A/N: This takes place after the chapter here - Dismantling the Pyramid (which directly came off of Pyramids of Mars), but before the events of Android Invasion. Well, this wraps it up, I think. I decided to save something like this for the end. If another missing scene comes to me, I'll make sure to pass it along. Thank you all for reading and reviewing!!! :-)
CROSSING THE THRESHOLD
The explosion shook the entire room, throwing the Doctor, Sarah and the three Telarians to the floor. The Doctor tried to position himself to best cover Sarah to protect her from the rain of debris that began to fall. The noise roared in her ears as everything began to settle, and darkness finally enveloped her.
It was the deafening silence that woke Sarah. She tried to shift position, but between the weight of the rubble and the Doctor still covering her, it limited her mobility. She tried to turn her head, but the Doctor's face was buried in the crook of her neck. She concentrated and felt the Doctor's breath against her ear. She worked an arm free and reached around to touch the side of the Doctor's face. 'Doctor?' she whispered, then coughed as dust moved around her. She glanced at her hand when she realised it was wet and saw the blood there. She knew it wasn't from her hand, so it must've been from when she touched the Doctor's face.
She began to gently shake the Doctor's shoulder, 'Doctor, wake up.'
She felt his breath get heavier against her ear. 'Sarah,' his voice barely above a whisper. 'Are you all right?'
'Yes, but you're bleeding.'
'Piece of something caught me on the side of my face. I'm all right.'
Sarah felt him try to shift his weight and stop. 'What's wrong?'
'There's a wooden beam across my hip. I can't move it. It's resting on other detritus, but it's just close enough that I can't get past it.'
Sarah tried to lift her head but couldn't see past the Doctor's arm that was across her upper chest and shoulder. 'If we can work together so I can get out from underneath you, would that free you up to give you enough room to get out?' The Doctor lifted his head and looked Sarah in the eyes. She didn't miss the twinkle in his eyes, or the thought he projected to her. She tried not to laugh, 'You can tell me about it later, all right?'
Sarah was rewarded by the Doctor's bright smile. 'I'll make sure to remind you, Sarah, should you forget.'
'Oh, don't worry, I won't forget.'
As the Doctor tried to shift again, Sarah was able to wiggle enough for him to move more. They were able to continue taking turns, moving ever so slightly until Sarah finally got free. She was able to crawl around and stand up. She turned back to look at the Doctor. He was right behind her in getting out from under the beam. She reached back towards him as he stood up. His knees quickly buckled and he went down, practically pulling Sarah with him.
Sarah was finally able to get a good look at the cut on his face. 'Doctor, that doesn't look good.' She quickly slipped off her jacket and turned the sleeve inside out to expose a cleaner side. As he stood back up, he put his hands on Sarah's shoulders to steady himself. She reached up with the sleeve and wiped away some of the blood, but a small trickle continued.
'We'll deal with it when we get back to the TARDIS.' He looked around slowly, 'We have to see if any of the Telarians survived, and what caused the explosion.'
Sarah felt the Doctor leaning against her as they looked through the rubble. They quickly found that they were the only survivors, their Telarian hosts hadn't survived the explosion. As she turned her head away from the gruesome scene before her, she asked, 'What do we do now?' almost afraid of the answer.
The Doctor frowned, then turned Sarah by the shoulders so she would be facing away from the bodies. 'We should get back to the TARDIS for now. We need to get cleaned up and our injuries seen to. Then we'll figure out where to go from there.'
Sarah nodded and they made their way out of the remains of the demolished building and towards the TARDIS. They were almost at the doors when Sarah staggered and nearly fell. The Doctor quickly wrapped an arm around her waist for support. She looked over towards him, 'Is that you or me or a combination?'
'The latter I would imagine.'
The Doctor quickly opened the door and ushered Sarah inside. Shutting the door behind them, they both made their way directly towards sickbay. Separately, but working together, they gathered tools, antiseptics and bandages before turning to each other. 'You first,' Sarah said, pointing at the bed.
Smiling, the Doctor sat up on the bed and lay back, allowing Sarah to fuss over him. She quickly cleaned the main cut on the side of his face, then used a small sonic style device to seal it. Once the injury itself had been handled, she took a small dab of green cream out of a tub and gently massaged it into the remaining scar. The Doctor intently watched her face and eyes as she worked. After finishing up with the main cut, she gently ran her fingers along his face and through his hair, looking for any other injuries. He closed his eyes, relishing the attention and gentle touch of his favourite human.
'I think I got them all, Doctor,' she said as she rested a hand on his chest.
He opened his eyes and smiled up at her. 'Thank you very much.' Sitting up, he vacated the bed, then patted it gently. 'Your turn, Sarah.'
She sat up on the bed. 'I really don't think I got hit. You covered me and took the brunt of it.'
He looked into her eyes and smiled sadly. 'Did I?' He reached around with a bandage and touched the back of her head. She flinched and her eyes widened as he showed her the bandage with blood on it.
'I didn't feel a thing,' she insisted as he helped her to lie back on the bed.
'I know,' he said softly, not elaborating further. 'Now, turn over on your side and let me take care of this.'
She turned on her side, her back to him. She felt him gently move the hair away from the area he'd indicated previously. His touch was almost caressing in nature as he cleaned the wound, used the device on it and applied a small amount of the cream. He put a hand on her shoulder and began to run his free hand through her hair, searching the scalp for any other wounds.
I hate seeing you injured, Sarah.
Sarah smiled, even though she couldn't see the Doctor's face, she knew she only heard that in her mind, not with her ears. Don't you think I feel the same? I saw the blood on your face and you were unconscious. She concentrated and sent the thought to him.
As she let him slowly turn her back towards him, she was met by his smile. He helped her to sit up and took her hand as she stood up. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him and she quickly returned the embrace. She closed her eyes as he began to rub her back soothingly. We've danced this dance before, Doctor.
That we have, my Sarah Jane. It's a dance I would continue with you into infinity, however it doesn't change one thing.
She looked up at him, resorting to her own fallback. Words. 'That you're not human and I'm not a Time Lady.'
'It is inescapable, I'm afraid,' he said sadly as he looked into her eyes. He reached up and took her face in both his hands and leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. There is more we can share, Sarah. Do you trust me?
Always.
Hand in hand, the Doctor led Sarah out of sickbay into a room Sarah had never seen before. She looked around, taking in the vast expanse before them. 'Doctor, what is this place?' she asked, turning around and trying to absorb her surroundings. It looked like a quiet wooden glen, complete with a rustic cabin and a stream nearby. She could almost hear the water running. 'Is that possible?'
He smiled, 'Many things are possible, Sarah.' He led her into the cabin and gestured around the main room. 'You can relax here, or if you like, there's a bathroom through there.' He nodded towards an interior door. 'You can indulge in one of those long, warm bubble baths that you're so fond of.'
'Actually, I may do that and clean off some of the grime from the explosion. I should go get a change of clothes first.' She looked down and motioned towards the sections of material on her trousers and shirtsleeves that were shredded.
'I thought you might say that,' he said, a smile again crossing his features. 'There's already something in there for you.'
She raised an eyebrow, 'Oh really? If I didn't know better, Doctor, I'd say you were planning something.'
'Me, plan? I thought you knew me better than that, Sarah. I always improvise.'
~!~!~!~
Sarah emerged from the bathroom a while later, wearing the outfit that the Doctor had picked out for her. It was a simple black pair of cotton trousers and a short-sleeved white top with lace accents. She looked around for the Doctor but didn't see him anywhere. She saw a note on the kitchen table and went over to read it. She smiled at the scribbled, barely legible handwriting. "Just wait here, I'll be back soon," it said. "Help yourself to the wine."
She looked around the room. 'Well.' She went over and poured herself a glass of wine, then settled on the sofa to wait. Some time later, Sarah finished up her glass of wine and found herself getting very sleepy. She sat her glass down on the nearby table and sat back, closing her eyes.
Sarah and the Doctor ran, hand in hand. The Doctor quickly grabbed Sarah and pulled her around a corner and held her close. The creatures that were chasing them quickly ran past.
The Doctor leaned over and whispered in Sarah's ear. 'I think we gave them the slip.'
'Good,' she whispered in return. 'I thought we'd had it this time.'
The Doctor turned to her, his blue eyes looking almost through her. He leaned in towards her, his mouth right next to her ear. 'We're safe here, Sarah.' His mouth lingered by her ear far longer than was strictly necessary. He pulled back, but his face never moved more than an inch from hers. He locked eyes with Sarah, then reached up, his hands gently caressing her face. She searched his face for some indication of what he was thinking. Her eyes closed as he leaned in and gently began to trail kisses from just under her ear down towards the base of her neck.
'Sarah,' he intoned in a voice huskier than she'd ever heard before.
Sarah? She opened her eyes, unused to being awakened by someone calling to her mentally. She smiled as she saw the Doctor sitting next to her, his hand on her arm. He smiled in return. 'That was some dream you were having, Sarah.'
She blushed and looked away quickly. 'How did you?'
He slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him, 'You were projecting fairly strongly.'
She continued to stare at the floor. 'Sorry,' she mumbled.
He reached out and gently lifted her face to look into her eyes. 'Is that what you want, Sarah?'
Sarah took a deep breath. 'What do you want, Doctor? In the dream, you wanted this as much as I did.' She paused for a minute. 'Anything less wouldn't be fair to either one of us. After all, I am just a lowly human and you are the lofty Time Lord. And I would thinkā¦'
At that point, the Doctor leaned over and silenced her with a kiss. It lasted only the briefest of moments before the Doctor pulled back and looked deeply into Sarah's eyes. 'Sometimes words are overrated, Sarah.' He leaned over and kissed her again, this time with more feeling and passion.
Sarah reached out and ran her fingers through his hair, enjoying the feelings his touch was evoking. After several minutes of exploration, Sarah pulled back, mostly to catch her breath. As much as I would like to at the moment, I don't have a respiratory bypass system.
The Doctor smiled softly. Do you trust me, Sarah?
You asked me that before. The answer is the same. Always.
The Doctor stood up and reached his hand out to Sarah. Smiling, she stood up, took his hand and let him lead her out of the room into one of the cabin's interior rooms.
~!~!~!~
Sarah felt herself getting very sleepy. She tried to wrap her brain around the events of the day. Most importantly, the events that got her to exactly where she was at this exact moment. She smiled as she absently ran her fingers across the Doctor's chest and shoulder as he slept. This time there was nothing separating them. She'd felt the Universe open to her in new ways that she'd never expected, even in all the time they'd spent together.
Without opening his eyes, the Doctor reached up with the arm that wasn't wrapped around Sarah and ran it along her cheek. 'Sleep, Sarah. Quit thinking so hard.'
She laughed softly, 'I'm sorry,' she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek before pillowing her head on his chest. 'So what does this mean, going forward, in Time Lord terms, for you, I mean?' she asked, slightly afraid of the answer.
He kissed the top of her head. 'There's a connection between us, Sarah. There's been a connection between us long before now. This just reinforces it, strengthens it. It's not just physical, but emotional as well. Time Lords don't share or show their emotions very well, but you will pick up on my feelings more so than the casual observer.'
She propped herself up on one elbow and looked into the Doctor's eyes. I trust you with my life, Doctor. I trust you with my heart too. I know it'll break at some point, but for now, this is enough. More than I could've ever asked for.
He smiled and pulled her in for another kiss. Thank you, my Sarah Jane.
~!~!~!~
