The Doctor felt memories swim behind his eyes, clouding the picture of the rain soaked desert.
'Only sad things happen in the rain,' he heard himself saying.
Images sprung forth in his head, slowly at first, then faster and faster as memories of lost friends and people he couldn't save threatened to overwhelm him. Perhaps the worst was the look of worry and terror on Wilfred Noble's face as the Doctor looked up at him from the stoop, soaking wet and cradling an unconscious Donna in his arms, knowing that despite everything they'd been through, when it really mattered, he had failed and lost his best friend.
'… Been doing it wrong'
The Doctor flicked his eyes over to Gavin, his gruff accent breaking through the Doctor's reverie. Gavin, however, wasn't looking at the Doctor but off into the distance, his gaze arrested by something other than the dreary landscape. The Doctor turned his head, following Gavin's gaze into the distance, and finding his sight caught by a young girl with a jump rope, happily skipping through puddles in her bright yellow mackintosh and pink gumboots. A little to the side of her were two other children covered in mud and two adults, their parents, sitting a little way away under the shelter of their automobile.
'C'mon' Gavin said, whacking the doctor on the shoulder and almost knocking him face first into the mud, 'Good things always happen in the rain.'
And with that Gavin grabbed the Doctors sleeve and began marching them over, the Doctor tripping and stumbling over wet scrubs and through muddy puddles in the attempts to keep up with Gavin's brisk pace, and completely ruining his shoes in the process.
'Well I hope you weren't too attached to those ridiculous shoes', Margaret barked from behind him, chuckling in amusement, 'you really don't get a lot of wet weather do you?'
'Yes, yes, let's all laugh at the time travelling alien because he doesn't own wellingtons', the Doctor huffed, almost falling over again as his shoe snagged on a bush.
Gavin turned his head and looked at the Doctor, shaking his head bemusedly, 'Are you sassing my dog?' he asked.
'She started it', the Doctor grumbled, the rain running down the back of his neck and down into his socks making him a lot less excited and amicable than usual.
He saw Gavin open his mouth to reply when a cry from ahead of them cut him off.
'Hello!'
Both the Doctor and Gavin looked over to see the father of the family they were approaching smiling and waving at them from his wife's side.
'Disappointing, isn't it?' he asked jovially as they approached him, not at all looking like he was really that disappointed with how the day turned out.
'Jack, don't eat the mud', his wife half shouted half sighed from his side, looking exasperatingly at one of the children playing in the mud, who was now sheepishly lowering a rather large handful of wet dirt away from his mouth and back to the ground.
'PUPPY!'
The happy cry rang across the plain, the three children forgetting all about their mud pies and skipping rope as they ran over to Margaret, happily petting and pulling her in all directions. Margaret, rather than being put out by the sudden besiegement of children was happily barking and sniffing at them. 'Catch me', she cried, bouncing a short way away, the children squealing with delight and giving chase.
'Nice dog', the father remarked, nodding appreciatively towards Maggie, 'My names Dave by the way, and this is my wife Susie' he added, holding his hand out to Gavin, who shook it.
'Gavin,' he said, moving to shake Susie's hand, 'and yes, Maggies a good old girl.'
'You're Brits?' Dave said, cocking his head at Gavin's rough accent, 'been here long?'
Gavin smirked cheekily, flicking his eyes over to the Doctor, before replying nonchalantly, 'no, not long, feels like we only just arrived to be honest.'
The Doctor watched this whole exchange a few steps back from Gavin, taking in Dave and Susie's contentment to just sit watching their children, apparently unfazed by the bad weather that had come their way. It puzzled him how they could be so good-natured about the fact that they were missing out on adventure.
'Why aren't you more upset?' He queried, stepping into their space and peering questioningly into their eyes, as if the answer to the deepest questions of the universe lay just beyond them.
'Has anyone explained personal space to your friend?' Dave snorted, looking over to Gavin, while gently shoving the Doctor back.
'It's raining, there's no adventure, just sitting, but you're happy?' the Doctor continued, too interested in his puzzle to be phased by Dave's response.
'Can't control the weather,' Susie said with a shrug, 'and besides, now there's no complaining children to deal with when their feet get sore, or they need the toilet, or someone scraped their knee, we had bloody enough of that at Palm Valley.'
'And they're all so happy to be out of the car that they'll amuse themselves for an hour while we just get to relax, I call it a win,' Dave added with a smile, leaning back on his hands and sighing contentedly.
Gavin chuckled at that while the Doctor stood staring, twiddling his fingers, trying to adjust to this new "relaxed" take on life's challenges. He wasn't sure he liked these Australians.
'Oh give over you old stiff', Margaret chided, trotting up behind him, covered from head to tail in mud, 'can't you just accept that you don't always need an adventure to be happy!'
He looked down at Margaret, who was currently radiating joy despite the muddy and wet state she was in, and then up at Gavin, who was having a friendly chat with Susie, while Dave sat, eyes closed, relaxing next to his wife. He turned back to Margaret's expectant gaze and tilted his head, fingers twitching in agitation. Margaret just gave an amused huff and nuzzled his leg, she was done making her point.
'Mummy! Mummy! Mummy!' three small voices chorused, running over to the car.
'I'm hungry', the tallest child whined, the other two nodding their heads enthusiastically behind her.
'And so it ends', Susie said with a sigh, turning to her children with a small smile, 'How about some sandwiches?'
The children crowed round the boot while Susie pulled out a bag and lifted out three squished looking sandwiches, which the children grabbed at eagerly.
'Uh, what's the magic word?' Dave chided.
The children's hands shrank back quickly. 'Please', they all said at once, hands immediately reaching back for their food, which they were now given.
'FRITZ AND SAUCE!' the boy, Jack was his name, screamed when he received his, eagerly unwrapping it.
The Doctor flicked his gaze from the excited children to Dave and Susie, who were now sitting cuddled, Susie looking fondly at their children, while Dave opened a sandwich and offered her a piece. He was reminded, then, of Amy and Rory, the looks on their faces when they first held little baby Melody in their arms, the joy that had been there, and all of a sudden he wanted to share it. This family had been on their way to adventure, yes, but it wasn't the adventure that made them happy, it was just being together, and because of that, even the rain could be joyous. The Doctor, excited by this epiphany, turned to Gavin, 'Good things happen in the rain', he said.
Gavin looked at him and smiled, while Margaret barked 'finally' from below him. The Doctor looked at the pair, his new family, and his lips twitched upwards in a small smile. Eyes twinkling, he turned back to look at Dave and Susie, his epiphany turning into inspiration.
'Doctor?' Gavin questioned, his tone suggesting he knew exactly what was coming next.
'I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, three kids is no picnic', came Margaret's cheerful advice, meanwhile looking over at the children like three kids was Christmas and Easter all at once.
'Just, nowhere dangerous', warned Gavin from his side, 'I'm not dealing with angry parents.'
The Doctor just smiled and looked over at Dave and Susie, straightening his bowtie and stepping forward.
'I don't believe I introduced myself. I'm the Doctor, and I'm here to take you on an adventure.'