Title: All Defenses Down
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Mick St. John
Fandom: Doctor Who/Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Table: DIY, 100_situations
Prompt: 34, Defenseless
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Tenth Doctor or Mick St. John, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Mick followed the Doctor back into the Tardis, sighing as he closed the door and watched the Time Lord stomp up the steps to the console. The Doctor pressed a few buttons, pointedly ignoring Mick as the familiar sensation of time and space displacement swept over them.

"Doctor, you can't stay mad at me," Mick finally said, watching the Time Lord as he spoke. "What was I supposed to do, just stand there and let those .... creatures .... attack you? I know you can take care of yourself, but I'm not going to stand back and do nothing when you're threatened."

"I'm not angry at you," the Doctor said, sighing and shaking his head, but not looking up at Mick. "I'm angry about the situation. I should never have blundered into something like that, where you felt that you had to rush in to rescue me from some threat."

"You can't deny that it was a threat," Mick protested, wanting to reach out and touch the Doctor's shoulder, but not daring to do so. After all, he didn't want to feel rebuffed if the Doctor shook off his touch. "They might have tried to kill you."

"Mick, I'm over nine hundred years old," the Doctor said, straightening up to his full height and finally turning to look at his lover. "I haven't survived to be this age by not knowing a few things about survival. I'm hardly as defenseless as you're making me out to be."

"I never said that!" Mick protested, offended that the Doctor would think such a thing. "I've never thought you were defenseless, not even that first night we met when I saved you from those vamps who were out to get you. I know you can take care of yourself."

"Then why do you seem to think that you have to come running to my rescue any time it looks like I might be in some sort of trouble?" The Doctor's tone was veering towards annoyance, and Mick felt frustrated at not being able to put his feelings into words.

"Neither of us is defenseless, Doctor," he said, trying to keep his voice even and controlled. The last thing he needed was to lose his temper; he didn't want the two of them to fight, not when he still felt shaken by what had nearly happened on the planet they'd just left.

He had been so convinced that those creatures they had encountered meant to kill the Doctor; the Time Lord had seemed completely unprepared to face what might have been his death. Mick had done the only thing he knew how to do -- descended upon those creatures in full ravening vampire fury.

He'd killed two of them; the other two had turned and bolted, and he hadn't bothered going after them. He was sure that he'd made the point that no one would threaten the Doctor as long as he was around -- but the Doctor hadn't seemed overly thrilled by that assertion.

"What did you expect me to do?" he continued, trying to stop his emotions from clouding his voice. "Just stand there and think that they might kill you, and do nothing about it? Did you expect me to watch the man I love face death right there in front of me?"

The Doctor sighed again, shaking his head slowly and running a hand through his hair. "No, of course not, when you put it like that," he said, his tone softer than it had been. "I just don't want you thinking that I'm sort of defenseless child who you have to protect."

"A child?" Mick almost wanted to laugh at that idea. "Doctor, that's the last thing I think you are. You've been around a lot longer than anybody else I've ever met. And you can handle yourself better in a crisis than anybody else I know, too."

For just a moment, his mind went back to Josef; his former lover was the only man he'd ever known who was as resourceful as the Doctor when it came to taking care of himself in a dire situation. He'd learned a lot of what he himself knew about protecting himself from Josef's tutelage.

"Please don't take my concern for you the wrong way," he pleaded, spreading his hands out in front of him. "I don't want you to feel like you're being treated like a child who can't take care of himself. I just .... I came to your rescue because I love you, and I want to protect you."

The Doctor's dark eyes met his, their gazes locking; Mick could tell in an instant that the Time Lord forgave him for anything he had done that might have made the other man feel annoyed. He held out his arms, tilting his head to the side and smiling at his lover.

He couldn't have said exactly when it happened, but suddenly, the Doctor was in his arms and their lips met. The kiss took his breath away; all he could think of was how much he loved and wanted this man, the lengths he would go to for the Doctor to be safe.

It didn't matter if his lover was annoyed at him for being overprotective; he would do the same thing if they had to relive that experience. There was nothing he wouldn't do to ensure the safety of the love of his life, no sacrifice that he wouldn't make to protect him.

When they finally pulled away from the kiss, Mick found himself panting slightly, more than ready to carry the Doctor off to their bedroom and make love to him. But the Time Lord raised a hand, pressing gentle fingers against Mick's lips, obviously wanting to say something.

"Neither of us are defenseless, love," he whispered, his dark gaze meeting Mick's blue one. "Just try to remember that you don't have to throw yourself into the path of danger for me. But don't feel that it's not appreciated. And you know that I would do the same for you."

Mick nodded, swallowing back the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. Of course he knew that the Doctor would do anything to protect him. And if he was honest, he would probably be a little annoyed if his lover came to his rescue any time there was trouble.

Josef had always been the same way; he had often said that Mick had some kind of mothering complex when it came to the people he cared about. Maybe his former boyfriend had been right; he did seem to have a compulsion to protect people.

That was one of the reasons he'd become a private detective, after all. And he'd always been good at his job, even when he hadn't been emotionally involved with the person he was working for and trying to keep safe. The feeling was just much more pronounced with that involvement.

"I am defenseless when it comes to you," he whispered into the Doctor's ear, surprised to hear himself say those words. They had been in the back of his mind, but they hadn't crystallized themselves into coherent thought until this moment.

He was completely defenseless when he came to the Doctor, he told himself. The man in his arms meant everything to him; whatever the Doctor wanted from him, the other man would get. He couldn't say no to this man, couldn't do anything that went against his wishes.

He'd never felt like this about anyone else -- not even Josef, and he had thought that no one would ever be able to touch the feelings that he'd had for his fellow vampire. But his feelings for the Doctor went far beyond any emotions he'd ever harbored for anyone else.

Mick had always been sure to build up the defenses around his heart ever since Coraline had turned him; he had never really allowed anyone to breach those defenses, other than Josef. Even when he'd thought he was in love with that bitch Beth, she hadn't really taken over his heart.

But the Doctor had. This man had managed to breach every defense that Mick had; the Time Lord was so much a part of him that Mick knew if he lost this man, his entire world would crumble around him. He had no defenses against the pain that would cause.

There was no area of Mick's heart and soul that the Doctor hadn't touched; even Josef had never affected him as deeply as this man had. He was finally in love, truly in love, for the first time in his life -- a love that he knew without a doubt would last forever.

And he was utterly defenseless in the face of that love. There was nothing that could make him build up walls against the Doctor; all of his defenses were down, and they would stay that way. He didn't want to put them up again; this man belonged in his heart.

"I'm defenseless against you, too," the Doctor whispered. "I have been right from the beginning. Remember that, Mick. We might be able to to build up walls against the world -- but they could never exist between the two of us. And that's as it should be."

Mick nodded, burying his face against the softness of the Doctor's hair and taking a deep breath. Yes, this was how it should be. It might be dangerous to let his defenses down -- but now that they were, he knew that those defenses could never be put back into place again.

***