*Hey guys, another Oswin chapter for you here. This one is from the Doctor's perspective and tries to captures some of the problems that the last chapter brought up. There's also a little hint in here as to where this story is going, but I'll let you try and figure that out for yourselves. Next chapter will probably be up Wednesday. Hope you guys like. As ever, thanks to all my wonderful readers, reviewers, followers and favouriters and please please review and let me know your feelings. TPD*
Ever since he had lost Amy and Rory, the Doctor had felt himself clinging to Oswin like a lifeline. She was most decidedly rubbing off on his behaviour and he found himself starting to seek increasingly dangerous stunts in an attempt to impress her. He hadn't quite realised how much he had grown to disregard his own life, or how much he had grown to care for Oswin until the night of the Swiss Alps. When he had thrown himself in the way of a gunman to save King Sven; when Oswin had saved his life…when they had slept together. The Doctor had wanted it more than anything; he just hadn't quite admitted it to himself until she was straddling him. They had argued and she had been right of course, the Doctor had stopped caring about living, it was as if the Ponds had taken a piece of him with them. That was understandable, he had lost so much that day. But things had changed. The same night he'd realised that he didn't care about living was the same night that he found a reason to carry on. A short, brunette reason who had been right in front of him all along, keeping him both sane and alive until he had discovered it.
And then she had shot him down. When she had told him that their sex meant nothing to her, it stung him, right to his core. He didn't just have sex with a person, that wasn't what he did. For the Doctor to make that move was almost unheard of, so for Oswin to make it so abundantly clear that she didn't have feelings for him hurt. He had hoped that things wouldn't be awkward between them. But the next morning she had strolled into the console room, wearing just her PJs, she had given him her brightest smile and asked what the plan for the day was, as if nothing had happened. Of course, for her nothing had changed. Oswin hadn't had any life-altering revelations, she had just had a fun night of passion. But for the Doctor, everything had changed. He had realised that he had fallen head over heels for Oswin Oswald and he didn't know what to do about it.
So he tried broaching the subject of their…encounter. Oswin had rolled her eyes and told him in no uncertain terms: "It's just sex Chin, you have had sex before right? It's nothing to get worked up about. It happens. We're both adults, so can we just be adult about it?"
And that was half the problem. The Doctor wasn't human. He wasn't what Oswin would term: an adult. So he didn't know what to do about it. He wasn't used to having feelings for the people he travelled with, certainly not the kind of feelings that he had for Oswin. Of course, there had been Rose, but that was entirely different, as their connection was so intimate from the get-go. The River situation had always been complex, but their feelings were real and he hadn't had to deal with her every day. This? Oswin wasn't intimate with him, she wasn't the kind of girl who made things easy or obvious. That wasn't to say that she didn't care for him, but she didn't show her affection easily. She was closed off.
"Are you feeling alright Chin?" she asked him one morning, a week or so after the Swiss Alps. "You've been all quiet since we did the dirty. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were feeling awkward because you've seen what's under this delightful dress of mine."
"Me? Awkward?" he laughed. "Ha! I don't do awkward!"
"You're the King of Awkward," Oswin corrected. "Look if it made things weird, then just say and we can address whatever's going on with you. I don't want you to be distracted when we're trying to stop a spaceship crashing into the Sun or some nonsense like that. So if we made a mistake, just tell me."
"No!" he said hurriedly, earning him a look from Oswin. "I mean, we didn't make a mistake, this is just new territory for me. I've not really, slept with the people that I tend to travel with before." He paused, thinking of the right way to phrase it. "I just need some time to get used to our new arrangement, that's all."
"New arrangement?" Oswin teased. "You're planning on getting me into bed again are you honey? You should be so lucky." He tried not to overreact. "Sorry, I forgot you don't deal well with my teasing you," she apologised and she gave him a real smile. "I had a lot of fun Doctor, it made a nice change. You can bet it's going to continue."
The Doctor had taken heart from that conversation, but he felt stuck in an awkward position. He wanted to tell Oswin how he really felt, that the sex meant something to him and that he wanted more from her. But equally, he was worried that he would then shift the awkwardness onto her and put her in a position where she would probably cut off the sex and he really didn't want it to stop. Since the conversation, they had been having sex at semi-regular intervals, usually after a particularly dangerous adventure. As such, the Doctor knew his reckless streak was getting worse, and not better, because it was more likely to result in a casual night with Oswin. Well, she referred to it as casual. To him, it was more than that. He had almost slipped up with tender comments in bed and Oswin had shot him incredulous looks and made disparaging comments, but she hadn't picked up on the underlying nature behind them. He suspected that if she had a clue what was really going on, she would stop having sex with him completely, as Oswin was many things, heartless wasn't one of them.
The Doctor considered all of this as he waited to drown. He had wanted to take Oswin to the Great Mines of Kalak. But the locals didn't take kindly to visitors. Right after the Doctor had climbed down into the mines, they had grabbed Oswin to stop her following, retracted the ladder and sealed him in. The water level had been rising for almost five minutes and it was already up to the Doctor's shoulders. They had taken Oswin to be executed, if he knew his local Kalak traditions properly. And he just had to wait for the water level to rise. The ceiling was a good ten feet above him, so it would be almost ten more minutes before he could reach it. Only then would he learn if he could sonic his way out or not. That was even assuming he could stay afloat long enough to reach the ceiling. The Kalak Mines were infamous for drownings. Sometimes, people would reach the top and there would be blood on the ceiling from where they had ripped their hands trying to claw out desperately. But more often than not, people would grow so tired and exhausted trying to stay above water that they would drown before the water level reached the ceiling.
It was very disparaging, knowing that even if he fought tooth and nail to reach the top, managed to survive long enough to reach the ceiling, even then there was no guarantee that the exit would be sealed in a way that he could sonic. He hadn't bothered to check on the way in, when he probably should have done. There were of course, other ways out of the mine, but to get to them, he'd have had to go further down and there was no way he would have been able to hold his breath long enough to find another tunnel out, even assuming that he managed to find one, he hadn't memorised the cave system.
So the Doctor began to tread water, as the water level surpassed him. 8 minutes, 42 seconds, he reckoned. And then he thought some more about Oswin. He doubted they'd execute her immediately, there would no doubt be a ceremony of some sort. It would hopefully buy him enough time to track the Kalaks and rescue her. Their preferred method of execution was burning. He doubted Oswin would appreciate that. But he hoped she'd appreciate it enough to not get herself shot trying to escape. She had to know that he was coming for her. The Doctor worked on the assumption that he was going to get out. He had no other option.
The water level continued to rise and the Doctor tried to calm himself. Maybe if he just told Oswin how he felt, she might realise that she reciprocated? After all, she wasn't the most in contact with her emotions. She was the sort of girl who shut out how she felt, as well as she managed to shut out other people from how she felt. She'd been travelling with him for two thirds of a year, and yet he still felt like her true nature was hidden from him. She cared about him, a lot more than she let on but she showed it occasionally. She was excited but scared and she wasn't showing any signs of getting bored with the travelling. But she was closed off so often that it was as if the Doctor was only getting snippets of her personality, every so often. Like she was manifesting some of the traits of who she really was, only amplified. It was entirely possible that she would only realise how she felt for the Doctor when he spelled out to her how he felt.
And yet, he doubted it. He was just being stupid, being optimistic. Because optimism was the only thing had left, with probably little more than five minutes left to live. His legs were starting to ache, which wasn't a good sign. He was going to need to do some running when he got out of this hole in the ground, crawling out and taking a nap wasn't an option. He tried switching the emphasis to his arms and making as little movement as possible, conserving his energy as far as he could. The Doctor took a deep breath, and then another one. The air was musty and horrible, the smell of sulphur, copper and trixellicon, the metal they mined here rising up. The air wasn't poisonous, but it wasn't exactly good for you. Still, he reasoned, it was better above the water level than under it, where there was no air at all.
He wondered what Oswin was doing. Probably stood in a prison cell, shouting at some guard that she was going to get out or that the Doctor was coming for her. With any luck, she wasn't being tied to a pyre yet. Maybe they were still walking back to camp. It hadn't even been a quarter of an hour since they'd shut the Doctor in and flooded the mine. He tried to stay calm as he reached into his sodden jacket and retrieved the screwdriver. He couldn't be more than a few feet from the ceiling now. He reached upwards and soniced. Nothing happened. He just needed to get closer, he convinced himself. He couldn't panic. If he panicked now, he was dead and so was Oswin. Forcing himself to take more deep breaths, the Doctor ignored the numbness in his legs, trying hard not to think about how if he lost control for a moment, he would die a horrible death.
His right leg suddenly cramped up and the Doctor's head dipped below the water level. Forcing himself not to panic, he shook his right leg awake while kicking up with his left. His head broke water and he looked upwards. He could almost reach the ceiling. Less than a minute, he reckoned. He could hold his breath that long if needs be. His right leg was shaking, his left was barely moving. It felt as if his left arm was going to fall off as it struggled to make up for the deficiency in his legs and in his right hand, the screwdriver stretched towards the ceiling. He couldn't see a thing except when the sonic briefly flickered on and he was flashed with green, but the entry chamber was tiny. He could almost touch either wall when he stretched, so he couldn't miss the trapdoor if he tried.
Then his sonic was touching the ceiling. Pressing down on the button, the Doctor prayed for a miracle. The sonic whirred and he heard a clicking noise. The Doctor let out a shout of victory, a roar that filled the empty, echoing chamber. He wasn't going to die. Not in this cold, wet, death hole. He was going to save Oswin Oswald. He pressed upwards with all his weight and then he was free. The Doctor crawled out of the hole, soaked to the skin and shivering, but alive. He allowed himself a few moments to rest, as much as he didn't want to. He couldn't afford to collapse of exhaustion on the way to save Oswin after all. His right leg just needed a moment to kick into gear. The TARDIS wasn't far, he could probably make it, but he couldn't track Oswin from there. Then he spotted something lying on the ground. It was a dark hair. A quick scan told him it was Oswin's alright. There were footsteps near the hair and he started following them, moving slowly at first, easing his body back into the strenuous activity and breaking into a run as soon as he was capable.
The camp wasn't more than fifteen minutes' walk. The Doctor made it in a little over nine. He reckoned that the Kalaks would have had Oswin at the camp for a little over ten minutes. Surely not enough time to stage an execution? He saw the smoke rising to the sky and his heart sank. He didn't run straight into the camp but broke the clearing, hanging low. The entire camp was surrounding a pyre and, sure enough, strapped to a pole, hanging above the flames, was Oswin.
The pole she was strapped to was slowly lowering. She had a little over thirty seconds until she reached the flames. She was screaming and cursing, but the Doctor could only see her for a few seconds before she was devoured by smoke. He swore and looked around. The Kalaks were just like humans, except a foot and a half taller, nobody shorter than 7 feet. They were muscled and ill-disciplined. He needed a diversion and they wouldn't notice Oswin was gone until it was too late. But he couldn't be seen, or he'd be shot on sight. Their weapons were more primitive, but they were most decidedly guns. He had just the thing.
The small, circular device rolled off to the left side of the camp and exploded. It wasn't dangerous, but it emitted smoke and a wailing noise. The Kalaks were startled and panicked, bodies throwing themselves either at the device or away from it, gunfire filling the air. In amongst the carnage his little device had caused, the Doctor, keeping low, shot through the crowd like a shadow, reaching the flames with Oswin about ten seconds from being on fire. She was choking and had lost consciousness, the smoke in her lungs. He swore and soniced her free from the ropes binding her. She fell and he stepped into the fire to catch her, dragging her away and ignoring the searing pain in his feet. He flicked off his flaming shoes, patted down the ends of his trousers, threw Oswin over one shoulder and legged it. Thankfully, he had been standing in the fire for but a second, but his feet stung as he pounded away from the camp through the trees.
The gunfire had shifted direction and he suspected it was aiming at him now. As a tree next to him took one to the bark, he swore and ducked low, trying to reposition Oswin so that the majority of her body was shielded from the oncoming storm of bullets. The TARDIS was in sight and he clicked his fingers. The doors flung open and closed of their own accord as he hurled himself inside. He didn't have time to get Oswin to the medical bay, so he lay her on the floor of the TARDIS and checked her breathing frantically. She was alive. He quickly examined her. She was black from head to toe with soot and smoke, streaked with grime and sweat from the fire. Her dress was ruined by the stains and her naked and exposed arms and legs were red raw and shiny. Her eyes fluttered open and she coughed frantically.
"Chin?" she wheezed.
"I'm here Oswin," he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead. "I'm here."