Chapter Four

He manages to stumble to her small prison cot, falling upon the rough fabric in a tangle of pliant limbs and gasping breaths. His head ends up on her breasts, body still cradled by her legs.

The harsh prison light cuts across his skin, making him seem paler than usual, ethereal almost. It's not exactly the most comfortable position for her, and for a moment she's tempted to move. But then she feels his breath slow, the ragged pants smoothing out into a gentle even rhythm. The relaxation of his body tells her that he's fallen into a light doze. And she doesn't have the heart to wake him. How long has it been since he's allowed himself to sleep? How long has he been running from the nightmares that torment his subconscious? How long has he been going this time? Sustained by some mystical stamina that she's never seen matched.

Her fingers drift across his forehead and into his hair, smoothing the dark tussled strands away from his damp face. It's a tender gesture, and his mouth curves ever so slightly in his sleep. There's a wonderful ache in her belly, and her neck throbs from his all too vigorous attentions. She just knows that there's going to be a mark there. She treasures such things. These small temporary reminders. Because while he gets to leave, to have adventures and skip through time and space, She cannot leave this prison cell, trapped here for the ultimate crime.

It occurs to her then.

Fireworks. That's what they are. What they've always been, gunpowder and a spark.

When they're together they're brilliant, flashy and absolutely uncontainable. But they're never together for long. Time gets in the way and sometimes the gunpowder goes untouched in her cell and the spark flickers and burns alone. But when they meet?

God, when they meet.

It's the best thing she can imagine.

And it's not even the novelty of it being him, of it being her doctor. Of it being the impossibly bubbly and complex man that sometimes knew everything about her. it's the way they click together. Like they just fit into the spaces of the other, and not necessarily just in the crudest meaning.

Because everyone else doesn't understand. They can't because they're limited to one time frame, one life. They cannot understand what it's like to spend their whole lives dancing like binary stars. Forever hovering, spinning just out of reach, living for the few moments when they brush together.

That's the thing about them, they are a tragedy. Gunpowder and a Spark destined only to have the briefest of times together. Moments snatched in a shower of brilliant multicolored lights.

Such thoughts make her sad, make her long to take him in her arms and hold on. to make time and fate rewrite themselves so that she can stay with him. to stop dancing alone and finally be part of the crescendo of his life. But she'd never dare. The stories they've had, the lives they lived, she wouldn't change one word. All of them were so important. Like diamonds gathered to her skin.

The only thing that grants her solace is the knowledge that it really isn't about the length of time. She knows she could live a thousand years and never feel so alive and so complete as she does in his arms.

It is only in the dark, alone and waiting that it gets harder to remember that.

He makes a soft sound, somewhere between a groan and a sigh, disturbing her from her thoughts. His arms tighten briefly around her as if he can sense her distress and wants to soothe it.

When he woke he'd return to the Tardis, the swagger back in his walk and the light back in his eyes. He'd go and have his adventures. And she would wait here, waiting for the next chance to leave.

Waiting for the next chance to burn with him.

Authors note: Well, here it is, the conclusion to Gunpowder and a spark. i actually rewrote this a couple times before i was satisfied enough to put it up here :)

I hope you guys like, and if i havent responded to your reviews then i am dreadfully sorry, my replies were getting this error message (which i didnt see till later).

If you have any thoughts, please don't hesitate to leave me a review (even though this story is complete) i just adore reading them :D

ta ta for now

~MadamRed