The coffee-maker beeps obnoxiously, rousing me from the book I've got my nose stuck in. I found it in a room the T.A.R.D.I.S let me in the night before, after my glorious shower. Obviously a library, filled to the brim with books from all of time and space. At random, I picked up a love story about two cyborgs, shunned by society in the most brutal of ways, both lonely little creatures, and I've been hooked. They find companionship in one another, learning that you're only as alone as you make yourself.
Tugs at my heart strings, it really does.
I set it on its spine and stand up from the T.A.R.D.I.S's kitchen table. My fingers press the series of buttons that causes the coffee to spurt into the blue mug. It says '#1 Cosmic Ray Analyst' on it.
I begin to hum a little tune, watching the coffee slowly drip its way out of the machine, feeling rather smug.
I can find mugs and cups and plates, and even make coffee on my own. I'd say I know my way around the kitchen now.
Still humming, I spin my way to a cabinet across the room, my flannel green nightgown twirling out around me. I open the door, snatch up the delightful creamer stuff from 2089 Sweden, and spin back to my coffee.
"Well, you're a bit more chipper this morning." I hear the Doctor's voice from the doorway, and I look up to give him a smirk.
His hair is even more tousled than usual, his voice a tad scratchy from sleep.
And I do so love to see a Doctor is his jammies.
"So much to be chipper about! My arm is nearly healed already, we're not freezing to death slowly, we can go somewhere that doesn't even have a winter… Things are looking up, you know." I say, stirring in the creamer, and lifting the mug to my lips.
"No winter this time, got it. I know exactly where we're going. For once, we'll have a nice, relaxing, danger-free day. I'm sure of it." The Doctor says. With a skeptical look, I take it back to the table, and the Doctor goes about scavenging for breakfast. I pick up my book, humming once again, taking a sip of coffee every once in a while.
"Hold the phone, keep humming! Don't stop!" He suddenly shouts in my ear, so loudly it causes me to drop the mug mid-sip. It clatters on the table, spewing coffee everywhere. All over my nightgown, my book, the table, the floor.
I get to my feet quickly, bumping into the Doctor, who is standing unnecessarily close behind me.
"Why'd you have to shout like that? Now I'm wearing my breakfast, thanks a lot! Can you ever just speak normally?" I say angrily, snatching an orange towel off of the counter and dabbing at my gown.
"Sorry, sorry just keep humming. That song." He says, and when I finally take a look at him, I realize that maybe something is wrong. Very wrong. His eyes are wide, recognition and something akin to dread swirling in them.
"You okay? Do you know this song or something?" I ask, putting the towel down and focusing on him, a hand on my hip.
"Do you?" He shoots back, raising one thick eyebrow.
"Of course I do, it's been stuck in my head for days now, it's…." I take a moment to think about it.
What is it from? It has to be from a movie or something…
"Actually, now that you mention it, I don't. I don't know that song." I say, and we stare at one another for a moment. He seems very upset by this realization.
"Must be the T.A.R.D.I.S." He says, getting very close, so close I'm feeling a bit uneasy about my coffee-breath now.
"What's the T.A.R.D.I.S have to do with a song in my head?"
"It's simple for her to communicate in song, since it's completely universal, easily interjected into unconscious thought. Every single species in every single galaxy in every single time can understand musical notes."
"Right, okay, but why?" I ask, concentrating on that song in my head. It's beautiful, but seems sad, foreboding.
"Sing it again." He says, "Please."
I open my mouth, but… I can't remember it. It's just gone.
"I've forgotten it. I've completely forgotten it, why would she do that?" I ask, and the Doctor crinkles his nose up.
"Oh, I see how it is, old girl. You'll talk to Evy, but not me." He mutters, and then his face is wiped clean of concern and confusion.
"I'm sure we'll figure it out later, forget the coffee, where we're going there's plenty of food you'd like to eat." He says, smiling a little too widely.
Something about that song upset him. Badly.
The T.A.R.D.I.S needed to tell me something that the Doctor couldn't know…
I feel my heart constrict and my stomach flip at the birth of an idea in my brain.
Maybe she's trying to help me. Trying to help me help the Doctor…
I push that thought back for later, and give the Doctor a smile that may be a bit too wide as well.
"Good, because you owe me a cup of coffee, plus interest, you crazy alien."
The Doctor had been amazed at the healing my skin did overnight. After a sonic session and dabbing the pink scar tissue with that same lotion from last night, he deemed me healed and ready for action. Then, with that he'd told me to dress for swimming.
As in, a swimsuit.
So here I am, swimsuitless, rummaging through the wardrobe for something to swim in. So far, I've found a ridiculous feathery showgirl's outfit, a black and yellow wetsuit, and a skimpy nurse outfit, which might as well be a swimsuit.
I can't even begin to describe the wicked thoughts it gives me.
The Doctor has nurse lingerie... Do I even want to ask?
I throw it all down in a huff, knowing the T.A.R.D.I.S will take care of it for me, and bound up the steps to the second level.
A doorway I've never seen has appeared at the top of the stairs, and when I peek my head in, a little laugh of amazement escapes me.
It's a small room, with racks built into the walls, full of all kinds of swimsuits. They all must be brand new, because the smell of synthesized spandex is overwhelming.
I sift through them, and find that they are all my size and definitely my style. There's not a single one that I dislike, making me think the T.A.R.D.I.S is a very smart ship, indeed. She must have handpicked this room, just for me.
"Oh, you are my new best friend. Who's a clever girl?" I say, grabbing several to try on, and the room creaks around me as if in agreement.
After trying on a few, I settle on an old-fashioned looking two piece. It has darling white polka dots scattered across the red fabric, the bottoms high-waisted and settling perfectly just in the curve of my waist. I put on a white sundress of my own as a cover up, fluff my curly hair in the mirror, and decide I'm ready.
The Doctor is sitting on the stool in the console room, waiting ever so patiently.
But he's wearing a suit. One of his typical brown suits, missing his coat, though.
"You're going to have a rough time, swimming in that…" I say, and he looks confused, standing up from the stool to put his hands in his pockets.
"Well, so are you!"
"This is just a cover-up! You know, so I don't have to walk around half naked all day?" I say and he nods, gesturing to his suit.
"So is this! This is my 'cover-up', don't bash it!" He says, and I just chuckle, rolling my eyes at my absurd Time Lord.
And then my face begins to heat, imagining the Doctor taking off all those layers, one by one.
"Um… Right! So, where are we then? Some kind of ocean planet, a futuristic tropical resort, what?" I say clearing my throat and heading towards the doors.
"Better…" He says, bounding ahead of me like an overexcited toddler, "Earth, 1969."
I laugh, not sure if he's serious or not.
"Of all the places…" I say, and he throws the doors open.
"Oi, this is the blue planet! Full to bursting with water, and thus with beaches. Tropical, uninhabited beaches, warm as you like. No winter here not ever." He says, rubbing his hands together as the sunlight blinds us momentarily.
"No place like home, I suppose." I say, grinning at him and I run out of the T.A.R.D.I.S, my bare feet sinking into white-hot sand.
"OH my God, it is warm alright, warmer than the Devil's armpit, I'd say!" I shout, hearing the Doctor's laugh, and make a beeline for the ocean. Once my feet are not on fire, and are gently being lapped at by the salty waves, I take the liberty of looking around.
He's taken us to some tropical island, with tall, lush green trees, similar to Amazonia's foliage, lining the beach. No roads or piers or people to be seen for miles down the beach, in either direction. It's just our blue box, the Doctor, and me… And a crystal clear ocean, stretching for hundreds of miles into the horizon until it meshes with the clear blue sky, not a cloud in sight.
A light breeze cools my skin pleasantly, but I still want nothing more than to dive into that water, it's so hot.
"This is the first day of summer. Longest day of the year." I hear the Doctor say, and see that he is walking toward me leisurely, his trainers protecting his feet.
"Plenty of time for fun in the sun, then. Was that the idea?" I say, and he nods, grinning proudly at his cleverness.
"Very thoughtful of you, Doctor." I say, braving the hot sand to go give him a kiss on the cheek. "It'll be nice not to be scrambling for our lives for once!"
"You know… I actually agree! Everyone needs a day off, once in a while." He says unbuttoning his suit jacket. I don't realize I'm silently watching his fingers working until his voice interrupts me.
"We'll need some beach supplies! Towels, a dinky plastic shovel, a plastic poppable ball, the classics! Maybe we can even bring out the anti-gravity gun!" He says, lowering his voice as if the last bit were terribly scandalous. He shrugs out of his jacket and rests it on his arm. I can't help giggling excitedly.
I haven't been on vacation to a beach since I was nine years old! And I certainly didn't have the anti-gravity gun to play with, that's for sure…
We set out brightly colored towels, with strange designs all over them, and stick a gigantic mushroom shaped umbrella in the sand next to it, for the shade we'll undoubtedly need at some point. I toss all of the beach toys, piled up in my arms, out onto the beach next to them. A beach ball, some shovels, a Frisbee, a little blue cube the Doctor told me to grab, and last but not least, the anti-gravity gun.
Oh, I'm dying to try that…
"Blimey, I'm burning up, I have got to get in that water." The Doctor says, tugging at his collar, and I can see his light blue dress-shirt starting to soak up some sweat. I'm not much better, in this long sundress of mine.
He untucks the shirt from his pants, and I look away, not really feeling bold enough to watch.
Yet, when am I going to get another chance like this, eh? The platonic Time Lord and the awkward geek, not much of an opportunity for undressing…
So I plop down in the sand, pretending to make a little sandcastle, and plant my eyes on the Doctor.
He unbuttons his shirt, ever so carefully. He's quite fond of all of his suits, that much I know. He wasn't pleased on Amazonia when I ruined his one suit, popping off the buttons in my hurry to get the key out.
He shrugs it off of his shoulders, ridiculously folding it, as if he planned on reusing it or something. His torso is lean, peppered with hair trailing down to the hem of his suit pants. All of the running we do has toned him, but not overtly so. He's just the right amount of musculature, not enough to be intimidating, but… Just enough.
My breath hitches and warmth spreads from my face down to the pit of my belly.
It's then that I can't keep my eyes glued to him anymore, when he turns his attention to his pants. I focus on the mound of shapeless sand I've collected in front of me. My hands absently try to make some sort of castle-esque form, pondering our situation.
This is kind of like… weirdly romantic, compared to our other adventures. Just us two, pristine white beach, no one to interrupt us. No wonder I'm feeling awkward, I'm being forced to feel feelings!
I think of everything we've been through together, all the Doctor has done for me, all I've done for him. Everything he has told me, confided in me with. His protective nature, which I assumed was just his natural state of being…
Maybe… Maybe he does feel that way? My Doctor.
"Aren't you going to get in? Your face is getting quite red, don't want you overheating!"
I lift my eyes to see the Doctor in orange swimming trunks, standing in front of me, stretching his arms over his head. The image is comical, to say the least. I burst out laughing, and he looks down at his ensemble self-consciously.
"What?" He exclaims, laughing a bit with me, a smile spreading on his lips.
"I've never seen you in anything but those suits of yours, that's all. This is so… drastic!" I say between chuckles, biting my lip. His eyes stray to focus on that motion, but then he reaches a hand out to me, his smile turning tender.
"I don't think it's drastic at all, I think it's quite 'suit'able!" He says, and when I laugh, his smile gets wider, his eyes crinkling like they do when he has thought of something very clever.
"You really are such a ham," I say, my smile faltering when I remember the last time I'd said that. My almost-death. He seems to recall as well, and when I put my hand in his, he pulls me up into a quick hug.
"Oh come on, you love it." He says, pulling away to give me a wink.
"I do love you." I say, nodding, and then I nearly choke on my own tongue, "It. I do love it."
A single heartbeat passes before, for whatever reason, I decide now would be a good time to clumsily yank my dress over my head. As could be expected, it goes horribly wrong.
I am the definition of unattractive. Look in a dictionary next to the word 'unsexy' and there'll be a picture of me as I am right this moment, stuck in my own clothing like a trapped rat.
My arm somehow gets stuck in its little arm-hole, and my hair gets tangled up in the halter-tied top. I struggle for a few more moments, before letting out a resigned groan.
"Little help?" I say, and the Doctor grins, trying and failing to not laugh at my misery.
He gently extricates me from my dress, and doesn't bother to fold it carefully like he did his. He just tosses the dress behind him in the sand, and stands in front of me, not even pretending his eyes aren't roving down my body.
This is the only time I have ever really felt like the Doctor was a man. A human man.
His gaze turns heated and rests just above my collar bone, where I know he must be able to see my pulse hammering away in my neck. Then he meets my eyes, and he's back to the old platonic Doctor, the one I'm much more familiar with.
"Well come on then, race you!" He says, and takes off towards the ocean.
"How many times do I have to say 'no fair'?!" I shout, and run after him, stumbling in the unsettled sand.
I think I'll like this 'no danger' thing we've got going. I think I'll like it very much.