first_in_time | New Lives and Mourned Pasts

The trip was long but at least they had jobs to go to and somewhere to live even if it was small. They each had one suitcase half filled with clothes and a life they were leaving behind. Once they were left in the by the side of a dusty road on the outskirts of a small country town Barbara walked with Ian to their new home, unconsciously holding onto his hand as she had done so many times before. Their real estate agent waited at the door of their new home to hand them a set of keys. He wished the newly weds ever lasting happiness then left them to it.

"It seems I've missed my own wedding," Barbara said with a sigh as she put the suitcase down in the middle of the almost empty lounge room and chuckled a little. She was tired and felt dirty from all their traveling.

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From:

first_in_time

"I'll make you some tea and we can share that cake," Barbara said and leaned upwards to kiss his cheek before he pulled out their keys. She smiled and blushed a little. "We could even cuddle in our pyjamas afterwards like a real married couple."

From:

splendid_roman

He smiled back. "Maybe we could." He moved his bags over to one hand so he could get the key out and open the door. "I'd like to try out the shower as well," he said, once they were inside. "Now that we're settled it'll be good to wash all the travelling off."

From:

first_in_time

"Well, why don't you do that, I'll make tea and find something to listen to on the radio?" she offered.

Barbara walked into the house and placed their shopping in the kitchen then turned to face Ian. "Want to help me find a place for everything?"

From:

splendid_roman

"It shouldn't be too hard, there aren't many cupboards." Ian went round and opened them all, to see which had crockery and pots and pans in. It was something they were going to have to agree on, though and he hoped they could. "Things we'll use most often at the front and things we'll use less often at the back," he suggested to start with.

From:

first_in_time

"I think that's meant to be a pantry," Barbara said and began to put their tea, vegetables and odds and ends in it. "What else is there?"

From:

splendid_roman

Ian had a look in the their bags. "I think the tinned things should go in here." He indicated a cupboard that was low down and started putting the tins in there.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara watched then filled the jug and turned it on. "I'll put our cleaning things under the sink and you can take all of our soap and toothpaste into the bathroom while you have a shower." She passed him the bag.

From:

splendid_roman

"All right." He kissed her on the cheek. "I won't be long."

While he was in the shower he thought that he and Barbara were living more like two people who happened to live together than husband and wife. Which was because they weren't married, but they were going to have to find a way to work towards that. Perhaps cuddling in their pyjamas would be a start.

Not long later he came back downstairs, hair still damp. He smiled at Barbara. "Thank you for making the tea."

From:

first_in_time

"You're welcome," she smiled in return and picked up his cup to pass to him. "Let's get comfortable in the lounge."

From:

splendid_roman

He took the cake as well, to make sure he got some, and he set it down on the coffee table. He untied the ribbon to see what the cake was. "Ooh, chocolate cake, my favourite."

From:

first_in_time

Barbara brought forks and passed one to Ian. "You have the first bit and give it a rating out of five stars."

From:

splendid_roman

He did and looked for a moment like he was in heaven as he ate it. "Definitely five stars," he concluded. "You should have some." He had a sip of his tea, as otherwise he'd just eat the whole slice of cake before Barbara could get to it.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara cut a small piece off with her fork and popped it into her mouth. She made a very happy noise.

"This is fantastic!" She wasn't sure which was better; the cake or eating really food. "I may possibly get fat living here with cake so good."

From:

splendid_roman

"We won't be able to afford it every week." Which would help not become fat on cake.

He had another piece himself. "It would be useful to have a car and we'll need to save for a wedding."

From:

first_in_time

"And we'll need rings before we have a wedding," Barbara added with a sight and rested her head on Ian's shoulder. The thought of it all was rather overwhelming.

From:

splendid_roman

Ian put an arm round her. "We could always go into the city one weekend and see if we can find something cheap. Or we could wait until we're really married, if you'd prefer."

From:

first_in_time

"I'm just worried that people will start asking, that's all. It sounds like there's so much we have to do and buy, and we're not actually married. We haven't even made a decision as to what we are yet." Life on the TARDIS had been somewhat easier in that respect.

From:

splendid_roman

Ian was less worried about people asking, sure he could fob them off with some excuse. "Do we have to define what we are?" he looked over at each other. "We agree that we'd like to get married some day. Isn't that enough?"

From:

first_in_time

"I suppose it is," Barbara said and sat up a little straighter to sip her tea. They were in an unusual position. No gossiping sessions of the past or books on taking care of men she'd been forced to read could have prepared her.

"Do you think that anyone has ever been in a position like ours before?"

From:

splendid_roman

Ian sipped some of his own tea and had another bite of cake. "I suppose people forced to marry because the woman got pregnant might be a similar sort of position." At least in the sense of not being ready to get married yet, although these people had been very close by definition.

From:

first_in_time

"That's a position I'm very glad I'm not in, and even if I did happen to fall pregnant, everyone believes that we're married anyway," for the moment at least. In all fairness they had pretended to bearded before but it was only ever for a short amount of time, yet they were always successful.

From:

splendid_roman

He nodded. "We don't have to worry about that just yet anyway." Barbara getting pregnant would require them to be intimate first and that's what they had the condoms for.

"Would you like to have children one day?" he asked, looking round at her over the top of his tea cup as he sipped from it.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara thought for a moment. "I believe so. I don't know when or how many. I just want to focus on being home first. Do you want children?"

From:

splendid_roman

"Yes." He nodded and put his cup back down. "I do, but I haven't really thought about the specifics. Not yet, though, we need to be settled and married first."

He went for another bit of cake. "Have some more of this cake before I finish it."

From:

first_in_time

Barbara had another small piece and let it sit on her tongue where it melted and filled her mouth with the taste of chocolate.

"You can finish it now," she said and put her fork down. "I think that being settled would be better for all of us, really. I wouldn't like to have a child while I was still adjusting."