Present Tense
Rating: R
Prompt: #011 - Yesterday
Claim: The Time War
Table: Here
Spoilers: Silence in the Library
Pairing: Romana III/River Song (Romana/Leela mentioned)
Summary: They should never have met.
They know each other for one day.
-
There are many humanoid races in the cosmos, but the handshake betrays the woman’s Terran origin. She smiles brightly as she introduces herself, though there is something speculative in her gaze as she studies Romana’s face. While her smile remains and her voice betrays nothing, Romana can tell that she isn’t trusted - still there is something warm and interested beneath the suspicion in the human’s eyes, a speculative expression of an entirely different kind. She isn’t trusted, and yet she meets this stranger’s approval. It’s an intriguing combination.
Her returning smile isn’t entirely false.
-
Romana explains why she is here. She isn’t believed, which annoys her. It’s a good story. She needed five minutes to make it up.
It should be her asking the questions, since it is the humans who have no business being in the centre of this distortion of time. But she’s alone, and pretending to be of their species, and there are rules that have to be followed. She’s learned them all when she travelled with the Doctor.
When she finishes her story and the woman snorts and laughs at her in a way that isn’t entirely hurtful, Romana remembers that he used to be so much better at handling humans than her.
To her surprise, the woman leading the group of humans doesn’t press the issue. She just keeps watching her, very closely.
-
Romana has read a lot of Earth literature. She knows all about flirting, so she recognizes the signs Professor Song gives away. Only after a while does it cross her mind that she might be expected to react in any way.
Before she can, the other woman laughs, in this way that involves throwing back the head and baring the throat.
“You remind me of someone I know,” she tells Romana. “You’re not a Time Lady by any chance?”
It is meant as a joke. Romana can tell this from the subtle nuances in the professor’s voice, the way she clearly expects her not to understand. Romana knows this, and knows she should act accordingly, yet all she can do is staring at the other woman until the human goes pale.
-
“The one I know is from your future.”
Romana shouldn’t be surprised, shouldn’t be shocked. She’s accustomed to time travel, and she’s human. He’s stormed through the lives of so many like her it’s almost inevitable for Romana to cross their paths eventually.
“I can’t tell you anything,” says River.
She’s accustomed to time travel and knows the rules.
“How do you know I’m from his past?”
When River looks at her, the playfulness is gone from her eyes.
“Believe me,” she says. “I know.”
-
River’s hair is much longer than it seemed when tied up. It falls on Romana’s face and neck when they kiss, until Romana turns her over with an inhuman strength her frame doesn’t give away.
River doesn’t mind. She reaches up to caress Romana’s face, before trailing her fingers down her neck to come to rest on her breasts. Romana shivers when expert fingers touch her nipples, followed shortly after by soft lips and teasing teeth. She wouldn’t have to feel it like this, but she wants to. The waves of the time distortion shift and waver around them and she feels like the future is about to crash down on her.
“Do you still see him?” she asks.
“Only when I call him.” River speaks against her breasts, warm breath against cool skin, and then the touch of a tongue.
-
River’s smile, compared to before, is shadowed. Romana doesn’t want to see it for it reminds her of all the things she can’t be told.
She doesn’t see it when her face is between River’s spread thighs, her tongue running over soft flesh and wetness of a taste that doesn’t remind her of Leela at all.
Everything else, however, is the same, as Romana is told by the hand tightening in her hair.
“You know what you are doing,” River observes, her voice shaking with arousal, and slightly amused. “I’m surprised. I thought your people were pretty clueless.”
“He gives that impression,” Romana agrees. “I’ve come to appreciate it. Don’t tell him.”
River laughs softly and promises, “It’ll be our secret.”
Saying nothing, Romana wonders what secrets they are keeping from her, this woman and the future of a man they both love in very different ways.
-
Later they are lying still on River’s narrow bed, and the human’s head is resting on Romana’s chest, Romana’s hand in her curly hair. She is still, as if asleep, but Romana knows she’s listening to her doubled heartbeat while the sweat cools on their bodies.
“We should never have met,” she tells the twilight, and River sighs against her naked breasts.
“No,” she agrees. “We shouldn’t have.”
-
They know each other for one day, dawn to dawn. When the night is over Romana leaves, because River is only human and she doesn’t trust her not to break the rules and tell her if she asked. Having seen the shadow in her eyes, Romana doesn’t know if she trusts herself not to demand an answer.
She doesn’t ask River, as she goes, to give him her love when she next sees him.
River doesn’t offer.
March 29, 2009
Prompt: #011 - Yesterday
Claim: The Time War
Table: Here
Spoilers: Silence in the Library
Pairing: Romana III/River Song (Romana/Leela mentioned)
Summary: They should never have met.
They know each other for one day.
-
There are many humanoid races in the cosmos, but the handshake betrays the woman’s Terran origin. She smiles brightly as she introduces herself, though there is something speculative in her gaze as she studies Romana’s face. While her smile remains and her voice betrays nothing, Romana can tell that she isn’t trusted - still there is something warm and interested beneath the suspicion in the human’s eyes, a speculative expression of an entirely different kind. She isn’t trusted, and yet she meets this stranger’s approval. It’s an intriguing combination.
Her returning smile isn’t entirely false.
-
Romana explains why she is here. She isn’t believed, which annoys her. It’s a good story. She needed five minutes to make it up.
It should be her asking the questions, since it is the humans who have no business being in the centre of this distortion of time. But she’s alone, and pretending to be of their species, and there are rules that have to be followed. She’s learned them all when she travelled with the Doctor.
When she finishes her story and the woman snorts and laughs at her in a way that isn’t entirely hurtful, Romana remembers that he used to be so much better at handling humans than her.
To her surprise, the woman leading the group of humans doesn’t press the issue. She just keeps watching her, very closely.
-
Romana has read a lot of Earth literature. She knows all about flirting, so she recognizes the signs Professor Song gives away. Only after a while does it cross her mind that she might be expected to react in any way.
Before she can, the other woman laughs, in this way that involves throwing back the head and baring the throat.
“You remind me of someone I know,” she tells Romana. “You’re not a Time Lady by any chance?”
It is meant as a joke. Romana can tell this from the subtle nuances in the professor’s voice, the way she clearly expects her not to understand. Romana knows this, and knows she should act accordingly, yet all she can do is staring at the other woman until the human goes pale.
-
“The one I know is from your future.”
Romana shouldn’t be surprised, shouldn’t be shocked. She’s accustomed to time travel, and she’s human. He’s stormed through the lives of so many like her it’s almost inevitable for Romana to cross their paths eventually.
“I can’t tell you anything,” says River.
She’s accustomed to time travel and knows the rules.
“How do you know I’m from his past?”
When River looks at her, the playfulness is gone from her eyes.
“Believe me,” she says. “I know.”
-
River’s hair is much longer than it seemed when tied up. It falls on Romana’s face and neck when they kiss, until Romana turns her over with an inhuman strength her frame doesn’t give away.
River doesn’t mind. She reaches up to caress Romana’s face, before trailing her fingers down her neck to come to rest on her breasts. Romana shivers when expert fingers touch her nipples, followed shortly after by soft lips and teasing teeth. She wouldn’t have to feel it like this, but she wants to. The waves of the time distortion shift and waver around them and she feels like the future is about to crash down on her.
“Do you still see him?” she asks.
“Only when I call him.” River speaks against her breasts, warm breath against cool skin, and then the touch of a tongue.
-
River’s smile, compared to before, is shadowed. Romana doesn’t want to see it for it reminds her of all the things she can’t be told.
She doesn’t see it when her face is between River’s spread thighs, her tongue running over soft flesh and wetness of a taste that doesn’t remind her of Leela at all.
Everything else, however, is the same, as Romana is told by the hand tightening in her hair.
“You know what you are doing,” River observes, her voice shaking with arousal, and slightly amused. “I’m surprised. I thought your people were pretty clueless.”
“He gives that impression,” Romana agrees. “I’ve come to appreciate it. Don’t tell him.”
River laughs softly and promises, “It’ll be our secret.”
Saying nothing, Romana wonders what secrets they are keeping from her, this woman and the future of a man they both love in very different ways.
-
Later they are lying still on River’s narrow bed, and the human’s head is resting on Romana’s chest, Romana’s hand in her curly hair. She is still, as if asleep, but Romana knows she’s listening to her doubled heartbeat while the sweat cools on their bodies.
“We should never have met,” she tells the twilight, and River sighs against her naked breasts.
“No,” she agrees. “We shouldn’t have.”
-
They know each other for one day, dawn to dawn. When the night is over Romana leaves, because River is only human and she doesn’t trust her not to break the rules and tell her if she asked. Having seen the shadow in her eyes, Romana doesn’t know if she trusts herself not to demand an answer.
She doesn’t ask River, as she goes, to give him her love when she next sees him.
River doesn’t offer.
March 29, 2009