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The Doctor paced on the golden sandy beach while the brown skinned beach goers built sandscapes, splashed in the water and played a game similar to Earth volleyball. The waves gently lapped at the beach and the scent of fruit and oil was in the air as the natives of this world slathered themselves with sun tan lotion. After grumpily trudging through the thick fine sand which was now in his boots and seemed to coat every part of him, he finally found Jack and Rose lounging on hammocks strung between two trees and sipping cold beverages from a straw as they swung back and forth.
“You were due back at the Tardis over an hour ago!” the Doctor snapped at them.
Rose looked up from her hammock and smiled at him. “Hello, Doctor! Would you like a sip of this coconut mango lime slushy?”
“Comanime,” Jack corrected in a lazy voice, not bothering to sit up and just laying prone in the hammock wearing his mirrored sunglasses.
The Doctor looked at Jack irritated. Rose grinned up at him. “Come on Doctor, if we’d gone back you woulda never left the Tardis and woulda missed this lovely beach. You’ve been goin’ nonstop for days. Can’t you just take a moment to relax?
“Rose,” he said, sighing and looking generally peeved.
“Pleasssse,” she implored him and fluttering her eyes at him.
The Doctor knew he had already lost this battle. Truth be told, he found it increasingly hard to say “no” to her the longer they traveled together. After an exaggerated eye roll and several loud sighs, he agreed. “Oh, all right! But only for an hour!”
Rose jumped out of the hammock, drink in hand and hugged him. As he enjoyed said hug, he couldn’t help but notice Rose was wearing a pink bikini with yellow polka dots with only a sarong covering her bottom half. She was the image of the beach and sunshine and the summer. She even smelled fresh and sunny. “All right Rose Tyler, you got me out here. Now what?”
At that comment, Jack rolled out of his hammock dressed in nothing but a tight mood speedo that left nothing to the imagination and sauntered over smiling at the Doctor. The speedo color was grass green indicating he was relaxed and happy. “Well, first we could get you into something a little more…beachy,” he said suggestively as the speedo began morphing into a bluer shade as Jack thought about divesting the Doctor of some of his armor.
The Doctor scowled. “There’s nothin’ wrong with what I’m wearin,” he groused and crossed his arms defensively.
“Yeah, but you don’t want to get sand in that jacket now do ya?” Jack asked, still grinning.
“Don’t let him bother you, Doctor. You don’t have to take your jacket off but…if you take your shoes off we could walk in the surf a bit?” Rose asked hopefully.
“In the wet sand in bare feet?” he asked, not sounding convinced.
“It’s not gonna kill ya,” Rose said frustrated and with her hands on her hips while he glared and shuffled his feet. “What? It gonna hurt those impressive Time Lord toes or somethin? You got some weird alien paranoia ‘bout your feet?”
That got his attention and he stared down at her while she stared up at him and cocked an eyebrow almost challenging him. Jack leaned against a tree just watching them, amused at this exchange. The color of his speedo changed to more of a purple indicating Jack‘s enjoyment at the thought of getting a peak of a little more Time Lord skin even if it was his feet. After all, many cultures had erotic rituals involving bare feet. As Jack began thinking of some of these erotic things, his suit changed to a deep purple shade with sparkles in it.
The Doctor, however, was not looking at Jack. He was still quite focused on Rose. “Nothin’ wrong with my feet. Time Lord me. Superior biology in every way including dexterous and perfectly symmetrical toes,” he boasted.
“Oh yeah, so show me these perfect toes then,” she said, pushing him along.
He plunked down on a nearby rock and began tugging at his boots and then stopped and looked at her. He held up his foot. Rose stared back at him. “Well, go on then!” he said indicating his boots.
Rose rolled her eyes and walked over and tugged off his boots. He stared at her. She sighed, pulled his socks off too and rolled up the cuffs of his jeans. Jack wandered over in his vivid sparkly purple speedo and joined Rose admiring the Doctor’s pale, perfect feet.
“Well?” the Doctor asked?” looking proudly down at his feet.
“Very impressive,” Rose said dryly. “Can we go now?”
“Oh come on, Rose,” Jack said grinning. “In some cultures, bare feet are considered vary sexy. Why, I know a species that…”
“Jack!” the Doctor warned and stood up, grabbing Rose’s hand. “Come on.” The Doctor ordered and strolled with Rose through the think powdery sand until they reached they waters edge.
They paused as he wiggled his toes and closed his eyes. He looked down at Rose and grinned. Rose pulled him along in the surf with Jack walking by their side as he began lecturing them on the mineral composition of the sand which he was able to determine by just wiggling his toes in it. Rose giggled and asked just what else his toes could sense as she grinned a naughty smile at him causing his ears to tinge pink. Jack, of course, asked if he wanted to test that sensitivity on a live subject. The Doctor gave his standard response, “You have to buy me a drink first.”
They hadn’t walked far when they came to a sand sculpting contest and that’s when things went pear shaped. Rose’s pleasant walk in the surf evolved into Jack and the Doctor boasting about who could build the best sand sculpture. Before Rose knew it, they were in the sand madly digging and building their sculptures, now in complete male competition mode.
Rose sighed and walked to a stand selling cool drinks and found a shady spot from which she could watch them. At one point she dozed off. When she woke up, the Doctor was sitting next to her drinking some banana flavored drink. “About time you woke up,” he complained.
She removed the sleep from her eyes and sat up. “You and Jack done?”
He beamed at her in response and jumped up holding his hand out. They walked over to the sculptures and Rose stopped, stunned. Before her was a sand sculpture of her lounging on the beach. It was very detailed down to the polka dots on her bikini. Rose looked up at him, smiling and a little teary eyed that he’d put so much work into it. “Doctor, it’s beautiful. I mean you made me look so much prettier.”
“Nonsense, it’s completely accurate down to the micro millimeter of your of your fantastic nose,” he told her with affection.
Rose reached up and pulled him down by the lapels of his sandy leather jacket and kissed him. “Thank you,” she said softly. He was startled and awed at her response, a look of longing in his blue eyes.
“What about me? Don’t I get some sugar?” Jack called out.
Rose turned around and stared at a sand sculpture of a nude Jack Harkness next to which stood an equally naked Jack in the flesh looking smugly pleased. Rose looked from naked Jack to naked sand sculpture Jack. “Wow,” was all she could think of to say.
“Impressive huh,” Jack said smirking.
“Um, yeah,” Rose said, giggling slightly.
A judging committee for the sand sculpture contest walked over and began examining the sculptures. Jack winked at one of the judges who spent more than a few minutes staring at him. After they finished their inspection, they huddled off to the side.
“Sorry, Doctor but I’ve got this one sealed,” Jack bragged.
“That so? We’ll see whose artistic interpretation is the most esthetically accurate,” the Doctor said, looking back at his own sculpture with a look of superiority.
“Esthetically accurate?” Jack questioned, before strutting out in front of his sculpture. “Trust me, Doctor. No one’s more ecstatically accurate than me and I’ve got loads of people who could back me up on that.”
Rose rolled are eyes as each of them tried to out boast the other and soon the judges were announcing the winners. Jack won third place, much to his disappointment and the Doctor’s satisfaction. Of course, the Doctor only won second place which made Jack smirk and the Doctor look slightly deflated. Rose put her arm around him and rubbed his back. First place was awarded to small but intricate replica of the drink stand which had been sculpted by a group of children. Rose looked at both her boys who appeared quite disappointed.
“All right, I think we’ve had enough beach time. I’m starving, let’s head back to the Tardis,” Rose announced and walked her two pouting sculpture artists back to the Tardis, one still proudly naked and the other pouting about getting seashells stuck in his sensitive toes.