Water, Water, Everywhere

There was something that Jackie had managed to always hide from her daughter. It wasn't a big thing, and when it wasn't much at a time she could stand it. That was water.

As a child, she had once gone swimming in a river and when no one was looking had almost drowned. Ever since then, she'd been afraid of any body of water bigger than a bathtub and she had a shower in the flat to make up for that.

Now, she wasn't amused at all!

"Doctor! Where are we?"

He had landed her and Rose on a planet with no land, the TARDIS bobbing on the waves.

"Aquanima! All water, but fascinating life and cities for fish-like races. Sorry Jackie, I didn't mean to land us on another planet, we were supposed to still be on Earth, tracking the signal for those ghosts down. The TARDIS must have gotten a bit sidetracked."

"Just a bit?! How are we supposed to get out, or, more importantly, when do we leave?!"

He grinned at her, did his running around the console thing that he seemed to always do (this was her first real trip in the TARDIS, but he was always this hyper) soon after, the sounds of the TARDIS engine flared to life and after a bit of a short trip, they landed again, this time with a bump which hopefully meant solid land.

As they gathered around the screen to check, they saw, much to the Doctor's amusement, that while they had made it back to Earth, they were definitely not at any place where people would be sending a signal for the ghosts.

This time they were on top of a floating piece of ice, other pieces of floating ice near theirs.

"Ooops! Something is really wrong with the TARDIS today...come on old girl, why won't you take us where we need to go, or, at least drop us back off to the Powel Estate so Jackie isn't run around the universe for no reason..."

He was talking to his ship. Barmy, that's what he was. "Home would be nice, Doctor. If not that, at least where this signal is coming from."

He nodded, fired up the engines again and, after a shorter trip this time, they landed with a smaller bump. They looked on the screen again, only to see that she was indeed back home, during a flood. She wouldn't be able to make it to the stairs without being washed away.

Also, it hadn't flooded in her time. So they were in the future, as she hadn't heard of a flood before the building was built. Though it could have happened...

Great, one day she'll be stuck up in her flat unable to go anywhere due to floods. Perfect.

"Doctor...I'm going to smack you if you don't get the right place next."

Rose was holding a hand in front of her mouth, and she liked that about as much as the Doctor's open amusement. Were they doing this on purpose just because she was accidentally on board when the Doctor took off?

Thankfully, the threat of another slap made him sober up a bit from what he must see as a funny situation, and he went around more calmly this time, mumbling to the ship the whole time, trying to get them to the right place.

Rose still seemed to be hiding a smile from her though.

The next three destinations all were closely centred around water too, and the amusement was finally clear off the Doctor's face, and he was beginning to look a bit worried. "I'm sorry Jackie, I have no idea why the TARDIS is acting like this. It's not really normal for her to keep on acting up like this, and I've checked and checked and then did some rechecking and the right coordinates are in. Seems like she's doing this for...fun."

Jackie slapped him for that. "Get me home, and god help you if it's even so much as raining, or I'll dismantle your ship for you."

The TARDIS gave a great moan at that, and she didn't know if it was because it was old, or if it truly was alive and was complaining about her threat. Either way, the next trip was a lot smoother and, when they landed, while she wasn't home, it turned out to be where the signal had come from.

The Doctor had marched out like he hadn't a care in the world since he was now at the right place and was immediately in the line of fire of a dozen or so guns.

Soon after it was her instead of Rose running beside him and, when given a bit of a break in between, she told the Doctor what she never told Rose.

"You know don't you?"

He looked at her confused. "Know what?"

"That I'm afraid of water."

He looked surprised at that, and shook his head. "No, but I think the TARDIS might have known. She does that sometimes when bored. I'm so sorry. It won't happen again."

She nodded, not thinking it likely that there would be a next time. "Fine just...don't tell Rose. I don't want her knowing."

Nodding and looking as serious as possible, he sat down on a set and put his feet up on the desk. "Sure, I won't tell her. I can understand why you wouldn't want your daughter to know. Indestructible mum. I remember that."

She had no idea why he was babbling on about it, but at least she believed her secret was safe.

No one but her, the TARDIS, and the Doctor will ever know that. It would be their little secret.