Saviours

Chapter 2

They proceeded to walk in silence, finding comfort in each other's company as they walked hand in hand between the thinning trees and the increasing lengths and quantities of grass. White smooth stones and darker, rough grey rocks alike began to appear, some small, and some big in their own rights. Rose kept her gaze on the ground, watching every little detail in the glimmering weeds and grasses. And just when she was about to direct her eyes skyward, with the golden skies turning darker into orange, then tangerine, to a bright red, she heard something snap. She quickly averted her eyes to look for its source, and she let out a small squeal when she discovered what it was.

"Oh, Doctor, look!" Rose exclaimed. He jolted in surprise at her voice and looked to the direction his Rose was pointing at.

Wait. His Rose?

Hold that thought.

"Ah!" he suddenly exclaimed upon landing his eyes on the fluffy creature, approaching it in long strides and picking it up from its sides. He put it up high above his head, observing it with mild concentration. "It's a Wrexilian! These fluffy creatures live in forests near the sea, and believe it or not, they're the equivalent of frogs on Earth. Well, at least the future inhabitants of this planet will view them as human beings do frogs. They dig their homes from between the roots of trees where the soil is moist and warm, and there they store whatever berries they could find." He hummed as he smiled, his tongue touching the roof of his mouth as he watched the creature in his hands, and from the corner of his eye, he could see Rose watching him with a smile of her own, only he couldn't decide who or what she was smiling at.

"Here," he suddenly turned to her, his arms outstretched to give the Wrexilian to Rose, and gingerly, she held it in her arms and cooed.

"Careful," he warned. "That thing could be dangerous." He tapped his nose. "More than meets the eye, that thing is."

Rose looked at the Doctor as if he grew horns on his head, and he moved to push aside the fur near the creature's ears, where there were actual small sharp horns.

"Oh that is simply adorable!" Rose exclaimed upon seeing the tiny perturbations on the Wrexilian's head. The Doctor's eyebrows rose to his hairline as he watched his companion as she carefully tested the sharpness of the small horns, only for her to gasp as her finger was pricked.

"Are you alright, Rose?" he asked as he was immediately by her side, snatching her hand to examine the small drop of blood that had gathered atop her finger. She rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Doctor, it's nothing." Rose grabbed her hand and sucked on her finger.

The Doctor stared at her mouth as she swirled her tongue around the fingertip from inside of her mouth, and he heard himself gulp. She popped it out from her lips, and she shot him that smile, that grin that always drove him half-mad, as she stuck the tip of her tongue from between her teeth, just to show him that she was okay.

"Doctor?" Rose asked in concern, and it snapped him back to reality.

"Still think it's simply adorable?" he imitated the way she said it, waggling his eyebrows, in an attempt to cover his embarrassment that he hoped she didn't notice.

She gave him another priceless smile. "Definitely."

The Doctor blinked before letting himself grin, going back into his giddy and bouncy self, as he retrieved the Wrexilian from her arms and set it down once more before she begged him to let her keep it as a pet, because for all he knew, he'd let her. "Right then," he started as he snatched her hand from her side, setting them back into motion. "Let's get going, shall we?"

She laughed, a tinkling sound that filled both his hearts, and he couldn't help the smile that tugged on his lips.

"Hang on," Rose started, breaking the silence that grew around them since they saw the Wrexilian. She swung their clasped hands between their bodies as she let him guide her through the thinning trees, the glimmering leaves fading and diminishing to give way to a glowing golden sky already starting to darken into orange that grew even darker by the second. "You said that the—the—"

"Wrexilian," the Doctor supplied helpfully.

"Yeah, the Wrexilian," Rose drew teasingly with her tongue, "lived near the sea. And since a while back, the trees started to lessen quite a lot. That could mean that we're nearing the edge of this forest, and if my nose doesn't lie," she sniffed the air in emphasis and exaggeration, "that that smell I smell is the sea."

The Doctor stopped in his tracks, making Rose stop with him, and she gave him a quick smile before excitedly tugging at his arm, walking one step ahead of him as she took his lack of response as a confirmation of her suspicions.

He stared, incredulous, at the back of her head. They were still too far for the human nose to pick up the scent of the sea, probably around a mile away or so. The smell was so different from the Earth's salty water forms, so she just couldn't have known that it was the sea, strong nose or not. It was understandable that he noticed it, with the superior Time Lord biology and whatnot, so how was it that she—

"So, Doctor," she broke his trail of thought. "This incredible sea that you brought me here to see, what's it got to take my breath away? 's it just as good or is it better than apple grass?" She turned her head to give him a quick look of curiosity with the glint of amusement in her eyes. He returned it with one of his knowing grins.

"A surprise wouldn't be a surprise if I told on it, would it, Rose?"

He saw her smile falter and her eyes drop to his mouth as he carefully drawled on her name, licking his lips and giving her another of his grins for good measure. He shouldn't be doing this, not in the least bit, but he couldn't help it. Just to see her blush because of him, to see her peek from her back to steal a glance from him, oh he would do anything.

Rose cleared her throat and rolled her eyes, setting her eyes firmly on the path ahead of her. "The Doctor, surprise me? But from what I know, he's not very good at it, going about and telling people that there is going to be a surprise. Aren't the best surprises kept secrets?"

The Doctor chuckled and kept quiet behind her, letting silence fall as he tightened his hold on her hand, just a little bit, and rubbed circles across the back of her hand that she returned with a squeeze.

"You've got a whole planet to land your tiny space ship, and I don't know why you thought, 'Oh, well, I'll just park it over a mile away from where we're actually going!'" Rose said in exasperation as they walked.

"Oi, you know perfectly well that my ship is not tiny," the Doctor retorted with a scolding look. "And I had the notion that you'd want to, I dunno," the Doctor grinned, "see it all. And I'm quite sure you like this walking bit."

Rose snorted. "Yeah, if you say so. By the way, what's the occasion? I mean, normally, you'd just set in some coordinates and ramble on about where you're taking me, and you'd still be rambling even while we're there already, but you're just so quiet for this one." She poked at his arm. "I know you said that you're trying to make up for what happened back in those dungeons, but it's never been like this whenever you tried to make up for something you've gotten us into."

"What, has there got to be a reason for me to surprise my very own companion?" the Doctor smiled. She looked at him, a thoughtful expression gracing her features.

"I don't know. You tell me."

He simply walked a little closer to her, if that was even possible, and let her muse over her thoughts.

There wasn't any reason, really, so he couldn't actually give her one. Fine, maybe he did have one, namely that reason pertaining to him being an idiot and this was his way of apologising, because he was sorry, and because he wanted to see her smile that brilliant smile… But there was no way he was going to tell her that was there?

"Oh, Doctor," he heard her breath hitch as he stared at their feet, lost in his thoughts.

"Hm?" he frowned at Rose, tightening his hand around hers all the more as she started to loosen hers. She looked ahead, a mesmerised look in her eyes, and pointed in front of her.

"Is that it?" she asked, awe evident in her voice.

He looked ahead to see what she was pointing at. "Yep!" he answered with a bounce in his step, popping the "p" sound with his mouth.

"Well hurry up, then," his beautiful, glowing flower said as she walked ahead of him, tugging at his hand for him to move faster. "We haven't got all day, since it looks like there's less than an hour of it!"

He chuckled as they ran through the last distances of forest land until they reach its edge, Rose's laugh echoing throughout the leaves and pale branches.

"It's beautiful, Doctor," she breathed, and with a joyous and triumphant shout, she burst through the silver and blue trees and shrubs and ran across the sands, the fine grains vast in its expanse as pale and pink as roses. She reached for her feet and threw her shoes behind her, leaving the Doctor grinning behind her to follow her example.

AN: Hello, dearies! Sorry that it took me, um, a while to update this story. :s I struggle writing Ten. Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoy it! There's still about two or three more chapters (probably three) to add to this story, so please be patient. Heheheh, I actually don't know what I'm doing with this. Well, actually, I do know, but I just don't know why. Rating will go up probably by the next chapter. Unbeta-ed, unedited, so please forgive any mistakes spotted. Enjoy, and never hesitate to leave reviews! :D You know I love them.