The Queen and the Rose

Chapter 7

"You think she's going to try to hurt us?" Rose asked the Doctor, furrowing her brows. The Doctor shrugged and adjusted the curtain to make sure they were hidden, and it didn't even remotely look like they were peeking.

"I don't know, Rose," he replied, "But she did talk about executing us."

She nodded but said nothing. If the plan was to kill them, she was glad they had the TARDIS as well.

The heat of the day was fought off slightly by the curtains, making the weather comfortably warm. Rose found her eyelids drooping and her stomach rumbling. She shifted next to the Doctor, trying to get more comfortable and keep awake.

"You can take a nap if you want, Rose," he said after a few minutes, his voice low and rumbling next to her. Had the litter always been this small? It felt very small all of a sudden, the way she was pressed up against him, her leg over his and their fingers interlocked. The heat was suddenly unbearable and she had a feeling that she should probably try to get to sleep just to get calm her heart down.

"Yeah," she replied, her voice suddenly breathy. She cleared her throat. "I think it's the heat, you know?"

"And you're hungry," The Doctor said, his voice sounding spiteful, "Does she think we don't need to eat?"

Rose couldn't suppress the laugh that bubbled up in her throat, and the Doctor laughed with her after a moment. He turned his head and nosed her hair. "Rest, Rose. I don't know how long the ride is going to be."

She tilted her head onto his shoulder and cuddled slightly into his side. His thumb stroked soothingly over hers and she felt her eyes drift closed as she fell asleep.

As Rose fell asleep on his shoulder, the Doctor figured he had a lot of thinking to do. He sighed heavily and, against his better judgement, tilted his head against hers. And that really was a bad idea, because now, even in sleep, she was snuggling closer to him, and her leg was drawing up his and it felt good and she was lovely.

He blinked, trying to get all that out of his head. He really wasn't supposed to think about Rose like that. Aside from his Time Lord rules, he couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he should never objectify Rose physically. But she really was gorgeous, and he couldn't help the fact that he wanted to kiss her and touch her and-

No. Stopping that train of thought now.

It was hard to stop said train of thought when she was pressed up against him, her warmth slipping through his suit and touching his skin. She shifted her head, brushing up against his neck, and he shivered, even in the heat of the day.

Even with all his thoughts of "No", and "Wrong", and "Rose", he kept his head nestled against hers. It couldn't hurt, really. If his best mate wanted a cuddle, who was he to deny her? He certainly wasn't going to.

He tried to go to sleep as well, but he'd gotten too much last night (wrapped up in Rose, he reminded himself) for it to be able to happen. Instead he was forced to be wide awake, pleasantly warm and cuddled up to his best mate who he desperately wanted to shag.

Alright, definitely stopping that train of thought.

He counted the time in his head, minute by minute. Once they'd reached the two hour mark, he felt the litter being lowered. Before he could think better of it, he kissed the top of Rose's head before murmuring for her to wake up.

"I've been awake for a half hour," was her reply.

He felt his face flushing, thinking about how his tender words must've appeared to her fully awake mind. "Ah. Yes, sorry, shall we be going, then?"

"It might be nice to wake up like that every once in awhile instead of you pounding on my door," Rose chided him gently.

Oh, that was an unforeseen turn of events. She'd liked it. A lot. She'd liked it a lot. "Noted," he said, his voice slightly higher than usual. "Shall we?"

The guards pulled one of the curtains back and the Doctor and Rose climbed out, blinking into the sun. They'd been brought to a pyramid. Based on simply looking at it, the Doctor could tell that it was not anywhere near the Great Pyramids, and a bit smaller to them, too.

"Wow," Rose breathed next to him, and his gaze shot to her. He hadn't even thought to himself about what she might think of a pyramid, Great or not, because she'd never seen one. She was staring up at the thing, which was glittering in the sun, her mouth slightly agape. He'd like to see her mouth agape for other reasons.

Alright, wow, where exactly was all of this coming from?! An aphrodisiac in the food he ate? He shook it off. He'd scan the substances that he'd ingested into his body later. He looked over to where the Queen was being helped out of her litter and placed his hand on the small of Rose's back and led her over.

"Your majesty, how does a change of scenery bring us closer to your magic?" The Doctor asked, unaware that he was keeping his hand on Rose.

She, however, was entirely aware of that development.

The Queen's lip quirked up. "It will be clear once we are inside."

"And desecrate the dead?" Rose asked. "Isn't that sort of frowned upon here?"

"The dead became desecrated when they died. Here lies the tomb of Horus Ba. Come, enter with me, and I will show you magic like you have never seen." She fixed her gaze on the Doctor at her last sentence and Rose narrowed her eyes.

The Doctor was completely oblivious to the Queen's advances, smiling and pushing Rose along so they could follow after her. He leaned close to her ear so he could whisper to her. "Horus Ba ruled from the years 2889 to 2859 BC. He's not terribly popular, but he was a great Pharaoh, exactly what Egypt needed."

Rose nodded. "And we're about to desecrate his tomb."

The Doctor pursed his lips. "Yes, well. Let's hope all tomb curses are invalid in the Vortex."

Rose turned to look at him with a surprised and worried look on her face. He smiled reassuringly at her. "I'm kidding, Rose."

He got a sharp elbow in the ribs for his troubles.

They rounded the closest corner of the pyramid, which didn't take nearly as long as Rose was expecting, and found Aui, Khat, and Isi standing at the entrance of the tomb, waiting for them all.

Rose furrowed her brows and turned towards the Queen. "How did they get here? There were only two litters and they weren't with us when we left."

The Queen shot Rose an icy look over her shoulder. "They are here because I need them here. You will not question me."

"I have the same question," the Doctor cut in, his voice hard. "And to be fair, it is a very valid question, so you might want to answer us now."

Queen Surbia seemed shocked that the Doctor had spoken up on Rose's behalf, but she was more keen on answering him than Rose. However, she was still a very cryptic woman. She extended an arm, as did her servants, and the tomb door opened.

The maidservants parted at the entrance, allowing for the guests to go in, the Queen first. She threw a seductive smile over her shoulder, and on instinct, the Doctor curled his fingers into the fabric of Rose's shirt. She shivered at the contact and he pretended not to notice.

The Queen's gaze drifted to where the Doctor touched Rose and her face became stony. "It's magic, travelers. Come inside."