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Whofic written for the 2006 Bubbleficathon, to fulfil joanne_c's request for a hot tub/jacuzzi (preferably on the TARDIS).
Spoilers: All Ninth Doctor eps prior to Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways
Disclaimer: Doctor Who, the concept, the show, the characters, all of it were thought up by other people and do not belong to me. I make no profit from this.
AN: Thanks awfully to kiss_me_cassie for the beta, even though we must agree to disagree on whether CE with his shirt off is worthy of note. ::HUGS::
Distribution: Bubblefic archive, yes. Others please ask.
**********
The explosion was deafening.
Instinctively, Rose ducked, Jack's hand on her back pushing her even farther down.
"He blew up the dam," she gasped.
"Looks that way." Jack grabbed her hand, grinning. "Run!"
They took off along the cliff ridge, far above what had been--until a moment ago--a centuries-old meandering river that had slowly eroded its way through hundreds of feet of rock.
She spared a glance back and down, and the sight of the river's crevasse suddenly foaming nearly to the brim with millions of tons of water made her wish she hadn't. She sped up, Jack easily matching her pace.
For the amount of running she seemed to be doing these days, it mightn't be a bad idea to start working out.
CRASH.
The thundering tidal wave of water smashed into the cliff beside her, sending up spray so forcefully that she lost her balance. Jack caught her, righted her, and soaked to the bone, they both took off again.
Her lungs were burning painfully when she spotted the Doctor, far ahead of them on the other side of the river's crevasse. He was sprinting for the TARDIS, and suddenly she realized that she and Jack had no hope of crossing over to get there.
"He'll pick us up," Jack yelled over the roar of the water. "We need to head for higher ground." Tugging her hand, he pulled her away from the edge of the cliff, into the mass of trees.
She didn't like losing sight of the Doctor, but Jack was right. If the water completely filled the chasm and spilled over, they would be in serious trouble.
Moving through the forest as fast as possible, picking their way through the fallen branches and underbrush, they headed for a hill that jutted up through the trees about half a mile away.
Since they'd had to go slower once they'd entered the forest, she'd managed to catch her breath. She almost lost it again, though, when she saw the base of the hill.
It was not a gentle slope. There were boulders. Sharp rocks. There was going to be climbing involved. About thirty feet up it became a smooth grassy dome, but even that looked steep, and possibly more dangerous since it had no handholds.
"You up for some rock climbing?" Jack asked, casually disregarding the sounds of rushing, roaring water behind them.
"And then a little fell running? Yeah, sure," she said. No point in wasting time.
Jack met her gaze straight on, assuming command as he must have been trained to do at some point in his past. "Right. Here's the plan. Follow me up. Put your hands and feet where I put mine. Maintain three points of contact with the rock at all times--either two feet and one hand, or two hands and one foot."
She nodded. "Got it."
"And don't look down." He grinned.
She managed, somehow, by following his handholds and footholds and his last piece of advice. She didn't think the water was in any immediate danger of engulfing them, but there was no way to be sure, and she wanted to get to the higher ground so that she could look for the Doctor.
Fortunately, the rain didn't start until they'd both clambered onto the ledge of grass above the rocky base of the hill. She looked up at the smooth, steep grassy slope leading to the summit.
"So?" she panted.
"Onwards and upwards," Jack said, still breathing heavily himself.
The rain was just a drizzle, but enough to make the climb miserable. The turf softened a bit under Rose's shoes, though, making it easier for her to dig in as they hiked their way upwards.
After about five minutes, she gave in to temptation and looked over her shoulder. The trees and the river crevasse beyond were clearly visible below her. The water, still rushing, had spilled out over the top of the cliff and into the forest. No doubt there were several feet of water surrounding the trees now.
Squinting, she couldn't see the TARDIS at all.
"You okay?" Jack's voice floated down to her, so she turned back to the grassy slope and followed him up.
She'd hoped the TARDIS would be waiting for them at the summit, but of course, just this once, it wasn't.
"Good climbing, there," Jack told her, lowering himself to the thankfully flat expanse of grass.
"I had a nice view as incentive," she teased, plunking down beside him, ignoring the slight squelch of the wet turf.
"It's always been one of my trademark assets." He threw her a smirk.
A little flirting always passed the time. Unless there was a thunderstorm, which started before she'd even opened her mouth to reply.
The sky opened and water washed down out of the sky. Even though she was already soaked through, Rose shrieked as the icy rain surged over her like a billowing wave.
"It's a good thing we ran away from all that water," Jack yelled cheerfully over the storm.
Shivering and drenched, there was nothing she could do but shake her head and smile. The sky flashed bright white, followed almost immediately by a deafening crack of thunder.
"Thank god we got to the highest hill in the area," she yelled back. "We'll be nice and safe from the storm."
"Foresight on both our parts," he shouted. "Clearly we're both geniuses."
"I was the one who blew up the dam!"
Together they turned, and saw the Doctor leaning casually against the doorjamb of the TARDIS.
"Doctor!" Immediately she was up and running, Jack beside her.
The Doctor stepped back to let them both inside, shutting the door behind them.
Immediately the roaring of the thunderstorm ceased. "Warm towels all around, I suppose?" the Doctor asked politely.
"You're damn right," Jack said.
Rose threw her arms around the Doctor and hugged him hard. "In just a sec."
"Oi! Now I need a towel too!" His arms closed around her anyway.
"That's why I did it," she told him, happy now that they were all safe. Stepping out of his arms, she continued, "You might have mentioned you were going to blow up the place."
He shrugged, grinning down at her. "Didn't know 'til I got there."
"Just seemed like the right thing to do at the time?" she teased, ignoring the fact that her teeth were starting to chatter.
"Absolutely." He headed up to the console and she followed him.
"And the giant clam monster?" Jack asked.
"The Tridacneroid has seen the error of its ways."
"It's dead?" Rose asked, curious.
"Just floating, deprived of its substrate. It can still feed on whatever it finds as it drifts along on gentle eddies--" He paused to fiddle with the console controls. "Or powerful underwater currents as the case may be. Not a bad life."
Rose nodded, focused on the Doctor, and completely missed Jack stripping off his sopping wet t-shirt until...
THWACK.
She screeched and clawed at the cold, dripping fabric covering her face.
"Nice shot," the Doctor laughed.
"You two!" she growled, another wet shiver running up her spine. "Towels. Now." Whipping the t-shirt back at Jack, she took a surreptitious moment to appreciate his bare chest. A girl needed compensations at times like this.
"Nah," the Doctor cut in. "Got something better than that."
She shot him a look.
"Third right, second left, fourth left, through the double doors, down the right-hand staircase and it's the second door you come to."
"Really." She raised her eyebrows.
"Good for what ails ya, I promise." His eyes were wide open and not at all guileless.
She took off out of the console room without another thought.
It was a bit of a run, but somehow she always managed to remember the Doctor's directions when she was in the TARDIS. The thump of Jack's shoes followed behind her--apparently, he wanted to see whatever this was too.
Skipping down the right-hand staircase as fast as she could, she almost ran in to the second door as her feet found level ground.
Cracking the door open, she peered in. It was pitch black inside, but the TARDIS lights came up slowly, bathing the room in a muted golden glow.
"Oh my god."
"Wow!" Jack said from behind her.
"Is that--is that a giant, mauve...It must be twenty feet wide!"
Jack pushed past her into the room. "A full-size quartz carcallan with--" he dipped his hand into the steaming water. "Oh. Oh, yes." He looked up at Rose and then past her.
The Doctor had appeared in the doorway. "Yes." He grinned.
"Fully integrated electro-oscillating granules?" Jack asked.
"Of course."
Rose looked at each of them in turn, shook her head, and started tugging off her jumper. "Okay. Well, I don't care what you call it, it looks like a gigantic spa bath and I'm going in."
"Ditto." Jack stripped down to a pair of tight black briefs and slipped into the water before she was even halfway undressed.
"A bit modest there," she observed with a smile.
Jack had already submerged himself up to his neck at the far end of the bath. "Hey, you'll want the knickers. It can get a little gritty in these things."
She made a face. "Gritty?"
"In a good way," the Doctor told her. "Go on, get in. It'll warm you up."
The water was deep enough to come up to her chest when she stood, and she sank down, sighing with pleasure as the heat surrounded her.
Jack nodded at one wall of the bath. "There's a seat there you should take advantage of."
She made her way over and sat down. The water came up over her shoulders and she let out a little moan as the chill left her body. "Oh, that's good."
Jack had been right. The seat and the wall were a teensy bit gritty--she could feel it even through her undies. Though against her back...she shifted, and the slightly abrasive surface of the wall scratched pleasurably across her shoulder blades. Actually, that felt good. She arched her back and shifted again. Very good.
The Doctor squatted at the rim of the bath and ducked his head down. "Gritty in a good way?"
"Yes!" She blinked up at him.
"It's the granules. They can sense all those tiny electric shocks that tickle through your nervous system, and align themselves in an oscillating..."
"Oh, for crying out loud, Doctor," Jack interrupted. "Just turn it on."
The Doctor grinned. "Right, then." He got up, went over to the wall and pulled a lever.
The water shimmered, rippling. The lavender quartz glowed.
Faintly, so faintly, her skin began to tingle. She looked over at Jack; his eyes were closed, a blissful expression on his face.
"Like it?" asked the Doctor, crouching down at the edge of the bath again.
"It's amazing!" she breathed.
"Better than rain, anyway."
"It's...it's...I don't know what it is," she said. "It's really warm, and it's, like, massaging me?"
"Yeah. Feedback currents in the water."
"And it tingles..." She let out her breath and sank herself deeper.
The Doctor sat back on his heels. "I'd forgotten how you humans react to this thing. Go to jelly, you do."
"Mmmmm..." The water swirled heated and steaming around her, making her forget that she'd recently climbed a sizeable hill. "I don't really care if I am, right now."
He chuckled. "Fair enough."
"Why don't you come join us, Doctor?" Jack called out. "Enjoy some of the jelly yourself."
"Doesn't affect me the way it does you lot."
"But it affects you a bit, right?" Rose prodded.
"A bit." The Doctor wrinkled his nose.
"You wouldn't have it in here if you didn't use it."
"I'm nine hundred years old, Rose, there's all sorts of things I've used once or twice and not again."
"Is this like the dancing thing?" she asked. "Because you'd forgotten that..."
"I remember perfectly well now," the Doctor said, defensive. "I can dance with the best of them, me. Nothing is truly forgotten, Rose, not in this clever mind of mine."
"You needed some incentive to remember how to dance, if I recall correctly," Jack said, grinning unrepentently. "A little pressure to perform..."
"You hush," the Doctor said.
Rose tried and failed to stifle a blush. Hastily, she said, "Well, you're coming in, and that's all there is to it."
"Am I?"
She splashed some water at him. "You are."
"Oi!"
"Don't make me come out and get you," Jack said. "I get grumpy when my bath is interrupted."
"I'm the same way," Rose joined in.
The Doctor looked down at both of them, Rose, then Jack, then Rose again. His jaw tightened, just a little. "Fine."
Rose couldn't stop her delighted smile as he straightened. With one quick, definitive motion, he shrugged off his jacket. As if he had something to prove. She loved when he was in that mood. His gaze held hers as he swiftly stripped down to a pair of shorts.
She couldn't help it. Her gaze dipped. He had two hearts, so who knew what was actually under there, but she was conditioned to look anyway. Just as well the shorts were too loose for her to see anything.
He was lowering himself into the bath and sinking down in the water up to his neck before she could check out any more.
"Not bad, Doctor." Jack apparently was a more efficient observer.
"I try."
"Is it at all enjoyable to a higher life form such as yourself?" Rose asked, smirking.
"A bit."
"As good as you remembered?"
"Maybe a little bit better," he allowed.
"Better than dancing?"
His lips twitched into a half-grin, and he sank deeper into the bath. "Nothing's better than dancing, Rose."
Smiling, she exhaled and leaned back, letting the pleasurably warm, tingling currents caress her skin. "Well, we might just have to test that."
END
Spoilers: All Ninth Doctor eps prior to Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways
Disclaimer: Doctor Who, the concept, the show, the characters, all of it were thought up by other people and do not belong to me. I make no profit from this.
AN: Thanks awfully to kiss_me_cassie for the beta, even though we must agree to disagree on whether CE with his shirt off is worthy of note. ::HUGS::
Distribution: Bubblefic archive, yes. Others please ask.
**********
The explosion was deafening.
Instinctively, Rose ducked, Jack's hand on her back pushing her even farther down.
"He blew up the dam," she gasped.
"Looks that way." Jack grabbed her hand, grinning. "Run!"
They took off along the cliff ridge, far above what had been--until a moment ago--a centuries-old meandering river that had slowly eroded its way through hundreds of feet of rock.
She spared a glance back and down, and the sight of the river's crevasse suddenly foaming nearly to the brim with millions of tons of water made her wish she hadn't. She sped up, Jack easily matching her pace.
For the amount of running she seemed to be doing these days, it mightn't be a bad idea to start working out.
CRASH.
The thundering tidal wave of water smashed into the cliff beside her, sending up spray so forcefully that she lost her balance. Jack caught her, righted her, and soaked to the bone, they both took off again.
Her lungs were burning painfully when she spotted the Doctor, far ahead of them on the other side of the river's crevasse. He was sprinting for the TARDIS, and suddenly she realized that she and Jack had no hope of crossing over to get there.
"He'll pick us up," Jack yelled over the roar of the water. "We need to head for higher ground." Tugging her hand, he pulled her away from the edge of the cliff, into the mass of trees.
She didn't like losing sight of the Doctor, but Jack was right. If the water completely filled the chasm and spilled over, they would be in serious trouble.
Moving through the forest as fast as possible, picking their way through the fallen branches and underbrush, they headed for a hill that jutted up through the trees about half a mile away.
Since they'd had to go slower once they'd entered the forest, she'd managed to catch her breath. She almost lost it again, though, when she saw the base of the hill.
It was not a gentle slope. There were boulders. Sharp rocks. There was going to be climbing involved. About thirty feet up it became a smooth grassy dome, but even that looked steep, and possibly more dangerous since it had no handholds.
"You up for some rock climbing?" Jack asked, casually disregarding the sounds of rushing, roaring water behind them.
"And then a little fell running? Yeah, sure," she said. No point in wasting time.
Jack met her gaze straight on, assuming command as he must have been trained to do at some point in his past. "Right. Here's the plan. Follow me up. Put your hands and feet where I put mine. Maintain three points of contact with the rock at all times--either two feet and one hand, or two hands and one foot."
She nodded. "Got it."
"And don't look down." He grinned.
She managed, somehow, by following his handholds and footholds and his last piece of advice. She didn't think the water was in any immediate danger of engulfing them, but there was no way to be sure, and she wanted to get to the higher ground so that she could look for the Doctor.
Fortunately, the rain didn't start until they'd both clambered onto the ledge of grass above the rocky base of the hill. She looked up at the smooth, steep grassy slope leading to the summit.
"So?" she panted.
"Onwards and upwards," Jack said, still breathing heavily himself.
The rain was just a drizzle, but enough to make the climb miserable. The turf softened a bit under Rose's shoes, though, making it easier for her to dig in as they hiked their way upwards.
After about five minutes, she gave in to temptation and looked over her shoulder. The trees and the river crevasse beyond were clearly visible below her. The water, still rushing, had spilled out over the top of the cliff and into the forest. No doubt there were several feet of water surrounding the trees now.
Squinting, she couldn't see the TARDIS at all.
"You okay?" Jack's voice floated down to her, so she turned back to the grassy slope and followed him up.
She'd hoped the TARDIS would be waiting for them at the summit, but of course, just this once, it wasn't.
"Good climbing, there," Jack told her, lowering himself to the thankfully flat expanse of grass.
"I had a nice view as incentive," she teased, plunking down beside him, ignoring the slight squelch of the wet turf.
"It's always been one of my trademark assets." He threw her a smirk.
A little flirting always passed the time. Unless there was a thunderstorm, which started before she'd even opened her mouth to reply.
The sky opened and water washed down out of the sky. Even though she was already soaked through, Rose shrieked as the icy rain surged over her like a billowing wave.
"It's a good thing we ran away from all that water," Jack yelled cheerfully over the storm.
Shivering and drenched, there was nothing she could do but shake her head and smile. The sky flashed bright white, followed almost immediately by a deafening crack of thunder.
"Thank god we got to the highest hill in the area," she yelled back. "We'll be nice and safe from the storm."
"Foresight on both our parts," he shouted. "Clearly we're both geniuses."
"I was the one who blew up the dam!"
Together they turned, and saw the Doctor leaning casually against the doorjamb of the TARDIS.
"Doctor!" Immediately she was up and running, Jack beside her.
The Doctor stepped back to let them both inside, shutting the door behind them.
Immediately the roaring of the thunderstorm ceased. "Warm towels all around, I suppose?" the Doctor asked politely.
"You're damn right," Jack said.
Rose threw her arms around the Doctor and hugged him hard. "In just a sec."
"Oi! Now I need a towel too!" His arms closed around her anyway.
"That's why I did it," she told him, happy now that they were all safe. Stepping out of his arms, she continued, "You might have mentioned you were going to blow up the place."
He shrugged, grinning down at her. "Didn't know 'til I got there."
"Just seemed like the right thing to do at the time?" she teased, ignoring the fact that her teeth were starting to chatter.
"Absolutely." He headed up to the console and she followed him.
"And the giant clam monster?" Jack asked.
"The Tridacneroid has seen the error of its ways."
"It's dead?" Rose asked, curious.
"Just floating, deprived of its substrate. It can still feed on whatever it finds as it drifts along on gentle eddies--" He paused to fiddle with the console controls. "Or powerful underwater currents as the case may be. Not a bad life."
Rose nodded, focused on the Doctor, and completely missed Jack stripping off his sopping wet t-shirt until...
THWACK.
She screeched and clawed at the cold, dripping fabric covering her face.
"Nice shot," the Doctor laughed.
"You two!" she growled, another wet shiver running up her spine. "Towels. Now." Whipping the t-shirt back at Jack, she took a surreptitious moment to appreciate his bare chest. A girl needed compensations at times like this.
"Nah," the Doctor cut in. "Got something better than that."
She shot him a look.
"Third right, second left, fourth left, through the double doors, down the right-hand staircase and it's the second door you come to."
"Really." She raised her eyebrows.
"Good for what ails ya, I promise." His eyes were wide open and not at all guileless.
She took off out of the console room without another thought.
It was a bit of a run, but somehow she always managed to remember the Doctor's directions when she was in the TARDIS. The thump of Jack's shoes followed behind her--apparently, he wanted to see whatever this was too.
Skipping down the right-hand staircase as fast as she could, she almost ran in to the second door as her feet found level ground.
Cracking the door open, she peered in. It was pitch black inside, but the TARDIS lights came up slowly, bathing the room in a muted golden glow.
"Oh my god."
"Wow!" Jack said from behind her.
"Is that--is that a giant, mauve...It must be twenty feet wide!"
Jack pushed past her into the room. "A full-size quartz carcallan with--" he dipped his hand into the steaming water. "Oh. Oh, yes." He looked up at Rose and then past her.
The Doctor had appeared in the doorway. "Yes." He grinned.
"Fully integrated electro-oscillating granules?" Jack asked.
"Of course."
Rose looked at each of them in turn, shook her head, and started tugging off her jumper. "Okay. Well, I don't care what you call it, it looks like a gigantic spa bath and I'm going in."
"Ditto." Jack stripped down to a pair of tight black briefs and slipped into the water before she was even halfway undressed.
"A bit modest there," she observed with a smile.
Jack had already submerged himself up to his neck at the far end of the bath. "Hey, you'll want the knickers. It can get a little gritty in these things."
She made a face. "Gritty?"
"In a good way," the Doctor told her. "Go on, get in. It'll warm you up."
The water was deep enough to come up to her chest when she stood, and she sank down, sighing with pleasure as the heat surrounded her.
Jack nodded at one wall of the bath. "There's a seat there you should take advantage of."
She made her way over and sat down. The water came up over her shoulders and she let out a little moan as the chill left her body. "Oh, that's good."
Jack had been right. The seat and the wall were a teensy bit gritty--she could feel it even through her undies. Though against her back...she shifted, and the slightly abrasive surface of the wall scratched pleasurably across her shoulder blades. Actually, that felt good. She arched her back and shifted again. Very good.
The Doctor squatted at the rim of the bath and ducked his head down. "Gritty in a good way?"
"Yes!" She blinked up at him.
"It's the granules. They can sense all those tiny electric shocks that tickle through your nervous system, and align themselves in an oscillating..."
"Oh, for crying out loud, Doctor," Jack interrupted. "Just turn it on."
The Doctor grinned. "Right, then." He got up, went over to the wall and pulled a lever.
The water shimmered, rippling. The lavender quartz glowed.
Faintly, so faintly, her skin began to tingle. She looked over at Jack; his eyes were closed, a blissful expression on his face.
"Like it?" asked the Doctor, crouching down at the edge of the bath again.
"It's amazing!" she breathed.
"Better than rain, anyway."
"It's...it's...I don't know what it is," she said. "It's really warm, and it's, like, massaging me?"
"Yeah. Feedback currents in the water."
"And it tingles..." She let out her breath and sank herself deeper.
The Doctor sat back on his heels. "I'd forgotten how you humans react to this thing. Go to jelly, you do."
"Mmmmm..." The water swirled heated and steaming around her, making her forget that she'd recently climbed a sizeable hill. "I don't really care if I am, right now."
He chuckled. "Fair enough."
"Why don't you come join us, Doctor?" Jack called out. "Enjoy some of the jelly yourself."
"Doesn't affect me the way it does you lot."
"But it affects you a bit, right?" Rose prodded.
"A bit." The Doctor wrinkled his nose.
"You wouldn't have it in here if you didn't use it."
"I'm nine hundred years old, Rose, there's all sorts of things I've used once or twice and not again."
"Is this like the dancing thing?" she asked. "Because you'd forgotten that..."
"I remember perfectly well now," the Doctor said, defensive. "I can dance with the best of them, me. Nothing is truly forgotten, Rose, not in this clever mind of mine."
"You needed some incentive to remember how to dance, if I recall correctly," Jack said, grinning unrepentently. "A little pressure to perform..."
"You hush," the Doctor said.
Rose tried and failed to stifle a blush. Hastily, she said, "Well, you're coming in, and that's all there is to it."
"Am I?"
She splashed some water at him. "You are."
"Oi!"
"Don't make me come out and get you," Jack said. "I get grumpy when my bath is interrupted."
"I'm the same way," Rose joined in.
The Doctor looked down at both of them, Rose, then Jack, then Rose again. His jaw tightened, just a little. "Fine."
Rose couldn't stop her delighted smile as he straightened. With one quick, definitive motion, he shrugged off his jacket. As if he had something to prove. She loved when he was in that mood. His gaze held hers as he swiftly stripped down to a pair of shorts.
She couldn't help it. Her gaze dipped. He had two hearts, so who knew what was actually under there, but she was conditioned to look anyway. Just as well the shorts were too loose for her to see anything.
He was lowering himself into the bath and sinking down in the water up to his neck before she could check out any more.
"Not bad, Doctor." Jack apparently was a more efficient observer.
"I try."
"Is it at all enjoyable to a higher life form such as yourself?" Rose asked, smirking.
"A bit."
"As good as you remembered?"
"Maybe a little bit better," he allowed.
"Better than dancing?"
His lips twitched into a half-grin, and he sank deeper into the bath. "Nothing's better than dancing, Rose."
Smiling, she exhaled and leaned back, letting the pleasurably warm, tingling currents caress her skin. "Well, we might just have to test that."
END
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