A Lemon Drop Sky

Bill eyed the Doctor mysteriously from the other side of the TARDIS Console. As the lights dimmed and the ship groaned in its ascent, the Doctor noticed her odd look. Instantly, he knew that there was a question hiding behind her coy smile. A moment later, it was confirmed that he was right.

"Why did you say lemon drops?"

His eyebrow quirked, and he paused in his speedy typing for a second to process her words. Ultimately, he looked up at her, shaking his head. "I'm sorry?"

She paced toward him quickly, pointing at him like she always did when she was curious about something. "You said, when we had our first trip out, you said the sky was made of lemon drops."

He nodded. "Yes, I did."

"Why lemon drops?"

His lips curled into a smirk, and he put his hand on a red lever beside him. "Because I know a place where the sky really is made of lemon drops."

He pulled the lever down with finesse and jumped to the other side of the room, where he turned a few different dials. Bill was properly grinning now, grabbing onto the railing as the ship headed off. "Are we going there now?"

The TARDIS made one final lurch, and the Doctor hurried to the door. He held the handle and gazed at Bill like someone about to unveil the mysteries of the universe.

"Bill Potts, citizen of Earth, welcome to Gibralter 5."

He opened the door, and yellow tinged light streamed in to meet Bill's face. Instantly, she sniffed the unmistakable smell of lemons and oranges. She stepped outside, followed by the Doctor, and gazed around the new planet with unblinking eyes.

The Doctor locked the TARDIS doors and came beside her, admiring the yellow speckled sky above them. "It's an unnatural planet," he said. "Completely made by humans in the 31st century."

Bill turned to him with a skeptical smile. "Seriously? They created an entire planet?"

"Oh yeah, loads of them. You've got your leisure planets, prison planets, a few cat planets. Someone even made a planet for fictional characters, but that didn't work out."

"And why was that?"

The Doctor looked at her with a grimace. "They kept getting cross at each other."

Bill shook her head, turning away from him. "I think you make up half the things you say."

He merely smiled, and then nudged her shoulder harder than he meant to. "Do you hear that?"

Bill scoffed, holding her upper arm. "Ow; Doctor! Why's your arm so bony?"

"Timelord biology," he responded without missing a beat, staring up at the sky with wandering, distracted eyes. Then a wide smile came to his face. "There's a wind coming this way."

He turned to her sharply. "Bill, do everything I tell you to, okay?"

Her eyes widened. "What's-"

"There's not much time."

"Okay. What do I do?", she asked, focusing intently on her tutor.

"Stand up tall."

"Right." Bill followed his instruction without hesitation.

"Now tilt your head back."

"Okay."

"And stick your tongue out," he said, opening his mouth wide. "'ike 'is."

Bill did as he said, but then turned a quirked eyebrow at him. "'octor, wha-?"

And then she tasted it, the bright, tangy citrus on her tongue. It was pure, and more flavorful than any lemon or orange she'd had on Earth. Another gust of wind blew even more of the lemony goodness into her open mouth, and she giggled as it tickled her throat.

Her laugh magnified as she turned an eye to the Doctor, who was in the same ridiculous position as she. He met her gaze and they couldn't help but cough as their laughs made them choke slightly on the citrus. As Bill calmed herself down and prepared to go back to sticking her tongue out, she softly nudged the Doctor's arm.

"Thank you for bringing me here."

He smiled, and then went back to tasting the lemon in the air. Bill followed her tutor's example a moment later.