Chapter 15 - New Earth Gray's way
"Where are we goin'?" Rose asked excitedly, having gotten over her earlier anger and indignation.
"Farther than we've ever been before," the Doctor said, just as excited.
Gray's lips twitched at the side as she recognized the scripted words. It was good to see that her presence hasn't changed everything.
The TARDIS landed with a jolt but Gray had managed that time to stay on her feet. She timidly followed Rose and the Doctor out as the scent of apples filled the air.
Gray let out a quiet, awed laugh as she completely stepped off the ship and onto the apple scented grass, squinting at the bright light.
"It's the year five billion and twenty three. We're in the galaxy M87 and this? This is new earth," the Doctor narrated as soon as the girls joined him.
He peeked at Gray from the corner of his eye and his chest swelled with pride at her bright smile.
"That's just. That's just," Rose tried as she twirled on her toes.
"Not bad. Not bad at all," the Doctor finished for her as he looked over at the horizon.
Gray looked over at Rose with a small smile. It was nice to see her so happy, even if the two didn't get along very well. It honestly pained Gray that they were at odds. She didn't like fighting. Especially not over someone. She didn't want it to be like with Sarah-Jane Smith, even if it did work out in the end. Fighting with people was exhausting.
Rose smiled as well as she gazed over at the city.
"That's amazing. I'll never get used to this. Never. Different ground beneath my feet," she said as she stomped the ground lightly. "Different sky," she gestured up then sniffed the air. "What's that smell?"
The Doctor knelt down and plucked a few blades of grass and sniffed at it.
"Apple grass," he said and walked over to Gray. "Smell this," he whispered and held it closer to her face.
Gray hid a fond smile, but he could clearly see the emotion in her eyes even if he couldn't feel it through the bond. She held her hair back from her face with one hand while the other held the Doctor's hand steady, a habit she had formed through distrust of people's hands near her face. She bent her head over his hand and lightly sniffed at it. She let out a giggle.
"It really smells just like apples. I would've thought it would smell like the artificial flavoring," she said but then pursed her lips in thought.
"What's wrong? There isn't a bug on there, right?" He asked worriedly, tilting his hand this way and that to see if he spotted anything.
Gray huffed a laugh as she shook her head. She looked up at him and he nearly had to do a double take at the new emotion he spotted there. It was absolute curiosity. Looking at him through her lashes, she asked, "it smells like apples, what's it taste like though?"
His breath hitched at the look she wore but his hearts just about stopped when Gray took a blade of grass between her teeth, her lips just brushing against his fingers. He swallowed thickly as she pulled it in with her tongue, his brain lagging severely as she licked her lips after chewing it.
"Hmm. Minty," she said with a grin, completely unaware of how her innocent actions had riled up the Time Lord.
The Doctor stared in a daze as Gray skipped away from him, completely deaf to what Rose was saying a few feet away, with her back turned to them.
The Doctor had thrown open his coat as a make-shift blanket for the trio to sit on. As Rose joined him to his left, he patted the right side for Gray to sit down, and she obliged.
"So, year five billion," he said as he leaned back on his elbows and watched the cars hover over the freeway. "The sun expands, the earth gets roasted."
Rose gave him a cheeky grin. "That was our first date," she said.
"We, er, had chips," he said, much more uncertain than he should be, and looking quite uncomfortable.
Gray had to bite back a laugh.
"So anyway," he continued. "Planet all gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the earth burns up, oh yeah, then get all nostalgic, big revival movement, but then they find this place," he gestured around them. "Same size as earth, same air, same orbit. Lovely. Call goes out, the humans move in," he said and waved a hand around again.
"What's the city called?" Rose asked as she stared at the buildings.
"New New York," he said simply and Gray laughed as Rose scoffed at him.
"Oh come on," said the blonde, unbelieving.
"He did say they got all nostalgic," Gray reminded her gently and the Doctor beamed at her.
"Hey, you listened," he cheered.
Gray frowned slightly. "Of course I did. Why wouldn't I?"
The Doctor didn't answer, just wore a goofy smile as he shrugged his shoulders.
Gray rolled her eyes but found his smile infectious.
The trio sat in silence for a while as they watched the skyline.
Gray shifted so that she was completely on her back as she watched the New clouds.
The Doctor noticed and followed suit, his hands coming to rest on his stomach.
Gray turned her head and observed his side profile. His sideburns neary had her giggling but she just smiled instead.
It was strange, she thought, how the Doctor cared for her. She never imagined he would. Not like this, anyway. He said that he needed her, for him to be better. Wasn't that what Rose was for? But besides that, what did he mean?
Since the TARDIS had shown her what she needed to know, she would be able to save more people, yet not all of them. But she understood that.
She wondered if the Doctor would let her have a sonic screwdriver.
Just as she was about to open her mouth and ask, he turned his head to her. He wasn't surprised that she was looking at him already, so he must have noticed. Her cheeks heated at being caught staring but her breathing became slightly more shallow as she saw him taking in her features. The ever present smile he wore was not present at that moment and Gray swallowed thickly. He moved his head a bit closer to hers and the light caught his eyes, making them shine like stars. The way he was shooting at her made her feel dizzy even while she was lying down. No one has ever looked at her like that before and she would treasure the moment for the rest of her life.
The Doctor shifted even closer and his breath fanned across her face, the sensation giving her goosebumps. She inhaled sharply and his unique scent hit her like a sledgehammer. He smelled fresh, clean. Yet he smelled as if he was a man that lived between the pages of a book. She'd always loved the smell of the pages of books. His eyes kept shifting between hers and her lips, making her swallow thickly.
Not knowing what came over her, she whispered, "Theta," he voice barely audible.
But he heard. Oh yes he did. His hearts constricted and his pupils dilated .
"Rae," he breathed, making her blush at the new nickname and at the way he said it.
He moved even closer, resting his forehead against hers. "Say it again," he begged in a low, raw voice.
She complied.
His academy name left her lips again and he nearly sobbed at the overwhelming feeling of joy it gave him. His left hand came over and cradled her neck as he breathed in her presence.
It had been a while since he had so much emotion flooding his system. It felt like he could burst any second. His lungs burned with repressed words and his jaw ached as he kept them in. He didn't want to scare her away. He needed to move slowly with her. He barely knew her, even if it felt that she's always been at his side, yet too far away to obtain.
He's always loved humans, they were so expressive with their emotions, not like the Time Lords. But Gray, he didn't know just how she could make him feel so loved just by being near him. He had caught every single fond look she directed at him, not seeing them all but feeling the fondness coming through the bond.
She made him feel like he wasn't alone anymore, even though he was the last of his kind. And he decided that, as long as she was with him, he'd be just fine.
All the while Rose was watching in disgust as Gray took away the man that she loved. Even if their conversation was too low for her to hear over the din of hover cars and the wind blowing, she knew it would make her sick to hear it. She had hoped that the issue would sort itself out but it seemed like she would have to intervene. Gray was not going to steal the Doctor away form Rose, not if she could help it.
A/N: I DON'T OWN DOCTOR WHO.
Hey guys, it's been a while. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. A bit more bonding between Gray and the Doctor. It feels like I'm really stretching out every episode, I don't know if you guys like that on not. Please let me know. I want to make it a long story and I don't want to make it just the episode and throw Gray in. I'm anyway going to mess with cannon a bit, change some things. Like with Gray's future knowledge there will be different ways to save the day than just what the Doctor does. He really can be a bit reckless sometimes, can't he? Gray won't take as many risks as the Doctor but she might just put herself in harms way to make sure someone lives.
Have a nice day,
MercifulAuthor.