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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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."

From:

splendid_roman

He did finish it. "Having a baby is an adjustment in itself. It would be good not to be doing both at once." He then finished his tea and sat back. "Let's just get used to being here first, then we can worry about everything else."

From:

first_in_time

"Being here and pretending to be married," she added and put down her empty mug. For a moment she contemplated resting against Ian as he sat back against the sofa but stayed upright a little, not knowing if that was what he would like.

From:

splendid_roman

He nodded. "But pretending to be married more seriously than the other times we've done it, when it was just for a short time." And those times were for convenience, just the same as this was, but then they'd only been friends.

From:

first_in_time

"True. We didn't necessarily love one another at the time either," she added and blushed yet again. "Not like we do now in any case. I'm still getting used to that, too."

From:

splendid_roman

"So am I." He looked over and put an arm round her. "I like it, though."

From:

first_in_time

Barbara smiled warmly and looked up at him, the blush making her hot under the collar of her blouse.

"Me too."

From:

splendid_roman

He smiled back and leaned over to kiss her.

From:

first_in_time

The kiss had been somewhat expected and Barbara gladly kissed him back for a long moment. Eventually the butterflies settled in her stomach and the room stopped spinning, so she pulled away just a little.

"I like way way you make me feel," she told him, her arms encircling his waist.

From:

splendid_roman

Kissing Barbara felt good and he was happy that their future would include more of that. He smiled at her and put a hand to her cheek. He only got as far as opening his mouth to say what he felt when there was a knock at the door.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara frowned. "Who would be knocking on our door?" she asked.

From:

splendid_roman

"I'll find out." He let her go and went to the door.

On the other side of it was a woman, perhaps a little younger than Barbara, holding a plastic container. "Hello," she said brightly. "I'm Sandra, I live next door."

"It's lovely to meet you." Ian smiled at her. "I'm Ian." He called for Barbara to come and meet their neighbour too.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara went to the door and smiled at their visitor.

"Hello," she said to the woman who immediately introduced herself a Sandra. "It's a erasure to meet you. Would you like to come in for some tea?"