Entr'acte: Snood
Snood was, as the Doctor had promised, beautiful. They had parked the TARDIS on a wide, flat plain covered in tall, damp grass that smelled a bit like freshly baked bread and glistened with droplets of water. The air was cool, and humid but not uncomfortably so; the fog seemed to thin nearer to the ground and never reached a high density even higher up. Rays of sun slanted through, casting rainbows over entire swathes of air, almost like sheer, opalescent curtains. Rose trailed her fingers through the mist, enjoying the cool sheen that clung to her and the dappling of her skin with beams of multicolored light.
The Doctor hovered nearby, stance relaxed, arms crossed, smiling contentedly as he watched his companion marvel at the alien atmosphere. Her eyes sparkled in delight, and she hadn't stopped smiling since they'd exited the ship. After awhile, she wandered over to him and grabbed him by the hand, pulling on him as she began to collapse into the tall grass.
"What are you doing?" he asked in amusement. "You're going to get your clothes all wet."
"I don't care," Rose smiled as he allowed himself to be pulled down next to her, "I've got others now, remember?" She flopped backwards until she lay flat on the ground, staring up at the undulating rainbows dancing across the sky, and he gamely reclined next to her, his body turned perpendicular to hers, his shorn head near where her golden hair fanned out on the ground. "'S gorgeous here," Rose sighed, gazing upwards.
"Thought you might like it," the Doctor responded. "The universe is actually full of wonders that aren't trying to kill you, it turns out," he added with a smirk.
Rose giggled. "Oh, I dunno. I quite like the danger, I think."
The Doctor looked over at her in amusement. "Do you now? Convenient, that, since you seem to be particularly susceptible to peril."
"Oi!" Rose laughed, smacking him on the arm. The Doctor chuckled. "No, but really though," Rose continued, "My life was just so… predictable before I met you. And travelling; it's only been a few days, but it's just so… I'm seeing things I never would have even imagined existed, you know? Whole new worlds. And then on top of that, we're saving lives! It's mental, that. Never would've dreamed I'd ever be able to say I'd helped save anyone's life, and yet here we are, fresh off stopping the destruction of the Earth." She sighed happily. "I never thought I'd do anything worthwhile like that."
"Who says what you were doing before wasn't worthwhile?" the Doctor questioned her, sounding insulted on her behalf. Rose rolled her eyes.
"I worked in a shop, Doctor," she returned. "Not exactly heroic, is it?"
"Could be, if someone needed to buy something," the Doctor shrugged. "Besides, saving the universe? Not all it's cracked up to be. Wouldn't actually recommend it as a vocation, myself."
"So why do ya keep doin' it, then?" Rose queried, turning on her side to look at him, propping her head up on her hand.
"Can't seem to help myself," the Doctor sighed. "Too curious for my own good."
Rose snorted and flopped back onto her back. "And you say I'm susceptible to peril."
The Doctor chuckled, and they fell into a contented silence.
"Doctor?" Rose asked after some time had passed.
"Yes, Rose?"
"Why did you invite me to travel with you?"
The Doctor was silent for a bit before he answered, his voice carefully casual. "You saved me from the Nestene Consciousness. Thought I owed you a bit of a thank you."
"Oh." Rose fell silent.
"Plus, I liked having you around," the Doctor confessed after a brief hesitation. "Been on my own for awhile; had started to forget what it was like to enjoy someone's company."
"Yeah?" Rose bit her lip and rolled her head slightly so that she could see his face.
"Yeah." The Doctor's eyes had fallen closed, but the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
Rose smiled. "How long are you gonna let me travel with you?" she asked him softly.
"As long as you want, Rose Tyler."
"Good." With a happy sigh, Rose scooted herself over slightly, adjusting herself so that her head rested on the Doctor's shoulder. After a moment's hesitation, he brought his hand up to stroke her hair. They stayed that way for quite some time.
Eventually, the sun began to dip below the horizon, turning the vibrant pastel rainbows to more subtle jewel tones, and the temperature began to drop. A shiver from Rose broke the quiet spell of their rest, and the Doctor nudged his companion gently.
"C'mon, Rose, let's get you back in the TARDIS."
Rose wrapped her arms around herself and nodded, allowing the Doctor to help her up and guide her back toward the blue box that was already beginning to feel like home. She leaned into his side and he wrapped an arm around her until they they reached the ship's doors, where he released her to dig his TARDIS key from his pocket and let them in.
"'S weird," Rose said as they walked up the ramp into the console room and the Doctor began to press buttons and pull levers, releasing the TARDIS back into the Time Vortex. "We were there past sunset, but it doesn't feel that late."
The Doctor rolled his eyes at her, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the console. "It's a time machine, Rose; just because you'd only been awake for a bit doesn't mean we landed first thing in the morning. It was closer to early afternoon, Snood time. Besides, not every planet has 24-hour days. Snood's are closer to fourteen, so the time from midday to sunset is closer to three and a half hours.
"So what time is it, then?" Rose asked curiously, refusing to be put off by his faux annoyance.
The Doctor sighed. "There is no time in the TARDIS, other than the time wherever we are at the moment. When we're in the vortex, we're everywhen at once."
It was Rose's turn to roll her eyes. Leaning back against one of the winding TARDIS coral struts, she mimicked the Doctor's cross-armed pose, touching the toes of her trainers to the toes of his heavy black boots. "You know what I mean, stop being so literal. What time is it for me? Relatively speaking?"
The Doctor smirked but gave in. "Just after noon."
Rose nudged his toe with hers and gave a tongue touched grin. "See, was that so hard? Now come on, let's have some dinner." Standing back up, she skipped off toward the galley. With an indulgent smile, the Doctor followed slowly after her.
