CLOSE COMPANIONS

'Do ye mean to say ye've never kissed anyone?'

Zoe regarded her older companion with an expression of tolerant amusement.
'Why should I have? As I understand it, kissing is a meaningless ritual of
publicly displaying affection - there's simply no need of it in a society
governed by the logical application of the intellect.'

'It seems to me that there's more to life than thinking,' grumbled Jamie, 
'If you
go too far in one direction then ye're...er...'

'Lacking a balance between extremes,' suggested Zoe with a frown.

'Aye! That's it. I think.' The highlander busied himself scraping the mud of
the last planet off his buskins. 'I just think that life'll be awful lonely 
for
people who just think all the time, and never *do*.' He straightened to see
Zoe standing expectantly in front of him. Her eyes were screwed tightly shut
and her hands were clasped behind her back. She pursed her lips, like
someone sucking a sour gooseberry, and Jamie couldn't help himself - he
burst out laughing. 'What in the world are ye about, girl!'

Zoe opened her eyes in annoyance. 'I'm going to try what you suggested. I
want you to kiss me.'

Jamie looked down into the determined girl's large, trusting eyes. They met
his own unflinchingly. He felt a surge of affection for the spirited young
astronomer, who had become a part of his life and shared uncounted dangers
over the last few months. Impulsively he leaned forward and kissed her
forehead, just below the short fringe of her dark hair. 'There ye are.'

'Jamie!' She took a step back and glared at him, hands on hips. 'I'm not a
child, you know.'

In truth, he often forgot that his diminutive partner was only a few years
younger than his own twenty-four summers. He'd become used to thinking of
her as a young girl, needing to be protected from the cruelties and terrors 
that
he now knew filled the universe. Zoe was actually a woman, and, he admitted
to himself at last, a very attractive one. He'd done his very best not to be
obvious, but it was a definite pleasure to run his eyes over her generous
curves when she wasn't looking. Today she was wearing a form-fitting
woollen sweater and a scandalously short skirt of white shiny stuff...

Aye, well.

He held out his hand. 'I didna mean to upset you, lass. Still friends?'

She looked dubious for just a moment, but apparently she couldn't stay
angry with him for long. She smiled broadly and held out her own hand.
'Friends!'

Jamie grabbed the proffered hand tight and with a single tug pulled Zoe into
his arms. Her eyes widened in startlement, and as she opened her lips to
protest Jamie clasped her to him and covered her mouth with his own. For
perhaps the first second of the unexpected embrace he felt her go rigid. He
was about to abandoned the clinch and apologise when at that moment Zoe's
free arm encircled his neck and she began to relax against him. Tentatively 
he
pushed the tip of his tongue forward, and was surprised and pleased to 
elicit
a similar response. After a long, long moment the pair separated. Zoe
adjusted her dishevelled sweater and pushed her hair back into place while
she gasped for air.

'You caught me by surprise!' she complained. 'I wasn't really ready to
analyse the sensory stimuli that time.'

Jamie barely had a chance to brace himself as Zoe advanced purposefully.
This time she pulled his head down to hers with one hand while the other
splayed against his chest. She seemed to have lost any inhibitions about
kissing; her tongue exploring his mouth with a boldness and tenacity that he
found disconcerting. He felt his manhood stir beneath the cloth of his kilt 
as
Zoe's fingers wondered down his chest and to his belly. He wondered how
best to employ his own idle hands (not wanting the Devil to find any work 
for
them), yearning to take possession of the girl's lush curves, but afraid he
might scare her by seeming too eager or aggressive. Finally he contented
himself with stroking her hair, while the other hand circled the small of 
her
back with feathery light caresses.

The next time they broke for air, Zoe stared at him with such a serious
expression that he burst out, 'What is it? What's wrong?'

'Oh Jamie,' she all but whispered, 'I feel so strange. I'm trembling all 
over, as
if I had some sort of illness. And I feel so hot all of a sudden. What's 
wrong
with me?'

'Nothing's wrong, lass. What you're feeling is what you should be feeling.
You remember the Doctor saying something about those medicines that you
Wheel folk took? He said they stopped you from feeling when they needed
you to be thinking, or some such. Well the medicine's probably wearing off
now, that's all.'

Zoe still looked apprehensive, and the young Scot gently pulled her close 
and
cuddled her, feeling the trembling that passed through her in waves, as long
suppressed hormonal responses were finally allowed to take their natural
course.

'Now I've kissed someone,' she said softly, her eyes bright with tears.

'Aye, lass. That ye have.'

* * *

Zoe kept to herself more than was usual over the next few days. Jamie
wondered if the Doctor was aware of what was happening, but as usual it
was quite impossible to be sure just what he was thinking about anything.
Jamie quite often found his dreams filled with images of Zoe. Pleasant
dreams, to be sure, but ones that left him feeling more than a little guilty 
when
he awoke. He resolved not to broach the subject of their kisses unless Zoe
did, and then worried whether the girl would take that as an insult on his 
part.
He was fretting over the matter (and feeling that matters between men and
women seemed more straightforward back in his own century) when there
was a light tapping at his door.

Zoe was standing in the TARDIS corridor, one foot twisted around her other
and seemingly unable to meet his eyes. He assumed that she had tried to find
something that the TARDIS wardrobe considered period dress, but her
tartan skirt was much too short (though he felt it unnecessary to object), 
and
her laced bodice was far too fine - more suited to the wife of a Clyde 
valley
landowner than a typical Highland girl.

'Can I come in, Jamie?'

He cursed inwardly at his lack of manners, and stumbled over an apology for
staring at her. 'It's a long time since I've seen anyone dressed like home,' 
he
said, diplomatically.

Zoe interrupted as he rambled on about the sights and sounds of his native
land. 'Jamie, I need to ask you something.' He saw a hint of redness on her
cheeks, and once again her eyes slid away rather than meet his own.

'Anything, you know that.'

Zoe paced around the spartan room, picking up the few small momentos he
had gathered on his travels, and putting them down again. 'Ever since... you
know... that day.' He sat silently, not wanting to interrupt while Zoe 
gathered
her thoughts and her courage. 'Well, since then I've been thinking about you 
a
great deal.'

'Aye,' Jamie replied wryly, 'I've been thinking about you, too.'

'No,' she said, 'I mean I've been thinking about you and me. Together. And I
don't know what to do - it's as if I can't concentrate any more. Do you know
what I mean, Jamie? It's almost as though I've become a completely different
person!' She burst into tears.

Jamie stayed where he was. 'Did ye talk to the Doctor?'

'Oh, Jamie,' she said, between sniffles, 'I can't. It just doesn't seem like 
the
sort of thing he'd understand, somehow. I thought that *you'd* understand.
You must have gone through this without being driven mad.'

Jamie thought for a while. 'I remember when I was a lad of fourteen winters.
There was this girl that I saw at a gathering. Long red ringlets and a 
bridge of
freckles across her nose. I thought she was the prettiest girl I'd ever 
seen.
She was all I could think of, night and day, for the whole of that spring. 
I'd
have given anything at all for just one kiss from her. I thought I'd die if 
I
never saw her again.'

'What happened?'

'I never saw her again.' He grinned. 'And here I am. Ye'll get through this, 
lass
- it just takes time.'

Zoe bit her lip as she contemplated his words. 'What's it like, Jamie? A man
and a women. Together.'

He was prepared to make a joke, to brush off the question and change the
subject, until he looked up and met Zoe's eyes. She was staring straight 
into
him, and he was caught by her, falling into twin dark pools of mystery.

'Listen, love. Ye'll find out, in God's own time, and with some man who
deserves someone as sweet and lovely as you are. I know one thing: It's not
me that fate's got in store for you - I wish it was, but I'm certain it's 
not, and
I'm not about to argue with fate. There's enough stories about men who do
that, and not a single one ends happily.'

Zoe looked at him for a long time, as the tears trickled off her long lashes 
and
dripped to the floor. Then, finally, she essayed an uncertain smile, hugged
him, and left the room.

Jamie sat there, thinking, for a long time. Finally he sighed heavily, 
stood, and
stretched. 'I'll see if I can find the Doctor. Mebbee a tussle wi' a few
cybermen'll blow away the cobwebs.' Humming a soft lament, he strode out
of his room, closing that door firmly behind him.

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The original intention was that the story would be much more raunchy than it
eventually turned out. Blame Jamie - he was just too darn noble to go 
through
with the sordid plan I put to him.
--
Russ Massey