Title: Danger in the Air
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Peter Carlisle
Fandom: Doctor Who/Blackpool
Rating: PG-13
Table: Amnesty in January, 5_prompts
Prompt: 5, from Table 13 -- Street in a provincial town
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 Peter Carlisle. Please do not sue.

***

Peter looked around him with interest as he and the Doctor walked through the narrow, crowded streets of the provincial Paris town they'd landed the Tardis in. It all looked so different from how it would be in his own time! It was incredible that he was actually here.

"Aren't places like this fantastic?" the Doctor enthused, smiling as he looked around. "It's so different from your own time, Peter! Think of all the things you're going to be able to see that you could only have pictured in your mind before!"

Peter nodded, agreeing with his lover even as the Doctor's infectious enthusiasm for the place they were in seemed to spread to him. It was beautiful here -- and so utterly peaceful. He could stay in Renaissance France forever -- if that were possible.

But they would only be here for a fairly short time, he reminded himself. And if he recalled correctly, there had been a lot of intrigue in this part of the world during the Renaissance era, hadn't there? It wasn't the safest place for anyone to be.

Especially not someone like the Doctor, who could easily be tried for witchcraft if the truth about who and what he was came to light. No one here would ever believe in aliens who traveled through time and space in blue boxes. They would simply .... kill him.

Well, maybe not the inhabitants of this peaceful village, but people from the big cities. It was best that they'd come to this place rather than getting too close to Paris, where he was sure that the Doctor would manage to fall into some sort of political intrigue.

Why was it that trouble always seemed to follow them, no matter where they went? Peter thought with a soft sigh. The only place that they'd been able to escape from it for a while was on pleasure planets -- and they certainly couldn't stay on those forever.

It was a nice idea, though, he told himself, smiling wryly. Being able to stay in one of those places for a lifetime was a strangely compelling idea -- but then, if they did, he wouldn't see so much of the universe, or the past of his own planet.

And that was one thing that he would miss. He wouldn't want to spend his short human lifetime on just one planet -- not when he could see hundreds, even thousands of them! And this was a time period of his own planet that he'd always been fascinated by.

"Peter! Look! A little shop!" He turned to see that the Doctor had stopped walking while he himself had been lost in thought; the Time Lord was standing in front of a small shop window, looking delightedly through the glass at whatever was inside.

Peter turned around and retraced his steps to stand in front of the shop, looking inside along with the Time Lord. It appeared to be a bakery; confectionery was all around the room, loaves of crustry bread, cakes, and various other sweets that made Peter's mouth water.

"Come on, Peter! Let's go inside!" The Doctor was practically jumping from one foot to the other in his excitement; Peter couldn't hold back a smile and a laugh. The Doctor so loved these "little shops," no matter where they might be when they found one.

He couldn't deny the Time Lord such a simple request; besides, he was fairly sure that the Doctor would burst if he didn't get to go into that bakery. Though they would have to go someplace for food after this, Peter told himself. It was going to make him hungry.

Taking the Doctor's hand, he followed the other man inside; a small bell over the door announced their entry, and the woman behind the counter looked up, brows raised, obviously not used to seeing strangers come into her shop.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice low and husky. Peter noticed that she couldnt keep her eyes off the Doctor; he instinctively moved closer to his boyfriend, a slight frown marring his brow at the seductive tone the woman had used.

If she thought that the Doctor was going to be interested in her, then she had another think coming, Peter told himself, shooting a ferocious scowl at the woman. She shrugged, then went back to what she was doing -- the creation of yet another cake.

The two of them went all around the shop, both men sniffing the air appreciatively. Peter knew he'd been right about needing food after this; the scent of bread and cakes mingled in the air, making his stomach rumble uncomfortably, reminding him that they hadn't had lunch.

"You don't have a sou, do you?" he whispered to the Time Lord, surprised when the Doctor nodded and smiled. He had no idea how the other man had happened to come by some money, though he had that nifty little interstellar card when they were traveling in the future.

"I took the liberty of converting some of your money to French currency before we came here," the Time Lord told him. "Look in your wallet. You should have some French money there, along with everything else. And don't worry -- it's all there!"

"I never doubted it would be," Peter told him, wondering if the Doctor actually believed that he'd think his lover had taken some money from his wallet. He wouldn't care if the Doctor had done that -- in his eyes, they shared everything, even finances.

"Just making sure," the Doctor murmured, his eyes moving over the assortment of cakes in the shop. "As much as I'd like to buy one of these, we'll get fat if we eat things like this," he said regretfully, sighing. "No, I think we'd be better off to have an actual meal."

"At one of the little cafés we've seen along the way?" Peter asked, raising a brow. He knew that the Doctor didn't like eating in places like that -- he said that he felt too open, too exposed. But this was Renaissance France, after all. They might not have much of a choice.

The Doctor nodded, turning towards the door of the confectionery shop with a reluctant look behind him. "Good day, mademoiselle!" he said to the woman behind the counter, with a friendly smile. She barely looked at him, obviously annoyed that they hadn't bought anything.

When they were outside again, Peter looked around them, then shaded his eyes and glanced up at the sky. The sun was shining brightly, illuminating a flower box in the window above the shop. He couldn't help but smile at the beauty of the flowers, a bright spot against the gray stone wall.

"There's something that should bring a smile to your beautiful face," he said softly, gesturing at the flowers. "We wouldn't see that in the future -- well, maybe in someone's kitchen window in a suburban household, but not often."

The Doctor gaze followed Peter's outstretched arm, his lips curving in a smile as he looked at the flowers. "A little touch of brightness in a town that seems awfully grey," he commented, glancing around them. "Peter, is it just my imagination, or it there something off about this place?"

Peter nodded slowly, looking around him with narrowed eyes. There had seemed to be something a bit ominous about the lack of people in the town; no one seemed to be bustling about as he'd expected them to be. Yes, there was definitely something .... not quite right.

"I think we should stick around for a while, just in case we might be needed," the Doctor told him, his own expression thoughtful. "I can't quite put my finger on it, but it doesn't seem as though everything is falling into place here in the way it should."

Peter nodded, his eyes taking in the street around them, taking note of the peculiarities that were only now making themselves known. Yes, the Doctor was right. There was definitely something wrong -- and Peter was curious to find out just what that something was.

He should have known from the moment they'd come out of the Tardis that something felt strange. He'd read enough about this time period to know that there should be people around, bustling about the town, even in a provincial village like this one.

There was a definite sense of danger in the air here. He hadn't realized that when they'd first left the ship, but he could feel it now .And it made him uneasy -- not just for himself and the Doctor, but for the people who made their lives here, too.

"I think you're right," he said, his voice strong and firm, though he couldn't help feeling that they were heading right back into trouble again. Ah, well, he thought as he followed the Time Lord down the street, it wouldn't be the first time. And it certainly wouldn't be the last.

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