AN: I really shouldn't be publishing another fic, but it's the holidays, so what the hell :) In between The Doctor's Daughter and the Unicorn and the Wasp for Doctor Who, Season 4 of Steven Universe, prolly post Last One Out of Beach Cit. I'm not expecting this fic to be too long, around 10 chapters or so is what I've planned, but we'll see.

"I'm tellin' ya Spaceman, you need a vacation!"

"-Rrgh! Donna, no! I'm fine. I don't need a vacation!"

"Nah, Spaceman, I've seen what happens when people go on insisting they're fine- my mate Nerys-"

"Oh, for Rassilon's sake Donna! I'm fi-"

"Don't you go sayin' you're fine! That's practically screaming you're not! And don't cut me off!"

"Ow! Donna-!"

The Doctor scrubbed a hand over his face, whining. His other hand rubbed gingerly at a point on his head. Donna was beside him, one hand on her hip in an authoritative pose and the other was still slightly raised. Her eyebrows drawn together in an exasperated glare.

The Doctor sank heavily onto the console, idly flicking at a few switches. Donna huffed at him. "Look, Doctor, I'm, just sayin', after everything that happened with Jenny and all, you might need a break. You know, just somewhere nice and relaxing. Like a…beach."

He resisted the urge to snap back at her, realizing that that would only prove her point. His hearts still ached slightly, but as much as he wished he could change what happened, he couldn't. Just like always.

The Time Lord raised a weary glance at his friend, sighing. Maybe she was right. Maybe all he needed was a vacation. A break to pull himself back together. A beach sounded extremely tempting.

"Oh, all right then. Maybe you're right. I'm probably overthinking this too much." A grin tugged at his lips, matched by Donna's already beaming face. "So then, whaddya say? The beach?" He tapped his fingers on the console.

"Where to? Woman Wept? No, too cold… Fea'maris 11, oh, maybe… Olokil? Er, perhaps. Last I remember, the natives weren't too fond of me…" He laughed sheepishly.

"Oh, just pick a place already, will you? It can't be that hard, can it?" Donna was glaring again, something that he usually took to mean as nothing good. Therefore, he did a mental review, and decided.

"Fea'maris 11 then! I'm sure you'll love it there! They make the best pina-coladas! Allons~y!"

All was well as could be in Beach City.

It was a time of unusual peace for the Gems, having no special duties to perform, really, or missions to embark on. Homeworld was duly pacified, oddly enough, and there was no particular problems that the citizens were suffering.

All in all, a very nice day.

Out on the cliff, a giant, eight armed woman was hewn out of the rock. Out on one of the arms, there sat a boy and one other, femininely shaped figure.

This was Pearl and Steven, who were currently waiting for the clothes to come out from the washer. This was only really half accurate, as the only one who really needed clothes that had to be washed was Steven.

At last, the washer gave a long suffering bleep to alert nearby people of its completion, causing Steven to break out into a smile. Of course, this also meant that Pearl smiled as well, but none of them really minded anyway.

It was a nice day.

The two worked like a well-oiled machine. This wasn't the first time that the two had spent time like this, mostly due to the amount of scrapes that Steven regularly got into and the subsequent washing needed to be done.

Pearl, being the taller of the two by far, would take the garments handed to her from Steven, and hang them up on the line with practiced ease. It wasn't something she minded doing, per se, because for one, it was actually quite a calming exercise, and there was also the plus side of being alone with Steven, just the two of them.

"Um, hey Pearl?" She looked down, curious as to the sudden pause, where Steven half knelt, holding a pair of pants.

"Yes, what is it Steven?"

"So, I asked Garnet this once, and she said it was magic, but I really wanna know, how do these even work up here? Like, how do they even get power?"

Pearl gave a soft laugh, taking the pants from Steven to hang up on the line. "Oh, magic, she said? Well, I can assure you, that's not quite how it works, but, I can see how it looks like magic."

She smiled slightly, and accepted the shirt that the young half-Gem handed her. "Well, where do I begin? Alright. Most humans automatically assume that these contraptions need to be connected to a power source in order to function, but this isn't always to case. In fact, with the right modi-"

But suddenly, the pale Gem broke off mid-sentence, trembling. Steven blinked. This was quite unusual. Pearl dropped the shirt, forcing Steven to catch it before it blew away.

"Uhh, hey… Pearl?"

"No… It can't be…"

Pearl's words were nothing more than a whisper. It was miracle enough that Steven heard them at all. However, in straining to hear those words, he had also heard something else.

Carried by the seaside winds, there was a sound that echoed throughout the air. It was certainly one of the strangest Steven had ever heard, and that was something. It was almost like a wheezing, heavy groaning type of sound. It was a grating sound, but there was something akin to almost a sigh in it as well.

"Pearl… Pearl? Pearl!"

Steven turned to Pearl, or, at least, where she should have been. But, it was empty. Pearl had gone.

It seemed as if it would, in fact, not be a normal day in Beach City.

When Pearl heard the sound, she thought she was imagining it. After all these years, who thought that she'd cross paths with him, of all people, again?

She tried to pass it off as an idle fantasy; maybe she just hadn't had enough rest as of late. After all, Homeworld was being suspiciously silent… Maybe this was it, the day that Pearl finally lost it.

But, the sound just couldn't be ignored. She glanced, just very quickly, but it was more than enough.

Vaguely, she heard Steven calling out to her, but there were other things on her mind. Namely, the blue box up on the cliff, next to the lighthouse. It had certainly not been there a second ago.

Pearl barely registered what happened next. One second, she was answering a question for Steven, and next, she was on the cliff hill, making a desperate dash for the lighthouse, or more accurately, the box there.

Was it physically possible for Gems to feel like this, let alone a Pearl? No, she told herself firmly. Not just a Pearl, she was Pearl. And that meant so much more not that he was here.

There was part of her mind nagging at her; he isn't here for you- he probably doesn't even know you're here. That last time he saw you was 8 thousand years ago. He probably doesn't even remember you- Pearls are dime a dozen, what makes you so special?

Another part battled back fiercely; of course he remembers. He will remember me, he has to. I'm not like other Pearls. I'm better than them. He will remember, because he never forgets. The Doctor never forgets anyone.

And before she knew it, Pearl was standing in front of the blue box, the paintwork on the old thing still looking as beautiful as the day she first laid eyes on it.

She was panting slightly, but whether that was from anxiousness or running up the hill, she didn't know.

Then, the door opened, and light spilled out.

The trip to Fea'maris 11 seemed bumpier than usual, but the Doctor just attributed it to a temperamental TARDIS. As it were, Donna and the Doctor clung onto the railings for dear life, until the TARDIS finally landed with a decisive sounding thud.

"What. The. HELL was that?"

"Ah, er, it must have been a side effect of the fringe of a temporal storm. Nasty blighters, they can be. Mind you, it was only the edges, like some light rainfall! Nothing to worry about!" The Doctor lied quickly. If Donna ever found out the real reason… well, he'd never hear the end of it for days.

"Light?! LIGHT!? You call that light?! Why th' bloomin' hell did ya never mention it to me BEFORE we went?" Donna grumped at him.

"Well…"

"Oh, save it spaceman, I'm going to go change. You better have one of those pina-coladas ready by the time I'm out!"

The Doctor waited until Donna had disappeared down into the halls of the TARDIS before he allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. Donna was a positive influence on him, that was for sure, but sometimes she could a bit much.

Well, at any rate, he had set the TARDIS for Fea'maris 11, at approximately what was considered noon there. He had set her coordinates for the early days of summer, in one of the more peaceful times.

The Doctor grabbed his coat from the coral strut on his was out. If he didn't want a repeat of earlier, it was in his best interest to go get pina-coladas. Shrugging it on, he opened the door, and prepared to step out.

However, he noticed a few things. Most importantly, this wasn't Fea'maris 11. Judging from the taste… Earth, 21st century, America, it seemed. He squinted for a quick second. Definitely America. In fact, he was almost sure of where he was… Despite the TARDIS had decided to land him somewhere other than the intended destination. Again. At least it still was a beach, and the weather seemed pretty good as well.

The second, was actually someone staring at him. Not too uncommon, given the fact that should anyone really bother to look, they would notice the TARDIS, but still a fairly rare occurrence.

But then other details began to sink in. One, the person staring at him was not human. It didn't even take a second to match up the species- and what he realised almost made him slam the door in her face.

What was a Gem doing on Earth? It certainly wasn't the time when they were trying to colonise Earth… What was a Pearl doing on their own? At this point, he desperately hoped that he hadn't done a Wizard of Oz and landed the TARDIS on a particularly violent Quartz…

But the Pearl took a small step backwards, staring at him, wide eyed and glistening slightly with unshed tears. She took an unsteady breath. "I… Doctor… Do you… remember me? Pearl?"

And just like that, it clicked. The Doctor blinked, a sudden flood of memories coming to the forefront of his mind. Ah! How hadn't he noticed sooner? It was all there in her stance, gem placement, and just that spark that he saw in everyone's lives he had touched.

Pearl looked crestfallen, almost holding back tears. But the Doctor only grinned, and stepped out fully, drawing her into a full bodied hug.

He released her with a smile, noticing the way that already, Pearl's mood began to lighten.

"Remember you? Of course! How could I ever forget you? I couldn't, ever! Not after what happened on Kaizassis that day! Molto bene!"

Pearl slumped then, and began to shake. She was crying. Crying with a smile, but still crying. The Doctor felt a certain degree of panic; he was never good with emotions- this is what he had companions for.

"Oh dear, um, did I hurt you? Did I remind you of something bad? Er, I'm very sorry if I was rude- I can't help it. I'm rude, not ginger-"

"No," Pearl brushed away tears, reduced to slight sniffles. "It's all right. I'm… glad you remembered me. I never thought I'd see you again. I've missed you."

The Doctor beamed. "I never thought I'd see you again! Tell me, what's a Gem like you doing on Earth?" He narrowed his eyes, suddenly wary. "It's not Homeworld is it? Because I have words to say to them!"

Pearl gave a small smile, holding back laughter. "No. It's not. Maybe I should tell you the full story, after what happened when we said goodbye that day."

"That sounds like an excellent idea, we'll just wait a moment for Donna- It's who I'm travelling with right now, you see- Oof! "

The Doctor suddenly swayed, and buckled. Pearl stared blankly at him. Standing behind him with a gauntlet raised was Garnet, and beside her was Amethyst, whip extended as a makeshift rope around the Doctor. Pearl shrieked.

"WHAT?!"

Garnet was stoic as ever, picking up the limp form of the unconscious Time Lord.

"Pearl. This man is dangerous. I don't know what you were thinking, letting him get so close to you like that! Don't you know who he is? What he's done?"

Amethyst chimed in. "Uh, yeah, P! I might not have lived as long as you guys, but even I've heard of this guy!"

Pearl just stopped, taking heavy breaths. She had half the mind to tell them, yes, she knew who he was, what he's done. And how they were completely wrong! She shrieked again.

"WHAT?!"

Pearl rushed Garnet, but the taller fusion simply picked her up with her other hand, and like someone would with a petulant child, tossed Pearl over one shoulder and the Doctor over the other.

"GARNET! PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW! I DEMAND YOU PUT ME DOWN! AND LET HIM GO! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?! PUT US DOWN!"

"Pearl, you're being hysterical. I don't know what he's done to you, but I'm sure we can fix it at the Temple. Just calm down. Everything will be fine."