Sweet as Sugar

Sweet as Sugar Chapter Twelve

Disclaimers Apply

A/N HUGE thanks and glomps to Foxy for betaing across fandoms! *muse kibble * And huge thanks to Gomalley and Venefican for their eagly eyes!

“I think you’ve finally reached the end of the sonic screwdriver’s usefulness,” Rose sighed, eyeing the poor piece of equipment as it lay, smoking on the floor. “For some reason, I always thought Machines of the Future wouldn’t smoke when they were broken.”

The Doctor frowned. He heard the sarcastic capitalization in Rose’s voice but chose to ignore it. “It just needs a rest,” he said, a tinge of sadness in his voice for his favorite tool. He glanced up at the panel he had been trying to open and smiled slightly. “Thanks, old girl,” he muttered, stretching onto his tip-toes and slipping his fingertips under one dislodged corner. “Jack, help me pull this off!”

“What? Like I’m not strong enough?” Rose pouted. She did not know why she suddenly felt so contrary, just that her feelings were hurt that the Doctor immediately asked Jack for help while she was standing right there at his elbow, ready to do some theoretical heavy lifting.

“No, you’re not clothed enough,” the Doctor retorted, his eyes on the panel as he winced, the weight of the metal pressing against his fingertips and making them white and painful. “Jack? If you don’t mind?”

Jack blinked himself out of a doze and stood, stretching nearly obscenely in his mesh thong. If it were not for the ease he had with his body and his lack of shame at nudity, Rose thought, it would have been downright perverted. “Sure thing,” Jack replied around a yawn. “That floor is damned uncomfortable anyway.”

Rose frowned. “I thought you said you couldn’t see me as a piece of totty,” she protested. “So what does it matter if you see my bum?”

Jack raised a brow as he wriggled his fingers under one loose corner of the panel. “You seemed to think it mattered quite a bit less than an hour ago,” he pointed out, cursing softly under his breath as the metal pinched his fingers. “Pull on the count of three, Doc.”

“Doctor,” the Time Lord corrected him. “Not Doc. Doctor.” He paused. “On three or right after three?”

“One, two, three, Pull,” Jack grunted.

“Now?”

“Not yet… when I say three.”

Rose barely managed to stop herself from stomping her foot in frustration. “Just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I’m not able to do this sort of thing, you know!”

“Rose,” the Doctor said quietly, his voice hard, “this is not the time or place to pick a fight with me. We are going to get this panel open, crawl through to the outer wall, and get back to the TARDIS. Then you can pick a fight with me all you like about how I am a sexist alien.” He glanced at her, noting her red cheeks and her narrowed eyes. This, he thought with a mental sigh, is going to be a long day.

“One, two, three!” Jack shouted, pulling has hard as he could. He and the Doctor put their weight behind the effort but the panel only creaked in protest, leaving them with sore, reddened fingers. “Damn it!” he snarled, hitting the wall with his fist. “Now what?”

“I don’t suppose,” Rose said before the Doctor could speak, “that you have one of your lasers on you, Jack? You’re wearing a thong, after all… plenty of hiding spots in that.” She shouldered past the Doctor and Jack, her eyes on the panel. “Leg up,” she ordered, reaching her hands up towards the elusive exit. When no one knelt to offer her help, she sighed. “Leg up, please. Look, I know what I said earlier but right now I think I can deal with a bit of embarrassment. Just do me a favor and close your eyes, alright?” She wiggled her fingers as she stretched towards the hatch. “Please?”

The Doctor sighed, ignoring Jack’s grin, and dropped to one knee beside Rose. “Right. Here, put your foot in,” he instructed, making a stirrup of his hands. Rose hesitated, glancing at Jack. The Doctor sighed again, this time more aggrieved than anything. “Would you rather have him down here or me?” he asked, one brow raised.

“Good point,” she muttered, stepping carefully onto his interlaced fingers. The Doctor dutifully closed his eyes and Jack turned away as she pushed herself up, wobbling slightly as she reached for the panel. “I can almost reach this top corner,” she said, a tinge of excitement in her voice. “Hand me the screwdriver!” she said, waving one hand in Jack’s general direction, then squeaking in dismay as she wobbled more violently than before. “Doctor! Hold me still!”

“That’s rather difficult to do in this state,” he replied. He opened one eye and felt his mouth go dry. Rose’s bare calf was mere centimeters from his face and shaking ever so slightly with the exertion of balancing. “Jack, hand her the screwdriver.”

“It’s busted,” the other man pointed out unnecessarily even as he handed the device to Rose. “I don’t know what you think you’re going to do with it.” He glanced at Rose and smirked. “I said it once and I’ll say it again…”

“Do and die,” Rose shot back, cutting him off. “Doctor, please hold me steady!”

“Here, I got it,” Jack put in, his hands going to Rose’s hips. To his credit, he did not grope her or ogle her, despite her fears to the contrary. Instead, he held her steady, his hands firmly on her hips and his eyes on the panel.

The Doctor closed both eyes again, gritting his teeth. This is not the time, he scolded himself. This is not the time to think of that. He could smell the faint tinge of sweat on her skin, feel the tremble in her body as she worked the screwdriver, and he hissed at the sudden, vivid picture that came to his mind’s eye.

“Am I hurting you?” Rose muttered, wobbling again. “Am I too heavy?”

“No, no,” the Doctor replied hurried. “Just… don’t waste time.” Rose snorted in reply but did not speak again, instead she started to hum under her breath, cursing as the panel refused to budge. “Damn it. It’s like something is holding it in form the other side!” She dropped the screwdriver and announced, “My fingers are smaller than yours. Maybe I can get a better grip.” The panel, about a yard wide and a yard tall, rattled ominously as she slid her fingers under the metal. “Ouch!”

The Doctor opened his eyes again, his face flooding with color as he realized he was looking directly at Rose’s bottom instead of up at the panel. Jack grinned down at him and winked. “So you do have blood in your veins,” the con man murmured, laughing softly at the Doctor’s blush.

“What’s he mean by that?” Rose demanded, trying to look down at the Doctor without falling. “Doctor, what’s Jack on about?”

“Nothing,” the Doctor replied. “Are you injured?”

“Just a pinch,” she said, her tone bespeaking annoyance at being left out of a secret conversation.

“You know, I think that’s just what the Doctor was thinking,” Jack put in casually, avoiding the Doctor’s glare. “Tell me, Doc, you ever dance much these days?”

“Shut. Up.” The Doctor made a mental note to find an airlock to send Jack out of as soon as they made it out of their impromptu cell. “Rose, are you nearly done?”

“Nearly,” she replied. “DUCK!” She pressed herself against the wall, nearly losing her balance as the panel fell away. Jack pressed himself against her as the metal fell past his head and the Doctor managed to avoid being hit by a narrow margin.

Before he could ask Rose if she were alright, the Doctor felt her weight leaving his grasp. “Just a moment,” he cried. “You don’t know what’s in there!”

“HELP!” Rose’s feet were rapidly disappearing into the vent shaft. “DOCTOR! JACK! HELP!” Her screams were echoing in the metal room and shaft, the sounds of her struggles loud in the small space.

“ROSE!” Jack and the Doctor shouted as one. They both leapt for her feet, the Doctor managing to grab one ankle while Jack took hold of the other. “Rose,” the Doctor cried, “can you see what it is?”

“Let me go!” she screamed, and the sounds of her fists making contact with flesh were clearly heard. “Stop it! No!”

“It’s still pulling her,” Jack grunted. “We’re going to tear her in two!”

“Let me go,” Rose shouted again. “ It hurts! Doctor, let me go!”

“Never,” he spat. “Never!”