25Chapter 11
Dante, after their miraculous escape from the clutches of death and hell itself, plus the even more incredible managing of bringing Booker back to them, decided that the best thing for both of them would be to celebrate. More specifically, with alcohol and a bit of food. Also, maybe a little music and dancing wouldn't hurt.
He selected a song from the tape deck-Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen-and grabbed Elizabeth's hand, dragging her to the dance floor. She at first hesitated, having never really danced before, but soon she got into the strange music as Dante taught her how to move. Eventually, they fell into a rhythm of sorts, Dante for the most part leading Elizabeth across the floor as the song played. Soon, however, the song ended, and as the next one began to play, he separated himself from her and crossed over to the tape deck and switched it. The next song that played was Dream On, and as the notes began to fill the air and he returned to his partner, Elizabeth paused, listening.
"I know this song," she said thoughtfully. "Well, maybe not know. But I've...I've heard these lyrics before."
Dante responded with a grin, all too happy to remind her. "Remember The Graveyard Shift in Finkton? I sung it there when we were taking a breather."
"Oh, that's right! My god, it...it feels like forever ago, doesn't it?"
"It hasn't really been that long, but it certainly feels like it. That's the problem with having so much trauma packed into so little time—it all tends to blend together."
Elizabeth nodded, a small, sad smile on her face as she looked away at something in the distance. Dante looked to see what she was staring at, but saw nothing but the console, which held nothing of particular interest. He figured his partner was just lost in space, so to speak. Very funny choice of words. He nudged her to bring her back to the present, and she started suddenly.
"Sorry," she said apologetically, returning her attention to Dante and beginning to slow dance again. "I was just...thinking."
"Of?"
"Nothing important," she said, sighing deeply. "Nothing worth really thinking about. The past is in the past. We can't change it, so we shouldn't bother worrying about it, right?"
"True. Though, for someone like me, the past can sneak up when least expected."
"Well, let's hope that doesn't happen when I am in your company, Mr. Price," she murmured slyly, grinning.
The conversation ended there for the moment as the two twirled and sidestepped around the TARDIS to Aerosmith, dipping low and almost tripping a couple of times but managing to adapt to the new rhythm. They danced to a few songs after that, until they both decided to take a small break—Dante has said that I was because he was starving, and he had a food he wanted to introduce to Elizabeth, but in truth he was running out of slow songs to dance to.
He led her to the kitchen, which looked as futuristic as the TARDIS' console room, but still had a full kitchen, where he went up to a panel with a platform sticking from it was on the wall.
"What is it?"
"Allow me to explain. Now, most if not all TARDIS' come with a food dispenser. It normally dispensed foil-wrapped blocks, served on paper plates, that looks like blocks of cheese or tofu. But when eaten tasted like whatever food had been programmed into the machine – such as bacon and eggs. But the Doctor got bored or tired of it, can't remember which, and he uninstalled it for a regular kitchen, which," he motioned to the room, "you can see here. But after one of my trips, I decided to install something else." Turning to the panel he spoke, "Computer, glass of water, cold." And like that, a glass of ice water materialized into the panel. Dante took a quick drink of water before saying, "This is a food replicator, it can replicate any food or drink you can think of. Plus, it saves the trouble of dish washing, but occasionally I like to whip something up handmade."
"And I imagine you have something very special to show me in terms of cuisine, otherwise we wouldn't be here. But, as usual, you are making it take longer than it needs to be by showing off." She smirked, as Dante stuttered an excuse/objection. "Well, what is it?"
"Computer, one New York style eight slice pepperoni and sausage pizza."
Like the glass of water, the replicator materialized a box that had the words PIZZA labeled on it. He took it out and carried it over to the counter before opening it to reveal a piping hot pepperoni and sausage pizza. Elizabeth peered inside, frowning at the delicious yet odd smell emanating from the box, and the weird concoction inside.
"What is it?" she asked cautiously, as Dante took two paper plates and loaded a piece on each of them. He then ordered the device to conjure up a couple of drinks for them, Coca-Colas for now—actual alcohol could come later.
"It's called pizza. It's pretty good, amazing actually, and a very popular food in the future. You'll love it, trust me."
Dante took hold of his slice before Elizabeth did the same, mimicking his movement, before taking a bite into it. Her eyes widened in surprise at the extremely flavorful taste, and she turned to Dante, swallowing.
"Does all pizza taste like this?" she asked, picking at a piece of sausage and throwing it in her mouth. "Because this is amazing."
"It varies from what's put on it. Except pineapple and anchovies." Dante shook his head. "Never understood why some people eat their pizza with either of those on it."
"Pineapple? On pizza? Why?"
"Honestly, even I'm not sure."
"People fear what they don't understand," Elizabeth shrugged, taking another bite and again savoring the taste.
"If that ain't the truth."
XxxxX
The two finished off the pizza, Elizabeth marveling all the while at the wonder of modern cuisine, and finishing off their Colas before breaking out glasses for an alcoholic beverage that Dante was being very shady about, but promised was very delicious.
"What even is it?"
"Well, I forgot what the name of it was, but uh…" Dante examined the bottle thoroughly, although no label was on it. He grinned sheepishly at Elizabeth, who raised an eyebrow. "It's green."
"Is it called 'green'?"
"No, but…" He uncorked the bottle and gave it a quick whiff before pouring himself a glass full. "I remember it goes down pretty smoothly."
"You first," Elizabeth challenged, and Dante raised his glass before downing the contents in one go.
"Just as good as I remember it." He raised the bottle over Elizabeth's glass. "Wanna try?"
"Well, if you insist," she said, taking the proffered glass and trying to accomplish the same feat, only to choke on it. She tried again with much smaller sips, and finally finished the glass in about a minute. "That...was actually quite good. Do you remember the name yet?"
"Not quite, but I do know it's a type of whiskey." Dante filled up his glass and Elizabeth's once more. "Let's try something: name a person of historical or literary interest and I'll let you in on an exploit either the Doctor or I have had with them. For example, he and I took escape lessons from Houdini. Full on chains, straightjacket and in tanks of water."
"Houdini?"
"He was an escape artist. Did it for kicks and attention for the most part. Heck, man was crazy enough to swim the rapids of Niagara Falls."
"Oh, I've read about Niagara Falls. I'd love to see them one day, the pictures are gorgeous. But you're telling me that someone was actually fool enough to go down there?"
"Oh, yeah. It's not the dumbest thing in the history of fools, but it's certainly up there. In the Hall of Fame, maybe. And you know what? It was all for a movie." Elizabeth gasped as Dante chuckled, taking another sip of his drink, but then something occurred to him that might interest his romantic partner. "Hey, speaking of, fun history fact: did you know that the first movie with sound was made in 1927? I know you've seen movies with sound before, but I thought you might like to know."
"Really? Now that's interesting…"
As they sipped at their green space alcohol, which Dante later revealed was actually called Aldebaran whiskey, Dante and Elizabeth swapped secrets and long-hidden dreams with each other, each one just as eager to completely unlock the other as quickly and thoroughly as possible. They shared childhood crushes, childhood aspirations, their favorite memories, places they wanted to go, things they wanted to do. They slowly revealed themselves to one another, sharing things they'd never thought they'd get to and things they'd been dying to tell someone else but never got to-until now. It was a wonderful, nostalgic, and almost bittersweet hour gone by, and they both enjoyed it greatly until the subject gradually shifted from their pasts to his. More specifically, his adventures before he'd met Elizabeth.
"Come on," she urged him, nudging him playfully and almost knocking over his glass of whiskey. "You're always telling me how fabulous it is living untethered and out in the wild like this. Surely you've run into your fair share of trouble-you must have some wild stories."
"Well, what about you?" he countered, returning the shove and actually accidentally spilling a tiny bit of liquid on her shirt, but she didn't seem to notice-if she did, she didn't act like she cared. "I mean. Columbia, then Rapture-there was a time when you went unaccompanied. Surely you have some dashing accounts of misadventure you'd like to share."
He was half-joking, but Elizabeth took him completely serious. "No, not really. For the most part it was rather boring. I made some friends by accident-those were the real ones, mind you, but none of the stories of how they came to be are of particular interest. I didn't particularly enjoy my time there, and I'm glad to be shut of that place."
Dante nodded. It made sense. Hell, even before all of the crap with Comstock had happened, he hadn't exactly felt at home in Rapture. Just a few hours in the city, even before its inevitable descent into madness, was enough to make him jumpy. "Well, then. I suppose my adventures will have to do. Did I ever tell you about the time I…"
By the time the second hour had rolled around, they were on their second bottle of Aldebaran whiskey, which Dante seemed to have an endless supply of ("What? It's good stuff! Besides, I don't see you complaining."), and he and Elizabeth were considerably drunker. They were a couple of glasses away from being done with this one, but neither of them noticed as they were caught up in Dante's retelling of (reference to some grand adventure he'd had). As he moved his arms around to accompany the words he was speaking, swishing and punching them around when it was called for, and sometimes using them to describe what he was saying, Elizabeth was forced to duck or step out of the way several times to not be punched accidentally. She didn't mind though. As he finished his story, and he finally set his now empty glass down, he noticed that he needed a refill. He looked at the bottle, picking it up, only to realize that there was only enough whiskey for one glass...and Elizabeth's was empty as well.
He was about to make some sort of deal-even he didn't know what he would have offered, or maybe he would have simply told her that there was always more-when she took advantage of his momentary surprise and grabbed the bottle from his hand, downing the rest of the bottle in one swig. Dante looked at her, his surprise shifting targets and mounting as she gave him an evil smirk.
"What?" she drawled, alcohol coating her breath as she exhaled in his face. "You want some? Too bad." She was definitely drunk-her words were slurring together a bit and her eyes were half-lidded, unfocused.
Dante could feel himself being slightly drunk-he usually only got buzzed when drinking even the strongest of alcohol, thanks to his half-Timelord physiology, unless it was ginger beer. As such, he was only slightly drunk, and in far better shape than poor Elizabeth, who was eyeing him with a look he wasn't sure he liked, until she slid up to him and put her hand on his chest.
"I mean, I'm sure you have more of this stuff. But why should you go get it? I could always share…" With that, she dropped the bottle, ignoring the way Dante deftly caught it in his fingers without even moving, and crashed her lips into his.
Lemon Start
Throughout their small make out session, which quickly became something much larger, the two somehow stumbled their way back to the console room. Dante grabbed at Elizabeth's shirt, trying desperately to tear the article from her torso, but he was unwilling to part with her lips for anything longer than a few seconds. Dante did eventually take a moment to break away, long enough to set out a blanket for them before the drunk Elizabeth persisted further. He felt a little wary about doing this with her—it wasn't that he didn't want to, far from it, but she was drunk. She clearly wanted him the same way, though, so he didn't ponder it further beyond that.
Dante then felt her hands slip under his shirt and rubbed his abs and chest before tugging at the article of clothing. Understanding the implication, Dante pulled away and let her take his jacket off, tossing it off to the side. He returned the favor by taking off her own shirt, followed by her bra, flinging it off to the side as well. She then peeled off her pants, tossing those as well, as she laid down on the blanket, naked as the day she was born.
He took the opportunity to do the same, undoing his jeans and pulling them down along with his boxers. He wrestled out of his shirt and discarded it in the direction of Elizabeth's own clothes. Finally, he rejoined her, kneeling down on the blanket and over her.
"Now, just relax, and I'll see what I can do." He didn't wait for an answer as he kissed her and sent his tongue in, making her moan while she felt him knead her breasts, sending jolts of pleasure through her body. He then kissed her jaw bone and neck, slowly working his way down until he reached her breasts. He then took the right nub between his lips and sucked.
"Oh god!" Elizabeth moaned while arching her back when she felt the suction and its effect. "Whatever you do, don't stop."
Dante just increased the suction, making her moan louder. He swirled his tongue around the nipple before giving the other breast the same treatment. While he did, he let his right hand slowly snake south until he felt wetness on his fingers. Stopping just about her slit, he pressed down lightly which caused Elizabeth to draw in a sharp breath.
"Someone's happy." He noted when he took his mouth off and out it next to her ear, speaking in a low and husky tone that made her shiver with pure delight as she felt his warm breath caress it. He pressed down a bit harder to draw another moan from her. "Am I right?"
"Y-you have no idea." Elizabeth groaned.
"So, what's next?" Dante asked. He knew what she wanted, but at the moment, he was enjoying teasing her and seeing how much pleasure he could draw from her as slowly as possible. Elizabeth moaned in frustration, pulling him close enough to kiss him gently. Dante sighed into the kiss and decided to start, being on top and positioned to enter. Before that, he pulled back to confirm Elizabeth was still sure about this.
One look into a face full of love and devotion helped quell his turmoil.
"Ready?" He asked.
Elizabeth nodded as Dante slowly lowered himself until his lower head brushed against her outer lips. Both of them felt a bolt of shock shoot through them as they felt warmth from the other flow at the point of contact but Dante slowly kept lowering himself into her, both groaning as he did. Elizabeth could feel her walls start stretching to accommodate the intrusion much more than his fingers had forced them to and feeling the friction of skin on skin was divine. This went on until Dante felt a barrier and, looking at Elizabeth, she nodded while biting her lower lip. He kissed and held her as he pulled back slightly, then pushed forwards, tearing through the barrier with ease while Elizabeth's grip tightened around him as she whimpered slightly at the pain of losing her virginity. Dante stopped didn't dare move until he felt Elizabeth nod through the kiss and took that as confirmation to keep moving. He moved a bit and after not hearing an objection, he kept moving until his hips were pressed firmly against hers.
"You can move now." He nodded and started pulling out, instantly noticing the cold feeling as he did and the inner walls of Elizabeth clamping down slightly, trying to keep him in. He pushed back in and the black haired woman groaned as she felt it. "More..." He pulled out and pushed back in harder than before, making her move from the force behind it and pleasure to scream through both their bodies from the friction between their skin. Dante slowly started picking up speed and power, pulling out farther and farther before slamming back into Elizabeth, pleasure starting to soar to heights she didn't know existed as she felt every vein on his tool rubbing her in all the right places. Both participants breathing started picking up and sweat started coating their bodies until Dante had pulled all the way out only to slam back in making Elizabeth scream.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Elizabeth screamed at the top of her lungs as she felt her pleasure start to peak, making her wrap and lock her legs around Dante to pull him in deeper. "Harder, faster!" She couldn't scream anything else, her high brain functions were shutting down so the rest could focus on the tension building between her legs. Dante her walls were starting to tighten and wetness was increasing, indicating her release was fast approaching and he could feel her pleasure mixing with his own, pushing him closer as well. They kissed but with the motions they were making which were shaking their bodies made it crude and messy, but it worked as Dante tightened his hug around her, smashing her breasts against his chest.
Elizabeth felt something snap inside her and her walls clamp down firmly on Dante to pull him in deeper while she expelled all the air from her lungs in one giant scream and her body became nothing but pure, undiluted ecstasy. A minute passed as the pleasure subsided, Elizabeth resting her head on Dante's chest as they both panted with satisfaction.
Lemon End
"So..." Dante started to question, but Elizabeth understood it.
"You...are...I can't even put it into words..." She panted with closed eyes and a smile that should've split her head in half. Her entire being was now an intoxicating mix of pleasure, love, and a deep seated tiredness and warmth inside her. Dante chuckled and kissed her. "I'm glad I could do that."
With that, the two proceeded to drift into a blissful, dreamless sleep.
XxxxX
Dante's eyes stirred, fluttering open and shut for several moments as he tried to process all the thoughts in his head. He vaguely remembered what had happened last night, but as he gradually returned to consciousness, it all came back to him. He finally opened his eyes, blinking away the sudden bright light, to see through the glass platform to the ceiling of the TARDIS above him. As his senses returned to him, he absorbed a couple of things he'd forgotten about until just now, including the blanket underneath him and a certain brunette at his side, still blissfully asleep and curled up against his chest. At first, Dante thought the only sound around was the sound of their breathing, but as he listened closer he could also hear the ship still in flight-no turbulence or feedback. That was a good sign. He looked down out of curiosity, and saw that one, his lower half was thankfully covered by the second blanket he'd laid on top of them last night. Two, Elizabeth Anna DeWitt, the woman he'd saved from two cities, promised to show the stars to, and the love of his life was waking up, groaning a bit as no doubt her hangover was catching up with her.
He smiled, giving her a peck on the forehead. "Morning."
Elizabeth sneered, though not at him, and mumbled something incomprehensible as she tried to pull the covers over her head.
Dante just shook his head, smiling in amusement. "How about I make us some coffee? Then will you get up?"
"No," was the mumbled answer. "Head hurts. Leave me alone, I'll...I'll get up one day."
Seeing there wasn't any other way to get her up, he decided that he at least wasn't going to get anything done lounging around. Wrapping a sheet around him as he stood, he made his way to the kitchen. Once there, he made two coffees and grabbed a small pill from a cabinet. He got back to the console room and held the medicine and coffee in front of Elizabeth, who managed to crack an eye open.
"It'll help," he explained. "You don't need to get up, but I'm sure it'll do that for you. It'll lessen the headache."
Elizabeth said nothing, but she did take the pill and the proffered cup, taking a small sip of the coffee once the pill was placed on her tongue. She made a face at the bitter liquid, but shook it off easily. She raised the cup to his face in a salute, then began to slowly down the cup. Dante left her to it, going to see if he could find their clothes before her hand grabbed his.
"No. Stay...warmth."
Dante heeded her request, smiling softly, and sat right back in their makeshift bed, taking a sip from his own cup of coffee. They sat there in silence for the longest time, merely enjoying each other's company, and when Elizabeth was about half-way done with her cup and awake enough, Dante moved to leave again.
"We need clothes," he mentioned to her, but she tugged him down again, unwilling to have her personal space heater leave.
"I think I saw one of your shirts over there. Pass it to me, I think I'm good otherwise. Oh, but maybe you should get me some of my more...personal items? But as for clothing, the shirt's good."
He tossed her the shirt, and as she put it on and buttoned it up, he searched for some briefs to put on himself. Once they were somewhat covered enough for their individual tastes, he returned to the makeshift bed and sat next to her again.
"So, what would you like to do now?"
"Well-well, I don't know. What do you usually do around here, when you're not off on daring adventures or saving damsels in distress? Or the world, for that matter?"
"Well, normally I like to read. Listen to music, maybe, while I'm doing other things such as experimenting or maintenance. Even I have a tendency to get bored, so I tinker every now and then. Anyways, I have a whole library around here somewhere, as you already know, so unless you're already reading something, we could give that a look."
"Is that the room with the swimming pool as well?"
They talked for a bit about this, and other things before the sound of the TARDIS landing interrupted them. By that point they noticed they'd been inching closer with one of the sleeves of Dante's shirt Elizabeth was wearing being pulled down. The got up, readjusting themselves, and headed up to the console. It wasn't until Dante checked the screen that his face paled in realization.
"Uh, Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth didn't even need to see his face to realize that something was very, very wrong. "Oh no. What is it? Do we need to run? Hide?"
"Nothing quite so dramatic, no. But, ah," he looked around, trying to find the nearest article of clothing before finding Elizabeth's shirt and tossing it to her. "We should probably get dressed."
She started walking over to the screen. "What's going on?"
"No time to explain. You get dressed, I'll try to stall them as long as I can."
"Who are they?"
"No time! Go!" He would have continued, maybe barked some more orders, but the sound of the front door unlocking cut him off. He quickly and expertly manipulated the controls of the TARDIS to manually lock the doors again, much to the dismay of the people outside.
"Oi! That's rude," someone shouted from outside, sounding slightly dismayed at this lack of civility. "Mind letting us in? Just got finished with a date with River and need to drop her back off."
Dante pressed a button on the console as he heard a brief ringing from the outside phone before it was picked up.
"Okay, better. Now Dante, do you mind letting us in?"
"Yeah, yeah, just," he struggled to get his pants on for a brief moment, "just give me a minute or two."
"What are you even doing in there?" the person outside asked, slightly curious as to why his protege would lock him out of his own ship. It wasn't something he'd said or done, was it? He fervently hoped not.
"Just cleaning up a bit. Don't want you both to walk in on a mess I made, right?"
Before the first voice could retort, a second voice spoke from the background. "Let me have a go, sweetie." This voice was a strangely comforting one, one which Dante recognized as belonging to a woman who was not afraid to bring a gun everywhere she went. "Dante, it's me, River. Could you open up? We don't mind any mess."
Dante froze while trying to get his shirt on, wincing as he realized the rather embarrassing situation he was in while talking to his pseudo step-mother. "Hi, River." He tried to keep the nervousness out of his voice, but he wasn't quite sure he accomplished that. "Look, I had a nasty run in with a Slitheen and some of it got in. I've been pretty busy wiping down the console room of any…remains, and I'm almost finished."
He heard a slight chuckle from the end of the line. "Good try, but, I can tell when you're lying to me. Now tell me what's going on, otherwise I'll..."
The last bit came out a bit incomprehensible(at least to Elizabeth), but Dante knew that even if she did what she said she'd do, she still couldn't really do anything to make him open the door. Still, he didn't really want to take the chance, so he reluctantly rang her back and said, "Fine, fine. I'll open the door. I don't know why you're so impatient, or why you can't wait." He looked around for any site of Elizabeth, only to find that she'd disappeared. He heaved a brief sigh, and the doors were unlocked and the duo finally stepped inside.
The man, who was none other than the Doctor himself. He wore a purple-brown cashmere frock coat and waistcoats with a blue button up shirt and bow tie. He had a baby-like face, a distinct chin, and slicked back brown hair with bright eyes always filled with wonder and excitement at the worlds around him.
River Song, the woman who entered with him, wore black boots, pointed at the front with heels. Next was a V-neck dress that was a light forest green, hanging in folds that hung from the shoulders. Her face was tanned and she had hair that was blond extremely curly and poofed out. However, her eyes were of an interesting note, as they looked blue but bordered on grey-ish green.
"Dante?" River called out, looking around for him. "Oh, where did that boy get off to."
Said "boy" appeared in view as he came up from under the TARDIS console. "Here I am. So sorry about that, I just had to make sure everything was in top shape before I picked you two up."
River raised an eyebrow, unconvinced, as she looked around the place. Though it was clear to her that something was amiss, she decided to play along, allowing him to think he had gotten away with his little fib. "I'll say this much, you're a slight better upkeep than Sweetie here."
"Oi, I'll have you know that-" Before the Doctor could continue his protest, River just covered his mouth with her hand.
"Nonetheless, you did an admirable job." The two walked further in towards the TARDIS console, the Timelord looking over the controls.
"So…how was the date?" Dante asked, trying to make conversation, all the while looking for any sign of Elizabeth. Subtly, of course-he didn't want his pseudo parental figures knowing he'd spent a night with a girl they'd never met, though Dante intended to change that today.
"Oh, it was lovely." The Doctor's eyes lit up as he began to recount his date with River, which apparently involved a double date with Riddell and Nefertiti, both of whom Dante hadn't seen since the Silurian ark. All the while he was talking, having Dante's undivided attention, River had decided to look around a bit. She knew he was hiding something but wasn't sure until she saw a jacket hanging over the side of the railing.
She picked it up, inspecting it closely, and realized that it was one of those old aviatrix leather jackets that Dante didn't usually wear. It took her a second to realize that this was also a woman's jacket, and she lifted the fabric to her nose and sniffed it.
The smell of alcohol, perfume and a slight musk emanated from the jacket, promising not very appropriate things that had happened between Dante and the owner of this jacket. River gently replaced the jacket where it had been and wiped her hand on her shirt.
Despite the implications of what happened, River didn't mind that there was someone new on board. She was actually delighted to have someone over for once that wasn't the Doctor or Dante. It got...bland sometimes. River correctly guessed that his little distraction had been to try and hide his companion somewhere that they wouldn't find her. River was surprised to find herself a tad hurt at this realization. Why would Dante have felt the need to hide a companion of his away? Did he think that the Doctor or she would disapprove? Well, she knew that the Doctor wouldn't approve of what had happened between the two, (especially under the console) but as for her, she didn't care. As long as he used protection, that is. Otherwise, she couldn't think of what was so bad about this person that Dante had felt the need to hide them from at least her-she would think he taught him better, and besides, if she or the Doctor objected, they'd be hypocrites.
"River! River, where have you gone off to?"
She started, ripped out of her musings, and picked up the jacket again, deciding to have a bit of fun with the young man as she headed back towards her companions. She made sure to conceal the jacket behind her as she came into the room again, looking far too innocent to anyone actually paying attention.
"Where did you run off to?" Dante asked, sounding a tad on edge.
"Oh, just having a look around, trying to see what you cleaned up," she answered slyly. "Looks like you forgot to put this away, so I thought I'd bring it up." Now she revealed the jacket behind her, lifting it up nonchalantly and waving it a bit. "Who's is this, by the way?"
"It's mine, or at least it's from the TARDIS wardrobe," Dante responded evenly, though there was a hint of panic in his expression. He knew he was about to be caught-River already knew, or at least suspected, but he had no intention of letting the Doctor find out. "Where'd you find that?"
"On the railing downstairs," she said, moving past him and moving to stand beside the Doctor himself, who was looking thoroughly confused. "Can't imagine how you might have missed it."
Dante started looking slightly concerned. "Well, I missed it so…" The thought then crossed his mind: why delay the inevitable? He was meaning to have them meet Elizabeth, but then again, foresight tends to be a pain at the worst times. "So...I don't think I can delay this any longer. I know that look in your eye, River. Anyways, I think it's time I introduced you." He turned around towards the corridor and called to an unseen figure, "Come on out."
Elizabeth, finally appropriately dressed as she was thankfully able to sneak to the wardrobe before the duo had barged in, now emerged from the shadows that she'd been watching from, smiling apologetically and waving a hand. "Uh, hello. I'm Elizabeth...DeWitt."
River smiled, not losing her teasing mania but softening it and reaching her hand out for the girl to take. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm River Song. Hopefully you've heard of me."
The Doctor almost shoved her out of the way in his haste to shake the newcomer's hand. "Yes, yes! Hello! Right, it's nice to meet you, I think. Is it?"
"Um…" Elizabeth looked at Dante, bewildered, but he just shrugged. His expression said 'just go with it', and so she did. "Yes, it is," she declared, somewhat unsure. "It's nice to meet both of you. Dante's talked about...you?" The statement became a question as Elizabeth looked from the strange man in front of her to her boyfriend. "I assume you're Dante's mentor?"
"Yes, I'm the Doctor, pleasure to meet you, Elizabeth. Now," he started circling round the console, pulling switches and pushing buttons before having the TARDIS take off again. "Where are you from?"
"New York," she answered truthfully. "1893, but I...moved to...Columbia, that same year." She isn't sure exactly how she should go about telling them-she doesn't intend to hide it, since they would probably just find out anyways, but the whole story is rather long and complicated, and she doesn't want to repeat it right now. "Where are we going?"
"To drop River off. Tonight was date night."
"Where are you from, Ms. Song?"
"Please, just call me River. That little detail is a tad bit complicated, shall we say. All that aside, I'm currently teaching at Luna University."
"And where is that?"
"The moon." She replied casually, as if it was no big deal. It was.
"The-what? My god, the future is amazing," she remarked, still not quite over what she had witnessed yesterday-an actual, live rocket being sent to the moon with people inside. Then again, given where she had lived and the kind of things she'd seen, she shouldn't be all that impressed by this.
River gave a glance at Elizabeth before looking at Dante. "Got to say, it seems she hasn't seen all that much. Tell me," she went around the console and went in between the two. "How long have you known each other?"
"River…" The Doctor began to chide, gently but with a slight bite behind the words.
"Don't you "River" me, you of all people want to know more about our new guest then I do."
"It's not an insensible question," Elizabeth offered, taking River's side. "We've...oh gosh, uh. I mean we've known each other before this, definitely. A long time. But I'm not certain about the specifications…"
"Well, plus, there was a bit of a gap." Dante chipped in, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "Time travel and all. Basically didn't see each other for...almost fifty years, her time of course. But because of the time travel, it was only about two months for me. She hadn't seen me in six months."
"That's normally the case with us," River nodded over to the Doctor. "One year for me is almost undeterminable for him. That's why we have these," She pulled out a slightly worn blue journal, gazing upon it fondly. "We tend to keep track of each other with this. Either he's behind or I'm ahead, time travel and all that."
"Absolutely fascinating," Elizabeth said, wide-eyed as she stared at the journal. "How does it work? Is it science, or…"
River giggled, amused at the young woman's naivete. "No darling, we simply just keep track of when and where we meet up, all with pen and paper."
"Why? Do you seriously not have any other contact than that? Sounds very lonely…"
"Well, aside from time zones, not meeting River in the right time and a bunch of other timey wimey stuff, yes, the journal works," the Doctor explained, playing with his hands a bit. "Besides, we like to keep to ourselves. We also tend to move around a lot, so no home number."
"I...see," said Elizabeth slowly, not really seeing at all. But she got the basic concept, so that was enough for her.
"You'll get used to it eventually. Now, enough about us-tell us, what happened that you two meet each other?" the Doctor questioned.
So they did, explaining what happened to them throughout their ventures throughout both Colombia and Rapture. From the tower, to Comstock house, all the way to escaping Rapture and its curiosity peaked once they went on about the Vigors and Plasmids, the Doctor's excitement slightly deflating when they told of the artificial powers being removed. When Elizabeth brought up her abilities to open tears, the Doctor got a little nervous and asked that she didn't use them in the current universe. He didn't go into detail, but apparently a lot of his enemies would be drawn to her like a bee to honey. She looked at Dante for a type of confirmation and the concerned look on his face said it all. It was right at the end of their tale that the telltale sound of the TARDIS landing could be heard.
"Right, this is my stop. Lovely meeting you Elizabeth." River shook the younger girl's hand who returned it in kind. "Make sure to keep an eye on these two, they can be quite the handful."
"Oi!" The two in question shouted in protest, looking offended. Elizabeth just shook her head and giggled.
"I will, don't worry. Good luck with wherever you're going!"
Before the Doctor could protest any further, River gave him a quick peck on the lips and gave Dante a quick hug. "Till we meet again." With that, she walked out of the TARDIS, closing the door behind her.
"So, that was...ah...something," Elizabeth said, looking at the two of them and smiling. "I mean, it was exciting, and cool. I'm very glad I got to meet you both. But where are you headed, ah...well, should I just call you Doctor?"
"Yes, and...I'm not certain." He turned to Dante. "Any ideas?"
Dante pondered for a few seconds before snapping his fingers. "I got just the thing!" He headed over to the console and began punching in coordinates before pulling the lever.
The Doctor looked over at the monitor, his face lighting up in interest. "Really? Of all places."
"Hey, we were bound to go there at one point or another. Besides," he pointed over to Elizabeth, "It's a good way to get her acquainted with the era."
"And why would you want to do that?" The Doctor focused his attention on the date Dante had set a course for.
"Seemed like a decent starting point. Plus, well, it gives it some familiarity."
"Wait, what? That makes no sense, Dante. Where are we even going?"
"Spoilers." Elizabeth pouted in response. "But in the meantime, before our arrival, I think we should dress in the proper attire."
One quick change in the wardrobe later and the duo were in the appropriate attire. Dante had a pair of black Converse on with blue jeans, a red shirt and a light black leather jacket while Elizabeth wore a white blouse, blue jean jacket, and a blue skirt with sneakers. Dante, having had the time to get used to suddenly switching between various time periods and wardrobes, wasn't fazed at all by the change, but Elizabeth was finding it more difficult.
"Are you sure a skirt goes with these shoes? It feels...weird," she confided.
"You'll get used to it. Besides, better than running for your life in heels."
"It's not the shoes I'm worried about. But, if you insist. Now, where the heck are we going?"
"All in good time. But first, I want to show you something."
They headed back to the console room as the Doctor was on the first floor, underneath the console itself making slight adjustments. Dante pulled a lever quick as the TARDIS stopped. He then led Elizabeth over to the door and opened it. Outside was the vastness of space, stars littering the blanket of the void in front of them. Elizabeth gasped, almost reaching out and touching the void, but refraining at the last second. She looked at Dante with wonder and amazement in her eyes.
"How-I mean, why aren't we choking to death right now? Space doesn't have any air, technically speaking…"
"The TARDIS is protecting us with a force field."
"How big is this force field?"
"Pretty big." A slight grin slid on his face, knowing what he'd suggest next would have her swooning. "Wanna try something fun?"
"Depends," she said, her curiosity was definitely piqued. "What is it?"
"Want to see how it feels like floating in zero gravity?"
Elizabeth looked at him, startled, then seemed to realize what he meant. At first, she looked worried, and about to protest, but then she remembered whose company she was in, and smiled. "Well...yes. And I trust you to not let anything happen to me-after all we've been through, it would kind of suck to lose me now." She grinned cheekily.
He grabbed her hand. "I promised I will never lose you. Now," Dante gestured towards the outside. "Wanna give it a shot?"
"I already said yes, didn't I?"
Dante grinned back, opening the door a bit wider to let more of the stars shine through-and to actually get someone through the door. He then knelt on one knee, and Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "But first...I'm gonna need your ankle."
"My ankle?"
"Well, I need to hold onto you, don't I?"
"...Fair enough." She stuck out her ankle and allowed him to grasp it firmly, and then awaited further instructions.
"Okay, so you're going to just-step out of the TARDIS. No fuss, no muss. I'll hold onto you, and you let me know when you're ready to come in. Okay?"
Elizabeth nodded, giving Dante one last smile before taking a deep breath and jumping out of the door. She half expected to fall to her death, but Dante caught her by the ankle—and she knew he would. Why wouldn't he?
She took several deep breaths, expecting to not be able to breathe for some reason, but she found that breathing out here was just as easy and simple as it was indoors. Elizabeth found herself to be floating in the air, suspended in zero gravity, in the middle of the cold, unforgiving vacuum of space. Her hair floated up with her, surrounding her head and face in a dark brown halo that swished every time she looked around. Her clothes hung off her body, rippling as if someone somewhere was pointing a hair dryer at her, or maybe more accurately a leaf blower. She felt completely weightless-the feeling, so euphoric and exhilarating, was indescribable.
Being in the space vacuum itself was an oddly familiar feeling-it felt somewhat like when she had fallen into Battleship Bay, all those...months ago? Had it really only been months? Of course, back then she'd been completely helpless, no one to pull her to shore, and she had quickly been forced to learn how to at least half-swim. Now here, with the stars and the secrets of the universes before her, and with Dante holding onto her, it felt so much better. Hopeful, instead of hopeless. She realized, very suddenly, that that was what her life had become, thanks to him-before, her fate was condemned to that floating city, and now, it was spread across the worlds.
"I don't suppose you're ready to come in yet?" Dante asked, Elizabeth's wide grin mirrored on his own face. Her joy was contagious, it seemed.
She didn't respond, and hung outside the TARDIS for a while longer before the Doctor called out, "Oi, time to bring her in."
Dante looked back out to her and frowned, sighing. "I'd love to let you stay, but the Doctor says time to come in. Don't worry, this isn't the last time you'll be able to do this." He pulled Elizabeth in as the gravity from inside the box pulled her back to the floor. The couple laughed for a bit before closing the doors behind them and headed back to the console.
"Right then, I'll just pop down to the swimming pool for a few laps," the Doctor said as he made his way down the corridor. Before he did, he flicked a switch and music began playing. First a few strokes of a piano, before a trumpet came into play, and only then did Elizabeth recognize the tune. Saying nothing, she began to sway back and forth, Dante holding her in his arms.
Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose
When you kiss me heaven sighs
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose
"How long are you going to stay with me?" he asked, as the lyrics washed over him. He twirled her around once, twice.
"Forever."
With that, the two locked lips as the two continued to dance as the TARDIS flew through the void of time and space.
FIN
A/N from RoninS636: So...this is it. The very first story I've managed to complete. This is...idk how to put it. I really don't. But once again, I give much thanks to misterbubblesishere.
Misterbubblesishere: I, in turn, give as much thanks back to RoninS636 for allowing me to help bring his ideas to life, and letting me write this story with him. It's been a trip, not always pleasant, but we made it, we're here, and for the most part, I had fun doing it. It's a great feeling, working and working at something and then finally finishing it.
RoninS636: It does feel good. Again, I haven't managed to finish any project I've started on or hinted at but this one...it feels good. Otherwise, some of you are wondering what my next project will be. Well check the Teasers and guess. That aside, after this afterword is published, two one shots with Dante and Elizabeth will be released so be on the lookout for those. Till next time this is RoninS636 signing off.