Stratford Story
~~~
Titled: Stratford
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: DT/CT RPF Real Person Fic
Summary: Fictional story set during rehearsals for MAAN
Disclaimer: No infringement intended, this is pure fiction, based on nothing but imagination. We have the highest respect for these real life people, forgive us for playing with these fictionalized versions of two of the greatest actors ever to grace our screen and stage.
**WARNING: REAL PERSON FIC**
Fiction story based on a fictional notion of real people, please don’t read if such things offend you, written for fun not for profit.
“Are you ready?” Josie looked at them expectantly. David took a breath and sent a silent prayer of thanks that it was just the three of them in the rehearsal space this evening. Dying rays of wintry sunlight caught in Catherine’s hair as she tilted her head to one side and managed a small chagrinned smile for him. Underneath all the bluster of Beatrice, she looked as nervous as he felt.
Josie started laughing a little as she looked between them. “Relax, loves, it’s just our first run through, doesn’t matter how much it goes awry, you always give me great stuff to work with. So don’t look so terrified, okay?”
There was a twinkle in her eye as she spoke, amusement but also understanding in her voice.
Shaking himself back into character was a refuge from the myriad emotions David himself was caught up in. He slipped so easily into Signior Benedick’s skin now, it felt comfortable and right, as long as Catherine was the Beatrice beside him. Benedick sniffed haughtily and drew himself up to his full height, looking out over an imagined audience and beyond as he feigned nonchalance.
“Come, I will have thee,” he tossed out as if without a care in the world, only a tremulous sniff at the end of the sentence belying just how much Benedick’s heart was on the line as he extended another offer to the Lady Beatrice.
“…but, by this light, I take thee for pity.”
Beatrice gasped at him, agog with indignation, which Catherine pulled off beautifully. Then she straightened and puffed out her chest with a defiant toss of her hair. Her ginger locks alone were enough to distract David; he struggled to focus on her words instead.
“I would not deny you; but, by this good day, I yield upon great persuasion; and partly to save your life, for I was told you were in a consumption.” She spat out the last, a challenge even as she was yielding to him. Her lips twitched and he swung his hips around to face her. She took a step back as his eyes bored into hers.
This was it, the moment he had been waiting for. He had been thinking about this kiss for so long - really, if he was honest with himself, since the very first time he had suggested she would be an amazing Beatrice to his Benedick. He had tried to sound casual, like it was just a thought that had occurred to him off the cuff, but the truth was he was desperate for them to work together after Doctor Who ended, he had all but thrown himself into comic relief stints with her and wheedled his way into her Nan’s Christmas Special. Not that she had needed much convincing.
All these thoughts whirled in his head at a million miles per hour, brought up short by a word from their director.
“Peace…” prompted Josie, raising an eyebrow. It took David a full half-second to comprehend that the director was providing him a dialogue cue and not exhorting his madly beating heart to calm down. He swallowed, but when he spoke there was no trace of anxiety in his tone: Benedick was sure of himself at this juncture and sure of the affections of the lady he beheld.
“Peace.” He waited a beat, time slowing down around them in that one still moment. “I will stop thy mouth.” And then he was moving toward her with celerity.
Beatrice stumbled backwards but it was too late. Benedick’s hands were about her body, pulling her close and holding her steady as his lips crashed onto hers as gently as David could manage while still making it look like a sudden passionate clinch.
They froze for a moment, pressed together. Her mouth was so soft under his but he dared not yet move even his lips on hers. But when she didn’t demure or struggle to get away he pressed her closer, unable to help himself, his hunger for her overtaking his sense of caution. His fingers tangled in her amazingly soft hair. She murmured a quiet sound that vibrated his lips where they held hers. It was barely a moan and yet it went straight to his loins.
He risked opening his eyes a little and saw her crystal blue-green pools staring up into his, startled, almost wild with emotion. She made a little humming noise and he groaned in response, his lips moving hungrily on hers now. She filled all of his senses, it was intoxicating. Did she want this too? Could she feel the energy between them?
His mind spun in an eternity until he felt her hands alight on his back and she paused there for a moment, her touch so gentle he could barely feel it until she began sliding her palm across his shoulders and in his grasp her body slowly - painfully slowly - undulated against his.
With his height advantage she was bent backwards, his arms all the more secure around her to keep her from falling but she was still off-balance. He could feel her teetering, her arm around his neck now, trying to hold herself up so on impulse he twirled her gently in his arms, never breaking their kiss but allowing her to regain her footing and guide their trajectory across the stage.
Picking up on his cue instantly - as she always did, he had never worked with someone before who he just clicked with so perfectly - Catherine wrapped her arms more firmly around him and took some measure of control of their kiss, her lips moving against his so seductively his knees felt weak. Then her hands were on his neck with touches so intimate heat rose within him. Her caresses moved along his jaw to his cheek, leaving his skin tingling, he was lost in sensation. She moaned quietly again and it took him a moment to realize she was trying gently to pull away. He broke the kiss abruptly and found himself standing there, his arms still around her, both of them gulping for air and staring at each other in shock.
It was a long time before David even registered the sound of Josie clearing her throat.
“Well,” she said. “Well. Why don’t I just…give you two a minute…that was very, uh, passionate.” Her voice had faded to a mumble and then she was gone, the rehearsal room door swinging shut behind her.
David went back to staring at Catherine. Her face was flushed, her hair beautifully mussed from his hands, her lips slightly open as her breathing slowly returned to normal.
“You all right?” he breathed.
She nodded and her fingertips touched her lips. She looked so vulnerable in that moment that he caught his breath.
“Catherine…I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“Course not,” she whispered. “I just…” She took a step toward him and laid her hands on his chest. David forgot to breathe.
“Go on,” he muttered hoarsely.
“Not sure how I am going to do that with you in front of the cast…much less an audience…” she trailed off, staring up at him, her eyes so intense.
“Pretty powerful,” he agreed. He brought his hands up to trap hers in between their bodies as he moved closer still.
“Catherine?” There had never been an opportunity quite like this one. He had to know if he was imagining things, all the touches they shared, the stolen moments together, how they stuck so closely together at every opportunity, the nights they would stay up late talking about everything and nothing. He had never had a friend like Catherine and the more he was with her the more it hurt to be apart.
“Catherine, I… how are you feeling?”
She licked her lips and glanced down, suddenly shy. He knew her like this, knew she often felt this way but rarely allowed others to see it. But with him she was free to be her real self, the nights she was quiet, almost withdrawn from the raucous cast and crew in rehearsal, he would stay closer to her and never demanded she give an explanation or force her to be chatty. If other people would try to draw her out he would casually sling an arm over her shoulder and make some excuse, leading her away. She would lean into him slightly and when he got her alone she would grace him with a small smile or a murmured ‘thank you’.
Then other days they could barely shut each other up, constantly ribbing and teasing each other, talking over each other and feeding off that unique energy he only felt when they were together.
He watched her now and simply waited, hoping Josie wouldn’t come back too soon.
“Flustered,” she said finally and he recognized the raw honesty in her answer. “But also amazing!” She smiled radiantly and his heart skipped a beat.
“Amazing,” he echoed.
“Do you think…David do you think Josie will want us to run through that more times tonight?”
He heard the anxiety in her voice.
“I mean, I can, of course we can, it’s no big deal or anything,” she added quickly, her fingers threading themselves in his shirt, sometimes slipping between the shirt buttons and sending sparks across his skin when she grazed her fingertips against his chest.
“Josie has been given us mostly free reign,” he commented, “I don’t think it will be a problem. We could always tell her we’ll just rehearse it…privately.”
He grinned. He had meant to sound seductive but Catherine’s eyebrows rose high and between the way she looked at him and his state of nerves he couldn’t hold a serious face.
Her lips quirked and her eyes were laughing. Tension never held between them for too long before their friendship broke through it.
She dropped her head on his chest. “Oh David,” her voice was muffled in his shirt. She sounded like she was still laughing at the situation but underneath it he could hear her worry.
“Hey,” he soothed, his arms coming around her and pulling her close. “We’ll work it out, we always do.”
When Josie had eventually stuck her head back in the room they were talking and laughing like normal, tripping over each other as they tried and failed to practice the choreography for the final dance of the show. It would take a while to get those steps down, it didn’t help that Catherine collapsed in helpless giggles when he had been inspired to play air guitar on his leg.
Best move he had ever made, seeing her almost cry with laughter was the absolute greatest thing he could have hoped for that evening. All the tension had evaporated by the time Josie joined them again.
But when the director had suggested another run through of the kiss scene David felt Catherine tense up beside him. She shrugged and nodded but David intervened, saying they could wait until another time, the two of them might be better to find a way to make it work between them first. Josie accepted that and they moved on. Catherine gave him a small grateful smile.
Nonetheless, David was worried now - she had tensed up so quickly, he had to do something before her nerves (and his) got out of hand, they were weeks away from opening night.
~~~
Part 2: http://akhilanda.livejournal.com/6059.html
Titled: Stratford
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: DT/CT RPF Real Person Fic
Summary: Fictional story set during rehearsals for MAAN
Disclaimer: No infringement intended, this is pure fiction, based on nothing but imagination. We have the highest respect for these real life people, forgive us for playing with these fictionalized versions of two of the greatest actors ever to grace our screen and stage.
**WARNING: REAL PERSON FIC**
Fiction story based on a fictional notion of real people, please don’t read if such things offend you, written for fun not for profit.
“Are you ready?” Josie looked at them expectantly. David took a breath and sent a silent prayer of thanks that it was just the three of them in the rehearsal space this evening. Dying rays of wintry sunlight caught in Catherine’s hair as she tilted her head to one side and managed a small chagrinned smile for him. Underneath all the bluster of Beatrice, she looked as nervous as he felt.
Josie started laughing a little as she looked between them. “Relax, loves, it’s just our first run through, doesn’t matter how much it goes awry, you always give me great stuff to work with. So don’t look so terrified, okay?”
There was a twinkle in her eye as she spoke, amusement but also understanding in her voice.
Shaking himself back into character was a refuge from the myriad emotions David himself was caught up in. He slipped so easily into Signior Benedick’s skin now, it felt comfortable and right, as long as Catherine was the Beatrice beside him. Benedick sniffed haughtily and drew himself up to his full height, looking out over an imagined audience and beyond as he feigned nonchalance.
“Come, I will have thee,” he tossed out as if without a care in the world, only a tremulous sniff at the end of the sentence belying just how much Benedick’s heart was on the line as he extended another offer to the Lady Beatrice.
“…but, by this light, I take thee for pity.”
Beatrice gasped at him, agog with indignation, which Catherine pulled off beautifully. Then she straightened and puffed out her chest with a defiant toss of her hair. Her ginger locks alone were enough to distract David; he struggled to focus on her words instead.
“I would not deny you; but, by this good day, I yield upon great persuasion; and partly to save your life, for I was told you were in a consumption.” She spat out the last, a challenge even as she was yielding to him. Her lips twitched and he swung his hips around to face her. She took a step back as his eyes bored into hers.
This was it, the moment he had been waiting for. He had been thinking about this kiss for so long - really, if he was honest with himself, since the very first time he had suggested she would be an amazing Beatrice to his Benedick. He had tried to sound casual, like it was just a thought that had occurred to him off the cuff, but the truth was he was desperate for them to work together after Doctor Who ended, he had all but thrown himself into comic relief stints with her and wheedled his way into her Nan’s Christmas Special. Not that she had needed much convincing.
All these thoughts whirled in his head at a million miles per hour, brought up short by a word from their director.
“Peace…” prompted Josie, raising an eyebrow. It took David a full half-second to comprehend that the director was providing him a dialogue cue and not exhorting his madly beating heart to calm down. He swallowed, but when he spoke there was no trace of anxiety in his tone: Benedick was sure of himself at this juncture and sure of the affections of the lady he beheld.
“Peace.” He waited a beat, time slowing down around them in that one still moment. “I will stop thy mouth.” And then he was moving toward her with celerity.
Beatrice stumbled backwards but it was too late. Benedick’s hands were about her body, pulling her close and holding her steady as his lips crashed onto hers as gently as David could manage while still making it look like a sudden passionate clinch.
They froze for a moment, pressed together. Her mouth was so soft under his but he dared not yet move even his lips on hers. But when she didn’t demure or struggle to get away he pressed her closer, unable to help himself, his hunger for her overtaking his sense of caution. His fingers tangled in her amazingly soft hair. She murmured a quiet sound that vibrated his lips where they held hers. It was barely a moan and yet it went straight to his loins.
He risked opening his eyes a little and saw her crystal blue-green pools staring up into his, startled, almost wild with emotion. She made a little humming noise and he groaned in response, his lips moving hungrily on hers now. She filled all of his senses, it was intoxicating. Did she want this too? Could she feel the energy between them?
His mind spun in an eternity until he felt her hands alight on his back and she paused there for a moment, her touch so gentle he could barely feel it until she began sliding her palm across his shoulders and in his grasp her body slowly - painfully slowly - undulated against his.
With his height advantage she was bent backwards, his arms all the more secure around her to keep her from falling but she was still off-balance. He could feel her teetering, her arm around his neck now, trying to hold herself up so on impulse he twirled her gently in his arms, never breaking their kiss but allowing her to regain her footing and guide their trajectory across the stage.
Picking up on his cue instantly - as she always did, he had never worked with someone before who he just clicked with so perfectly - Catherine wrapped her arms more firmly around him and took some measure of control of their kiss, her lips moving against his so seductively his knees felt weak. Then her hands were on his neck with touches so intimate heat rose within him. Her caresses moved along his jaw to his cheek, leaving his skin tingling, he was lost in sensation. She moaned quietly again and it took him a moment to realize she was trying gently to pull away. He broke the kiss abruptly and found himself standing there, his arms still around her, both of them gulping for air and staring at each other in shock.
It was a long time before David even registered the sound of Josie clearing her throat.
“Well,” she said. “Well. Why don’t I just…give you two a minute…that was very, uh, passionate.” Her voice had faded to a mumble and then she was gone, the rehearsal room door swinging shut behind her.
David went back to staring at Catherine. Her face was flushed, her hair beautifully mussed from his hands, her lips slightly open as her breathing slowly returned to normal.
“You all right?” he breathed.
She nodded and her fingertips touched her lips. She looked so vulnerable in that moment that he caught his breath.
“Catherine…I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“Course not,” she whispered. “I just…” She took a step toward him and laid her hands on his chest. David forgot to breathe.
“Go on,” he muttered hoarsely.
“Not sure how I am going to do that with you in front of the cast…much less an audience…” she trailed off, staring up at him, her eyes so intense.
“Pretty powerful,” he agreed. He brought his hands up to trap hers in between their bodies as he moved closer still.
“Catherine?” There had never been an opportunity quite like this one. He had to know if he was imagining things, all the touches they shared, the stolen moments together, how they stuck so closely together at every opportunity, the nights they would stay up late talking about everything and nothing. He had never had a friend like Catherine and the more he was with her the more it hurt to be apart.
“Catherine, I… how are you feeling?”
She licked her lips and glanced down, suddenly shy. He knew her like this, knew she often felt this way but rarely allowed others to see it. But with him she was free to be her real self, the nights she was quiet, almost withdrawn from the raucous cast and crew in rehearsal, he would stay closer to her and never demanded she give an explanation or force her to be chatty. If other people would try to draw her out he would casually sling an arm over her shoulder and make some excuse, leading her away. She would lean into him slightly and when he got her alone she would grace him with a small smile or a murmured ‘thank you’.
Then other days they could barely shut each other up, constantly ribbing and teasing each other, talking over each other and feeding off that unique energy he only felt when they were together.
He watched her now and simply waited, hoping Josie wouldn’t come back too soon.
“Flustered,” she said finally and he recognized the raw honesty in her answer. “But also amazing!” She smiled radiantly and his heart skipped a beat.
“Amazing,” he echoed.
“Do you think…David do you think Josie will want us to run through that more times tonight?”
He heard the anxiety in her voice.
“I mean, I can, of course we can, it’s no big deal or anything,” she added quickly, her fingers threading themselves in his shirt, sometimes slipping between the shirt buttons and sending sparks across his skin when she grazed her fingertips against his chest.
“Josie has been given us mostly free reign,” he commented, “I don’t think it will be a problem. We could always tell her we’ll just rehearse it…privately.”
He grinned. He had meant to sound seductive but Catherine’s eyebrows rose high and between the way she looked at him and his state of nerves he couldn’t hold a serious face.
Her lips quirked and her eyes were laughing. Tension never held between them for too long before their friendship broke through it.
She dropped her head on his chest. “Oh David,” her voice was muffled in his shirt. She sounded like she was still laughing at the situation but underneath it he could hear her worry.
“Hey,” he soothed, his arms coming around her and pulling her close. “We’ll work it out, we always do.”
When Josie had eventually stuck her head back in the room they were talking and laughing like normal, tripping over each other as they tried and failed to practice the choreography for the final dance of the show. It would take a while to get those steps down, it didn’t help that Catherine collapsed in helpless giggles when he had been inspired to play air guitar on his leg.
Best move he had ever made, seeing her almost cry with laughter was the absolute greatest thing he could have hoped for that evening. All the tension had evaporated by the time Josie joined them again.
But when the director had suggested another run through of the kiss scene David felt Catherine tense up beside him. She shrugged and nodded but David intervened, saying they could wait until another time, the two of them might be better to find a way to make it work between them first. Josie accepted that and they moved on. Catherine gave him a small grateful smile.
Nonetheless, David was worried now - she had tensed up so quickly, he had to do something before her nerves (and his) got out of hand, they were weeks away from opening night.
~~~
Part 2: http://akhilanda.livejournal.com/6059.html