Wow, finally I get around to post this chapter! I've had this one finished for a while but had no chance to update TUIHE since we went on holiday, sorry! D:

Here's the Doctor's and Time's first trip, some misunderstandings and a lot of hiding!

Chapter 06 - Have TARDIS, Will Travel

She asked him to go home. He smiled and took her hand. They both knew the meaning of it. Home. They didn't expect someone to understand, but making each other their home inside a box was enough for them.

He opened the door to the TARDIS and she was gone.

He turned around and felt his sight grow dim and dizzy as her touch slowly left his arm and her words suddenly became a memory.

"I love you."

He woke up from his own scream. When he had realized what had happened, he hid his face in his hands and didn't want to breathe.

"Rose?"

The only sound coming back to him was the echoe of his own, shaking voice and the soft hum of the TARDIS.

One would think he'd gotten used to this by now - three months gone, every night the same - but everytime still hit him so hard he forgot how to breathe. The Doctor tried to calm his frantic gasps for air, fingers tugging on hair, eyes staring restless into the darkness.

Sleep was just a concept.

He didn't need it and only chose to sleep. He could easily live without it. Because, honestly, what did sleep give him? Only shadows, memories of hope and the presence of pain, her face chasing him through the darkness.

The Time Lord exhaled and rubbed a hand over his face.

He hoped Time wouldn't be up yet. He wouldn't want her seeing him like this; nobody should ever see him like this.

They wouldn't understand.

When Time opened her eyes she didn't know where she was.

For a second, she felt cold panic tighten her chest but she relaxed when she found herself in an actual bed and not on the creaking sofa she'd been sleeping on for the past two weeks.

Hands wandered up and rubbed sleep out of heavy eyes.

This wasn't the library.

She was lying in bed in a small but cozy-looking room with a drawer by the opposite wall and light-orange coloured walls. It had a feeling of secretiveness, like something was hiding under the surface of the neatly folded pieces of clothing and the bottle of water next to her bed on the small, beautifully carved nightstand next to her.

Slowly, she got up and had to grab the bedpost for support for a moment when she felt her head spin, her surroundings blurring.

Breathe in, breathe out. That's the trick. Just breathe.

It wasn't even a vision, she knew that, just mere exhaustion, her general sleep-deprivation, dehydration and lack of food.

Feet patted over to the door, scarred fingers reached out for the doorknob and pulled the door open. The girl froze when she heard the scream.

It made her blood freeze in her veins, shivers run down her spine and filled her chest with panic as she remembered.

She was in the TARDIS.

The blue box.

With the Doctor.

The Doctor, the alien with the mad eyes and the wild hair and the broken heart, screaming next door.

Her feet carried her towards the noise and stopped when it died down. She threw her head around, taking in too many things at once; the coolness of the floor under her feet, the flood of doors and corridors around her, the strange clean smell emitting from her whole surroundings, the still lingering presence of the blood-curdling scream in her ears, it was all too confusing and too much.

Time tried to pull herself together and find the console room again but it was like wanting to find a specific plant in a forest.

Eventually, she noticed a familiar light at the end of the corridor and sighed happily. Time stumbled into the room, a soft blue glow welcoming her.

"Morning!", a cheery voice greeted her and a second later, the grinning face of the Doctor appeared in front of her. He gestured her to step down to him and slowly she made her way down the staircase. "How did you sleep?", he asked, returning to his work at the console. Inwardly shaking herself, Time managed to close her jaw and moved forward to him. He seemed cheerful and not at all troubled, there was not a single evidence about him that it had been him who had been screaming.

"Um", she replied, remembering his question, "fine, thank you. Feels good sleeping in a proper bed again." He flashed her a short smile and a nod of his head. Her concern and curiosity got the better of her.

"Are you alright?"

"Huh?" He did not take his eyes off of the monitor. "Oh, yeah, I'm always alright, that's me!"

She almost scoffed at his faked cheeriness. I'm gonna eat a brick if that wasn't him screaming, she thought and quickly went through the facts. We're the only two persons on the TARDIS. I didn't scream, so it had to be him. A sudden thought struck her. What if it was a vision? If it was just the voices again, but this time another one? Another time? Future? Past? Maybe from when Rose was still there?

Her eyes swam back to focus and decided to concentrate on his face. His eyes were dark and tired, circles under them. There was something about them that made Time shiver. The rest of his face looked so young, except for the eyes - they were the only thing about him that seemed anchient.

"So, where do you want to go?", the Doctor piped up, rubbing his hands, his old eyes scrutinizing her. Time stopped. He was asking her where to go? "I don't know", she replied out of reflex, maybe before she could say anything stupid, "you choose."

'It's his ship, after all', she reasoned with herself, 'so he should choose where to go. And besides, where would I possibly like to go?' His smiled didn't falter and Time thought that, maybe, she pushed his question away because she didn't want to have the power to decide.

"Alright, then!", he replied and - Time jumped to the side - dashed over to the opposite side of the console, pressing a couple of buttons. What followed was something Time decided to refer to as The Time Dance in her head. "Allons-y!", he whooped and pulled a lever - an invisible force seemed to hit the TARDIS and made Time stumble as the ship turned almost sideways. The Doctor laughed as he hit the floor and extended his hand to help her up. "Sorry, forgot to warn you. She was designed for six drivers."

Time let out a rasp laugh, falling on the sofa next to the coral. "No wonder your driving style is so wonky."

"Oi! Now watch it, young madam, 'cause I'd really like you to see landing an alien spaceship in the year 3407 in the Landraphalagus Constellation on the right moon!"

She chuckled and sat on her hands, bounching on the squeaky sofa.

"'s that where we're going?", she asked and he felt a wave of appreciation wash over him at the excited sound of her voice. The Doctor smiled and shook his head. "No. Something better - been to that one, just plain desert, there wasn't really much up, beautiful colourful sand though - but our destination is a surprise."

He grinned when she muttered something about not liking surprises under her breath.

Only a heartbeat later, the TARDIS came to a sudden halt.

Their gazes met, blue and brown collided like stars and time.

The broad grin was basically dripping off his words. "Go on. Take a look." The grin turned into a laugh when the girl dashed to the door and almost tore it open.

Sunlight hit her face.

Beautiful, warm, golden sunlight.

A sound in her ears, waves hitting boulders along with the wild laughter that wanted to escape her lungs and struggled to emit and she felt her heart wanting to burst when it finally did, so she stood in the sunlight, laughing like a maniac at its existance.

"I figured you'd be quite fed up with this whole cold-and-winter-rubbish", a voice softly commented behind her and she felt the Doctor stepping out of the TARDIS, giving her a gentle smile. "Welcome to the year 2547. It's the planet Peach - yes, they mixed up peaches with beaches, don't ask me how - and it's known for its, and I'm quoting right from the pamphlet, "beautiful calm beaches, tropical weather and picturesque sunsets", also, I think there is a thermal spring somewhere around here, we should have a closer look at the inner isles and I think I should stop talking now, so what do you think we just take off our shoes and take a walk for the start?"

All of this left his mouth in such a speed, Time had trouble to comprehend what he had proposed. She blinked at him, needing a couple of moments to progress his incredibly fast ramblings. Finally, she nodded and he grinned broadly at her, beginning to kick off his trainers.

She supressed a screeching sound in her throat when her bare feet dug into the sand and crooning inwardly, she curled her toes into the white, perfect sand.

The Doctor couldn't help but smile at the sight in front of him, thinking to himself that it was about time she's smiling a little again.

His good mood instantly vanished when he tore his eyes from the girl and realized how incredibly stupid he'd been.

Why did he think again taking her to a beach had been a good idea?

This was a mistake, he thought as his mind panicked at the sound of the waves and the feeling of sand under his shoes, making his heart ache. It was not the hard, wet sand under his feet he remembered - but it was enough to make him freeze. He felt Time's gaze on him and pushed his hands into the pockets of his coat, staring at the azure blue waves.

"Is something wrong?", the girl asked and he sniffed, grimacing at the smell that instantly flooded his senses.

"Don't like beaches.", he replied shortly, forcing himself to move his feet and together they stomped through the sand.

"Then why did you take me here?", Time questioned after a while and fiddled with the necklace around her neck.

"What's with the necklace?" He pointed to the band, ignoring her question. She stopped and pulled it up from under her hoodie after a moment of hesitation.

It was a hourglass, not bigger than her thumb, beautifully shaped and made of shiny brass, dangling from a bleached out brass band that almost reached her ribs. "It's pretty."

"Thanks.", Time replied and stuffed it back under her neckline, akwardly pulling on the hem of the red clothing. "My parents gave it to me."

"It suits you."

She looked at him as if he wasn't in his right mind. Her eyes said 'You can't be serious' but her lips formed the words "Thank you", then glued themselves shut and she turned her head straight on.

The Doctor squinted his eyes at the sun, trying to look at anything except the water, the sand and her - not many options except the sky. It was a shade of brilliant blue slowly fading to a brush of purple, the sun already lowering itself towards the horizon.

"We could watch the sunset, if you'd like", he mumbled after a while, not knowing what else to say. She smiled at him. "That would be nice.", she replied and stopped, kneeling down to take off her shoes. The Doctor just stood and waited, trying to ignore the sound of waves against the shore. Ehoes in his minds made his body go limp as he stood there, almost sure he saw her standing there again.

Her eyes were filled with tears that threatened to fall and make their way down her cheeks and it pained him more than anything that he couldn't reach out and wipe them away. He ducked his head. "I'm not alone anymore, Rose", he whispered and fought the urge to reach out a hand.

"Doctor, you okay?"

Time's voice ripped him out of his thoughts - or had it been a dream? Was he finally going completely barmy? - and he winced inwardly, having expected a different voice to reply, guilt already washing over him.

It crept up his chest as he turned around, forcing a smile on his lips but it was probably more of a humourless smirk, a tired try to seem better than he was.

"Yes", he stated, quickly pushing his hands back into his pockets, not knowing what else to do with them. "I'm alright." He inwardly scoffed at that, his new favourite lie. "Let's walk a little more, I think over there are a couple of rocks for us to sit on."

She smiled at him, hesitantly. "To watch the sunset."

He nodded, not quite staring into space. "To watch the sunset.", he echoed weakly and let the girl take the lead.

Time loved the beach - it reminded her of one of the holidays she'd been on with her parents, near some city she couldn't remember. Somewhere at the Atlantic Ocean, she remembered that. Watching the Doctor though, he looked like a man who had vowed revenge against the ocean. Looking somewhat whistful, he stared glumly at the waves, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his coat.

He didn't like beaches, the Doctor had said but Time had the feeling it was more than that. And he'd taken her to one nontheless, she thought, feeling pure gratitude as she looked at the man - Time Lord - next to her.

What exactly were Time Lords? Were there any more Time Lords or just him? And why did they have look like humans, making her forget facing an alien instead of a human?

The questions burned on her tongue but she swallowed them, a second thought making her change her mind. He didn't look like he wanted to talk right now; she didn't want to, either. She just wanted answers; preferably without having to talk too much. She didn't know why, but looking at him and simple interacting with him made her feel uneasy, as if she was about to ride a bike and couldn't find the wheel.

Maybe they could just sit on the rocks he had spoken about and not care about any unnecessary forced small talk, just watching the sun dive into the waves.

A couple of minutes later she spotted a constellation of boulders at the seaside. It resembled something that looked like a hovering animal, a cat maybe, shortly before the jump into the waves. Are there alien cats too?, she wondered as she climbed the platform. Do aliens have pets? Which one is the most popular?

One thing for sure, she'd either explode or go crazy with this many questions ghosting around in her head. The Doctor sat next to her and rested his arms on his bent legs. Time let her gaze run over the water to their feet, watched the waves hit aganist the rocks. The sound of it calmed her ridden up nerves, eased down her mind and made her feel somewhat safe. A cool breeze messed up their hair and swirled around her body, making her shiver out of all sudden.

The Doctor coughed shortly - the sound made her jump - and asked quietly: "Are you cold?"

"No, it's okay. Thanks."

He nodded, keeping quiet. His gaze flickered to her face shortly, then fixed on the horizon again. They didn't talk for a while.

The sun started dipping into the waves, the sky coloured pink and orange; a couple of stars already peeking out.

The Doctor closed his eyes and mentally kicked himself. You're scaring her, he scolded himself, she looks at you like a deer in the headlight. Just say something ... anything! What happened to your unstoppable gob?

He watched her closely; her eyes were closed, caging the stars, her freckled face drenched in the golden light of the fading sun. The single earring on her right ear was almost glowing. He'd noticed it before, a crescent shaped golden earring, only one in her right earlobe.

"Nice earring", he mumbled, not knowing what else to say, desperate to talk a little bit, maybe to make them seem like two normal persons, maybe to fool his lonely mind he was just sitting with a friend, talking like friends did.

Time shot him a short glance and her smile looked stiff. "Thank you", she replied and then continued to stare into the sunset.

"Only one?", he asked, desperately to grasp anything that could keep their conversation going - or to start one at all. Time shrugged.

"I lost the other one some time ago."

"Oh."

The awkward silence returned. Maybe it wasn't even awkward, maybe he just thought it was awkward, but what if she was completely comfortable? Did he want to talk with her? Or did he just want to pretend he was sitting with a friend because he had enough of silence?

"I'm sorry.", he suddenly heard himself whisper, startled at the sound of his own voice. Time's head shot up, her eyes scrutinizing him quizically.

He ducked his head and avoided her gaze. "Taking you here was a mistake, I should've-"

"Something happened on a beach before, didn't it?", Time interrupted him, not paying much attention to his apology. "That's why you hate it so much. This isn't about me."

"Do you want to go back?"

"No. I like it here. You don't. What happened?", she insisted, completely missing the point of his question and her voice sounded harsher than she had intended but something made her prod on, stubborn to get an answer out of him.

The Doctor let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and stared at the water underneath them, wishing it would just swallow him already.

She wouldn't let it be, as much as he wished she would. And secrets always had a way of coming out. But not now, he thought and took a deep breath, already repeating a thousand inner apologies at his lies and she'd never hear them.

"I don't like water very much. I think it's kind of scary, this almost black depth and you don't know what's under the surface, you know? There could be anything."

"It's a bit like space, then."

Her answer took him by surprise and he froze, quickly thinking of a clever answer.

"Yeah", he replied, shrugging and shot her a quick grin. "That's why I keep travelling - to discover all the things that are in it."

Time nodded, seeming content after receiving her answer but still eyed him from the side. "But you wouldn't swim in the water? Like you travel through space?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Nope. Can't breathe down there, so why bother?"

"You can't breathe out in space, either-" She stopped, her eyes widening as she watched him trying to hide a grin. "Or can you?"

He smirked. "Maybe."

"Oh now come on! What kind of answer is that s'posed to be, 'maybe'", she mocked him, rolling her eyes, "so maybe you're blind but you can see with glasses on?"

He grinned and pulled out his specs, putting them on in one swift move. "Exactly.", he replied and Time laughed, scrunching her nose at him.

The Doctor chuckled and took a pebble in his hands, turning it over and over with a thoughtful expression. "I have a different respiratory system. My lungs work better and there are some atmospheres I am allowed to breathe in.", he explained quietly, then paused fo a second. "That means I will easily forget you're human and can't breathe where I can. So if you ever, ah, find you can't breathe, just scream. If you can't scream, just ... punch me in the face. I will notice."

She chuckled. "Alright." and shot him this side-look again, but this time she almost looked amused. "You're very strange", she finally said, still looking at him. The Doctor braced himself for the inevitable. Or course. They never stayed.

"Are you scared?", he asked, so quietly he wasn't even sure if she heard him. The girl shook her head slowly, meeting his eyes again.

"No", she said finally, choosing her words carefully, "Not ... not of you, at least. You're not scary. Just a little, well.", she paused, shrugging, a small smirk plastered on her face, "strange. With weird mannerisms. Also maybe a little lunatic, I dunno."

"It's good to be a lunatic."

"'scuse me?"

The Doctor looked up, realizing he'd said that outloud. "Oh, nothing." He paused for a second.

"So, how old are you no, exactly? The last time we - I - just guessed. You know, for the formalities, so I don't have to fake your ID for some of the clubs we'll go ..." He cringed at the really desperate joke, trying to make his question seem funny and less creepy, just so their conversation went on. He amazingly succeeded when Time snickered at that.

"See, now you have me worried! IDs? Clubs? We're up in space!"

He just shrugged and grinned, maybe a bit apologetically. Time looked down on her sleeve-covered hands - why hadn't she rolled them up yet? He felt like having to get rid of every article of clothing - then she raised her head and looked him in the eyes again.

"I'm sixteen.", she replied, gritting her teeth, "Well, strictly spoken, still sixteen and almost seventeen."

The Doctor raised his brows and leaned back on his hands, his gaze fixed on her. "Oh yeah? When?"

The sun prickled on her skin, reminding her of warmer, brighter days.

Time squinted her eyes and sucked in breath between her teeth. "7th April."

He chuckled. "So you're living your last couple of months of being sixteen, huh?"

Time snorted. "Yeah, I guess." She paused and looked at him for a long time, opened her mouth as if to say something, then gave up and looked away, fiddling with her sleeves again. And for a moment he thought she would say something, reveal something about herself - but she didn't.

"What is it?", the Doctor asked, smiling encouragingly at her. Time shrugged and mumbled: "Nothing, I just ... I've been wondering, how old do Time Lords get? And how - how old are you, I mean, for all I know you could be like my gramps or something, don't get me wrong, uh ..."

"Oh." The Doctor gritted his teeth when she trailed off, awkwardly shifting in her place. "Well. We do get quite old, ah ... For me it's been centuries. That's quite, er ..."

"Are you really telling me right now you're basically a grandpa considering human age scales?", she quickly threw in, "'cause that was supposed to be a joke, you know."

"Noo ... no. Don't worry - or, not, depends on wether you'd rather like to travel with someone who should sit in front of a fireplace reading books and drinking tea and all that - let's just say I'm in the blossom of my life."

She snorted. "You sound like my Dad."

The Doctor raised and eyebrow and Time quickly looked away, spluttering: "I, I mean, he always says stuff like that too when people ask for his age and he always lies-", she interrupted herself, closing her eyes, letting out a small huff of breath, "lied a little bit."

"How old was he?"

"Fourty-seven."

"Well that's not old-"

Her eyes turned cold and something inside her clenched. "Yeah."

The Doctor realized his mistake and looked down, mentally kicking himself for his stupidity and tactlessness. "Right. Sorry."

They sat in silence for a while.

Eventually, the Doctor spoke up: "I lied, you know." Surprised, she looked up at him, slightly perking up at his words. He smirked sheepishly. "When I said it's been centuries, I'm ... a ninehundred and five, actually."

"Oh."

"Yeah." He tugged his earlobe. "That's ... that's quite middle-aged, not considered very old, I mean, though I'm not the young chap I once was, you know." He barked out a laugh, trying to hide his uneasiness.

Time nodded, her blue eyes still fixed on him.

"And Rose?" Her voice was soft, almost inaudible through the thrashing of the waves.

He broke eye contact and muttered "Not old. Young.", suddenly feeling very old and very gross. He stared into the darkening sky and tried not to think about that this year would be her twentyfirst birthday.

He sniffed and remembered he still wore his specs; quickly, he took them off and stuffed them into his suit.

"Do you have a schedule?", Time asked, pulling him out of his misery. The Doctor forced his eyes back into focus and looked at the girl, confused. She continued, waving her hand and stumbled over the words. "You know, like, um, like a log book where you keep track of where you've already been too, where you want to go and stuff?"

He hesitated. "I have a journal. But that's more ... personal stuff. The TARDIS has a log book but I rarely use it." He tapped his temples, grinning. "Got it all in here."

He didn't tell her about the library. He kept quiet about the maps and thousands of books, all the places that awaited them.

Soon. Soon he'd be ready and able to tell her, when it didn't remind him of the endless nights they had spent sitting in the library anymore.

Maybe someday Time would hear the stories of Rose Tyler, all of them.

But not now.

For now it still hurt too much.

What'cha think? It'd be the best if you left me a review! And, also, if you have any questions or comments about Time I'm more than happy to read and answer them, that would be fantastic! :D