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Winter 1869
“Where are we going?” Joe asked, following after Nicky so well he may as well be dragged by the hand. And how Nicky wished he could. It had been so long since they could walk hand in hand.
Nicky smiled. “Just wait and see. It’s a surprise.”
“You know how I feel about surprises.”
“This is a good one. I promise.”
Joe took Nicky’s arm and dragged him into an alley, out of sight of the street and shoved him against the wall. He stepped close, until their bodies pressed together, their lips almost touching.
“Joe,” Nicky said in warning, but his eyes told another story.
“We could go home.” Joe leaned in and pressed the faintest of kisses to Nicky’s mouth. “We could spend our evening in bed together. I could kiss every inch of you.”
Nicky groaned, head knocking back against the brink wall behind him. “Or, you could let me take you to see Charles Dickens.”
Joe took a step back, eyes wide. “Really?” His face broke out in a dazzling smile that left Nicky a little breathless.
“Of course, amor. You always talk about the man. I thought it would be a nice gift, like that time with Shakespeare.”
Joe closed the distance between them, kissing Nicky senseless. “Thank you, hayati. I will shower you with my gratitude after our evening out.”
“I look forward to it.”
The pair arrived at the theatre just in time for the show to begin. As much as Nicky enjoyed a good story, his attention held on Joe’s face. Even though his lover had read the writer’s books countless times, he sat enraptured by the words. He gasped at the proper points, laughed at the jokes, and beamed through it all.
In the dim light on the theater, their fingers twined between them, out of sight. The evening was everything Nicky had hoped it would be. Joe was happy, and Nicky was content to see the joy on his lover’s face.
Everything was great… until a woman a few rows up began to glow. The theatre erupted into chaos. Through the crowd, Nicky saw an older man and a young woman carting the formerly glowing woman out the door. He pulled Joe after him to help her. When they finally found them, the pair had loaded the old woman in the back of the hearse, and had a young blonde woman going in as well.
“Stop!” Nicky cried.
The woman turned and hit him in the side of the head with something wooden, sending him toppling. The old man did the same to Joe. Then the woman pressed a drugged rag to his face, his concussed brain couldn’t fight off.
When he came around, Nicky found himself in a funerary showroom. He’d been left rather haphazardly on the floor, Joe not far from him. The blonde woman lay on the table.
Joe groaned and turned his head, tense until his gaze fell on Nicky. They both clambered to their feet. Nicky wanted to embrace Joe, kiss him, checking him over for unsealing wounds, but without privacy, they dare not risk it.
Instead, Nicky checked on the woman. It was Rose. The girl from… the French Court in the 1700s, or well… that was complicated. No wonder she knew them back then.
Rose gasped as she woke, hand lifting to her head.
“Easy,” Joe said. “They may have hit you in the head.” He helped her sit up.
“Who are you?” Rose asked, standing up.
“I’m Joe, this is Nicky.”
“I’m Rose.”
Nicky smiled at her. “Yeah, we know.”
“How do you know?”
Joe chuckled. “You’re a time traveler, dearest. We’ve met. But it’s still coming for you.”
“Do you know the Doctor?”
Nicky and Joe chuckle. “We’ve met many times.”
Their conversation ended, abruptly, when the two dead bodies in the room sat up, skin giving off an almost ethereal glow.
Rose ran for the door, while Joe and Nicky moved to protect her. They drew their hidden knives and lunged at their attackers, plunging blades into throats. Only nothing changed.
The door opened, revealing the Doctor and Charles Dickens. The alien had a brief conversation with the dead bodies, before the ghosts vanished.
“Joe, Nicky,” the Doctor said. “Been a while, hasn’t it?”
Nicky shrugged. “No comment.”
Joe smiled. “Spoilers.”
They made their way into the drawing room, sitting around while the Doctor explained. Then Rose started shouting at the old man, Mr. Sneed. Joe and Nicky sat off to the side, trying not to grin as the young woman laid into the man. She was just as much of a spitfire as they remembered.
Finally, Sneed began to explain his version, about the house and how everything started. Dickens was still convinced everything was an act and marched off to prove it. The Doctor followed after him, a mischievous smile on his face, and Sneed, well Sneed scurried off to hide somewhere or other.
Rose walked over to where Joe and Nicky sat on a sofa, taking the chair near them. “You’re taking this all very well.”
Nicky smiled at her. “This isn’t the first time we’ve encountered the Doctor, remember. He’s dragged us into alien encounters many times.”
“So, we’ve met?” Rose asked. “When?”
“Spoilers, dearest,” Joe said. “It’s one of the Doctor’s rules. I’m sure he’ll talk to you about it now that you’ve met us.”
Gwyneth walked in with a tray of tea, making each of them a cup.
“Can you tell me anything about it?” Rose asked.
Joe glanced over at Nicky, and Nicky shook his head. He knew Joe knew they couldn’t say anything, but they both needed the reminder. It was so hard with the companions. The Doctor wouldn’t ask questions, most of the time. The others didn’t always know better, except the one, but she seemed a more permanent fixture in the Doctor’s life, albeit one that met in no plausible order.
Gwyneth turned to Joe and Nicky. “The two of you. So much blood and death. So much hatred. You’ve near killed each other so many times. No… you succeeded. How is that even possible? You have died so many, many times. You fight through pain that would bring even the strongest of men to their knees. You have fought in lands long dead, and lost nearly all that you love. And yet your love for each other shines so brightly, it may reach the edge of eternity.”
Nicky glanced over at Joe, who shrugged at him. They get lost in their moment, while the two women talk, until Gwyneth has a bit of a start and races from the room, Rose rushing after her.
“Should we check on them?” Nicky asked.
“No,” Joe said, leaning toward him. “Even though the evening hasn’t gone quiet to plan, thank you.”
Nicky smiles at him. “Of course, hayati.” Before anyone could return, he leaned in and kissed Joe.
They sat together, trading lazy kisses, until someone walked in, and they pulled apart.
“There you two are,” the Doctor said. “Did we interrupt date night?”
Nicky leaned back into Joe’s embrace. “A bit, but we enjoy your company, Doctor.”
“We’re about to have a seance.”
Joe hummed. “Sounds like fun.”
“We’re going to try to communicate with whatever the ghosts are.”
Joe stood, dragging Nicky to his feet as well. They joined the party and came face to face with the Gelth. Nicky looked away from the creature, staring at the Doctor. Everything ended abruptly when Gwyneth collapsed.
Nicky stood and followed the Doctor as he hurried from the room, hearing Joe right behind him. They found the resident alien looking out the window.
“Doctor,” Nicky said, alerting him to their presence. “What happened? What’s the Time War?”
“It’s nothing.”
Joe clapped the Doctor on the shoulder. “Of anyone, we’ll understand.”
“My world went to war against the daleks. It was devastating. It destroyed hundreds of planets. And we lost, and so did the daleks. The Gelth have lost their world, and it’s my fault.”
Nicky stepped closer. “Survivor’s guilt, Doctor. Just because you survived, doesn’t mean you alone are at fault for the damage wrought.”
“I have to try to help them.”
Nicky gave him a sad smile. “I know, and we’ll stand with you. Are you going to find them someplace else?”
The Doctor nodded.
“We’ll go with you, if you want, to get them settled, but you need to bring us back.”
“Thank you.”
Joe squeezed his shoulder again. “Always.”
They followed him into the morgue once Gwyneth decided to help. The young woman stepped into the rift and opened the bridge, allowing the Gelth through. Only it didn’t go as planned.
Nicky felt cold, dead hands around his neck, before they broke his neck.
Rose watched in horror as the Gelth-possessed bodies killed Joe and Nicky, the pair collapsing to the floor. The Gelth-spirits flew into them, standing them upright.
The Doctor pushed her into a gated alcove, and then dragged the Joe- and Nicky-Gelth after them.
“Are you mad?” she cried. “They’ll kill us!”
“Trust me.”
Nicky reached toward her, but then stopped. He convulsed, falling to his knees. He wretched, and the Gelth tumbled from his mouth. Then Joe did the same, collapsing all the way to the floor. Nicky heaved, vomiting onto the damp stone.
He wiped his mouth, turning toward Joe, as if nothing else was happening around him. He crawled over to the trembling Joe. “Yusuf, my love. I am here.”
“I’m alright, my moon and stars. I think that might be the worst one, yet.”
Nicky cupped his cheek and pressed their foreheads together.
The Gelth-zombies rattled the gate, making the two men look around.
“But… you…” Rose stammered. “You died.”
Nicky stood, helping a still shaking Joe up as well. “Yes, we did.”
“Doctor!” Charles Dickens had returned. “The gas.”
After everything that happened, Nicky held Joe’s hand tightly, ignoring all propriety. Rose joined them. “So…”
“We can’t die,” Nicky told her. “Or… we can, it just doesn’t stick.”
“So, you two just… found each other one day?”
Joe smiled. “It started the first time we died. We killed each other, and kept killing each other, until my Nicolò put down his sword.”
“Nicolò?”
Nicky nodded. “My name. Nicolò di Genova.” He gestured to Joe. “Yusuf ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn al-Kaysani.”
“Bit old fashioned, don’t you think?”
“Dearest,” Joe chuckled, “we killed each other outside the walls of Jerusalem during the first Crusade.”
“So, you time travel, too?”
Nicky shook his head. “We don’t die. We don’t age.”
“So, you’re old. Are there others like you?”
Nicky glanced at Joe, trying to decide what to tell her. “There are, but we can’t say more. You may meet them at some point. You never know with the Doctor.”
The Doctor joined them. “We should be heading off.”
“It was good to see you again, Doctor,” Joe said, extending his hand. “Despite the circumstances.”
“We’ll see each other again,” Nicky added.
The pair watched as the Doctor and Rose walked off with Charles Dickens, toward the standard blue box in the distance.