Sun, Sea and Sand.
Chapter Four: Walking in a Wet Wonderland
Weirdly, I have lots of inspiration from muddy dog walks ... so let's incorporate that into the story! (What's so weird about dog walks, I hear you say! Well - I don't have a dog.)
A lot of the things in here are based on one of my favourite caravan sites ever. Particularly the dog walk, which is why it's so detailed. Sorry! It probably doesn't make any sense from a someone-who's-never-been-there POV. Sadly, I've been there, so I can't tell.
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.
They stayed huddled together on the climbing frame for a long time. The rain was still gently trickling down around them, though it didn't bother the pair as they chatted and laughed. That is, until some young children arrived with their mother and kept shooting them slightly scared glances.
"We'd better be off, I think," the Doctor muttered, sliding onto the ground and picking up the frisbee. Rose slipped down too, straight into the Doctor's arms. He grinned; this set Rose off.
"Come on," she said, and they set off.
It was only a few short minutes before they passed the site dog walk. Of course, this was also empty. The Doctor opened the gate leading into it.
"Shall we go in? I mean, you are a dog in another universe, aren't you?"
"Oi! Shut up," Rose said, half-serious, "I suppose, then ... it looks like it could be a nice walk, anyway..."
She was right, the Doctor thought, looking up at the walk ahead. There was a short stretch of grass, ending in a gate. Past this, you could go one of two ways: left, into what looked like a field for dogs to run around in, or right, up a hill and along the top until you were looking down at the start of the walk. What was beyond that was impossible to see.
Rose started walking along the grass, carefully avoiding dog mess. The Doctor followed her. They didn't talk to each other; they were both trying to avoid making a mess of their shoes.
It was a relief to reach the gate. The hill seemed to be the cleanest part - clearly most owners took their dogs into the field.
"Are you scared of heights? No? Good." The Doctor didn't give Rose a chance to speak as he lead the way up the hill.
It was a hard walk to really describe - the hill was long and thin, looking down on the caravan compound and games room. The dog walk gate was at the other side of all this.
The view grew better and better as they walked gradually higher and higher. At the peak, the hill turned round, so that directly below there were the caravans in storage.
"Wow, we're kind of high," Rose breathed, gawping at how steep the hill was in front of them, "This is the strangest shaped hill I've ever seen, and that includes any on other planets!"
"It's on my top ten, too," the Doctor replied, standing next to her, "On Gallifrey, we had this one strange hill - it was all lumpy, and ..."
"Hey, look!"
The Doctor turned. Rose was behind him, indicating a stile.
"There's more down here! It's like a field, but also the other side of the hill! It's a - a - a fill!"
The Doctor joined her. Sure enough, on the other side of the stile was a field - a field, by the looks of it, that was full of weeds and a derelict old farmhouse. Nevertheless, it was very pretty, and great walking material.
Rose was already at the top of the stile. She pointed down to the bottom.
"Look - there's a village right down there! They've got a load of horses!"
The Doctor leapt lightly over the stile.
"Wow ... if it wasn't so wet, thorny, thistly, cowpatty, uneven, steep and tall, this would be a great hill for rolling down!" he remarked, indicating the lumps and bumps.
The hill directly in front of them was too steep to walk down. There was a well-trodden path stretching almost to the other side as it slowly crawled down. This was obviously not a field for growing crops in - it showed signs of being home to animals such as cows or sheep during the warmer months.
This triggered something in Rose's head. She suddenly realised she had no idea where she was. Time-wise.
"Do you know when we are, Doctor?" she asked, as they began the descent. The path was taking them towards the farmhouse.
"When? Erm ... no, not really ... thank you for reminding me, actually, must find that out."
"Yeah, might help..."
"It doesn't really bother me, you know that."
"Well, you're not the only one on this holiday, you selfish -"
"Don't say that next word, or I might just leave you here!"
They had reached the farmhouse - up close, however, it was more like a tiny old castle in need of some serious renovation. It was surrounded by a fence bearing a 'Danger - Do not enter' sign.
"I wonder what would happen if we entered?" the Doctor wondered aloud, tentatively putting a foot on the fence.
"Not much, but I wouldn't advise it. There's a very tiny chance it might collapse," Rose observed the crumbling walls, the tangled weeds, "But who cares? That probably won't happen!"
She vaulted the fence.
"Rose!" the Doctor called, "Look, I said I wouldn't advise it ... come back!"
"No! It's all secret and cosy in here, come on!"
The Doctor looked in tentatively.
"Rose - it's full of weeds."
"Yeah, meaning no one ever comes in here!"
The Doctor sighed, watching Rose disappear into the darkness.
"Oh, all right, then," he muttered to himself, leaping over the fence and joining his companion. She was exploring the small, overgrown area without a trace of fear. The Doctor didn't really want to admit he was scared.
"I knew you'd join me," Rose laughed, looking up and seeing the Doctor creeping through thistles and sticky weed.
"I didn't really want to leave you, what if this thing falls down?"
"Relax, Doctor -" Rose bounded over to him, took his hand and kissed him on the cheek, "If this place was that dangerous, there would've been a sign!"
"Erm - Rose?" The Doctor indicated the back of the 'danger' sign.
"Oh, yeah -"
Rose stared for a moment. She looked like she'd left her body - until she suddenly pulled the Doctor under an arch in the castle so they were standing in a dark, dingy sort of room.
"Can you see out?" she asked quietly.
"Not really, no -"
"Well, in that case, no one can see in -"
And, before the Doctor could say or do anything, Rose's arms were round his neck and she was kissing him.
This changed everything. There was no need to fear the derelict old building any more - at least if it fell on them, they'd die this way.
It seemed like an age before anything happened to split them up. At least, it was like that for the Doctor. Thinking about it, it was probably only a couple of minutes.
A loud barking cut through the chilly air. A second later, a huge golden retriever bounded into the room and started jumping up at the Doctor, panting and begging for fuss.
Overcoming the initial shock, the Doctor stroked the dog's fluffy head and laughed, seeing the funny side. Rose was clutching her heart, gasping for breath.
"Oh my God - " she wheezed, "Oh - I nearly died then, did you-?"
"I saw!" the Doctor was laughing even harder as he noticed Rose, still shaking, "It gave me a bit of a fright, too!"
"Deefa!" called a man's voice, from outside, "Come on, Deef, off we go! Where are you, boy?"
The dog's ears pricked up momentarily before he ran off to follow His Master's Voice.
"Right, maybe it wasn't the best idea to come in here," Rose said quietly, looking at her feet.
"I told you so," the Doctor grinned, "I love dogs, though. It's just hard to keep them in TARDISes."
Rose peered out of the castle, making sure the dog's owner was gone.
"Come on," she whispered, "Let's go. There's nobody else about."
They walked carefully through the long grass and weeds and climbed back over the fence out into the field.
"Now where ...?" the Doctor examined the area all round. They could go back up the hill, out down a road, or through a big gate.
"What's through there?" Rose asked, pointing towards the gate.
"I don't really know ... it looks grassy though ..." the Doctor hurried through the grass, avoiding cowpats and thistles, "D'you want to go and see?"
"Well - what if there's - like, a bull there or something?" Rose followed the Doctor, unable to see what he was looking at.
The Doctor turned to her, an expression of disbelief on his handsome face.
"We've been through so much together, Rose, d'you think a bull is going to drive us away?"
A wide grin spread across Rose's face as she took the Doctor's hand.
"Course not," she replied, and they started making their way to the gate.
Sorry it's been such a long long time just trying to ease the pain ... oh yeah ...(November Rain)
Anyone have any idea why I capitalised 'His Master's Voice'? If you can tell me, I'll reply with a smile, but it's pretty obvious really. I wasn't going to, then I noticed what it was, and realised how cool it was, then decided to pop it in. How random am I?
Anyway, I must thank fendstrat.chick, because I wasn't thinking of writing anything until I got a review for this - the first one in ages - and remembered all you fans of this out there crying because you weren't able to read this amazing fic. Also, I love the Stratocaster! It's my second-favourite guitar ... to the SG, of course ...
Oh yeah, and the dog was a posthumous tribute to faramirlover's dog, Deefa, who we all miss whenever we go to her house. :'-( He was the most lovely dog I've ever met.