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Chapter 42 - Long Distance Love Bites

The Doctor used his bracelet to find Tony's location. The GPS tracker that he had planted in his arm told him that he was sitting inside of the playground system on the Top Observation Deck of the ship.

He took his time and walked down the hallways to the lift. He could feel Rose's excitement at something she was doing. He couldn't help but smile. He reached out to her. 'What are you doing, woman?'

He felt her smile, 'I'm just having a laugh with Lance. Evening tea, you know.'

He whispered to himself, "Evening tea?"

'Baby. We need to sort out the boys and nursery and such-'

He groaned, 'I don't know if Lewis is ready to talk about that just yet.'

'I understand. Lance says we should just move his stuff into the house and be done with it.'

'I agree with Lance, but I need to make a room for him and Arles. I'll find something to copy. Is Lance staying? Do you know?'

'Don't know. I'm not going to ask him.'

'Why not?'

'I'm worried he will say no.'

He smiled at how comfortable she had become with Lance. 'So, Lance is working out?'

'Yes. I'm sitting here with him now. He sends his regards.'

He nodded his head as the lift reached the floor. 'He wants to raise the bet on the football match, doesn't he?'

He felt her smile, 'That is between you and him.'

He cleared his throat as he walked out of the lift and into the Top Observation Deck. The large domed ceiling showed streaks of stars passing by overhead. The room was dim and very quiet.

"Tony? Are you in here?" he called.

"No." Tony's voice called back from the play system.

The Doctor climbed up the ladder and through the tunnels. He arrived at the top where he found Tony Tyler sitting against the wall, inside of the tube. He hugged his legs and seemed to have just stopped crying.

"May I sit?"

Tony hid his face. "I don't care."

He rolled his eyes, "Oh you do. Otherwise you wouldn't be so upset." He sat down next to him and rested his arms on his knees.

"This is nice. I've not been up here."

Tony pointed at the wall. "Lewis did that."

On the wall had been written, 'Lewis loves Arla.' The Doctor smiled and felt a lump grow in his throat. "Lewis is a big child."

Tony didn't look at him. "Genie told him he would get into trouble."

"Nah. Not for that. That probably made Arla laugh."

Tony rubbed his face. "It did. She was nice."

"It's alright to be sad about that."

"You're not."

"I am. I just….try not to think about it."

"Did you think about Rose?"

He sighed and stretched out his legs as best as he could. "Of course I did. Everyday."

"Then why did you leave her here? She was here a long time without you."

"These are hard questions, Tony. I couldn't come back."

"You are here now."

"Well. She brought me back."

"So, you didn't want to come back?"

He sighed and looked at him. "This is really….difficult."

"What's hard about it?" Tony insisted and held his hands out.

"I don't like to talk about it."

"You don't like to talk about a lot of things, John."

He smiled and looked at him. "That's true."

"I'm your brother. You can tell me things you wouldn't tell anyone else."

He smiled at him and nodded, "Well. Tony, my brother. Rose came here, with your Mum…. And I didn't come back because I knew she was with her family and thought she was alright. I didn't think she needed me."

"She did. She cried all of the time."

He closed his eyes tightly as Tony's words seemed to pierce his heart. "I'm sure she was happy…a bit."

"Not much. She mostly just….stayed in her room and cried. She wasn't like she is now. She's happy and smiles all of the time."

"Well. That's good news. Tell me, why do you think I'll leave again?"

"Because you left her before."

"Tony, I'm not going anywhere. I didn't even want to come out here into space without her."

Tony looked confused. "You didn't?"

"No way." He told him and sat back. "I thought you would come with me if it sounded exciting."

Tony looked at his trainers.

The Doctor looked at him again. "Why do you think I'll leave you? I have a ship now. And look. You are right here next to me. Having a different ship won't change anything."

"But, why do you need another one?"

"Well, she won't be ready to do anything with for a long time. You'll nearly be an adult."

"So, you'll leave?"

He pointed at him and shook his head. "No. Let's sort that out now. I'm not leaving. I'm here. I'm not running. I've promised Rose that I won't even travel in time. So, I won't even use that part of the TARDIS when she grows up. Not for a while."

"But. That's what you do."

He shook his head. "No. I don't have to do that."

"So, you like just….staying here? With Rose?"

He nodded, "Yes. I like kissing her too much to leave."

Tony rolled his eyes. "That's just disgusting. You two kiss too much."

He laughed at the small boy. "No, the truth is…. You are part of my family. As long as I can be around you, I want to be. I don't want to miss any of the time we have together."

Tony looked confused at him, "What does that even mean?"

He rubbed his head, "These are really….grown-up questions. I promise I'll explain all of this one day when you're older. It's complicated. But, for now. All you need to know is that I'm here. I'm not leaving you, or Rose. Or anyone."

He looked up at him, "Promise?"

He smiled, "My most excellent promise, Tony. We've had way too many people leave already. Arla, Clagl. Sam. Even one was too many."

Tony shook his head and admitted quietly. "I don't like Sam."

"My Sam? Why?"

"His name. Why did you call him that? It makes me think of the Sam that got hurt."

He nodded, "Well, Sam saved Rose and my Sam. That's the reason we named him that. So, that we would remember him."

"I'll never forget him. He was so funny. Him and Lewis laughed all of the time. He was a great footballer, and he always brought us sweets."

The Doctor looked surprised, "Sweets? Really?"

Tony smiled, "Yeah. It was something different each day."

He rubbed his hands together and sighed, "Well, Sam doesn't like being called Sam, either. He told me that before we left. He prefers Samuel. Is that better?"

Tony thought for a bit. "Yeah, I suppose it is. Sam's name wasn't Samuel. I don't think it was. Was it?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Well, I never called him that. He was always, Sam. Sam and Lewis. Boy, Lewis has had a rotten year."

Tony crossed his legs and groaned.

The Doctor looked back at him. "And you have had a rotten year. Pete got hurt. You started having to share Rose. Then me. Lost Sam. And-"

"Got hurt by those aliens." Tony added quietly. He looked back at him, "We're not going to see them again, are we?"

He shook his head. "No. You're quite safe. You have your bracelet this time, and you're on the ship. Nothing can take you. And I promise that I'll do everything I can so you never have to see them again."

Tony nodded his head. "I'm still frightened. When will it go away?"

"I won't lie to you, little brother. It might never go away."

"If I could fight like Lewis, that would make it go away. Do you think Lewis could teach me how to fight?"

The Doctor lifted his eyebrows. "Huh. Fight like Lewis, huh? I have a better idea."

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Rose walked back into her bedroom. It was late at night. Lance had shown her how to play Peducko and she was thrilled to discover that she was rather good at it.

After she took a shower and slipped on some cotton jammies, she looked on the Doctor's side of the closet. One of his Oxford shirts lay tossed across the bench. She put it on and raised it to her face to smell him.

'I miss you.' She told him.

'Oh, sweetheart. I miss you.' She heard his voice.

She turned off the closet light and walked back into their bedroom. A teddy bear sat in the middle of the bed, with a small box of chocolate covered strawberries. Rose smiled and covered her mouth.

'There is a teddy bear in here.' She told him and felt him laugh.

'My mates are helping me. I can't be there, but wanted you to know you are on my mind.'

She picked up the brown teddy bear and hugged it. 'He smells like your after shave.'

'I hope Gobbo didn't use too much.'

She giggled, 'Thank you. This is a wonderful surprise.' She climbed onto the bed and pulled the duvet over herself. She took a strawberry out of the box and ate it. 'This is wonderful.'

Her phone rang. She picked it up and the image of the Doctor filled the screen. He appeared to be lying across the bed in their room on the ship. The room was lit dimly. She could see he was wearing a red t-shirt. His wet hair was sticking up in every direction. It caused her to laugh.

"What did you do to your hair?"

He ran his hand through it. "Oh, I just got out of the shower. I might need a trim."

"You seem better."

He nodded his head. "I believe so. I'm just working through all of this stuff for the hospitals. It's going to be a long night here."

She noticed movement on the bed behind him. "Who is that?"

He turned and put his finger over his lips. 'Our little brother. He's keeping me company tonight. We had a long chat and got some stuff sorted. Tony has had a rough year. He needs some extra attention from his older brother.'

Rose nodded her head, 'I suppose he has.'

He looked back at him and tucked the duvet around the small boy. 'He'll be alright. I had to give Pete something rather strong. He had a rather intense headache.'

'Yeah? From the medicine?'

'I believe so. He's resting in Tony's room now. If he's still not well in the morning, I know we have something else to worry about. But, I believe he's fine. It's just a side effect.'

'Well, I was planning on telling you good night proper-'

He held up his finger. 'We probably can't do that. Not with our brother in the bed with me.'

She smiled, 'Then can you answer something?'

'What's that?'

'The night before you left. What happened? I woke up at home and you had gone.'

He sighed and walked into the small office that sat within the bedroom. He quietly closed the door and turned on the lamp. Rose saw him sit down in the chair and toss the tablet on the desk. "Hmmm…. We might need to wait until I get home to talk about that."

Rose groaned, "Why? Was it something bad?"

"Well, tell me what you remember."

"I remember going to the hotel. We went out on the balcony and you took our picture. Then you kissed me. We started to look at the visions and …. Did we see that Slitheen?"

He nodded, "Yes."

"So, we see her again?"

"No, that's something that already happened."

"But, you didn't go to eat with her."

"I did. That night we were there. Jack stayed back at the TARDIS, and she requested a last meal. Yeah. That happened."

Rose looked surprised, "Oh. I didn't know that. Where was I?"

"As I remember, you had gone off with Mickey."

She covered her mouth. "Oh, yes. I do remember that. He had gotten us a hotel room-"

"I really don't want to hear this." He insisted.

"Nothing happened. He told me he was dating someone."

He looked surprised, "He did?"

She nodded, "Yeah, but what she said….what was she playing at? Was she…ummm?"

"What? Was she what?"

Rose sighed, "Nevermind. It's none of my business."

"What? Ask me."

"Was she trying to get you to go back to her flat with her?"

"What? NO!"

"That's what it sounded like."

He rolled his eyes. "No! Wow. No. She was distracting me to pour poison into my drink. She was trying to kill me to keep from returning to her execution. And second, Rose. Ew! A Slitheen?!"

She covered her mouth and laughed, "I'm sorry. That's just what I thought."

He shook his head and held his tongue out of his mouth. "Oh that's just…. Nasty. Ew. I'm not Jack!"

Rose hugged the teddy bear and inhaled its scent deeply. "It just made me a bit…."

"Jealous?"

"Cross. And after you being so, furious about whatever Genie had been doing-"

He held up a finger. "Kissing. That's all I said. Don't….put that imagine in my head. I'll kill some guy when it happens if I've had to live all of these years thinking they are doing that. Kissing. That's all they are doing. Kissing."

Rose smiled and mumbled, "That poor girl."

He groaned. "Boys. That's all they better have been doing."

"I'm not going to talk about it anymore. I can already feel your blood pressure rising."

He bit his lip. "I need to get a lid on this."

She leaned over to the nightstand and held up the injector. "Is this what you were talking about?"

He looked at it. "Yes. That's it. Give yourself that and it will help you sleep."

"Can you visit me in my dreams?"

He smiled, "I plan to. Give it to yourself in your neck. Just like you did with that other medicine. Wait, first….where is Samuel?"

"With Lance. He's insisted on rocking him all night again."

He nodded, "Good. Alright. He'll have him then."

"Samuel sleeps at night."

"Sam has never slept through the night. He's too much like….us."

Rose giggled, "Us. Yes. Poor child."

He watched her give herself the injection in her neck. "Right. Now, tuck yourself in and get comfortable. Sweet dreams my darling."

She raised the phone to her lips and kissed his image.

He ended the call and leaned back in the chair. "Friday, display all of the hospital records in here."

"Certainly."

The room dimmed and the files of hospital records appeared to float a few feet above the desk. He put on his glasses and propped his feet up on the desk. "Yeah, this is better." He waved his hand to flip the files as he quickly read through everything. The files disappeared into a neon green folder that displayed on the side of the room as he finished them. He stopped at one and rubbed his chin. "Now, this is interesting."

He opened the file to read the entire record. He mumbled, "Very interesting."

He put his feet on the floor, "Friday. Contact the hospital on….." He looked at the file, "Andromeda. Well, that's lucky."

Friday spoke, "Yes, Doctor. Connecting them now."

He clicked on a light next to him as a female doctor came on the screen. She was light blue and had two antennas that stuck out from her ginger hair.

The Doctor thought, "Everyone is ginger but me."

She smiled, "Princeps Doctor Johnathon Smith! To what to I owe the pleasure?"

He smiled, "I assure you, the pleasure is mine. What's your name?"

She smiled warmly. "I am Taufe. I'm the physician on duty at the moment."

He smiled, "Right. I was looking over these files and I have a question about this case…." He looked at his tablet to see the file again. "This young boy in the coma but with very active brain activity…."

She thought and then nodded, "Oh yes. I know the one you are speaking of. Very strange case. A very strange situation."

He sat the tablet down on the desk and took off his glasses, "I'll be there tomorrow. I'd like to have a look at the patient. Would that be possible?"

She smiled, "Of course, Princeps Doctor. Any case you are interested in, you are most welcome to. I'll have everything ready for you. You have the records already, I'm sure."

He nodded, "Yes. There are a few things I'd like you to do before I arrive."

"Certainly. Let me make some notes and we'll get right on that."

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Rose sat in the tall grass on a hillside. She could see a small, stone cottage down the hill, and a vineyard surrounding it. And old man, with a large straw hat, tied up the grapes. She watched him work, unseen in the tall grass.

The wind blew his after shave to her nose. She smiled and looked beside of her. He sat smiling at her.

"And there you are." She smiled.

"Here I am." He looked around. "You are dreaming something lovely. Grapes?"

She giggled, "I have no idea why I'm dreaming this. I was thinking about that hill where we made love that time."

He leaned back on his elbow and smiled, "That was odd. That….angle. It was…..well. Worth it."

She pulled her hair back and looked at the man tying up grapes. "What sort of person do you think owns a vineyard? Seems like a lot of work to me."

"Says the posh lady-"

"I am not posh." She rolled her eyes and whispered.

He looked at her and smiled. "I suppose, someone who loves simplicity. Things they can predict. He just has to mind the grapes and take care of them. If he's successful, he'll have some wine to drink at harvest. Not a bad idea, actually. Sounds rather inviting."

She looked at him, "For retirement?"

He smiled at her. "Imagine that. Retiring and owning a vineyard."

She giggled and leaned back on her elbow to face him. "How are things there?"

He caressed her face. "Never mind that. How are you?"

She whispered, "Missing you. This feels so real."

He looked in her eyes longingly. "It's not re-"

She leaned in and kissed him. He lay back in the grass and she climbed on top of him. She could feel his hands in her hair as her tongue danced with his. She rose up and looked at the smile on his face. He laid his arm behind his head and laughed at her. "I don't care it's not real, either. How far do you want to take this?"

She took off the blouse she wore and leaned back down.

He smiled, "And I'm really good with that."

She put both of her hands on his face and kissed him as she felt him take off her bra and rub her breasts. She unbuttoned the oxford he wore.

He held her tightly as he rose up and lay her down in the tall grass. He continued to kiss her as she unfastened his jeans and pulled down his pants to stroke him in her hands.

He smiled at her, "So real. So amazing."

He pulled her skirt up and found her without knickers. He moaned as he began to kiss her again. She rolled him over and straddled his waist, putting him inside of her.

"I feel we missed this last night." She whispered to him as she moved her body to stroke him inside of her.

He smiled with his eyes closed under her, "We did. Oh this feels so real. Rose-"

"It is real. We want this so much. Tell yourself it is real. Maybe we'll surprise ourselves."

He smiled, "Maybe we will. You are amazing."

She leaned down to kiss him again and he rolled over on top of her to take over thrusting. He kissed her neck and lips as she moaned loudly. She rose her hand and put it to his lips. "Just a bit."

He looked confused. "What?"

She turned around and got on her knees. He smiled as he pulled off her skirt, and took off his oxford, and put himself back inside of her. He rubbed her breasts as he thrust deeply inside of her. He kissed her back and, caught up in the moment, bit her. She was lost in her pleasure and didn't seem to notice. She moaned loudly and he only hoped that the island wasn't being awakened by her.

Well, in some way he did hope.

Just as he thought of the bragging rights he would have, he was pushed out of her opening as she cried out and collapsed on the ground. She rolled over and smiled breathlessly at him. He lay on top of her and wiped the sweat from her face. "Oh, wow. Rose."

She reached up to point at his chest. "You have a love bite. I'm sorry about that."

He looked at his chest and laughed. "I wonder if I really have it. I didn't even notice you did that."

She smiled at him and then became serious. "Can you tell me what happened? The night before you left?"

He stroked her cheek with his fingertips. "We were interrupted. I lost my temper in a vision and it…. caused …"

"Her to show up. Right?"

He closed his eyes and nodded his head. "Yeah."

"What did she say?"

He continued to look in her eyes and stroke her cheek. "That you would be safe. Lance would make me proud. That sort of thing."

She asked quietly, "That's all?"

He kissed her nose and said quietly, "She told me I needed to tell you that I'm happy. No. At peace."

"What does that mean?"

He smiled, "What I put in your letter. That I'm at peace with myself. Things I've done. She told me that I'll find out they aren't as bad as I think now. But, Rose…."

She smiled, "Yes?"

"I know you love me no matter what I've done. I can face it with you. Because of you."

She held him tightly and felt the sweat on his back. "And you're right. No matter what."

He leaned down and kissed her again. She felt his hand on her breast again. He rose up and rubbed his nose to hers. "I can even smell you. This is amazing, Rose."

She giggled, "This makes it better. Just two more days. One more night."

He smiled at her. "Yes. One more night. I'll not be able to sleep after this."

"You'll have to take a cold shower." She teased.

He rolled over and pulled back on his jeans. "Most likely. Oh wow."

She sat up and whispered in his ear, "Or just do it yourself."

He chuckled, "Oh, I won't lie. If I leave here and it's what I fear….I'll totally do that."

She lay back in the tall grass with her hands behind her head. "Please tell me you aren't lying in our bed. With Tony."

He shook his head. "I wasn't sure what to expect. I went into Genie's room and closed the door. I didn't want anyone to walk in on whatever I might have done. I wonder if you have woken up the island with your moaning."

She laughed, "You hope I have."

He smiled proudly, "I rather do."

She smiled, "You need to sleep, Baby."

He groaned and looked away from her. "I don't want to sleep. Ugh. I have some stuff I need to sort out."

"Like what?"

He looked back at her and ran his hand down her chest again. "I love these curves. You are so, incredibility sexy. I can't believe you are mine."

She smiled as he leaned down and kissed her bare chest, "Tell me what you are thinking. Right in this moment."

He teased her chest with his fingertips. "How much I love to laugh with you. How I can feel your love washing over me in this moment. Rose, I've never thought anyone would love me like you do. All I want to do is travel the universe with you, and have so much, insanely dirty sex everywhere we can."

She laughed, "It's a great plan. Yes."

He leaned down and kissed her passionately again. He rose up and rubbed his nose to hers. "I need to let you rest, Sweetheart."

She whispered, "I'm asleep. This is my dream."

He rose up and nodded. "I know. But, while I'm here, you can't go into a deep sleep. It's so important that you sleep, Rose."

She groaned.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" He asked, still running his fingertips across her chest to tease it.

"Genie and I are meeting Mum and Harriet. Some…. Charity thing Harriet wanted us to appear with her at. Genie's excited about it. We're going to have our hair done. Make-up, nails. Everything."

He rose his eyebrows, "Make-up? She's six. No make-up."

"She's going to be on the telly. She can wear a little make-up."

He groaned and sat up.

She rose up wrapped her arms around him, kissing his cheek. "Never mind I said anything. Just remember one thing."

He looked back at her, "What's that?"

She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him proper. He could feel her tongue dance with his and her hands rub his chest. He held her tightly and then suddenly, he found himself opening his eyes in Genie's room on the ship. He hadn't meant to leave her dream and sat up in surprise.

"Alright, that's weird." He mumbled. He tasted her on his lips and in his mouth. His skin on his chest tingled from her touch. He sat up on the side of the bed and ran his hand through his hair. He could feel she was asleep. He stood up and felt the wet sensation in his pants.

He nodded his head, not surprised.

He quietly walked down the hallway, into his bedroom and saw Tony was still sleeping peacefully. He stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He took off his t-shirt and saw the love bite that Rose had given him.

"No way." He insisted as he picked up a towel, ran the edge of it under the water of the shower and rubbed it. It remained.

He looked at it in the mirror and noticed another one on his shoulder. It had been real. He chuckled and took off his clothes. "Oh, I love that woman." He mumbled as he stepped into the shower.

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