A/N: ...**whisper** I'm an ignorant Aussie hiding out here in Canada ... I admit that I don't know anything that exists outside the borders of my own little universe. That said .. please accept any apologies if I offend because I'm mixing up Scots and the Irish, or that I've completely ballsed it up.
~~oooOOOooo~~
"My Wee Bonny child," the slight elderly man cooed with a pet at her cheeks with both of his aged hands. "Words cannot fully convey the gratitude we feel toward you and your sweetheart for helping us to overthrow the tyrannical Lord George for us."
Rose Tyler lifted her hands to cover his. With gentle actions she drew his hands from her cheeks and held them down in front of her. She gave him a cheeky smile. "One: He's not my sweetheart. The Doctor's just a friend."
He gave a hearty laugh through a smile so genuine that it crinkled the very edge of his eyes. "Obviously on your world friend has a much deeper meaning than it does here." He winked. "It's plain to all that he holds you on a pedestal that rises into the heavens. And who wouldn't? If I was a century younger, why I'd challenge him for your hand, myself."
Rose leaned forward and spoke in conspiratorial tones. "You're a far younger man than he is, Eoin."
"Only in number, sweet child," he countered gently. "But in body, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to quite keep up with the wiles and energies of youth." His smile turned to a chuckle. "Oh, but it might be fun to try and it's been quite a while since I've taken chase."
"Oh father," a soft voice sighed from behind him. "Don't you go about finding yourself fancy in a child. Especially not one whose mate is looking to rescue Haprietograwa from George." She looked toward Rose. "I'm sorry, Rose. He's mind isn't what it used to be. He certainly enjoyed trailing after the lasses when he was still young and handsome, and sometimes thinks he can still win a heart or two."
Rose chuckled. "Oh no mind at all, Bess. I'm actually quite flattered by his attention."
"Flattered you may be," she warned with a smile as she braided a blood-red love knot into her long black hair. "But I don't believe that your Doctor would take it as kindly as you."
Rose inhaled in preparation to counter with her well-rehearsed line about how she and the Doctor aren't anything more than just friends and how people really should stop making assumptions about their relationship. But as she turned all of her arguments got caught in her throat as she took stock of the man standing proudly behind the raven-haired beauty that was the Landlord's green-eyed daughter.
"Doctor?"
His brown eyes sparkled with mirth as they peeked out from underneath his French cocked hat. "That's me," he chirped with a smile that quickly locked into a wide grin as he adjusted the clutch of lace at his chin like he would have his blue swirly tie.
Rose had to chuckle as she stepped back from Oein and circled around the Doctor in a deliberate show of assessing his current attire. "Playing dress up, are we?" she teased as she trailed her finger along the thick velvet of his claret coat that fitted rather snug around his lithe waist and trailed down over his ass. "A clean change of pinstripe wasn't going to cut it this time 'round?"
"Well," he sang with a twist in his trunk to look down at where her eyes were focused on the tail of his coat. "If I'm following the pack to infiltrate the castle, then I'm far better off dressing like the locals, wouldn't you say?"
"Uh-huh," she hummed with appreciation as she took in the fit of his brown doe-skin breeches tucked into thigh-high deep brown leather boots. There was nary a wrinkle in either his breeches or his boots, but she could see each and every line of muscle in his runner-toned legs. After a moment she lifted her eyes to his and held one brow high in question. "Aren't the trousers and boots combination a little on the tight and uncomfortable side?"
"Nah," he drawled with a wink. He wriggled his hips and then bounced in place with ease. "Gallifreyan garment construction…"
"Bigger on the inside?" she droned somewhat sardonically.
"Well, no," he answered with a fail in his smile. He clutched a fistful of the fabric at his thigh and easily pulled it up off his skin. He released it and it snapped back immediately into place. "Super-stretchy," he managed with a grin. "Aerodynamic. Maybe I should switch to this outfit when we're running for our lives." He stepped back and held his arms open to present the outfit to her fully. "What do you think?"
Rose pursed her lips and made a show if scrutinizing him closely. "Well. Might work, I guess. Lose the codpiece, though, 'cause if that thing shifts when you're running…"
"What cod-piece? I'm not wearing any-"
Oein's voice thundered out a laugh behind them, abruptly halting any further discussion about the Doctor's new wardrobe.
"You both look very fine," he said with all the pride of a doting father. "Both of you may as well have been born here on Haprietograwa."
The Doctor spun on his heel and gave Oein a respectful bow of greeting. "My dear fellow. Thank you for your hospitality and your offer to take care of Rose when I take a horse to the castle and free your people from the tyranny of Lord George…"
"Hold on a moment," Rose barked out with surprise. "Noone said anythin' about me stayin' behind."
"But you have to," the Doctor told her calmly as he set his hands on her shoulders and looked into her face. "I made a promise to Bess and Oein," he lifted his eyes to look at them over Rose's shoulder, his gaze then dropped again to Rose. "I promised them that I'd keep them safe. And they aren't in any safer hands than yours."
"But…"
"I need you to stay here," he pressed with firm tenderness. "What's out there, Rose. Well. It's not somewhere I want you to be right now. You need to be here. Safe."
She shook her head. Her eyes crinkled, as did the purse in her lips. She knew full well she wouldn't win in any argument to go with him, but she would try …
…Pathetically…
"But I don't want to be safe," she whined. "I want to be with you, unsafe."
He snapped her in against his chest and spoke against her ear. "I want never gets," he chided softly as a father might chide his child.
"Then. Please?"
"No," he breathed out worriedly against her hair. "What these men do to women, Rose. I. I can't put you anywhere near that." He inhaled a deep draw of the perfume of her hair and let it shudder through him. "If you've ever had trust in me before, then I ask that you trust in me now, Rose. I promise you I'll come back."
Rose remained nervously inside the circle of his arms. She knew there would be no arguing with him on this. Both of them had heard about the atrocities against women at the hands of Lord George and his men. She didn't want to head out there as much as the Doctor didn't want her to.
With a deep inhale that shook and rattled inside her chest, Rose pulled back from him and petted her hands against each of the hearts that beat inside his chest. She kept her eyes on her fingers.
"Well then," she managed with obviously false bravado. "The sooner you go, the sooner you get back, yeah?"
"That's my girl," he whispered with pride.
"And just so you know," she continued without lifting her eyes to his. "I'm holding the TARDIS hostage – so you have to come back for me." She sniffed and lifted her chin with defiance. "And don't you go thinkin' for a second that the old girl and I won't team up against you if you go about thinkin' of doin' anything stupid like get yourself regenerated or somethin'."
He rolled his eyes and shook his head as he took her hand in his and tugged her toward the door. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," he muttered with disappointment in his tone. He drew away from her and tugged lightly at her hand. "But I will implore you to come see me ride off on my gallant steed."
Rose let him lead her toward the door with reluctant obedience and a sigh. "I suppose. If I must."
"Oh it is very much a must," he crowed as he palmed the door to push it open.
Rose half expected to have had to have lifted her arm to shield against the light, but was surprised to see that nightfall had taken such an abrupt hold over the small cobbled street town. Her surprise must've been obvious as the Doctor chuckled deeply and leaned down to speak against her ear.
"The rotation of Haprietograwa is almost three times as fast as the turn of your Earth," he lectured gently. "This means that the transition between night and day happens in the blink of an eye. Well. Not a blink, really. More of a slow lazy batt of the lashes." He scratched at his sideburn. "Actually, even that's an exaggeration. There is a span of approximately five minutes between sunset and full nightfall."
"Does that mean the night is longer?"
He shook his head. "Nah," he drawled. "Sunrise is as fast as the fall. Mostly equal on this part of the planet. Not much daylight is lost between summer and Winter. Well. That is to say there really isn't that much of a distinction between seasons due to the location of this town being just shy of the equator…"
The clacking of shod hooves clattered along the cobbled road and abruptly ended the Doctor's lecture for the moment. He twisted his neck to grin up at the small grouping of men as they arrived on the backs of animals that Rose would have immediately assumed were actual horses. It was only the unusual colour striping and the whine rather than a whinny as they were pulled up beside the pair.
"Oh," the Doctor crooned with a smile as he stroked his hand down the nose of the red and yellow animal that nuzzled against his shoulder. "Aren't you just magnificent? Beautiful!"
Rose breathed out a sound that held as much awe as the Doctor's words had. Her breath hitched with unease as the Doctor captured her hand in his and lifted it to stroke down along the length of the animal's nose.
"Isn't it beautiful, Rose?" he questioned when he released her hand to allow her to stroke at her own pace. "It's called a Wroddosk. Native to this part of Haprietograwa and not found anywhere else."
"Looks just like a horse," Rose mused.
The Doctor pursed his lips somewhat guiltily and swallowed thickly. "Yeah."
Rose looked down her shoulder at him. "I take it there's a story involving a certain Time Lord and the introduction of horses on planet Earth?"
"Maybe," he croaked out quickly. His discomfort vanished quickly and confidence returned to his countenance. "But that's a story for another day, Rose Tyler. Something to share over tea in the library, maybe." He lifted his hands and clutched fistfuls of the beast's mane. With a moan for effort, he hauled himself up and kicked over the back of the beast to settle in a leather saddle.
"Right now," he continued. "We have much more urgent matters to tend to. Storytelling can come later."
"Yeah, okay," she answered with a roll in her eyes as she accepted a gilded rapier from Oein and lifted it to offer to the Doctor. "But let's get one thing clear, Doctor. No new pets on the TARDIS, yeah?" She petted the Wroddosk's shoulder. "No matter how magnificent this creature is, you're not bringing it home with you."
"One," the Doctor chirped with a waggle of his finger at the rapier. "I refuse to carry that thing with me. Rose, you know how I abhor weaponry…"
She cooed a slightly disappointed sound. "Oh, but come on. It'll finish up your entire ensemble if you have a sparkling gold sword on your hip. Without it your outfit is incomplete!"
"Well, then," he muttered with a sneer. Why don't you pass me a musket to tuck into my boots as well?"
Rose rolled her eyes, but smiled an all-knowing stretch of her lips. "I'll just hang on to it, then."
"You do that," he agreed. "Keep it and yourself safe, yeah?"
Rose nodded. "So. Two?"
His brows pinched in confusion. "Two what?"
"Well, you indicated that the sword was point number one."
"I did?"
"You did," she confirmed. "So the second point?"
The Doctor smirked and shook his head. "You know, Rose Tyler. I really can't remember. And if I can't remember my secondary point, then it can't have been particularly important, can it?"
"Oh, and here I was thinkin' that anythin' you had to say was vitally important."
He grinned and made a very happy noise in the back of his throat. "And therein lies yet another reason why I like you so much, Rose Tyler…"
"Good for your ego?" she queried cheekily.
He threw his head back and let out a genuinely happy laugh. "Oh that and much more, Rose."
An impatient clopping of shod hooves on the cobble stone and an equally impatient male voice sounded out to their left.
"Share your farewells with your love and let's be off." He extended a gloved hand curled to a pointed finger that indicated the horizon. "Night patrol will be out shortly, and we need to be sure that we've safely passed before they venture into the darkness."
"Oh, we aren't lovers," Rose corrected at the same time that the Doctor cheekily held his hand to his heart and theatrically spoke a poetic farewell to a lover.
Rose thumped him on the thigh. "You daft git."
"Oh," he coughed out as though wounded. "My bonny sweetheart pierces a hole into my hearts with her vicious and violent attack upon my thigh."
"Stop it."
"It might ease my pain if you could give me but one kiss, my fair and gentle maiden."
"I mean it, Doctor."
He rose up high in his stirrups and then leaned to one side toward his amused companion. There was a wink in his eye. "Just one kiss, my Bonny Sweetheart," he cooed. "And then look for me by the moonlight. Watch for me by the moonlight. I'll come to thee by the moonlight"
"Through hell should bar the way," she droned flatly. "Yes, Doctor. I know the song. Try for originality, will you?"
He gasped in affront. "I'll have you know, Rose Tyler, that those words are very original. At least they were when I wrote them."
"Are you sayin' that you wrote that song, Doctor?"
"I'm not saying that I didn't."
Rose's mouth floundered a little in surprise. She wasn't entirely sure if he was being honest, or was merely being a little shit. The twinkle in his eye and the growing smirk on his face was the tell she needed to know that he was having her on.
She let out a growl and pointed a finger up at him. "I'm goin' to call you Stockyard from now on, Doctor."
He hummed curiously. "Why's that?"
She folded her arms across her chest. "What's a stockyard full of, Doctor?"
"Stock, as in animals?"
"And what is the natural by-product of animals, then?"
He looked up to the sky and considered that a moment. Just what could animals produce that Rose could be using as an insult… Oh. Right. His eyes widened and then narrowed.
"That's very disgusting, and so not me at all."
She chuckled as she rose up onto her toes to attempt to get a hug from him. She was disappointed to find that he sat too high to do more than clutch each other's hands in a supportive gesture. She let out a breath of shock when he bent forward to kiss at her knuckles.
"I'll be back, Rose," he promised her inside a whisper of assurance. "I promise you." He looked up to the horizon. "Before the sun breaks, yeah?"
"I'll come find you if you're not back by then," she whispered, unable to shield the worry in her voice. "Right?"
He gave her a wink and rose up tall in the saddle. With a cry to the night sky and a kick of his heels, the Doctor tugged at the reigns and galloped toward the West.
Rose remained in place, barely shifting a muscle, as she waited for the thundering hoof falls of the small pack of men fade out in the distance. She strained for hearing as the thunder – softened into sweet melody by the distance – finally disappeared completely.
"Come on, Child," Bess urged kindly. "Best that we wait inside for your love to return."
Rose's eyes remained on the horizon. Her voice was nary a whisper when she replied. "He's not my love."
Bess put her hands on Rose's shoulder in a gentle attempt to turn her and guide her toward the stone cottage inn. "Come inside. Let us have tea."
In the distance, the sound of hooves once again sang out in the night. Rose immediately stiffened, although she didn't know if it was through fear as to what was coming, or through relief that the Doctor was already on his return. A grin began to blossom on her face and she spun on the ground to welcome her Time Lord back with open arms.
The vision of red coats atop several Wroddosk beasts – in a number that far exceeded the amount of men who had only just left the inn – burst through the cloak of darkness to materialize like a whining TARDIS as they drew closer.
Rose staggered a single stride backward and braced herself for a fight. She turned her head to yell over her shoulder as she pulled the rapier from its gilded sheath. "It's Lord George's men!" she cried out loudly. "Bess, Oein, get inside. I'll hold them off"
Oein laughed against her ear as his arms – much stronger than his frail exterior led her to believe – circled around her arms to lock them at her side. "I don't think so, my bonny lass."
Rose struggled with confusion, but found escape impossible. She panted with panic. "What're you doing?"
Bess sneered down her shoulder as she stepped ahead of Rose and Oein to welcome the galloping troop of Royal soldiers.
"We have the girl," she announced to the lead rider as he drew his steed to a huffing halt only a foot away from her. "Her lover is with Aedan and his men." She sneered a darkened smile. "Heading toward the West."
The guard dropped gracefully from the saddle of his steed, landing on straightened legs that took him into an immediate walk toward Rose. He sniffed and then snorted derisively as he roughly pinched Rose's chin between his thumb and index finger and lifted her face into the light of a candle's flame.
"Your Lord will be most pleased that you have aided in apprehending the leaders of the resistance." His eyes flicked up to Oein, and then back down to Rose. "I will admit that she's a fine specimen, this one," he purred disgustedly, even though his eyes seemed to hold some sense of appreciation in them. "She will make a welcome addition to the Lord's chamber."
Rose immediately spat into the man's face. "I'm not goin' to anyone's-"
The rest of her words cut sharply in time with an horrific strike of the back of a hand across her face with such brutal force that darkness took her almost immediately.
Her last thought before falling was to beg the TARDIS to warn the Doctor that he was heading into a trap.
