"It's not poisonous. I know that you haven't tried this kind of treat before, so do it."

Victoria blinked, staring at the waffle cone crowned with a ball of bright blue ice cream in the Doctor's right hand. Jamie was suspiciously eying his own portion - though it was white, as it is required, he didn't like its smell.

"Come on, you know you want it," the Doctor continued and bit a piece off his cone, which was yellowish green. "You were not afraid of alien food, and now you're refusing to taste ordinary Earth ice cream? Don't make me laugh... No-no, not so much at once!"

But Jamie already bravely took a large mouthful.

"Ah!"

"I told you," the Doctor tutted, while Jamie was waiting until the milk mixture in his mouth would get warm enough to swallow it.

Victoria smelled her cone. The smell was pleasant, but her 19th century attitude still remained, let it be in such form. Then the Doctor decided to use a traditional way of convincing children (and adults sometimes):

"Smells good. If you don't want it, I'll eat it."

"Mm-mm." Victoria pointed at his half-eaten portion.

"I mean it!"

Jamie, who finally coped with a too large lump, went on happily demolishing his portion, so the attention had to be turned to him.

"If you eat it so quickly, you're going to get a sore throat. Slower, Jamie, slower."

"Daddy, why don't those kids wear jackets?"

The Doctor glanced to the side to see a family, all members of which were dressed as if it wasn't such heat today. Even the two kids (the older about five, the younger... maybe three) were wrapped in jackets and knitted caps, as if their parents had been trying to imitate a walking sauna.

"That's because their dad has no brains," their father ('protected' as well) said loudly enough for the Doctor to hear. "Hey, man, can't you see that your kids are going to get sick?"

The Doctor sneakily put his hand into his pocket, searching for his sonic screwdriver. Speaking was useless here. Jamie was dressed in a pale pink shirt and wide pants (for even the Doctor hadn't found a kilt this size), and Victoria was wearing a neat yellow dress. A-ha, here it is.

"Steam out!" the Doctor sang, and all buttons on the kids' jackets got unfastened by themselves. "More steam out!" The adults' clothes didn't stay fastened for long, and in a moment their wearers were gone for good, screaming oaths as him. Jamie laughed and clapped his hands, as far as this was possible with a half-done cone in one of them. Meanwhile Victoria carefully licked the melted drop off her portion, and a wide smile spread all across her little face.

"What, you didn't see that coming?" the Doctor chuckled and yelled to the escapees: "Be careful what you fish for!"

"Da-da-da-da!" Jamie approved, blew strawberries at 'those who had brains' and went on happily munching on his cone.

"Hey, Jamie, I told you: slower! If you go on like that, you'll freeze your brains off!"

Jamie froze with a mouthful of ice cream, his cheeks besmeared with the mixture of milk and coconut. The Doctor held a snort of laughter back, but the kid already had a counter-attack: he pressed his forefinger, sticky with sweet substance, to the tip of his guardian's nose and giggled. The older one attempted to look at the result of what Jamie had just done, but only managed to cross his eyes, which made Jamie giggle even more.

"Once more, just once more..."

"Doka nose!" Jamie chuckled.

"Yes, Jamie, the Doctor knows what he can do to you, you piper's cheeks..."

"Doka Doka Doka," Jamie approved.

The Doctor rolled his eyes up. Things would've gone very different if they two were adults, but some things never changed. Like the ability to hardly listen.