Title: Journey of the Heart
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Owen Harper
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: PG-13
Table: Epsilon, challenge_the
Prompt: 48, Journey
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 Owen Harper, unfortunately. Please do not sue.

***

Owen made his way down the corridor that led from the bedroom he shared with the Doctor to the control room, stretching and yawning. It wasn't unusual for the Time Lord to be up before him in the morning, but he'd slept longer than normal today.

Was it because he and the Doctor had spent so much of the night before making love? Owen couldn't hold back a smile as the remembrance of the previous night crossed his mind; he'd thoroughly enjoyed himself, more than he ever had with a human lover.

He hadn't expected making love with the Doctor to be just like sex with a human, of course. But he also hadn't realized that the Time Lord would be so much more .... what was the right word? Responsive? Or would it be something different?

Owen shook his head, pushing the thought away. He didn't really care what the specific term would be. All that mattered to him was that his relationship with the Doctor was progressing by leaps and bounds, in the best ways possible.

He'd been unsure about traveling with the Doctor at first; he'd known that he was attracted to the other man, but having literally been given a new lease on life, he hadn't been ready to follow through on that attraction. At least, not at the moment.

As time had gone by, he'd found that his attraction to the Doctor was growing stronger -- but for once in his life, he hadn't been the brash, aggressive pursuer that he usually was. He hadn't wanted the Doctor to back away from him; that was a risk he hadn't wanted to take.

He'd held himself back, for once. He hadn't wanted the Doctor to think that he was only interested in sex, not when there were so many other facets to their relationship. He hadn't wanted to rush into a physical relationship that would fade away as quickly as it had begun.

It had been a pleasant surprise to discover that the Doctor was just as attracted to him; even though it had taken them some time to become lovers, it had been worth the wait. Owen had never been with anyone as exciting as the Doctor.

Or as desirable, he thought to himself, a smile curving his lips as he approached the control room. He never had to worry about having an "off night" with the Time Lord; there was something about this man that could always arouse him to a fever pitch.

No one he'd ever been with before had this kind of effect on him. All he had to do was look at the Time Lord, to think about some of the things they'd done, and he was ready to drag the other man off in the direction of their bedroom and keep him sequestered there for hours on end.

But their relationship wasn't all about sex, either, Owen told himself firmly. He was learning so much about new planets, going to time periods that he'd always wanted to see. And each new experience drew him closer to the Doctor, in so many ways.

Their journey through time and space was only beginning, Owen thought as he stepped into the control room, his gaze focusing on the man leaning over the console. And this wasn't the only journey that the two of them were on together.

This wasn't just a journey around the galaxy, seeing new planets and discovering places that he'd never known existed. This was a journey of their hearts, too. For Owen, that was something completely new, something he'd never experienced in his life.

He'd been in love. He wasn't going to deny that. He'd loved Katie, and he'd thought that he was in love with Diane. But the two of them were the past; the Doctor was his present, and his future. And he'd never been in love this completely before.

The Doctor had not only given him the chance to see new worlds -- he'd also given Owen the chance to open his heart more fully than he ever had before. He'd held out the opportunity for healing in a way that he'd never have been able to heal if he'd gone back to Earth.

He could have done that, Owen reflected. He could have chosen to take up his work with Torchwood again; he could have tried to carve out a place for himself in Cardiff, or London. He could have picked up the threads of his old life, even though it might have been difficult.

But he hadn't wanted that. He'd chosen to stay here, with the Doctor, to become the Time Lord's lover as well as his companion. Only it hadn't really been a choice, had it? It had merely been the next step on a journey he'd wanted more than anything to take.

He'd known from the moment that the Doctor had given him the choice that he would stay here. Yes, he had a few moments of doubt -- but they'd been quickly swept away by the certainty that he was where he belonged, in the only place he really wanted to be.

The journeys that they'd already taken through the stars had been amazing. He'd seen so many places that he'd never dreamed could have existed; he'd been back into the past and seen things that he'd only been able to read about in history books.

He had traveled into the future, traveled to distant planets that humans would never know were out there. It had been an incredible journey so far -- and there was no end in sight. He wasn't going to get off this ride until he knew for sure that it had come to a complete stop.

That wasn't the only journey he was on. The journey that he was taking into the depths of his heart had come to matter more than any physical distance of miles or even galaxies. That journey was bringing him closer to the Doctor with each passing day.

Owen hadn't expected this. He'd thought when he had first agreed to travel with the Time Lord that they would be companions, and that even if they became lovers, it wouldn't be a relationship that would touch his heart and envelop him so completely.

But he hadn't counted on the Doctor being so .... so perfect for him. That wasn't a word he'd ever thought he would use to describe another person; he'd never used it for any of his lovers in the past, and he had always scoffed at the thought that anyone could deserve that description.

It was a word that fit the Doctor -- at least within the context of their relationship. Yes, they had their arguments; they didn't always see eye to eye. But Owen even enjoyed that part of their relationship -- after all, make-up sex was always terrific.

But even if the Doctor wasn't a perfect person, he was perfect for Owen. The two of them fit together in a way that Owen had never fit with anyone; this was the person he was meant to be with, and this was the place he was supposed to be in. He knew it in his heart.

Smiling, he entered the control room, moving to the console to stand beside the Doctor. Whatever new journey they would be going on, he wanted to know all about it. "Where are we heading to this time?" he asked, bending over the console to study the viewscreen.

"It's a pleasure planet, sweetheart," the Doctor answered, sliding an arm around Owen's waist. "I've been here before, but I've never brought anyone special with me. And I thought that we deserved a bit of time to ourselves, to rest and relax."

Well, that sounded like fun, Owen thought to himself, his smile growing wider. Though no journey that the Doctor took him on, whether to a pleasure planet or somewhere far more dangerous, could possibly be as incredible as the journey that his heart was taking.

***