New fic: Sanctuary
When I wrote "Soulmate" a little while ago, it was conceived as a stand-alone, in response to a prompt I had read somewhere about the importance of treasuring the love who is also your best friend. But when I had finished, I realised that there was a complement to that story. Here it is.
Characters/pairing: Tenth Doctor and Donna
Genre: Romance
Rating: G
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, but they are each others in my dreams
Summary: The Doctor has found what he never knew he was looking for.
Author's note: Companion piece to Soulmate.
Sanctuary
Though he was the greatest explorer in all of time, having travelled farther, deeper, more perilously than any other, he could never be sure how much was still out there that he didn’t know about, hadn’t seen and so couldn’t exclude from the realms of possible existence.
He was thus unable to say one way or another if there really was a heaven out there somewhere, a place where there was no suffering, no fear, no war, no death, only peace and wholeness and light.
A huge part of him wished that there was indeed such an incredible, unfathomably amazing place like that he had heard so many humans, companion or not, talk about from time to time, with wondrous expression and glowing face tilting up reflexively, unconsciously to the sky.
But if there is a heaven, he thought to himself as he hovered in the stillness between consciousness and slumber, then I desperately want it to be like this.
Such deep sentiment seemed, on the surface incongruous with the rather pedestrian, everyday situation he currently found himself, which was simply lying on the couch, his head resting on Donna’s lap, as the two of them watched a movie.
Or rather they had been watching a movie. The visual entertainment had actually finished some time ago. But the last thing he wanted to do was to shift from his very comfortable position, so he closed his eyes as if sleeping and let his other senses take over and revel in his surroundings instead - ears delighting in the sound of Donna’s heartbeat, strong and steady in time with her calm, gentle breaths in and out, her incredible scent, warm freshly-bathed body layered with the jasmine fragrance of the cream she always used…along with something else, ever-so-faint but distinctly detectable, intoxicating to his highly sensitive sense of smell. And the feel of her skin, soft and smooth, against his own…all he could think was that heaven would definitely be like this if he was in charge.
As for the remaining sense, he was practically dying to dart his tongue out and give that inviting creamy skin on her inner thigh a little lick, but reckoned that it may well startle her right out of being his personal pillow and space heater, not to mention lose him the extraordinarily soothing effect of her delicate fingers smoothing over his hair, his face, his arms. No taste, no matter how enticing, he decided, would be worth that.
If he were to be really truthful, he looked forward to this part of the day more than any other precisely because they got to be like this, together and peaceful, in a space where words were unnecessary, unable to express as eloquently what their touches, their embraces, their just being with each other did.
He pondered once again how someone so seemingly ordinary could at the same time be so extraordinary. Every day she gave him cause to marvel, whether it was her bravery, her insight, her determination, or her honesty.
Most of all, though, it was her compassion and love, more than he had ever seen in a companion before, that caused to catch his breath and shake his head in almost starry-eyed wonderment that such brilliance existed and, what was more, chose to spend its existence with him.
It both heartened chastened him, making him want to be better.
It had also awakened in him a deep desire to be the focus of her love and his hearts did a little soar inside him then because he was growing increasingly aware that, indeed, he was becoming that.
For a nearly millennium-old being, he had been shown so little real, unconditional love, but it wasn’t until Donna that he actually realized how little, and that this was he’d been missing almost his entire life.
Now that he had such free, generous, daily access to it - albeit often delivered via Donna’s characteristically veiled, backhanded compliments - he never wanted to be without it again. He never wanted to be without her ever again.
The kind of life he led, that he had been thrust into by cruel and tragic circumstance so long ago, saw him constantly running, sometimes hiding, often escaping with his own life and that of this companions barely intact. It was a life relentless in its impossible, ghastly choices and its tenuous, more often completely absent, hold on safety, a luxury he never had, and never really could be, afforded.
Into all of that Donna had chosen to come, feet first, guns blazing, never holding back, willingly accepting-nay embracing-what it was to travel with him, to be him, experiencing all the pain and heartache that entailed. Through it all, she was steadfast at his side, had his back, and was unfailing upfront in courage. He realised anew that she was the first companion he could truly say was his equal.
While the reality of who he was meant that, regardless of Donna’s brilliant presence, he would never know comforting predictability, stability or regularity, what he could say with certainty was that in her he had found something perhaps even more important than all of these things.
A sanctuary.
A place where he knew he would always have rest and peace and complete understanding. Forgiveness. A place where he could finally stop running, even from himself.
This was true bliss. Ecstasy.
Heaven.
As he turned in her lap, he reached up his hand, knowing that it would find hers. When he felt her catch his grip and gave it a squeeze, he didn’t open his eyes.
Instead, he let the reassurance and sheer happiness he felt in her loving gesture wash over him, making his eyelashes flutter momentarily and his mouth turn up in gentle smile whose warmth infused his entire body.
As long as she was with him, and he with her, his hearts would be safe, she would prevent anyone from hurting him. She, in fact, was the only one who held such and incredible power as that over him, and he felt perfectly at ease with it, for he knew that she would never abuse that power.
Because she loved him, truly and deeply and forever. She’d promised him. And in all the time he’d known Donna Noble, he’d never seen her break a promise.
Just because she hadn’t said the actual words yet, didn’t make the promise any less real or powerful or eternal. The words would come at the right time, from both of them.
They would come from their safe place together, created by the sharing of minds, hearts and souls.
He could sense that the wait was almost over.
Characters/pairing: Tenth Doctor and Donna
Genre: Romance
Rating: G
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, but they are each others in my dreams
Summary: The Doctor has found what he never knew he was looking for.
Author's note: Companion piece to Soulmate.
Sanctuary
Though he was the greatest explorer in all of time, having travelled farther, deeper, more perilously than any other, he could never be sure how much was still out there that he didn’t know about, hadn’t seen and so couldn’t exclude from the realms of possible existence.
He was thus unable to say one way or another if there really was a heaven out there somewhere, a place where there was no suffering, no fear, no war, no death, only peace and wholeness and light.
A huge part of him wished that there was indeed such an incredible, unfathomably amazing place like that he had heard so many humans, companion or not, talk about from time to time, with wondrous expression and glowing face tilting up reflexively, unconsciously to the sky.
But if there is a heaven, he thought to himself as he hovered in the stillness between consciousness and slumber, then I desperately want it to be like this.
Such deep sentiment seemed, on the surface incongruous with the rather pedestrian, everyday situation he currently found himself, which was simply lying on the couch, his head resting on Donna’s lap, as the two of them watched a movie.
Or rather they had been watching a movie. The visual entertainment had actually finished some time ago. But the last thing he wanted to do was to shift from his very comfortable position, so he closed his eyes as if sleeping and let his other senses take over and revel in his surroundings instead - ears delighting in the sound of Donna’s heartbeat, strong and steady in time with her calm, gentle breaths in and out, her incredible scent, warm freshly-bathed body layered with the jasmine fragrance of the cream she always used…along with something else, ever-so-faint but distinctly detectable, intoxicating to his highly sensitive sense of smell. And the feel of her skin, soft and smooth, against his own…all he could think was that heaven would definitely be like this if he was in charge.
As for the remaining sense, he was practically dying to dart his tongue out and give that inviting creamy skin on her inner thigh a little lick, but reckoned that it may well startle her right out of being his personal pillow and space heater, not to mention lose him the extraordinarily soothing effect of her delicate fingers smoothing over his hair, his face, his arms. No taste, no matter how enticing, he decided, would be worth that.
If he were to be really truthful, he looked forward to this part of the day more than any other precisely because they got to be like this, together and peaceful, in a space where words were unnecessary, unable to express as eloquently what their touches, their embraces, their just being with each other did.
He pondered once again how someone so seemingly ordinary could at the same time be so extraordinary. Every day she gave him cause to marvel, whether it was her bravery, her insight, her determination, or her honesty.
Most of all, though, it was her compassion and love, more than he had ever seen in a companion before, that caused to catch his breath and shake his head in almost starry-eyed wonderment that such brilliance existed and, what was more, chose to spend its existence with him.
It both heartened chastened him, making him want to be better.
It had also awakened in him a deep desire to be the focus of her love and his hearts did a little soar inside him then because he was growing increasingly aware that, indeed, he was becoming that.
For a nearly millennium-old being, he had been shown so little real, unconditional love, but it wasn’t until Donna that he actually realized how little, and that this was he’d been missing almost his entire life.
Now that he had such free, generous, daily access to it - albeit often delivered via Donna’s characteristically veiled, backhanded compliments - he never wanted to be without it again. He never wanted to be without her ever again.
The kind of life he led, that he had been thrust into by cruel and tragic circumstance so long ago, saw him constantly running, sometimes hiding, often escaping with his own life and that of this companions barely intact. It was a life relentless in its impossible, ghastly choices and its tenuous, more often completely absent, hold on safety, a luxury he never had, and never really could be, afforded.
Into all of that Donna had chosen to come, feet first, guns blazing, never holding back, willingly accepting-nay embracing-what it was to travel with him, to be him, experiencing all the pain and heartache that entailed. Through it all, she was steadfast at his side, had his back, and was unfailing upfront in courage. He realised anew that she was the first companion he could truly say was his equal.
While the reality of who he was meant that, regardless of Donna’s brilliant presence, he would never know comforting predictability, stability or regularity, what he could say with certainty was that in her he had found something perhaps even more important than all of these things.
A sanctuary.
A place where he knew he would always have rest and peace and complete understanding. Forgiveness. A place where he could finally stop running, even from himself.
This was true bliss. Ecstasy.
Heaven.
As he turned in her lap, he reached up his hand, knowing that it would find hers. When he felt her catch his grip and gave it a squeeze, he didn’t open his eyes.
Instead, he let the reassurance and sheer happiness he felt in her loving gesture wash over him, making his eyelashes flutter momentarily and his mouth turn up in gentle smile whose warmth infused his entire body.
As long as she was with him, and he with her, his hearts would be safe, she would prevent anyone from hurting him. She, in fact, was the only one who held such and incredible power as that over him, and he felt perfectly at ease with it, for he knew that she would never abuse that power.
Because she loved him, truly and deeply and forever. She’d promised him. And in all the time he’d known Donna Noble, he’d never seen her break a promise.
Just because she hadn’t said the actual words yet, didn’t make the promise any less real or powerful or eternal. The words would come at the right time, from both of them.
They would come from their safe place together, created by the sharing of minds, hearts and souls.
He could sense that the wait was almost over.