AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed or added this to his/her favourite stories list. And of course thank you to Persiflage for beta reading.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who


Chapter 2

After they had unpacked their bags and Martha had changed into a light sundress, she and the Doctor left their hotel room. The Doctor was still wearing his usual brown, pinstriped suit despite the hot weather on the planet. Martha briefly wondered if he also intended to wear it when they went to the beach later on. She'd never seen him wear swimming trunks before. This was their first real holiday and the few times they'd been in the swimming pool on the TARDIS they hadn't bothered with wearing anything at all.

When they reached the reception hall Firala came in through a door on the other side of the hall.

"Hello," she greeted them, smiling brightly. "You're going to explore the island?"

"Yes, we want to take a look at the town," the Doctor answered.

"There is a big market in the centre of town. You might want to go there and look for souvenirs."

"I think we will. Thank you," Martha replied

Firala smiled again. "I hope you'll have a nice time."

...

It was a lovely day as they strolled through the small town. They passed a lot of restaurants and cafés, but the only real tourist attraction was the market in the centre of the town which Firala had told them about. Most people they saw were the blue skinned natives of Durelia, but when they reached the market they came across some different alien species.

Martha walked around the market, looking at the different stalls with interest as she searched for some gifts for her family. The Doctor walked next to her and explained some of the objects she couldn't place. She bought a device for her mother that could heat up cold liquids in a matter of seconds.

Martha stopped at a stall that sold jewellery to look for a gift for her sister.

Next to her stood a man looking at the jewellery in front of him with great interest. He was clearly a tourist as well. He looked like a strange hybrid between a man and a fish. He looked up as they stopped next to him. "There's really some of the most beautiful jewellery here, don't you think?" he asked excitedly. Martha regarded the jewellery before her. It looked pretty much like every other jewellery she'd seen before. Nothing special.

"Yeah, it's very pretty," she said, looking up at the fishman again.

"This planet is so amazing. You must know this is the first time I've ever left my home world," he told them.

"How long have you been here?" the Doctor asked.

"I arrived a few days ago. I'm staying in a hotel on the other side of this island. There's a city there. Much bigger than this town and lots of tourists all over the place. What about you?" They moved a bit to the side now to keep out of the way of passers-by who wanted to take a look at the stall.

"We're staying in a small hotel next to this town. Only arrived today," the Doctor explained.

"Have you been to other alien planets before?" the fishman asked.

Martha and the Doctor exchanged a look. "A few," the Doctor said.

"That must have been fascinating," the fishman mused. "Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Giranlo."

"I'm Martha, and this is the Doctor," Martha said

It was nearly time for lunch so they invited Giranlo to join them. They found a restaurant near the beach and sat down at a table next to the window. They could see the ocean when they looked outside. During lunch they told Giranlo about a few of the planets they'd been to, including Earth. He was fascinated and hung on their every word.

Giranlo, in return, told them about his home planet and his time on Durelia so far. His species lived in the oceans of his planet which wasn't really surprising given how he looked. They built their cities on the ocean bed under gigantic domes which kept the water out. His species could survive under water for a long period of time but they lived mostly on dry land and breathed air like most of other species. Their planet had only a small amount of land which was why Giranlo's species built their cities under water.

"I've always wanted to see other planets," he told them. "And I've seen so many amazing things since I got here. There's this museum in the city where I'm staying. You just have to visit it while you're here. It belongs to this rich man, he's an Iluvian but has lived on Durelia for years," Giranlo told them. "And he's collecting everything that's unique. He's got thousands of different items from all over the universe. Mostly objects of art that are different to anything else that has ever been made. It's fascinating."

"It certainly sounds very interesting," the Doctor said.

"We could go there tomorrow," Martha suggested, looking at the Doctor.

"Maybe we'll see each other there," Giranlo said. "I was planning on going there again."

...

They said goodbye to Giranlo after lunch and headed back to the hotel. Before putting on a bikini Martha rummaged through her bag to find her phone. She'd promised her mother to call her on a regular basis when she'd told her that she was travelling with the Doctor again and she knew for a fact that her mother would panic if she waited too long. The last time she hadn't called for a few days had been when she and the Doctor had been thrown in a prison on an alien planet because of a misunderstanding, and by the time she had got her phone back it had shown fifty missed calls.

The Doctor sat on the bed reading a book he had found on the shelf in their room while she talked to her mother.

Her mother was very happy to hear that they were for once not in a dangerous situation but on holiday. She still wasn't entirely happy about the fact that Martha was travelling with the Doctor again. She had merely accepted that she couldn't stop her daughter, no matter what she said.

Martha promised her mother that she and the Doctor would visit her first thing after their holiday, eliciting a not so happy glance from the Doctor, and ended the call.

"Right then," the Doctor said, putting the book down on the bedside table. "Beach?"

"Sure," Martha said grinning. She put her phone down on her bedside table and started rummaging through her bag again in search of her bikini.

...

A couple of minutes later the two of them made their way to the beach. This part of the beach wasn't as occupied as other beaches on Durelia. The Doctor told Martha that the beach on the other side of the island, next to the city where their new friend Giranlo was staying, was full of tourists all year.

"We could take a look at the city while we're there tomorrow to visit the museum Giranlo told us about," Martha said. "I like this small town but there isn't much to see."

"That's a great idea," the Doctor said, grinning at her.

They walked along the beach hand in hand till they reached a small bay. There was no one else near them. The beach in the bay was completely deserted. There weren't even footprints in the golden sand.

"This is beautiful," Martha said looking around her. They were surrounded by cliffs with trees and grass on top of them and to one side the blue ocean.

"Let's go swimming," the Doctor said.

"I'd like to lie on the beach for a bit," Martha said, dumping her beach towel on the sand.

"We can do that later. Come on." He picked her up and started running towards the water.

"Doctor!" Martha tried to sound angry but she couldn't stifle a laugh. "Let me down, right now!" She tried to look stern but failed miserably.

"Alright." He let go of her and dumped her in the warm water. Martha let out a squeak.

The Doctor got down on his knees beside her while she wiped the water out of her eyes and tried but failed not to laugh.

"You're going to pay for this," she told him playfully and spattered him with water. Now it was his turn to wipe his eyes. When he looked up he grinned at her. Martha returned his smile. She leaned forward and kissed him hard, her arms wrapped around his neck.


AN: I hope you liked it. Please let me know what you think and review.