~~~~~~ The Doctor's POV ~~~~~~
"Welcome to Ceiro," I smirked at Gem from across the console.
"Marvelous. Welsh for love, humans get so sentimental about their Earth languages," she grinned back and started towards the doors.
"You can have this one," I sighed when she gave me a pleading look, clearly wanting to open the doors.
She beamed at me and pushed the doors open slowly, mostly because we hadn't checked the scanners like always. The doors opened to reveal a beach with scarlet red sand and unearthly dark blue water, so inky because of the atmosphere's navy blue color reflecting on the water.
"The sand is sugar. Good ol' crystalline carbohydrate," Gem bent down and carefully held some of the sand in her hand. She sprinkled half in her mouth, smiled manically at me, and commanded, "open your mouth." I clenched my jaw, refusing to open my mouth just to tease her. "Fine," she pouted, but kept the sand in her hand.
I frowned at her quick defeat, I knew I was going to pay for it later. "So, a resort, huh?" she returned to her usual sheepish grin.
"Y-yeah," I stuttered, aware that she was pondering whether it was a good date or not.
"Brilliant. I love you," she praised, leaning in ever so slightly. She got on her tiptoes and draped her hands around my neck. She tilted her head to the side a little, another adorable habit I had grown to love. I closed my eyes when I felt her leaning in further, expecting a nice kiss for my brilliant idea. She brushed her lips against mine gently, making me whine mentally.
I was interrupted from our brief kiss when sugar sand was shoved into my mouth abruptly.
I nearly choked on it, but the sand melted in my mouth quickly as the Gemstone laughed hysterically with her hand on her stomach for support.
"Oh, you are so paying for that later," I groaned after a few minutes of coughing red sugar and grabbed her waist to pull her towards me.
"That's alright with me," she smirked knowingly and returned to our state before she gagged me with sugar. I closed the distance between us and smiled into the kiss. She tasted of sugar, like always, but this time with more dominance.
We had been snogging for a good ten minutes by now, both of us out of breath but unwilling to stop. Behind Gem's hair, I saw the resort we were aiming to visit while we were here. The sun was now higher up in the sky, since we had arrived a few minutes after dawn.
"Let's go inside," I mumbled hoarsely against the Gemstone's lips. She broke away, bubbly and happy as ever. My hair was a mess from Gem running her fingers through it, her hair looking as wild as mine felt.
"Let me fix that," she breathed and started fixing my hair, sorting the strands into their normal position. I took the opportunity to brush my fingers through her wavy locks, unknotting all of the tangles my fingers had made.
She had finished preening me after a few loving strokes through my hair, and I had sorted her red strands to an acceptable look.
"Ready?" I asked her after she she tucked one strand behind her ear.
"Most definitely," she grinned.
We headed towards the glistening resort, consisting of three sparkling towers with 99 floors each. Every floor was considered a room, so Gem and I would get our own floor when we checked in. The sun, much like the one on Earth, was shining on the buildings made entirely of glass on the outside.
We entered the ground floor of the nearest tower, my hand firmly placed in Gem's to ensure her safety.
The hospital was a close call, too close for my liking. If the Gemstone was going to be electrocuted and sucked dry every other adventure, it would drive me mad. I would throw myself at anything to save her, I'd fight an angry female Raxicoricofallipatorian so she wouldn't suffer from the slightest of injuries.
The lobby was sterile and modern for the time period, being the 34th century. Everything was glass, aside from some of the necessary white supporting structures on the chairs and tables. There were red roses in glass pots on each circular coffee table, with the dirt arranged specifically to hide the roots of the flower.
A mundane woman sat at a glass desk by the steel lift, the receptionist. Her hair was dyed white and pined back into a tight bun, which accented her blood-red lips. Her eyes were purple, a common cosmetic surgery for the humans in the time period.
"How may I help you?" she asked in a fake cheery tone.
"One room, please. The highest floor possible," I smiled and handed her the card I had gotten with my sonic a while ago. It had unlimited credits, which came in handy for any level seven planets.
She swiped my card and her mood instantly brightened, thinking that I was filthy rich.
"Room 98 for you, sir. I'd be happy to accompany you if you'd like," she flirted, and I felt Gem's grip on my hand tighten uncomfortably.
"I've got a fantastic partner. She's beautiful, smart, and just overall brilliant in every way. I'm not leaving her anytime soon," I summarized Gem to get the receptionist away from me.
"I don't see her," the woman spat at Gem, making her grip tighten even more.
Gem let my hand go all together as the receptionist and her stared at each other with deadly ferocity.
Gem made the first move by abruptly pulling back her arm and slamming her fist into the receptionist's nose. The sickening crack followed as her knuckles crushed her nose. The woman cried out in pain while Gem shook her hand. She took her other hand and made it find its way into mine, a gesture I appreciated.
"Did I mention? She also has a very good punch," I sighed and watched the receptionist frantically search for medical supplies.
"It's broken in three places, dear. You might want to get it checked out," Gem smiled sincerely and curtsied in the lift when the door opened for us.
"That was brilliant," I praised her as she leaned on me gently.
"Good. Next time, just let me handle your many fans. It's just easier to slog them, and a lot more entertaining," she giggled as the lift started up.
"Violent today, aren't we?" I chuckled and wrapped my arm around her waist.
"Not at all, sweetie. Protective," she declared with the usual sass in her tone.
Our elevator had made it to the 98th floor moments later and the doors slid open to reveal our room. Everything was made of stainless steel and glass, excluding the bed. Hovering chairs were sat in one corner as tthe sitting area with a glass coffee table hanging from the ceiling. There was a small kitchenette across from the sitting area consisting of a large tablet for ordering food and drinks, a sink, and an advanced sort of dumbwaiter that served as a food teleportation device. A large bed was in the middle of the room, with steel headboards against the red comforter. The mattress was made of clouds, literally in crystallized form.
"Spiffy," Gem commented and moved towards the hologram telly, turning it to the "historic" music channel, being assortments from the Beatles.
"Beautiful," I mouthed, watching her admire the view from the window.
"Let's go to the beach," Gem watched the still water with a gentle smile.
"I didn't bring any swim trunks," I sighed, knowing that both of us had blanked on clothing after our nice snog by the TARDIS.
"Then let's start walking. We can park the TARDIS up here," Gem laughed and led me towards the lift again, but with no curtsy.
~~~~~~~~~
After a short walk to the TARDIS, I was flying her while Gem was picking out her swimwear. The TARDIS landed with a thud, and I checked the monitor to ensure we were on the correct floor.
"You're getting better at flying her, we're even on the right floor!" Gem mocked me from the other side of the console, having sneaked up on me. She was wearing a loose, white tank-top that barely reached her thighs and I could easily see the green bikini she wore under it. She was barefoot, but had brought towels with her meaning she planned on not being on the hot sand too long. "My eyes are up here," Gem sighed, but more happily than annoyed.
"Uh, sorry. Y-yeah, sorry," I couldn't control my stutter, and I had to take a big gulp to relax myself.
"Go find some swim trunks, I'll be in the room," Gem called as she closed the TARDIS doors behind her.
I stared at the door for a good five minutes before snapping back to reality. I shuffled through the TARDIS, begging her to direct me to Gem and I's room. The hallways moved to the correct pattern to get me to our room, so I thanked the TARDIS silently for making my life easier.
Laid out on the king-sized bed with children's sheets of the solar system was a pair of blue swim trunks that Gem must've picked out for me. I slipped them on, along with a plain grey shirt, far too casual for my usual attire. I only put on the shirt to avoid any further problems with the receptionist.
I sprinted out of the TARDIS, to make up for the lost time spent staring at the door dumb-founded, and made sure the doors were closed properly before we left. Gem was sitting on the bed with her head rested on her hand in a bored fashion.
"That took a while, pretty boy," she huffed and got up from the bed to board the lift. " I was thinking you had dumped me for the woman with a broken nose," Gem smirked and jabbed her thumb on the button for the ground floor.
"Not a chance," I assured her as she stuck her tongue out at me. This was going to be a long trip.
"Want to have a bit of fun?" Gem asked me with a devious grin. I didn't reply, but she carried on and explained her plan anyway.
~~~~~~~~~
We jumped out of the lift kissing madly, trying to poke at the poor receptionist. Gem had me basically carrying her, with her legs wrapped around my waist to make us look overly passionate. We stumbled out of the door while the receptionist looked flustered and agitated with a hint of confusion.
As soon as we heard the doors lock in place with a hydraulic hiss, we let go of each other and laughed. We weren't quite the romantic couple, more adventurous than flirtatious.
"I believe she was more upset on the fact that we had walked out twice without walking in. She must think we flew," I chuckled, realizing our mistake while getting the TARDIS. We had walked out to get her, parked her in the room, then walked out again to go to the beach.
"But the look on her face was to regenerate for! Well, what's left of her face," Gem sighed happily from her accomplishment of making the woman's nose double the original size.
We walked the rest of the way to the water hand in hand in comfortable silence. Gem laid out the towels for us to lay on, while I quickly sprinted to the water.
I dove in head first, and I heard Gem call out something about a dolphin. I swam deeper in the water until I my oxygen bypass had to kick in, from there on I drifted up to surface and made an appearance above the water.
"What took you so long?" Gem smirked from a few meters ahead of me. She always was a better swimmer.
"Just getting old," I told her, panting to regain the oxygen taken out of my bypass.
"You're still able to look devilishly fit, Doctor," the Gemstone smiled.
~~~~~~~
We had spent the day on the beach, swimming every so often. We mostly laid on the sand, casually eating it whenever the craving became too much. No one else was with us, and it had me worrying when the afternoon slipped by.
"Why aren't there people?" I muttered, and Gem sat up from my arms.
"You actually noticed? I'm surprised, with how much you've been staring," she gave me a playful smirk, trying to make me blush.
"Care to investigate?" I ignored her previously comment and focused on our surroundings for anything out of place.
"Oh, most definitely," Gem beamed and got up from the ground, starting towards a different tower without even bothering to put on her shirt to cover up her green bikini. It was rather revealing, thanks to the TARDIS for giving her some very specified options on my command. Though Gem was confident enough to pull it off, and I'm sure she didn't mind her options too terribly much.
The tower to the right of ours was entirely identical, all the same except for the woman at the front desk. This receptionist was identical to ours, besides the broken nose was gone and a darker shade of hair was wound in a tight bun. It was certainly suspicious, even the buds on the roses were indistinguishable from the ones in the other tower. The receptionist paid us no mind, and we quietly left for the next tower.
The last tower was the same sight, but the receptionist had the lightest hair of them all. The women could be triplets, or clones, either was very likely for the time period.
"It's a tad bit unusual, isn't it," Gem whispered in my ear while we awkwardly sat at one of the glass coffee tables at the last tower.
"Well," I drawled. "Not so much unusual, I'm thinking it's a trap," I breathed.
"That's not so unusual then, is it?" Gem sighed, the nerves weren't showing but I could tell she had them. "It's a pity, I was thinking this would be a great place for our honeymoon, sweetie." Gem nearly shouted, trying to get the receptionist's attention.
"It's really disappointing. We should just go back to Sto, honey," I shouted with her, and the receptionist got up from her desk to confront us.
"Is there anything wrong, sir?" the woman asked me carefully.
"Yes, ma'am, there is. We would like our money back, this vacation is far from satisfactory," Gem huffed, trying to pull off the act of a bratty customer.
"I'm afraid the visit is non-refundable," the woman frowned, as if she was really bothered that we didn't enjoy our stay.
"We're going to have to talk to your supervisor," I half yelled at the receptionist, while Gem gave me a reassuring wink.
"I'm so sorry, Doctor, Gemstone. They have my sisters," the woman apologized quietly as the landscape dissolved into a ship. A Cybermen ship. Full of gleaming, new Cybermen.
"Why do our dates always end like this?" Gem moaned beside me, more annoyed than frightened.