A/N: Just a small thing I though up whilst being bored senseless in Geography- enjoy. Hopefully it won't be more than two or three chapters long- but none of my stories ever stay the length I want…
Disclaimer: Hmmm… who actually owns Doctor Who? Is it the BBC or the Doctor Who guys? You know seen as the directors and editors and script-writers are always different… anyway, whoever does own it isn't me, sadly. Maybe one day.
Chapter One:
"You're crazy!"
"Oh course I am! Life's so much better when you're bonkers!"
Rose shook her head incredulously at her companion. Just when she though he couldn't get any odder, he did this.
"This is ridiculous! I mean, look at yourself!" she half yelled over the steady, drumming beat of the rain that cascading from the heavens by the bucketful. Her companion, a thin, crazy-haired man wearing a two-piece brown suit looked at her oddly through the sheets of rain.
"Oh come on, Rose!" He yelled back, laughing. "This is fun!"
"I don't count standing in the pouring rain on an alien planet, freezing myself to death fun, Doctor." She retorted. He only laughed at her snappiness- and she couldn't help but laugh with him. He must be giddy with the cold or something. She though as she watched him try and talk her into leaving the comfort of the TARDIS. Rose was leaning against the open doors, watching the Doctor- whilst she was protected by the energy shield surrounding the TARDIS, keeping the rain out, the Doctor wasn't; he'd been soaked through within seconds of stepping out of the TARDIS.
Not that he was complaining, through.
"Since when did you watch Britain's Got Talent?" She laughed as he mimed dancing with an umbrella, whistling the tune to Singing in the Rain as he did so.
"Since you started travelling with me- I feel like such an old foegie when you're quoting bits of X-Factor and all that- and I have absolutely no idea what you're on about." He grinned at her, crossing the distance between them in several strides of his long legs.
"No!" Rose squealed as he grasped her wrist with a wet hand. "There's no way in hell you're getting me out there!" The Doctor frowned at her.
"Rose Tyler- wash that mouth out." He scolded her. Then his frowned disappeared, replaced with a sly grin. "Do I have to drag you?" his words were met with a frenzy of squeals and pleadings as he began dragging her towards the rain. "Come on, don't be so wet- though I can't say I'm one to talk."
Rose struggled, laughing uncontrollably, but she was no match for the Doctor- thin as a stick as he was. Eventually they passed through the energy barrier.
She shrieked once as the water hit her, and then stopped, glaring at her friend.
"But… it's warm!" she accused, giving the hooting Doctor a little shove. He walked backwards a few steps, talking Rose with him- though how much the shove had affected him, Rose couldn't be sure; it was probably the uncontrollable laughter that made him move. The laughter momentarily stopped as the Doctor issued a cry of chuckling surprise, and then the two of them were falling. Rose landed, cushioned by the man she'd been holding onto, with as splash, and then the laughter was back. She tipped sideways off of the Doctor and landed in a small puddle, giggling hysterically -she was already too wet to really be bothered about her clothes anymore. She rolled onto her stomach and turned to her friend.
"Why are we laughing so much?" she asked him, through the giggles.
"Water Fever- the rain's making us happy." He caught her half-concerned, half-hysterical look. "'tis nothing to worry about- it's a natural thing. The rain is heavy in several minerals that speed your heart slightly and give you a sense of euphoria. You can go home and tell Jackie you've been high on alien rain." The laughter returned- Rose could barely breathe now.
"Yeah," She huffed. "I'm sure that'll go down well- she'd think you'd been giving me drugs or something." Her words began a new round of hysterics, even though it was hardly funny, and neither could speak for several minutes, content to shake themselves apart laughing instead. When Rose's chuckles had subsided slightly, she sighed and leant against the Doctor, who was still laughing quietly to himself. She liked the Doctor's laugh- it was both harsh and soft at the same time, vulnerability and beauty all mixed up together. It was something she hardly ever heard- he smiled and sort of half-laughed a lot, but he never seemed to really laugh, like he was now. It seemed that for all the bravado, all the jokes, he was still an outsider who didn't feel wanted- and being as high as the clouds was the only thing that erased that for him, however temporary. Rose was sad as she realised she would probably never hear it again, not after they left this odd planet where the rain made you high. She frowned.
Well, she wanted the Doctor, she needed him. And it couldn't be Gallifry and the Time Lords, but it was a start.
Shaking her head to clear it, she realised the Doctor had been talking to her.
"… called this planet Drench- it never stops raining, ever. It's part of the environmental cycle procedures; constant rainfall, forever. Great for life suited to watery places- lizards, frogs, fish…" Rose half-listened, half concentrated on the rain spattering her face. Warily she licked the water off her fingers- the effect of the few drops was instantaneous; she could feel the desire to jump around crazily, to laugh just because she could sizzling through her mind. She sprang athletically to her feet, pulling the Doctor with her. She had a bizarre urge to start twirling through the puddles like some sort of manic ballerina.
So that's what she did.
Rose barely registered that tiny sane part of her mind telling her that she was making a fool of herself, that she would regret it tomorrow, when the effects of the rain had worn off. But the tiny sane part was just that- tiny. Rational Rose wasn't being heard, because right now, Barmy Rose wanted to dance, and she didn't want to listen to what she should do. There was no-one there to laugh, save the Doctor- and he wouldn't, because he was her friend, and just as high as she was.
She was performing some bizarre wavy movements with her arms when she felt the Doctor grasp her wrists.
"No, no, no, Tyler," he murmured. "That's not how you dance in the rain. We can do crazy-dancing on the planet next door- Drench is for dancing like this."
And he showed her. Though the rain was falling in warm, thick sheets and falling into her eyes, Rose could see the Doctor's face clearly- every sparkle in his eyes as he laughed, twirling him and her in some elegant dance she didn't know.
"It seems you can dance in this body, Doctor." She giggled as she splashed through several ever-widening puddles. He winked and spun her around, her soaked hair swishing in dark-blonde clumps as she whirled.
"Haven't you realised yet? I can do everything." The Doctor said, mock-seriously. "I'm superman."
"What, you're real name's Clarke Kent?" Rose asked innocently, making the Doctor frowned, the effect ruined as he exploded into laughter seconds later.
"Oh yes, did you never realise?" Rose couldn't reply, as she was spun around again, at frightening speed; even with the landscape blurring around her, she wasn't in the least bit afraid- the Doctor wouldn't let her hurt herself; she trusted him. She stopped spinning and, before she could straighten her vision properly, she felt hands on either side of her waist, lifting her up in a half-turn before being set down on the floor again. Rose didn't have to do anything, the Doctor was guiding her as the rain fell around them, splashing through the puddles and laughing like the loons they were; she felt like such a child, dancing around in the rain-she should have still been in the TARDIS, like an adult. But she didn't want to- why act like an adult when being a child was so much better? The Doctor seemed to agree, the dance getting evermore ridiculous, until all they were doing with spinning around in crazy circles, whooping with laughter.
Eventually, Rose couldn't continue; she was breathless from the dancing, and the constant laughing had left a stitch in her side. As she teetered precariously, on the edge of falling over, Rose felt one of the Doctor's hands slip into hers, the other on the small of her back, lowering her gently to the floor.
And then they were lying on the water-covered ground again- the stars hanging in space shining brightly through the thing layer of clouds- how the clouds could be so thin and produce so much water was beyond Rose. But, relying on past experience, she couldn't be bothered to listen to the no-doubt lengthy explanation. She was too wracked up with laughter to really concentrate. Her fingers swished through a nearby puddle, and she realised for the first time just how wet she was. She laughed, again.
"I couldn't be wetter if I'd sat in a bath with my clothes on." Rose giggled, which made the Doctor chuckle, setting the laughter fits off again. She sighed. I wonder what it'd be like to live in a place like this she though to herself; when every second was spent being wet and laughing. She repeated the query out loud, and the Doctor smiled.
"Your face'd hurt, after laughing constantly- that's why the colonies that live here wear suits to stop the rain being absorbed into their blood-streams whenever they go out- otherwise the laughter would never stop."
A/N: Right, had to end it there, because what was originally a one-shot got a bit long, so to save you from reading yourselves to death, I've split it into two parts.