Well it sure looks like things are picking up between Mel and the Doctor...

Disclaimer: BBC owns the Doctor, and Mel owns herself.

Mel dashed inside and slammed the door behind her. "Oh it's cold!" she said, teeth chattering. The Doctor nodded and slipped off his coat, toeing off his shoes onto the mat. He padded up the stairs and into the living room, curling up on the couch with a blanket. "Oh no you don't, Mister! It's your turn to make tea!"

"Fine," the Doctor sighed, giving up and plodding to the kitchen. Mel took the blanket, which had been abandoned, and replaced the man on the couch. He put water on the stove to boil and grabbed two of her instant tea-bags out of the cupboard, placing them in matching mugs. When the kettle whistled he poured the hot water into the mugs and carried them over to Mel, setting them on the coffee table and sitting next to her on the couch. He looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. "You took my spot. And my blanket."

"It's my house, my couch, and my blanket. It's cold outside and I just spent two hours looking for your TARDIS, Doctor. Let me be warm," Mel said, sticking her tongue out. The Doctor looked at her and quirked his eyebrow once again.

"Don't stick your tongue out at me, Mel Hight. Or I will bite it." he warned. Mel rolled her eyes.

"Sure, Doctor. Don't threaten me," she said back, shoving his shoulder gently.

"So...what do you want to do for the rest of the day?" he asked, reaching to hold his warm cup of tea.

"I thought you were going to take me skating," Mel said, looking over at him and smiling. He blinked twice, widened his eyes, and jumped to his feet, haphazardly shoving the cup back on the table.

"That I did! Allons-y!" he grabbed her arm and dashed down the stairs. He hurried them both into their winter gear and out into the snow. "Where's the rink?"

"It's just a few blocks away," Mel said, starting off in that direction. The Doctor skittered along behind her, kicking junks of ice with his white converse. Mel giggled at his childishness as he threw snowballs at trees and skipped along, occasionally slipping and pretending he hadn't. "So do you know what size of human shoe you wear?"

"Yes. I believe it is a size eleven."

"Awesome."

Half an hour later the two of them were sliding around on the ice, laughing when the Doctor fell and when Mel made fun of him for it (years of private lessons had honed Mel's abilities and she therefore did not fall). The Doctor fell particularily hard and grunted, rubbing the back of his head where it had hit the ice. "Ow..."

"Are you okay, Doctor?" Mel asked, swerving over to stand by his side and help him up. He nodded and got shakily back to his feet, pushing off of Mel and gliding as gracefully as possible in a slow circle.

"I'm brilliant, you beautiful thing, you," The Doctor smiled. Mel was sure that if her cheeks weren't already bright pink from the cold, that they would be warm and equally rosy from her blush. He reached for her hand to balance himself, and once he was fully in control of his various limbs and movements, Mel went to let go. The man looked over at her, held her hand tighter, and began to skate slowly. Mel was sure she was blushing now, even with the cold.

"Doctor..." she trailed off. He smiled down at her, twirling them both in a circle, as if they were dancing on the ice. He picked things up relatively quickly and now that he had learned to skate, his skills had greatly increased. The red of the girl's face complimented the orange-red of her hair in color and her cheeks burned in the frigid air.

"Mel?" he asked, pulling her along by the waist as they danced across the smooth frozen surface of the rink. She shook her head silently and smiled, allowing him to control the majority of their movements and enjoying herself in his company. They had talked about so many things on the walk to find the TARDIS, Mel found herself blown away by the amount of 'human' things they had in common. An affinity for photography, a love of music, dancing, and learning. He found acting and theater intriguing and told her a very funny story about how he met Shakespeare and Mel laughed along, already knowing how it was going to end. The Doctor seemed startled by her ease in accepting the truth about his identity and the fact that he fought aliens and protected the earth on a semi-weekly basis. He wondered why they hadn't had many attacks lately and Mel had to fight him off by saying that Earth had declared themselves no longer part of some strange galactic/universal alliance that by luck, the Doctor bought.

Mel was so happy just skating closely with him that she was shocked when he pulled them to an abrupt stop. "Mel," the Doctor said, staring straight into her startled eyes.

"Uh...yes Doctor?" she asked, trying to ignore his hands, which were currently holding tightly to her shoulders as if he was afraid that she would float away.

"I really do appreciate the fact that you've taken such good care of me," he said, almost a whisper now. Mel was extremely thankful that no one else was at the out door rink. "Not many people would have done that for a stranger who has lost his home."

"Well there aren't many people out there like me then," Mel responded. She was mostly focused on breathing normally and controlling her insane urge to turn several shades of deep magenta. The Doctor's eyes strayed to a strand of her hair that had escaped her small winter cap, and he pulled it back behind her ear.

"No, there really aren't," and with those words, the Doctor leaned down and kissed Mel softly but soundly. Her mind flashed through several thoughts before she gave up and happily kissed him back.