The Doctor stood along the beach, the sand sticking in his curly brown hair as the wind whipped it around. Even the ends of his scarf weren't dragging around his ankles, but around his knees instead.
'Do you not get cold?' his companion asked, tightening a coat over her traditional Sevateem warrior outfit.
He glanced back at Leela, yet quickly returned his gaze back to the crashing waves. 'In all the planets I've ever visited, there's nothing more calming than an Earth oceanfront.' He kept his hands jammed in his trouser pockets, not wanting to acknowledge her comment about the cold. 'It's therapeutic.'
'You have not moved for three hours, Doctor. This cannot be therapy. Something must be wrong.'
'Not every moment of quiet reflection requires it to be shattered by violence, Leela. I always promised her a quiet beach, but just never seemed to get her there when she wanted.'
Before Leela could question him further, he took off at a run towards the water, stopping just short of where the waves met the shore. She watched as the Doctor ran up behind a woman walking slowly along in the sand. While she couldn't hear, she imagined the Doctor calling out when the woman stopped.
The woman turned, her shoulder length brown hair whipping in the brisk wind. She adjusted her coat around her, but kept her distance from the Doctor.
The Doctor smiled and opened his arms in a welcoming gesture. Leela watched the woman lift a hand to the Doctor before shoving her hands in her coat pockets. The Doctor mirrored the gesture and put his hands in his coat pockets.
Leela tried to hear the exchange between them, but the wind prevented it, even with her keen hearing. From the pained facial expressions on both the Doctor and the woman, she knew it must be a challenging conversation. Normally, when the Doctor was unhappy, someone was doing something terrible. She wondered what this woman had done to cause the Doctor to look so hurt. She reached for her knife in case it was needed, its presence reassuring her.
She saw their expressions softening as they each stepped closer. The woman looked in her direction and nodded before giving Leela a wave.
The Doctor caught the woman's hand after her wave, preventing her from doing anything but look back at the Doctor. Leela relaxed when the Doctor smiled. It wasn't the manic smile she'd become used to. This seemed softer, kinder.
The woman returned the Doctor's smile, and Leela watched as with his free hand, the Doctor reached up to touch the side of the woman's face. It was a tender gesture, one for two people very close to one another. Leela mentally ran through the list of the people the Doctor had mentioned to her and tried to determine whether any of them fit this woman's description.
Before Leela could come up with a match, the Doctor drew the woman close to him, his arms wrapping tightly around her, and his hand coming up to cup the back of the woman's head. The woman returned the Doctor's embrace, resting her cheek against his chest. Leela recognised the intimacy of the embrace as they held each other tightly.
Out of respect, she turned her back to them to give them privacy. Her curiosity regarding the woman's identity could wait.
