Chapter 10
The Doctor sat staring into the glowing red flames that danced with the wind as it pushed and pulled it in an almost intimate display of cause and effect. Like time it was unpredictable and burnt if you got too close. He smiled as he spotted Jack and Donna laughing at each other as they attempted to join in with the intricate steps of a traditional celebratory dance the natives were trying to teach them. He chuckled when Donna landed in a heap and blamed Jack who indulged her to save her from embarrassment. Like she needed any help in that regard anyways. Mickey was happily stuffing his face and Martha who sat beside him holding yet another plate of food at his request, was quite possibly slightly inebriate, unable to handle the local's version of alcohol, he laughed in earnest as she slipped backwards off the log she was sitting on sending Mickey's plate flying over her head and into a nearby bush. His eyes glanced back to Jack whose attention had shifted from Donna to a rather attractive young woman with yellow skin and quite an exceptional set of plumage. He briefly wondered whether he should inform him she was really a he, but knowing Jack that wouldn't stop him. He frowned and looked around noticing absolutely no sign of Rose; he searched the vast array of faces around the fire with them for her once more. Quite distracted by his search for her as he was, he jumped as a small blonde blur dropped into his lap.
"For the love of..." He huffed frowning at her while still grasping his chest. She laughed as she slid off his lap and deposited herself next to him. "Very funny Missy, you almost gave me a hearts attack you know."
"Yea." She giggled looking up at him obviously not sorry. "Silly old man." She grinned.
"Oi cheeky." He nudged her playfully with his shoulder, watching her as she sighed and rested her head against his arm. He knew she liked it when they could be like this, quiet, safe and together with no threat of impending doom, in all honesty so did he. It was moments like these that he treasured most. They sat together in a comfortable silence just watching the world around them.
"Alright?" He smiled down at her. She smiled back. "Always." She looked away and nodded towards Mickey and Martha.
"They're good for each other, I'm glad he finally found someone who loved him back." She smiled and the Doctor followed her gaze and smiled too, watching as Martha and Mickey stumbled off together towards their beds, which was something the Doctor found quite unique since despite the fact the Arcacian's had such spectacular technology, they still chose to sleep outdoors in quite small but cosy dwellings that resembled tee pee's rather than the in the complex behind them.
"Will they be happy together Doctor?" She asked quietly.
"How am I supposed to know?" He replied dragging his leg up so he could rest his arm across his knee. He glanced at her noticing the pointed look she was giving him. He frowned.
"I'm not a fortune teller Rose."
"But, can't you just check?" She sighed returned her head to his arm and her gaze to the direction they disappeared in. "I just want them to be happy." There was silence.
"You looked." She stated softly. "Did not." He denied but stayed silent. He didn't really have to look that hard, he saw it all the time, what was, what is, what can't, what mustn't. Rose knew it as well as he did.
"So?" She pushed wrapping her arm through his elbow and snuggling up against his side. She was so close now she might as well been on his lap. He smiled. "So what?" This earned him a slap on the leg which caused him to erupt into laughter. She sat up then trying to glare him unsuccessfully into submission which caused him to laugh harder. She huffed and placed her head on his shoulder, closer to him now, so close he could smell her shampoo. He turned his head and whispered softly to her.
"She's pregnant." Rose's head snapped round to search his face to make sure he was serious.
"Does he?" She started frowning but he knew what she was asking.
"No. She doesn't even know it yet. But he is so alive and growing bigger every day." He smiled in wonder, the smile on his companions' face evolving into a brilliant grin.
"They have a son." She continued grinning then turned to the Doctor raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
"How long have you known?" She waited for him to respond but he turned his head away from her trying to hide the beginning of a grin. "Doctor?" She warned. He chuckled, the sound of it making Rose feel a little giddy.
"Since it happened." He admitted turning to look at her. Her face contorting slightly, he realised what she must have been thinking. "Oh Rose, yuck, as if I'd want to hear it let alone see Mick...or Martha, I mean...urgggh" He shivered involuntarily in disgust at the thought of Mickey naked and doing THAT, it was bad enough before he regenerated thinking about him doing THAT to Rose, Martha he didn't mind but he still didn't want to think about Mickey period. He glared at Rose who was hysterical beside him. He sat pouting staring ahead of him trying to ignore her. But he couldn't help it; he kept glancing at her giggling, his lips beginning to curl into a smile. "Stop it." He warned unconvincingly. She laughed harder then sighed happily as her giggles subsided. She reached up and ruffled his air affectionately.
"So how did you know?" She asked turning slightly away from him so she could lean against him as he moved his arm to rest along the back of the log behind them.
"Well you humans exude pheromones and hormones; it wasn't hard to pick up on the change in Martha's biochemistry." He waved the hand behind her head in a noncommittal fashion as he spoke. "Happened the night we came back from Fraxis." She nodded, thinking it over.
"So, what is it like one of your Jedi mind tricks or somefin'?" She asked, taking a bite out of an apple she pulled from the bowl at their feet. He laughed at that. "No, it is not a 'Jedi' mind trick as you have so eloquently dubbed my abilities Rose." She grinned taking another bite of her apple.
"Then how come you knew?" She laughed. "If you weren't reading her mind, can the TARDIS tell or what?" He glanced down at the side of her face, so he could judge her reaction as he answered her.
"I can smell it." He replied and she stilled, before turning to face him.
"You, you can...smell it?" She repeated and he nodded once, eyes not leaving hers trying to read what she was thinking. Oh god. She stilled as something occurred to her.
"So," She began, "When we were travellin' before, and even now, that pink fluffy hot water bottle that appears on my bed, you know, every couple of weeks, it, it wasn't." She stuttered.
"No, it wasn't the TARDIS." He finished.
"Oh." She breathed shifting her blush away from the Doctor but leaning back further into his side.
"That's a little embarrassing." Well not really, he was her best friend so of course he would take care of her when she needed it. "Thanks." She added quietly.
"You're welcome," He murmured and sighed, she'd gone quiet again. "I'm not human Rose; trust me when I say it helps to remember that."
"Yea." She began, and then groaned loudly dropping her head to her lap in embarrassment as another thought struck her.
"What?" He asked genuinely surprised, as she laughed nervously.
"Nuffin'" She mumbled pitifully.
"No, what? Really Rose, I can't read your mind, if you don't tell me I don't know." He chuckled, noticing the tips of her ears were quiet an impressive shade of pink. She tried not to look him in the face.
"Well I'm glad." She laughed and groaned again. "Oh god that means you knew." She slapped him in the stomach.
"Knew what?" Now he was confused but found her discomfort slightly amusing even if he didn't know why yet. She noticed his lips curve up as much as he was trying not to giggle.
"Oh don't you dare laugh!" She poked him in the ribs. He stilled her assault with the hand not resting behind her head. "You, you, cheeky alien bastard!" She scolded, but he wasn't following.
"You said you could smell us human's hormones and stuff, pheromones." She huffed. "Which means every time I, well you know, did stuff, oh god you knew, damn it you knew!" She blushed again furiously and turned into him hiding herself under his arm. That was when recognition hit.
"Oh, OH," He laughed, he was following now. "Yes, I did." He admitted. "Not that I'd ever be one to judge Rose, whatever naughty little things you get up to in your own time are none of my business." He had the decency to blush a little himself.
She peered up at him through her fingers which were still pressed to her face. She supposed if he had been anyone else, she might have been upset. At least he hadn't been able to see into her head, god if only he knew that all of it was over him, well either this him or the last one. She wondered just how many times in the last four years they'd been travelling she'd had to get herself off because of him.
"How many times?" She asked curiously, he raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"How many times Doctor?" She queried again.
"I, I'm not sure." He suddenly became interested in a speck of dirt on his trousers.
"Liar." She laughed, removing her hand and just looking up at him. "You've got that massive Time Lord brain up there and you can't recall how many times I've..." He muttered something indistinguishable under his breath.
"What was that Doctor." She smirked and he rolled his eyes at her, before answering.
"Two hundred and forty-three times over the past four and a half years, not including any time spent in parallel worlds, hospitals or prison cells." He stared her in the eyes, challenging her.
"Holy shit." Was the muttered response he received as they both erupted into laughter. They sat quietly for some time watching the crowd dwindle down as the night went on. Rose was the one to break the silence.
"Doesn't it bother you?" She asked, absently fiddling with the bottom of his suit jacket.
"Doesn't what bother me?" He murmured shifting so Rose was nearly leaning against his chest. He dragged his long brown coat from behind him and spread it across their lap as the night air began to cool.
"Well you spend so much time around humans, me, Martha, Donna, Jack, doesn't it bother you, I don't know, smellin' us all the time?" She frowned up at him.
"Not really," He mused, "Despite what you may think people, even Jack, don't think about sex all the time, so the chances of actually coming across someone oozing pheromones, is usually non-existent. And the time I spend with the others really is quite limited because I'm always with you. Even back before Pete's world, we were always together, so it made sense that I sort of tuned into your biochemistry anyway. Makes it a lot easier in an emergency to know what should be from what shouldn't." He finished and grinned down at her. She snuggled into his jacket.
"I like findin' out new thing about you." She laughed. "Even if they are a bit alien." He snorted.
"What else can you do?" She realised she had never really asked before, and considering his relatively open and sharing mood this evening, despite his earlier brooding, she was game. He regarded her intently for a few moments, her shiver had nothing to do with the temperature, but he wrapped his arm lightly round her back pulling her closer.
"Well," he began, "The two hearts you already know about, regeneration etcetera." She nodded. "I have the power, knowledge and technology to travel through time and space, and am the proud owner of the last TARDIS in existence and one of THE most impressive brains in the entire universe, all of which you know and find absolutely incredible." He waggled his eyebrows at her before resting his chin on top of her head. She shook her head and laughed.
"What you don't know," He whispered turning serious. "is that I can smell fear and hatred and feel every emotion possible from every person around me every second of every day, I possess an unimaginable strength which I will never use against another living soul no matter what." He felt her breathing hitch.
"I can outlast twenty of the fittest men you could possibly imagine and could track your scent across time and space itself." He moved his head a little lower so he was whispering across her ear. "And if that alone wasn't enough," He tucked a hair behind her ear. "I can hear the gentle hum of your blood as it courses through your veins, feel the beating of your single heart from a hundred yards and take away your free will with a glance." She shivered, her eyes slipping closed, opening when his hand ghosted across her ribs over her heart. "Time is mine to command, to slow down, speed up or stop," She let a rush of air out of her lungs as she felt her heart beat change tempo as he spoke and stop for just a second.
"Doctor." She murmured eyes slipping closed once more. He let slip just the tiniest whisper of himself and wrapped it around her. She took a sharp intake of breath, remembering a time not so long ago when he had lent her a small fraction of the power he held.
"I could suspend you and this entire planet in time and keep you there for eternity, purely with the power of my mind." His voice was but a breath of air. "And always, every waking moment of my existence, all that was, is, could be, can't be." He looked down at her; she hung on his every word. But it wasn't because he was making her, he didn't have to, she did it because she wanted to, clung to him of her own free will.
He moved away from her then mood changing back to hyperactive, babbling Doctor Mode. It nearly gave her whiplash.
"Weeeeell, that and a few other things that aren't best discussed in polite conversation." He waggled his eyebrows and smirked. Rose rolled her eyes at him and composed herself.
"You forgot to mention the real reason the TARDIS is bigger on the inside." She giggled at his frown. "Well how else are we gonna drag round that giant Time Lord ego without the extra space?" He threw his head back with a laugh before he nudged her gently.
"Come on Rose, time for bed." He stood and pulled her up after him.