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rosa_acicularis) wrote2008-02-11 12:59 am
Ficlet: Heights 1/1
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Mine, they are not.
Spoilers: None to speak of.
Summary: "Ooh, that's high. That's very...blimey, that's high." -- The Doctor, Evolution of the Daleks.
Notes: My entry for last week's round of fics at
doctor_rose_las. The prompt was 'phobia'.
“Just look at those clouds.” She dashed out onto the observation deck, neck craning at impossible angles in a futile attempt to see everything at once. “They’re like…like mountains, like whole cities made of marshmallow fluff and candy floss and—”
“Typical,” the Doctor said, still leaning against the back wall of the lift. “I show her distant worlds and long-dead civilizations, black holes and cat nuns and the galaxy’s biggest ball of twine, but what really impresses is a great, honking skyscraper.” He sniffed. “And clouds.”
“I like clouds.”
“I can tell.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, and for the moment it seemed he’d no intention of leaving the lift to join her. “Look up.”
She did, and the sight stole the breath from her lungs. She’d known the building was impossibly tall by 21st century standards (when she’d asked the Doctor just how high the observation deck was, exactly, he’d answered: “High. Very, very, very, very, very high.” He could, at times, be an absolutely rubbish tour guide) but to look up and see the blackness of space just over her head, lit by the steady pinpricks of faraway stars, the size and depth and darkness of it, bearing down…
She stepped back until her bum hit the guardrail and leaned against it gratefully.
“You could’ve warned me,” she said when she could speak again.
“No,” he replied, a smile in his voice. “I couldn’t have.”
Rose tore her eyes away from the yawning expanse above and met his gaze. He was watching her intently, something warm and almost possessive in his eyes. This was how it worked, she’d learnt: she saw the universe, and he saw her.
She smiled and felt knowing, powerful. “You could’ve. You didn’t want to.”
He didn’t answer; he didn’t need to.
Rose turned back to the sky that wasn’t. “It’s funny. It’s not like I haven’t seen it before – I mean, we’ve been on spaceships and satellites and things plenty of times, and I look out the window every chance I get, but like this…” She felt herself grin. “I feel like I could reach out and touch it. Like there’s nothing at all between me and…” The sentence trailed off, the thought unfinished.
“And?” he prompted.
“And…well,” she laughed a little – at her ineloquence, at his impatience, “and just…all of it. Everything there is. Just within reach, like it’s—”
“Waiting.”
They wore the same grin. “Yes,” she said, breathless. “Exactly.”
The moment held, and they beamed at each other from across the observation deck, surrounded by cities of cloud and an infinite sky.
Then the Doctor clapped his hands together, and the spell was broken. “Right! Let’s blow this popsicle stand. Hit the road. Get a move on. Make like a banana and—”
“What, are we gonna run out of air, or something?” Off his confused look, she said: “Well, my eyeballs haven’t exploded in their sockets, so there must be some sort of bubble thing protecting us—”
The Doctor made a disgusted face, his tongue curling out of his mouth. “Rose, where do you get these ideas? Exploding eyeballs? I mean, honestly.” He sighed, the very picture of a long-suffering Time Lord. “Yes, there’s a ‘sort of bubble thing’ creating a breathable environment for us, and no, we’re not going to run out of air. We just have bigger and better things to see, that’s all.”
“You haven’t even properly seen this one yet. Here we are, on top of the—” She paused. “Wait, what’s this place called, again?”
“The Accounting and Actuarial Complex of the Intergalactic Corporate
Rose considered this. “Not exactly what you’d call poetic, is it?”
He grinned. “Not exactly, no. Shall we move on? Onwards and downwards, as they say.”
Her hands went to her hips. “All right, what’s going on with you?”
The Doctor’s expression went suddenly and very carefully blank. "I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve been itchy ever since we got in that lift.”
“I’m always itchy.”
“Itchier.” She watched him through narrowed eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He snorted. “Well, that’s a fairly long list.”
“Doctor.”
“Rose,” he whined, mimicking her.
“Fine.” She jumped up onto the guardrail and sat down, hooking her leg through the railing. “We’ll just wait here until you feel like sharing.”
In two long strides he was out of the lift. “Rose, get down from there right now.”
“I don’t know, Doctor. It’s pretty comfortable. Want to join me?”
He visibly paled. “This isn’t funny, Rose.”
She tapped a finger against her lips. “Are you sure? ‘Cause I think it might be a little bit funny.” She thought for a moment. “Yep. Definitely a little bit funny.”
His eyes rolled starward, as if beseeching someone, somewhere up there for patience. “Look, you want me to share? I’ll share. I’ll share whatever your sadistic little heart desires. Just get down.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and waited.
The Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose and gave a great, pained sigh. “I am not,” he confessed, “particularly fond of heights.”
Rose frowned. “Since when?”
“Since ever.”
“But I can think of loads of times—”
“To save the universe, the planet, the occasional tabby kitten stuck up a tree, yes. For the view?” He shuddered. “Absolutely not.”
She grinned. “You’re scared of heights.”
“I didn’t say scared. I said—”
She slipped down from the railing and looped her arm through his. “It’s all right, Doctor. I won’t let the nasty gravity get you.”
“Oh, you’re a laugh a minute, you are.”
She led him back into the lift and pushed the button for the lobby. “We could always go back and see the galaxy’s biggest ball of twine again, if you wanted.”
The Doctor looked down at her, smiling. “Let’s.”
The lift doors slid shut.
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I think that nails it. Great story, the dialogue between them was a treat with enough subtext to give it a bit of edge.
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;)
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Thanks for reading!
;)
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LOL, so true. I love how you write them together. It's a lovely little fic.
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;)
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Congrats on winning this week's l_a_s! :)
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Shame! Shame!
I've actually been fixated on that moment ever since I first saw the episode. It's always amused me that in the midst of all that nuttiness - murderous pig men and lightening and Daleks in shoes - a little thing like the view from the Empire State building trips him up for a second.
Congrats on winning this week's l_a_s!
Thanks! I don't know about you, but I have no idea what I'm going to do with this week's prompt...
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The Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose and gave a great, pained sigh. “I am not,” he confessed, “particularly fond of heights.”
Poor Doctor! Add on to the heights the fact that he ALWAYS worries about her safety, I could see that scaring him quite a bit.
Congrats on the win!
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And as another commenter mentioned, your line about the Doctor seeing Rose, as she is seeing the universe is a perfect way to sum up these two as they travel across time and space. :D
Wonderful story! :D
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Isn't that just textbook Doctor? Afraid of nothing as long as he's constantly in motion, but as soon as he slows down -BAM- he suddenly becomes much more human (domestic), with simple human fears and all. Wonderful stuff.
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And on a completely random note, as soon as they mentioned the galaxy's biggest ball of twine, my brain went straight to New Earth and cat nurses.
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The Rose/Ten banter is so spot-on, right down to the underlying adoration for each other under all that teasing. Your writing is a treat to read, and I hope to read more from you soon.
Fantastic job!
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