I'm not going to write this, but if I was, this is how I'd do it
I’ve been doing a thought experiment thing with Two Birds in a Cage (so a mental AU of an AU of an AU) about what would happen if Josie had still been in the cell when SJ arrived. (Maybe the Doctor was worried about Josie being deprived of healthy social interaction with people her age, maybe Josie heard one of the guards talking about the way they were torturing SJ and begged the Doctor to do something, maybe Section Leader Shaw was still pissed that the Grants’ political enemies went over her head to select the new assistant and wanted to assert some power and also give the Doctor something to get him in her debt. Maybe all these things.)
Anyway, I started with the hypothesis that more people would mean more mistrust from SJ. Imagine my surprise when I found that they would all be having sex by now she actually started to trust them much sooner! It turns out, you just cannot stay angry and distrustful of Jo Grant for any significant period of time at all!
True, SJ starts out thinking of her as a wealthy parasite and a collaborator; she also sees the obvious affection between the Doctor and Josie and assumes they must be having sex in exchange for good treatment, and she’s disgusted by what she perceives as Josie’s weakness and willingness to capitulate. This in turn earns SJ a lot of mistrust from the Doctor, who is very protective of Josie and worries that SJ will try to hurt her (as resistance groups have often done to women who were thought to be involved with an oppressor); this might be exacerbated if Josie ever had the misfortune of trying to wake SJ up from a PTSD nightmare and SJ instinctively punched Josie in the face. And/or maybe Section Leader Shaw demanded certain things from Josie in return for saving SJ, and the Doctor resents SJ for that.
But Jo’s innate, relentless goodness eventually wears SJ down, and they become friends. The Doctor and SJ circle each other for a little while longer, with the Doctor deciding that she’s not a threat first and that what makes Josie happy makes him happy. This is probably the point at which he reveals that he’s deliberately sabotaging the equipment he builds for the government. SJ’s internal deliberations still take a little longer, but even so the process is significantly shorter than it is in Two Birds in a Cage. This is because in Two Birds, the only “test subject” SJ has to gauge the Doctor’s decency and morality is herself; she has to risk her well-being every time she wants to find out if he’s trustworthy. But with the addition of Josie, SJ has a daily practical demonstration of Josie teasing the Doctor and knocking over vials and messing up the scientific notes and casually taking a shower and helping with the sabotage, and of the Doctor not beating, not raping, not handing over to the authorities, not in any way harming, Josie. So she can afford to let down her guard a lot earlier.
It would take them a bit longer to become actual friends; I imagine that at some point Josie would catch a cold or the flu and they would bond over taking care of her.
and then Josie and SJ would start having sex and it would turn out that Josie and the Doctor had been having sex before but stopped when she came because they were worried it would give her the wrong idea and then they would all just end up in bed together and everyone would really sweet and understanding of SJ’s triggers and also Josie would be the subbiest sub to ever sub and it would be really hot and um yeah
Anyway, I started with the hypothesis that more people would mean more mistrust from SJ. Imagine my surprise when I found that they would all be having sex by now she actually started to trust them much sooner! It turns out, you just cannot stay angry and distrustful of Jo Grant for any significant period of time at all!
True, SJ starts out thinking of her as a wealthy parasite and a collaborator; she also sees the obvious affection between the Doctor and Josie and assumes they must be having sex in exchange for good treatment, and she’s disgusted by what she perceives as Josie’s weakness and willingness to capitulate. This in turn earns SJ a lot of mistrust from the Doctor, who is very protective of Josie and worries that SJ will try to hurt her (as resistance groups have often done to women who were thought to be involved with an oppressor); this might be exacerbated if Josie ever had the misfortune of trying to wake SJ up from a PTSD nightmare and SJ instinctively punched Josie in the face. And/or maybe Section Leader Shaw demanded certain things from Josie in return for saving SJ, and the Doctor resents SJ for that.
But Jo’s innate, relentless goodness eventually wears SJ down, and they become friends. The Doctor and SJ circle each other for a little while longer, with the Doctor deciding that she’s not a threat first and that what makes Josie happy makes him happy. This is probably the point at which he reveals that he’s deliberately sabotaging the equipment he builds for the government. SJ’s internal deliberations still take a little longer, but even so the process is significantly shorter than it is in Two Birds in a Cage. This is because in Two Birds, the only “test subject” SJ has to gauge the Doctor’s decency and morality is herself; she has to risk her well-being every time she wants to find out if he’s trustworthy. But with the addition of Josie, SJ has a daily practical demonstration of Josie teasing the Doctor and knocking over vials and messing up the scientific notes and casually taking a shower and helping with the sabotage, and of the Doctor not beating, not raping, not handing over to the authorities, not in any way harming, Josie. So she can afford to let down her guard a lot earlier.
It would take them a bit longer to become actual friends; I imagine that at some point Josie would catch a cold or the flu and they would bond over taking care of her.
and then Josie and SJ would start having sex and it would turn out that Josie and the Doctor had been having sex before but stopped when she came because they were worried it would give her the wrong idea and then they would all just end up in bed together and everyone would really sweet and understanding of SJ’s triggers and also Josie would be the subbiest sub to ever sub and it would be really hot and um yeah