now for chapter 3...
"But why? Why would she take us to the adipose nursery ship? There was absolutely nothing going on there!" The Doctor had grown frustrated. He was pacing around the TARDIS console, muttering to himself in confusion. "I know you don't take us places for no reason!" He shouted at his TARDIS. "Come on, Sexy, get it together!" The Doctor blushed. Rose giggled.
"Sexy? Is that what you're calling her now?"
"Only when we're alone..." he muttered sheepishly. Rose laughed even harder. Then she paused. How long had he been alone? Long enough to forget when he wasn't, at least. She walked slowly toward him.
"Doctor..."
"Yes! That's me." He still seemed a bit embarrassed, but...
Vwoooorrp...vwoooorrrp...
"Oh, what now!?" The Doctor shouted. "I didn't ask you to land! Stoppit!" Rose peered out the door. Snowdrifts blew into the TARDIS at once. They shivered. Where were they now? They decided to venture out to look around.
"Ah, good old Ood-sphere!" he exclaimed. "Who knows why, but Se... er... the TARDIS brought us all the way out to the Ood-sphere. I haven't been here for ages!" They laughed together for a moment. Rose loved going new places. Suddenly, a spaceship crashed right in front of them. Snow billowed everywhere but the craft wasn't completely destroyed, as far as Rose could tell. An obviously injured Ood crawled out of the wreck. Please... he telepathized. Rose raised her eyebrows. Please. I am dying. I have precious cargo aboard my vessel that must be brought across the Ood-sphere, many miles. Please. Take it. I need your h... The Ood faded off. The Doctor stood solemnly watching the Ood as the snowdrifts slowly cloaked their bodies. "Well," he said sadly, "We'll just have to fix this ship and fly it as far as we can." Rose nodded tearfully.
"For the Ood."
"There we go! All fixed up and ready to fly!" the Doctor yelled excitedly to Rose. She grinned. She loved this new Doctor's enthusiasm. Snow still flew around them, but they quickly huddled together in the small craft and the Doctor started it up with his sonic.
"What could be the cargo, do you think?" She whispered into his ear, only because it was so close to her face. It was a very packed little spacecraft.
"Just a few precious gems. Well, not particularly rare on your planet, but precious to the Ood."
"What is it?"
"Quartz! Second most common mineral in your Earth's crust. The Ood love it, love a good quartz, who doesn't? Pretty stuff, quartz. Not too exciting on Earth, but you humans like to use it to make everything from jewelry to countertops!" Rose chuckled. His enthusiasm was definitely her favorite thing about his new self. When she was traveling with him in his ninth incarnation, he probably never would have been so talkative over something as trivial as quartz rock. But this one could blabber on about nearly anything just to fill the silence. It was... sweet. Sweet and charming and she loved him all the more for it. She rested her blond head on his shoulder and sighed happily. "Ah! Well then, alright." he was nervous about their closeness. She looked around for something else to talk about.
"Oh, look! a little videoscreen! Is that what the Ood-sphere looks like from above, then?"
"Yes, yes. Er... yep. I think so. Where are all the Ood, though..."
"I think I see someone!" Rose said excitedly. "Wait.. those are humans!"
"Really? Let me have a look." he squinted at the screen. "Yep definitely human. That one seems to be ginger..." he patted his own very-not-ginger hair self consciously and looked back. "And the other one is... oh dear,"
"What? Doctor, what is it?" she was worried. was there some sort of monster down there? What was going on?
"The other one is... well... me."