Fic: Sontarans and Time Lords and Nitro oh my!
Title: Sontarans and Time Lords and Nitro oh my!
Author: timeywimeyball
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters/Pairing: Nine, Captain Jack, Ace, Rose, Ace/Rose
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: Up to 2005 series
Summary: Running around and blowing things up- surely that counts as courtship, right?
Disclaimer: Not mine, nope, nope.
A/N: Take one reading of The Ten Doctors, add a touch of a Battle Couple, and season with a lack of concern for canon. Simmer for two days. Serves four.
Though she hit the ground with a jarring thud, Rose managed not to utter any kind of yelp or cry of surprise as she hit the dirt, not did she say the first thing that came to mind to her…well, she was probably a ‘fellow traveller’ more than anything.
Instead she simply shot Ace a dirty look, who responded by silently grinning, and pointing to a bit of cover- a glorified pot hole, Rose thought sullenly- and started to crawl over to it.
Crawling fast, following behind Ace, Rose wasn’t too distracted and disgruntled not to glance around, keeping an eye out for what they were keeping themselves hidden from. It never mattered where they were headed- they always ended up in the middle of something insanely chaotic like this. Last time it had been a resort planet, which had turned into far too much running away from the horrible alien creatue, and not enough being pampered by the staff of the finest hotel in the entire Third Great and Bountiful Human Empire.
And now she was stuck in a hole in the ground as ugly looking aliens with uglier looking weapons stomped around the place, looking ready to shoot anything that so much as twitched- and Rose was fairly sure they had just done that to some woodland creature. The sort of one that would get a cutesy cartoon made about it back home.
Well, it wasn’t all bad, she thought as she hunkered down in her hole in the ground beside her fellow traveller. At least she wasn’t alone. At least she had Ace with her- and she seemed to know a thing or two about surviving this sort of thing, too.
“So, what are they then?” Rose asked, mildly proud of herself that she wasn’t panting with exhaustion after fleeing upon first sight of the strangely vicious aliens.
“Sontarans, I think.” Ace replied glibly.
“They easy, then?” Rose replied, keeping close to Ace and keeping her voice low.
“After you’ve survived Daleks…” Ace said with a slight shrug, turning her head slightly to face Rose. Rose couldn’t help but grin.
“Daleks? Try dealing with a time travelling con man.”
“You’ll have to tell me about that sometime.”
“Maybe after we’re safe and sound.”
“At some planet resort?”
“Without the psychic vampire this time.”
“Deal.” Ace said with a grin, grasping Rose’s hand. “Let’s get out of here then.”
With that, Ace took off, bolting out of the hole with Rose in tow, into the woods, towards the distant sight of lights in the half night that had been on them since they had arrived on this planet.
“You do know where you’re going, right?”
“Maybe.” Ace said with a laugh. “Isn’t that half the fun?”
Rose didn’t answer, but grinned at the back of Ace’s head, keeping her grip on Ace’s hand tight as they hurtled through the forest.
--
“Always with the running…” Rose murmured to herself, leaning against a tree- well, it was probably some weird alien thing that just looked like a tree, but call a duck a duck- half expecting to hear Ace come back with some retort.
She was vaguely disappointed when Ace kept on looking out of the tree line, and towards the settlement they’d been running to. It wasn’t like she was being ignored- she could see Ace’s lips quirk into a smile in the gloom- but it wasn’t like she being paid attention to.
Rose leant back on the tree, letting out a huff of vague annoyance. It wasn’t like anyone was near enough to hear them make quiet retorts like this, Rose thought, looking over at Ace to see if she’d noticed her huff of annoyance.
She hadn’t, and Rose resisted the urge to pout petulantly. She had a feeling that Ace would be put off by such a thing. Even if she was paying too much attention to the alien settlement to notice if she pouted at all.
But it was probably sensible of her, Rose tried to reason as she watched Ace being, well, herself. She knew what she was doing! Well, maybe not as much as the Doctor did, but then he was The Doctor, and he was more a force of nature that just happened to be sort of human shaped. But Ace, she was human. Like her.
She smiled at the thought. Ace knew how to be stealthy, knew when to dive for cover. She knew when to lie through her teeth and she knew when to just run. And she’d learnt it all the same way Rose knew that she could. Maybe she could even learn some of it from Ace. The thought gave her a warm feeling, like everything was looking up, like it was all going to get better.
No, that wasn’t quite right, Rose thought. That was more the feeling she got when the Doctor was about to solve some fiendish puzzle and save the day. No, this was…similar, but it wasn’t the same.
She shook her head slightly, trying to clear her thoughts away from this unfamiliar line of thought. They were in the middle of a warzone, or whatever it was called. She didn’t have time for self-reflection like this.
It was so much easier when they were just running through the forest.
“Hey, blondie.” Ace said, and Rose felt a vague pang of annoyance that she was still being called that, but she was far too pleased that Ace was finished doing whatever it was she had been doing.
“Yeah?” Rose said, hunkering down beside Ace.
“See that building there?” Ace said, pointing. Rose looked, and saw…whatever it was Ace was pointing out. She wasn’t sure what was so special about it.
“Yeah.”
“See all the antennae and stuff? The Sontarans are using to communicate while they’re down here.”
“You’ve, uh, seen them before?” Rose asked, feeling slightly out of her depth
“No, but I have heard about them. Besides, an antennae is an antennae, yeah?”
“Maybe.” Rose said petulantly, wishing she’d thought of that.
“Hey, cheer up.” Ace said, throwing her arm round Rose’s shoulder, who hiked in her breath at the unexpected gesture, hoping Ace didn’t take notice. “We’re going to mess up their plans and save the people living here.”
“Uh, how?” Rose asked, keeping her mind on the Sontarans and their quite intimidating armour and guns.
“Nitro-9, Rose.” Ace said with a grin, which Rose returned. “And lots of it.”
--
“I can’t believe the Doctor let you carry that stuff around.” Rose said, rubbing her ears as she looked around, taking in her surroundings. It was a basement. There were crates and boxes with stuff in them.
It was like any other basement in the history of the universe, Rose thought as she absently stood, still looking around for Ace, who had preceded her down into the basement.
“The Professor knows it’s useful, is why.” Ace said from somewhere amidst the boxes. “Got us outa trouble, didn’t it?”
“Yes, but you know he has a thing about, y’know. Violence.”
“Didn’t you say he once blew up a bunch of Autons?”
“…maybe.”
Ace laughed from somewhere amidst the boxes, and Rose was abruptly glad that that it was dark down here, so she couldn’t be seen flushing red in…well, it must have been anger, Rose thought. Maybe a bit of embarrassment, she thought awkwardly as she scuffed her shoe on the floor.
By the time Ace had returned with what seemed to be a pile of random items in her hands, Rose had got over her near petulant fit of embarrassment at being shown up by Ace.
“What you got there?” She asked, and Ace gave her an odd look.
“Just some supplies we’ll need.” Ace said, peering at her with that odd look still on her face. “You alright? Didn’t get caught in the blast, didya?” She asked, setting down the ‘supplies’ on one of the many boxes that littered the basement.
“No, I’m fine.” Rose said, instantly. “My ears are just ringing, is all.” She said, hoping that would make Ace stop looking at her with that odd expression.
“Really?” Ace asked, leaning to the side slightly as if to peer at Rose’s ear, only to find she had to brush her hair out of the way to be able to peer at it properly. “Don’t see any damage.”
“It’s dark.” Rose blurted out, feeling herself blushing something ferocious as she said it, and again thankful for the darkness.
“Well, I can’t feel any damage, then.” Ace said. “Maybe you’re just not used to Nitro-9 going off?”
“Maybe.” Rose said, Ace’s hand still lingering on the side of her face.
“Maybe.” Ace said, moving her hand fractionally, and Rose thought for a moment she was going to take it away and the moment would pass.
“Maybe you should check the other ear.” Rose blurted out, certain she must be showing up red even in this near lightless basement. “I mean, if you think you should.”
“Always a good idea, that.” Ace said amiably, reaching up to do the same check on her other ear. But she didn’t take her other hand away, Rose thought, closing her eyes even though it made no difference at all.
“Not hurt, am I?” Rose said in an undertone
“Not in the slightest.”
“Good…”
“Rose?”
“Yes?”
“Your hands are on my hips.” Ace said. Her tone was conversational, not reproving. Almost…
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
She could feel Ace smile as she said that, Rose realised. They were cheek to cheek here. And Ace’s arm was round her shoulders. And the other was round the small of her back.
Rose tried to shift her arms, but they banged against Ace’s arms uncomfortably. So she tried again, and this time Ace was moving her arms as well, letting Rose shift as well. Their lips met awkwardly, briefly.
Barely even counts, Rose thought as Ace tilted her head to meet Rose’s for a second time, at a better angle this time. One that could be kept for some time, Rose managed to think as she leaned into the kiss. They could keep on for some time at this angle, rea-
“Trg va urer, purpx vg bhg!”
The voices were muffled, from a distance, but the two of them still flew apart, heads whipping round to the trapdoor they’d entered from not minutes before. Heavy footfalls could be heard above them.
“I’ll check those supplies.” Ace said in a whisper, padding over silently to where she had left the purloined supplies.
Rose sank against a crate silently, closing her eyes and letting exhaustion and frustration at being stuck in this basement wash over her, letting the frustration keep her awake for a time, as Ace quietly rustled through her supplies.
But the exhaustion was too compelling, she’d been running and surviving without stop for too long, and she felt her eyes drooping closed and her head lolling and, despite her efforts to fight it, Rose could feel herself falling into sleep.
--
They were sheltering under the lee of a building that had once been some kind of local shop. They’d gone out after they’d both rested, looking to see what was going on in town around them.
They’d been keeping clear of the Sontarans naturally enough, and Rose had been steadfastly avoiding mentioning what had happened between her and Ace in the basement, and had been business like, and had kept on telling herself that the reason she was flustered was due to the running around and the aliens and the strange atmosphere, or any number of other things that it could have been.
But now they were away from the patrols and they were far from anyone else, and Ace was looking at her, and Rose was certain she felt her stomach flip, even though that was impossible, and the turn of phrase didn’t make any sense really, why did they come up with it, it was so silly really, and now Ace was looking pensive and she was going to say something and it couldn’t be good, not after what had happened.
“Rose. You going to relax about this, any?”
“Don’t see what’s the problem.” Rose said stubbornly, crossing her arms and looking away.
“What happened-”
“Wasn’t meant to!” Rose said, feeling herself flushing red as the words left her mouth, keeping her gaze away from Ace, but not before she saw the expression that crossed the other’s face.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t mean it, not with the way you-”
“You kissed me first!” Rose blurted, but Ace kept on going right over the top of her.
“And I can tell, I’m not stupid, you know, you don’t just-”
Rose could hear her getting close, keeping her voice to a harsh whisper rather than shouting out loud as she probably wanted to. She was so much better at this, Rose thought, gazing sullenly at the floor, seeing Ace’s scuffed shoes edge into view.
She heard Ace sigh, and thought Rose thought she heard her shifting her pose, could hear her taking several deep breaths.
“Are you scared?” Ace asked, her hand on Rose’s folded arms, and Rose could hear the tone of concern there, but she stubbornly refused to acknowledge it.
“No.”
“Not about the Sontarans, the situation. Me.”
Rose looked round, her shocked expression mirrored by the Ace’s honesty plain on her face.
“Of you? Why would?-”
“I’ve been doing this longer than you. I’m used to fighting, I’m used to running around and saving people.”
“That isn’t scary.”
“Really?” Ace asked, a touch of playfulness creeping into her voice again.
“Yeah. I kinda like it.” Rose said, her lips twitching slightly, and finding that she couldn’t meet Ace’s gaze, and instead tried to study the floor, but Ace was standing too close for her to look straight down and now her hand was-
Rose opened her mouth to protest, but Ace placed a finger of her free hand upon her lips.
“Shush. Don’t want them to hear us, do we?” She asked with a smile. Rose shook her head, biting her lip as Ace’s hand snaked up her back, across skin.
She found herself staggering backward, Ace keeping step, her lips and teeth on her neck, and Rose bit down a whimper as she did so, before she felt her back thump against the wall, felt Ace’s hand sliding aside, freeing itself from being pinned between her back and the wall.
“Inside. Quick.” Ace said, pushing Rose towards the door. She scrambled inside, finding a room with tables and what dimly looked like some kind of serving counter.
Rose felt the impact of the counter as she slammed into it moments later, wincing slightly.
“Sorry.” Ace murmured, one hand up Rose’s top, the other on her leg.
“Jus’ don’t do it again. Need to sit on my arse sometime.” Rose said with a giggle, her own hands busy trying to both be up Ace’s top and trying to divest her of it, leaning forward to catch Ace in a kiss.
“I’ll remember.” Ace replied, cut short by Rose, her hand now working on undoing the blonde’s trousers, having already given up trying to simply slip her hand past the waistband.
“Zbir gur cevfbaref! Jr arrq gurz nyvir, sbe cebprffvat! Sbe gur tybel bs bhe fcrpvrf!”
Both of them whirled round, wide eyed, thinking to see a Sontaran standing in the room with them, before the nature of the voice caught up with them. It was from outside, and electronically distorted.
Ace pulled Rose to the floor before she had a chance to get herself together, and so she spared the other woman a brief glare before start started awkwardly pulling her jeans back on.
“What the hell is that?” She asked.
“Dunno. Sounds like Sontarans. Maybe a lot of them outside?” Ace replied as she made her way to the window, already miraculously decently dressed.
“If it’s not one thing…” Rose muttered mutinously to herself, before making her own cautious way to the window.
“Not just Sontarans.” Rose breathed when she managed to take a look.
“Prisoners. Everyone who lived here?” Ace said, turning to Rose with a questioning look.
“Think the Doctor knows what they’re doing?”
“Probably. But we can’t just sit here and leave ‘em, can we?”
“Not when you put it like that.” Rose said with a grin.
“Got a plan, then?”
“Nitro-9?”
Ace beamed.
--
The pair of them trudged along the high street, past the mingling crowds of freed colonists- who were too busy checking on each other and their livelihoods to pay much attention to a couple of humans- and towards the familiar shape of the TARDIS.
Before they reached it, the door opened and a head popped out, who called out to them, “Thought I’d find you rascals down here. You manage to stay out of trouble?”
“Not really, Doctor” said Rose.
“Just blew up some Sontaran communications, Professor.” Ace added.
“Freed some hostages.”
“Saved the day.”
The Doctor seemed to consider their words and them for a few moments, before breaking out into a broad gin. “Fantastic!” He said, stepping back inside the TARDIS as he did so. “Glad to see you haven’t been distracted by each other.”
Rose shared a look with Ace, and stifled a laugh. And she didn’t correct the Doctor, either.
“Hey, what’s so funny? One of those Sontarans nearly got me, you know?” Added a fourth voice, emerging from one of the countless side corridors of the TARDIS and into the control room.
“Sorry Jack.” Rose said with a badly stifled grin. “I’m sure it was just terrible, you and the Doctor on your own, fighting the Sontarans.”
Jack beamed at the two of them, his eyes glinting. “Well, I can’t say it was all bad.”
“He come with an off switch?” Ace asked, with an unabashed grin.
“Oh, you want to push my buttons, eh?” Jack said with a raucous laugh, beaming at Ace. Calming down slightly, and looking between the two of them, he asked, “Or, have you two been pushing enough buttons today?”
“Oi! No pushing buttons!” The Doctor called from the other side of the control room. “You’ll damage something.”
Jack rolled his eyes, and grinned at Rose, who was fairly certain she was turning yet another interesting shade of red. “Say- we should go somewhere to unwind. Not some dirt colony. Like a hotel planet!” He said, his eyes lighting up at the last few words.
“Hey, Doctor- how about the hotels of the Omicron rings? Say, around the year four thousands, terran standard?”
“Didn’t they all get shut down due to rats?”
“Rats don’t sound so bad.” Rose optioned, as she circled the control room towards one of the corridors, Ace close behind.
“Not your ordinary earth rats, Rose- these are radiation accelerated trigger screamers. Like rats, only louder and bigger.”
“But that was years later- I’m talking about when these things were in their golden age, Doctor!” Jack argued, a slight note of longing in his voice.
The Doctor paused, seemed to consider the thought for a long time, before breaking out into a grin. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
Leaving Jack to wax lyrical about their destination and leaving the Doctor to put up with it, Rose quietly led Ace down one of the corridors, and into the rooms she had claimed as her own back when she had first started travelling with the Doctor.
“Still not used to the new layout.” Ace said with a laugh as Rose led her through the TARDIS.
“You get used to it.” Rose said, passing under an archway. “Anyway- with the way those two argue, we’ll have a while to ourselves.”
“No Sontarans searching houses to interrupt us?” Ace asked with a smile.
“No hostages that need rescuing, either.”
“Aces.”
--
In the end, they had twenty seven minutes and fourteen seconds before the TARDIS inevitable clanged to a halt, throwing everything around inside and sending everyone crashing to the floor.
“It’s always something…” They said together, before bursting out into hysterical laughter.
Author: timeywimeyball
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters/Pairing: Nine, Captain Jack, Ace, Rose, Ace/Rose
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: Up to 2005 series
Summary: Running around and blowing things up- surely that counts as courtship, right?
Disclaimer: Not mine, nope, nope.
A/N: Take one reading of The Ten Doctors, add a touch of a Battle Couple, and season with a lack of concern for canon. Simmer for two days. Serves four.
Though she hit the ground with a jarring thud, Rose managed not to utter any kind of yelp or cry of surprise as she hit the dirt, not did she say the first thing that came to mind to her…well, she was probably a ‘fellow traveller’ more than anything.
Instead she simply shot Ace a dirty look, who responded by silently grinning, and pointing to a bit of cover- a glorified pot hole, Rose thought sullenly- and started to crawl over to it.
Crawling fast, following behind Ace, Rose wasn’t too distracted and disgruntled not to glance around, keeping an eye out for what they were keeping themselves hidden from. It never mattered where they were headed- they always ended up in the middle of something insanely chaotic like this. Last time it had been a resort planet, which had turned into far too much running away from the horrible alien creatue, and not enough being pampered by the staff of the finest hotel in the entire Third Great and Bountiful Human Empire.
And now she was stuck in a hole in the ground as ugly looking aliens with uglier looking weapons stomped around the place, looking ready to shoot anything that so much as twitched- and Rose was fairly sure they had just done that to some woodland creature. The sort of one that would get a cutesy cartoon made about it back home.
Well, it wasn’t all bad, she thought as she hunkered down in her hole in the ground beside her fellow traveller. At least she wasn’t alone. At least she had Ace with her- and she seemed to know a thing or two about surviving this sort of thing, too.
“So, what are they then?” Rose asked, mildly proud of herself that she wasn’t panting with exhaustion after fleeing upon first sight of the strangely vicious aliens.
“Sontarans, I think.” Ace replied glibly.
“They easy, then?” Rose replied, keeping close to Ace and keeping her voice low.
“After you’ve survived Daleks…” Ace said with a slight shrug, turning her head slightly to face Rose. Rose couldn’t help but grin.
“Daleks? Try dealing with a time travelling con man.”
“You’ll have to tell me about that sometime.”
“Maybe after we’re safe and sound.”
“At some planet resort?”
“Without the psychic vampire this time.”
“Deal.” Ace said with a grin, grasping Rose’s hand. “Let’s get out of here then.”
With that, Ace took off, bolting out of the hole with Rose in tow, into the woods, towards the distant sight of lights in the half night that had been on them since they had arrived on this planet.
“You do know where you’re going, right?”
“Maybe.” Ace said with a laugh. “Isn’t that half the fun?”
Rose didn’t answer, but grinned at the back of Ace’s head, keeping her grip on Ace’s hand tight as they hurtled through the forest.
--
“Always with the running…” Rose murmured to herself, leaning against a tree- well, it was probably some weird alien thing that just looked like a tree, but call a duck a duck- half expecting to hear Ace come back with some retort.
She was vaguely disappointed when Ace kept on looking out of the tree line, and towards the settlement they’d been running to. It wasn’t like she was being ignored- she could see Ace’s lips quirk into a smile in the gloom- but it wasn’t like she being paid attention to.
Rose leant back on the tree, letting out a huff of vague annoyance. It wasn’t like anyone was near enough to hear them make quiet retorts like this, Rose thought, looking over at Ace to see if she’d noticed her huff of annoyance.
She hadn’t, and Rose resisted the urge to pout petulantly. She had a feeling that Ace would be put off by such a thing. Even if she was paying too much attention to the alien settlement to notice if she pouted at all.
But it was probably sensible of her, Rose tried to reason as she watched Ace being, well, herself. She knew what she was doing! Well, maybe not as much as the Doctor did, but then he was The Doctor, and he was more a force of nature that just happened to be sort of human shaped. But Ace, she was human. Like her.
She smiled at the thought. Ace knew how to be stealthy, knew when to dive for cover. She knew when to lie through her teeth and she knew when to just run. And she’d learnt it all the same way Rose knew that she could. Maybe she could even learn some of it from Ace. The thought gave her a warm feeling, like everything was looking up, like it was all going to get better.
No, that wasn’t quite right, Rose thought. That was more the feeling she got when the Doctor was about to solve some fiendish puzzle and save the day. No, this was…similar, but it wasn’t the same.
She shook her head slightly, trying to clear her thoughts away from this unfamiliar line of thought. They were in the middle of a warzone, or whatever it was called. She didn’t have time for self-reflection like this.
It was so much easier when they were just running through the forest.
“Hey, blondie.” Ace said, and Rose felt a vague pang of annoyance that she was still being called that, but she was far too pleased that Ace was finished doing whatever it was she had been doing.
“Yeah?” Rose said, hunkering down beside Ace.
“See that building there?” Ace said, pointing. Rose looked, and saw…whatever it was Ace was pointing out. She wasn’t sure what was so special about it.
“Yeah.”
“See all the antennae and stuff? The Sontarans are using to communicate while they’re down here.”
“You’ve, uh, seen them before?” Rose asked, feeling slightly out of her depth
“No, but I have heard about them. Besides, an antennae is an antennae, yeah?”
“Maybe.” Rose said petulantly, wishing she’d thought of that.
“Hey, cheer up.” Ace said, throwing her arm round Rose’s shoulder, who hiked in her breath at the unexpected gesture, hoping Ace didn’t take notice. “We’re going to mess up their plans and save the people living here.”
“Uh, how?” Rose asked, keeping her mind on the Sontarans and their quite intimidating armour and guns.
“Nitro-9, Rose.” Ace said with a grin, which Rose returned. “And lots of it.”
--
“I can’t believe the Doctor let you carry that stuff around.” Rose said, rubbing her ears as she looked around, taking in her surroundings. It was a basement. There were crates and boxes with stuff in them.
It was like any other basement in the history of the universe, Rose thought as she absently stood, still looking around for Ace, who had preceded her down into the basement.
“The Professor knows it’s useful, is why.” Ace said from somewhere amidst the boxes. “Got us outa trouble, didn’t it?”
“Yes, but you know he has a thing about, y’know. Violence.”
“Didn’t you say he once blew up a bunch of Autons?”
“…maybe.”
Ace laughed from somewhere amidst the boxes, and Rose was abruptly glad that that it was dark down here, so she couldn’t be seen flushing red in…well, it must have been anger, Rose thought. Maybe a bit of embarrassment, she thought awkwardly as she scuffed her shoe on the floor.
By the time Ace had returned with what seemed to be a pile of random items in her hands, Rose had got over her near petulant fit of embarrassment at being shown up by Ace.
“What you got there?” She asked, and Ace gave her an odd look.
“Just some supplies we’ll need.” Ace said, peering at her with that odd look still on her face. “You alright? Didn’t get caught in the blast, didya?” She asked, setting down the ‘supplies’ on one of the many boxes that littered the basement.
“No, I’m fine.” Rose said, instantly. “My ears are just ringing, is all.” She said, hoping that would make Ace stop looking at her with that odd expression.
“Really?” Ace asked, leaning to the side slightly as if to peer at Rose’s ear, only to find she had to brush her hair out of the way to be able to peer at it properly. “Don’t see any damage.”
“It’s dark.” Rose blurted out, feeling herself blushing something ferocious as she said it, and again thankful for the darkness.
“Well, I can’t feel any damage, then.” Ace said. “Maybe you’re just not used to Nitro-9 going off?”
“Maybe.” Rose said, Ace’s hand still lingering on the side of her face.
“Maybe.” Ace said, moving her hand fractionally, and Rose thought for a moment she was going to take it away and the moment would pass.
“Maybe you should check the other ear.” Rose blurted out, certain she must be showing up red even in this near lightless basement. “I mean, if you think you should.”
“Always a good idea, that.” Ace said amiably, reaching up to do the same check on her other ear. But she didn’t take her other hand away, Rose thought, closing her eyes even though it made no difference at all.
“Not hurt, am I?” Rose said in an undertone
“Not in the slightest.”
“Good…”
“Rose?”
“Yes?”
“Your hands are on my hips.” Ace said. Her tone was conversational, not reproving. Almost…
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
She could feel Ace smile as she said that, Rose realised. They were cheek to cheek here. And Ace’s arm was round her shoulders. And the other was round the small of her back.
Rose tried to shift her arms, but they banged against Ace’s arms uncomfortably. So she tried again, and this time Ace was moving her arms as well, letting Rose shift as well. Their lips met awkwardly, briefly.
Barely even counts, Rose thought as Ace tilted her head to meet Rose’s for a second time, at a better angle this time. One that could be kept for some time, Rose managed to think as she leaned into the kiss. They could keep on for some time at this angle, rea-
“Trg va urer, purpx vg bhg!”
The voices were muffled, from a distance, but the two of them still flew apart, heads whipping round to the trapdoor they’d entered from not minutes before. Heavy footfalls could be heard above them.
“I’ll check those supplies.” Ace said in a whisper, padding over silently to where she had left the purloined supplies.
Rose sank against a crate silently, closing her eyes and letting exhaustion and frustration at being stuck in this basement wash over her, letting the frustration keep her awake for a time, as Ace quietly rustled through her supplies.
But the exhaustion was too compelling, she’d been running and surviving without stop for too long, and she felt her eyes drooping closed and her head lolling and, despite her efforts to fight it, Rose could feel herself falling into sleep.
--
They were sheltering under the lee of a building that had once been some kind of local shop. They’d gone out after they’d both rested, looking to see what was going on in town around them.
They’d been keeping clear of the Sontarans naturally enough, and Rose had been steadfastly avoiding mentioning what had happened between her and Ace in the basement, and had been business like, and had kept on telling herself that the reason she was flustered was due to the running around and the aliens and the strange atmosphere, or any number of other things that it could have been.
But now they were away from the patrols and they were far from anyone else, and Ace was looking at her, and Rose was certain she felt her stomach flip, even though that was impossible, and the turn of phrase didn’t make any sense really, why did they come up with it, it was so silly really, and now Ace was looking pensive and she was going to say something and it couldn’t be good, not after what had happened.
“Rose. You going to relax about this, any?”
“Don’t see what’s the problem.” Rose said stubbornly, crossing her arms and looking away.
“What happened-”
“Wasn’t meant to!” Rose said, feeling herself flushing red as the words left her mouth, keeping her gaze away from Ace, but not before she saw the expression that crossed the other’s face.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t mean it, not with the way you-”
“You kissed me first!” Rose blurted, but Ace kept on going right over the top of her.
“And I can tell, I’m not stupid, you know, you don’t just-”
Rose could hear her getting close, keeping her voice to a harsh whisper rather than shouting out loud as she probably wanted to. She was so much better at this, Rose thought, gazing sullenly at the floor, seeing Ace’s scuffed shoes edge into view.
She heard Ace sigh, and thought Rose thought she heard her shifting her pose, could hear her taking several deep breaths.
“Are you scared?” Ace asked, her hand on Rose’s folded arms, and Rose could hear the tone of concern there, but she stubbornly refused to acknowledge it.
“No.”
“Not about the Sontarans, the situation. Me.”
Rose looked round, her shocked expression mirrored by the Ace’s honesty plain on her face.
“Of you? Why would?-”
“I’ve been doing this longer than you. I’m used to fighting, I’m used to running around and saving people.”
“That isn’t scary.”
“Really?” Ace asked, a touch of playfulness creeping into her voice again.
“Yeah. I kinda like it.” Rose said, her lips twitching slightly, and finding that she couldn’t meet Ace’s gaze, and instead tried to study the floor, but Ace was standing too close for her to look straight down and now her hand was-
Rose opened her mouth to protest, but Ace placed a finger of her free hand upon her lips.
“Shush. Don’t want them to hear us, do we?” She asked with a smile. Rose shook her head, biting her lip as Ace’s hand snaked up her back, across skin.
She found herself staggering backward, Ace keeping step, her lips and teeth on her neck, and Rose bit down a whimper as she did so, before she felt her back thump against the wall, felt Ace’s hand sliding aside, freeing itself from being pinned between her back and the wall.
“Inside. Quick.” Ace said, pushing Rose towards the door. She scrambled inside, finding a room with tables and what dimly looked like some kind of serving counter.
Rose felt the impact of the counter as she slammed into it moments later, wincing slightly.
“Sorry.” Ace murmured, one hand up Rose’s top, the other on her leg.
“Jus’ don’t do it again. Need to sit on my arse sometime.” Rose said with a giggle, her own hands busy trying to both be up Ace’s top and trying to divest her of it, leaning forward to catch Ace in a kiss.
“I’ll remember.” Ace replied, cut short by Rose, her hand now working on undoing the blonde’s trousers, having already given up trying to simply slip her hand past the waistband.
“Zbir gur cevfbaref! Jr arrq gurz nyvir, sbe cebprffvat! Sbe gur tybel bs bhe fcrpvrf!”
Both of them whirled round, wide eyed, thinking to see a Sontaran standing in the room with them, before the nature of the voice caught up with them. It was from outside, and electronically distorted.
Ace pulled Rose to the floor before she had a chance to get herself together, and so she spared the other woman a brief glare before start started awkwardly pulling her jeans back on.
“What the hell is that?” She asked.
“Dunno. Sounds like Sontarans. Maybe a lot of them outside?” Ace replied as she made her way to the window, already miraculously decently dressed.
“If it’s not one thing…” Rose muttered mutinously to herself, before making her own cautious way to the window.
“Not just Sontarans.” Rose breathed when she managed to take a look.
“Prisoners. Everyone who lived here?” Ace said, turning to Rose with a questioning look.
“Think the Doctor knows what they’re doing?”
“Probably. But we can’t just sit here and leave ‘em, can we?”
“Not when you put it like that.” Rose said with a grin.
“Got a plan, then?”
“Nitro-9?”
Ace beamed.
--
The pair of them trudged along the high street, past the mingling crowds of freed colonists- who were too busy checking on each other and their livelihoods to pay much attention to a couple of humans- and towards the familiar shape of the TARDIS.
Before they reached it, the door opened and a head popped out, who called out to them, “Thought I’d find you rascals down here. You manage to stay out of trouble?”
“Not really, Doctor” said Rose.
“Just blew up some Sontaran communications, Professor.” Ace added.
“Freed some hostages.”
“Saved the day.”
The Doctor seemed to consider their words and them for a few moments, before breaking out into a broad gin. “Fantastic!” He said, stepping back inside the TARDIS as he did so. “Glad to see you haven’t been distracted by each other.”
Rose shared a look with Ace, and stifled a laugh. And she didn’t correct the Doctor, either.
“Hey, what’s so funny? One of those Sontarans nearly got me, you know?” Added a fourth voice, emerging from one of the countless side corridors of the TARDIS and into the control room.
“Sorry Jack.” Rose said with a badly stifled grin. “I’m sure it was just terrible, you and the Doctor on your own, fighting the Sontarans.”
Jack beamed at the two of them, his eyes glinting. “Well, I can’t say it was all bad.”
“He come with an off switch?” Ace asked, with an unabashed grin.
“Oh, you want to push my buttons, eh?” Jack said with a raucous laugh, beaming at Ace. Calming down slightly, and looking between the two of them, he asked, “Or, have you two been pushing enough buttons today?”
“Oi! No pushing buttons!” The Doctor called from the other side of the control room. “You’ll damage something.”
Jack rolled his eyes, and grinned at Rose, who was fairly certain she was turning yet another interesting shade of red. “Say- we should go somewhere to unwind. Not some dirt colony. Like a hotel planet!” He said, his eyes lighting up at the last few words.
“Hey, Doctor- how about the hotels of the Omicron rings? Say, around the year four thousands, terran standard?”
“Didn’t they all get shut down due to rats?”
“Rats don’t sound so bad.” Rose optioned, as she circled the control room towards one of the corridors, Ace close behind.
“Not your ordinary earth rats, Rose- these are radiation accelerated trigger screamers. Like rats, only louder and bigger.”
“But that was years later- I’m talking about when these things were in their golden age, Doctor!” Jack argued, a slight note of longing in his voice.
The Doctor paused, seemed to consider the thought for a long time, before breaking out into a grin. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
Leaving Jack to wax lyrical about their destination and leaving the Doctor to put up with it, Rose quietly led Ace down one of the corridors, and into the rooms she had claimed as her own back when she had first started travelling with the Doctor.
“Still not used to the new layout.” Ace said with a laugh as Rose led her through the TARDIS.
“You get used to it.” Rose said, passing under an archway. “Anyway- with the way those two argue, we’ll have a while to ourselves.”
“No Sontarans searching houses to interrupt us?” Ace asked with a smile.
“No hostages that need rescuing, either.”
“Aces.”
--
In the end, they had twenty seven minutes and fourteen seconds before the TARDIS inevitable clanged to a halt, throwing everything around inside and sending everyone crashing to the floor.
“It’s always something…” They said together, before bursting out into hysterical laughter.