The Belted Doctor, Chapter 8
Title: The Belted Doctor, Chapter 8
Author: tkel_paris , aka KendraC
Rating: High T, borderline M for (very) naughty humor, and some hints... Consider yourself warned.
Summary: A crack!fic inspired by a line from “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” and run for its life with. The Doctor is left with a very uncomfortable “protection” against unwanted advances. But will he find the one who is foretold to release him from his... prison?
Disclaimer: Mel Brooks owns “Men in Tights.” The BBC and others own “Doctor Who.” 'Nuff said.
Author's Note: There be Rose-bashing in this chapter. As well as some Doctor-bashing for being an idiot. Don't worry; he needs it.
P / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
CHAPTER EIGHT: COMPASSION AND OBSERVATION
Pretty much everyone who ever became a companion eventually did something - at least once - that made the Doctor very proud of them. They always seemed to grow as people.
Well, sometimes it wasn't grow as much as become more settled in their ways. Or their natural instincts intensified - which might explain Rose's actions.
But he had never felt proud for a companion until Donna Noble amazed him - yet again - on the Ood planet. Who else would have been able to look past appearances and see a person in a dying Ood? Certainly not Rose. Martha, maybe, but only once her instincts from medical training kicked in.
And no human companion would've had the strength or the compassion to want to hear the Song of Captivity. Even as his fears that it would push her so far that she would want to go home intensified, Donna awed him by holding out longer than he thought possible - and ending the adventure still wanting to travel with him.
Maybe it was because they'd freed an entire race of beings. That kind of triumph was always a thrill, but he had never had a companion who stood by his side to that extent as they did. Or as enthused about the victory of freedom. She was even curious enough to want to hear the new Song - even if she was embarrassed about being hailed as a hero.
It was sad, he thought, how she just doesn't see how brilliant she is...
The whole thing about a song ending soon worried him. Which one of them were they talking about? He prayed it was his; he desperately wanted Donna to have a long life. He still had three regenerations left.
Back on the TARDIS, they were sitting in the kitchen again, drinking tea and pondering their shared triumph. It took a while before words could be found, and it was Donna - to his surprise - who found them first. “Did anyone else see the Ood?”
Oi, this brought back some problematic memories... “Rose did. Couldn't look past how alien they looked to her.”
Donna sniffed in disgust. “Earth-centric view. Must not have spent much time with them, or else her compassion had severe limits.”
He shrugged. Donna had called him on a form of racism today, and he wasn't about to revive that moment. “Of course, the whole seeing them become possessed threw us both. I was more concerned about the text being so old that TARDIS didn't know what it meant. And then the Ood being possessed by some being that called itself the Devil.”
The horror on Donna's face prompted him to describe that adventure, including what Rose had told him about her experiences. Donna wasn't sure how she felt about some of Rose's actions, but she was very concerned about the ill-fated Ood and shared the Doctor's sadness for each crewmember who perished.
Then Donna grew thoughtful. “Was Rose one of the companions who you think you didn't treat right because of your ignorance about expressing feelings?”
He groaned loudly and rubbed his face. He'd already given himself enough hell over it.
And Donna sensed it. And changed the subject a bit. “How did you meet her?”
A little more prodding, and he got into the details of that invasion. She prodded for further details not quite attached to the adventure itself: how did Mickey and Jackie react, what was Rose's behavior toward each of them like, and what brought her aboard? Once those were answered, Donna wanted to know how Rose left the Doctor's life.
Based on the drumming of her fingers, it was plain that Donna wasn't pleased with what she was hearing, and the Doctor knew a slap was coming. One he probably deserved.
At least she seemed to soften when he reiterated his relief that only Mickey saw the Belt, and his relief that Sarah Jane Smith confirmed his instincts about Rose's lack of qualifications to be that woman.
What he didn't realize was that Donna had decided that he needed some serious mental slaps regarding young women. But one detail needed clarifying: “How old was Rose when you two met?”
“Nineteen.”
She gave him her harshest glare. “No wonder Jackie Tyler slapped you. She had every right since your actions basically constituted cradle-robbing.”
He rubbed his face again, once again feeling the weight of his actions. But he couldn't take that comment lying down. “Does the fact that I was extremely lonely and she'd just saved my life negate any of that?”
She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Nope. She just ran off with some stranger, leaving her boyfriend and her mother without sparing a single thought for them, their feelings, or the consequences. She turned her back on the people who loved her for an adventure when she had every chance to make something of herself on Earth. Young and pretty goes a long way on my planet - sometimes leaving brains and maturity behind. Sounds to me like the quintessential self-absorbed teenager, and you let her think she was a grown woman. I don't like to wish people ill, but I'm not sure how much compassion she deserves.”
He sucked in a massive breath through his teeth at hearing his mistakes summed up in just a few sentences. Then a string a words exploded under his breath that Donna couldn't understand. There was something rather beautiful about the sounds, though, even with the rapid delivery. “Are you talking in Gallifreyan?”
“Yes,” he managed, in English.
“Why didn't your ship translate it?”
He rubbed the sides of his face vigorously. “Let's just say that the TARDIS isn't fond of those particular words...”
Donna's attention was captured away from his past for a moment. “Oh! I love a good curse word! Would you teach me?”
That drew his gaze up in a hurry. “Just the curses?”
“Hmm... No, I've always wanted to learn another language. Besides, you'd have someone who could speak to you in your mother tongue.”
Just when I think I've figured her out, she still has hidden depths. A big smile grew. “Well, it would be nice to teach someone again. And thank you for helping me see where I really went wrong.”
She shrugged with a smile. “Men always need those reminders.”
“Oi!” Why did even her insults seem to be growing on him?
The TARDIS rolled her mental eyes. I love him dearly, but he needs a few slaps upside the head...
Chapter 9: Doctor Jones' Observations