Sarah laughed at him. "You know the prince always gets married to the princess when he grows up. That means you really are going to marry me one day."
The Doctor was about to say something about girl cooties when suddenly an unseen voice called out from the loudspeakers all over the area. "Welcome to the Oceania Sea World Parade," it said. "Today we have the beautiful Princess Sarah Jane leading our parade with her handsome escort, Prince Doctor. Please give them a warm Oceania Sea World welcome, everyone."
Crowds clapped and cheered as the parade started, and Sarah Jane waved as she went by. She was sure that this moment was the highlight of her entire life. Every girl wanted to be a princess, but now she really was one. She didn't even have to pretend, this was really happening to her. She looked over at the Doctor. He was waving happily with one hand and holding the reins in the other. He did look handsome, and he was her prince. She wanted to smother him with kisses, but she knew he was a boy now, and boys didn't like that sort of thing. For now she was content with just being with him.
The Doctor, for his part, was swept up in all of this. How magical was this, that he was leading a parade, guiding noble sea-steeds and looking over an adoring populace? The Time Lords were always such a haughty bunch, but as a child he'd always felt more a victim of that mentality than an inheritor of it. He'd never had this kind of heady adulation before, and he was loving every minute of it. If only he had a sword too, this would be perfect. Well, except for Sarah Jane getting all mushy on him. He definitely could do without that. But he really liked protecting her, that was fun.
When the parade was over they posed for a picture and then they gave back their robes and crowns. They were thanked for leading the parade and they thanked the park attendants in return. Along with the thanks they received a copy of the picture and a video crystal of themselves in the parade to keep as souvenirs.
Their gifts in tow, they melted into the crowd. The Doctor spotted a vendor cart selling slushy drinks with aquatic shapes bobbing in fishbowl like containers, and they ate them as they sat on the curb watching the parade, gathering thrown candy and trinkets just like all of the other children along the parade route. Floats of sea creatures great and small floated by in gravity-controlled bubbles of water, and an acrobatic team even stopped right in front of them, a pair of mermaid-like beings leaping high above the bubble and diving back into it.
"Oh Doctor," said Sarah Jane as the last of the floats finally passed them by. "I'm never going to forget today as long as I live."
He smiled back at her and held her hand, swinging it back and forth shyly. "Me neither." He pulled the map out of his pocket. "What should we do now?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Let's look at the map and see where we haven't gone to yet."
"Well," he said, "I think we've seen everything here, and I don't think I want to play that game again. Why don't we go back to the main park and see what we can find?" Still holding her hand, he led her back to the glass elevator.
The elevator began to rise, and too late, the Doctor realized that he was changing back into an adult. By the time they reached the top, he was his old pin-stripe suited self. He thought he should be mourning his lost boyhood a bit more, but he found that he was just grateful to have had it, even if just for a little while.
Sarah had been looking out of the glass, fascinated at the view and the way it got larger as they rose to the top. "Look Doctor, it's so lovely," she exclaimed. A very surprised Sarah Jane turned to look at him. "Oh, you're not a little boy anymore," she said sadly.
"Just on the outside," he said. "On the inside, I'll always be the same age as you."
With that they headed off to find another attraction. On the way the Doctor and Sarah Jane found a row of snack and souvenir shops. "Oh, a little shop," the Doctor said. "I love a little shop." They stopped to have a few treats and the Doctor bought Sarah a stuffed sea horse-like creature that she fell immediately in love with the moment she saw it.
"This reminds me of the sea horses that pulled our coach in the parade," she said, hugging it close. "I wish today would never end," Sarah sighed. "I can't remember when I've had such a good time."
"Well," the Doctor said, buying a snow globe for himself, "it certainly beats your last birthday."
Sarah shivered at the thought of her last birthday. "That was the worst birthday I ever had."
"And now this one is the best," he smiled, lifting her up. "So it all works out."
"Yes it does," she said, nodding her head in agreement. She took a bite of some of the candy they had bought. "Oooh, it tastes like spun strawberry sugar and butter. It's lovely, try it." Sarah offered him some.
"Mmmm," he said, putting some of the gooey stuff in his mouth. He could see that she was getting tired. "Let's go somewhere quiet and eat," he said. Looking around, he found an unmarked door. It was locked, but a quick blast from the sonic was enough to take care of that problem. "Now," he said, sitting down next to her, "what do you want for your birthday?"
Her eyes grew wide. "You mean, there's more than this? I can't imagine what could be better than this day. Well, unless it would never end. I'd love for us to be like this always."
"Maybe when you grow up it will be," he said. "Besides, if it never ended, we wouldn't ever get home to you birthday party. And your Aunt's got it all planned and everything."
"That's right, I forgot Auntie is having a party for me too." She looked up at him smiling. "You will be there won't you?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," he said. He saw her yawning and realized that she was going to be exhausted when he brought her home. "Why don't you take a little nap so you'll be awake for it?"
"Alright," she said and crawled up into his lap. She snuggled against him and kissed his cheek. "Sweet dreams," she said as she put her head on his shoulder.
"Sweet dreams," he said, putting an arm around her. He watched her as she dropped off to sleep almost immediately, breathing softly. What was it about her that tugged at his heart so much? It was impossible to say. But her unyielding trust in him was something that he marveled at. Not once during all of this had she ever questioned him; she trusted him completely, and that felt amazing. She was just a child, true, but the love she had for him was pure, and he treasured it above all things. Before long he, too, was asleep.
It took him a few moments to realize what it was that woke him up. The water pouring in around them was warm - or at least warm enough that it matched his body temperature - and inky black, and by the time he was fully awake it was up to his waist. "Sarah, wake up," he said, shaking her slightly. "We need to get out of here."
"Doctor," she said still groggy. "Are we on a ride? You have your swimsuit on again?"
"No," he said, climbing to his feet still holding her, "they must be flooding the room for maintenance. Come on." With only the emergency lights, high towards the ceiling, still lit, the cavernous room was almost dark, but he made his way back toward the door, trying not to fall over anything that was in the water, now up past his knees.
Unfortunately, he was a bit disoriented in the dark, and the door wasn't where he thought it was. 'Remain calm,' he told himself. 'It's not that big a room. Just find a wall and work your way around it.' But as the water started to reach waist level, he began to wonder. 'I can't swim, Sarah can't swim, and I bring us both to a water park. What is wrong with me?'
By the time he found the door, the water was up to his chest - and well beyond the door latch. He pushed on it, knowing it was futile. This was a water door; a hatch, of sorts, designed to keep water out of the guest areas. He pulled out the sonic and tried blasting the latch, but it was no use; with the water level this high, it was designed not to be overridden for any reason.
Sarah climbed up on his shoulders to keep from being in over her head. She wasn't worried, her prince was going to save her, he always did. "Now I'm wet and I have my swim dress on again," she said, smiling at him.
"That's great," he said, realizing that her swim dress was designed for her to float. Now if he could just get them out of there before the room flooded completely - or he, unable to float with any flotation device short of a boat, drowned - everything would be fine. The water up to his chin, he pounded on the door, trying to get someone's attention. "Sarah," he said, tilting his head back to keep his mouth out of the water so he could talk, "just keep your head above the water, all right?"
"Alright," she said, still unaware of any danger. "Does your magic let you breathe in the water?"
"For a little while, thankfully," he said, which was fortunate, because that was when the water level reached his cheekbones, and he was thankful for the respiratory bypass system that would let him stay underwater for several minutes, recycling oxygen that was already in his tissues. He banged on the door harder, but he heard nothing from the other side, and the muffled sound, along with the thickness of the door he'd remembered from when they'd first snuck into the room, told him that the likeliness of someone hearing them was somewhere close to zero.
He had to find another solution.
As the water reached the top of his head, he could feel Sarah Jane standing on his shoulders, and with one hand he held onto her foot to help steady her while trying to adjust the sonic to cut through the door with the other. He wasn't sure what he was going to accomplish - even under the best of situations the sonic was painfully slow as a cutting torch - but he couldn't think of anything else.
He felt Sarah's ankle wrenched from his hand and he panicked, reaching up and trying to find her. Had the room filled up completely, blocking off her oxygen? Had she fallen off? Tried to swim? He tried to find her in the inky blackness, frantically reaching out for her.
Interminable moments passed, and he could feel his oxygen reserve dropping, unable to replenish itself from surrounding air. The world began to spin and he kicked frantically at the door, finally tilting backwards in a slow motion fall as the water buoyed him just enough to keep him from hitting hard as he lost consciousness.