Title: If You Could Read My Mind
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Jethro Cane
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: R
Table: 4
Prompt: 48, Telepath
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 Jethro Cane. Please do not sue.

***

Jethro looked down at the man in his arms, a small, satisfied smile quirking his lips. The Doctor had never seemed quite as slumberous and satiated as he did this morning, and Jethro was sure that it had something to do with what had just happened between them.

He loved it when the Time Lord was like this; there were no barriers between them, either emotionally or physically, but he always seemed closer to the other man right after they'd made love. It was as though they actually became part of each other, for a time.

"What are you thinking right now?" he asked softly, reaching out a hand to trace the heart-shaped outline of the Doctor's upper lip with a gentle fingertip.

"You shouldn't have to ask that," the Time Lord mock-scolded him, shaking an admonitory finger. "You're an empath, Jethro. You should be able to extend your senses and at least be able to make an educated guess as to the answer for that question."

"I can do that with you," Jethro admitted, propping his head on one hand and pulling the covers up around them a little more. "And I'm able to do it more easily as time goes by. But you're the first person I've ever had that ability with."

"You've never really had a chance to develop your empathy until you were with me," the Doctor told him, his voice sounding a bit tart. "Your parents would never have been able to accept that their son was an empath. They'd never have encouraged you."

Jethro shook his head, sighing. "No, they wouldn't. If they knew what I was doing now .... but that's beside the point, Doctor. They don't, and I'm not going to tell them. I'm an adult, and they don't have any more control over my life."

"Let's not talk about them," the Doctor said softly, stroking a hand through Jethro's hair. "I'm sorry I brought them up, love. We can find a more pleasant topic."

"Which just brings me back to my original question," Jethro laughed, shaking his head. "I might be able to sense what you're thinking, but I don't have your telepathic abilities. I can't read your mind, so I don't really know."

"I wasn't really thinking about anything in particular," the Doctor told him, lounging back against the soft pillows and looking up at him. "Just letting my mind wander. What was the feeling you got from me? I hope it was nothing bad."

Jethro shook his head quickly, wanting to reassure his lover. "No, not at all. I was just wondering what you thought about when you had that sleepy look on your face. Unless, of course, you were just thinking about going to sleep."

The Doctor looked thoughtful for a few moments, then flashed a cheeky grin up at Jethro. "No, of course not. Sex can make me tired, but it doesn't knock me out."

"I don't know about that," Jethro told him, raising an eyebrow. "I've seen you rather .... fuck-dazed before. I have proof that sex can knock you out sometimes. Or maybe it was just because you weren't expecting it to be that good," he added with a wicked grin.

The Doctor laughed, rolling over onto his stomach and propping his head on his folded arms. "Perish the thought! I always expect sex with you to be wonderful. It always has been, ever since the first time."

"Even then, I felt that I could read you," Jethro said, his thoughts going back to when he'd met the Doctor again on Midnight, their time in his hotel room, and his subsequent decision to leave the planet with the Time Lord. He hadn't regretted a moment of it.

"You could," the Doctor said softly, reaching out a hand to cup Jethro's cheek. "I felt an immediate connection to you when we met again -- and it wasn't just because you were familiar. It went far deeper than mere familiarity. You felt .... right. As though you were meant to be there."

"I know you didn't get that from your telepathy," Jethro told him, marveling that the Doctor's feelings had been so much like his own. "But that's how I felt, too."

"My telepathic abilities are something I don't use much, Jethro," the Doctor said, looking serious. "I've told you why. To me, that's reaching into someone's mind, into their memories -- and I don't like doing it unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Because it feels like an invasion," Jethro finished for him, nodding. "I understand that. I think if I had the power to read someone's thoughts and know exactly what was in their mind, I'd feel like it was prying, too. But if you have to do it ...."

The Doctor nodded, sighing. "I'll use it if I must, but I don't like to. But your abilities .... they're very different, but just as useful. Being able to gauge how someone is feeling can actually give you a good idea of what they might be thinking of."

"I'm getting better at it since I've been with you," Jethro admitted, feeling the slight twinge of discomfort that he always experienced when talking about his abilities. That was something that seemed as though it would never go away.

His parents had always wanted him to be quiet about those abilities; they hadn't wanted anyone to know that he was "different." So he'd always hidden his empathy, feeling that it was some kind of curse, not wanting anyone to know about it.

The Doctor had changed all that. Being with the Time Lord had made him realize that his ability was a blessing, and that it could do a lot of good in the world.

This relationship had changed him in so many ways, Jethro thought, gazing at the man lying beside him. Not only was he deeply in love, the Doctor had brought out a side of him that he'd always thought of as bad, shown him that his empathy was something he should prize.

No one else had ever done that. No one had ever made him feel that he was worth something, not some kind of freak of nature who would never be accepted. The Doctor had given him a whole new lease on life, not just with his love, but with his encouragement.

"I know you are," the Doctor told him, smiling. "I can feel the change in you, Jethro. When I first met you, on that train across Midnight, you were .... a sulky teenager who was lashing out. But even then, I could feel something in you, something that intrigued me."

"And I was fascinated by you," Jethro said, smiling at the memory. "I couldn't get you out of my mind. The first thing I did once I had the money was to go back to Midnight .... I don't know why, but I just felt I'd see you again there. And I was right."

"Something drew us both there," the Doctor agreed, turning over onto his back and looking up at Jethro. "Fate, I suppose."

Jethro laughed softly, reaching out to stroke a hand down the Doctor's chest. "Well .... fate might have drawn us together, but I bet you couldn't rely on it to have brought us this far. Or to tell you what I'm thinking right now."

The Time Lord closed his eyes, sighing softly as Jethro's hand moved down between his legs, long fingers curling around his cock. "I don't think I even need my telepathy to tell me what you're thinking now. And I can assure you that I"m thinking exactly the same thing."

"Oh, really?" Jethro's hand was moving with slow, firm strokes, making the Doctor squirm and moan his name. "Exactly the same thing? I wonder if there's some way to find out exactly what you're thinking ...."

The Doctor's only answer was another soft moan, his thin arms sliding around Jethro's shoulders to pull the young man down to him. Within a few moments, Jethro was absolutely that he did indeed know exactly what the Doctor was thinking -- and those thoughts matched his own perfectly.

***