Title: Here Comes Trouble
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Peter Carlisle
Fandom: Doctor Who/Blackpool
Rating: PG-13
Table: writers_choice
Prompt: #403, Trouble
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Peter Carlisle. Please do not sue.

***

Peter put down the book he was reading, looking over at the Doctor with a speculative expression on his face. The Time Lord was reading too, his eyes rapidly scanning the lines of print, looking as though he was lost in the story that held his attention.

The last few weeks had gone by smoothly, with no problems at all. They hadn't gone to a planet that was in dire need ot help in some way; they hadn't met anyone who had been in some troublesome situation. It had all been smooth sailing, with no bumps in the road.

That was unusual, to say the least. He had heard so much about the Doctor's past experiences, all of the trouble that somehow seemed to follow him around no matter where he went -- but since Peter had been with him, that hadn't seemed to happen very much.

He was glad that it hadn't, Peter told himself hastily. He didn't want to see his lover get into trouble, and he certainly didn't want to put either of their lives at risk. But it did seem strange to him that the trouble his boyfriend referred to so often was apparently staying away from them.

Was the Doctor purposely not going to places that he knew trouble could be lurking in simply because Peter was with him? That was a worry that had been in his mind for a while; he was almost sure that the Time Lord was somehow trying to protect him.

If that was the case, then it wasn't needed. He was more than capable of taking care of himself; he had been a detective, after all, and he had been in some dangerous situations during his time on the police force. He wasn't someone who would run from a confrontation.

He could understand that the Doctor wanted to protect him; he was human and he had a short life span compared to the Time Lord's, and his lover wanted to keep him around for as long as possible. And he also understood that the Doctor wanted to avoid trouble.

Peter wanted that himself -- there was absolutely no reason for the two of them to go searching for any problems, when he was sure that there would be some coming their way at some point. But it seemed odd that they hadn't been confronted with any major situations yet.

Maybe that was a good thing, he told himself, the frown on his face deepening. If they'd already found a lot of trouble in all of the places they'd been, then he might have decided that this life wasn't for him, no matter how much he loved the Doctor and wanted to be with him.

No, that would never happen. There was no way that he was going to let bad situations rip him away from the man he loved. He was meant to be here with the Doctor; they both felt that, and besides, he had nothing left to go back to on Earth.

"What are you looking so serious about?" The Time Lord's voice broke into Peter's thoughts, making him look up with a soft gasp. The Doctor was staring at him with a worried frown on his handsome features; he was obviously troubled by Peter's expression.

Peter really didn't feel that he was ready to talk about this now, but since the Doctor had asked, it might be a good time to point out that they didn't seem to have run into any bad situations since he'd been here with the Time Lord, and ask if that was odd.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to think of how to ask the question, but his mouth was faster than his mind. "Isn't it a little strange that we haven't run into any trouble since I've been with you -- or at least very little of it?" he blurted out before he could stop himself.

The Doctor looked startled by the question, then thoughtful. After a few moments, he nodded slowly, his own brow furrowing more deeply into a pronounced frown. "Yes, it is odd. Usually, I run into much more trouble wherever I go than I have lately."

"I wonder why that is?" Peter asked, his gaze not leaving the Doctor's face. He wanted to try to discern whether or not this was something that the other man had been doing deliberately, trying to avoid trouble as much as he could because his lover was with him.

"I don't know," the Doctor murmured, his tone thoughtful. Peter was fairly sure that he had his answer; the Time Lord hadn't been avoiding trouble at all, it just hadn't gravitated to him in the way that it usually did. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed.

"Maybe trouble has finally realized that you're not someone it wants to tangle with too often," Peter said with an attempt at humor. "After all, you've stared it down and beaten it back enough times. Maybe it's still licking its wounds and doesn't want to face you again any time soon."

The Doctor looked surprised for a moment, then threw back his head and laughed, a full-throated sound that made Peter's heart leap in his chest. He loved to hear the Time Lord's laugh; there was something so infectiously happy about that sound.

"I could always start carrying a calling card that announces I'm here to stop trouble," the Doctor said as his laughter subsided. "There's nothing like announcing that you're worse trouble than trouble itself is -- and maybe that would make trouble cower in a corner."

"I don't know about that," Peter told him, unable to keep from smiling. The idea might sound silly, but he was fairly sure that there was some more serious thought behind the Time Lord's words. There seemed to be something lurking behind the smile and the banter.

"Here comes trouble," the Doctor said with another soft laugh. "That could be my calling card. Though I'm sure that trouble itself would take a dim view of me using those words. We might even have to square off about it. I'm sure that would be one hell of a fight."

"It's one that I wouldn't want to see!" Peter said, shaking his head. "If it would put you at any kind of serious risk, it's something I'd rather we avoid. I know you're just being silly, Doctor, but I really don't want us to run into any more trouble than we can deal with."

The smile vanished from the Time Lord's face at Peter's words; he nodded, looking more serious than he had been. Peter was amazed at how mercurial the Doctor's moods were; it seemed that his lover could change those moods within a matter of seconds.

"I haven't been consciously avoiding trouble since you've been with me, Peter," the Doctor told him, that intense dark gaze locked with his own. "I'll admit that I want to keep you safe, but trouble seems to have a way of following me, even when I'm not looking for it. It just hasn't found me lately."

"I'm glad that it hasn't managed to find us -- but I think that I'll be ready to confront it when it does," Peter told the Time Lord, meeting the other man's gaze squarely and not looking down. "I can take care of myself, Doctor. I was a detective on Earth, you know."

The Doctor nodded, though Peter thought that he didn't look completely convinced. "I know you can, love, but I still don't want to put you at risk," he said, sighing softly. "Though a lot of the time, I've found that when I run into trouble, it comes from unexpected places."

"And if you don't expect it, then you can't protect me from it," Peter added, nodding. "That's part of the reason you have a companion, Doctor. To have your back, and to protect you and help you when you need that help. I'm more than willing to fill that space."

"You're not just my companion. You're my lover," the Doctor whispered, his voice catching in his throat. "I'm not going to put you into any imminent danger if I can help it, Peter. But I can be a trouble magnet at times. I just hope that trouble doesn't come looking for you, too."

"It won't," Peter said, hoping that he sounded more confident about that than he felt. He'd often been a trouble magnet in his job -- especially after he'd thrown caution to the winds and let himself get personally involved, much to his chagrin and regret later.

"Trouble doesn't even know my name -- at least not out here in the stars," he said, feeling that this second attempt at humor was falling flat, but determined to try and keep the conversation light. "It might have me on a list, but I'm sure that I'm not near the top."

"I hope you aren't, sweetheart," the Time Lord told him, sounding sober and serious. "There may come a time when I need to have a surprise for trouble -- and you just might have to be that surprise. The less in trouble's cross hairs you are, the better."

Peter nodded, suppressing a sigh. He hadn't meant for the conversation to get this serious, but he should have expected it. He searched his mind for a way to turn their thoughts in another direction, hoping that he could distract his lover from any worries about whatever trouble they might encounter.

***