Title: A Different Kind of Pain
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Ten.5
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 6, 50ficlets
Prompt: 49, Aches & Pains
Author's Note: Continuation of Maybe An Angel.
Author's Note: The human version of the Doctor is being referred to as John Smith in this fic, since it's the Doctor's human alias and his clone needed a name.
Author's Note: Spoilers for Journey's End, somewhat. This is an completely alternate take on the ending of Season Four.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor, or his human clone. Please do not sue.

***

The Doctor sighed and closed his eyes as he raised his face to the shower spray, letting the warm water wash over his body. The bruises and welts that the Master's whip had inflicted on his physical form were gone, but somehow, he could still feel them.

Maybe he only felt those wounds because Jamie had seen them. He would have given anything for his lover not to have had to look at those physical manifestations of what the Master had put him through, but he was glad that it hadn't been something much worse.

He had expected the Master to assault him sexually, as he'd done so many times in the past. Now that he was in a more attractive body than any he'd ever had before, the Master's libido seemed to have increased -- and he was the focus of it.

As long as that monster wasn't going after Jamie, then he would have been more than willing to sacrifice himself to the other man's lust to protect his lover. He was fortunate that hadn't had to happen, but his body still bore the aches and pains of the Master's torture.

They wouldn't last for long; he knew that. It was the emotional pain that stayed with him the longest, the feeling that he shouldn't have broken down, shouldn't have been so easy to capture, shouldn't have let himself give in to the Master's demands.

Only this time, he hadn't. The thought of Jamie had kept him strong; he had been able to withstand the mental insinuations that the Master always used against him by thinking of the man he loved, knowing that Jamie would find him and get him out of there.

Did the Master suspect that his love for Jamie was what gave him strength? The Doctor frowned at the thought; he didn't like the idea of the Master being inside his head, being able to discover the love he had for Jamie and possibly use it against them in the future.

That was one of the Master's tricks; he had managed to take that ability to see into another's mind and twist it in a dark and frightening way. He wouldn't hesitate to use anything he gleaned from anyone's mind to his own advantage -- especially to help him defeat the Doctor.

He didn't want to admit that the Master could still get into his mind so easily, but it was something that the other man had always been able to do. He was ruthless about it; he didn't ask permisison, he simply pushed past whatever protective barriers were there.

That was one of the things that had always made the two of them so different, the Doctor thought wryly. He himself would never dream of invading another person's mind in that way. He would never simply break down that wall, no matter how dire the situation might be.

The pain that could result from having someone force their way into his mind, viewing his carefully guarded secret thoughts, were very different from the pain that could be inflicted upon his body. But that pain could be even more potent than suffering physically.

He fervently hoped that his lover would never have to endure anything like that; it was one of the reasons tha the had to protect Jamie at any cost. He didn't want the Master to break into the other man's mind, to find anything there that he could taunt Jamie with.

The Master was never going to touch the man he loved, not if he had anythng to do with it, the Doctor told himself firmly. They would obviously meet at some point, but he intended to be prepared when they did. He wouldn't let Jamie fall into that maniac's clutches.

They had been lucky this last time; he had been the one who was captured. But it could so easily have been Jamie. He didn't want to think about what could have been the outcome of that; but Jamie was here, safe, and they had gotten out of a bad situation.

Bending down, the Doctor turned the water off in the shower, noting with satisfaction that the physical aches and pains were fading away to nothingness. Another few hours, and he should barely remember that he had been held captive and tortured.

But he would remember, he thought as he stepped out onto the bath mat and reached for a towel to dry off with. And someday, perhaps sooner than he thought, he would repay the Master for all of the aches and pains he had ever had to suffer -- and then some.

***