"I was thinking of Listanian silk, myself," Alex suggested. He pulled Rose's jacket off of her shoulders and tossed it over the railing in the console room.
"Oh, that does sound like a plan. Although, at this particular moment, I think we are all wearing far too much of anything," Evander told them both with a mental caress that had all three of them closing their eyes and groaning.
Rose grabbed both of their hands and pulled them through the door towards their bedroom. As much as she liked the spontaneity of console sex, it wasn't the most comfortable. And after spending the whole day snuggling into velvet clad arms, she was in the mood for something a little softer.
With their clothes shed fairly quickly, the trio curled up into their large bed together. Limbs tangled, loving words whispered between them, and all of them found themselves floating on clouds of love in their minds. Each of her Doctors made love to her with gentle strokes and soft caresses. Alex and Evander even whispered words of encouragement to each other and all of them could feel the connection between the two men shifting as well. Their relationship had been more of an understanding partnership towards Rose to this point than feelings of love for each other, but as time passed in their marriage, that was changing.
As they all snuggled together, everyone satisfied several times, Alex and Evander wrapped their arms over Rose and rested on the waist of the other Doctor. She smiled at this change in their partnership and with an understanding look between them, Alex and Evander leaned over her and kissed each other softly on the lips. They smiled as the kiss broke and all three fell into a peaceful sleep, wrapped in loving arms.
