"Blimey!" exclaimed the Doctor, lowering his sunglasses onto his face. "Feels like I'm on the sun, not millions of miles away from it."
Rose smiled as she put on her own sunglasses. They tinted the scene considerably with a reddish hue, giving her eyes a rest from the glaring whiteness of the sand.
Mum and Dad set the umbrella down close to the water, along with the chairs, bag of food, and cooler. The Doctor helped Dad put the umbrella up while Rose and Mum set up the chairs and got out Tony's sand toys.
The Doctor approached Rose after the umbrella established shade over their area. "Right, then. What's first?" Before she could answer, the Doctor's brow crinkled in concern as he looked down at his feet. "Does the sand feel odd to anyone else?"
"That's because you're never around sand," observed Rose with a laugh at his concerned expression.
"I've been on plenty of sand, thank you," he said, looking back up and jumping up and down. He bent down and scooped up a handful of the substance in question, letting it fall steadily through his fingers. He brought it up close to his face and patted his chest, where his glasses would have normally rested in his jacket pocket. Rose realized that he must have had a pair when he had lived in Scotland, but hadn't brought them back. She carefully stored the thought in the back of her mind.
With a huff, the Doctor replenished the sand in his hand and felt it with his fingertips. His tongue darted out, got coated with sand, and then retracted back into his mouth.
Rose wasn't sure whether to be amused or repulsed; perhaps she was a little of both, though if anything it didn't surprise her. The Doctor spat and made a disgusted face. "Tastes like sand." He smacked his lips together. "But there's something else...something..." He looked back up to her. "Really, though, it doesn't feel strange to you at all?"
"Nope."
"Doctor!" Tony ran over and tugged on the Doctor's swimming trunks. "Will you build a sand castle with me?"
The Doctor's eyes shone with excitement. He placed his hand on the Tony's head, his eyes shifting between the sand and the boy. Finally, he stood up with a huge grin. "Oh, we'll do more than that. We can make a sand empire, complete with castles, towers, villages, and even tiny people..."
"Thick as thieves, they are," Jackie said with a smile as they walked away.
"He adores kids," Rose said, settling into the chair next to her Mum. "Especially Tony."
"He'll be a good dad."
The sentence surprised Rose. First of all, her Mum giving the Doctor any sort of compliment was rare. Secondly, it brought to mind the thought of having kids, marriage, all the other stuff they had never discussed. It was just understood that things were back to the way they had been in the other universe, only now with open affection. She wasn't even sure if he wanted any of that; he would probably be content just traveling around as they were now. It was impossible to know what was going on in that mind of his.
"Tony's going to miss both of you when you're gone again," Mum continued.
"We'll come right back, Mum. You won't even know we've gone."
"Yeah, you always say that, but it never happens, and we're left here missing you." She turned in her chair and looked at Rose, raising her sunglasses so that she could see her serious eyes. "What are you gonna do when you have kids? You can't bring them on your adventures, it's too dangerous! You're going to have to settle down some time."
Again, her mother's words struck a chord. What she said had never occurred to Rose before, and she was sure it had never occurred to the Doctor either. Not that they were going to have kids anytime soon, anyway. But maybe settling down wouldn't be such a bad thing. They could get their own house, close to Mum and Dad, work at Torchwood like they used to, live ordinary lives...
"You're right, Mum," admitted Rose. "But we don't have to worry about that for a while."
"Well that's good to hear."
Rose shook her head. Again, leave it to her Mum.
For the next few hours, while the Doctor and Tony built their "empire," Rose talked with her parents and held a book in front of her eyes, but she couldn't focus enough to read the words on the page. Her mind was on the Doctor, and what her Mum had said. Rose also tried to get a little bit of a tan, though she didn't stay out in the sun too long because she knew she would burn easily.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please."
Rose flipped over on her towel as she heard Tony's voice. He was standing just in front of Mum and Dad, the Doctor right behind him. The Doctor muttered something in a low voice, like he was giving Tony his lines.
"Together, the Doctor and I have constructed a vast empire made entirely out of sand. If you'll come this way, we can show it to you." Tony smiled up at the Doctor, who nodded his approval and grinned.
Rose got up with her parents and followed the Doctor and Tony a little further up on the beach where the sand was a little softer. There, stretching several feet in both directions, were massive towers, little huts, roads, and actual miniature people. Even a few horses dotted the landscape, and a mountain had been built on one side of the empire.
"You built this?" asked Pete, incredulous. "You could be sculptors."
"Rather not," said the Doctor. "Bad experiences." He winked at Rose, and she again remembered their trip to Rome.
"I want to be a sculptor!" said Tony with a proud gleam in his eyes that was all too familiar. He was picking up things from the Doctor very quickly.
"Maybe you will be," said Rose, smiling at her little brother, "if you keep up work like this."
"Look!" said Tony, pointing to the mountain. "I made that all by myself!" It was really just a pile of sand all thrown together.
"He did," the Doctor affirmed. "Anyone got any water around here?" he added after a moment.
Though Mum and Dad were too busy listening to Tony's accomplishments, Rose pointed him over to their umbrella. "In the cooler."
"Cold water. Even better."
Rose followed him back and watched him gulp down half of a water bottle and then let out a loud belch. She gave him a disapproving look.
"What?"
"Didn't anyone ever teach you manners?" she wondered, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oi! I have plenty of manners!"
"I can see that." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. The argument stopped as Mum, Dad, and Tony came back.
"I'm a bit stiff after sitting there for so long," said the Doctor to Rose, flipping the water bottle in the air. "Fancy going on a walk with me?"
"Maybe." She grabbed the bottle out of midair and grinned. "If you use your manners."
"Fine," he huffed. Rose handed the water bottle back to him, and they began their walk down the beach. They talked idly about unimportant things until they were interrupted by a small dog running up to their feet and barking incessantly.
"I'm so sorry." An elderly woman with snow white hair came jogging up and scooped the dog up into her arms. It still barked at the Doctor and Rose, but calmed down a bit. "Peaches just gets a little too excited sometimes." The woman's accent was thick southern American.
"No harm done," said the Doctor in his charming, easygoing manner. Rose followed his gaze as he looked past the woman to see a faded umbrella with two seats under it, one vacant and the other occupied by an old man scribbling furiously on a legal pad. "What's he doing?"
The woman looked back, and then smiled at the Doctor. "My husband's a writer. He's going to get published one day. I would introduce you, but he doesn't like being interrupted. I'm Daisy, by the way."
"I'm Rose." She shook Daisy's hand with a smile.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor." He shook her hand likewise, his eyes lit up with his jovial mood. "Tell your husband good luck for me."
"I will. And I'm sorry about Peaches again."
"No worries," said Rose.
They continued on their way and got through their walk with no more incidents. However, upon arriving back at the umbrella, the Doctor stated that he wasn't feeling well. His face matched his words; his cheeks were flushed, and his eyes drooped sleepily. It was arranged that the two of them would go back up to the condo for the time being, though hopefully the Doctor would be feeling better soon.
"Since when do you get sick?" asked Rose as they trudged their way up the beach.
"I don't, not usually," said the Doctor, his tone much different than it had been just a few minutes earlier. "Even with a human body I rarely get sick."
"What's wrong exactly?"
"Head feels a bit odd, stomach's all out of whack..."
"The flu?" Rose wondered.
"Could be. Came on fast, though."
They made it up to the condo without much further conversation, though Rose was thinking of the Doctor the whole time. He didn't look so good. It was odd that his countenance could have changed so quickly... Had he eaten something rotten maybe? Or was it just a normal sickness?
The Doctor collapsed right onto his bed when they got into the condo. He groaned and closed his eyes. Rose pulled the blanket over him and stood by his side.
"Do you want to watch a movie or something to get your mind off it?"
He nodded.
"What movie?" She turned on the TV on the dresser across from his bed and accessed the movie menu. She browsed through the titles and smiled at the sight of one series the Doctor had made her watch and re-watch countless times. "What about Star Wars?"
"Episode five," he mumbled. "It's the best."
Rose put it on, and the Doctor raised himself up a little in his bed so he could see. Rose wasn't really tired, but she didn't want to leave him alone, so she looked down at him, feeling like a concerned mum.
"Need anything else?"
He shook his head, eyes on the screen.
Well, there was nothing better to do but watch it with him. Rose clambered up next to him and laid her head on his chest.
"Sure about that?" he asked, putting an arm around her at the same time. His skin was a little warmer than usual. "I could get you sick, and we wouldn't want that."
"I'll take my chances." She snuggled into him, and his arm tightened around her. Within minutes, he was asleep, his heavy breathing telling of his slumber. Rose, however, stayed up for the entire movie before drifting off into a light nap.