La Petite Mort (chapter 5)

[sinecure]

Title: La Petite Mort (5/10)
Author: sinecure - My master fic list
Character/Pairing: Nine/Rose, Ten/Rose, Multi-Doctor/Rose (not all at once)
Rating: Adult, humor/angst/romance... did I mention the humor?
Summary: The Doctor never saw fit to warn Rose about things that could happen. And then they happened.
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who... duh.
Author's Notes: Moving into the chapters of angst, but continue to take a grain of salt and then read this story.

This one is late. Sorry. I've been trying to keep to a schedule, but I was floundering a bit until momdaegmorgan and I hashed some things out and now I'm back on track.

Thanks goes to momdaegmorgan for the beta and for helping me plan out the rest. Because, yes, there is more. It's turning into a much bigger story than I'd intended. As usual.



He thought at first she was just being stubborn.

Rose blinked up at the TARDIS ceiling. Blinked again, and wondered why she'd woken up.

Something was tickling her neck.

Ah, that'd be why then. She knew from experience exactly what it was, but she ignored it. Or, rather, him. The Doctor huffed and rolled onto his back, dropping his hand to the space between their bodies. Her neck and jaw were grateful for the reprieve because she was awfully ticklish there.

"Rose," he grumbled, moving closer to her and following her line of vision. His shoulder pressed against hers, his brown hair lightly brushing her forehead.

She shifted slightly away. He pretended not to notice.

Obviously not finding the ceiling interesting, he went back to looking at her. "I have charts."

She smothered a smile and tamped down the warmth that spread through her at his words. "I'm glad. Every man should have charts detailing the likelihood of not dying from sex. It could be a hobby. There could be a group and you could all get together and show each other your charts and detail just how not-likely you are to die."

He sighed and settled next to her. "Now you're just abusing sarcasm. Poor little sarcasm, all defenseless against mean ole Rose Tyler. It never stood a chance."

"I was asleep," she told him, yawning widely to prove her point.

"Why sleep when we could be doing other things?" He rolled over onto his side, facing her, head propped in his palm. "Other things that are much more fun and occupy two people at the same time. Sleeping only includes one. It's a solitary pursuit and, therefore, selfish." He ran a finger down her shoulder and arm to her hand, trailing back up to draw patterns on her forearm. "You're selfish," he teased, leaning close, letting his eyes flick to hers, judging her response to him.

She, however, kept her eyes firmly on the ceiling and didn't shiver once. Okay, there was a minute shiver, but she didn't let it happen twice. "I'm human," she countered, closing her eyes and relaxing into the warm, comfortable bed, ignoring the man beside her as much as she could, when really, she couldn't at all. "I happen to need sleep to survive, especially after Krap Elk 6, and really, who needs six of 'em? Seen one Krap Elk, you've seen 'em all."

"Kr'pelc," he corrected automatically, which only made her smile. His hand drifted up to her cheek and teased at the smile hovering on her lips. "It's completely safe, you know. The levels have stayed steady for two weeks now." He tossed his head a little from side to side, considering his words. "Relative time. They're at dead zero."

"And, yet, you can't tell me why." She opened her eyes and turned her head to the side to face him. "Or how you ended up in your other body--"

"My ninth."

She brushed that aside as unimportant for the moment. "Right. Whatever. Doctor," she sighed, looking into his dark brown eyes and feeling herself falling into his gaze. She wanted to fall further, so deep she'd never return.

Snapping her attention back to his-- jaw, yes, his jaw was a good place to look. And kiss, she knew. It was scratchy, especially now, after so many hours without a shave. She wanted to touch it, to press her lips to it, and trail along to his mouth and-- clearing her throat, she refocused her eyes on his sideburn. The one visible on his left cheekbone. It was a nice sideburn, and it didn't try to seduce her, so she kept her eyes there.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his lips curve up into a smirk "Yes, Rose?"

She kept her eyes firmly on his sideburn and ignored the smug git. "You refuse to tell me anything. So, how am I supposed to believe that suddenly everything is hunky dory?"

He groaned the groan of a man who'd been successfully dodging a question for weeks. But, then he settled on a distraction technique she knew all too well. "Hunky dory. Hunk. Y. Dor. Y. I'm having a little bit of word-love here, Rose. Or rather, words. Hunky dory. They're very... guttural and--"

"Changing the subject," she reprimanded, elbowing him lightly in the side.

He frowned and sucked his teeth with a sour look as she pulled the covers around her, snuggling into their relative warmth. "Why won't you trust me?"

Was he really that clueless? "Oh, I dunno," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "maybe because you flat-out lied--"

"I didn't lie," he denied, reiterating when she raised an eyebrow at him. "I did not lie."

"All right. Flat-out omitted the truth. In this particular body, I might add. This body is a liar." She rolled her eyes when he went from looking offended to looking a wee bit proud. "That wasn't a compliment."

"Hmph," was his only answer. Then he added, "And I'm not lying. It's perfectly safe for us to have sex. Anytime we want to." He smiled seductively and leaned over, lowering his voice. "Anywhere we want to. Anyhow."

"And I know that how, Mr. Keeping Secrets? You could just be lying me-- omitting me into bed again," she finished loudly when he made to interrupt her again to proclaim his innocence. "And I happen to like this body and personality, thank you very much."

He scoffed and sat up, bracing himself against the headboard. "You liked all of my bodies, Ms. Radelion Nectar."

"Oi," she complained, sitting up as well. "Maybe if you'd told me it had... certain side effects on humans I wouldn't have had any. And you were rude in that body. Ruder. And mean. You called me an amoeba. Stupid ape wasn't nasty enough, so you went with amoeba." She ran her hands through her hair and occupied herself with looking anywhere but at the Doctor, because he was kind of sexy when he was offended. And angry. And happy. And when he got excited about the smallest little things. Also, when he-- yeah, she scolded herself. Not helping.

She was never, ever, ever again sleeping with the Doctor. No matter what he said.

And, boy did he say a lot. All the time. When they were on Yojun, he'd told her at the market that he intended to sleep with her again if it killed him. Of course, poor choice of words, but the people around them had found it rather shocking and there'd been a jail cell. That seemed to happen to them a lot.

The Doctor was watching her silently. "You don't trust me."

Rose swallowed and her eyes slid away from his.

He learned there are different kinds of trust.

"Rose," the Doctor gasped, reaching his hand out to her. His fingers slipped off the rock face, forcing him to drop his hand to the beige and red-streaked cliffside to keep himself from falling. Small bits of rock fell and pattered the entire way to the ocean beneath them; over a hundred yards away. Sunlight beat down on him and his muscles were beginning to feel the strain of the climb. His coat swayed around his legs, its weight never having felt so heavy as it did now.

He shifted his feet, pushing them deeper into the rock, as much as he could anyway.

Rose's position on a ledge to his left was just as precarious, but even more so due to the large Huop bird trying to get at her. "I can't," she shouted across as the Huop--the size of a pterodactyl-- made another dive at her. She had scratches and cuts all over her from the climb up the cliff, and even a claw mark or two.

The Doctor caught his breath, ignoring the pain that went through him at her words. It still hurt to know that she didn't trust him. "We're nearly there," he shouted back. The distance was only four feet between them, but he suddenly felt as if it were a chasm of unending proportions. "I won't let you fall!"

"I know. But this stupid pterodactyl wannabe won't leave me alo-- ahh!" She ducked the Huop as it dove at her again, and then bent down to grab a rock. Hefting it in her hand a few times, she took a deep breath and, clinging to the side of the cliff, spun around and flattened her back against it. Her arm pulled back as far as it could with her body pushed up against the mass of rock behind her, and she threw the rock hard at the Huop. The fist-sized rock hit a wing and the now injured bird screeched, dipping in the air briefly.

Rose ducked and covered her ears at the sound.

The Doctor's hearts seized a little when Rose's feet scrabbled for purchase on the loose rocks and pebbles beneath her. "Be careful!"

She turned and grinned at him. "You're not getting rid of me that easily." She was breathless and sweaty from the climb, covered in dirt streaks and smudges and blood that'd been smeared across her face from numerous cuts, but the Doctor didn't think he'd ever seen her looking more beautiful. She stood and combed her hands through her hair a few times to get the sweaty strands off her forehead, then tucked them behind her ears. "Ready?"

He stared at her for a second or two before he realized what she meant. She was coming over. Grinning back, he nodded and readjusted his grip, preparing for her to grab his hand and join him on his precarious area of the cliff. Reaching out for her, he braced himself and jammed his feet in tighter.

Rose looked him in the eye, took a deep breath, glanced over her shoulder to see if the Huop was coming, then ran a few steps and jumped the distance between them. She soared over to him, completely weightless and ungrounded for what felt like forever in his panicked mind. But then, his hand caught hers and she clutched at him, wrapping her legs around his and twining her free arm around his shoulder.

"Climb up," he told her, shuddering under the extra weight. His hand had slipped when she jumped on him, and he was suddenly very aware of how high up they were. Tiny rocks beneath his clammy palms and fingers dug into flesh, scraping the skin raw. "Hurry."

His urging was all she needed to give her that extra incentive. She reached up above his head, and, grabbing a handhold shifted some of her weight to his right side. Carefully, she unwrapped her legs from around him and dug her foot into the rock just above his knees. He felt her starting to slip as she grabbed at the rock with her other hand and he reached out to steady her. His muscles protested the movement, which left him hanging by one arm and inadequate footholds. If he was feeling the strain, he knew she had to be near exhaustion. Taking a closer look at her, he noticed that her arms were shaking. Adrenaline was all that was sustaining her now.

She cautiously moved up a step, carefully placing her feet and testing the hold before moving up again. Step-by-step she climbed the last few yards to the top. The Doctor followed her, keeping one eye on Rose and one eye on the Huop, which seemed to have given up for the time being.

It was circling overhead, letting out an occasional screech, red leathery wings flapping to keep it up. The breeze it created helped cool them off, but it also caused dust to whirl up and sting their eyes and get in their mouths.

Rose reached the top and started to haul herself over. He heard pebbles falling and a cry escape her as she struggled to hold on to the tenuous grip she had on the grass and dirt above her. Her trainers slipped along the rough surface of the cliff face, seeking purchase.

He shouted her name and reached out to catch her, but, somehow, she managed to claw and scrape herself into a relatively safe position. His hand caught her bum and settled there, bracing her.

"Oi," she called back with a breathless laugh. "Any excuse to get in my pants."

He didn't share her amusement and kept his hand where it was, circling around to her waist as he moved higher. She held herself still for a few more moments--half on solid ground, half dangling over--before grabbing handfuls of grass and dirt and clawing her way all the way up.

The Doctor followed her up and crawled to her side, lying beside where she'd sprawled herself on her back on the grass.

"Just another day in the life," she chuckled happily, gasping out huge breaths with effort. Her arm rose up, straightening to point at the sky. "Look. A dinosaur." Then dropped heavily beside her, her hand hitting his side.

Another breathless laugh escaped her and she briefly closed her eyes. The Doctor wrapped his trembling arms around her and rolled her on top of him, kissing her forehead, her cheeks, her lips.

She didn't protest.

"We're alive," she told him. Reassured him, really. He knew that's what she was doing, and he felt a flow of warm, lazy tenderness go through him that she was trying to comfort him after all the things she'd just gone through.

He kissed her again. Dropping his head back to the ground with a thunk, he laughed breathlessly and stared up at the Huop, which was flying above them in ever-tightening circles. "We're alive," he agreed, closing his eyes briefly as he caught his breath. Respiratory bypass should kick in at any moment, he thought absently.

After a minute, Rose sat back, straddling him, and the Doctor followed her, holding her on his lap with arms around her waist. He stared at her for a moment, seeing smears of dirt all over her face, a streak of blood on her left cheek and two more on her forehead. Sweat-slicked hair covered her temples and part of her forehead.

She brushed her hair back and made a face. Using the back of her hand, she tried to wipe her eyes, but only ended up making it worse.

Having no alternative whatsoever, the Doctor leaned forward and caught her lips with his own. A hard, hungry kiss reveling in the fact that they were alive.

This time she did protest, though it was a minor one. She pressed a hand lightly to his chest and pulled away. Her eyes watched him, darting from his lips to eyes and back again. "Doctor, I'm not--"

"I wouldn't have let you fall," he interrupted, tightening his arms around her waist; not wanting to hear her once again tell him that she didn't want him.

She nodded and smiled. "Never doubted it for a second."

Then why, he wanted to demand, did she not trust him? "I love you," he muttered against her lips. "You do know that, don't you?"

"I do," she insisted with a nod and a tender smile.

"But you don't trust me," he said, the words slipping out without permission. He immediately wished he could take them back, but he didn't. He stayed silent, waiting for her answer.

Rose shook her head, a confused smile lighting her eyes. "I do trust you. I trust you with my life, Doctor. I always have." She climbed to her feet, brushing her hands off absently as she scanned the sky for the Huop, squinting against the bright sun before turning back to him. "I just don't trust you with your own."

In the process of standing, the Doctor looked at her, startled. "What--" he began, but the Huop chose that moment to screech loudly and dive toward them, flapping its mighty wings and creating a breeze strong enough to ruffle their hair and clothes. He grabbed Rose's hand and dragged her along with him, running toward the tree line a couple dozen yards away.

When life hands you lemons, suck on them

"Do you think I'm suicidal?" the Doctor asked.

Across the cell, Rose looked up from her seat on the floor. "What?" she asked in disbelief then finished with a scoffing, "No."

"Up on that cliff top just before the Huop decided I was a chewtoy--"

"Oh, your back," she said suddenly, sitting forward. "How is it? Is it healed?"

He blinked at her, knowing full well she was changing the subject. She rested her arms straight out on top of her knees, clasping her hands together as she watched him, waiting.

"Just about," he admitted, not wanting to dodge the question lest she think he didn't trust her with the answer. Well, all right, that was just a bit bitter sounding, even in his own mind. Still, he had precedent.

She sat forward, dropping her arms to her sides. "You said it'd heal within days. It's been nearly a week. Do you need me to clean it or something? Disinfect the area?"

The Doctor stared at her for a moment, touched by her concern, but unreasonably angry that she was acting as if he was a two-year-old who'd never been injured before. "You really do think I'm suicidal," he muttered in bemusement. She opened her mouth to deny it, but he waved her off. "The muscles and sinew mended themselves rather quickly. The skin itself is actually taking the longest; it's not easy to grow back a big chunk of flesh." He stood up, having had enough of the lumpy mattress of the room's single bed, and glanced up at the ceiling as he concentrated on his back. "Almost healed now." Moving his right shoulder, he joined her on the floor and added, "It's kinda itchy."

Rose rested her head on the dingy white wall behind them and turned to look at him. "Want me to scratch it?"

Mirroring Rose's position, he answered honestly. "Oh, yes, quite desperately."

She rolled her eyes and nudged his shoulder. "You're such a horndog. What happened? I mean, I was with you for months before we slept together, and before that, there was nothin'. Not even a blip on the radar."

He chuckled at her. "How would you know? Maybe I was just that good at hiding it." His hand found hers, and he twined their fingers together, resting their clasped hands on the floor between them.

"Please," she scoffed, leaning into him to rest her head on his shoulder. "All those hugs, I think I'd have felt something if you were this bad then."

Smiling over her head, he stared at the lumpy bed across from them. "No, you wouldn't have. I have a way of controlling my body's reactions to outward stimuli." Usually. Well, when it wasn't Rose. With Rose, he had no control whatsoever, and that should have scared him, but it didn't. In fact, it'd helped him realize he was in love with her. It was much harder to control himself when his feelings were involved.

Rose turned her head to look up at him, skeptical look firmly in place. "Really."

"Yep." His lips twisted up just the smallest amount when her eyes dropped to his mouth before resuming their resting place on his eyes. She definitely wasn't as unaffected as she pretended to be. He wasn't above using that against her. Not at all. Returning his gaze to the far wall, he licked his lips and pretended to think on what he was going to say. Letting his tongue rest at the top of his mouth, he snuck a glance down at Rose.

She wasn't even looking at him anymore. Oh, that was just not fair.

He'd ruined a perfectly good seduction technique on her.

This wasn't going as well as he'd expected. Maybe it was time to bust out and go home. Shifting Rose away from him briefly--he heard her nearly inaudible protest and fought off a smirk--he fished the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. Holding it up triumphantly, he raised his eyebrows at her. "Time we weren't here."

She smacked him on the leg. "You've had that the whole time and you let us sit in here anyway?"

He shrugged. "Yeah." The lock wouldn't be a problem, he already knew that. When they'd been tossed in here, he'd inspected it and found it to be rather flimsy. The technology of this planet was hardly advanced. It wouldn't stop the sonic screwdriver. His Get Rose to Talk Slash Seduce Rose plan was obviously going to take more than them being tossed into a small space by themselves.

That was Rose for ya--difficult--and he wouldn't have her any other way.

She apparently wasn't pleased with him. She stood up and folded her arms over her chest. "You let us sit in a jail cell for," she paused and he looked over his shoulder to see her staring into the distance for a brief moment before her gaze returned to him, "nearly an hour and didn't think maybe using the sonic screwdriver to get us out would be something you should do?"

He dropped his eyes to her naked wrist then looked back at Rose.

"What?" she asked briskly. "I'm not allowed to know the time?" She rolled her eyes and sighed, moving over to him. Her hands went into her pockets as she approached, like she couldn't trust herself not to touch him.

He scoffed as he turned back to the lock and set the sonic screwdriver to the Break Flimsy Lock setting. More like she couldn't trust herself from slapping him.

The lock clicked and they were free. The metal door swung open a ways, creaking loudly. The Doctor caught one of the bars, stopping it before it could creak any more. Holding his arm out, he waited for her to precede him.

She slipped past with an annoyed look and headed to the left.

They made it through three corridors before she spoke again. "Any particular reason you were holding out with the sonic screwdriver?"

The Doctor shrugged, keeping his clever plan to himself. "Had to make sure we were alone. That no guards would come in during our great escape." He stopped abruptly, head cocked to the side, listening.

"Yeah," she said absently, dismissing his excuse with a wave of her hand. "Right."

The Doctor reached behind him to grab her hand. He was sure he could hear someone coming. The noise was faint, but growing louder with each breath they took.

Rose's hand clutched at his sleeve, her fingers running over the cloth. "Ya know, I just realized that your--"

This time he knew he'd heard something. Footsteps. His hand tightened around Rose's, dragging her back to him. She didn't resist or complain. Ducking down the closest corridor with paint peeling off the walls and stains that he didn't even want to guess at, he pressed Rose against the wall and held his hand over her mouth to stifle any outburst.

She blinked at him a few times, but stayed silent. The sound of boots grew louder. The Doctor pressed closer to Rose's warm body, sliding one leg between hers in order to minimize the space they were taking up as much as possible.

Her hands grabbed his arms and dragged him even closer.

He looked at her in surprise and saw her eyes widen on the corridor behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he was relieved to find it empty. He leaned closer, resting his mouth by her ear. "Someone's coming," he whispered, and they both shivered.

The mouth under his hand moved, hot, moist breath coating his palm as she mumbled something. He moved it cautiously. "I know," she whispered back. "I can hear, ya know."

He frowned slightly in her direction though most of his attention was on the boots coming closer. There were none of the expected shouts of 'escaped prisoners!' so he figured they hadn't been discovered absent yet. That was good. Though the people on Iut were rather pleasant and peaceful, he didn't think escaping would be shrugged off with a wave goodbye and a smile. Not after being arrested for licking one of their sacred flowers.

But, really, how else was he supposed to figure out the chemical compound of that smell without a lab? And then it turned out the flower wasn't even the source of the delightful smell anyway.

Rose's hands slid around his back, pulling him closer, and he looked at her, an eyebrow rising, wondering what she was doing. Of all the times to decide she wanted to touch him she chose now?

Her eyes were dilated, the pupils nearly obscuring the deep brown of her irises. Probably adrenaline, he thought absently, brushing aside the reasons he wanted her to be looking at him like that.

The chest beneath his lifted and lowered faster than usual. Narrowing his own eyes on her, he came to the conclusion that it was just from the run. Maybe a little fear too.

Despite this, his trousers were growing tighter.

He cleared his throat. "Much as I'd like to shag you against this wall--well, no, not this wall, it's disgusting--but a wall, any wall, really, any available surface, now isn't the time." He curled his lip up at the wall beside her and continued, lamenting, "Or the place."

Her eyes slid shut and he realized that he was whispering against her cheek, so close that all he needed to do was slide his lips a little to the left and he'd be kissing her.

The fingers still on his arms, tightened, and her breath hitched.

Oh.

But then the real world around them broke through his realization and he didn't have the time to kiss her-- no, devour her. That's what he wanted to do. Devour her mouth with his and shag her 'til she couldn't walk. For a week.

Footsteps were nearing now, closer and closer. The ringing on concrete echoed through the corridor they were in. Rose loosened her hands from his coat and shifted back against the wall. She straightened up so that she was no longer straddling his leg. And the Doctor felt an unreasonable anger at the situation they were in.

Hearing the guard closing in on their right, and knowing they could very easily be discovered, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him to the next corridor to the left.

From there, it was almost laughably easy to escape and run for the TARDIS.

Chapter 6- In A Bad Way.