A/N: Chapter Two…

A/N: Chapter Two…

Thank you to all those who reviewed too- nice people!

Rose sighed again, content just to sit in a puddle on an alien planet and look at the stars. It took her a moment to realise her hand was still in the Doctor's, but she didn't want to take it out of his. She felt too happy with the way she was to right now to change anything. Overhead, the stars burned brightly, shimmering slightly in the constant rain- the sight made her even more euphoric. This time two years ago she'd been stocking shelves at Topshop, bored to tears with her life that never went anywhere. Now…

She smiled. Now she was high on alien rain, feeling top of the world, with a good-crazy alien she liked better than anyone else lying beside her in a puddle. And she was loving every minute of it.

The Doctor turned to look at her, and the sight of his face- his normally hectic brown hair plastered flat against his forehead, dripping water in his eyes every few seconds, the brown suit he always wore pasted to his narrow frame, making him look like a drowned rat without the whiskers- created a mental image that set the laughter going again. Rose couldn't stop the laughs long enough to explain- the confused look on the Doctor's face enough to create more reels of laughter. Her amusement was infectious, and soon they were both lying in helpless heaps, hooting like a flock of owls.

Again, Rose got the unquenchable urge to do something- anything; the first thing to come to her mind. However crazy or bizarre… there was no-one to stop her, and she felt free for the first time; nobody was standing there to stop her making a fool of herself, to tell her not to do something, to stop creating a scene. She was on her feet before she realised, running in senseless circles, sloshing through the ankle-high water, keening happily. The Doctor, caught up in her craziness and the effects of the mind-altering rain, was right behind her, whooping. The absurd running around became a crooked game- something, in the depths of Rose's still sane mind, that she couldn't win. The Doctor was faster than her, and was only a matter of seconds before he caught up with her in this haphazard game of chase. Still, she shrieked happily and tried to out-run him- but within seconds his hands were wrapped around her in clear victory; she heard him whoop behind her.

Senseless by the elation, Rose slipped and tipped forward, taking the Doctor with her. She was still laughing when she landed on to soft, water-logged ground, the Doctor's weight pinning her- not uncomfortably- to it. She expected him to get off her; instead he rolled, her following, until they had switched positions. Rose barely acknowledged that they were both breathing hard- but neither of them had run far, really- she was too busy shaking with more giggles. She was drunk- drunk to the point where everything was laughable, where all she and the Doctor could do was laugh- they were beyond anything else. Again, the rain made her fevered brain crave to do something wild and shocking, to feel the adrenaline of something forbidden course through her veins. She wanted to do something she couldn't. And she could see in the Doctor's bright eyes, in his tense posture that he was craving the same. Something that wasn't allowed.

So she kissed him.

Her frayed rationality registered what she was doing- what was she doing? - She was kissing an alien, her friend. Her friend who was an alien. But the rational part of her didn't scream at her to stop, to leap away and pretend it had never happened like she thought it would. Almost as if what she was doing wasn't all just the effects of the rain. But she didn't know nor care about this, because the adrenaline that she had so craved was shooting through her as she kissed him. Everywhere, there was fire, burning her, boiling her blood until she should have been screaming, except it didn't hurt. It was painful, but it didn't hurt. She wanted the pain; loved it, needed it- the adrenaline, the fire, and she knew why she had it.

Because he was kissing her back.

Her mind was scattered, unable to comprehend what was happening, instead just accepting it; the fire his hands left as they ran through her hair, the rightness of it. But it was just the rain, making her do this, feeding the desire to touch him, to make sure he was real, to keep on kissing him until she couldn't breathe- wasn't it?

Rose didn't know- all she could feel was the damp fabric beneath her hands, the building pressure in her chest as she struggled to not break away from him as the need to breathe intensified. The need for the forbidden far outweighed the need for oxygen.

Finally, the burning in her lungs became too unbearable, and she broke away, tumbling off the Doctor as she inhaled- with it, her mind cleared slightly, and the enormousness of what she'd done came crashing down on her. She met his eyes, his expression was twisted with something she didn't recognise- was he angry that she'd kissed him? How could she be so stupid? - it was hard enough for him, protecting her from the dangers that lurked in space without the awkwardness that her actions could bring. He would think she had feelings for him-how could she make him see that it had only been the euphoria, the spontaneous urge created by the rain that had made her do that? It was nothing… was it?

The rain was a dangerous thing- Rose realised. It was shaping her thoughts whilst she still stood in it; it was making her imagine things. For a second, she almost felt as if that kiss- that brainless, in-the-moment kiss- hadn't been entirely one-sided. She had to be more prepared; alien rain that could conjure up feelings like that- but could rain really do that? Create the passion she had believed had been in that single kiss? Or was her ability to invent, to create things better than she'd thought?

Well, it must be, she thought to herself. The alternative just… wasn't a possibility. She shook herself; of course it had just been her- was she really imagining that the Doctor had been kissing her back? And even if he had- which he hadn't- it would have been the elation, the rain, nothing more; she was twenty-year-old from the Powell estate, a fragile, insignificant human. On what world would someone like the Doctor have any interest in that? He was different- he was ageless, an alien from another planet, lost. Kind, caring, lovely…

Her awareness came back to her with a jolt- did she really just say that? What was going on? The rain made it hard to think; every time she inhaled the scent of the rain, she felt the giddy happiness struggle to over-whelm her. She focused on the Doctor's face instead - did she just imagine the rush she felt when she looked at him? - She couldn't discern the expression on his face- it wasn't angry, sort of… indecisive? No, he looked like he was torn, between anger… and what? Rose couldn't tell, not in her present state, but it reminded her of something- almost the way her mum looked at her, but slightly different; the way she used to look at Rose's dad whenever he smiled at her, like he was the most important thing in the world- what was it called? Rose couldn't remember, not when the rain was clouding her thoughts…

The Doctor's eyes snapped downwards, and then quickly back to her face, almost as if he were embarrassed, like he'd caught her coming out of the shower or something- Rose looked down at herself, puzzled, and then felt heat rush over her face. White, she thought, screaming in mortification. Why did I have to wear white today? She hadn't noticed whilst she'd been half-crazed, and neither, it seemed, had the Doctor; her white shirt was half-transparent in its soaked state, revealing rather more of herself than she'd intended. She crossed her arms over her chest, covering- she hoped- most of her underwear. She couldn't look at her friend, who was still sitting next to her.

Suddenly, he laughed, breaking the tense atmosphere between them. Rose looked at her friend warily, but the effects of the rain had been building, and she found she couldn't suppress them; the laugh bubbled from between her lips before she could stop it, and within seconds she was laughing hysterically again, forgetting the tension between her and the Doctor just seconds ago.

The giddiness overtook her again, and then she was splashing through the puddles, eager to forget the awkwardness; she didn't want that between her and the Doctor, and if all it took was to allow the rain to erase it, then so be it.

She let herself be guided by the high- the bizarre spins and twists took her back through the energy barrier, back into the warmth of the TARDIS, and away from the rain. Devoid of the elation, and suddenly exhausted, she slumped on the console floor, breathing deep, shaky breathes. Through the tiredness, she heard the Doctor collapse in a heap beside her, his breathing equally heavy. Rose leaned against him, taking comfort from the familiar smell, altered slightly by the rain but still his own- a mixture of water, and stone and sunshine, and something she didn't have a name for. It was the Doctor's smell, and she loved it- it was more familiar to her than her own; comfort and safety and friendliness all rolled into one.

She turned to him, and found her eyes locked to his; unable to move, to break way, Rose stared into the brown eyes that she'd recognise anywhere. Words died in her throat as she saw the pain and the longing twist his features; she couldn't focus on anything else- just the expression- the same she'd seen so many times, when he though she wasn't looking, when he was looking at her.

Again, she felt the questions from before stab at her; was it the rain that made her kiss him? Was it one-sided? She knew the answers- how could she not? They were obvious, but he was so good at hiding things, and so was she- so good she'd convinced herself.

No. It wasn't.

He was soaking wet but she didn't care; he looked half-drowned but it didn't matter, nothing mattered but throwing her arms round him. She couldn't blame the fire on the rain now- the effects were gone and yet the fire remained when she kissed him; still there, like it always would have been, if they'd ever stopped lying and faced what they knew.

This time the burning in her lungs didn't matter; she'd die right now if she'd had to, but she wouldn't let him go; not ever. He was real, but only if she kept hold of him, kept kissing him- and he seemed to think so too. One hand held hers in a fierce grasp- the other spread tendrils of fire as it ran through her damp hair, leaving her body burning. The fire was everywhere, an angry, writhing pain that she loved, that she needed. That Rose wanted so badly because it screamed him; the Doctor.

They drew apart, her chest throbbing at the distance, and she looked at him, drowning in his eyes again. Because he knew, just as she did- and she said what she knew he was thinking as well.

"It wasn't the rain that time."

A/N: Ahh, quite like that- not bad for something I came up with in my Geography lesson, eh? Who needs to know where about tectonic plates when Doctor Who inspiration is just around the corner? Know which I prefer… review and tell me what you think!