![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Illness
A Time Lord shouldn't be separated from his TARDIS. He knew this, it was a fairly simple, fairly straightforward rule that every Time Tot was taught back in the nursery. Time Lord and TARDIS were connected, part of a whole, part of a sum and all that. There were horror stories that Ushas used to tell over nightcom about Time Lords who had been without their ship for long periods of time and went insane, or worse. The "worse" was, of course, described in accurate, gruesome details, much to the 'ooooh'ing and 'aaaahhh'ing of those listening in.
The Doctor just never believed he'd be on the end of that sort of experience.
His ship was a lifetime away. More than that, lifetimes away, and he could feel it. He could feel the lack of a ship in his mind and it ached. More than ached, it was as if a large part of him was missing and he'd only just lost the anesthetics keeping the sensation of missing away.
He had meant to do a good deal today, most of which involved bothering the cook into frying chips and rewriting Reinette's library. These were his main plans, and they were good ones.
As it was, he was curled up on the floor of his bedroom, the shakes and stomachache from the night before having finally decided that his lack of response on the matter was unacceptable. He cried out sharply, a noise that only vaguely sounded human, and may have been a name.
"Reinette!"
A Time Lord shouldn't be separated from his TARDIS. He knew this, it was a fairly simple, fairly straightforward rule that every Time Tot was taught back in the nursery. Time Lord and TARDIS were connected, part of a whole, part of a sum and all that. There were horror stories that Ushas used to tell over nightcom about Time Lords who had been without their ship for long periods of time and went insane, or worse. The "worse" was, of course, described in accurate, gruesome details, much to the 'ooooh'ing and 'aaaahhh'ing of those listening in.
The Doctor just never believed he'd be on the end of that sort of experience.
His ship was a lifetime away. More than that, lifetimes away, and he could feel it. He could feel the lack of a ship in his mind and it ached. More than ached, it was as if a large part of him was missing and he'd only just lost the anesthetics keeping the sensation of missing away.
He had meant to do a good deal today, most of which involved bothering the cook into frying chips and rewriting Reinette's library. These were his main plans, and they were good ones.
As it was, he was curled up on the floor of his bedroom, the shakes and stomachache from the night before having finally decided that his lack of response on the matter was unacceptable. He cried out sharply, a noise that only vaguely sounded human, and may have been a name.
"Reinette!"
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
And she knew that both of them looked far from their best, battered and bruised. Clothing stained and torn. And the Doctor, of course, shoeless. And yet Reinette could think of no other tome when she had found him more attractive, than in this moment. Not even the night of the Yew Tree ball.
He looked? Like a survivor. And that was something she understood, and appreciated. Reinette took a step closer. She did not belittle herself by pretending that she needed reassurance he was all right. Or that she was exhausted from their encounter and needed his support.
She moved closer because she wanted to.
It was not lost on her that the bed was close as well.
"And what fared worse," she teased lightly. "My garden, or your clothing?"
One never knew what the Doctor was up to.
From:
no subject
This was so intimate. So comfortable, and yet so charged. They had slept in the same bed before, they had even been lovers before, but that was so very long ago for them. And so much had changed since then.
Forget about the dance.
He, too, moved closer, his hands sliding from her hips to circle around her back.
From:
no subject
She could feel his breath through her hair, feel the way it moved and reacted to him, even as she tried to control such things within herself.
To prove her point Reinette's hands deftly moved to undo the top button of his finely crafted shift, and slipped her fingers just beneath so that they touched skin.
"Not even a tremble."
Though, perhaps there was. Just not one born of fear. No it was -- a shiver. Slight, but there.
She could not not kiss him then, Reinette decided.
Had she once initiated a kiss since the Doctor's arrival in her home? She did not think so. Perhaps that was were the urgency of this one was born.
From:
no subject
And for all that his mind couldn't figure out when to move or stay, he did know that now was the time that she should be kissed. She moved towards him, and he caught her kiss easily. Deeply. Unlike their every kiss before, to him at least, this was the first that was borne out of a long period of waiting. Out of longing. Reinette lived her life with it, he only just learned.
He held her close as they kissed, memorized the feel of her, even with the bruises and the sweat and the pain between them, she was still so wonderful. So warm and perfect and loving and Reinette and he didn't want anything else.
From:
no subject
She smiled beneath his kiss, even as she was reminded that the Doctor kissed as he spoke. Quickly, with a command of both the language, and herself, he was utterly unique.
And she was far from the wonderful his thoughts proclaimed.
Gently, her teeth caught his lower lip to remind him as much.
Reinette knew she was being selfish allowing things to progress so. Even this far. He was exhausted -- bruised. But she could not bring herself to point as much out.
From:
no subject
He pulled back, enough to look down at her, too see her as he felt her. Completely and as real as he could see her. She was still so beautiful, despite the small lines of age that took up residence beneath her eyes. Clear hair with a few lines of grey just starting to show, but still so young.
He leaned forward, pressing his lips to the crease beside her right eye, then the small tuft of grey hair beside her left ear. He allowed his kisses to linger. She was human in every way, even the things they despised in themselves, but that, that was what made her fit him so well. She could age when he did not, she could understand life when he felt as though he missed out. If that was not something to celebrate, then he did not know what was.
From:
no subject
But it also meant, Reinette decided, that the Doctor knew. Knew her in a way only -- no, perhaps no other had. Knew her flaws and her weaknesses, and yet also did not use them against her. His was no an attack on her being, instead it was an assault on her senses.
She softened slightly in his arms, yielding to that idea.
Dipping her head slightly Reinette moved to place a kiss precisely between his two hearts, not minding the shirt in between.
From:
no subject
All the same, when she kissed between them, he wanted to tell her they were hers. Romantic notion, borne out of imprisonment on Earth, he decided. He was becoming far too like them for his own good. If he learned to be human, he would know the pains that they knew, too.
He dipped his head again and kissed her, more firmly, more confidently.
From:
no subject
Yet with the Doctor came this sense of -- almost. She had almost brushed up against something else besides skin. He had almost returned home. He had almost ---
Well, he might have died today, she knew.
It was exhilerating and terrifying, yet also amazingly beautiful.
For all his complexities, it occured to her then that the Doctor was the art she encouraged it others. Not the artist, the work of art itself. Every adventure and person met, all his travels writted in his eyes, and in the taste of his mouth.
Her own mouth explored deeper, with new understanding.
From:
no subject
He took another step closer, which brought them that much closer to the bed. He felt an odd sense of anticipation run through his veins. For all the time in the universe he knew he had, he felt oddly...rushed, nervous.
Something had just ended for him moments earlier. Now, something was beginning.
From:
no subject
She was a woman accustomed to control, to command, and to decision. She worked devotedly to gain the power she had over her own life, and there was little that might cause her to release it. She knew her world must seem rather small to to the man whose touch was causing disruptions against her skin. But to her? It was a challenge met.
Yet is was often the challenge met. Her marriage was arranged, but a step Reinette understood. Louis? Yet again, Reinette initiated their involvement. Even the lovers that counted the days after her relationship with Louis concluded, and the Doctor arrived? Agaian, at Reinette's decision.
In the Doctor's arms, Reinette felt the singular sensation of being chosen herself. He came once on accident, yes. But she told herself, he did not have to come back.
And yet, he did.
Her gaze lifted from his mouth to the whole of his features, assuring herself this is what he wanted.
From:
no subject
"Courting for Time Lords takes centuries," he said, his voice low, "And I'm very, very inexperienced in it, in general. Expressing...anything, really."
He didn't pull away, instead, leaned forward, pressing a small kiss to her eyebrow.
"We have so much time---well, I have so much time, it's hard to simply do what I want, or ask or say something. It's easier to think there'll be another day."
From:
no subject
For all of the softer, more tender moment they had made, in many ways Reinette knew they were battered, bruised, and ruined for a great many tasks that day. Why it seemed they were not ruined for this she did not know, just that it neemed natural. If not right.
That judgment would be passed later.
But thei clothing was good for nothing else, and for Reinette the sheers represented effectiveness, directness. The could cut away at clothing no longer suitable for the life they lead. And the Doctor could cut away at restrictions she knew he still resented, corsetry they still argued over.
And on the other side?
Well, that was where the bed would be. Still there, just against her leg. It her head it was the most pleasant of adventures. She placed a firm kiss to the underside of his jaw.
"My life at court was expected to be measured in months, if not days. Everyone watching, and waiting for my fall from favor, and grace. But I was better than they anticipated. I was as good as I knew. I was very, very experienced."
Her mouth found his collarbone, ascot gone.
"I lived a lifestyle meant to be measured in days, and I forced every bit of life imgainable into it. I never stopped, I never rested. There was never time. I still am not accustomed to the idea."
It was a collision of ideas, as much as bodies, Reinette decided.
"But if we are to meet in the middle," her eyes drifted to the bed. "Then that certainly is an education place to do so."
There, the invitation she had not repeated since the gazebo, laid bare.
From:
no subject
His eyes closed at the feel of her lips against his jaw, his collarbone. His hypersensitive nerves could feel the smoothness of her lips, how they were warm and slightly swollen from kissing his before. He wished to savor the feeling, memorize it. Actions were so brief and moments so fleeting, but he could remember them all, and he would. Long, long after France was dust.
He nodded, very slowly. "I would meet you whereever you desired," he said, simply.
From:
no subject
She was not seeking to pusnish him. Nor did she wish for utter dominance. Rather, it was assurance she seemed to be probing for. There was nothing more calculated than that in her wish for him to speak his mind on this matter. For all that their courtship may had been achingly slow to Reinette? She could only begin to fathom how reckless it seemed to him.
She turned to sit on the bed, eyes never breaking with the Doctor's own.
"And I will only allow you to meet me, if it is what you desire as well."
From:
no subject
But there was no time. He nearly died that evening, if not for Reinette, and that would've been the end of his time, having never known if they could've...if they would've...
"I believe," he said, gently brushing his fingers along her cheek, "That I have wanted y--wanted...for a long time, now."
From:
no subject
Perhaps? That was something that was universal.
She tilted her head so that the fingers that caressed her cheek were now in turn brushed gently against her mouth. She kissed each and every finger in turn, gently loving the bruises that were there.
"I want you," she surmized simply.
I case he had not known.
From:
no subject
Hearing it, however, changed something. He couldn't tell what, but it made the idea more powerful. More real and solid and there. No future tense to her words, only the present and the now."
He took a breath. "And I w-want you."
It had been so long, so very, very long since he'd uttered those words to anyone, he was almost unsure of his own ability to say them. To express affection (love?). He leaned forward, then, pressing his mouth to hers, as a demonstration of his renewed abilities.
From:
no subject
But she was a woman whose expectations were rarely exceeded. The man in front of her one a rarity in his abilities to do so.
There was another declaration of course. One made of precisely the same amount of letters, but carrying even more implications. That, Reinette chose to leave unsaid. Understood, if he chose to seek it.
Her fingers found the buttons of the Doctor's shirt instead, undoing them slowly even as the kiss became something less controlled. Something less understood.
From:
no subject
His own fingers slipped to her back to undo her corset. He was more practiced with the garment now than their first time together, and he undid the knot and began to unlace without breaking their kiss. He was pretty proud of his own abilities, though he figured saying so, or expecting a compliment would ruin the moment.
He smiled against her lips as he felt the corset loosen its unnatural hold on her body. "Have I mentioned," he murmured, pulling back just enough to speak, "What this does to your internal organs? Should be outlawed."
Before she could reply with a retort that would probably be wittier than his, he kissed her again.
From:
no subject
It was that way with the Doctor, Reinette knew. Knew, and enjoyed. There was desire, and desire. There was the swirling warmth, the tendrils that curled through her that made her feel rather like a cat stretching slowing towards a ray of sun. Caressed by the very action of it. Her body streched, free of restrictions and the very act of breathing was sensual.
But then there was the other desire. The Doctor's desire. To know. To explore and to be. That never went away with him. And Reinette did not wan t it to.
She moved to free him competely of his shirt, allow then allowing fingers trace rivers against his chest.
From:
no subject
He let out a small gasp against her mouth at the sensation.
He slipped the straps from her gown down her shoulders and placed several kisses along her skin. She was sweat and powder, a combination of exertion and sophistication, which, he realized, was probably the perfect combination for a woman like Reinette.
From:
no subject
He grazed sensative skin just below her shoulder and Reinette gasped softly, her hands tangling in his hair. He had started to grow it, just as he said he would. And now that only left more mahogany silk for her fingers to get lost in.
Of course arms placed so made it rather difficult to remove the bodice of her down, so she hesitated only long enough to encourage it to travel forward, and away.
From:
no subject
Removed, he returned to holding her close, slowly lowering them both down to a laying position on the bed. His mouth sought out the place on her shoulder that made her gasp before, and he traced his tongue, slowly, against it.
Her fingers in his hair, the smell of her, sight of her skin, and her taste, all the sensations were, really, a bit overwhelming. Far from a bad thing, he decided, and Reinette was someone he really didn't mind finding himself lost in.
From:
no subject
She was on the verge of kissing him to distract him from just that point, when his mouth remet the sensative flesh of her shoulder. The deliberation in which he traced his tongue against it sent a shiver down the length of her body. Once of marked anticipation.
Now unhindered by clothing, her own tongue traced slow circles as they returned to just above his hearts. She kissed above each slowly, pausing to blow a teasing breath against the mouisture that clung there.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: