This one's based-loosely, mind you- off of "How High the Moon" by Ella Fitzgerald, and requested by Yani Cardaria. Also, I kind of sort of hid a few references in there...anyone catch them? I tried to be subtle, but subtlety was never really my strong suit! If you figure out what I was referencing, I'll give you a...I dunno what I'll give you. I'll figure that out later.

"Welcome, Rose Tyler," the Doctor announced grandly, sweeping his arms as he stepped out of the TARDIS, "to Elavthgin 6!"

Rose stepped out of the TARDIS slowly, one eyebrow raised, and looking thoroughly unimpressed. "It's a desert," she said flatly.

"I'll have you know this "desert" is one of the most culturally rich and influential planets of the Marzantine Galaxy!" The Doctor glared.

Rose glanced at him skeptically, then glanced around again. In truth, she supposed, it was a pretty desert, at least. The sand was yellowish, like on Earth, but the sky was a deep violet color, and the clouds puffy balls of indigo. There seemed to be nothing but sand dunes around them, though, which was really the source of Rose's disappointment. She could appreciate a good landscape as well as the next person, but it was the people, at least to Rose, that made these trips so worthwhile.

"C'mon, then!" The Doctor declared, marching through the sand away from the TARDIS. Rose scurried to follow, shedding her jacket as she went. The desert was, unsurprisingly, hot, and Rose wondered how the Doctor was surviving in his heavy leather jacket.

'Superior biology, Rose,' She imagined him saying, ducking her head to keep him from seeing the small smile that crossed her face. She was pretty sure it was less "superior biology," and more stubbornness.

"So, where we headed then?" Rose asked, tying her jacket around her waist. "There a town around here or something that I haven't noticed?"

The Doctor snorted. "You take once glance around the place and just decide it's deserted?" He asked. Rose wondered if he had intended the pun. "Typical human. If it's not laid out in front of you, you just assume it's not there."

Rose thought of taking offence at the human jibe, but by this point, she knew there was no real point. "Alright then, show me this magical desert city that I can't see."

They walked for a good half hour—why they could never park near their destination, Rose would never understand—until they finally crested a sand dune, and Rose was able to see a sprawling city. Her eyes widened as she took it in, a slow smile curving across her face.

The Doctor smiled smugly as he watched Rose react to the city before them. He'd thought she might like this place because of her addiction to Disney movies; minus the grand palace, the city before them greatly resembled the fictional city of Agrabah from Aladdin.

"Right then, there's this marvelous menagerie just over—"

"Do you hear that?" Rose asked suddenly, cutting the Doctor off. He glanced down at her, curious as to what could be more exciting than an alien zoo in the middle of the desert. Rose was staring intently down at the little town, and he could almost see her ears perk forward as she attempted to discover where whatever it was she hearing was coming from.

"What?" He asked after a moment, hearing nothing of interest.

"Come on!" She grinned, grabbing his hand and dragging him down towards the city proper. A minute ago, he could barely get her to walk; now she was almost running.

"Humans," he muttered to himself, though his smile took all of the bite out of the word.

They spent the next half hour running around the town, the Doctor following Rose for once, Rose pausing occasionally to listen, before dragging the Doctor off again. She refused to tell him what it was she was hearing, and he couldn't for the life of him discern what it was that she was hearing that was so special; which was just preposterous, since his hearing was genetically better than hers.

"Ha!" Rose declared triumphantly, stopping in front of a small crowd gathered around a man (the aliens on Elavthgin 6 were humanoid, and differed only in a third eye that only opened at night) playing an instrument that sort of looked like a flute, but sounded like a cross between a guitar and a piano. "Knew I heard music."

The Doctor blinked, watching the man play for a moment before looking at Rose. Music. She'd heard music and dragged across half the town trying to find the source.

Music.

He'd heard the sound, he now realized, he just hadn't categorized it as important enough to run all over looking for. But Rose, his little human, had. Of course she had; Rose always wanted to know more about the culture of the places they went—of course she would have gone straight for the music.

He watched her silently, her eyes glued to the musician, her eyes bright. The Doctor couldn't remember the last time he'd just stopped to listen to music…he actually couldn't remember the last time he'd heard music, and given it more than a passing thought.

He watched Rose in silence for a moment longer, then nudged her. "C'mon, there's a sort of street fair a few blocks over. Lots of musicians, street artists, that sort of thing. You can find a bit of everything there!"

Rose grinned up at him, and linked her fingers with his. "Sounds perfect!"

The Doctor led them off in the direction of the fair, all thoughts of the menagerie forgotten.

Catch the mystery reference? Let me know!

Thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, reviewed, or gave me a song to go off of. I have two more songs waiting to be done, but please, feel free to send in more! I could always use a muse!

Until next time!