Lost Our Minds |5| The Ascension

Chapter Four: Pictures, Pools, and Pert Asses

Months later, McKenzie woke alone. She knew this before she so much as opened her eyes because, for the first time in a long while, her head was resting not on her husband's warm chest, but on soft linen sheets. There was a long moment in which she entertained the idea of just going back to sleep and letting him wake her when he returned. Then she heard her phone vibrate on her nightstand, startling her. She groaned quietly, knowing her plans had been foiled; her eyes had opened and so she was awake. Despite what many people thought about her, she couldn't actually fall asleep wherever and whenever. It wasn't a superpower. It was more a delicate negotiation between her body and her brain made so much easier when her husband was around to wear out both.

With a reluctant sigh, she rolled over and sat up, pulling the duvet up her chest to keep her warm as she checked her phone. There was a text from the Doctor, telling her he'd finally found the swimming pool again and that she should definitely come and see it as soon as she was up. McKenzie replied with lightning-fast precision. Then, after a long yawn, she started to get dressed. She couldn't be bothered to go for anything particularly put-together, not when they weren't planning on going out, so she picked up the first things she found on the floor which happened to be a pair of denim shorts and one of her husband's button-ups. Showering could wait till her brain caught up with the rest of her.

***

"I think I prefer it here than in the library."

The Doctor turned, seeing his wife in the doorway at the other end of the pool. "Well, it did make rather a mess of the books. At least this way you can enjoy your two favourite hobbies." He turned back to the photo album he had open on the counter of the bar. "Nice shirt, by the way."

"Mmm," she hummed, suddenly only a few feet away. "I like it, too."

"I've got one just like it."

She crossed her arms, leaning on the counter. "Funny that." She caught his smile out of the corner of her eye, then turned her attention to the photo album. "What's this?"

"Oh, Wanda found some more photos for the collection." He showed her the latest additions to what had started off as their wedding present. "Apparently Pepper pulled some from JARVIS' archives, from the very beginning."

"Look at Steve!" McKenzie bit her lip, leaning closer to see better. "He looks so young!"

"She thought you'd enjoy them." He brushed her hair out of her face automatically, smiling as she turned to look up at him.

"She's a good girl."

"Yeah, she is," he agreed. "Amazing. Incredible, in fact. Because look what she found." He turned to the next page, where one old photo stood alone.

He could tell the exact moment she realised what she was seeing because he heard her breath catch in her throat. She reached across to touch the face in the photo with trembling fingers, then drew back quickly as soon as her fingertips made contact with the paper. "Am I still asleep?"

He chuckled. "No. Are you okay?" He trailed his fingers across her back, feeling her wings moving with every deep, shaky breath she took. "Kez?"

"Yeah." Her wide eyes flickered up to meet his before returning to the photo. "Yeah, no, it's just... It's the only picture we ever had of him. He hated having his photo taken. Never happened, except this once, this one time. When he married my mum." She shook her head, swallowing her emotions. "How did Wands get hold of this? I always thought it must have gone with the flat."

"I don't know," he replied, a mischievous sparkle in his eye. "Must have been magic."

She understood and turned to wrap her arms around his neck, gazing up into those pale green eyes. "There you go again, surprising me still. I love you."

"I love you too." He hesitated, his hands resting on her hips as they moved together, turning in a circle. "So much. And I'm sorry."

She blinked, her brow furrowing. "I don't understand. For what, my love?"

He made an apologetic face. "This." He shoved her, and she shrieked as she fell backwards into the swimming pool, her clothes soaking instantly.

"You bastard!" she cried, pushing her sopping, straggly hair away from her face. "I'll get you for this!"

On the side of the pool, he was laughing. "From 'my love' to 'you bastard' in less than ten seconds, I told Nat I could do it!"

McKenzie shot him a look. "You did that for a bet?!"

"Tiny bit." He crouched on the edge, gazing at her sympathetically. "If it makes you feel any better, we're fifty dollars up."

She swam to the edge, leaning up out of the water. "Fifty dollars, hmm?" Her lips brushed against his. He leaned closer, and she smiled, knowing the effect a wet shirt and a teasing kiss would have on him. "Maybe you could persuade me to feel better," she suggested, loosening his bow tie and pushing his jacket from his shoulders, leaving him in his shirt sleeves.

"Mmm, I'd love to," he murmured, closing his eyes as he leaned into her touch—and crying out seconds later as one tug from her strong arms had him falling into the water too. When he surfaced, she was laughing. "Oh, I really should have expected that."

She bit her lip, trying to stop the giggles. "Yes, you should. Oh, revenge tastes so..."

"Chlorine-y?" he suggested, raising an eyebrow.

She splashed him. "Sweet. Ah... karma." She raised her eyebrows, seeing he was staring at her. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just..." He pointed. "I can see right through that shirt."

"Hey, that's not my fault."

"I just sort of assumed you were wearing..." He flushed. "Well, I mean... Sort of... Anything else?"

She rolled her eyes. "Kas?"

He looked up. "Hmm?"

"How long has it been since we first had sex?"

"About three hundred years," he replied instantly. "For, for me, at least."

She nodded, a smile forming at the corners of her lips. "And me. Over three centuries and you still blush every time you see me naked. That's cute." She floated closer to embrace him.

"Well, well, actually, more like 317 years, three months, and six days," he corrected himself.

"Okay, that's a little on the creepy side of things." She raised her eyebrows.

He shrugged apologetically. "I'm a Time Lord. I'm good with time."

"Hmm." She kissed the tip of his nose. "Only when you're hyperfocusing." The next thing he knew, she was stood on the side, ripples buffeting him in the aftermath of her rapid movement.

He groaned slightly as she swapped her soaked shirt for his tweed jacket. "God, you're such a tease."

She smirked. "Yep. One day you'll do something about it. But in the meantime, I want a sandwich." She walked off, knowing he was staring after her.

Once she'd gone, he sighed, floating on his back. "That woman is going to be the death of me." Above him, the TARDIS buzzed gently. He closed his eyes, smiling. "Yeah. I wouldn't have it any other way either."