A/N: Hey guys, sorry this chapter is late. Busy with uni work and all that. Hope it was worth the little wait.
"Everything all right?" The Doctor asked Kari, sitting next to her as she drank her tea.
She nodded at him as she took another sip of it. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just… nice at the moment." She told him, feeling relaxed and really rather happy.
"Oh? And why is that then?" He asked her, his arm thrown over her shoulders so that he could pull her just that little bit closer.
Kari shifted a little, knowing that he was going to have a lot of trouble with her in the future. "Well… uh, it's just… we don't usually get along too well." She managed to admit. "The times I've seen this you, well it always ends up with us arguing or something. We're always at each other's throats. I don't know why it happens, but it always does, and I don't like it."
And she really didn't like it. There was no way for her to explain why they just seemed to rub each other up the wrong way, it could have been a number of things that caused the friction between the pair. But there and then, sitting in the TARDIS, having a nice cup of tea in the middle of an adventure, it was nice.
"Well, that's probably because of how stubborn you are." The Doctor said jokingly, giving her a little nudge. "Maybe you were in a bad mood, maybe I was in a bad mood."
"Or maybe it's just because I do stupid things." Kari mumbled, now understanding completely why he was so upset and annoyed with having Jack around. "I'm good at doing stupid things, like you're good at getting into trouble."
He frowned at her, having absolutely no clue about what she was talking about. "You don't do stupid things."
Kari just looked over at him. "Yeah, I do. Maybe I haven't been stupid around you yet, but I will. And… I want to tell you now that… that I'm sorry."
The Doctor looked at her, and he could see from the look in her eyes that she was serious and that she really did mean it. "Kari, whatever happens, we will get through it, yeah? We always do, and we always will."
She nodded at him, knowing that after all the things that happened, they did get through it. But she couldn't help but think on all the terrible things that would happen in between. They were going to argue, things were going to be said, and Kari was going to walk out. That was probably the thing she regretted the most, arguing with him so much that she ended up walking away from him and the TARDIS.
"Right, hurry up and drink your tea. We've got places to go." He told her, leaning over and giving her a kiss on the cheek before jumping up out of the chair.
"Okay, off to save Rose and the rest of mankind from the Autons." Kari said quietly, taking a few more sips of her tea and knowing that they needed to go and get this finished.
The Doctor ran around the console a little, pulling and twisting at things. "Actually, I was thinking the living plastic could wait." He said, taking Kari by surprise. "Well, we do have a time machine. Plus, I have no doubt that you know exactly where to go from here."
She nodded her head. "Uh, yeah I do. I always know. Well, almost always. There are times when my all knowing powering isn't so all knowing and I'm left totally in the dark. I like it, but then I don't like it at the same time. You know what I mean?"
He looked over at her and smiled. "You like the adventure, the rush from it all, but you don't like not knowing if we're going to make it out alive." The Doctor said, having understood exactly what Kari was saying.
"Pretty much." Kari told him, her shoulders sagging a little. This was the first, and last time she was probably going to get to see this regeneration of the Doctor on his own. Soon enough, they would have Rose travelling with them as well, and although Kari was looking forward to that time, she was disappointed as well.
"So come on then, how about it?" The Doctor asked her, surprising her by grabbing a hold of her hands and yanking her out of the seat. "Me and you, time and space, we can go anywhere you want. We can go dancing in 6847, next to the frozen lakes of Crona." He told her, pulling Kari closer and dancing around the console with her a little. "Or we can have dinner while watching the 900th Ruby eclipse on Elfore."
Kari couldn't help but frown at him as he held her close and the dancing stopped. "Dancing? Dinner? What has gotten into you, Doctor? You sound… I don't know, not like yourself." It was strange, the Doctor offering to take her somewhere when they should be dealing with something else. What made it even stranger was the regeneration that was asking.
"You know, there is absolutely nothing wrong with me wanting to do something nice for my wife." He said, before quickly realising what he had said. "Fiancée. I said fiancée. There is absolutely nothing wrong with me wanting to do something nice for my fiancée."
All Kari could do was smirk at him. "Hmm, nice save there, mister. But I still don't believe you."
And that was when the Doctor looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes. His hands shifted for where they had been resting on Kari's waist and up to her cheeks. The next thing she knew, he was kissing her softly, and she could feel both her hearts pounding in her chest.
He had taken her by surprise, and it only took a moment for her to get distracted enough to forget what they had been talking about before. The Doctor's action was something she was used to and expected from her bow tie and Converse wearing Doctor's, but this was something new, and she could admit that she liked it.
A few minutes later, when they were both crying out of air, the Doctor finally let her breathe. "So, dancing and then dinner. Okay?" He said, tucking some of her hair behind her ear.
Kari was still a little stunned, and all she could manage to do was nod at him a little. She couldn't stop herself from biting her lip slightly, having never imagined that something like that would happen with that particular Doctor. But it did happen, and she did like it.
"Right, go get changed. If you're not back here in twenty minutes, I'm coming to find you." The Doctor told her, taking a break in his mad dash around the console to give Kari another kiss, before sending her off to the wardrobe.
Kari ended up making it there in a little bit of a daze, still trying to work out what had just happened. "Uh… dancing by a frozen lake, what exactly do I wear for that?" She mumbled to herself. There was a humming from the ship and she turned her head. "Oh, thank you, Sexy." She said, noticing a rack of dresses that just seemed to appear out of nowhere.
She browsed through the dresses, all of them lovely, but none of them really taking her eye. Until she came to a turquoise dress, which had a purple shimmer to it when it moved. She pulled it off the rack and took a better look at it. The length reached just past her knees and the sleeves were cut a few inches above the wrist, and it really did look gorgeous. "So, what do we think? Yes or no?" Kari asked the TARDIS, holding the dress against her body and turning to face the mirror. There came a hum of approval, and Kari knew she had found the prefect dress.
It didn't take her too long to get changed, finding the perfect pair of shoes to match. She was just finishing tidying up her hair when she heard the Doctor's voice calling her from somewhere. That was when she knew that time was up and that she needed to go and face him. For some reason, she was definitely feeling the butterflies in her stomach, something that rarely happened.
When she made it to the console room, she noticed that the lights were down rather low, making it difficult for her to see properly. "Doctor?" Kari called, wondering where he was. "Uh, Doctor?" She heard someone clearing their throat behind her, making her jump as she span around to see who it was.
She relaxed when she realised that it was only the Doctor. "Kari, you love beautiful." He said, hiding something behind his back.
"Uh… thanks." Kari mumbled, feeling her cheeks starting to burn slightly. She was definitely finding it strange with the way things were going so far with her Doctor in his leather jacket. But that was when she noticed it, he wasn't wearing his trademark leather jacket. The Doctor was standing there, actually wearing a shirt and tie, in fact he was wearing a complete suit. "You're wearing a suit. You hate wearing a suit. Why are you wearing a suit?"
"Well, I wasn't going to take you out and not dress up for it." The Doctor told her, taking a step closer towards her. "I take it you approve?" All Kari could do was nod at him, her head reeling as she tried to come to terms with the fact that everything was going rather well so far. "And, this is for you." He said, finally showing her what he had been hiding behind his back.
Kari took the small box from him, frowning as she tried to work out exactly what it could have been. When she opened it, she was stunned. "I… I don't…" She managed to mumble, looking at the blue and purple flowers that were sitting in the box. "You got me a corsage?"
The Doctor looked at her, knowing that she was shocked. "Yes. Problem?" He asked her, picking it carefully out of the box and securing it around her wrist. All she could do was shake her head through he speechless moment. "Good. Now, would you care to accompany for some dancing, followed by dinner?" The Doctor asked her, holding his arm out towards her.
She slowly wrapped her arm around his and let him lead her out of the doors in a bit of a daze. The moment they were outside of the TARDIS, the chill hit Kari slightly. It wasn't as cold as she expected it to be, and the dress seemed to be warmer that she thought it was going to be.
It wasn't until they had taken a few steps away from their magical blue box that Kari finally took a better look at her surroundings. It looked to her as if they were in the middle of a forest, with a vast frozen lake surrounded by snow covered trees. "Wow…" She managed to breath as the Doctor led her closer towards the lake.
The trees were covered with twinkling lights, which reflected on the lake and made it sparkle as well. She really didn't know what to say, it was an amazing sight that lay before her and she just couldn't find any words.
"Well, that's a first." The Doctor whispered in her ear, getting her attention. "My Kari, speechless." He said, before letting out a small chuckle. "Never thought I'd see the day."
For a moment she still didn't really know what to say. Recently the Doctor had been taking her to see so many amazing and wonderful things, more stunning than she could ever have imagined. "You… you keep surprising me, you know that, Doctor?" Kari finally managed to say as they walked hand in hand towards the lake.
"Oh, and why do you say that?" He asked her, swinging their arms a little as they walked. There was a smile on his face, and he just couldn't shift it, not that he wanted to.
"You keep taking me to such amazing places, places that I never even imagined could exist." She told him, her eyes still scanning the frozen lake and snow covered landscape around them. "Places where we aren't being chased by monsters. Where we can just relax and spend some time together. I like it."
All the Doctor could do was smile at the woman hanging onto his arm. "As long as I can make you happy, that's all I care about." He told her. "I'd do anything to make you smile, Kari."
She turned her head and looked at him, a smile on her own face. "Whenever I'm with you, I'm happy. You don't have to do things like this, although I admit, I do really like it when you do things like this. I generally hate surprises, surprises can be…"
"Dangerous. Yes, you like to tell me that." The Doctor said, giving her one of his best smiles. "Anyway, enough chit chat, we came here for some dancing." All Kari could do was smile at him, as they picked up the pace a little to make it to the lake.
They weren't the only people there, the whole place was set up with tables, and there were even people skating on the frozen lake instead of dancing. Kari seemed to notice that it was pretty much only couples that were there, making her think it was a hot spot for dates. Not that she minded, she didn't mind if the whole day was going to be classed as a date.
As soon as they made it to where everyone else was, someone came over and escorted them to a table. The Doctor whispered something to the man, before he smiled and walked off. "Hmm, you are so up to something." Kari muttered to him, wondering what he was planning. She knew it had to be more than just dancing and dinner, there was no way it was going to be that simple with him.
"Me? Up to something? What makes you think I'm up to something?" The Doctor asked her, a huge grin on his face.
Kari just raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh, the way you're grinning like an idiot, that kind of makes me a little suspicious. Plus, you said something to the waiter. I know when you're up to something, and you know it."
All he could do was keep on grinning at her. "Yup. You caught me. I'm up to something. I am totally up to something. But I'm not going to tell you what."
"So, do you have more planned than just dancing and dinner? And where exactly was it you said we were having dinner?" Kari asked him, hoping to get a little more information out of him so that she could try to work out what he was up to.
Unfortunately, the Doctor wasn't so easy to fall for her little plot. "Elfore, for dinner. Like I said, Ruby eclipse, absolutely stunning." The Doctor told her.
Before Kari had the chance to say anything else, the waiter had returned, with two champagne flutes and a bottle of champagne as well. She sat there is silence as the man poured them both a glass, before placing it in the ice bucket and walking away.
"So, uh, what's the occasion?" She asked him, looking at him as she picked up her glass.
The Doctor picked up his own, and just seemed to gaze at her. "No occasion. Like you said, we don't get to do things like this very often. I thought it would be a nice little treat for us both."
Kari still eyed him suspiciously, but really didn't know what to say that would make a good argument against what he had just said. Instead, she accepted it and smiled, before holding her glass out towards him a little. "Well then, here's to us, and having the whole of time and space to explore." She said, making a bit of a toast.
He smiled at her, such a brilliant smile that she had never really seen on that version of him before. "To us. And all the adventures still to come." The Doctor said, before clinking his glass against hers.
The pair of them sat there for a while, drinking and talking about random things. Kari couldn't really tell him much, because so far, she hadn't been this far back. This was the earliest she had ever seen the Doctor, and although she knew where he had been and what he had done, she hadn't been there yet.
"Right, come on." The Doctor said suddenly, putting his glass down on the table, and grabbing Kari's hand. "I promised you dancing, and dancing you shall get."
"You sure you remember how to dance, my dear Doctor?" She asked him, letting him lead her away from the table and to the patch that was clear of snow and consisted of a dance floor. "I know for a fact that sometimes your dancing isn't the greatest."
He didn't reply to her, just nodded to the man who had taken them to their table and served them the bottle of champagne. Suddenly, the Doctor pulled her flush up against him, his arms wrapped around her waist. Kari couldn't stop the blush that crept up her neck and landed in her cheeks, making the Doctor chuckle slightly.
Then the music started, and straight away Kari recognised it. She looked up at the Doctor with curiosity in her eyes, before reaching up and resting her hands on his shoulders. The moment she had, the Doctor fixed his eyes on hers, and surprised her once again.
"Someday, when I'm awfully low. When the world is cold, I will feel a glow, just thinking of you. And the way you look tonight." He sang, quietly in her ear as they slowly moved around the floor. "Yes, you're lovely. With you smile so warm. And your cheek so soft, there is nothing for me but to love you. And the way you look tonight." Kari was still a little stunned, but the Doctor carried on singing softly. "With each word, your tenderness grows. Tearing my fear apart. And that laugh, that wrinkles your nose, touches my foolish heart. Lovely, never ever change. Keep that breathless charm. Won't you please arrange it, 'cause I love you. Just the way you look tonight."
By that point, Kari didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The water was already swimming in her eyes, blurring her vision slightly. But it didn't stop the Doctor from dancing with her, the pair of them just getting lost in the music now. Everything else around them just seemed to fade away, as if they were the only ones there.
Neither of them realised that the music had stopped straight away, they were still too lost in the moment. For Kari, she was still in shock. It was one thing for the Doctor to take her dancing, but for him to pick a song and then quietly sing it to her while they danced, well that was something she had never, ever, in her life expected.
"Hey, you okay?" The Doctor asked her, reaching up and wiping away a tear that had managed to slip down her cheek.
All she could do was nod at him, before moving her hands from his shoulders and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, bringing his head down and giving him a kiss, forgetting that there were probably a few people watching them both.
"Told you I could dance." He told her, when she finally let him go and he led her back over to the table.
"What about the singing? Where did that come from?" Kari asked him, her hand shaking slightly as she picked up her glass once more as the Doctor had refilled it for her.
"That's something that only you get to hear. I'm not very good at it, slightly tone deaf, but I make the exception for you." He told her, before frowning at her a little. "Are you cold?"
Kari shook her head at him. "No, just… a little overwhelmed I think. I mean, getting you to dance is one thing, but singing, never knew you had it in you." She told him, trying to regain control of her shaking hands. "What made you pick that song?"
All the Doctor could do was smile at her. "Oh, you'll find out one day."
"Does my nose really wrinkle that much when I laugh?" She asked him suddenly, replying the lyrics back in her head. For some reason it sounded like he was really talking about her, like everything that he said was directed at her.
He nodded, still smiling away. "Yes, when you laugh, when you have one of your giggling fits. But I love it, it's adorable."
Kari almost choked on her drink when he said that. "Adorable? You're… you're calling my wrinkled nose adorable?" She asked him with wide eyes. He simply nodded at her, because he loved it when she laughed. "That's just… weird."
Her comment made the Doctor laugh. "Well, I guess I'm just weird then, aren't I? You tell me often enough that I'm a bit on the strange side."
"The thing is, Doctor, if you're weird and a bit on the strange side, then I really must be completely bonkers." Kari told him, finally managing to calm herself down and get her brain to function better. "Since I actually agreed to marry you."
A smile spread across his face as she said that. "We could go get married now, if you want?"
Kari's head shot up, her eyes almost popping out of her head. "Uh, no. I don't think so. Like I said, I only agreed to it a couple of days ago. Besides, there are people I want there, and we haven't met them yet. Well, you mainly haven't met them. Nope, you're going to have to wait a little longer, I'm afraid."
She expected his smile to fade a little, but it didn't, it stayed firmly put on his face. "Okay. I can wait. Just make sure it's not a few hundred years that I have to wait."
"I'll make you wait as long as I want to, mister." Kari told him, giving him a very firm look. "You've waiting a few hundred years already, I'm sure you can wait a few more. And beside, you haven't even asked me to marry you yet."
The Doctor rolled his eyes at her. "Well, I haven't. Another me has. But if you want to, I can ask you again." He told her, before once again shocking her by getting out of his seat and kneeling down beside her.
"Doctor, what are you doing?" She hissed at him, noticing that people had started looking at them again. "Get up, you idiot."
He just ignored her and cleared his throat. "My beautiful, brilliant Kari. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" He asked, holding her left hand tightly in his own, twisting the ring that was already there.
Kari couldn't help but notice the silence around them, and it was making her feel very nervous. The Doctor who asked her, the Doctor who asked her first, he had done it in the TARDIS, away from all those prying eyes. But now, they were out in public, and she could feel a lump forming in her throat. "I can't believe you're doing this." She mumbled, noticing the smirk on his face. "Yes, I'll be your wife, you big idiot."
It seemed like everyone had been listening and waiting to hear what she said, because cheers and claps erupted around them. Kari could help but blush as the Doctor stood up a little and cupped her face in his hands, before placing a gentle kiss on her lips. "Happy?" He whispered to her, noticing the tint on her cheeks.
"Happy and embarrassed." She said, lightly whacking him on the chest. "Dear Gallifrey, why did you have to do that? Everyone was watching, what if I had said no?"
"But you wouldn't have said no, would you?" The Doctor told her, before going back to his own seat, just as another bottle of champagne was delivered to them. The waiter congratulated them, and told them it was free of charge, in fact, both bottles turned out to be free of charge for them.
"Well, no. But I could have. Don't you dare do that to me again, Doctor." Kari warned him, frowning at him. There was something about the twinkle in his eyes that told her something more was going on inside of his head. "Oh no, please don't tell me you're going to ask me to marry you in every regeneration." She groaned.
This time it was the Doctor's turn to frown. "Why would I do that? I think twice is more than enough. I just wanted to do that, it felt liked I needed to do that."
"It's not going to make me marry you any quicker, you know." Kari reminded him. "I'm not going to marry you until after the point that you asked me. And there is no way that I am going to tell you when that is, you're just going to have to wait. And it could be it long wait, or not." She told him, a smug grin working its way onto her face now. This was her way of getting back at him for embarrassing her like that.
Kari thought that there really was no need for him to get on his knees again and propose to her, he was already going to do it in the future, and he knew that. The Doctor who had asked her said he had been waiting a long to time for that day to arrive, for the day when he knew he could ask her. At least now she had two stories to tell of how they officially got engaged.
"Doesn't matter how long I have to wait. I know that one day it will happen, and it's a day worth waiting for." He told her, before picking up her glass and passing it to her. "Now, drink up. We still have other things to do before we go to dinner."
She took the glass from him and sipped at it slowly. "What other things? We've danced, you sang, what else is there?"
That was when she noticed something sitting on the ground beside the Doctor, slightly hidden by the pure white table cloth. "Well, since we're here, I thought we could have a little go on the ice." He told her, holding up a pair of ice skating boots. "What do you say?"
"Uh… I don't think that's such a good idea." Kari told him nervously. "I'm… I'm not very good at skating, probably even worse at ice skating."
"Nah, you'll be fine. You got me to hang on to, I won't let you fall." The Doctor assured her, getting up once more and plonking himself down at her feet. "Come on, it's an adventure." He told her, carefully taking off her shoes and replacing them with the boots.
Ten minutes later, and the pair of them were on the ice. Kari was holding onto the Doctor for dear life, absolutely petrified that she was going to fall over and land on her backside. "I told you this wasn't a good idea." She moaned, trying to keep herself steady on her feet.
"No, you're doing fine. This is you're first time skating on the ice, it's okay." The Doctor said, doing his best to reassure her that she was doing well and not going to fall.
"It's really not okay, Doctor. I'm going to fall on my backside and hurt myself, I just know I am. I'm an accident waiting to happen." She told him, clinging onto his arm a little tighter.
The Doctor managed to get her to release his arm, letting him take hold of both her hands as he stood in front of her. "Kari, you're fine. I'm not going to let you fall, I promise." He told her, gazing right into her eyes. "Now come on, give it a try, okay?"
She bit her lip before nodding at him, letting him pull her away from the edge of the lake and further out into the frozen water. Kari was so nervous, and she was sure that with the way she was gripping the hands of the Doctor that she was going to end up breaking them.
"Kari, relax. Nothing bad is going to happen, I swear to you. Now, just give it a go. I promise not to let you go, so you won't fall down. Give it a try." She nodded at him, slowly trying to build up her courage to get her feet moving and to at least try to skate on the ice.
After a few failed attempts to keep herself steady, Kari finally managed to get her feet moving properly and slowly skated with the Doctor still holding onto her hands in front of her. She as slightly jealous, because he was able to skate backwards where she could barely even go forwards. But she was learning, and she had to admit, it wasn't as terrifying as she thought it was going to be.
"Right, how about you try skating next to me now?" The Doctor asked her, after she showed him that she could stay on her feet and move forward.
"Uh, okay." Kari replied nervously, worried about him letting her go and the ice meeting her rear end. But he only let out go of one hand, spinning so that he was beside her and then wrapping her arm around his.
"Shall we?" He asked her, a huge grin on his face.
Kari couldn't help but smile back at him. "We shall." She replied, before letting the Doctor lead them around on the ice.
She couldn't stop thinking over the way things had been with him so far. They hadn't argued, nothing horrible had been said at all, and she loved it. They were getting along so well, and they were both having so much fun. They had danced, the Doctor had even sung, and now they were ice skating. It was a fantastic time that the pair of them was having, and she just hoped dinner was going to be just as wonderful.
A/N: Well, you wanted more 9/Kari, and you certainly got more 9/Kari! I was up until the early hours finishing this, and then I couldn't get to sleep because I kept thinking it over and ended up making a few changes. But I hope you all enjoyed.
Notes on reviews:
1. Yes, I made Jethro Merlin. But you're all going to have to wait for more about that.
2. 9 and Kari really did need some more time together. he was only around for 13 episodes, so I'm finding ways to extend it.
3. I hope this chapter covered some of the things surrounding why 9 and Kari are always fighting each other.
So, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, there is plenty more to come. Thank you to everyone who has read the story, favourited/followed. You guys are great. And all you lovely people who have taken the time to review, thank you so much! Your comments encourage me to make sure I keep on writing.
Hopefully next weeks chapter will be out on time. The poll is at a tie, again, so I'm leaving it open for a few more days only. If it does end up a tie, I'm going to end up having to toss a coin to make the choice.
Pippa.