Earth Grazer || Doctor Who

XXX. Fallout

"Not going to talk about it," the Doctor asked as the end credits played. Ella had been in her head, far away from the movie, looking past the pictures and still trying to make sense of today. His voice brought her back to her fractured reality and she blinked her eyes and remembered where she was.

"No," she simply replied as she picked at her chipped nail polish.

| |

The Doctor walked into kitchen 1 and found Rose and Adam ducking behind various counters and throwing pieces of cake at each other. He opened his mouth to question or reprimand the mess, but he promptly closed it, turned around and left. I don't need a sandwich THAT much, instead he slowly approached Ella's room and softly knocked. When she opened the door, she looked much more rested than the last time he saw her, "more distress calls?"

He heard the rasp in her voice from under use, "No actually. I was thinking about going to the beach. What do you think," he saw the gears in her head turning, probably thinking about how many ways this could end in them fighting off an invasion of giants cats or something. Finally, a look washed over her face that wasn't quite happiness, but it also wasn't the stony mask she's been using since they left Pollyanna 5.

"I think that will be fun." The Doctor beamed at her minute progress.

"Fancy a sandwich before we leave," she shook her head no and turned to her closet to change. Before he left to the control room to find a suitable non-threatening beach, he stuck his head into the kitchen where he could still hear laughter. "come on children. We're going to the beach!" Excited giggles followed him out.

Ella jumped when she heard her closet door open and spun around to see who the intruder was, "you scared the crap out of me, Ro." The brunette turned and continued rifling through her clothes before she caught the slow hopeful smile sweeping across Rose's face at hearing the nickname. "Hmm, I don't think I packed any swimming clothes. I don't even think I own any. I hope the Doctor has some in the wardrobe. Whoa!"

Ella got a full look at the blonde and was surprised to see that she was covered in frosting and cake debris. "Have fun with Adam?"

"Yeah, we made a cake ... that may or may not be all over the walls of the kitchen." Despite the swirling mess of negativity going on in Ella's mind a real laugh bubbled up her chest and swiftly exited her mouth before she could stop it.

"How about you take a shower and I'll check the wardrobe for swimming clothes?" Before Rose could input her opinion, Ella was already pushing her towards her bathroom and shut the door behind her. Rose showered with a soft smile at the small inkling of hope that fluttered in her chest at Ella slowly making her way back. Ella never had to talk about what happened at Pollyanna 5 and Rose will always understand. That was the role of a best friend, never push and always be supportive and laugh hysterically at the not so occasional fall.

Ella left her room and quickly found the wardrobe and on the fifth floor she finally came across the swimwear section. The brunette perused the options and found a solid black two piece for herself, the top of the bathing suit was strapless. A couple of minutes later she found a red two piece for Rose that had more hints of pink in it than orange and the top had drawstrings. When she entered her room, she tossed the garments to Rose as the blonde was drying her hair with a cotton towel. "Ooh! It's kind of pink, isn't it?"

"Yeah, you like pink so ..." Ella shrugged as she entered her closet and began to change. "Hey, do you want a dress or something to wear over your bathing suit," Ella's voice was strained as she struggled with the buttons on the shorts she chose. Rose came bounding into the closet and began manically digging through Ella's dress options. Before they left her room Ella quickly grabbed a dark blue button up and left it unbuttoned. Rose waggled her eyebrows at the brunette for that fashion choice.

The groups day at the beach was surprisingly peaceful, the Doctor watched as the humans splashed around with a beaming smile on his face. Rose and Adam were busy non discreetly filling up their water pistols. Ella plopped down on her towel and warily watched the chaotic duo, as they suspiciously avoided eye contact. The Doctor tried not to stare when Ella stripped her clothes and ran in the water after Rose shot her in the face. He sat in their area with the towels stretched out on the sand and laid back and watched the sun stream through the leaves of the tree they took refuge under.

The time lord was perfectly content to just watch his friends have a fun day at the beach until his reverie was ended when a beach ball hit him in the face. "Come on, doc. This was your idea now swim with us." He glowered at the culprit and Ella cackled while he menacingly stepped into the water and chased her around.

When he caught her around the waist, he wasn't sure what to do next since he didn't plan for this contingency. His hands were warm on her bare skin, their chests were heaving with the exertion of trying to run in the water. Suddenly the air grew hot between them. Ella looked up into his eyes, she was chin deep in water and the water reached just above his shoulders. When she met his pale blue gaze, she found an expression she hasn't seen since they were in London and he revealed that while he could've saved the world the idea of losing her was worse.

"Thank you, Doctor." She whispered but in the heady silence that flowed between them she might've shouted, "For today. It really helped. I feel a bit more ..." she searched for the correct word, "human." To show him her gratitude she reached up and gave him a small kiss on the lips.

Her stomach decided to growl in hunger and Ella had to stop herself from laughing at the timing. "Didn't you say something about a sandwich?" Ella got out of the water and sat down on her towel while Rose and Adam made sandwiches and opened a couple of bags of chips. Rose sat down next to Ella with a plate of food for her, the blonde opened her mouth and before she could get out any questions or teasing about Ella kissing the Doctor, "shut up." The girls missed the beaming smile that crossed the Time Lord's face, it was a smile that was full of everything that he could never say.

Vote. Comment. Follow.