AN: Hello! Thanks, as ever, for all your reviews and support- makes me feel like one day I'll be a half decent writer :D
Someone did comment that last chap felt a bit off- if I could, I'd just like to say that it was supposed to be, as Rory's thoughts were supposed to convey, the Doctor is an alien, the Oncoming Storm- and I wanted to contrast an aspect of him that maybe isn't so pleasant- because if you love someone you love all of them. Anyway, Hennink will be dealt with, one last time in chap 27, so you'll see what happens there.
Ok, from this chap on we're going beyond the initial summary, so here's another:
Coming up…The universe's first habitable star, upstaging the queen of the human race, the nightmare child's creation and blue monkeys. Oh and there's going to be fire, lots of fire.
Actually, that was one of the two names for this fic, 'Fire'- but I wanted it a bit more upbeat. So we have 'the 'L' word', figured it suits the adorably boyish side of the Doctor's personality, in my opinion. :)
This chap's quote:
Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that
Ooooh, Amy's cross. Wonder how the Doctor's going to redeem himself this time? Cricket bat anyone…?
Enjoy!
When the Doctor got back to the TARDIS, he knew instantly something was wrong.
Not wrong as in horribly, sickeningly, end of the universe wrong. But there was…..something.
His suspicions were confirmed when an infuriated Scottish redhead slammed open the door to the console room and stormed right up to him, her toes against his boots, her head barely lower than his. She jabbed her finger at his chest hard as she spoke.
"THAT-IS-IT!."
She took a deep breath and glared at him, breathing heavily, her hazel eyes sparkling with fury.
"I am sick and tired of being left behind." She took another deep breath, her nostrils flaring and face flushed.
"I want to go home."
The Doctor blinked.
He took a breath, watching her carefully. He felt his voice go quiet as he spoke. "This isn't just a trip, is it?"
For a second he thought she'd take it back. Say sorry and laugh and make fun of him. But her eyes were cold and her jaw tight as she replied, folding her arms across her chest.
"No."
The Doctor swallowed. He nodded absently and slowly, dazedly, made his way over to the console, flicking levers and pushing buttons. His voice barely carried over the low, mournful humming of the TARDIS' engines. "Ok."
He pulled the lever to launch the TARDIS and leaned back, whilst Amy clung to the handrails on the other side of the console. Half awake he moved around while the TARDIS shook and hummed, keeping her steady, and then,
CRASH!
There was a huge bang and a whining, hissing creak. Sparks sizzled from the roof over the Doctor's head, showering down a rain of fire. Startled he glanced up to see a huge, sizzling scorch mark on the roof of the TARDIS, and then the whole ship tilted and he and Amy were thrown through the vortex.
When the TARDIS landed, with a thump and a protesting groan from her engines, the Doctor and Amy were thrown onto the floor. Staggering to his feet the Doctor thanked his lucky stars that she'd landed upright, remembering the climb last time she'd crashed.
Amy was still on the floor, and, slightly concerned the Doctor stumbled over, taking out his screwdriver to check for injuries.
She glared at him but stayed still so he could. The screwdriver beeped over her ankle and he flicked it up to check the readings.
Seeing the expression on his face Amy's glare intensified, "Doctor, what?"
She was sitting up now, but hadn't moved her ankle. He looked from her to his screwdriver and back again.
"Um, you've, um, hurt your ankle…." His hands moved nervously as he flipped his screwdriver back into his pocket, his eyes occasionally flicking from Amy's face to her ankle. He was so much like a child sometimes.
Amy rolled her eyes, suppressing a grin of amusement- she was supposed to be angry. She mustered up a remnant of her anger from earlier at being constantly left behind, and managed to inject some acid sarcasm into her voice. "Funnily enough, I know that. How bad is it?"
He looked nervously from her to the screwdriver and back.
"Doctor?"
"It's…sort of…fractured."
Amy let out a moan of frustration.
"Great. That's just brilliant that is. How am I going to explain this? 'Sorry I'm wearing a cast to my wedding, um, yeah, I fractured my ankle when a bow tie wearing alien crashed his time machine'."
The Doctor chuckled, although he couldn't stop an uneasy twist in his stomach when she mentioned her wedding. He glanced at her ring finger, just to check the engagement ring was still at her house.
He clapped quickly, and Amy jumped a little, jerking her ankle and hissing in pain. The Doctor looked startled, pulling a rueful face as she glared at him. "Oooh, sorry."
He smiled a little at her fierce expression, "Not to worry though, plenty of future healers in the TARDIS somewhere, should have you fixed in about 15 minutes- just…give me a second."
With that he disappeared into the depths of the TARDIS, leaving Amy on the floor next to the console, with only the TARDIS' eerie light and low humming for company.
"I hate it when he does that," she murmured to herself, glancing up at the roof of the spaceship. Something had hit them, although she wasn't sure how. There was a long, jagged scorch mark, as if the roof had been struck by lightning, but otherwise it was undamaged.
Amy wondered where they were…
No! She told herself furiously- but it was too late, planets and spaceships and the past were filling her curious mind. I suppose one last trip couldn't hurt… She thought to herself. But just one.
She wasn't exactly desperate to get back and marry Rory, though she missed him a little when she thought of him. It was more that she was sick of the Doctor leaving her here, treating her, suddenly, as if she was made of glass. All her life she'd been carefully protected and watched by adults who thought she was crazy. She wasn't going to let him treat her the same way.
Because….Because it just hurt too much for him to be like that. She wanted him to want to take her too, and if he didn't, then she didn't understand why she was here at all.
Amy looked up as the Doctor leapt back into the control room, and wondered what had got him so…excited.
He was grinning like a madman, and at the same time in a clumsy rush to get back to her, his arms full of fluorescent green bandages, which glowed slightly… Amy eyed them suspiciously as he pulled out a jam jar of grey blue muck. He smiled at her reassuringly and she tried to ignore the way her heart stuttered as she smiled shyly back into those piercing grey-green eyes.
"Ok, socks and shoes off!"
The Doctor leaned over and took one converse sheathed foot in his hands, untying the laces and gently easing off the trainer. He was so gentle, he didn't even move her ankle, slipping the canvas material past with careful ease. Amy couldn't help a little shiver as his warm hands tenderly held the bare skin of her calf.
Intent on his work, the Doctor carefully began to peel off the striped sock Amy was wearing, pausing when she clenched her fist.
He glanced up, quickly and searchingly at her face. "Ok?"
Amy nodded, gritting her teeth, and very very slowly, the Doctor pulled her sock past her ankle and off the end of her foot, laying it next to her shoe.
Her bare ankle was pale in the slightly green light of the TARDIS, and the side was angry red and swelling. The Doctor made a face. "Ooooh, that's gotta hurt."
Amy rolled her eyes, feeling a wave of pain wash over her. "Ya think?" Her voice was breathless but still jokingly full of bravado.
The Doctor didn't reply, smiling absently at her stubborn courage. He leaned over and moved a few of the things in the pile of supplies he'd brought over, unscrewing the cap of the jam jar and dipping his fingers in, carefully spreading the cool blue grey stuff over her injury.
Almost instantaneously the pain faded and Amy glanced at the Doctor- surprised. His eyes caught hers and he grinned, loving that he could heal her and fascinate her at the same time.
"What is that stuff?" No matter how much she tried to hide it, Amy's excited curiosity came through her question loud and clear.
Putting the lid back on and taking the glowing green bandages the Doctor replied, "Oh, some Vaksilli mud- heals injuries and numbs pain, incredibly effective- the planet's about…ooooh…" He paused, looking at the TARDIS roof and the scorch mark on it curiously before looking at Amy again.
" About 900 000 lightyears from Earth? You discover it in 50, 000 years. I helped them stop a marsh monster from destroying the clinic so they let me keep some. Incredibly valuable stuff actually, more than diamonds when they discover it…" the Doctor murmured as he dipped his fingers in the mud and spread a bit more on Amy's ankle, making sure it was completely coated in the stuff.
Amy blinked as he started to wrap the green bandages around her foot. They tingled and the glow started to pulse in time with her heartbeat. "And you're using it on my ankle?"
Pre-occupied the Doctor shrugged. "I want you to get better quickly."
Amy felt a little flash of something like hope at that, but felt it crushed as he continued, smiling at her, "It's not like I often have need for it- Time Lords heal pretty fast."
They were silent whilst the Doctor tenderly wrapped the bandage around the injured area of her ankle, Amy gritting her teeth. The Vaksilli mud had numbed the pain, but it still hurt when he touched it.
To distract herself she looked at the Doctor's mop of perpetually messy brown hair. "So what are these?"
He got past her ankle and wrapped around a little more than necessary to make sure the bandages were tight, pressing gently on the end which dimmed to a dark green and adhered itself to the rest of the bandage. The glow faded a little, and already Amy felt her ankle numbing and healing.
"Those are Vin Vocchi bandages. I met some Vin Vocchi, a while ago, and just thought I ought to invest in some. Great healers the Vin Vocchi- even if they look like talking cacti,"
The Doctor stopped himself, "Although apparently that's racist," his gaze flickered to Amy's face and he tapped his nose conspiratorially, "Our secret eh?"
She giggled a little whilst he rolled up the bandages and put them away, jogging down the stairs to put them in a cupboard under the console before coming back up to join her. He nodded to her ankle. "Feeling any better?"
Amy nodded, smiling, and the Doctor grinned. Amy tilted her head towards the door. "So, where are we?"
Her voice was reluctantly excited and mentally she gave up on trying to be angry with him.
The Time Lord's grin widened even more and he took Amy's shoulders. "Do you know what? I have absolutely no idea! Isn't that just fantastic?"
Amy beamed back, looking at the doors in growing excitement. The Doctor got up, then leant down and carefully helped her to her feet. Amy glanced at him in surprise- she hadn't realized how strong he was. He held her arm around his shoulders and looked straight into her eyes.
For a second their gazes met and they just stared , falling into each others eyes, and Amy could have sworn she wasn't the only one whose breathing hitched.
Then the Doctor spoke, breaking the moment.
"You ready?" His voice was low and rough, and the corners of his mouth were tilted up.
Amy looked at him for a moment longer, then smiled. "Oh yeah."
Laughing, together, they descended the steps and opened the doors of the TARDIS….
Yeah, like she could honestly stay mad at him for long. And 'one' trip? Uh-huh, yeah right :D
And hopefully you picked up on a liiiittle more stuff which is definitely 'not' a side effect of two dolts falling into the L-word. I really love the quote at the start of this chap- it fits the way I reckon they'd fall for each other perfectly…
Sooo, where are they? What's going to happen now? Anything catch your interest from my summary?
As always please review with questions, criticism, praise (if its worthy of it) or whether or not you want me to update. I've changed the rules for updates-reviews, 5 means an update on the day I get 5.
Hope you enjoyed it and keep reading,
Kat