Rainbow – "What's at the end of your rainbow?"
"No, over there!" pointed out an exasperated Rose.
"What?? I can't see anything," replied an equally frustrated Doctor.
"There, going down into those trees."
"Oh right. A rainbow," the Doctor said bluntly, evidently disappointed.
"Don't sound so disappointed," said Rose. "You need to brush up on your Earth mythology! Haven't you heard the stories about what you can find at the end of the rainbow?"
"What? Don't be ridiculous Rose. There is nothing at the end of a rainbow. In fact there isn't even an end of a rainbow. It's a full circle and it's caused by light being refracted through raindrops, like a prism," explained the Doctor. Rose looked at him with a slight smile creeping across her lips.
"So you don't know the stories then?" she asked. From the look on the Doctor's face, she presumed that was a no! Her smile grew. "Well, I think we should go and explore and I'll tell you about it on the way." The Doctor looked at her. He shook his head.
"I don't think that's such a great idea," he looked serious. Rose turned back to him, with a mock serious look on her face.
"Why not Doctor? Are you scared you might be proved wrong?" Her tongue was sticking out of her teeth a little, teasing him.
"No! Well, a little. Well yes. But I'm more concerned about your feelings when you find out that you're the one who's wrong. As I said, there is no end of the rainbow, so there's certainly nothing at it," he stated conclusively, sounding far more confident than he was. He looked at Rose's pleading face, then back towards the rainbow. "Oh alright then," he said, finally giving in to Rose's pleading eyes.
They set off, headed into the woods towards the rainbow, walking for what seemed like hours.
"Look, Rose. I know you always like to be right, but how about we call it quits on this one? I really don't think we're going to reach anything. It's an illusion, it's not really there. You can't reach out and see the separation of light. It's merely a spectacle. It's…over there!" he exclaimed, pointing towards a patch of light, shining down on a pool of water in the centre of the woods. Rose ran towards it.
As they reached it, they looked up and saw the different colours shimmering down, touching the surface of the pool and being absorbed by it. Rose looked at the Doctor, with a grin on her face.
"You know, Doctor, I hate to be the one who says 'I told you so', but…no wait…I love to be the one who says 'I told you so'! I told you so, I told you so!" Rose danced around the Doctor, doing a little victory dance and singing at him.
"Alright, alright," he said. "Give it a rest then." The Doctor scratched his head; he looked puzzled.
"What is it Doctor? What's wrong?" asked Rose, realising that something was amiss.
"This is wrong," he replied. "It's impossible. It shouldn't exist here, and you certainly shouldn't be able to reach out and put your hand through it," he told Rose, reaching out and putting his hand through it. "This is bad. This has got to be bad." The Doctor looked worried, which caused Rose to feel more concerned.
"Doctor? How bad?" she asked, a slight shiver in her voice.
"Well. It means that I get to make a wish," he said with a massive grin on his face.
"What?!"
"You heard! We reached the end of the rainbow, we get to make a wish each," he told her. Rose looked disbelieving.
"What is there some genie or something, ready to pop out of a lantern and grant us three wishes?" she asked sarcastically.
"Seriously? Too many films Rose!" The Doctor replied. "Besides, it's only one wish." Rose thought hard. What could she wish for? Well, there was the obvious. Him, but…no. It wouldn't be fair. And anyway, it would more than likely only last one day. She sat down on the stump of a tree and thought.
Meanwhile, the Doctor wandered over to the pool and knelt by it. He trailed his fingers across the surface of the water, wondering what he could wish for. Well, there was the obvious. Her, but…no. It wouldn't be fair. And anyway, it would probably only last one day. But even so, his thoughts couldn't help lingering on the girl sitting on the tree stump, only a few metres away from him.
Rose was confused. What if she did wish it? Would it really come true? How? How would it work? She didn't understand. At that moment she stood up and turned to face the Doctor, to find him suddenly standing right in front of her.
"Oh! Sorry, I'm sorry," they both started. They smiled at each other and sat down together.
"So have you decided what you're going to wish for?" the Doctor asked Rose.
"Yes, I think so. You?" she replied.
"Yup." There was a pause. "So," he started. "What was your wish?"
"Oh I can't tell you that," she replied. "Or it won't come true," she said with a smile and a wink, and with that, turned and walked back towards the TARDIS.