Pulse Points

Being a Doctor, Zoey knows her pulse points, reassurance that he was alive could be found at different areas over his body. Companion fic to Oops' most recent chapter.

Superficial Temporal

When he got mad, that's when you could see it, that twisting artery on his temple, it throbbed with vengeance when his heartbeat skyrocketed and adrenaline pounded through his system. That simple movement of high pressure blood through a refined binary vascular system gave her much comfort. Zoey would lay next him silently at night, and trace her finger over it lightly, feeling the soft movement of the resting double heartbeat and that was enough, he was alive.

External Maxillary

It was harder, seeing this one, it was more a point she needed to feel for, when she held his face to hers she always found it, pulsing erratically on his jaw, just below the ear, she used it as a judge of his physiological arousal, the erratic and haphazard beating of his two hearts meant it felt wrong and off kilter, but that didn't matter, because once he was resting it was back to normal and you never would have thought that it was ever out of synch, but she barely could disguise the sigh that she let out every time she found it, him dying on her does that, and she may be paranoid or whatever other psychobabble the Doctor throws at her when she tells him, she can't help it, it's almost second nature now, it's a habit she finding hard to break.

Carotid

Hugging him reveals the Carotid, the artery to his brain, the one that she is most afraid of, the branch of which held an aneurysm that killed him, before he was resurrected by the Guardians, or so he'd told her. When she hugs him she can't stop herself turning her head in and ghosting her lips over it, feeling the rush of blood through his neck on her lips, if she's frantic after an adventure she presses her tongue to it, and now this obsession with his pulse is getting stupid but she can't stop. She needs it, like she needs him, and there will never be an end to that.

Brachial

His Brachial Artery was one of her favourites; she could see it every day, brushing her thumb along it when she spoke with him or even just looking at it, it was one of his most prominent blood vessels, defiantly raised on his arm, even her eyes could see it moving softly. And the addiction intensified, to a point where she was panicked if she didn't feel just one a day, Rose's comforting words seemed to just wash over her, she wanted nothing more than to be rid of it, to not have to convince herself every day that he was really here, because hearing him in head should be enough, hearing him breathe, knowing he loved her immensely should satisfy her worries, but the day she found out they didn't worried her to a point that she was terrified to leave his side.

Radial and Ulna

Grabbing his wrist was the remedy for these, the hard pounding of the radial pulse completely drowned out the ulna pulse, but her fingers could pick it up, he body was maturing, becoming more talented every day. Yet she remained unsure, whatever this was it was getting worse and she had to make it stop, but she didn't have the willpower or the confidence to find the means to stop, the Doctor psychoanalysing her wasn't helping matters any.

Femoral

At the very top of his thigh, that's when she felt the femoral artery, normally it was when she pushed herself up and used his thigh for support, it would be there, pulsing as it should do, and any irrational fear that this was all dream would shatter and she would feel relatively normal for the time being before that fear returned and she would have to find his pulse again. Now she was sure that he knew what she was doing, and that he was only keeping quiet for her sake, a part of her, the irrational fearful part wanted it to stay that way, the other logical courageous part was screaming for him to stop her, to call her bluff and put an end to this mad internal struggle that was warring within her, whatever he knew, he was keeping his silence.

Popliteal

She only every found this once, by accident, when she fell on him as she climbed out of the Tardis pool, his leg was semi flexed and she had felt it for a brief moment before his leg was straightened and he was helping her up. The chance encounter had her replaying the moment over and over again, how it felt against his skin, the slight tremor that had ran down his leg as muscles spasmed at the coolness of her hand, it wasn't much, but by Rassilon was it enough.

Posterior Tibial and Dorsalis Pedis

These were felt when she had grudgingly massaged his feet after a lost bet, the feel of them sent all thoughts of her resentment from her mind to be replaced with a contentment that only half of her body felt now, because she was struggling to stay in control of herself, the need to feel pulse points was getting too much and she was scared that she would break, she needed him to stop her, because her resolve was broken. A lone tear slipped down her cheek, as warm and inviting arms scooped her up and held her close.

**

Days dragged when she didn't feel them, his skill at numbing her senses of touch should terrify her but it didn't, because she was too afraid of herself and her own need to feel his pulse in the first place. Withdrawal wasn't easy, it was every bit as painful as it is made out to be, her levels of anxiety were so high that she could no longer think clearly, it was like her drug had been ripped from her, and the pain of that superseded his numbness entirely. But it was easing, it was getting better, sensation was coming back and the pain that had flooded her body only days before was almost gone. When she felt his pulse again, after her recovery, she had panicked, all the what if's flooding her brain, but she pushed them aside, she didn't need his pulse to know he was there, she had all of him, every single atom of his existence was hers, just like hers were his, and that, that was all she would ever need, she knew that now.

Hope you like It was my chance to remember my pulse points and where they were, I figured Zoey would be a better person to cave to that kind of thing, just to show her weaknesses, I didn't want her to be a Mary Sue.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Please Review!!

xxTeam-Masterxx