Title: Soul on Fire
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Ross Jenkins
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 4, 50ficlets
Prompt: 29, Soul
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.

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Ross turned over in bed to look at the man sleeping beside him, reaching out a hand to brush a few errant strands of hair back from the Doctor's face. He wondered when his lover would wake up, but he didn't want to hasten the process quite yet.

After they'd made their way back to the Tardis from that maze they'd found themselves caught in, he'd felt unsettled, and more than a little shaken. He was sure that the Time Lord had felt the same way, but the other man hadn't shown it.

Was he used to dealing with situations like that? Or did he get scared, too? That was something that Ross intended to ask his lover; he didn't want to keep showing his own fears if the Doctor expected more bravery from him. It didn't seem right, somehow.

He almost felt ashamed of the fact that he'd let his fears take him over, that he'd worried about them not being able to find a way out of that place. He should have known that the Doctor was far more resourceful than he might have expected at the time.

He should have known that the Doctor would never have left him behind, Ross told himself. The Time Lord would never have even considered that, not for a second. The two of them were too close; Ross meant too much to him for that kind of action.

They were a part of each others' hearts and souls. Ross knew that without even having to think about it; he was absolutely positive that he had burrowed as deeply into the Doctor's soul as the other man had into his own. They were a part of each other.

The Doctor would never leave a companion behind; he'd never do that even to someone who happened to be with him who wasn't a companion on a permanent basis. He'd never do something like that to a friend, and he'd certainly never even consider doing it to a lover.

He was a man of honor, a man who would sacrifice himself for the safety of the people he loved. Ross felt ashamed of himself for ever having doubted that this man would have turned his back on him, even for only a few seconds. He should know his lover better than that.

The Doctor had held his soul open to Ross from the first moment they'd met; he hadn't held anything back, baring his feelings completely right from the start. Ross had done the same, trusting the Doctor with everything he held most dear.

He'd trusted this man enough to come away into the stars with him, believed everything that he'd said. And he hadn't had a single regret in doing so. Ross was sure that he'd made the best decision of his life when he'd placed his lot with the Time Lord.

Falling in love with the Doctor hadn't been what he'd expected at the beginning, but it had really been inevitable, hadn't it? There was no way that he could have lived on the Tardis with this man on a daily basis, been through their adventures together, and not loved him.

It wasn't hard to understand why the Doctor's other companions had felt the same way. Ross was sure that no one could resist him; but he was also sure that no one else's soul had had ever become a part of the Time Lord in the way that his own had.

He knew that the Doctor had been in love before; it was ridiculous to assume that the Time Lord had never had his hearts involved with anyone else at his age. But Ross knew that in this body, he was the one who the Doctor had chosen to love, to entwine his soul with.

He was the luckiest man in the world to have this man love him, Ross thought, his gaze riveted to his lover's face. The Doctor was an extraordinary man, with a soul to match. How could he have been lucky enough to be the person to set this man's soul on fire?

No, he wouldn't question why the Doctor had fallen in love with him, he told himself sternly. It was enough to know that it had happened -- and to know that his own heart and soul reached out for the Doctor, that they'd met and become a part of each other.

Who needed to question something like that? Most people looked for that kind of love all their lives and never found it. He should just consider himself lucky and be grateful for his good fortune, rather than questioning where it came from.

It didn't matter just how he and the Doctor had fallen in love, Ross told himself, snuggling down under the covers and wrapping his arms around the Time Lord. It only mattered that they had, and that they belonged to each other for the rest of eternity.

There was no one else in the world he would rather have given his heart and soul to -- and no one else who deserved it more, he thought as he closed his eyes, a smile curving his lips. Within moments, he'd drifted off to sleep again, with the man he loved clasped in his embrace.

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