The Girl He Comes Back To

"Don't be silly!" Rose laughed, leaning back on her elbows with a backdrop of sand and the sight of both the Doctor and the purple oceans of Aria in front of her.

"What?" he exclaimed. "It's true!"

"Never! I don't believe you!" she told him, shaking her head.

He turned onto his front, propping his chin up by his hand and looked at her sagely. "I solemnly swear that I would not lie to you."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Yeah, right."

He glared at her playfully, and crawled towards her, deciding to change the subject. "Let's build a sandcastle."

"Nah," she replied, shifting down onto the blanket. "Gonna make the most of this sun."

He looked outraged. "Yes! To build a sandcastle! You can't come to the exquisite beaches of Aria and not build a sandcastle!"

She giggled and closed her eyes. "Build it yourself! I want to relax. That's why you brought me here, wasn't it?"

"No," he said, and his mouth started to run away with him without thinking, "I brought you here so that I could see you in that."

She gasped and opened her eyes in surprise, only to find him staring at chest. "Doctor!"

He looked back at her face, wide-eyed. "What?" he asked defensively, as if he hadn't just been caught out letting his eyes wander all over her.

She grinned at him then, all teeth and tongue and blimey, he could kiss her. She was in a tiny white bikini that barely covered her and he'd been granted the sight of plenty of Rose that he had never seen before and he felt his resolve weakening at every moment.

He swallowed thickly, and concentrated on the play of the orange sun on her face and the sway of the gentle breeze in her golden hair.

"Like what you see?" she asked cheekily, raising an eyebrow.

He sighed dramatically. "No, not really," he teased, flopping onto his back. He was lying so close to her that his bare forearm, where he'd rolled up his shirtsleeves, brushed against hers.

"Ru-de," she sing-songed, still happy, because, well. She knew he was lying. And her arm was tingling at his touch.

"Mmm," he agreed absently. The thoughts racing through his mind at that moment were rude indeed.

"We can make a sandcastle if you want," Rose offered.

His eyes lit up. "Really?" He sat up, getting to his knees and sitting back on his haunches, and immediately began scooping sand into a bucket. "You know, this sand is perfect, because it has these properties that make it gel just so, and you'll never see a better sandcastle than one here, Rose, it'll be brilliant, and - "

"Or..." she continued slowly, slyly. She stood up quietly behind him and flung her leg over his shoulder. "You could tell me what you really think of this bikini."

He stilled, and looked at her bare leg resting over him so tantalisingly. He looked up at her, wondering if she was still teasing, or whether she meant it this time.

They played this game a lot, and it was worrying him how much he enjoyed it; how much he meant every word of every flirtatious remark he'd ever given her.

She waggled her eyebrows at him. "I'm serious. I could use a compliment! Haven't had one in a few days."

He smirked to himself, his pulse racing as he contemplated his options.

There was only one option he could think of, funnily enough.

Slowly, he worked up the courage to bring his hands to her smooth, long leg, trailing his fingers over her knee, down her calf, her ankle to where her foot was resting on his thigh. He felt her shiver, and kissed the side of her knee. "You look beautiful," he murmured.

She beamed. "Thank you." She gently removed her leg – she was starting to ache from standing in that awkward position – and the Doctor sighed resignedly, thinking the moment was over, like so many other moments became once they went that step too far and got scared of what it meant.

Thus, he was pleasantly surprised when Rose dropped to the floor behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her fingertips danced over his collar bone. She whispered in his ear, "Anything else?"

"Fishing, are we?" he teased, barely able to breathe when she suddenly bit onto his earlobe. Automatically, his hands reached behind him and grabbed her thighs, urging her closer to his back.

"Maybe I am," she admitted, nuzzling her nose. "But I'm the one doing all the hard work here," she pointed out.

"Yeah, I'd noticed that," he murmured distractedly. He twisted around, and pushed her backwards onto the sand. "Time for me to seduce you?"

"If you want," she shrugged, her hands sliding into his hair.

He leant forward, bracing himself on his elbows either side of her to hover above. "You are very, very, very, extremely sexy," he whispered over her lips.

She slid her foot up the back of his leg and his breath hitched. "So are you," she confessed.

"And I'm not playing anymore," he confided, his voice low and dark and promising.

"Neither am I," she countered easily, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

He gave her a gentle smile, and proceeded to kiss her. As soon as their lips touched, he knew they'd gone too far now. He had gone too far. But it didn't matter, not in the slightest. Because Rose was the one he was supposed to go too far with. She was the one he was supposed to fall too deeply for. This was right. It was happening, finally, and it was right.

Kissing passionately, she pushed him onto his back, delighting in the effect her movements had on them both. "I've decided," she heard him pant into her neck. "Friction is a wonderful thing." And she laughed and laughed until he growled and rolled them again and she moaned instead.

"No, no, wait," she gasped, pushing him back.

"What?" he asked, tearing his lips away from her collar bone. "I thought you - "

" – shut up, I do. But I'm half on top of a bucket," she complained, shifting awkwardly.

"Oh," he realised, smiling sheepishly. He took said bucket and flung it over his shoulder with a strength even he didn't know he had. It landed somewhere behind the sand dune they were situated in front of. "Shall we?"

"We shall," she agreed, pulling his lips back to hers.

He didn't give that bucket a second thought until years later.

TBC ...

A/N: Hello! Hope you like this so far. Drop a review and let me know :D

Tune in to part 2 for a little bit of a twist...

Laura x