RP for tastefulfashion

[rude_not_ginger]

After this.

The things he promised himself he'd never do.

1) Never fall in love with a companion
2) Never bend the laws of time so far they break
3) Go back to Gallifrey

Well, he was having a rather productive Saturday, wasn't he?

He watched Romana sleep for a long while and eventually left the bed to make them some tea. It wouldn't be so bad, once she got over the shock and the breaking of the timeline and the destruction of her home world...

He sighed as he put the kettle on. He should never have gone back. Never have pulled her from what she knew. But then again, if he did she'd be dead. And he couldn't lose her, not after everything.

He grabbed some toast and the tea and headed back towards his bedroom. She'd wake up soon (one could only hope) and at least she'd have some breakfast ready.

Comments

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

"--old on, they'll be there soo-"

"There isn't any time left. The next wave will be here soon - evacuations are near completion."

"Memre, don't do this! There's-"

"Initializing protocol seven-seven-eight-oh."

"You can't!"

"I must. I cannot learn if there if nothing remains it must be done. I am sorry, Romanadvoratrelundar. Please, ask Mina to forgive me and to thank her."

"---MEMRE!"

Air suddenly filling her lungs Romana sat right up in bed as her hand flew to her chest, griping the robe tightly with eyes as wide as possibly. Her vision blurred just slightly from the abrupt awakening she rubbed furiously at them with the palms of her hands. Then, blinking once then twice, the woman looked around the room.

A dream.

No, a memory.

Again she took another deep breath. Her shoulders slumping as she relaxed there was a brief moment of silence as she listened to the hum of the TARDIS. It was comforting. It helped to ease the tension in her mind. The entire time she had slept all she could dream of were moments of the war, playing over and over again. Running a hand through her cropped short hair she sighed.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor stepped back into the room a moment later. The TARDIS was brushing against his mind furiously, saying something was wrong (but she had been doing that since Romana came on board, to be honest).

Of course, by the time he got back to the room, she was awake, if still lying in bed. He hadn't intended for her to wake alone. Well, at least not alone and hungry, right?

"Good morning," he said. "Or evening. Good inter-spacial vortex! Made you some tea."

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

Tea? Tea... Oh, yes, tea.

"I would think that tea would be fine no matter what the time."

A smile tugged at her lips when she saw the Doctor standing there. She had not realized just for how long she had been sleeping. It could have been days instead of hours with how heavy her body still felt, but at least her mind was considerably clearer.

"Thank you."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Well, I couldn't let you wake up without something, wouldn't be polite of me. And I didn't get a chance to make you breakfast the last time you stayed over. Seems I owe you one."

No, they'd all but rushed out of the TARDIS for a Christmas that never got to happen. His own fault, should've seen it coming. Still, now they had time for Christmases. Time for the whole universe.

The idea was a bit daunting, really.

"How did you sleep?"

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

"Well enough." She then paused, adding, "Dreamless." A lie but that was how she wanted to handle the subject for now. It wasn't a topic of discussion she was keen on visiting just yet.

Drawing her knees up to her chest with the blanket still keeping her warm, she hugged her legs and propped her chin on her knees. There was no denying the tired look in her eyes. She was still weary and worn but at least now she could control her thoughts, her emotions. She could keep herself inline.

"And you? Did you get any rest?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"That's good," he replied. He thought he'd seen her moving in her sleep, but if she had no dreams...well, that was for the better. He had nightmares for decades after the War. He still did, sometimes.

He put some toast on a plate and offered her it and some tea. Ever the domestic Doctor...just the idea felt a bit wrong. But she needed it and he wasn't about to have her go hungry.

"A little," he lied. No use having her worry on top of all of it.

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

"That's good. Wouldn't want you to be cranky or anything," she replied, unable to help the tiny grin that was seen.

If there were ever to be a more a wrong idea, the notion of her being cared for like this was not something she was completely comfortable with. The last time she had had been, and for lack there of a better term, babied was after her twenty-year-imprisonment. But then again the strangest anomalies and ideas did shape the universe.

The cup warm in her hands, the plate balancing carefully on her lap once she had shifted yet again, there was a pause as Romana drank deeply. A sweet berry, but with that slight tangy after taste - one of her favorites.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor moved to sit next to her, resting is own cup on his knee. But what to talk about? There was so much, he had no idea where to start. He wanted to be gentle in conversation, but what if she was insulted? Oh, but Romana was so difficult to understand at times.

"Should land off in Cardiff soon," he said. "TARDIS is going to need to refuel after the jump."

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

It was only logical, the strain the time shift had had on the TARDIS. She thought back on her own TARDIS for a fleeting moment. Different from the Doctor's TARDIS but still just as comforting. It wasn't difficult in the slightest for her to connect with the presidential one.

"I had never been there before," she said off hand when the cup was lowered from her lips. "Though I remember reading a bit about it whenever I was looking to keep myself up to date with what goes on in the universe, and the likes."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Not my favorite part of Earth, but I've got friends there," the Doctor replied, wobbling his feet back and forth on the covers. He itched to get up and move around, but he could wait a little longer. And sitting next to Romana was a wonderful experience in and of itself.

"There's a rift in time and space there," he said. "All that extra energy's a bit like petrol to a Type 40."

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

"It seems as if you have friends everywhere and every-when," she teased. It would be nice, though, to go somewhere. The last time she had set foot on that planet seemed so long ago - a new change to something old was a pleasant thought.

Plucking at a loose thread of the robe she had fallen asleep in, "I don't suppose I could trouble you for another look around that wardrobe? I would rather not run about in a bathrobe." She then shifted from under the covers and stretched her left leg out, examining. The wound on her knee was healing properly. It would scar but that was the least of her concerns.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her leg, then returned his attention to his tea, immediately. Well, it was a very nice leg, he couldn't help but pay at least a little attention to it.

"Mi casa es su casa," he replied. "Quite literally, now. As long as you'd like to stay you can. And free reign over the wardrobe room."

He ran a hand through his hair. "And Cardiff. Should take you around, introduce you to the enemy. Torchwood, that is."

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

Just at the thought of having reign over the room the first thing that came to mind was looking into getting some sort of a shoe rack or trunk that was TARDIS-travel-tolerable. Even if he did object to it. Then he he would object to a lot of what she would do and it didn't phase her.

Seeming satisfied with the progress of the wound healing Romana eased herself out of the bed, but only after draining the last bit of tea from her cup and setting it down carefully on the blanket. A little wobbly at first she was careful not to show it.

"Torchwood?" she repeated. "Really now, could they not think up something a bit more clever?"

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

"You and trouble always did go hand in hand."

It had certainly been a wonderful little trick to pick up. All of those meetings would cause her such headaches that it was any wonder she was able to listen to Braxiatel after words. Gentle, careful and yet ever precise. Her smile only grew more all the while watching him.

"But at least words are a little easier to manage. Knocking out others or hitting them with arm chairs are another story entirely." Romana eased herself to sit more comfortably as she continue. "Do you think Duggan ever learned to control his temper?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Probably not. Still, saved the world with that right hook of his."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and opened one eye. There was a question on his mind that had been bothering him, although he'd never admit to it.

"Did you fancy him?"

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

The question earned him a mildly surprised expression on her part.

"Fancy him?"

There was a pause as Romana thought about this for only a moment. It had been what, centuries, since then? "Well I never did agree with his preferred method of violence, always breaking windows and wine bottles," she said. "And Rassilon knows he never did learn to be subtle about things."

Her hands continued on with the massage, remembering that time in Paris.

"I suppose I did a little," Romana admitted. "But it wasn't anything that would last - we were only in Paris for a couple of days. And ensuring that humanity would remain written in history was a far more important matter to be thinking about at the time."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Oh, well, you know, never would've worked out anyway. Bad temper of his. He and K-9 would've gotten into a lot of disasterous arguments."

Riiiiight.

"But, you know, Paris. City of love. And...art critics. Never did figure out why that one man was sketching you with a watch for a face. Paled in comparison to the rest of the strange things going on, but that was rather odd."

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

The man had certainly been odd though she had not thought about that little cafe outing in quite sometime. She had kept the picture but it was long since gone. Lost along with her old room. "Well... maybe he was an alien on a holiday, but we just didn't notice? Perhaps he knew what we were?" One could never really tell with the Universe being as vast as it was. "After all, Earth does seem to be a rather popular spot to visit - you certainly do," she said with a shrug.

Her right hand moved from the spot it was on to his ear fingers rubbing the earlobe with a slight grin.

"A little surprising for you to ask such a thing, though. It's not as if you're the jealous type, now are you?" Oh, she was just teasing him again. Something to pass the time for now.

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Jealous? Me? No! I'm never jealous!"

Though he did feel the desire to purr again. One hand idly played with her hipbone as she toyed with his earlobe. The contact felt wonderful. Knowing it was Romana felt even better.

"I was just curious. I am a curious bloke at times!"

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

"You mean you're curious all the time," she corrected him with a roll of her eyes.

The hum and warmth of the TARDIS was both pleasant and comfortable. Even with how quickly everything had changed Romana still somehow managed to slip into the old, familiar pattern of her old life. Granted things could never go back to how they were, but still it was a life she could enjoy.

She was still rubbing his ear some when she asked, "When do you plan on stopping at Cardiff then?"

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Not all of the time," the Doctor said. He sniffed. "Sometimes I'm sleeping."

As for her question, he considered. "Well, I can always see if Jack's not too busy later on, we can swing by today? Next week? Next century? Whenever. Nothing's in my date planner at the moment, except to buy milk."

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

"Or fiddling with the TARDIS." Actually, she could think of a list of things he was prone to doing. "Could go on, really..." But that would have been a little redundant.

And they had so much time now. Already she could think of places to go - some old places, others she had always wanted to see but could never. Not unless she had some sort of politically-related matter to attend to there. she missed having the chance to travel so freely. "Today would be fine. Anytime at all."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Today could last a week if we really wanted it," the Doctor agreed. He stretched and yawned. Not because he was tired, but because he was impossibly...relaxed.

"Then we could hit the beach. Take a trip to the Silver Devastation, the 15th moon of the Medusa Cascade...?"

[tastefulfashion.livejournal.com]

The beach was certainly a lovely idea. It made her smile more, just thinking the idea over. "I wouldn't object to it," she said. "Though, you promise to make sure we arrive at the right season?" A repeat of Brighton was not something she wished for.

The massages and rubs continued---it was amusing to see him relaxed like this. It was rare, and adorable to see. Not that she would have said that out loud. She would have plenty of chances to tease him on other things. "My hands may tire soon."

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

"Well, when they do, let me know."

Was that a little smugness? It may have been. It felt nice, being pleasantly selfish.

"Where did you always want to go that we never went before you left?"