Title: Soldier of Love
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Ross Jenkins
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 4, 50ficlets
Prompt: 8, Soldier
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 Ross Jenkins, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Ross headed down the corridor that led from the bedroom he shared with the Doctor to the control room of the Tardis, his footsteps quickening as he moved along. He knew that the Doctor wanted to go out and explore, and he didn't want the Time Lord leaving him behind.

It was a little strange to go to all these planets that he'd never known existed, much less ever seen befroe. But then, everything about his life with the Doctor had felt a bit odd in the beginning, even though he'd settled into this life with no problems.

There hadn't been anyone for him to leave behind, really. His parents had died over a year ago, in a plane crash, and he had been an only child. He had two sets of aunts and uncles, and a few cousins, but no family who he was still close to.

So leaving Earth to be with the Doctor hadn't been much of a decision for him. He didn't really want to stay with UNIT, even though it had been his life for the past few years, and there was nothing else that he'd felt he would be any good at doing with his life.

He'd reluctantly accepted the fact that he would probably be a career soldier, even though it wasn't what he'd always wanted to do with his life. He'd intended to serve a few years in the military, then use the money he'd save to pay for art school.

That had seemed like a safe plan to him. It was what a lot of people did to get money for university -- and giving away a few years of his life to the military hadn't seemed like such a high price to pay for having the freedom later on to live his life doing what he chose.

But somehow, those plans had fallen by the wayside. When he'd gotten out of military training and joined up with UNIT, they had needed volunteers -- and he'd found himself caught up in a situation that he'd felt he was unable to leave.

That feeling hadn't lasted long, though -- and he'd ended up bitterly regretting the choice he'd made to stay in the military. So when the Doctor had come along, he'd had more than one reason to go along with the Time Lord and leave Earth behind.

Of course, his main reason for leaving had been that he wanted to be with the Doctor. Ross had known that he wanted the Time Lord from the first time he'd clapped eyes on the tall, handsome man; he was thankful that he'd been given this chance.

Getting out of the military had been the least of the reasons he'd had to come with the Doctor. He would have come even if he'd loved what he was doing and wanted to stay there; the Doctor's allure, and Ross' attraction to him, was too strong for him to even attempt to resist.

Ross was just glad that leaving the military behind hadn't been too hard of a choice for him. It was a choice that he would have made, but it was good not to have regrets, or second thoughts. He could be here with the Doctor and keep his conscience clear.

He hadn't been cut out to be a soldier; not the kind that he had been, anyway. He'd done the job, but his heart hadn't been in it. Certainly not in the way that his heart was with the Doctor, and always would be from the first moment they'd looked into each other's eyes.

It wasn't that he'd completely hated that life. No, there had been things about being a solider that had been good for him. But it wasn't the sort of life he'd been meant for; he was more sure of that now than ever. And now, he considered himself a different kind of soldier.

Ross couldn't help but smile as the thought crossed his mind. He wasn't just a soldier any more, not tied to the military version of what a soldier was. He was a soldier of love, exploring new boundaries and new worlds with the man he loved.

When he'd been with UNIT, he'd been a soldier who could strike fear into people's hearts. Not by how he looked, of course; he was too youthful to make anyone feel truly afraid of him, he was sure. And he didn't like the thought of anyone cowering from him in fear.

He'd always hated the fact that people looked at soldiers with such fear; their appearance didn't always mean that something terrible was going to happen. Many times, they were only trying to keep the peace. But people never really seemed to understand that.

But he'd evolved into the kind of soldier who was benevolent, who tried to spread love and wonder rather than violence and destruction. People didn't have to be afraid of him any more -- and he could shed that soldier's garb that he'd never been fond of.

The sort of soldier he was now was very different than what the military had wanted to make him, Ross thought to himself as he entered the control room and approached the Doctor at the console. But this was what he wanted to be, and he would never regret choosing this life.

***