Title: Stay With You
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Ross Jenkins
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 4, 50ficlets
Prompt: 36, Leave
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 Ross Jenkins, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Ross looked up as the Doctor entered the control room, the slight frown on his face matching the expression on his lover's features. For the past day or so, the Doctor had been bothered by something, but he wouldn't tell Ross what it was.

Well, it was time that he found out. He was tired of worrying about just what could be causing this mood, and besides, he didn't like it when the Time Lord was so silent and uncommunicative with him. If he'd somehow managed to do or say something wrong, he wanted to know it.

Try as he might, he couldn't think of anything that he'd said to cause the Doctor to become so silent and unyielding. Their sex life wasn't lacking, and as far as he knew, he hadn't done anything that could have made the Time Lord angry with him.

So what could it be? Ross' frown grew when the Doctor simply looked down at the console without even acknowledging his presence; something had to be very wrong for his lover to simply not realize he was there -- or blatantly ignore that fact.

He felt terribly self-conscious about asking the Doctor what the problem was, but he had to know. He couldn't go on walking over eggshells, wondering if the Time Lord would announce at any moment that he was taking Ross back to Earth, that he'd made a mistake.

"Doctor ...." His voice sounded small and frightened, not at all the way he wanted to sound. He cleared his throat, taking a deep breath before he spoke again. "Doctor, what's the matter? You've hardly spoken to me for more than a day now. What have I done?"

The Doctor looked up at him, dark eyes widening in surprise, then quickly looked down again. "You haven't done anything, Ross," he said softly, his voice trembling a little. "I just .... had an odd dream, and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind."

Ross moved around to where the Doctor was standing, slipping an arm around the Time Lord's waist and hoping that the other man wouldn't pull away from him. "Whatever it was, please tell me about it," he said, his voice barely a whisper. "I want to help, if I can."

The Doctor sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before straightening up and facing Ross. His deep brown eyes searched the young man's features for a moment, the pain in those dark depths taking Ross by surprise. He couldn't remember ever seeing the Doctor look so sad.

"I-I dreamed that you wanted to leave," he said at last, his voice choked and barely audible. "I watched you walk away from me without a backward glance, just like Jack did. Just like all of my companions do, eventually. But it was worse this time than it's ever been."

"Because you saved me from a death that would have happened if you hadn't changed the past," Ross whispered, a lump rising in his throat. Of all the scenarios he'd envisioned for the Doctor's silence, he hadn't thought of something like this.

"Yes," the Doctor whispered, gulping and closing his eyes before he went on. "It was terrible when Jack left me, because I thought we would always be together. But I got past that. And then I decided to let you into my hearts -- and I had to watch you leave, too."

"I would never do that, Doctor," Ross told his lover, his own voice trembling with the force of his emotions. He pulled the Time Lord close against him, burying his face against the other man's hair. "I'll never leave you. Not as long as there's breath left in my body."

"I know that it was only a dream," the Doctor choked out, his own arms sliding around Ross, clinging to the young man as though he would never let go. "But it seemed so real. And I couldn't help wondering if it was a premonition, and you were feeling as if you wanted to leave."

Ross shook his head, holding onto the Doctor as tightly as he could. "No! I would never leave you," he murmured, wishing that his voice was stronger. He felt as though he might burst into tears. "I'd rather die than leave you."

"Don't say that," the Doctor told him, lifting his head from Ross' shoulder. "I don't want to think about you dying, or leaving. I want to believe that the two of us will be together for a long, long time to come, Ross. Losing you would devastate me."

"You're not going to lose me, Doctor," Ross said firmly, taking the Doctor's face between his hands and searching his lover's face, his gaze intense and probing. "Never. I'm with you, and I'm staying with you. I promise you that. I'm not going to leave you. Ever."

With those words, he leaned forward to capture the Doctor's lips with his own, pulling the other man close again as he did so. He was sure that his kiss would tell the Doctor all that he couldn't put into words -- and that his embrace conveyed everything the other man needed to know.

***