In Love and War, 1/16
Summary: When the Doctor accidentally brings Rose to a war-torn planet, he finds that there is more than one battle to be won.
Chapter One
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Rose cried gleefully, holding her stomach muscles as she convulsed with laughter.
The Doctor turned in a half circle and pushed his eyebrows up until they nearly met his hairline. “I would never kid about the Rainbow Mantises. They are a gentle and noble race, as any I’ve met before them. But yes, they do worship David Hasselhoff. You should see the likeness they carved out of living mountain! So impressive! So majestic!”
Rose snorted uncontrollably. “So the Hoff!” she retorted.
The Doctor put on his best scolding face. “Rose Tyler! I never knew you to be so…disrespectful of another culture! You're being prejudiced!”
Rose couldn’t contain herself anymore, let alone keep up her end of the argument. She collapsed on the floor and rolled shamelessly with mirth.
The Doctor waited until he had turned around primly with his nose in the air before sucking in his mouth, restraining himself from cutting up with her. He distracted himself by flipping switches and turning dials that he would never admit to Rose, were purely decorative.
Rose finally extracted herself from the floor and came to stand beside the Doctor as she wiped a tear from her eye.
“Where we off to then?” she asked, poking him in the ribs.
He gave her a pointed look and Rose rolled her eyes.
“I promise not to be irreverent. This time…” she added quietly while holding up her right hand. “Just give me some warning if you can, so I know to control myself.”
The Doctor smirked. “The day you control yourself is the day I stop…traveling with you,” he said, stumbling over his last words.
Rose quirked an eyebrow and stuck out her tongue.
“You’ll never stop traveling with me!” she responded brightly. “You and me, we’re something special, yeah? We’re forever.”
Rose froze as the import of her words struck her. Lately, she’d been spitting out all kinds of uncensored statements, each more revealing than the last. Why was that, exactly? Fortunately, the Doctor didn’t seem to catch on, and instead threw his arm over her shoulder.
“Prepare yourself for the ultimate respite!” he announced happily as his left hand punched in a series of coordinates. “I’m taking you to the premier tourist destination in the galaxy, the retreat from retreats: stunning Hallicor Falls. You’ll drift on a giant lotus flower down five miles of the calmest, greenest waterfalls you’ve ever seen. And as you ride down, a retinue of spa attendants will fulfill your every need and desire.”
Rose leaned into his arm. She was loving the sound of this place!
“Mmm!” she sighed dreamily.
“Not to mention gourmet food that will ravish your senses!” the Doctor continued as he drove the TARDIS toward their goal. His eyes widened as they landed. “And I haven’t told you the best part!” he said excitedly. “It rains flower petals every morning!”
“Ohhh!” Rose responded. “Sounds lovely!”
“Oh, it is!” the Doctor assured her. He steered her to the TARDIS door and the pair walked outside to bask in paradise.
Unfortunately, there was no such revelation. In its place was a burning, desolate planet, half visible through a wall of smoke emanating from the massive firefight being undertaken by its inhabitants.
The Doctor and Rose hit the ground as an explosion rocked the ground nearby. The impact was brief but potent. Rose felt her body go numb with shock. She shook her head, trying to banish the relentless ringing in her ears to no avail. She saw the Doctor was shouting something at her.
“What did you say?” she yelled over the din of gunshots.
The Doctor suddenly ducked his head as another shell fell dangerously close to them and rained down dirt and pebbles over their bodies. The Doctor shook out his hair and tried to clear the dust from his face with the back of his sleeve.
He started to pick Rose up and turn them back toward the TARDIS when a whistling sound signaled an immanent impact between them and their goal. The Doctor grabbed Rose by the waist and they dove into a cloud of smoke as the bomb made landfall right outside of the blue police box. When they turned back to survey the damage, the TARDIS was nowhere in sight.
Rose stared with her jaw open as the Doctor ran forward, hoping against hope that the TARDIS was just buried in the rubble. She sat back on a large rock and tried to wipe the stinging dust from her eyes.
It was then that a rough hand shot out from behind her and yanked her off the rock. She stared up at the figure of a terrifying alien mercenary. His face was wrapped in a silver cloth, but his eyes burned into hers, the color of amethyst. She tried to break away but his grip was like iron. The Doctor was still distracted by the missing TARDIS and over the sound of falling bombs, didn’t hear Rose screaming.
The Doctor whooped with joy when he finally uncovered a tiny corner of the police box from under a pile of debris. Now if only they had some tools to dig it out. He decided it may be better to wait for the battle to die down, however, as shells were still falling relentlessly. He turned around, preparing to inform Rose of their unfortunate extended stay on this abysmal planet, but she was nowhere to be seen. He anxiously searched the horizon, but thick clouds of smoke obscured his view. Surely, she hadn’t run off in the middle of this chaos?
He called her name as he searched through the charred rocks and overturned trees all around him. If anything had happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
“Rose!” he shouted, cupping his mouth with his hands. But she didn’t answer.
***
Rose was dumped unceremoniously on the ground by her captor. She gasped for breath, exhausted after struggling against him for the last quarter mile. He had taken her through the smoke-filled battleground to a hidden alcove that led deep into a milky garnet cave. A smell like amaretto was rich in the air. Rose was about to stand up and give this man a piece of her mind when she heard a strange scuttling sound echo through the cave. Her captor’s bright purple eyes betrayed his alarm at hearing it too.
He shoved her behind a half-circle of red boulders before covering her body with his own and stuffing part of his scarf into her mouth and clamping down his hand over her lips. Rose knew better than to fight back from the look in his eyes. He was terrified. Whatever was coming had to be worse than this brief discomfort.
Rose stared up at the ceiling as a man-sized, shadowy creature slunk among the stalactites. It moved like a snake, eliciting a deep shudder through her body. It seemed to strain against the air, trying to catch their scent in the darkness. As it rolled around on the ceiling, Rose saw something golden radiating in its belly. Finally, it passed over their location and moved on along the walls until it disappeared from sight.
Rose’s captor gave a heavy sigh as his body relaxed on top of her.
“Mmmph!” Rose commanded, trying to push him off.
“Oh!” the man said in surprise, as if he had forgotten he’d just been using her as a human mattress. He jumped up in a fluid motion and pulled Rose after him, pulling the scarf out of her mouth sheepishly.
“Please forgive me!” he whispered cautiously. “If the gmuz had sensed us it would have devoured us both!”
Rose had her hands on her hips and was preparing to give him the lecture of his life when he pulled off the scarf covering his face and shook it out on the ground, disseminating the dust from the battle. He ran a hand through his long blonde hair, gathered it into a ponytail, securing it in a band away from his face.
When he held out a hand and smiled at Rose, he took her breath away. He was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. His teeth were straight and white over his wide smile that pushed his dimples out adorably over his sculpted cheeks. A few strands of blonde hair fell forward over his thick, dark eyebrows that only served to accent his jewel-like eyes.
He laughed quietly. “Why are you staring at me?” he asked.
Rose shrugged one shoulder awkwardly while shaking her head. “Dunno,” she said stupidly. “Just never see anyone like you before, I guess.” She tried desperately to recover from the spell he was casting over her. She vaguely registered that his hand was still stretched out, so she shook it.
A spark of energy flew between them and forced Rose backward. She felt the sensation of her head filling up with emotions that were not her own. She tried to focus on the man in front of her, but the feelings were overpowering her mind. She felt that if she couldn’t dispel them, she might die.
“What is this?” she cried as she jumped back, trying not to panic as she held the sides of her head.
The stranger stepped forward and touched her face, stilling the storm of feelings and words within her.
“You are not an E’Loda,” he observed sorrowfully. “Now I owe you more apologies. I thought you were empathic like me.” He squinted his eyes in the dark, as if seeing her strange clothes for the first time. “Where did you come from?” he asked curiously.
“Where’d I come from?” Rose asked incredulously. “I hardly know myself. I was traveling with a friend of mine and we took a wrong turn. We landed here in the middle of that war out there and nearly got blown to pieces! Then our ship got buried by some huge explosion and before we could even blink, you came along and kidnapped me! And my friend’s still out there!”
Rose moved to run from the cave, but the stranger blocked her path.
“You cannot go out there!” he said authoritatively. “It’s too dangerous. If you’re friend is still alive, I can track him. But you must promise to stay here.”
Rose shifted uneasily. “Well, what if that thing comes back? And how do I know you won’t just leave me here? How can I trust you?”
The man considered all of this carefully before pointing to the rocks where they had hidden earlier. “Stay in that alcove until I return. The gmuz will not find you. As for trusting me, there is only one way.”
He stepped forward until Rose could feel the heat of his body. He took her hands, but thankfully the fiery shock from before didn’t repeat itself. Instead, she felt his sincerity moving through her like a wordless promise. She felt his complex emotions, both happy and sad, as if he were sharing everything he was with her. He leaned in, just centimeters away from her lips, his amethyst eyes burning into her own.
“Do you know I will return?” he asked.
Rose sighed. “Yes,” she said breathlessly, mesmerized by his gaze.
He closed the distance between them and sank his lips to hers, pumping her lower lip gently with his teeth before pulling away. He tasted faintly of cinnamon.
“Is that like an empathic bond?” she asked dazedly.
He smiled wickedly as he pulled his silver scarf back over his head and winked at her. “No, that was just for fun!” he said laughing as he tore out of the cave.
Rose tried to frown disapprovingly, but she couldn’t. Instead, she drew two fingers up to her lips and traced the afterthought of his kiss.
(Next Chapter)
Chapter One
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Rose cried gleefully, holding her stomach muscles as she convulsed with laughter.
The Doctor turned in a half circle and pushed his eyebrows up until they nearly met his hairline. “I would never kid about the Rainbow Mantises. They are a gentle and noble race, as any I’ve met before them. But yes, they do worship David Hasselhoff. You should see the likeness they carved out of living mountain! So impressive! So majestic!”
Rose snorted uncontrollably. “So the Hoff!” she retorted.
The Doctor put on his best scolding face. “Rose Tyler! I never knew you to be so…disrespectful of another culture! You're being prejudiced!”
Rose couldn’t contain herself anymore, let alone keep up her end of the argument. She collapsed on the floor and rolled shamelessly with mirth.
The Doctor waited until he had turned around primly with his nose in the air before sucking in his mouth, restraining himself from cutting up with her. He distracted himself by flipping switches and turning dials that he would never admit to Rose, were purely decorative.
Rose finally extracted herself from the floor and came to stand beside the Doctor as she wiped a tear from her eye.
“Where we off to then?” she asked, poking him in the ribs.
He gave her a pointed look and Rose rolled her eyes.
“I promise not to be irreverent. This time…” she added quietly while holding up her right hand. “Just give me some warning if you can, so I know to control myself.”
The Doctor smirked. “The day you control yourself is the day I stop…traveling with you,” he said, stumbling over his last words.
Rose quirked an eyebrow and stuck out her tongue.
“You’ll never stop traveling with me!” she responded brightly. “You and me, we’re something special, yeah? We’re forever.”
Rose froze as the import of her words struck her. Lately, she’d been spitting out all kinds of uncensored statements, each more revealing than the last. Why was that, exactly? Fortunately, the Doctor didn’t seem to catch on, and instead threw his arm over her shoulder.
“Prepare yourself for the ultimate respite!” he announced happily as his left hand punched in a series of coordinates. “I’m taking you to the premier tourist destination in the galaxy, the retreat from retreats: stunning Hallicor Falls. You’ll drift on a giant lotus flower down five miles of the calmest, greenest waterfalls you’ve ever seen. And as you ride down, a retinue of spa attendants will fulfill your every need and desire.”
Rose leaned into his arm. She was loving the sound of this place!
“Mmm!” she sighed dreamily.
“Not to mention gourmet food that will ravish your senses!” the Doctor continued as he drove the TARDIS toward their goal. His eyes widened as they landed. “And I haven’t told you the best part!” he said excitedly. “It rains flower petals every morning!”
“Ohhh!” Rose responded. “Sounds lovely!”
“Oh, it is!” the Doctor assured her. He steered her to the TARDIS door and the pair walked outside to bask in paradise.
Unfortunately, there was no such revelation. In its place was a burning, desolate planet, half visible through a wall of smoke emanating from the massive firefight being undertaken by its inhabitants.
The Doctor and Rose hit the ground as an explosion rocked the ground nearby. The impact was brief but potent. Rose felt her body go numb with shock. She shook her head, trying to banish the relentless ringing in her ears to no avail. She saw the Doctor was shouting something at her.
“What did you say?” she yelled over the din of gunshots.
The Doctor suddenly ducked his head as another shell fell dangerously close to them and rained down dirt and pebbles over their bodies. The Doctor shook out his hair and tried to clear the dust from his face with the back of his sleeve.
He started to pick Rose up and turn them back toward the TARDIS when a whistling sound signaled an immanent impact between them and their goal. The Doctor grabbed Rose by the waist and they dove into a cloud of smoke as the bomb made landfall right outside of the blue police box. When they turned back to survey the damage, the TARDIS was nowhere in sight.
Rose stared with her jaw open as the Doctor ran forward, hoping against hope that the TARDIS was just buried in the rubble. She sat back on a large rock and tried to wipe the stinging dust from her eyes.
It was then that a rough hand shot out from behind her and yanked her off the rock. She stared up at the figure of a terrifying alien mercenary. His face was wrapped in a silver cloth, but his eyes burned into hers, the color of amethyst. She tried to break away but his grip was like iron. The Doctor was still distracted by the missing TARDIS and over the sound of falling bombs, didn’t hear Rose screaming.
The Doctor whooped with joy when he finally uncovered a tiny corner of the police box from under a pile of debris. Now if only they had some tools to dig it out. He decided it may be better to wait for the battle to die down, however, as shells were still falling relentlessly. He turned around, preparing to inform Rose of their unfortunate extended stay on this abysmal planet, but she was nowhere to be seen. He anxiously searched the horizon, but thick clouds of smoke obscured his view. Surely, she hadn’t run off in the middle of this chaos?
He called her name as he searched through the charred rocks and overturned trees all around him. If anything had happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
“Rose!” he shouted, cupping his mouth with his hands. But she didn’t answer.
***
Rose was dumped unceremoniously on the ground by her captor. She gasped for breath, exhausted after struggling against him for the last quarter mile. He had taken her through the smoke-filled battleground to a hidden alcove that led deep into a milky garnet cave. A smell like amaretto was rich in the air. Rose was about to stand up and give this man a piece of her mind when she heard a strange scuttling sound echo through the cave. Her captor’s bright purple eyes betrayed his alarm at hearing it too.
He shoved her behind a half-circle of red boulders before covering her body with his own and stuffing part of his scarf into her mouth and clamping down his hand over her lips. Rose knew better than to fight back from the look in his eyes. He was terrified. Whatever was coming had to be worse than this brief discomfort.
Rose stared up at the ceiling as a man-sized, shadowy creature slunk among the stalactites. It moved like a snake, eliciting a deep shudder through her body. It seemed to strain against the air, trying to catch their scent in the darkness. As it rolled around on the ceiling, Rose saw something golden radiating in its belly. Finally, it passed over their location and moved on along the walls until it disappeared from sight.
Rose’s captor gave a heavy sigh as his body relaxed on top of her.
“Mmmph!” Rose commanded, trying to push him off.
“Oh!” the man said in surprise, as if he had forgotten he’d just been using her as a human mattress. He jumped up in a fluid motion and pulled Rose after him, pulling the scarf out of her mouth sheepishly.
“Please forgive me!” he whispered cautiously. “If the gmuz had sensed us it would have devoured us both!”
Rose had her hands on her hips and was preparing to give him the lecture of his life when he pulled off the scarf covering his face and shook it out on the ground, disseminating the dust from the battle. He ran a hand through his long blonde hair, gathered it into a ponytail, securing it in a band away from his face.
When he held out a hand and smiled at Rose, he took her breath away. He was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. His teeth were straight and white over his wide smile that pushed his dimples out adorably over his sculpted cheeks. A few strands of blonde hair fell forward over his thick, dark eyebrows that only served to accent his jewel-like eyes.
He laughed quietly. “Why are you staring at me?” he asked.
Rose shrugged one shoulder awkwardly while shaking her head. “Dunno,” she said stupidly. “Just never see anyone like you before, I guess.” She tried desperately to recover from the spell he was casting over her. She vaguely registered that his hand was still stretched out, so she shook it.
A spark of energy flew between them and forced Rose backward. She felt the sensation of her head filling up with emotions that were not her own. She tried to focus on the man in front of her, but the feelings were overpowering her mind. She felt that if she couldn’t dispel them, she might die.
“What is this?” she cried as she jumped back, trying not to panic as she held the sides of her head.
The stranger stepped forward and touched her face, stilling the storm of feelings and words within her.
“You are not an E’Loda,” he observed sorrowfully. “Now I owe you more apologies. I thought you were empathic like me.” He squinted his eyes in the dark, as if seeing her strange clothes for the first time. “Where did you come from?” he asked curiously.
“Where’d I come from?” Rose asked incredulously. “I hardly know myself. I was traveling with a friend of mine and we took a wrong turn. We landed here in the middle of that war out there and nearly got blown to pieces! Then our ship got buried by some huge explosion and before we could even blink, you came along and kidnapped me! And my friend’s still out there!”
Rose moved to run from the cave, but the stranger blocked her path.
“You cannot go out there!” he said authoritatively. “It’s too dangerous. If you’re friend is still alive, I can track him. But you must promise to stay here.”
Rose shifted uneasily. “Well, what if that thing comes back? And how do I know you won’t just leave me here? How can I trust you?”
The man considered all of this carefully before pointing to the rocks where they had hidden earlier. “Stay in that alcove until I return. The gmuz will not find you. As for trusting me, there is only one way.”
He stepped forward until Rose could feel the heat of his body. He took her hands, but thankfully the fiery shock from before didn’t repeat itself. Instead, she felt his sincerity moving through her like a wordless promise. She felt his complex emotions, both happy and sad, as if he were sharing everything he was with her. He leaned in, just centimeters away from her lips, his amethyst eyes burning into her own.
“Do you know I will return?” he asked.
Rose sighed. “Yes,” she said breathlessly, mesmerized by his gaze.
He closed the distance between them and sank his lips to hers, pumping her lower lip gently with his teeth before pulling away. He tasted faintly of cinnamon.
“Is that like an empathic bond?” she asked dazedly.
He smiled wickedly as he pulled his silver scarf back over his head and winked at her. “No, that was just for fun!” he said laughing as he tore out of the cave.
Rose tried to frown disapprovingly, but she couldn’t. Instead, she drew two fingers up to her lips and traced the afterthought of his kiss.
(Next Chapter)