In Love and War, 13/16
Chapter 13
After a long day of moving through the tunnels, the E’Loda party was ready to rest. Rose and the Doctor had fallen in line behind Saor and Apael, and so sat with them around a makeshift camp to share a hearty dinner.
“Cor! My feet are sore!” Rose moaned. “Can I rethink that whole back to the TARDIS idea of yours?” she entreated the Doctor.
He frowned at a tin can Saor had passed over to him. “Afraid not, dear,” he replied. “We’re all in at this point. Ew, parsnips,” he commented as he opened the proffered can.
Apael broke a loaf of bread and passed it around to his companions. “I for one am happy you are all in, as you call it,” he said gravely. “This trek might have grown a little lonely otherwise.”
“Tate’s not speaking to you still?” Rose asked sympathetically.
Apael hung his head. “Yeah. I’ve really put my foot in it this time. I’ve never, never looked at another woman. I was just joking around about all that, and she came in at the absolute worst time. I was so surprised that it made me look even guiltier when I couldn’t answer her.”
Saor chewed thoughtfully on his bread for a moment. “She’ll get over it,” he said simply. “She always does. You give her that ring yet? Maybe that would help.”
“Oh right,” Apael groused. “This would be the perfect time for an engagement…smack in the middle of a dangerous embattled planet with little to no hope of seeing each tomorrow. That’s just brilliant.”
The Doctor choked on his bread and Rose tried to stifle her grin. She caught his eye and snorted giddily before rolling back with laughter. The Doctor frowned even deeper and tried to change the subject.
“So what can you tell me about the Council of Elders?” he asked the soldiers. “Is there a chance that what King Deuspael said could be true?”
“That they’re manipulating this battle for their own gain?” Saor proposed. “I don’t want to believe it, but ever since Rose mentioned the strange nature of our supply drops, it makes more and more sense. Why else would the Elders continually supply a war that is unwinnable for either side? It doesn’t make sense…and we’ve been so blind to the reality of what’s going on beyond the battlefield simply because we’ve been so completely entrenched within it. Thank the gods for you Ms. Tyler.”
Rose blushed. “Well, s’nothing!”
The Doctor looked over at her proudly. “You’re like the intergalactic Nancy Drew,” he whispered. Rose playfully swatted at his shoulder.
Apael allowed his melancholy to be replaced by a dawning comprehension. “There is something else, too,” he started. All eyes turned to him as he placed his empty plate on the cool ground. “We’d never really had any problems with the gmuz before this war began. In fact, I’d never seen one at all before that. Had any of you?”
Apael looked around the camp to a number of blank faces signaling the negative.
“I hadn’t thought about it before,” he continued, “but maybe there is a link between their strange appearance and the Council of Elders.”
“How so?” the Doctor pressed.
Apael shook his head. “Just…the gmuz population has grown along with the length of our war,” he said carefully. “Almost as if the hatred and the anger of our battles have attracted them…and bred them at the same time. For the longest time they lurked on the fringes of our camps and only attacked the weakest victims, but lately they have been growing bolder. I heard about the one that nearly got you and Ema.” He turned to look at Rose and she nodded.
“That was right along a central camp. The gmuz would have never dared to venture so far if they hadn’t been drawn in somehow,” Apael finished.
“You think the Elders sent them?” the Doctor asked, stroking his sideburns as he considered it. “But what would be in it for them?”
Saor took over as he contemplated the Doctor’s question. “Power,” he said simply. “Just what are those golden sacs on the gmuz for anyways? What if they’re some kind of power source?”
The Doctor nodded. “I’d need to find one and examine it to be sure,” he said.
“We’ll put up a guard,” Apael responded. “The first captured gmuz will be delivered right to you, Doctor.”
Rose wrinkled her nose. “Lucky you,” she breathed.
Saor yawned loudly and stood from the ground. “With those happy thoughts, I think I’m going to try to get some rest. You lot should as well. We have another long day of hiking ahead of us.”
He nodded his farewell before disappearing into the darkness.
Rose glanced around to find that several other members of the camp had made their way to makeshift tents set up around the perimeter. She stood up and reached a hand down to the Doctor.
“Are you ready for bed?” she asked. “I think you owe me a more cheerful bedtime story.”
“Absolutemente,” he answered, his grim face metamorphosizing into a lopsided grin.
He followed her to an empty tent and they collapsed onto a doublewide cot in the center.
“Lovely accommodations,” Rose laughed.
“Aren’t they just?” the Doctor asked hazily. He was staring down into her face with a far away look in his eyes. Rose smiled as his lips met hers, savoring the taste of him.
“What about my story?” she asked grumpily.
The Doctor clucked his tongue before turning his gaze down to the zip of her hoodie. He pulled it down as he began.
“Once there was a beautiful Gallifreyan maiden,” he said huskily. “Her hair was blonder than wheat grass on a summer’s day, and she passed her time on the high hills gathering bluebonnet star flowers for her grandfather.”
The Doctor tuned his attention to the individual buttons on Rose’s shirt before continuing. “One day she met a young goat-herd on the hills and knew almost immediately that she loved him endlessly. His eyes were like liquid dark chocolate, and he had ridiculously fabulous hair.”
Rose cracked up at his description. “I don’t think this story is legit.”
The Doctor glanced up at her as if deeply offended. “Of course it is!” he argued. “Everyone knew this tale on Gallifrey. It was a classic!”
Satisfied with her practiced expression of contrition, the Doctor let his fingers drift over Rose’s newly exposed skin.
“Anyways, the goat-herd and the young maiden shared their first sensuous kiss on the rolling plains of Switz- I mean, Mount Lung…and it was so passionate that they knew they wanted to be wed…but the intransigent grandfather refused the pairing, choosing instead to send Heidi, I mean…the young Gallifreyan maiden to care for her disabled friend, who had gorgeous, perfect breasts.” The Doctor’s hand closed over Rose’s bra as he spoke.
Rose sat up with a jolt. “Bollocks!” she cried. “Not only are you plagiarizing a beloved children’s story, but you’re tarting it up as well and just changing small details to make it sound like it’s about Gallifrey!”
“Not true at all!” the Doctor stated calmly as he pushed Rose back down to the cot. His fingers slipped lower until they cleverly undid the button of Rose’s jeans.
“The beautiful maiden missed her handsome goat-herd so much, that she did the only thing she could think to do,” he mused as his fingers slipped down the inside of Rose’s pants. She gasped as she felt the contact of his delicate forefinger with her clit. The Doctor groaned along with Rose as he picked up a steady rhythm between her legs.
“What did she do?” Rose gasped against his jaw.
The Doctor struggled to respond as he watched Rose’s response to his ministrations. “She…” he started.
“Yes?” Rose asked breathily as she twisted under his touch.
“She fantasized about him” the Doctor whispered naughtily. “About his hands on her body, about his wet tongue on her nipples.” The Doctor ducked his head down to illustrate his point more literally. Rose only lasted a few more moments before tightening around his fingers.
“Yes!” Rose cried as her orgasm crashed around her in powerful waves. She pushed herself up into the Doctor’s hand once more before collapsing. The sound of their breathing filled the tent for a few moments before Rose could speak again.
“That was a fantastic story,” she conceded.
The Doctor grinned smugly.
“Why don’t I tell you one?” she followed up.
The Doctor cocked an eyebrow.
***
Rose awoke in the Doctor’s naked arms, loving the feeling of his muscles draped over her body. She counted the sparse freckles that dissipated from his shoulders to his biceps like stars disappearing in the morning light, barely containing a contented sigh. He was so beautiful, especially when he was sleeping. Rose watched his dark eyelashes flutter against his pale skin before opening slowly to survey hers.
He spoke softly in Gallifreyan.
“Not fair,” Rose said with a smile. “You’re gonna have to teach me what you’re saying.”
The Doctor broke out into a wide grin. “You’d really like to learn?” he asked. His hearts did a cartwheel when she shook her head in agreement.
“Course!” she replied. “How else will I know you’re not just mumbling some nonsense or telling me off in your secret language?”
The Doctor snorted before stretching out to his full length beside her. He then rolled off the cot like a cat and slipped back into his suit. “Shall we?” he asked.
Rose sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. “I guess we’d better. I can hear the sound of the troops stirring already. What time is it?”
The Doctor looked down for a second before answering, as if sensing the universe. She loved it when he did that. “Eight o’clock in the morning by your standards," he replied. "We usually get up at nine. This must be torturous for you. My darling, is there anything I can do to ameliorate your suffering?”
Rose threw the cot’s pillow at his head but missed entirely. “Bugger,” she mumbled.
When Rose had finally dressed and eaten some breakfast, she fell in line behind the Doctor.
“Don’t you want to wait for everyone else?” she asked.
The Doctor just shook his head. “I’ve always preferred the avant-garde,” he replied. “And this way I don’t have to share you with all those hunky soldiers.”
Rose rolled her eyes but the Doctor raised an eyebrow. “I’m serious. I’ve seen them looking. As soon as my back is turned, I know one of them is going to abscond with you.”
Rose laughed heartily. “But they’re also a source of protection,” she reminded him. “Strength in numbers and all that.”
Rose ducked her head as they entered a narrowing passageway. “What if something bad happens and we need their help?”
The Doctor held out his hand to Rose as they stepped over a pile of slick rocks and walked into a larger chamber, illuminated by their torches.
The Doctor whistled and then smiled as the sound echoed back at him.
“Don’t worry about all that,” the Doctor replied. “One Time Lord is worth fifty E’Loda soldiers. Strength in number, if you like, if that number is one, and it’s made up of me.”
Rose shook her head, still considering other dangers. “But what about the gmuzzes all the men kept talking about? They’re getting bolder, and maybe two people won’t be enough to scare them off.”
Rose stepped in front of the Doctor and effectively stopped his forward momentum. “And in case I forgot to mention, they’re huge…bigger than a man by a long shot.”
Rose crossed her arms and waited for his excuse to that notion.
The Doctor simply sighed and shot her a cocky glance. “Gmuzzes of unusual size? I don't think they exist-“
The Doctor was cut off by a shadow passing over his body. Rose was pushed backwards and heard the Doctor shout at the same time.
“Doctor!” Rose cried out. She pointed her torch in the darkness, trying to locate him. She found him on the ground, struggling in the wicked grip of a huge gmuz. It’s snarling, vicious form nearly enveloped him entirely.
Rose screamed as the Doctor fought desperately to subdue the creature, but it was too strong. Rose could only watch in terror as the gmuz entangled its body around the Doctor and an eerie golden light began to emanate from its belly. The Doctor stopped struggling and stared helplessly into the glow, feeling all else disappear around him.
(Next Chapter)
After a long day of moving through the tunnels, the E’Loda party was ready to rest. Rose and the Doctor had fallen in line behind Saor and Apael, and so sat with them around a makeshift camp to share a hearty dinner.
“Cor! My feet are sore!” Rose moaned. “Can I rethink that whole back to the TARDIS idea of yours?” she entreated the Doctor.
He frowned at a tin can Saor had passed over to him. “Afraid not, dear,” he replied. “We’re all in at this point. Ew, parsnips,” he commented as he opened the proffered can.
Apael broke a loaf of bread and passed it around to his companions. “I for one am happy you are all in, as you call it,” he said gravely. “This trek might have grown a little lonely otherwise.”
“Tate’s not speaking to you still?” Rose asked sympathetically.
Apael hung his head. “Yeah. I’ve really put my foot in it this time. I’ve never, never looked at another woman. I was just joking around about all that, and she came in at the absolute worst time. I was so surprised that it made me look even guiltier when I couldn’t answer her.”
Saor chewed thoughtfully on his bread for a moment. “She’ll get over it,” he said simply. “She always does. You give her that ring yet? Maybe that would help.”
“Oh right,” Apael groused. “This would be the perfect time for an engagement…smack in the middle of a dangerous embattled planet with little to no hope of seeing each tomorrow. That’s just brilliant.”
The Doctor choked on his bread and Rose tried to stifle her grin. She caught his eye and snorted giddily before rolling back with laughter. The Doctor frowned even deeper and tried to change the subject.
“So what can you tell me about the Council of Elders?” he asked the soldiers. “Is there a chance that what King Deuspael said could be true?”
“That they’re manipulating this battle for their own gain?” Saor proposed. “I don’t want to believe it, but ever since Rose mentioned the strange nature of our supply drops, it makes more and more sense. Why else would the Elders continually supply a war that is unwinnable for either side? It doesn’t make sense…and we’ve been so blind to the reality of what’s going on beyond the battlefield simply because we’ve been so completely entrenched within it. Thank the gods for you Ms. Tyler.”
Rose blushed. “Well, s’nothing!”
The Doctor looked over at her proudly. “You’re like the intergalactic Nancy Drew,” he whispered. Rose playfully swatted at his shoulder.
Apael allowed his melancholy to be replaced by a dawning comprehension. “There is something else, too,” he started. All eyes turned to him as he placed his empty plate on the cool ground. “We’d never really had any problems with the gmuz before this war began. In fact, I’d never seen one at all before that. Had any of you?”
Apael looked around the camp to a number of blank faces signaling the negative.
“I hadn’t thought about it before,” he continued, “but maybe there is a link between their strange appearance and the Council of Elders.”
“How so?” the Doctor pressed.
Apael shook his head. “Just…the gmuz population has grown along with the length of our war,” he said carefully. “Almost as if the hatred and the anger of our battles have attracted them…and bred them at the same time. For the longest time they lurked on the fringes of our camps and only attacked the weakest victims, but lately they have been growing bolder. I heard about the one that nearly got you and Ema.” He turned to look at Rose and she nodded.
“That was right along a central camp. The gmuz would have never dared to venture so far if they hadn’t been drawn in somehow,” Apael finished.
“You think the Elders sent them?” the Doctor asked, stroking his sideburns as he considered it. “But what would be in it for them?”
Saor took over as he contemplated the Doctor’s question. “Power,” he said simply. “Just what are those golden sacs on the gmuz for anyways? What if they’re some kind of power source?”
The Doctor nodded. “I’d need to find one and examine it to be sure,” he said.
“We’ll put up a guard,” Apael responded. “The first captured gmuz will be delivered right to you, Doctor.”
Rose wrinkled her nose. “Lucky you,” she breathed.
Saor yawned loudly and stood from the ground. “With those happy thoughts, I think I’m going to try to get some rest. You lot should as well. We have another long day of hiking ahead of us.”
He nodded his farewell before disappearing into the darkness.
Rose glanced around to find that several other members of the camp had made their way to makeshift tents set up around the perimeter. She stood up and reached a hand down to the Doctor.
“Are you ready for bed?” she asked. “I think you owe me a more cheerful bedtime story.”
“Absolutemente,” he answered, his grim face metamorphosizing into a lopsided grin.
He followed her to an empty tent and they collapsed onto a doublewide cot in the center.
“Lovely accommodations,” Rose laughed.
“Aren’t they just?” the Doctor asked hazily. He was staring down into her face with a far away look in his eyes. Rose smiled as his lips met hers, savoring the taste of him.
“What about my story?” she asked grumpily.
The Doctor clucked his tongue before turning his gaze down to the zip of her hoodie. He pulled it down as he began.
“Once there was a beautiful Gallifreyan maiden,” he said huskily. “Her hair was blonder than wheat grass on a summer’s day, and she passed her time on the high hills gathering bluebonnet star flowers for her grandfather.”
The Doctor tuned his attention to the individual buttons on Rose’s shirt before continuing. “One day she met a young goat-herd on the hills and knew almost immediately that she loved him endlessly. His eyes were like liquid dark chocolate, and he had ridiculously fabulous hair.”
Rose cracked up at his description. “I don’t think this story is legit.”
The Doctor glanced up at her as if deeply offended. “Of course it is!” he argued. “Everyone knew this tale on Gallifrey. It was a classic!”
Satisfied with her practiced expression of contrition, the Doctor let his fingers drift over Rose’s newly exposed skin.
“Anyways, the goat-herd and the young maiden shared their first sensuous kiss on the rolling plains of Switz- I mean, Mount Lung…and it was so passionate that they knew they wanted to be wed…but the intransigent grandfather refused the pairing, choosing instead to send Heidi, I mean…the young Gallifreyan maiden to care for her disabled friend, who had gorgeous, perfect breasts.” The Doctor’s hand closed over Rose’s bra as he spoke.
Rose sat up with a jolt. “Bollocks!” she cried. “Not only are you plagiarizing a beloved children’s story, but you’re tarting it up as well and just changing small details to make it sound like it’s about Gallifrey!”
“Not true at all!” the Doctor stated calmly as he pushed Rose back down to the cot. His fingers slipped lower until they cleverly undid the button of Rose’s jeans.
“The beautiful maiden missed her handsome goat-herd so much, that she did the only thing she could think to do,” he mused as his fingers slipped down the inside of Rose’s pants. She gasped as she felt the contact of his delicate forefinger with her clit. The Doctor groaned along with Rose as he picked up a steady rhythm between her legs.
“What did she do?” Rose gasped against his jaw.
The Doctor struggled to respond as he watched Rose’s response to his ministrations. “She…” he started.
“Yes?” Rose asked breathily as she twisted under his touch.
“She fantasized about him” the Doctor whispered naughtily. “About his hands on her body, about his wet tongue on her nipples.” The Doctor ducked his head down to illustrate his point more literally. Rose only lasted a few more moments before tightening around his fingers.
“Yes!” Rose cried as her orgasm crashed around her in powerful waves. She pushed herself up into the Doctor’s hand once more before collapsing. The sound of their breathing filled the tent for a few moments before Rose could speak again.
“That was a fantastic story,” she conceded.
The Doctor grinned smugly.
“Why don’t I tell you one?” she followed up.
The Doctor cocked an eyebrow.
***
Rose awoke in the Doctor’s naked arms, loving the feeling of his muscles draped over her body. She counted the sparse freckles that dissipated from his shoulders to his biceps like stars disappearing in the morning light, barely containing a contented sigh. He was so beautiful, especially when he was sleeping. Rose watched his dark eyelashes flutter against his pale skin before opening slowly to survey hers.
He spoke softly in Gallifreyan.
“Not fair,” Rose said with a smile. “You’re gonna have to teach me what you’re saying.”
The Doctor broke out into a wide grin. “You’d really like to learn?” he asked. His hearts did a cartwheel when she shook her head in agreement.
“Course!” she replied. “How else will I know you’re not just mumbling some nonsense or telling me off in your secret language?”
The Doctor snorted before stretching out to his full length beside her. He then rolled off the cot like a cat and slipped back into his suit. “Shall we?” he asked.
Rose sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. “I guess we’d better. I can hear the sound of the troops stirring already. What time is it?”
The Doctor looked down for a second before answering, as if sensing the universe. She loved it when he did that. “Eight o’clock in the morning by your standards," he replied. "We usually get up at nine. This must be torturous for you. My darling, is there anything I can do to ameliorate your suffering?”
Rose threw the cot’s pillow at his head but missed entirely. “Bugger,” she mumbled.
When Rose had finally dressed and eaten some breakfast, she fell in line behind the Doctor.
“Don’t you want to wait for everyone else?” she asked.
The Doctor just shook his head. “I’ve always preferred the avant-garde,” he replied. “And this way I don’t have to share you with all those hunky soldiers.”
Rose rolled her eyes but the Doctor raised an eyebrow. “I’m serious. I’ve seen them looking. As soon as my back is turned, I know one of them is going to abscond with you.”
Rose laughed heartily. “But they’re also a source of protection,” she reminded him. “Strength in numbers and all that.”
Rose ducked her head as they entered a narrowing passageway. “What if something bad happens and we need their help?”
The Doctor held out his hand to Rose as they stepped over a pile of slick rocks and walked into a larger chamber, illuminated by their torches.
The Doctor whistled and then smiled as the sound echoed back at him.
“Don’t worry about all that,” the Doctor replied. “One Time Lord is worth fifty E’Loda soldiers. Strength in number, if you like, if that number is one, and it’s made up of me.”
Rose shook her head, still considering other dangers. “But what about the gmuzzes all the men kept talking about? They’re getting bolder, and maybe two people won’t be enough to scare them off.”
Rose stepped in front of the Doctor and effectively stopped his forward momentum. “And in case I forgot to mention, they’re huge…bigger than a man by a long shot.”
Rose crossed her arms and waited for his excuse to that notion.
The Doctor simply sighed and shot her a cocky glance. “Gmuzzes of unusual size? I don't think they exist-“
The Doctor was cut off by a shadow passing over his body. Rose was pushed backwards and heard the Doctor shout at the same time.
“Doctor!” Rose cried out. She pointed her torch in the darkness, trying to locate him. She found him on the ground, struggling in the wicked grip of a huge gmuz. It’s snarling, vicious form nearly enveloped him entirely.
Rose screamed as the Doctor fought desperately to subdue the creature, but it was too strong. Rose could only watch in terror as the gmuz entangled its body around the Doctor and an eerie golden light began to emanate from its belly. The Doctor stopped struggling and stared helplessly into the glow, feeling all else disappear around him.
(Next Chapter)