'A bucket list.'
The Doctor looked up at Gavin from his favourite spot on the maintenance swing as though Gavin had all of a sudden decided to sprout an extra head, and having made up his mind, actually managed to achieve it.
'Is it customary for humans to make themselves a reference of available buckets?' he pondered in bewilderment.
It took all of Gavin's self-control not to scream. In the few months he had been travelling with the Doctor he had come to expect a plethora of stupid and oblivious remarks when confronted with everyday simplicities, but this one really took the cake.
'It's not a list of buckets, it's a list of things to do before you kick the bucket.'
The Doctor sat back and took a moment to ponder this, his brow furrowing in concentration.
'Kick the bucket, the act of bucket kicking. Is it like football, I'm good a football.'
Gavin brought a hand up to his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew he loved travelling with the Doctor, but sometimes it was extremely hard to remember why. He rubbed his hand across his eyes and brought it back down before replying with barely veiled frustration:
'It's not… you don't… it's a list of things you do before you die. Kicking the bucket is 'human' for dying.'
The light of understanding finally dawned in the Doctors face, filling his eyes with a mischievous twinkle.
'A wish list,' he said, the corners of his mouth twitching up into a smile, 'I'm good at those.'
He gave the piece of paper Gavin had handed him earlier an enthusiastic flick, and then hunched over it with devotedness.
'Hmmm let's see, sky diving. Don't know what that is, but it sounds dangerous; next. Stone Henge; ooooh, I've been there, started a fight between a Roman regiment and all my worst enemies over Pandora's Box. Rule 402: Never mess with a Roman… Or is it never eat fish on a Tuesday. Either way, it's an important rule. But there's a tick next to that one, guess that means you've already done it. Let's see… Ayers Rock. No tick. Doesn't sound dangerous and I haven't been there yet. Wha-hay, we have a winner.'
The Doctor sprung out of his chair excitedly upon this exclamation, jumping and jittering for a moment, before running up the stairs and sliding across the glass landing, slamming hard into the TARDIS console, as Gavin stood back surveying him in bemusement. He began climbing the stairs as the Doctor steadied himself and looked up Ayers Rock in the TARDIS' databanks.
'Australia!' he exclaimed, barely masking his disgust as his face screwed up and his hands jittered even worse than before, 'you want to go to Australia, it's so … warm.'
Gavin had now reached the top of the stairs, and had an unhindered view of the Doctors incomprehension; his slack jaw and wide eyes, hands loosely clasped in front of him, and fingers jittering, almost subconsciously. It would have almost been laughable, that is if Gavin wasn't already so exasperated by the conversation that, had he had any less self-control, he would have strangled the Doctor by now.
'It wasn't… it was just a suggestion,' he managed to force out with a heavy sigh, 'Why don't we just forget it.'
'No, we can do it,' the Doctor said haltingly, turning back to the console, 'Australia.'
The Doctor swallowed the word down like he'd just drunk a particularly foul dose of cough medicine, and started plugging coordinates into the screen.
Gavin leant back on the railing, dropped his head and sighed. A coffee, that's what he needed. A hot, rich cup of coffee, maybe even a cappuccino. Warm fluffy frothing, chocolate dust, a custard tart on the side…. He was still caught in his little day dream when the console sprung to life; it's loud, metallic keening breaking him out of his reverie. He had just enough sense to grab on to the railing before the TARDIS violently tilted to the side, a result of the Doctors flamboyant flying style, before he surrendered to his minds complete devotion to the act of remaining upright.
After its usual violent swaying and jolting, and otherwise absolute dedication to damaging Gavin's knees beyond repair, the TARDIS levelled out and stopped with one last bump, allowing Gavin to release the death grip he had on the rails. As the TARDIS' incessant wailing also petered out, Gavin could hear the other unfortunate result of the space ship's unconventional flight procedure, Maggie's loud and highly unimpressed barks echoing through the control room.