FIC: The Unrealities of Summer
Title: The Unrealities of Summer
Author: Amanda (lilianvaldemyer)
Pairing: Doctor/Donna
Word Count: 1800
Rating: PG for some language
Spoilers/Warnings: none
Disclaimer: Totally mine. In another lifetime. ;)
Notes: written for like-destiny's Lazy Days of Summer challenge. Thanks to lounge-lily and Kim for the betas. Comment-locked; please see the end of the post for details.
The Unrealities of Summer
Donna stretched her toes, luxuriating in the warm sunlight that splashed across her. The tinkling sounds of water trickling over rock reached her ears and she smiled; it had been a long time since she'd been anywhere this quiet. Adjusting her sunglasses, she settled back into the deckchair. The steady drip-drip-splash continued.
A sudden darkness fell over her.
“You're in my sunlight.”
“It's not real sunlight,” the Doctor said cheerfully. Donna lowered the glasses and raised an eyebrow in his general direction. He was folding himself up to sit cross-legged beside her, grinning the most foolish of his foolish grins.
“Right. And the warmth that you're stopping me from enjoying isn't real warmth, and the silence isn't real silence.” She rolled her eyes and sat up. “And I suppose the slight burning sensation I’m already beginning to feel is a product of my imagination too, but somehow I don’t think I’ll risk it. Here,” she held out a tube, “make yourself useful and put this on me.”
He squinted at it. “You really won't need it. The TARDIS engineers the light to fit your surroundings, but it’s just light. No UV, not X-tonic rays, nothing.”
“Humour me.”
He shrugged and she grinned, rolling over onto her stomach. Squashing himself in beside her on the deck chair, he popped the top off the tube of sunblock and gently tugged the straps of the swimsuit down off her shoulders. “Oooh!”
“What?”
“You're so... freckly!”
“Oh, for heaven's sake,” Donna muttered under her breath. “Ginger, remember?”
“Oh, I know but... this is incredible! Like tattooed constellations or something.” He let the lotion fall from his hands and reached automatically into his top pocket.
“What're you... Oi! Put those glasses away mate, I'm not one of your intergalactic space maps.” Chastened, he quickly stuffed the glasses back into his pocket and fumbled for the tube of cream. Donna huffed slightly then settled her head back onto her forearms. Long, cool fingers gently brushed the hair off the back of her neck and began to work the sunblock into her skin. She closed her eyes, allowing his fingers to soothe her, making small noises of appreciation every so often. She heard him click the top back onto the tube, then some vague rustlings sounds. Glancing up, she saw him rolling up the cuffs of his trousers. His shoes had been flung off to one side, his socks scrunched up behind him. He plonked himself down at the edge of the pool, slipped his feet into the water and began splashing.
He lasted for all of three minutes.
“Donna?” He drew the last syllable out slightly. She sighed.
“Mmm?”
“I’m bored.”
“Bored? It’s bloody Sunday, mate. We don’t land on Sundays.”
“I know, but - ”
“No. No ‘buts’. Just relax.”
“But - ”
She sat up again and glared at him. “Do I honestly have to show you how to relax?” Grabbing a towel from the pile beside her, she jumped up, flicked it out and spread it beside the pool. “There. Sit. Lie down. Enjoy the sun. Re-lax.”
He stared at her for a long moment, then huffed and sat down. Leaning back on his palms, his head fell to one side as he watched Donna get herself comfortable again.
“You can’t, can you?”
“Can!” he yelped, a little too quickly. “I happen to be quite good at relaxing. Can do it for hours.”
Donna snorted. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you sit still for minutes, much less hours.”
“Well, it’s hardly my fault if my relaxation is continually interrupted by endangered planets, is it? Earth should take better care of itself.”
She raised an eyebrow. Deciding that this might be a case where actions were better than words, the Doctor quickly flicked open his shirt buttons, shrugged out of it and balled it up. It landed beside the socks.
Donna nodded toward the discarded tube of sunblock. “Won’t you want some of that?”
“I told you, it’s not real sunlight. It can’t burn me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Go on, then.”
He lay back purposefully, arms behind his head, intent on looking... well, he must have been aiming for relaxed, but to Donna he looked more like a London Beefeater than anything else. After a minute, he rolled onto his front. She pushed the sunglasses back up her nose, trying not to laugh. A moment’s silence stretched into minutes, filling the air until she couldn’t ignore it any longer.
“Well? How’s the relaxing?”
There was no reply.
“Oh come on, there’s no need to sulk.” She glanced over to where he lay. “Doctor?”
At the sound of his name his head rolled slightly in her direction. A soft “mmm” drifted up to greet her, and then he snuffled back into his forearms, sighing deeply as sleep claimed him again.
Donna smiled. Bloody great prawn, she thought fondly. Letting her head fall back against the chair, she wrapped herself once more in the blanket of sunlight. The TARDIS hummed delicately around her. The water continued down the artificial rockface, dripping its rhythm gently into the pool below.
Five minutes later, she too had drifted off.
*
“Oww.”
Donna woke to groaning noises. “Mmmph?” she asked groggily, vaguely remembering that the Doctor had been around somewhere.
“Owwwwwwww,” was the only response she got. Shaking her head slightly, she sat up, grumbling a little herself as the last vestiges of comfort vanished into consciousness. She looked to her left in the direction of the moaning.
The Doctor lay on his side, wearing a pathetic pout. “S’wrong with you?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
“I - oww! - think I’ve been bitten. Or something. It stings.” He shifted a little, flexing his shoulder muscles, and grimaced. “Ohhh, that hurts!”
“Thought you said this pool was completely safe? ‘No insects, no animals, no alien lifeforms, nothing to disturb you’, weren’t those your words?” He glared at her. “Oh, come here then, let me look.”
He pushed himself up off the blanket and crawled, rather stiffly, over to the chair. Twisting around, he worked himself into a cross-legged position at her feet, back towards her.
Donna burst out laughing.
“What? What are you laughing at? Am I... blue?
“Blue?”
“Sort of blue? Purple, maybe? I’m purple, aren’t I? I’ve been bitten by those purple ants from Kastraios Minor. I knew we shouldn’t have landed there!”
“Oh, hush, you’re not purple.” She broke off into giggles. “God, I’m sorry. I know; it’s not funny really. You’re just - ” Laughter took her again and he puffed out his cheeks in exasperation.
“Are you quite right there? This is serious, Donna! Some sort of... I don’t know, insect, or parasite maybe, has obviously gotten in here and - ”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, it’s a bloody sunburn!”
“What?”
She poked him softly in the shoulder, watching as the spot left by her finger went white, then coloured to a deep red again.
“Owww! What was that for?”
“It’s. A. Sunburn. Your not real sunlight has given you a wonderfully not real burn that, if you’re lucky, will fade to a not real tan soon enough. Though if you’re anything like me - and you are awfully pale, aren’t you?” she ran her eyes over the unburned skin of his chest and stomach, “you’ll just peel and go white again.”
“Sunburn?” he asked helplessly.
“Sunburn,” she agreed.
He visibly deflated. “Not... you’re sure it’s not the purple ants?”
She shook her head, and said with a gentle smile. “Nope. Sorry love, definitely sunburn.”
“Well. Isn’t that wizard?” He pushed himself to his feet, grimacing as the burned skin of his back tightened over his muscles. “Ohhhhh, that’s... What d’you lot fix sunburn with?”
“Humans, you mean? Hate to break it to you sunshine, but we don’t. We suffer.” Donna’s indignation at being called ‘you lot’ morphed into a small stab of sympathy as his face fell in outright horror. She continued a little more gently, “But Mum used to put aloe and cucumber on mine. Come on, let’s see what we’ve got.”
She took him by the hand and led him slowly down the twisting halls of the TARDIS until she reached the kitchen. Motioning for him to sit, she opened the doors of the fridge.
“No aloe, but I wasn’t really expecting that... cucumber, that’s good, and oh! Tomato, that might help too...” Pulling back out, she brandished a green stick of something at him. “What about celery? You were quite fond of that at one point, weren’t you?”
“Donnaaaaaa!” he wailed. She grinned.
“Alright, not celery then. I think I have enough here anyway.” She grabbed a couple of tomatoes, tucked the cucumber under her arm and whisked a knife out of the block with her free hand. “Right, onto your bed, face down, and I’ll cut these up.”
“You’re going to make a salad on my back?”
“Would you rather lie there and burn?”
He shuddered and bolted to the bedroom without further question.
*
It was a good week and a half before the Doctor’s burn faded properly, and at least three before he had ventured back to the rocky pool. Donna enjoyed every moment of his absence, laying for hours in the chair in blissful silence, listening to the splash of water and - very occasionally - the tweet of some tiny birds that had obviously worked their way on board. She was yet to see any of the purple ants.
She sat reclined in the chair, sunglasses perched on her nose and book in her lap, when she saw the Doctor edging out into the light. He smiled sheepishly.
“Would you, er... would you put this on for me?” In his hand was a familiar looking tube.
Donna grinned. When he peeled off his shirt to give her access to his back, she gasped.
“What?” he asked hurriedly.
“Have you seen your back lately? It is absolutely covered in freckles!”
“Oh, very funny,” he said ruefully, rubbing a palm across his chin. “And yes, I have. It was that sunburn.”
“Like, literally covered,” she continued, as though he hadn’t spoken. “You could keep a kid entertained for hours with this many dots.”
“Donna...”
“Talk about constellations. I think I can see Ursa Major!”
“Donna!”
“What?”
He took a deep breath. “You were right. About the relaxing, I mean. I did like it. When I wasn’t getting burned. So please, can you just put that on me so I can sit with you - quietly - and enjoy the sun?”
She applied the sunblock in silence, smiling to herself all the while. When he was properly settled beside her, Donna popped her sunglasses back on, lay back in her chair and whispered conspiratorially, “It’s not real sunshine, though.”
COMMENTS ARE LOCKED. If you wish to leave feedback, please do so here using OpenID.
Author: Amanda (lilianvaldemyer)
Pairing: Doctor/Donna
Word Count: 1800
Rating: PG for some language
Spoilers/Warnings: none
Disclaimer: Totally mine. In another lifetime. ;)
Notes: written for like-destiny's Lazy Days of Summer challenge. Thanks to lounge-lily and Kim for the betas. Comment-locked; please see the end of the post for details.
The Unrealities of Summer
Donna stretched her toes, luxuriating in the warm sunlight that splashed across her. The tinkling sounds of water trickling over rock reached her ears and she smiled; it had been a long time since she'd been anywhere this quiet. Adjusting her sunglasses, she settled back into the deckchair. The steady drip-drip-splash continued.
A sudden darkness fell over her.
“You're in my sunlight.”
“It's not real sunlight,” the Doctor said cheerfully. Donna lowered the glasses and raised an eyebrow in his general direction. He was folding himself up to sit cross-legged beside her, grinning the most foolish of his foolish grins.
“Right. And the warmth that you're stopping me from enjoying isn't real warmth, and the silence isn't real silence.” She rolled her eyes and sat up. “And I suppose the slight burning sensation I’m already beginning to feel is a product of my imagination too, but somehow I don’t think I’ll risk it. Here,” she held out a tube, “make yourself useful and put this on me.”
He squinted at it. “You really won't need it. The TARDIS engineers the light to fit your surroundings, but it’s just light. No UV, not X-tonic rays, nothing.”
“Humour me.”
He shrugged and she grinned, rolling over onto her stomach. Squashing himself in beside her on the deck chair, he popped the top off the tube of sunblock and gently tugged the straps of the swimsuit down off her shoulders. “Oooh!”
“What?”
“You're so... freckly!”
“Oh, for heaven's sake,” Donna muttered under her breath. “Ginger, remember?”
“Oh, I know but... this is incredible! Like tattooed constellations or something.” He let the lotion fall from his hands and reached automatically into his top pocket.
“What're you... Oi! Put those glasses away mate, I'm not one of your intergalactic space maps.” Chastened, he quickly stuffed the glasses back into his pocket and fumbled for the tube of cream. Donna huffed slightly then settled her head back onto her forearms. Long, cool fingers gently brushed the hair off the back of her neck and began to work the sunblock into her skin. She closed her eyes, allowing his fingers to soothe her, making small noises of appreciation every so often. She heard him click the top back onto the tube, then some vague rustlings sounds. Glancing up, she saw him rolling up the cuffs of his trousers. His shoes had been flung off to one side, his socks scrunched up behind him. He plonked himself down at the edge of the pool, slipped his feet into the water and began splashing.
He lasted for all of three minutes.
“Donna?” He drew the last syllable out slightly. She sighed.
“Mmm?”
“I’m bored.”
“Bored? It’s bloody Sunday, mate. We don’t land on Sundays.”
“I know, but - ”
“No. No ‘buts’. Just relax.”
“But - ”
She sat up again and glared at him. “Do I honestly have to show you how to relax?” Grabbing a towel from the pile beside her, she jumped up, flicked it out and spread it beside the pool. “There. Sit. Lie down. Enjoy the sun. Re-lax.”
He stared at her for a long moment, then huffed and sat down. Leaning back on his palms, his head fell to one side as he watched Donna get herself comfortable again.
“You can’t, can you?”
“Can!” he yelped, a little too quickly. “I happen to be quite good at relaxing. Can do it for hours.”
Donna snorted. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you sit still for minutes, much less hours.”
“Well, it’s hardly my fault if my relaxation is continually interrupted by endangered planets, is it? Earth should take better care of itself.”
She raised an eyebrow. Deciding that this might be a case where actions were better than words, the Doctor quickly flicked open his shirt buttons, shrugged out of it and balled it up. It landed beside the socks.
Donna nodded toward the discarded tube of sunblock. “Won’t you want some of that?”
“I told you, it’s not real sunlight. It can’t burn me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Go on, then.”
He lay back purposefully, arms behind his head, intent on looking... well, he must have been aiming for relaxed, but to Donna he looked more like a London Beefeater than anything else. After a minute, he rolled onto his front. She pushed the sunglasses back up her nose, trying not to laugh. A moment’s silence stretched into minutes, filling the air until she couldn’t ignore it any longer.
“Well? How’s the relaxing?”
There was no reply.
“Oh come on, there’s no need to sulk.” She glanced over to where he lay. “Doctor?”
At the sound of his name his head rolled slightly in her direction. A soft “mmm” drifted up to greet her, and then he snuffled back into his forearms, sighing deeply as sleep claimed him again.
Donna smiled. Bloody great prawn, she thought fondly. Letting her head fall back against the chair, she wrapped herself once more in the blanket of sunlight. The TARDIS hummed delicately around her. The water continued down the artificial rockface, dripping its rhythm gently into the pool below.
Five minutes later, she too had drifted off.
*
“Oww.”
Donna woke to groaning noises. “Mmmph?” she asked groggily, vaguely remembering that the Doctor had been around somewhere.
“Owwwwwwww,” was the only response she got. Shaking her head slightly, she sat up, grumbling a little herself as the last vestiges of comfort vanished into consciousness. She looked to her left in the direction of the moaning.
The Doctor lay on his side, wearing a pathetic pout. “S’wrong with you?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
“I - oww! - think I’ve been bitten. Or something. It stings.” He shifted a little, flexing his shoulder muscles, and grimaced. “Ohhh, that hurts!”
“Thought you said this pool was completely safe? ‘No insects, no animals, no alien lifeforms, nothing to disturb you’, weren’t those your words?” He glared at her. “Oh, come here then, let me look.”
He pushed himself up off the blanket and crawled, rather stiffly, over to the chair. Twisting around, he worked himself into a cross-legged position at her feet, back towards her.
Donna burst out laughing.
“What? What are you laughing at? Am I... blue?
“Blue?”
“Sort of blue? Purple, maybe? I’m purple, aren’t I? I’ve been bitten by those purple ants from Kastraios Minor. I knew we shouldn’t have landed there!”
“Oh, hush, you’re not purple.” She broke off into giggles. “God, I’m sorry. I know; it’s not funny really. You’re just - ” Laughter took her again and he puffed out his cheeks in exasperation.
“Are you quite right there? This is serious, Donna! Some sort of... I don’t know, insect, or parasite maybe, has obviously gotten in here and - ”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, it’s a bloody sunburn!”
“What?”
She poked him softly in the shoulder, watching as the spot left by her finger went white, then coloured to a deep red again.
“Owww! What was that for?”
“It’s. A. Sunburn. Your not real sunlight has given you a wonderfully not real burn that, if you’re lucky, will fade to a not real tan soon enough. Though if you’re anything like me - and you are awfully pale, aren’t you?” she ran her eyes over the unburned skin of his chest and stomach, “you’ll just peel and go white again.”
“Sunburn?” he asked helplessly.
“Sunburn,” she agreed.
He visibly deflated. “Not... you’re sure it’s not the purple ants?”
She shook her head, and said with a gentle smile. “Nope. Sorry love, definitely sunburn.”
“Well. Isn’t that wizard?” He pushed himself to his feet, grimacing as the burned skin of his back tightened over his muscles. “Ohhhhh, that’s... What d’you lot fix sunburn with?”
“Humans, you mean? Hate to break it to you sunshine, but we don’t. We suffer.” Donna’s indignation at being called ‘you lot’ morphed into a small stab of sympathy as his face fell in outright horror. She continued a little more gently, “But Mum used to put aloe and cucumber on mine. Come on, let’s see what we’ve got.”
She took him by the hand and led him slowly down the twisting halls of the TARDIS until she reached the kitchen. Motioning for him to sit, she opened the doors of the fridge.
“No aloe, but I wasn’t really expecting that... cucumber, that’s good, and oh! Tomato, that might help too...” Pulling back out, she brandished a green stick of something at him. “What about celery? You were quite fond of that at one point, weren’t you?”
“Donnaaaaaa!” he wailed. She grinned.
“Alright, not celery then. I think I have enough here anyway.” She grabbed a couple of tomatoes, tucked the cucumber under her arm and whisked a knife out of the block with her free hand. “Right, onto your bed, face down, and I’ll cut these up.”
“You’re going to make a salad on my back?”
“Would you rather lie there and burn?”
He shuddered and bolted to the bedroom without further question.
*
It was a good week and a half before the Doctor’s burn faded properly, and at least three before he had ventured back to the rocky pool. Donna enjoyed every moment of his absence, laying for hours in the chair in blissful silence, listening to the splash of water and - very occasionally - the tweet of some tiny birds that had obviously worked their way on board. She was yet to see any of the purple ants.
She sat reclined in the chair, sunglasses perched on her nose and book in her lap, when she saw the Doctor edging out into the light. He smiled sheepishly.
“Would you, er... would you put this on for me?” In his hand was a familiar looking tube.
Donna grinned. When he peeled off his shirt to give her access to his back, she gasped.
“What?” he asked hurriedly.
“Have you seen your back lately? It is absolutely covered in freckles!”
“Oh, very funny,” he said ruefully, rubbing a palm across his chin. “And yes, I have. It was that sunburn.”
“Like, literally covered,” she continued, as though he hadn’t spoken. “You could keep a kid entertained for hours with this many dots.”
“Donna...”
“Talk about constellations. I think I can see Ursa Major!”
“Donna!”
“What?”
He took a deep breath. “You were right. About the relaxing, I mean. I did like it. When I wasn’t getting burned. So please, can you just put that on me so I can sit with you - quietly - and enjoy the sun?”
She applied the sunblock in silence, smiling to herself all the while. When he was properly settled beside her, Donna popped her sunglasses back on, lay back in her chair and whispered conspiratorially, “It’s not real sunshine, though.”
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