Rare Ship Month: Leela/Romana II (1/3)
First, let me say I love many ships in Dr.Who, but Leela/Romana II is probably one of, if not my favorite.
Title: Once More An Adventure
Characters: Leela, Romana II
Length: Like the TARDIS, I'm not sure exactly how big it is
Rating: PG-13
Notes: It's a little OOC for both ladies, but then again, what isn't?
“Where are we?” Leela asks as they proceed through a maze of corridors.
“Still on Gallifrey,” Romana answers as she tries to navigate towards their final destination, “unfortunately.”
“You do not like it here?” Leela asks, surprised by Romana’s answer.
“No, I don’t,” answers Romana. “For me, though Gallifrey is home, it no longer feels like it. I need to escape, to get away from here and go somewhere else.”
“You mean just like the…” Leela puts forward before being cut off.
“Don’t!” Romana snaps. “Don’t mention his name. Please? Just don’t.”
“As you wish,” Leela answers as they exit from the maze of corridors and enter into a large, poorly kept storage area. “What is this place?”
“This?” Romana asks. “This is Level Twelve Maintenance and Storage.”
“Storage?” Leela asks. “Storage of what?”
“That!” Leela says as she points to a corner of the room where a light from the ceiling shines down onto a familiar blue box that is strangely out of place.
“The TARDIS!” Leela shouts. “But you said you wanted no reminders of him! You all but threatened death to anyone who did.”
“I know,” Romana says with a sigh. “But the adventures I had traveling in the TARDIS were some of the most exciting of my life.”
“I see,” Leela answers, her gaze falling downward with a heartbreaking look upon her face.
“Until I met you that is,” Romana says with that smile that Leela cannot help but adore. She brushes her lover’s cheek with her hand and leans in to plant a gentle kiss upon her lips. “Feeling better?”
“Yes,” Leela says as she brushes her body up against Romana and leans her head on the Time Lady’s shoulder. “But what are we doing here? And what will he do without his TARDIS?”
“What were doing here,” Romana says with a mischievous smile, “is going on a little adventure, just the two of us. And he won’t miss his TARDIS because this is not his to miss.”
“I do not understand” Leela murmurs, as she all but looses herself in her lover’s touch.
“I had Historical and Technical Services dress this TARDIS up to look like the one we both remember,” Romana says as she reaches for Leela’s hand and leads her forward into the chamber.
“So it looks like the TARDIS, but is a different one altogether,” Leela says, as she comprehends Romana’s words, an adventurous smile coming over her face.
“Quite,” Romana says, pleased with the reaction her surprised has produced in her lover.
Stepping inside their TARDIS brings a twinge of heartache to them both, for even though it looks almost exactly like the craft in which they had so many adventures, it isn’t quite the same and they both know it.
The interior is less cluttered, the controls are a bit more modern and the quality of the air is a bit crisper. All in all, it just doesn’t feel right. But still, both women realize, it is as close to home as they have felt in years.
“Well,” Romana says as she steps up to the control panel, “where should we go?”
Leela is hesitant and uncertain. She appears not to want to share what is on her mind.
“He wanted to take you someplace, didn’t he?” Romana asks in a soothing voice meant to reassure that she means no harm. “He wanted to take you somewhere and you don’t want to mention it because you think it will upset me.”
“Tahiti,” Leela mutters. “He mentioned a place called Tahiti where the sun always shines and it is surrounded on all sides by water.”
“I should have known,” Romana says with more then a hint of contempt in her voice.
“You hate me for suggesting it, don’t you?” Leela says, her apparent nervousness making her look like she is ready to bolt from the room.
“Hush,” Romana says, stepping over and brushing her lips across Leela’s. “Hush. I could never hate you. Never. But I’m not surprised he wanted to take you there.”
“You are not?” Leela asks with genuine surprise in her voice.
“How could you doubt me after all this time?” Romana asks. “How could you think that I could hate you? After all the things we have seen and heard? After everything we have been through? How could I possibly hate the one person in the universe that loves me with all her heart?”
“How did you?” Leela asks with surprise.
“Time Lord,” Romana says smugly. “We know these things.”
“Witchcraft!” Leela hisses.
“Only in bed and only if you behave,” Romana manages to say with a straight face and only the faintest hint of a blush. “Now, as for Tahiti, he wanted to take me there as well and probably for the same reason I suspect.”
“And what is that,” Leela asks as she puts her hands on Romana’s hips and pulls her close.
“Because all the women there walk around topless,” Romana says with a smirk as she kisses the tip of Leela’s nose and then gives her a wink.
This time its Leela’s turn to blush.
“You mean that he…” Leela begins.
“Is a right bloody pervert,” Romana finishes. “Quite.”
“So you do not wish to go,” Leela meekly asks, trying to discreetly return to the subject.
“Well, it’s not tops on my list, but we can go if you want,” Romana says with a sigh. “Though if you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask.”
-=-=-=-=-
Interlude #1 in which Leela and Romana do naughty, naughty things which you’ll just have to imagine because the author has absolutely no skill at either believably or creatively writing such things.
End Interlude #1
-=-=-=-=-
“Well,” Romana says as she refastens her bra and pulls on a rather bland white shirt over her head, “that was certainly relaxing.”
Leela smirks at this before leaning over to kiss Romana firmly on the lips.
“You were fabulous,” Leela purrs. “Do not let anyone tell you differently, or I shall be forced to kill them.”
“Jealous?” Romana teases.
“Only of those who would try to steal you from me,” Leela forcefully answers, not caring to know whether or not Romana is joking.
“In that case,” Romana solemnly replies, “let’s hope I never get stolen.”
“Precisely,” Leela says as she finally finishes reattaching her leather jerkin.
“Now, I believe we were going to go on a trip,” Romana says as she examines the control panel of the TARDIS, “and I don’t mean to the bedroom.”
Romana is interrupted as her body momentarily sags from the near crushing hug that Leela delivers to her from behind before settling in to rest her head on the Time Lady’s shoulder, her hands reaching around to grasp one another around Romana’s waste.
“As I was saying,” Romana continues, trying not to be distracted by her lover’s close proximity, “we were going to take a trip. Do you still wish to visit Tahiti?”
“I do not care where we go,” Leela murmurs into Romana’s shoulder, “so long as I am with you.”
Romana cannot help but smile. During the years she was a prisoner of the Daleks, she never dared dream she would actually escape, let alone find happiness and love. That that love should come in the form of another of the Doctor’s companions is a bittersweet price to pay, but one she is willing to make, for despite all the odds, she has in fact fallen deeply and completely in love with the savage Leela who, despite appearances, is not quite so savage as one might think.
“Have you decided?” Leela asks. “Have you decided where we shall go?”
“I know exactly where we’re going,” Romana smugly answers. “You’d prepare yourself. I suspect we won’t be receiving a warm welcome.”
“Why is that?” Leela asks as Romana feels the other woman tense against her back. “Are the people there unfriendly?”
“Only if you happen to be a Time Lord,” Romana says with disdain.
“Where are we going then,” Leela asks, “that the people are so unfriendly?”
“We’re going to Orthala Mox,” Romana says with a steel determination that Leela rarely hears in her voice.
“And why? My precious one, are we going there?” inquires Leela, sensing the danger in her lover’s voice, but not the reason.
“Because,” Romana explains, “Orthala Mox is home to one of the rarest minerals in all of time and space.”
“What is it? This mineral that we shall do battle for?” Leela asks as she gives Romana a hug.
“Vorlyxn,” Romana says as she adjusts a series of controls on the main console. “it’s so rare and so unique that not even Time Lords could find a way to create it on their own.”
“So why do the people there despise you so much?” Leela asks as she grudgingly separates herself from Romana and proceeds to a bag in the corner where she begins to sharpen a series of rather dangerous and uncomfortable looking knives.
“Well,” Romana says as she temporarily ceases setting coordinates into the TARDIS main control so she can look into space. “After the Time Lords discovered the unique properties of Vorlyxn, the planet became a battle ground for any race or species that developed time travel.”
“Why?” Leela asks as she begins the process of deciding which knives she will arm herself with. “What is so precious about this Vorlyxn that so many would go to war for it?”
“Well, it…” Romana begins to explain before catching herself. She hesitates and then forces herself to continue her work with the control panel. Soon, the TARDIS is in flight and Romana is silent, apparently distracted by distant, mysterious thoughts and memories.
“It is what?” Leela asks to no reply. Romana is seemingly lost to her for now and Leela is hesitant to bring her out of whatever trance she has entered into.
Suddenly, the TARDIS makes the familiar sound of arriving at its destination and this seems to bring Romana out of her trance.
“Well, we’ve arrived,” Romana says with a look of grim determination on her face. “Are you ready?”
Leela draws a knife in one hand and raises a Sontaran laser rifle in the other. “Let them come,” she snarls, not knowing at all what she is about to fight for, but trusting her lover not to risk their lives for nothing.
“Well then,” Romana says, “let’s go get ourselves some Vorlyxn.”
-=-=-=-=-
Interlude #2 in which Romana and Leela do battle with some very nasty, very ugly, very flatulent natives who are not intent on giving up their pretty pretty rocks to a pervy Time Lady and her leather clad girlfriend.
End Interlude #2
-=-=-=-=-
Reentering the TARDIS with their objective in hand, the grimy, muddy and sweat soaked adventurers leave the planet of Orthala Mox behind depart for places unknown.
After setting the TARDIS on automatic pilot, Romana wipes her brow clear of sweat and begins tinkering with a strange device that Leela has never seen before.
“What is that,” Leela cannot help but ask, totally distracted from the aches and pains of her body after the ordeal of recovering the Vorlyxn that her lover said they needed.
“This,” Romana says without looking up from the contraption she is tinkering with, “is the Crucible of Rassilon.”
“And what does it do,” Leela asks, wary of any technology in general and more so of any bearing the name of a Time Lord of such questionable infamy.
Leela is somewhat shocked and irritated that not only does Romana not reply, but she merely smirks in response to her question.
“Tell me,” Leela demands, “what does it do?”
“What do you think it does,” Romana asks, her smirk growing in size equal to Leela’s apparent frustration.
“I do not know,” Leela snarls, her hand unconsciously reaching for her knife. “Please, tell me.”
“Alright,” Romana says as she finishes tinkering with the device and gets to her feet so she can look at Leela face to face.
“What?” Leela asks as Romana seems to be appraising her in a very curious fashion. It is almost as if Romana is looking at her like some piece of insignificant nonsense that she has grown tired of and is prepared to dispose of as quickly as she can.
“I’m not tired of you, you know,” Romana says, breaking the sudden, awkward silence that was filling the air.
“What?” Leela asks, thrown off track by the statement.
“Time Lord,” Romana points out. “Remember?”
“Oh,” Leela answers, totally confused by what is occurring before her.
“I will tell you what is going on,” Romana says as she approaches Leela and brushes a lock of auburn hair from the warrior’s face. “The Crucible of Rassilon is an ancient Time Lord device that dates back to the time of Rassilon.”
“That much I gathered,” Leela replies, her heart racing from having Romana so close to her.
“Did you ever wonder,” Romana says, “how it came to be that Time Lords could regenerate? How we could apparently cheat death for so many centuries and millennium?”
“Of course,” Leela says. “But every time I asked, I was told not to be so curious. Andred said it was a mystery, even to the Time Lords.”
“And you believed him?” Romana asks with mock surprise.
“Of course not,” Leela answers. “What type of fool do you take me for?”
“Good,” Romana says. “Good. Well, I’ll tell you how it happened. Come, sit with me.”
Romana guides Leela to a pair of chairs located next to the Chalice, which, in fact, looks nothing like a chalice, or any other sort of cup that Leela has seen.
“Time Lords have always lived long lives, even before we discovered the secrets of time,” Romana explains. “But we didn’t regenerate. This, of course, was very troubling since it meant that we could die long before the Universe meant for us to.”
“Obviously,” Leela comments, not totally sure where the conversation is going.
“When the secrets of time travel were unraveled,” Romana continues as she discreetly flips a switch on the Chalice which Leela does not seem to notice, “we also unraveled the secrets of molecular and biological revival.”
“Regeneration,” Leela exclaims with clear understanding.
“Yes,” Romana says, “but there was a catch.”
Romana pauses here, perhaps for effect, or perhaps out of uncertainty of how much to reveal of Time Lord history.
“What was it?” Leela asks. “The catch?”
“In order to make use of the knowledge of regeneration,” Romana continues after taking a deep breath, “the first of the Time Lords had to undergo the process of having each and every cell in their body exposed to a rare form of radiation. Radiation that can be found only in the heart of a Black Hole.”
“But that is impossible,” Leela exclaims. “It is impossible to escape from a Black Hole. They taught me that on Gallifrey!”
Romana smiles, she has always known that Leela is no fool.
“Exactly,” Romana says, “and the only ones of our kind to ever come close to exposure to that kind of radiation were Omega, who was lost to a parallel dimension and Rassilon.”
“So that is how he came to hold sway over your people,” Leela remarks, her powers of observation and deduction impressing Romana even more then ever.
“Quite,” Romana agrees. “And so he created the Crucible of Rassilon and set about imparting the ability to regenerate to the Time Lords.”
Here, Romana seems hesitant to continue. She seems uncertain and nervous.
Leela cannot help but reach out and give her lover a squeeze of the hand, an unspoken message that everything will be alright.
“Rassilon also discovered,” Romana continues, “that he could impart not only the power of regeneration but also the long life of a Time Lord to those who were not only not Time Lords, but to those who weren’t even born on Gallifrey.”
“Impossible,” Leela says with disbelief, not quite grasping what Romana is telling her.
“Quite possible, my love,” Romana says. “But, the Time Lords of Rassilon’s era were not prepared to allow so many outsiders into their ranks that Rassilon was introducing and so they overthrew him, banished him to his tower in the Death Zone and destroyed almost all records referring to the Chalice from the history books.”
“But then how,” Leela begins before a disturbing realization washes over. “You wish to use this device on me! You wish to turn me into a Time Lord!”
“I already have, my love,” Romana says as she leans in to kiss Leela ever so gently on the lips. “I already have.”
“But why?” Leela implores. “Why do this to me?”
”Because,” Romana says, lowering her gaze and not daring to look her mate in the eyes, “I cannot bear to watch you grow old and die. I care too much, I love too much, I…”
“Hush,” Leela says as she places a finger on Romana’s chin to raise her gaze and plant a kiss of her own on Romana’s lips. “I know you do not fear death, for I have seen you face it so many times. You honor me by wishing to ensure it is a battle I will not have to face.
Romana can only nod as tears begin to roll down her face.
“But I wish you had told me,” Leela says. “I wish you had given me the choice of whether or not to become a Time Lord.”
“But…” Romana begins before Leela cuts her off.
“Hush, my love,” Leela says. “Know that yes, you are my love and I will never leave your side. I have pledged to stand by you in fire and in darkness and all other things, but my fight with Death is mine alone to make.”
“But not if I have to watch you make it,” Romana whispers. “I love you and I cannot bear the thought of you dying. I simply cannot bear it. You must think me so very weak.”
“Look at me,” Leela says with the voice of a warrior that she has carried all her life. “You are no fool, nor are you some weakling or cripple that should be left to the night so Death can claim them. I know you did this for love and I love you for it.”
“Then you forgive me,” Romana asks with a slight hiccup in her voice.”
“There is nothing to forgive,” Leela reassures. “I merely wished you would be as open and honest with me as I try to be with you.”
“I am sorry, my love,” Romana says, some measure of control slowly returning to her voice. “I was merely afraid you would refuse.”
“I could never refuse you, my precious, my love, my life,” Leela says.
The two women, now both Time Ladies, sit there, holding hands and enjoying the silence for what seems forever and a day.
“Well,” Romana says, breaking the silence, “now that that is concluded, what shall we do now?”
“I think we should do something that even the Doctor,” Leela says, daring to say the name that Romana has forbidden her to say, “was never able to accomplish.”
“And what is that,” Romana asks, recognizing a mischievous glint in her lover’s eyes.
“We should go to Tahiti,” they say at once before breaking out into a fit of uncharacteristic giggles.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Epilogue #1
With their adventures at an end and the rest of their lives before them, Leela and Romana set out for an extended vacation on the Island of Tahiti. For many years, they live there, enjoying the pleasures of one another’s company.
-=-=-=-=-=-
Epilogue #2
After what seems like, and is in fact, a blissful lifetime on Tahiti, Romana and Leela, filled with wanderlust, set out to explore the Universe and all the wonders it contains as only two Time Ladies can. One can only wonder what adventures they get up to in the centuries their lives together will last.
-=-=-=-=-=-
The End
-=-=-=-=-=-
Title: Once More An Adventure
Characters: Leela, Romana II
Length: Like the TARDIS, I'm not sure exactly how big it is
Rating: PG-13
Notes: It's a little OOC for both ladies, but then again, what isn't?
“Where are we?” Leela asks as they proceed through a maze of corridors.
“Still on Gallifrey,” Romana answers as she tries to navigate towards their final destination, “unfortunately.”
“You do not like it here?” Leela asks, surprised by Romana’s answer.
“No, I don’t,” answers Romana. “For me, though Gallifrey is home, it no longer feels like it. I need to escape, to get away from here and go somewhere else.”
“You mean just like the…” Leela puts forward before being cut off.
“Don’t!” Romana snaps. “Don’t mention his name. Please? Just don’t.”
“As you wish,” Leela answers as they exit from the maze of corridors and enter into a large, poorly kept storage area. “What is this place?”
“This?” Romana asks. “This is Level Twelve Maintenance and Storage.”
“Storage?” Leela asks. “Storage of what?”
“That!” Leela says as she points to a corner of the room where a light from the ceiling shines down onto a familiar blue box that is strangely out of place.
“The TARDIS!” Leela shouts. “But you said you wanted no reminders of him! You all but threatened death to anyone who did.”
“I know,” Romana says with a sigh. “But the adventures I had traveling in the TARDIS were some of the most exciting of my life.”
“I see,” Leela answers, her gaze falling downward with a heartbreaking look upon her face.
“Until I met you that is,” Romana says with that smile that Leela cannot help but adore. She brushes her lover’s cheek with her hand and leans in to plant a gentle kiss upon her lips. “Feeling better?”
“Yes,” Leela says as she brushes her body up against Romana and leans her head on the Time Lady’s shoulder. “But what are we doing here? And what will he do without his TARDIS?”
“What were doing here,” Romana says with a mischievous smile, “is going on a little adventure, just the two of us. And he won’t miss his TARDIS because this is not his to miss.”
“I do not understand” Leela murmurs, as she all but looses herself in her lover’s touch.
“I had Historical and Technical Services dress this TARDIS up to look like the one we both remember,” Romana says as she reaches for Leela’s hand and leads her forward into the chamber.
“So it looks like the TARDIS, but is a different one altogether,” Leela says, as she comprehends Romana’s words, an adventurous smile coming over her face.
“Quite,” Romana says, pleased with the reaction her surprised has produced in her lover.
Stepping inside their TARDIS brings a twinge of heartache to them both, for even though it looks almost exactly like the craft in which they had so many adventures, it isn’t quite the same and they both know it.
The interior is less cluttered, the controls are a bit more modern and the quality of the air is a bit crisper. All in all, it just doesn’t feel right. But still, both women realize, it is as close to home as they have felt in years.
“Well,” Romana says as she steps up to the control panel, “where should we go?”
Leela is hesitant and uncertain. She appears not to want to share what is on her mind.
“He wanted to take you someplace, didn’t he?” Romana asks in a soothing voice meant to reassure that she means no harm. “He wanted to take you somewhere and you don’t want to mention it because you think it will upset me.”
“Tahiti,” Leela mutters. “He mentioned a place called Tahiti where the sun always shines and it is surrounded on all sides by water.”
“I should have known,” Romana says with more then a hint of contempt in her voice.
“You hate me for suggesting it, don’t you?” Leela says, her apparent nervousness making her look like she is ready to bolt from the room.
“Hush,” Romana says, stepping over and brushing her lips across Leela’s. “Hush. I could never hate you. Never. But I’m not surprised he wanted to take you there.”
“You are not?” Leela asks with genuine surprise in her voice.
“How could you doubt me after all this time?” Romana asks. “How could you think that I could hate you? After all the things we have seen and heard? After everything we have been through? How could I possibly hate the one person in the universe that loves me with all her heart?”
“How did you?” Leela asks with surprise.
“Time Lord,” Romana says smugly. “We know these things.”
“Witchcraft!” Leela hisses.
“Only in bed and only if you behave,” Romana manages to say with a straight face and only the faintest hint of a blush. “Now, as for Tahiti, he wanted to take me there as well and probably for the same reason I suspect.”
“And what is that,” Leela asks as she puts her hands on Romana’s hips and pulls her close.
“Because all the women there walk around topless,” Romana says with a smirk as she kisses the tip of Leela’s nose and then gives her a wink.
This time its Leela’s turn to blush.
“You mean that he…” Leela begins.
“Is a right bloody pervert,” Romana finishes. “Quite.”
“So you do not wish to go,” Leela meekly asks, trying to discreetly return to the subject.
“Well, it’s not tops on my list, but we can go if you want,” Romana says with a sigh. “Though if you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask.”
-=-=-=-=-
Interlude #1 in which Leela and Romana do naughty, naughty things which you’ll just have to imagine because the author has absolutely no skill at either believably or creatively writing such things.
End Interlude #1
-=-=-=-=-
“Well,” Romana says as she refastens her bra and pulls on a rather bland white shirt over her head, “that was certainly relaxing.”
Leela smirks at this before leaning over to kiss Romana firmly on the lips.
“You were fabulous,” Leela purrs. “Do not let anyone tell you differently, or I shall be forced to kill them.”
“Jealous?” Romana teases.
“Only of those who would try to steal you from me,” Leela forcefully answers, not caring to know whether or not Romana is joking.
“In that case,” Romana solemnly replies, “let’s hope I never get stolen.”
“Precisely,” Leela says as she finally finishes reattaching her leather jerkin.
“Now, I believe we were going to go on a trip,” Romana says as she examines the control panel of the TARDIS, “and I don’t mean to the bedroom.”
Romana is interrupted as her body momentarily sags from the near crushing hug that Leela delivers to her from behind before settling in to rest her head on the Time Lady’s shoulder, her hands reaching around to grasp one another around Romana’s waste.
“As I was saying,” Romana continues, trying not to be distracted by her lover’s close proximity, “we were going to take a trip. Do you still wish to visit Tahiti?”
“I do not care where we go,” Leela murmurs into Romana’s shoulder, “so long as I am with you.”
Romana cannot help but smile. During the years she was a prisoner of the Daleks, she never dared dream she would actually escape, let alone find happiness and love. That that love should come in the form of another of the Doctor’s companions is a bittersweet price to pay, but one she is willing to make, for despite all the odds, she has in fact fallen deeply and completely in love with the savage Leela who, despite appearances, is not quite so savage as one might think.
“Have you decided?” Leela asks. “Have you decided where we shall go?”
“I know exactly where we’re going,” Romana smugly answers. “You’d prepare yourself. I suspect we won’t be receiving a warm welcome.”
“Why is that?” Leela asks as Romana feels the other woman tense against her back. “Are the people there unfriendly?”
“Only if you happen to be a Time Lord,” Romana says with disdain.
“Where are we going then,” Leela asks, “that the people are so unfriendly?”
“We’re going to Orthala Mox,” Romana says with a steel determination that Leela rarely hears in her voice.
“And why? My precious one, are we going there?” inquires Leela, sensing the danger in her lover’s voice, but not the reason.
“Because,” Romana explains, “Orthala Mox is home to one of the rarest minerals in all of time and space.”
“What is it? This mineral that we shall do battle for?” Leela asks as she gives Romana a hug.
“Vorlyxn,” Romana says as she adjusts a series of controls on the main console. “it’s so rare and so unique that not even Time Lords could find a way to create it on their own.”
“So why do the people there despise you so much?” Leela asks as she grudgingly separates herself from Romana and proceeds to a bag in the corner where she begins to sharpen a series of rather dangerous and uncomfortable looking knives.
“Well,” Romana says as she temporarily ceases setting coordinates into the TARDIS main control so she can look into space. “After the Time Lords discovered the unique properties of Vorlyxn, the planet became a battle ground for any race or species that developed time travel.”
“Why?” Leela asks as she begins the process of deciding which knives she will arm herself with. “What is so precious about this Vorlyxn that so many would go to war for it?”
“Well, it…” Romana begins to explain before catching herself. She hesitates and then forces herself to continue her work with the control panel. Soon, the TARDIS is in flight and Romana is silent, apparently distracted by distant, mysterious thoughts and memories.
“It is what?” Leela asks to no reply. Romana is seemingly lost to her for now and Leela is hesitant to bring her out of whatever trance she has entered into.
Suddenly, the TARDIS makes the familiar sound of arriving at its destination and this seems to bring Romana out of her trance.
“Well, we’ve arrived,” Romana says with a look of grim determination on her face. “Are you ready?”
Leela draws a knife in one hand and raises a Sontaran laser rifle in the other. “Let them come,” she snarls, not knowing at all what she is about to fight for, but trusting her lover not to risk their lives for nothing.
“Well then,” Romana says, “let’s go get ourselves some Vorlyxn.”
-=-=-=-=-
Interlude #2 in which Romana and Leela do battle with some very nasty, very ugly, very flatulent natives who are not intent on giving up their pretty pretty rocks to a pervy Time Lady and her leather clad girlfriend.
End Interlude #2
-=-=-=-=-
Reentering the TARDIS with their objective in hand, the grimy, muddy and sweat soaked adventurers leave the planet of Orthala Mox behind depart for places unknown.
After setting the TARDIS on automatic pilot, Romana wipes her brow clear of sweat and begins tinkering with a strange device that Leela has never seen before.
“What is that,” Leela cannot help but ask, totally distracted from the aches and pains of her body after the ordeal of recovering the Vorlyxn that her lover said they needed.
“This,” Romana says without looking up from the contraption she is tinkering with, “is the Crucible of Rassilon.”
“And what does it do,” Leela asks, wary of any technology in general and more so of any bearing the name of a Time Lord of such questionable infamy.
Leela is somewhat shocked and irritated that not only does Romana not reply, but she merely smirks in response to her question.
“Tell me,” Leela demands, “what does it do?”
“What do you think it does,” Romana asks, her smirk growing in size equal to Leela’s apparent frustration.
“I do not know,” Leela snarls, her hand unconsciously reaching for her knife. “Please, tell me.”
“Alright,” Romana says as she finishes tinkering with the device and gets to her feet so she can look at Leela face to face.
“What?” Leela asks as Romana seems to be appraising her in a very curious fashion. It is almost as if Romana is looking at her like some piece of insignificant nonsense that she has grown tired of and is prepared to dispose of as quickly as she can.
“I’m not tired of you, you know,” Romana says, breaking the sudden, awkward silence that was filling the air.
“What?” Leela asks, thrown off track by the statement.
“Time Lord,” Romana points out. “Remember?”
“Oh,” Leela answers, totally confused by what is occurring before her.
“I will tell you what is going on,” Romana says as she approaches Leela and brushes a lock of auburn hair from the warrior’s face. “The Crucible of Rassilon is an ancient Time Lord device that dates back to the time of Rassilon.”
“That much I gathered,” Leela replies, her heart racing from having Romana so close to her.
“Did you ever wonder,” Romana says, “how it came to be that Time Lords could regenerate? How we could apparently cheat death for so many centuries and millennium?”
“Of course,” Leela says. “But every time I asked, I was told not to be so curious. Andred said it was a mystery, even to the Time Lords.”
“And you believed him?” Romana asks with mock surprise.
“Of course not,” Leela answers. “What type of fool do you take me for?”
“Good,” Romana says. “Good. Well, I’ll tell you how it happened. Come, sit with me.”
Romana guides Leela to a pair of chairs located next to the Chalice, which, in fact, looks nothing like a chalice, or any other sort of cup that Leela has seen.
“Time Lords have always lived long lives, even before we discovered the secrets of time,” Romana explains. “But we didn’t regenerate. This, of course, was very troubling since it meant that we could die long before the Universe meant for us to.”
“Obviously,” Leela comments, not totally sure where the conversation is going.
“When the secrets of time travel were unraveled,” Romana continues as she discreetly flips a switch on the Chalice which Leela does not seem to notice, “we also unraveled the secrets of molecular and biological revival.”
“Regeneration,” Leela exclaims with clear understanding.
“Yes,” Romana says, “but there was a catch.”
Romana pauses here, perhaps for effect, or perhaps out of uncertainty of how much to reveal of Time Lord history.
“What was it?” Leela asks. “The catch?”
“In order to make use of the knowledge of regeneration,” Romana continues after taking a deep breath, “the first of the Time Lords had to undergo the process of having each and every cell in their body exposed to a rare form of radiation. Radiation that can be found only in the heart of a Black Hole.”
“But that is impossible,” Leela exclaims. “It is impossible to escape from a Black Hole. They taught me that on Gallifrey!”
Romana smiles, she has always known that Leela is no fool.
“Exactly,” Romana says, “and the only ones of our kind to ever come close to exposure to that kind of radiation were Omega, who was lost to a parallel dimension and Rassilon.”
“So that is how he came to hold sway over your people,” Leela remarks, her powers of observation and deduction impressing Romana even more then ever.
“Quite,” Romana agrees. “And so he created the Crucible of Rassilon and set about imparting the ability to regenerate to the Time Lords.”
Here, Romana seems hesitant to continue. She seems uncertain and nervous.
Leela cannot help but reach out and give her lover a squeeze of the hand, an unspoken message that everything will be alright.
“Rassilon also discovered,” Romana continues, “that he could impart not only the power of regeneration but also the long life of a Time Lord to those who were not only not Time Lords, but to those who weren’t even born on Gallifrey.”
“Impossible,” Leela says with disbelief, not quite grasping what Romana is telling her.
“Quite possible, my love,” Romana says. “But, the Time Lords of Rassilon’s era were not prepared to allow so many outsiders into their ranks that Rassilon was introducing and so they overthrew him, banished him to his tower in the Death Zone and destroyed almost all records referring to the Chalice from the history books.”
“But then how,” Leela begins before a disturbing realization washes over. “You wish to use this device on me! You wish to turn me into a Time Lord!”
“I already have, my love,” Romana says as she leans in to kiss Leela ever so gently on the lips. “I already have.”
“But why?” Leela implores. “Why do this to me?”
”Because,” Romana says, lowering her gaze and not daring to look her mate in the eyes, “I cannot bear to watch you grow old and die. I care too much, I love too much, I…”
“Hush,” Leela says as she places a finger on Romana’s chin to raise her gaze and plant a kiss of her own on Romana’s lips. “I know you do not fear death, for I have seen you face it so many times. You honor me by wishing to ensure it is a battle I will not have to face.
Romana can only nod as tears begin to roll down her face.
“But I wish you had told me,” Leela says. “I wish you had given me the choice of whether or not to become a Time Lord.”
“But…” Romana begins before Leela cuts her off.
“Hush, my love,” Leela says. “Know that yes, you are my love and I will never leave your side. I have pledged to stand by you in fire and in darkness and all other things, but my fight with Death is mine alone to make.”
“But not if I have to watch you make it,” Romana whispers. “I love you and I cannot bear the thought of you dying. I simply cannot bear it. You must think me so very weak.”
“Look at me,” Leela says with the voice of a warrior that she has carried all her life. “You are no fool, nor are you some weakling or cripple that should be left to the night so Death can claim them. I know you did this for love and I love you for it.”
“Then you forgive me,” Romana asks with a slight hiccup in her voice.”
“There is nothing to forgive,” Leela reassures. “I merely wished you would be as open and honest with me as I try to be with you.”
“I am sorry, my love,” Romana says, some measure of control slowly returning to her voice. “I was merely afraid you would refuse.”
“I could never refuse you, my precious, my love, my life,” Leela says.
The two women, now both Time Ladies, sit there, holding hands and enjoying the silence for what seems forever and a day.
“Well,” Romana says, breaking the silence, “now that that is concluded, what shall we do now?”
“I think we should do something that even the Doctor,” Leela says, daring to say the name that Romana has forbidden her to say, “was never able to accomplish.”
“And what is that,” Romana asks, recognizing a mischievous glint in her lover’s eyes.
“We should go to Tahiti,” they say at once before breaking out into a fit of uncharacteristic giggles.
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Epilogue #1
With their adventures at an end and the rest of their lives before them, Leela and Romana set out for an extended vacation on the Island of Tahiti. For many years, they live there, enjoying the pleasures of one another’s company.
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Epilogue #2
After what seems like, and is in fact, a blissful lifetime on Tahiti, Romana and Leela, filled with wanderlust, set out to explore the Universe and all the wonders it contains as only two Time Ladies can. One can only wonder what adventures they get up to in the centuries their lives together will last.
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The End
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