Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 101 - The Unicorn and the Wasp, Part 2

The Doctor was kissing her. The Doctor. Was kissing. Her.

Lyssa's brain shut down, rebooted, and shut down again. Butterflies exploded in her stomach, fluttering with such intensity it was a miracle she didn't start floating away - although maybe she did. She didn't know. Her headache was rapidly disappearing, leaving her with only the vague sensation of floating.

She opened her eyes - when had she shut them? - and almost immediately had to shut them again, brain too overwhelmed with all the sensory information coming in at once. The Doctor - this regeneration in particular - had always been a tactile person, at least with her, and he was no less tactile now.

His hands cupped her cheeks gently. His thumbs swept along her skin, leaving trails of heat and sparks wherever they touched. And his kiss - her brain couldn't help but pull up memories of the last time he'd kissed her. The last time he'd pulled her into such a close embrace. 

Although last time had been brief, with him more focused on the crashing ship around them, pulling away quickly and then moving on. 

This time he was wholly focused on her, though still tense with worry. 

And the way he kissed her... She couldn't find the word for it, not with how lightheaded she felt now, but something about it felt... odd. As if he'd done it before. 

Well, he had, but not like that.

Despite her being frozen in place, he still managed to imbue the kiss with tenderness and affection. Never once rough, his fingers moved across her face, brushing against her temples. She instinctively pulled away when even that gentle touch became too much, falling back against the couch she'd forgotten was behind her, breathing heavily.

She blinked rapidly as she finally opened her eyes, the bright light of the room stinging her overwhelmed senses. When she managed to refocus, the Doctor was leaning over her with a worried expression, posture tense. And she had to be hallucinating, because she could swear she saw faint glimmers of gold in his eyes, quickly fading away and leaving only his normal brown.

"How do you feel?" he asked, studying her for signs of... of something.

Lyssa would deny to her dying day that her heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice. Not that she was too focused on that right now - one hand came up to touch her tingling lips as she stared at him. "I don't - what?" she stammered. "What was that?"

His cheeks darkened slightly, but he remained focused on her. "How do you feel?" he repeated urgently. "Do you still feel dizzy? Do you have a headache? Trouble breathing?" 

"Uh... I feel kind of floaty," she managed, still staring at him with wide eyes. "I don't... uh..." Her brain wasn't working quite right just then, couldn't he try again later? "Were there... sparkles?" she muttered dazedly, wondering about the gold she had seen. 

He huffed a small laugh despite himself and Lyssa had to force herself to actually focus on what he was saying and not the sound of his laugh, which sent the butterflies in her stomach to fluttering with a new intensity. "Lyssa, please. Do you feel like you did before? Are you still in pain?" he tried again, sounding pained himself.

Lyssa turned her attention inward with an effort, and eventually managed to conclude that underneath the sensation that she was floating, she was not, in fact, still in pain. "No, I don't feel sick or anything," she decided, not missing how his shoulders crumpled in relief. Unfortunately, along with that awareness, came the realization of what had just happened. Reality came crashing down like a wet blanket. "You kissed me!" she realized, her face flaming as she jerked to stare at him. "Why did you kiss me?"