Author's note: date updated 07/09/15
Episode Eleven: Blood Lust
Chapter Two
"Well, this is certainly different." Bella smiled quietly.
"Very," the Doctor agreed looking down to her. "Good though isn't it?"
"Yeah," Bella laughed, looking up to him.
He smiled at her. They both deserved a break after everything that had happened with the Family of Pain and they both needed it, although the Doctor thought Bella deserved it more than him as she had spent almost three months keeping his clumsy human invention out of trouble, which he doubted had been easy, because it was him.
"There are so many different types of alien races here!" Bella observed as Jack laughed, he too looking around at everyone near them. "I mean amongst humans – peacefully amongst humans. You don't generally see that much do you, not in our time at least and generally not so much where we've been."
"My ears must deceive me!" Gasped the man in front of them as he turned around to gaze at Bella wide-eyed, "Surely that must have been the voice of an angel!"
The Doctor, Bella and Jack all stared at the unnaturally good looking man before them feeling somewhat astounded. Bella seemed literally speechless as she stared slightly opened mouthed at him.
"Sorry, I should introduce myself," he smiled breathtakingly, his grey eyes never straying from Bella's face. "I am Harvey Williams," he told them, taking Bella's right hand (the one that was not around the Doctor's arm still) and kissed it gently.
The Doctor's eyes narrowed slightly as he felt jealousy building in his stomach.
"Uh – I'm Bella," she told him somewhat uncertainly. "This is the Doctor –"
"Hello," the Doctor said, watching Harvey closely.
"- and this is Captain Jack." she finished, pulling her hand away from Harvey's and resting it on the Doctor's right forearm.
"Fascinating," Harvey said his eyes falling on Bella's hand on the Doctor's arm, an odd expression flashing across his face briefly that the Doctor did not miss.
"So, do you enjoy the twenty-first century?"
"Oh, yeah," Bella said lightly, obviously glad of the change of subject, "We have a soft spot for it."
"Are you historians?" he asked.
"You could say that, I guess." Bella shrugged, smiling as the Doctor and Jack laughed slightly.
"Did I miss something?" Harvey asked seemingly frustrated.
"Oh no," Jack said, still laughing. "We've been told that we know so much about that century that we could have come from there!"
The Doctor and Bella laughed loudly as Harvey looked to Jack for the first time and his eyes narrowed before looking back to Bella as the orchestra stopped and an old jukebox started playing Holiday by Dizzee Rascal.
"May I be so bold as to ask for a dance, Bella?" Harvey asked, holding out his hand.
The Doctor felt Bella's hold on his right arm tighten.
"Uh," Bella said hesitantly. She didn't normally dance at all. She was going to tell him this but suddenly – and unexpectedly – she agreed. "Sure…"
Bella reluctantly let go of the Doctor's safe arm and took hold of Harvey's outstretched, cool hand and allowed herself to be led onto the dance floor.
The Doctor watched them leave, Bella looking back to him, bitting her lip nervously. He felt his jealousy heighten more, which obviously showed on his face.
"Young, handsome, close to her own age," Jack deducted, watching Harvey place his hands around Bella. "As good looking as you are, Doctor, you may have some competition on your hands."
The Doctor clenched his jaw together tightly as Jack walked away from him over to a group of nearby women that the Doctor didn't find overly attractive. He sighed. He was just over-protective of Bella that was all, he tried to tell himself. He could never feel for anyone as he had done for Rose, but she was gone, stuck in a parallel universe with the human version of him.
Even as he told himself that he couldn't feel for anyone more than Rose he knew it was pointless, He had already fallen for Bella and there was nothing he could do about it. Jack had picked up on it, even if he didn't say anything (which he was very thankful about) and even his feelings for her had filtered through the Chameleon Arch into John Smith's memories. He had been able to tell her how he felt. He just wished that he could.
- O -
Bella danced with the pale, bronze-haired man and looked up into his pale grey eyes as he looked down into her bright blue ones. He was about 6'1" (the same height as the Doctor) and wore a black velvet suit. She felt as though she could look nowhere other than into his unique eyes no matter how hard she tried. She felt slightly awkward as he held her close with his strong arms; she wasn't used to it at all, especially with someone she hardly knew.
"So," Harvey said calmly, leading her effortlessly around the dance floor. Bella didn't think the song was appropriate for slow dancing at all, but she didn't try and fight him which made her wonder why she didn't. She would much prefer to dance with the Doctor. Besides, dancing like they were was not like Bella at all. "Where are you from?"
"Here and there," Bella said, unsure of what to say. "I'm never in one spot for too long. I travel all over with the Doctor, see."
"Are you with him?" Harvey asked quietly.
"With him?" she repeated, not understanding the question considering she had just told him that she travelled with the Doctor.
"Romantically?" he said charmingly.
Bella's face immediately flushed. "No, it's nothing like that." she said quickly. "He is my best friend, I owe him so much."
"Hmm," he said and Bella didn't like the scepticism in his voice. "Where are you from originally? Where were you born?"
Bella panicked. What should she tell him? There was something about him that she didn't trust and she didn't fell like it wasn't a good idea to tell him that she was part Nealonian.
"Uh, I was originally from Earth. My mother died in childbirth and I don't know where she was from." Bella said frowning as she wondered what had compelled her to mention her mother.
"Your father?" he pressed.
Alarmed as to why he was so interested, she said "Died when I was five."
"How terrible," he said, but something told Bella that he wasn't as sincere as he would have liked her to believe. "Where is your Doctor from?"
Alarm bells began to ring in her head now. She managed to tear her eyes away from Harvey's and looked to her right, searching for the Doctor. She saw Jack surrounded by a bunch of women and laughing loudly, a drink in his hand, but she didn't see the Doctor with him.
"Uh," she said as Harvey pulled her closer to him, making her look back at him once again. "I can never remember what it's called…"
Harvey stared into her eyes, his face quite close to hers. She looked back at him, an unexplainable fear forming. She needed to get away from him but she couldn't move; it was like she was frozen into place.
"Excuse me?" said the Doctor, tapping Harvey's shoulder politely. "May I?"
Bella felt a sudden wave of relief rush over every inch of her as Harvey looked to the Doctor and released her.
"Of course, Doctor," Harvey said bowing slightly. "It was such a pleasure, Bella."
Bella attempted to smile as he handed her to the Doctor, who quickly took her hand and placed his around the small of her back.
"Shall we?" the Doctor smiled as Bella watched Harvey walk away into the crowd moodily. He looked to her and noted her expression; she seemed slightly edgy, which had been the main (but not the only) reason that he had come over to her aid. "Are you okay?" he asked her as the song changed to On A Night Like This by Kylie Minogue.
"Yeah," Bella said relaxing a bit as the Doctor began leading her around the dance floor. "He was just a bit weird that's all…"
The Doctor laughed. "Most aliens are to you humans! I mean, some would say that I was a bit odd."
"I can't see why!" Bella said in mock-confusion. "I mean someone who can change their face, can travel in time and owns a spaceship that is bigger on the inside can hardly be considered odd!"
The Doctor laughed again and looked down to Bella, who was looking up to him smiling. It was then that both of them realised how close they were to each other. Their faces were inches away from each other and the Doctor could see every detail of Bella's beautiful blue eyes and the memory of John Smith's study resurfaced in his mind.
