Yowzah Oneshot Collection (1)

49(G)1

Chapter 1: island in the Nile
Chapter Text
Prompt: river x doctor, 1920s expedition to Philae

Well, whatever he'd been expecting, it certainly hadn't been this.

xx

"She's dangerous." The warden warned as they walked down the dank prison hall. "Don't know what you need her for."

"She's cheap. And I need a good gun hand, though it pains me to say it."

"Well she'd rob you blind as soon as look at you. And that's only if she doesn't shoot you first. But hey, your funeral."

Well, now he felt even better about the whole expedition.

xx

"What, a girl's not allowed a good night's rest before her execution?"

"Execution might be stayed. If he pays enough for you that is." The warden sneered and she flew out of bed, toward the bars of her cell.

"I am not for sale you filthy pig, and I would rather die than let you enslave me like chattel-" She spat the words out and the Doctor watched her carefully. He'd known she was a woman. He'd known she was dangerous. He hadn't quite known she would be this gorgeous.

"You don't get much say in it now do you? If you value your life at all, you'll shut your mouth and listen." The warden spat at her and she flinched.

"That's - quite enough, I mean I can handle it from here, thank you." It pained him to even thank the odious little man, but the warden smirked and slid away, backing up to give them privacy.

She looked at him for the first time since he'd arrived and her eyes widened with surprise and then amusement. "You think you can handle me, Professor?" She smiled and his breath caught in his throat.

"What? No. Yes. I mean no! I mean I don't want to handle you. Not like that!"

"Sure about that, sweetie?" She leaned against the bars with a smirk and he flushed.

"I need someone handy with a weapon. And cheap. You're it." Her flirtatious demeanour dropped and she looked at him seriously.

"What for?"

"Excavation work - Philae. Temple of Isis. What do you say?"

"I say how much?" She smiled and he waved a hand at the warden who unlocked her cell after the Doctor handed him a wad of notes. The Doctor smiled and nodded at the money he'd just handed over.

"Just about that much."

xx

"Philae is submerged in the Nile isn't it?" She spoke over the hum of the boat's engine and he nodded.

"Only during the rainy season. It'll disappear eventually if something isn't done about it."

"So what's there?"

"How do you mean?"

"What are we looking for?" She spoke slowly, staring at him as if he were slow-witted. Which he was not. Most definitely was not - he spoke seven languages, could decipher hieroglyphics, was the foremost leading expert in the- "Pretty boy. Are you deaf?"

"No! And don't call me pretty boy. I am not a boy." Her smile turned indulgent and he sighed in frustration. He couldn't have been saddled with a dull-witted prisoner?

xx

It was gorgeous. Dust under his boots and ancient buildings towering above him in the relentless sunshine. He could see Trajen's kiosk off beyond the courtyard and he bounced up the rough hewn steps in excitement. Standing in the central courtyard, he turned around, his eyes on the columns that lined it, all leading up to the doors of Isis' temple. He never got tired of this place and the stillness about it.