"See, I told you the old girl would get us here safely," The Dr said, patting the TARDIS monitor like a faithful dog, "Oh ye of little faith!"
Rose rolled her eyes dramatically.
"Yeah, well I'm not gonna rush out there without a coat on to find out it looks like paradise, but has the temperatures of an ice planet!"
The Dr huffed and waved her towards the door.
"Fine. You go and get a sunburnt nose. See if I care. I'll be on standby with the aftersun shall I?"
Rose strode down the ramp and, with a final look over her shoulder at the Dr, cautiously opened the TARDIS door.
Sunlight and the sound of the sea washed over her and into the console room.
"Yes!" Rose punched the air, closed the door and spun round, a huge smile on her face.
"Of course, I could always go and look for that ice planet, if you thought it might be a bit hot here for you…" The Dr mused, "In fact, I know just the co-ordinates to use, give me a minute and we're there…"
He reached for levers and buttons on the console, a smile creeping across his face.
Rose ran over to him and pulled his hands back from the console.
"Not on any one of your lives!" she cried, "Give me ten minutes and we are out there! Catching
some sun, relaxing, going for a swim.."
And before the Dr could say another word she whooped and ran down the corridor to her room.
True to here word, ten minutes later, Rose was back.
She had changed out of her jeans and sweater top and into a pair of short denim shorts and a kaftan top.
Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, and she sported a pair of sunglasses perched on her head.
Over her shoulder was a large beach bag, overflowing with towels, a large novel, sunscreen and a large bottle of water.
"C'mon Dr, we haven't got all – oh," she stopped, "I thought you were getting changed too?"
The Dr stood up from his 'fine tuning' of the TARDIS, a constant work as far as he was concerned, and tucked his sonic screwdriver into his pocket.
"No need. Black covers every occasion."
"Dr, its thirty degree heat out there – you'll boil!"
"So, I'll leave my jacket off and roll up my sleeves."
"If you get sunstroke, don't come crying to me!" Rose told him as she grabbed his hand and pulled him out into the sunshine.
And onto a perfect beach. A perfectly secluded and empty beach.
Sand dunes stretched for miles behind them, and a golden beach lay before them.
A fat sun beamed down on the scene and a blue sea lapped on the shore.
"It's. Perfect!!" Rose cried, slipping on her sunglasses against the glare and clapping her hands
together.
"Glad you approve Miss Tyler" The Dr told her, grinning at her enthusiasm.
Rose released his hand and dropped her bag at his feet.
"Right, I'm off for a paddle," she said, and ran down the beach, her hair bobbing behind her as she did so.
The Dr stood watching her, the pressure of her bag resting against his leg.
Rose got to the water's edge and paused. Was this ocean cold or warm? She had had enough surprises of late to cautiously dip her toes into the water. At least, she hoped it was water. If it was any kind of corrosive acid, she wasn't going to have to buy half as much nail polish in future.
To her relief, the liquid was water and was warm. Pleasantly so.
Rose paddled and then waded out till the waves lapped at her knees.
She looked down and giggled as tiny fish swam around this new obstacle in their world.
Rose slowly turned round, wanting to beckon the Dr to come and look, see what I've found, and found he was watching her already.
Feeling slightly embarrassed, her paddling had not been entirely ladylike, more 5-year-old in a paddling pool, Rose shyly waved at the black clad figure.
He raised a languid hand back at her.
Rose waded out of the water, trying not to splash so much this time and made her way back up the beach to him.
"You coming in? The water's gorgeous."
"I don't think so."
"Sure? I think I'm going to risk a swim – unless you know something I don't?"
"No, perfectly safe for you to do the back stroke Rose, you go ahead."
"C'mon, you'll love it when you're in?"
"No, I'll just stay here, thanks."
"Can't swim?" Rose teased him, her memory calling to mind a silly advert about learning to swim
being essential to attracting the opposite sex.
She slid her sunglasses down her nose, to look at him over the rims, and leaned her weight on one hip.
"I choose not to."
"Well, if you are going to stay here, you can sit on my beach towel, but don't lose the place in my book!"
"Rose, I intend to sit here and commune with nature." The Dr told her loftily.
"Fall asleep in the sun more like!" Rose laughed, "Just like my Mum at Brighton!"
"I refute that remark, young lady! I am nothing like your Mother!"
Rose laughed even more at that, pleased she could tease him so easily.
"So, just turn around then please."
"Why?"
"Dr, you claim to be a gentleman?"
"Yeah?"
"So, turn around."
"What's that got to do with me being a gentleman?"
"I have my swimming stuff on under here, " Rose pulled at her top, "and I don't fancy stripping off in front of an audience!!"
"Oh, you don't think I'll be able to control myself?" The Doctor asked archily.
"Well, I don't know. You Timelords have got some funny habits."
"Like what, pray?"
"Well, you don't sleep like normal people.."
"If by 'normal', you mean 'human'? Because, hello, Rose – I'm not human?"
"You know what I mean. So, c'mon," she told him, rotating her fingers to indicate he should turn around, "I mean it, I'm not stripping off for you!."
She paused.
"Well, not in the open air anyway!"
This remark made the Dr spin round, and flush pink across his face to the tops of his ears.
"Thanks very much." Rose said over his shoulder.
"So, er, were you this consumed with modesty with Ricky the Idiot?" The Dr asked, peering down at his shoes.
"What?" A muffled reply from Rose.
The Dr repeated his question.
"Yes, actually. I was. Am. Was." Rose told him.
The Dr counted to twenty.
"Good Lord woman – how much are you taking off back there?!" he asked, the question troubling him more than he cared to admit.
"I'm done, and I'm decent! Count to twenty and turn round, I don't want you ogling at me till I get in the sea." Rose said tapping his shoulder.
The Dr folded his arms and did as he was told.
In Gallifreyan.
Which as it is quicker to do so in that language than in human English allowed him to see Rose before she got into the water.
He stood for a minute, his arms dropped by his side, feeling slightly voyeuristic as he watched her.
The TARDIS had chosen to find Rose a modest one piece swimsuit, light blue with one large hibiscus print on her hip. The material hugged her body only too well, highlighting her curves.
Rose obviously felt his gaze, because she glanced over her shoulder and waved at him before she ran back into the sea.
He waved back again, flushing pink as he did so.
"Sort yourself out, man!" he told himself, and to that end, pulled out a towel from Rose's bag.
This made a large and much battered paperback book fall out onto the sand.
The Dr picked it up.
"Jilly Cooper? Oh, Rose!!" he grinned at her choice of reading material, "Just as well I bought my own!"