FIC: The Lady in the Fireplace, 5/32

[loveslashangst]

Story: The Lady in the Fireplace
Author: Melinda Kitty melindakitty
Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Reinette, King of France and (eventually) Ninth Doctor
Rated: oh, so Adult for slash, bisexuality, mature content, language, abuse of REALLY good champagne, and lots and lots of sex (multiple pairings/groupings)
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, 'cause if I did, Rose would be more BadWolf and less Angst, Ten would post a sign on the door sayin' "If the TARDIS is a rockin', don't come a knockin'", and half of their adventures through time and space would consist of finding new and unusual places to have a juicy shag.
Spoilers: AU, DURING "The Girl in the Fireplace". If you haven't seen the first three series of Doctor Who, you WILL be spoilered. I like to mess with canon. And you have my word that -- despite how this starts -- I'm a passionate Rose/Ten shipper.
Summary: OTP Rose/Ten with a lot of interesting liaisons along the way. So what exactly DID Ten do in Versailles? This French farce will have love, drama, sex, and eventually as close to a happy ending as I can manage. Be forewarned, though, I may take you places that would make RTD's head explode.

In which the King finds out what Rose is made of, Reinette shows her a very different kind of mirror, and Mickey gets a decent snog.

(And I hope that set off your WTF meter to read,’cause it sure as hell set off mine to type.)



“Forgive us,” the King says smoothly. “We meant no offence.” He reaches around Rose to refill her glass from the bottle of champagne. She watches the golden liquid swirl. His breath sighs past her ear. He’s warm and masculine and she’s suddenly a little too aware of how lovely he smells. He nuzzles her ear. “The Lord of Time is a fool.”

Her breath catches in her throat. She’s being hit on by royalty. Really cute royalty.

He kisses up the side of her neck. The sensation shivers straight down her spine. She clutches the glass tight so she can’t drop it. Arches into the touch of his mouth in spite of herself. Breathes a little faster. His arm is strong at her waist.

And then she remembers how pissed off she was a minute ago that the Doctor let himself be seduced. Pot kettle. She stiffens. “Majesty, please...”

A velvet chuckle by her ear. She represses the delicious shiver. “A steadfast unrequited.” The King sounds intrigued. “We had not thought to envy him. Come, we will bait the trap.”

Thinking. Thinking would be good right about now. Thinking and fury. What would the Bad Wolf do? “I... I think you’ve lost me, Your Majesty.”

With a grin, the King sets down his champagne. Returns to the bed. Gently kisses The Bint awake. Covers her mouth when she moves to speak. Flicks his eyes at the Doctor, who is still dead to the world. Bends. Whispers in her ear.

The Bint looks up at Rose. Smiles sadly. “So soon?”

The King holds a robe for The Bint. With a sigh, she carefully pries herself out of the Doctor’s arms.

(Oh, he is SUCH a dead man. That is, if it’s even possible to kill him. Then again, with that whole regeneration thing she might get to kill him more than once. Ooooh. That has things to recommend it, don’t it?)

The Bint holds out both hands in greeting to Rose, who takes them by reflex. She kisses both Rose’s cheeks quickly, a very Continental hello. “I knew you’d find a way, though I confess I would that you’d left me some of the night.”

Now Rose is thoroughly confused. “I... I’m sorry, have I missed something?”

“You are his future,” says Reinette, “while I, weary traveller, am but the shadow of his past.”

Rose blinks in disbelief. “You... You want me to take him?”

“Want?” She gives a painful laugh. “No, Rose. I love him. Who would want to lose him so soon?” She swallows hard. Smiles bravely. “But he showed me what he is years ago, and now I must finish treading the path onto which he and the nightmares set me. I knew the price I would pay, and it was worth it.” She smiles with a kind of knowing sadness, and in that moment Rose can see why the Doctor feels for her.

“I have bourn this too long.” Reinette takes Rose’s face in her hands. Cool, strong hands.

Reinette stares at her, surprised. “Extraordinary. Look. Follow me there.”

And suddenly it’s as though Rose can turn the memories in The Bint’s head like the pages of a book. And not just hers, shadows of others. Many others. All others. The Bad Wolf sees everything. Knows everything. Has been everywhere. Everywhen. If she reaches for it, the whole of Time will open before her.

“No,” says Reinete. “It’s too much. Focus only on what you want.”

Him. The Doctor. His life opens to her. And she knows him backwards and forwards and...

Tears spring to her eyes at the enormity of the gift. It was there all along. The ninth didn’t take it all.

“Beautiful, isn’t he?” says Reinette.

“How did you know?” Her throat closes down, even as her mind expands, almost without end, to embrace the hundreds of years of the Doctor’s lives.

“I knew him.”

Nodding, Rose closes her eyes. Concentrates. It goes by so quickly she scarcely has the chance to absorb it all. Like trying to skim too large of a book in a matter of minutes. Sensations. Actions. Emotions. (Not very many of those. Seems the Doctor has always been stoic.) Lives. Lives. Lives. Even a love or two. Have to come back to those later. Oooh. And some naughty bits. She grins.

“Slowly.” Reinette’s hands anchor her in time. In this pitiful shell of a body. “Slowly. See what you most want to see.”

Rose sees herself through the Doctor’s eyes. Her smile. Her laugh. A determined look. A thousand stolen moments when she thought he wasn’t paying attention. But he has done. He’s always done. She’s fascinated him from the get go.

Tears spill from the corners of her eyes.

“But keep in mind that he doesn’t see you, Rose,” says Reinette softly. “Even though he’s always watching. And angel though he might be, the poor fool has convinced himself that he dare not love again. That he does not deserve it because of who and what he is.”

“But that’s rubbish.”

“Perhaps. He and I have much in common. We both have made sacrifices for the good of the kingdom.”

Mercifully, Reinette pulls her back before the whole tumble-in-Versailles-and-shag-the-King thing can begin. Good thing, that. Some things would be just too much to handle.

“Thank you,” Rose says. The words don’t even seem adequate. She can only hope Reinette knows how deeply she means them.

“You are welcome.”

After a long moment, she opens her eyes. The world seems such a small place. She can sense everything in the room. Each texture. Color. Solid. The beating of the King’s heart. The sigh and double beats of the Doctor’s. The soft rise and fall of Reinette’s breathing. And the shadows of the past and promise of the future. Such a hard road ahead. So much left to be done. It’ll take some time and some doing, but she’ll manage it all.

She looks at Reinette with new eyes. “Funny... I was ready to kill you a moment ago.”

“Who’s afraid of Le Mechant Loup?” says Reinette.

Rose’s heart beats faster. The Bint knows. She’s seen that too. The Doctor must be braver -- or stupider -- than she thought to risk a shag with this bird.

Nodding, Reinette brushes a stray strand of hair from Rose’s eyes. “I envy you. His Companion.”

“‘Companion’.” She gives a bitter laugh at the old wound. “Might as well be the family dog for all he cares. I could flash my tits in his face and he’d just offer a cuppa and ask where he’d put his sonic screwdriver.”

“I see.” Reinette sounds intrigued. “Even after everything, you fail to understand the sheer magnitude of what you have and what you are. An angel in potential, but a fool in comprehension.”

She bristles at that. “I’m not a fool.”

Reinette takes her hands. Rose lets her, surprised at how easy it is to just fall under The Bint’s spell. No wonder the King fancies her. “We are all fools,” says Reintte. “Even you, who have seen all the aeons. Time without measure. Distant places so vast one can hardly conceive of them. Races that were and are and will be.”

This bird is scary, and so is this feeling. Like her body ain’t quite big enough to contain her anymore. “Time as a living, breathing thing.” She nods. “That’s why he’s addicted to it.”

“And part of the reason you had to find him.” Reinette takes the King’s glass of champagne. Sips it. “Being trapped in only one time and only one place would be worse than death for a man who doesn’t belong to anyone, who isn’t truly from anywhere, and who cannot truly die.”

If she listens to this bird much longer, SHE is going to fall in love with her. She takes another sip of her neglected champagne. “So where does that leave us?”

“In a very interesting place.” Reinette gives a truly wicked grin. “Are you up for a bit of sport?”

“You’re not my type.” But she grins in spite of herself. Then she remembers Mickey. “Oh. Wait. Hang on a mo’.”

She goes to the door. Takes the key off the table. Opens the door. Stops dead. “Here now! What’s this?”

Mickey and a rather dashing footman break apart from a rather passionate snog. Mickey, shaking, has the decency to look embarrassed. “I... uh... Rose. This is Jean-Claude.”

She smiles. It’s over. Thank God. She goes over to Jean-Claude, who gives her a look of arrogance he clearly doesn’t feel.

Rose gives him the quick double-kiss on the cheeks. “Jean-Claude. I wish you happy.”

“You’re not upset?” Mickey looks like he can’t decide whether to dance for joy or run for his life.

“Not at all.” And she actually means it. “Carry on.”

She closes and locks the door just as they resume their snog. Returns to Reinette and the King. She really should feel badly about Mickey, but who didn’t see that one coming?

The King hides a suave snicker behind his hand. Reinette elbows him.

“Come.” Reinette offers one hand to the King and the other to Rose. “This is the plan.”


CHAPTER ONE: COMING IN, Part I
CHAPTER ONE: COMING IN, Part II
CHAPTER TWO: COMING ABOUT
CHAPTER THREE: COMING THROUGH, Part I

Crossposted to time_and_chips