Title: Warm Hearts
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Ten.5
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 6, 50ficlets
Prompt: 32, Warmth
Author's Note: The human version of the Doctor is being referred to as John Smith in this fic, since it's the Doctor's human alias and his clone needed a name.
Author's Note: Spoilers for Journey's End, somewhat. This is an completely alternate take on the ending of Season Four.
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 his human clone. Please do not sue.***
The Doctor sighed as he lay down next to Jamie, closing his eyes and pulling his lover into his arms. It still didn't seem possible that Jamie was now a Time Lord, that his love had died and had been brought back. It was a miracle out of all keeping with everything he knew.
Maybe he should change his way of looking at life after this, he mused, raising a hand to stroke his lover's hair. His opinions about life and death had changed after Jack had become immortal, but this was something completely and different -- and even a little frightening.
He'd be frightened of what Jack had become, because he hadn't been able to understand it. And this was even further from his powers of comprehension -- how could Jamie have possibly been brought back from the dead, much less have become a Time Lord?
There was no sense in it -- and no reason to puzzle about what had happened, the Doctor thought with a soft sigh. It was enough to know that his lover's dream had come true -- even if that dream might have repercussions that neither of them could imagine yet.
It already felt odd to hold Jamie next to him and feel the cool temperature of his skin -- his body didn't have the warmth of a human any more. Yes, his flesh was warm -- but not to the extent that it had been before. That would take some getting used to.
And it would feel odd to rest his head against Jamie's chest after they'd made love and hear the two heartbeats there instead of a single one. He'd already started to get used to that -- or so he thought. It was still an oddity, one that would feel different for a while.
"Doctor?" Jamie's voice was soft, hesitant. "Is something wrong?" He sounded almost afraid to speak, as though he didn't want to break the silence between them. "Have I changed so much that you're having second thoughts about being with me?"
"Second thoughts?" The Doctor was startled by the direction his lover's mind had apparently taken; he shook his head emphatically, denying that thought before Jamie could run with it. "Never. I wouldn't have let you go when you were human, Jamie. And I won't do that now."
Jamie heaved a sight that sounded like relief; the Doctor propped himself up on one elbow, his gaze searching the other man's face. "Jamie, there's nothing that would ever make me leave you," he said softly, reaching out to cup the other man's cheek. "Please believe that."
"Not even me changing so much?" There was a quaver in Jamie's voice; the Doctor hadn't realized that he'd felt like this about the realization of his dream. Maybe that dream was proving not to be all that Jamie had expected it to be, after all.
"You've only changed inwardly," the Doctor told him, his voice soft and loving. "And you haven't changed, Jamie. It's a physical change, yes -- but you're the same person. And as long as you still love me just as much as you did, then I'm happy."
"I could never love you any less," Jamie whispered, blinking as though he was trying to hold back tears. "I was just afraid that you might not be able to love me because now I'm like you in every way. That you couldn't love a perfect mirror image."
"But you aren't a mirror image of me," the Doctor pointed out. "You're you, Jamie. You're a different man, with different thoughts and feelings. You're not exactly like me in every way. You just look like me, and you have my memories. That's where the resemblance stops."
Jamie nodded, closing his eyes and snugging against the Time Lord. The Doctor's arms slid around him, holding him close, not caring that his body was no longer the warm temperature of a human's. It was enough that this was Jamie, safe and alive and here in his arms.
The warmth in Jamie's hearts was all that he needed to make him happy; the love that flowed between the two of them, the warmth in his lover's gaze whenever Jamie looked at him. As long as he had that, then the human warmth of a body was negligible.
The Doctor turned on his side, pulling Jamie's slim body against his own. His lover might not be as warm physically as he had been when he was human -- but the love in his dual hearts burned more brightly than it ever had, enveloping the Doctor in a safety and security that he'd never before known.***
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