Chapter 19

The next day as Rose was on her way back to the compartment to fix lunch forthe group whenshe ran headlong into Dace.

"Yellow hair!" Dace exclaimed as he saw her in the passageway.

"Please let me pass!" Rose said to him as he blocked her way.

"You are a fiery one Yellow Hair! How about giving me a sample now?"

"No, I don't think so." She said evenly, trying to maintain her composure.

"You do not understand. I get whatever I want and I am not used to waiting." He started to reach for her when she heard Theta's voice behind her.

"Not gonna happen Dae, old buddy!" he said as he walked up behind Rose, his chest brushing her back. He put his left arm completely across her chest and closed his fingers around her right shoulder. He purposely kept his right hand free, just in case.

Dace scowled and pushed past Rose and rest of the group. Once he was gone Rose let out a breath and her back visibly sagged into Theta's chest. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." He said as he instantly let her go. "What's for lunch?" He asked casually as if nothing had happened. Though, in his hearts, he never wanted to let her go.

Later that afternoon, just after Rose had taken her shower in the laundry room and put on the underwear that she had washed that morning, one of the guards came to escort her to see Claudio, the Supreme Ruler of the mining complex.

When she arrived in the great hall Theta was already there standing in front of the dais staring up at a malicious looking Claudio. Standing next to Claudio, looking very smug, was Dace.

Once Rose was standing beside Theta, Claudio came down off the stage holding the cylindrical medical device they had seen him use on the man who had been punished for stealing. Claudio made a big show of sweeping the device back and forth in close proximity to Rose. He moved it up and down as if scanning her body and the tiny machine made whirring noises. Rose thought it looked like the medical scanner used on Star Trek.

"My suspicions have been confirmed, Rose. Your marriage to Theta has not been consummated. In fact, it has been a very long time since anyone has mated with you."

Rose felt her cheeks flush and she knew Theta was looking at her, but she could not look at him.

Claudio continued to speak while Dace stood on the stage and stared down at Rose with an evil, lustful look in his eyes. "The Protectorate was quite clear. You have just 51 days left to get pregnant, but if you are not even trying then I have no choice but to give you to Dace now. I am no fool, I realize that in all likelihood you will have to mate several times before you become pregnant." Claudio looked directly at Rose and continued "but if Theta is unwilling or unable to get you pregnant, Dace will."

"I would rather die than..." Rose began but Claudio put up his hand to silence her.

"You and Theta have 3 hours to mate. When you are brought back here I will use the medical scanner again and if you have not consummated your marriage, you will be given to Dace at that time." Claudio turned on his heel and walked away.

"I told you I'm not used to waiting." Dace said and then indicated to one of his guards that he should take Rose and Theta to their quarters.

When they arrived at their quarters the guard said "You may close your privacy curtain, but I will remain out here until your 3 hours are up."

"Did I mention how much I hate this place?" Rose yelled.

"I have a question." Theta tried to change the subject "how is it that Claudio could detect that you haven't had sex in..."

"Awhile." Rose supplied through clenched teeth, but shrugged her shoulders.

Theta stood awkwardly in the middle of the room as Rose paced around like a caged animal. Finally she picked up the empty wooden bucket and slammed it against the wall repeatedly until it splintered and broke into several pieces.

"Feel better?" Theta asked.

"NO! Damn it! I've never felt so useless in my life!" She yelled at him. She felt tears of anger welling up in her eyes but she would not release them.

"Rose, your not useless. Dace just wants you." Anger was evident in his voice.

"Then how come I'm standing here doing nothing like a stupid ape!"

"Rose, its not like that and you know it!" Theta yelled, but he added softer, "Your not a stupid ape."

"Then how come were stuck here and we are forced into having sex?"

"I don't know!" he yelled at her. "But talk about performance anxiety, if I can't...get it up you're dead anyway! How would you like to have that pressure on you?"

She stood and looked at him, her mouth hanging open. "I never thought of that." she said.

Suddenly they heard muffled voices in the hall. Rose and Theta looked at each other as if to say 'what the hell is going on out there?' They did not have to wait long for Rican to appear, peeking through the privacy curtain.

"May I come in?" she said as she entered the compartment, not waiting for a reply. "I heard the shouting and surmised what was happening here. You haven't consummated your marriage yet have you?"

"Well, um its not that simple, Rican."

"Oh, I know how hard it can be to be romantic here in the complex , what with so little privacy and all. I gave the guard a chair and asked him to move away from your door." She stated in a matter of fact manner.

Then she began pulling items out of her wicker basket. "Here are some candles, and this wine I made myself. I thought it might help you feel more at home."

Theta sat down on the edge of the bed and buried his head in his hands.

"Thank you.." Rose said mechanically.

"Oh, it's nothing." Rican said as she busied herself lighting candles. Then she poured the wine into two of the ceramic mugs. "Just drink this and you'll feel better." She smiled knowingly at Rose, but refused to leave until she had seen both of them drink. She went over to the wall and put out the torches that were above Jack and Aaron's beds. "It is always so much more romantic with the candle light." she said.

"Well, I'll be on my way now." and Rican slipped out of the room. Theta took another sip of the intoxicating beverage. Neither of them spoke as Rose took her mug, picked up the bottle of wine, walked over to the bed and sat down beside Theta. She poured some more of the sweet liquid into each of their cups and took another sip.

Theta turned his head to look at her. "Rose..." he said softly. She turned her head to look at him and found herself looking deep into his dark eyes. "Look, this isn't how I wanted this to happen. I always thought that someday we would kick bad guys asses and you and I could...finally be together. But not like this, ..." his voice trailed off.

"I know, Theta." she said softly.

Theta rubbed the back of his neck. "What was in that wine she gave us, my head feels...fuzzy."

"I don't know. I feel...funny. Kind of uninhibited I guess."

"Rose, I want you, more than you can possibly know, but I'm a Time Lord, and your only a human, it'll never work out." They sat on the bed, side by side, in silence. After a time, Rose leaned her head against Theta's shoulder and he put his arm around her.

Rose held her mug with both hands and looked into it, studying the liquid it held, before she drained the contents. She handed Theta the empty cup, leaned over, untied her shoes and took them off. Then Rose took the cups from Theta's hands and set them both on Jacks rack while Theta took off his shoes.

After he had taken off his shoes, Theta sat on the edge of the bed watching her, thinking how sexy she was and how badly he wanted her. Normally he tried to repress those thoughts and when the automatic repression kicked in he had to work hard at turning it off.

She stood there looking down at him for a time before taking off her shirt and pulling her t-shirt over her head.

Theta's mouth went dry. She was wearing a black bra and the contrast between it and her skin was sexy. 'God, she's sexy!' he thought. 'Were drunk.'

Rose walked over and took both of his hands in hers and pulled him to his feet. She helped him out of his shirt and then pulled his t-shirt over his head. She knew that, even though her life depended on Theta making love to her, he wouldn't do it unless she told him it was alright. She figured that actions spoke louder than words.

Theta pulled her into an embrace, the skin to skin contact more intoxicating than the wine. As Theta placed light kisses on Rose's neck she said "We are SO drunk."

"Shh." He whispered in her ear. He just held her, rocking her gently, holding her tightly.Rose allowed a few tears to roll down her face as Theta put his hand on the back of her head.

After a time he pulled back, looked her in the eyes, put his hands on either side of her face and kissed her. It began softly but soon deepened as their tongues began to gently explore the other. All the pent up emotions from the past year were poured into that one kiss. Rose clearly understood, without a word being spoken, that Theta was in love with her and she did her best to express that same feeling to him through her kiss.

Finally, they broke apart and Theta took her by the hand. "C'mere." he said as he led her toward the bed.

"I…I love you Rose."

Rose smiled, "Love you too, my Theta."


Sorry it took my so long to update…stupid computer isn't working.

Please review!

p.s. chapter 20 will be up later today (computer still isn't working right) so stay tuned!