"I really hate to admit it, but you were right," the Doctor said after he had opened a door and bumped into me. I used his shoulders to steady myself as I looked up at him.
"Do tell," I said after I ducked under his arm to go through the door he had opened.
"We are all backwards."
"Is that why you bumped into me?" I asked and started laughing when I realized that he had been trying to step out of the way to let me go through the door first like he usually did except he had forgotten that I was on the other side. "Why do you hate to admit it?"
"Mostly my pride. I didn't think it would affect us that much," he said, and I laughed.
"Tell that to my bruised toe. Although it will be hard to put you at fault instead of my jump," I said. He caught my hand and tugged me to a stop, so I spun to face him properly with a questioning look on my face.
"You jumped that wall?" He clarified incredulously and I nodded.
"Were you expecting a different solution?" I asked and he made a strangled noise.
"That had to be seven feet."
"Pretty sure I've fallen farther than that. Besides I stuck the landing."
"If you'll recall you broke your ankle not too long-ago Emma." He dropped into a crouch immediately and began prodding at my ankles.
"Firstly, is now really the time? Secondly, I didn't this time. Thirdly, don't bones grow back stronger after you break them?" I asked as I looked at the top of his head. He grumbled something under his breath. "If you keep this up, I will make you teach me Gallifreyan."
"According to most of the Gallifreyans humans are physically incapable of learning it let alone speaking it," he said as he stood up, apparently satisfied that I hadn't broken my ankle again. I raised an eyebrow up at him.
"Well you know my opinions about most Gallifreyans," I said, and he laughed before kissing me gently.
"If you really want to know I'll teach you." I shrugged idly as I stepped away from him and took his hand again.
"It's mostly to confirm my suspicions that you're swearing in Gallifreyan, but trying to not let me know," I said, and he gave me a faux offended look.
"You really think I would do that?" I squinted at him in suspicion.
"You aren't really selling that you aren't doing just that," I said, and he laughed. "Plus, now I need you to teach me as a matter of pride. If the Time Lords say I can't do it then I have to in order to prove them wrong posthumously."
"I'll see if the TARDIS has a Gallifreyan to English dictionary floating around," he said dryly.
"I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. You have everything else in there," I said.
"I have been building the collection for a very long time."
"Much like most everything else in your life," I teased. "You know the Rutans and Sontarans are probably a lot more similar than either side would like to admit."
"I don't follow you," he said, and I tipped my head to the side to give him a wink.
"They're both smart and yet stupid at the same time," I said, and he laughed.
"The same could be said for humans," he said.
"Good point Doctor. Maybe that is the one universal constant between all the species," I mused, and he brushed his smile over my temple.
"I love you," he said and then moved his lips over to press a kiss to the tips of my ears. I knew that they had gone pink from delighted embarrassment. "I see I need to keep saying it so that you stop blushing every time I do."
"It's just nice to hear," I said before something occurred to me. "Hey, can I ask a question?"
"Why do you even ask permission?"
"I would hate to be rude," I said. "I was wondering if since the Rutans are shape shifters, if they have any limits? Like do they have to only shapeshift into organic material, or could they become like a Dalek or something?"
"You know I don't know. I've only ever seen them as other organic lifeforms, but that doesn't mean much. I've bumped into Sontarans more than Rutans."
"I'd say we could ask them, but I have a feeling they won't want to give up that information," I said, and he laughed.
"No, I imagine that they're quite tight lipped about it."
"I guess that places them slightly under the Sontarans on the stupidity ladder," I said.
"There's a ladder now? And where are humans?"
"Remains to be determined," I said before I pulled the Doctor to a stop gently and dropped his hand. "Help me rip this pole off the wall."
"Emma!"
"What?" I asked after I had already wrapped my hands around it and given it a few decent tugs.
"What do you want that for?" He asked even as he helped me pull it off the wall. I hefted it in my hands slightly as I shrugged.
"Not entirely sure. Just feels like a good idea to have it."
"Well at least it's not your taser," he said lightly and I laughed.
"Are you still upset about that?" I asked. He arched an eyebrow up at me.
"I may still be upset about that three hundred years from now," he said. I smiled up at him softly. He frowned at me. "What?"
"You said three hundred years from now."
"What?"
"You want me here for three hundred years." I was smiling so widely now that my cheeks were starting to hurt.
"Well I want you here for a lot longer than three hundred, but baby steps." I giggled and bounced up to kiss him deeply.
"I love you a lot," I said before I winced and chomped down on my lip which made me wince harder. "That sound I'm hearing is Rutans headed this way isn't it?"
"Yep. Allons-y!" We took off running until the sonic squealed in the Doctor's palm and we made a quick turn into the room that we had first arrived in. I detached his hand from mine and shoved him further into the room towards the closest thing that vaguely resembled a computer as I spun to face the incoming Rutans.
"Emma what are you doing?" He asked, flittering back and forth like he couldn't decide where to go. I slammed my pole into the first Rutan like a baseball bat and gestured vaguely towards the door.
"Guarding the exit strategy," I said like it was obvious.
"Emma," he said warningly even though he was moving towards the computer. I rolled my eyes at him fondly as I pivoted back towards the hallway we had come from.
"Don't start with me. Just hack the damn thing," I shouted over my shoulder as I hefted my rubber wrapped pole into more of a fighting stance and swung it as hard as I could at an approaching Rutan.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" He called back as the Rutan I had hit smacked into a nearby wall and fell on the floor.
"Well to be perfectly honest, it kind of looks like you're worrying about me," I said as another Rutan approached me, this time looking like a human male, so I took a chance, shifted my grip and slammed the pole between its legs. It dropped immediately and I gave it a firm hit to its head to knock it out.
"Multitasking Emma! I am very good at it!"
"Yes, so you keep telling me. Which you don't really need to do since I have witnessed it on many occasions." A pair of tentacles wrapped around the pole and I could hear the electric shock that it was trying to give off and I grinned in triumph at the fact that I had somehow lucked out on grabbing something that couldn't conduct electricity.
"Then what are you complaining about?"
"Who said I was complaining?" I asked as I yanked on the pole and headbutted the Rutan once it got close enough. Those self defence lessons were starting to really come in handy though I was fighting a little dirty. I didn't think that the Doctor would disapprove and the Rutans had electrical tentacles so I decided to just think of it as evening the playing field. "You think better when I sass you."
"Oh, do I?" He asked incredulously and I spared a second to flash him a smile over my shoulder.
"Absolutely you do." I heard grumbling and grinned wider.
"I hate you."
"Keep saying that and I'll start believing you," I sing songed in return as I smacked another Rutan away from me.
"Emma can you take five steps directly backwards when I tell you to?" He asked.
"I can. Do you want five big steps or five normal steps?"
"Normal should be fine." I took care of two more Rutans before he spoke again. "Now Emma."
I scuttled backwards as quickly as I could, watching the doors slid shut in front of my face and hiss with a seal, before I stumbled and lost my balance. The Doctor caught me before I could really start falling and I smiled up at him.
"Nice catch," I said and patted his lapels in appreciation. He grinned at me suavely.
"Yes, well I do have to sweep you off your feet sometimes."
"I'm required by law to point out that my feet are still on the ground," I said and pointed at the floor. He laughed and kissed me. "And you swept me off my feet at Versailles."
"Do you really think I'm only going to do it once?" He swung me up in his arms slightly so that my toes were just scraping the floor. "Better?"
"Much," I said as I bent to kiss him again. We were cut off by a rhythmic pounding on the door. "Maybe you should have gotten me to hang a sock on the door before I stepped through."
"What?" He asked with a laugh as he set me back down on my feet.
"It's a university thing. Or at least it was when I went, though we did use ties, but I don't have a tie handy," I said, and he gave me a confused look.
"I think I should go to university one of these days," he said.
"You'd fit right in," I said as I reached up to pat his cheek before I wiggled my fingers over his shoulder. "Now get us back to the TARDIS."
"Well now that I got the doors closed it should be a simple matter of flicking a few switches," he said as he ducked his head over a switchboard looking thing and proceeding to do just that. He flicked about five before the strange sideways lurching occurred and we moved awkwardly before we ended back up on the planet we had been.
"Warn a girl," I muttered as the nausea returned and I sat down on the ground to shove my head between my knees. The Doctor scrambled next to me.
"Sorry," he said as his hand skated up and down my spine comfortingly. I took several deep breaths before I shook my head and sat up.
"No don't worry, it probably would have been just as bad with warning," I said, and he rubbed his cheek against mine. I stood up on mildly wobbly legs. "Which way to the TARDIS?"
"Goodness you are hopeless," he teased. I shot him a faux glare.
"It's your job to keep track of that," I said, crossing my arms over my chest with a fake pout and he laughed.
"I suppose it is." He held his elbow out to me and I linked arms with him. "TARDIS is this way my lady."
"Why thank you Sir Doctor."