Title: Lending a hand (10/?)
Authors:
goldy_dollar and
hjea Keywords: Tenth Doctor and Rose, Firefly crew.
Disclaimer: We don’t own DW and/or Firefly. Please don’t sue. We are only poor university students.
Spoilers/Timeline: Doctor Who: Post-Fear Her, pre-AoG/Doomsday, Firefly: post-Serenity
Summary: Everyone’s got a plan. None of them go smooth.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3, 175
A/N: It’s been a while. Shameful! But we’re almost done. I think. :D
Also, if you like the idea of Firefly/Doctor Who crossovers, you should check out the Ten/Inara ficathon over at
sonic_tea. It’ll be the most fun you’ll have this summer, I’m very certain.
(
Chapter One)(
Chapter Two)(
Chapter Three)(
Chapter Four)(
Chapter Five)(
Chapter Six)(
Chapter Seven)(
Chapter Eight) (
Chapter Nine)
Chapter Ten
“It’s just… he’s an alien,” Rose said. “He doesn’t look like one, I know, but sometimes he can just be so… so…” She searched for the right word, and sat up straighter. “Alien!”
Rose paused to breathe, and Inara, to her credit, merely waited quietly, focusing on Rose like her every word was important.
With retrospect, Rose realized that maybe jail wasn’t the best place to discuss her relationship with the Doctor. But there really wasn’t much else to do until Zoe gave them the signal. And, anyway, Inara was a professional. Who knew when she’d get the same chance again?
“And he never… stops. Not ever. Not even to breathe. I see all these crazy things, and I’ve got to keep it all inside, ‘cause who am I gonna talk to about it? And then other times…” Rose trailed off. “Other times, I almost forget that he’s not human, you know? I don’t even remember my life before I met the Doctor. Don’t much want to, either.”
Inara nodded sympathetically. “Men have a habit of being quite similar, no matter the species.”
“But he’s not!” Rose said. Jayne glanced over at them hopefully, and she dropped her voice. “I used to think that sex was part of being in a relationship, yeah? And sometimes sex was nice, and other times it wasn’t so good, but it was something you were supposed to do. But with the Doctor, it’s like… like it doesn’t matter so much.”
“You love him regardless,” Inara said.
Rose looked up, ready to deny it, but then she sagged. What would be the point? After everything they’d gone through together, it would be silly to keep up the façade.
“Yeah.”
Inara smiled. “Sex is only a physical act,” she said. “For some, it can be a powerful symbol. A symbol of bonding; unity. And… it can be enjoyable. But it doesn’t create love.”
Rose brooded over that. Finally, she nodded. “But… I want to, I think. It’s about all that stuff you said, the bonding and the unity. It’s just… it’s all so human.”
“And the Doctor isn’t,” Inara said, understanding.
“I mean, I don’t even know if he…” Rose trailed off, blushing furiously. God, she didn’t even know how to say it. “I don’t know if he even can. I mean, what if it’s completely different?”
Inara surreptitiously placed a hand on Rose’s wrist. “Alien sex really isn’t my area of expertise, sweetie.”
Despite her anxiety, Rose laughed. “What do you think I should do?”
“I think…” Inara said. “I think you should talk to him about it.” Some of Rose’s abject horror must have shown on her face, because Inara tightened her grip on Rose’s hand. “If you trust him as much as you say you do, you have to be able to trust him with this, too.”
“I just…” Rose stuttered. “I don’t know how I’d even begin that discussion.”
A sudden image of the Doctor reading aloud from a biology book on mating rituals flashed through her mind and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to hold back a hysterical laugh.
Inara opened her mouth to respond, but stopped when Zoe stood up.
The signal.
***
Simon couldn’t honestly say he was surprised that Jayne seemed to be enjoying the plan a little too much, but the leer on the big merc’s face was just a tad too convincing as he backed Simon into the cell’s corner. Simon knew he shouldn’t complain; Zoe’s idea was a smart one given their circumstances - it’d had even been Simon himself who pointed out that he was the only logical choice to act as counterpart - and yet… he had a feeling he would need a lot of ice if they ever made it back to the ship.
Jayne cleared his throat before opening his mouth, “I think you an’ me have got us a few problems, boy,” he said, voice raised dramatically. “Think you might be askin’ for a beating.”
Simon’s heels hit the wall. “Oh…is that so?”
From the other side of the cell, Simon saw Inara roll her eyes slightly and mutter something that sounded like ‘nuanced.’
Jayne didn’t wait a moment longer and swung his fist around, just grazing Simon’s temple as he ducked out of the way. Not to miss a beat, Simon punched the larger man low in the gut, letting himself enjoy the moment a little too much as well, as Jayne doubled over and groaned.
“Thought you were gonna make this easy, Doc?” Jayne hissed, low enough so only Simon could hear.
Simon grunted as the other man’s fist finally connected with his cheek. “Oh, I intend to try and make you spend as much time in the infirmary as me,” he hissed back.
Rose, Inara and Kaylee were all beginning to call out, hopefully attracting the attention of the sheriff and his men, while Zoe seemed to have melted into the cell’s shadows. Simon was somewhat gratified to see that Kaylee did look genuinely distressed, as it was becoming clear that Jayne held the obvious advantage in a fight. Still, Simon had another very enjoyable moment, getting in a lucky stomp on Jayne’s bruised foot, before a solid punch knocked him to the floor.
“Hey, what in gorram tarnation is goin’ on in there!” Two guards finally ran around the corner and noticed the commotion.
“Please, they won’t stop!” Rose shrieked very shrilly and convincingly, as another of Jayne’s fists made Simon’s brain feel like it was reverberating against the inside of his skull.
“Aw, hell.” One of the guards swore, but the two grabbed their weapons and went to open the cell door. “Now break it up-”
***
It didn’t take long.
Jayne spit on the floor as the second guard dropped like a rock from Zoe’s arms.
“Should’a killed ‘em.”
Zoe fixed him with a hard stare. “Yes, like we need to be convicted of killing on top of this whole mess.”
Kaylee ran to prop Simon up in her arms as he groaned and rubbed at his jaw. “Baby, are you going to be okay? Where does it hurt?”
Inara brushed past them hurriedly, “Not the time, you two.”
Zoe nodded, “Agreed, let’s move out, people.”
They quickly filed out, following Zoe as she led them down the jail’s short hallway.
“The sheriff and the rest of his men must have gone.” Rose whispered to Inara, as they passed the empty table that seemed to serve as the jail’s office.
The companion nodded, “Yes, probably to contact the Alliance and set up a rendezvous spot to retrieve us from in a few hours.”
Jayne snorted from behind them as he brought up their rear. “Gone and left two dumb-ass kids behind to guard their special prisoners. Yokels - can’t believe they actually left that damn cell door open. How stupid do you have to be?”
Zoe opened the front door and they all rushed outside, squinting as the low afternoon sun hit them directly in the eyes.
“God, I can’t see a thing!” Simon raised his hand, vainly trying to block out the bright light. “Does anyone remember which direction the ship was in?”
“Don’t think that’s a top priority right now.” Zoe’s voice was low and even as she turned slowly around.
“Wha-what do you mean?” Rose asked, dreading what she would see as she turned to follow the other woman’s gaze.
Ten or more soldiers, wearing uniforms and carrying rather big and nasty looking weapons, were rounding the corner of the jail, followed close behind by the sheriff and his men.
Jayne muttered something viciously in Chinese before raising his hands above his head. Although Rose couldn’t understand it, she was fairly certain it was exactly what she was feeling as well.
***
“This is… not good,” Mal muttered, nearing the jail. His people were surrounded by Alliance officers-outgunned and outnumbered. “Ai ya, just once I’d like to be able to do this the easy way.”
“Well, who says we can’t?” the Doctor said. “If I just…”
The Doctor dug around in his pockets, and River studied the situation, cocking her head thoughtfully.
Reluctantly, Mal turned to look at her. “What are you thinking?”
“I can take them,” River said quietly. “All of them. I could kill them.”
It was damn near eerie the way she said the last bit, and Mal shared a tense look with the Doctor. The Doctor shrugged, and then continued rifling through his pockets, eyebrows furrowing in concentration.
“Don’t doubt it,” Mal finally said. “But it’s risky. Don’t want any of ours getting caught in the middle, dong ma?”
The Doctor gave a victorious “HA!” and held up a blank piece of paper. Mal stared at him dubiously.
“And… what’s that?” Mal said.
The Doctor gave a smug smile and then wandered away without answering.
Mal sighed. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
***
The Doctor strolled casually into the crowd of Alliance officers. Four of them were trying to put cuffs on Jayne, who barred his teeth and growled in a disturbing sort of way. The Doctor had to hand it to him-if he’d been anything other than a Time Lord, he probably would have been deterred by the growl.
Rose’s entire face lit up when she saw him, and he gave her a quick once-over. Two elbows, arms, legs, eyes… all good things. He resisted the urge to wink at her, reminding himself of the virtues of subtlety.
The Alliance officers were quick to respond to him. They shifted their attentions away from the prisoners, guns coming up to point between the Doctor’s eyes.
He really didn’t know why he kept inspiring that reaction in people.
“Hello!” he said cheerfully, holding out the psychic paper. “New orders from above. You know how it is. Alliance. Always scattered about, aren’t they?”
A big man with a bald head moved forward to examine the paper, sheriff badge attached to his chest.
“You’re the commander in charge of this sector?” he said, eyeing the Doctor.
“That’s right, big fella,” said the Doctor. “Oh, I’m a… loyal Alliance servant. Following in my dad’s footsteps. Good man. Taken before his time. Tragic loss-and my mother, she never recovered, gentle soul. And now, I’m all she has left in this world-”
“Commander Bond,” interrupted the Sheriff, looking up from the psychic paper.
“Does it say that?” the Doctor said. “Really?” Rose coughed into her hands and the Doctor continued. “Yep. Commander Bond. That’s me.”
The Alliance officers slowly lowered their weapons, but the sheriff still looked suspicious.
“Anyway,” said the Doctor. “Turns out, we’ve got the wrong people. Big mess. Very embarrassing. Blip in the system-probably be sorting this one out right up until U-Day. Point is-these people aren’t who we think they are.”
The Doctor was met with ten blank stares and so he gestured at the crew. “Well, let them go. You lot aren’t the brightest, are you?”
The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and waited. The crew of Serenity glanced at each other uncertainly, Kaylee and Simon clearly holding their breath. Rose was fighting to hold back a grin-quite unsuccessfully. He had to fight a powerful urge to close the distance between them and pull her into a happy-you’re-not-dead hug. No-mustn’t get distracted. There were important priorities to keep in mind.
First, get Rose out of Alliance custody. Then hug Rose. Then take Rose into the TARDIS and take her to a safe planet with bunny rabbits. Right. He just had to keep his head.
The officers reluctantly moved forward to un-cuff Jayne. The Doctor allowed himself a few moments to feel smug, but the sheriff pulled out a small visdcreen, and looked up at the Doctor with a sneer.
“This quadrant doesn’t have a Commander Bond,” he said. The officers paused mid-step, gazes swiveling to the Doctor.
“It doesn’t?” said the Doctor. “Well, that is… that is news to me.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” said the Sheriff. “Shoot him.”
The Alliance officers swung their guns around, and the Doctor held out his hands. “Whoa, hold on-there’s just-I’d like to point out-”
Someone’s gun clicked, and the Doctor swallowed before continuing.
“Honestly… there’s just… there’s one thing-and I think you should realize this before you try and shoot me-you might want to consider… it might be a wise idea to-duck!”
They didn’t duck. Instead, they got Mal and River’s fist in their face for their trouble. Well, couldn’t say he didn’t warn them.
That’s when the gunfight started.
The Doctor gave a pained sigh and followed his own advice. He ducked and landed hard, swallowing a mouthful of dirt.
He looked up to watch River dance into the middle of the Alliance pack. It was mesmerizing. No human should be able to do that. Whatever the Alliance had done to her, she was never going to make a full recovery, never.
“Doctor!”
Rose. Right. Priorities.
He crawled forward, coughing up dust from the desert floor. He scrambled around in his pockets, searching for the sonic screwdriver.
“Aha,” he said, ducking down again as a bullet flew overhead.
He reached the crew. They were crouched down to the ground, bound hands held out in front of their heads.
“I’m coming, hold your horses,” the Doctor mumbled. “Hold out your hands, will you?”
He released Jayne and Zoe first, and they charged forward to join the fight without even bothering to grunt their thanks.
“They do this all the time,” Kaylee said in a tone that was probably supposed to be reassuring.
The Doctor forced a grim smile, and held the sonic up to her cuffs. They snapped off. He moved onto Simon and Inara. Finally, he made it to Rose.
She grinned and held out her hands. “You have Pierce Brosnan envy,” she crowed. “Time machine isn’t good enough for you, is it? Need to be a double-oh-seven, license to kill.”
“Come on, Rose,” he said. “Who do you think inspired the original novels?”
Her smile slipped. “You’re not serious,” she said. “Shut up. You’re joking.”
He raised his eyebrows in a mysterious kind of way. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Rose said, rubbing her wrists.
She moved forward to hug him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her down as another wave of bullets swept over their heads.
“What do we do?” Rose asked.
“Nothing,” said the Doctor. “Not our place. These are human beings, Rose. Besides-” the Doctor glanced at River, who was clearly winning. Most of the Alliance officers were either passed out on the ground or running away. “-I really don’t think they need us.”
“Except,” Rose said, familiar twinkling in her eyes. “There is that big nasty looking communicator device sitting over there. Be unfortunate for us if someone were to use that to call for back-up, don’t you think?”
Her gaze moved from his eyes to the sonic screwdriver.
“Well… I suppose I could…” he started. “Intervene-just this once, as it is a life or death situation.”
Rose nodded in a solemn kind of way.
The Doctor grinned. He squeezed her hand once and then released it. “Be right back.”
***
Simon slammed his fist into one of the last remaining officers, unable to contain his small thrill of pleasure. He resisted a smug “Ha! Take that!” if only because he was still a doctor, and such gloating would clearly be a violation of the solemnity of his profession.
Mal and Zoe were tying up the officers that were still conscious, the Doctor was busy dissembling the sheriff’s communicator, and Kaylee was fretting over River. All in all, Simon thought, as he stretched his back-things could have gone worse.
He’d barely finished the thought when one of the downed Alliance officers pushed himself to his knees, hand scrabbling for his gun.
“Look out!” Simon hollered, but it was too late. The officer fired.
Rose turned, and then rocked backwards in shock before dropping to the ground.
“ROSE!”
The Doctor’s feet scrambled to gain purchase on the loose dirt as he tried to reach her, but Inara was closer. She dropped to her knees beside the still girl and leaned over her face, cheek turned close to Rose’s mouth.
The Doctor ran the few extra steps. “Rose! Is she…?”
Inara turned bloodshot eyes to him. “She’s alive, breathing.”
Jayne quickly knocked the last soldier out with one solid punch and snatched the weapon out of his hands.
“Gorram sonofabitch,” he spat, “All his buddies either run off or unconscious and he takes a last pot shot at an unarmed girl.”
The Doctor whipped around, murderous gaze on the now unconscious soldier. Out of the corner of his eye, Simon saw Mal move forward, hand twitching over his gun-belt.
Inara grabbed the Doctor’s hand. “Don’t,” she said. “He didn’t mean to shoot her. It could have been any of us.”
“If she lives,” said the Doctor, tearing his gaze away from the soldier. “So can he.”
Inara gave a small nod, and Mal seemed to accept that because he relaxed and fell into place next to Zoe.
Simon finally reached Rose’s side, still limping gingerly from his own bruises. He glanced at the weapon balanced in Jayne’s arms. “That’s not like any blast weapon I’ve ever seen.”
Jayne shook his head and shrugged. “Me neither.”
Simon reached over and lifted the hem of Rose’s shirt up to reveal the bruise already spreading across her middle. Kaylee and Inara sucked in their breaths, wincing as Simon revealed angry purple and green marks up to the bottom of her ribcage.
The Doctor swore as well, waving his blinking instrument over Rose’s body with one of his hands, while the other was clutched tightly around hers. “Might just as well of arranged her insides. Is that what your Alliance is all about? Create cruel weapons to shoot at unarmed bystanders?”
“Apparently.” Simon’s eyes swept over the disheveled crew, barely glancing at River who was still breathing heavily from the fight, to land on Mal and Zoe who were hanging back out of the way.
“Captain, we need to get her to the infirmary as soon as possible.”
Mal nodded, “I’ll get the mule.”
“Jayne,” Simon looked back again at the merc. “Could you help lift her up?”
Without a word, the Doctor gathered Rose into his arms, ignoring Jayne as he walked towards the mule. Looking down, he noticed her eyelids fluttering, and with a whimper, she slowly opened one eye.
“Doctor?”
He smiled down at her, wide as possible. “Hello.”
She winced. “Ow.”
He laughed, more relieved than anything to hear her talking.
“Doctor?”
Gently as possible, he lifted her up into the mule, Mal and Zoe’s hands appearing on either side to help settle her in.
“Tell my Mum-“
“-Hush now,” he cut her off as he leapt deftly into the seat beside her. “You’re not going anywhere.”