One Rare Day

I don't own Doctor Who...but I play around with the Characters, X)

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There was a soft warm wind blowing gently across the white sand, snatching a million grains of sand out of their natural place onto an exciting whirlwind journey that would lead them only a few meters from where they originally started.

The bright green waves of the water breaking upon the shore where making the comforting noise that only the ocean can make. After pulling itself onto the beach, the water drew itself back into the ocean before crashing once more.

This pattern repeating over and over again, like it had been doing so since the Ice Age had melted away thousands and thousands of years ago. Since the water levels had risen, flooding the lands and forcing everything living to adapt and re-evolve again. With each crashing wave each generation passed, one after another, never finishing, just repeating. Eventually humans emerged and stood tall like the fearsome tidal waves, just as ferocious and destructive. But today none of this mattered because today was different...

Today was a rare day.

* * *

The Doctor and Rose were sitting on this beach. Watching the waves roll over each other again and again.

They had both wanted a little break from all of the excitement.

Just to have a peaceful day where no one needed help, not having to worry about dying for the greater cause.

A day entirely for themselves.

Two pairs of bare feet were embedded in the soft sand; shoes and socks had been discarded and stacked nearby. The bottom of each other’s trousers had been rolled up to the knee to avoid sand infiltrating and sticking, making it impossible to get it off later when it was time to go.

The sitting distance between them was no more than a foot but they still sat shoulder to shoulder, even though they weren’t touching.

The sun was slowly starting to lower itself closer and closer towards the horizon, but there were still a couple of hours to savor before the sun would disappear for the night.

Talking wasn’t necessary for the silence allowed them to enjoy the rare hours they had of actual peace in this place of great beauty.

Rose suddenly looked up into the sky as she heard a melodious bird song fill the air and what she saw astonished her.

High up in the air, flying over the sun, was a magnificent golden bird that had a long tail trailing behind it. A tail completely made of fire. Its huge wings were spread out as far as they could go and it was gracefully soaring through the sky with the greatest of ease. Its song spoke of beauty, happiness and love.

The Doctor also looked up when the song had begun and instead of hearing a song of joy, he heard a lament that spoke of times of great loss and sadness. He immediately knew what it was that was singing…singing for the both of them.

“That’s a phoenix.”

Rose turned her eyes away from the circling bird and looked at the Doctor.

He was looking up at the phoenix and his eyes where swimming, but not with tears…but of memories. Memories that burned him with fire and pain greater than the fire that burned so brightly on the phoenix’s tail.

“It is supposed to be extinct but we are the first beings to see this mythical creature for two millennia. No one knows this planet exists except me…and now you. No human has ever set foot till now. This planet is one of peace and it holds many mythical and beautiful animals and plants that are found no where else in the universe. This is their only remaining sanctuary and it is necessary to never tell that we’ve been here…but I wanted to show it to you.”

She felt honoured as to what the Doctor was sharing with her. Rose watched the Doctor’s intent and focused face as he still gazed on the phoenix. Smiling, she felt like that he still had more to tell her so she looked back up at the fire bird and waited for him to continue.

“It is said Rose, that a phoenix’s song is different for every single listener. Kinda like a fingerprint, each is unique and only that person will ever hear it that one way. What you hear is your deepest most innermost feelings and memories. If you have a great past and you yourself are happy, then that is what you will hear. If though, your past and memory is riddled with regrets and pains, then you will hear it. The song reflects the individual inside and only you can hear what you truly are.”

Rose was filled with wonder at this prospect. She was listening to her inner-self and it was singing with such happiness and love she had never heard such a glorious song before. The music completely surrounded her and she closed her eyes as the music filled her head, quietly drowning out all other thoughts. She smiled and slowly lowered herself onto her back onto the sand as the music still flowed forth. It danced and leaped through every nerve and fibre of her being and Rose felt a calmness and inner-peace with herself and the world unlike nothing she had ever felt before as it also merged with the song. She slowly stretched on the sand and Rose smiled drowsily as the melody of the song appeared and grabbed a hold of her before being lulled to sleep.

The Doctor hadn’t even noticed.

“Unfortunately Rose, I have no idea what the phoenix song will do to humans because they have never been…” the Doctor finally looked away from the cause of his sad and painful lament that filled his ears, and he looked at his right shoulder expecting to see Rose instead his eyes viewed only an empty space of air. The Doctor was about to panic when suddenly a soft breathing next to him caught his attention and he looked down to see Rose, now on her side, asleep on the sand. “Exposed to a phoenix’s song before.” He added, finishing his sentence.

He sighed quietly and shook his head, not because he thought ‘typical for a human’ as he normally would but it was out of being alone with the lament that kept on growing around and inside him.

He gazed back up at the phoenix and the sadness of memories past kept on crawling towards the surface but the Doctor kept on pushing it away. While repressing these feelings, the Doctor noticed that the sun hadn’t moved at all for a little while. Focusing on the sun, it was then that he noticed that the phoenix kept on flying in circles under the sun itself…

“Surely not…” he whispered to himself as an impossible thought occurred to him.

The phoenix wasn’t letting the sun set.

Why

The Doctor suddenly felt a soft pressure against the lower part of his right thigh and he nearly jumped away when he realized that it could only be one person.

Rose.

She had moved herself a little closer to the Doctor in her sleep. Now her forehead was gently resting against his thigh and was lying completely on her left side, both feet now no longer submerged in the sand.

The Doctor immediately thought of Rose’s well being if she suddenly woke up and half of her face was covered in sand…so he had an idea. He knew Rose wasn’t one afraid to get her hands dirty, but any person would hate to wake up with sand in there eye. He quickly took off his leather jacket and lay it flat on the sand, the soft inside material the right side up. Digging up his feet, the Doctor carefully lifted Rose’s head and shoulders and began to gently brush off the sand on her face and neck.

Her skin was soft and warm just like any humans, but this skin and body meant so much more than any regular human to the Doctor. He took his time brushing off every visible granule of sand, enjoying the sensation of having such contact that he rarely experienced with anyone…and it was even better that it was Rose. After he had finally finished the job, the Doctor had memorized every pore and curve of her face. This image would stay with him forever but he would live in the now to experience this moment as much as he could before she woke up.

I wonder what her song is like?

He gently laid her head and shoulders on his worn coat and smiled at the tranquility that beheld on her face.

He slowly placed a hand on her soft hair and stroked it a couple of times before reflecting what Rose really meant to him.

If Rose had never joined me in the TARDIS; I have no idea where I would be. Life would be no fun, new planets and having adventures on them wouldn’t be exciting…it would seem ‘same old-same old’. You are what brings excitement and meaning into my life. Your humour and your constant happiness and enthusiasm for life is there with me every day…and you can never hold your tongue if we are at gunpoint to try and lighten the situation.

I love that you’re still here with me and that we’re best friends. It seems you need me just as much as I need you everyday. Just seeing you makes me smile…even though I can’t help myself but over smile and say ‘fantastic’. Even though you don’t know how dark my history is, you know something bad is there yet you always look past it and still say I’m ok to people.

Maybe Rose, you’re the reason that I have been able to continue on with life after Gallifrey…maybe it is you who has shown me again just how wonderful life really is…not the other way round. Maybe that is why I love so much and why I would never be able to live with myself if I lost you…

He stopped mid-thought as he realized just how much Rose meant to him, but at the same time he heard the sad lament that had been continuing in his head suddenly start to change in tune.

The sad haunting notes and painful melodies began to change key.

It began to change into a major tune instead of being a minor.

The song began to sound happy!

Sounds of love and hope began to filter out the depressing notes and overtake the sadness in the Doctor. He began to feel a piece that had been missing from the core of his being for a long, long time return. He felt the love for another person enter his hearts like a sweet euphoria as sweetness and affection overwhelmed him.

Hope and ‘domestic’ had returned to his soul.

Hope that maybe there was a future out there for him, a future with which he could only achieve with Rose by his side.

Without Rose he was nothing, but now his song was for Rose and his love for her…but it was also about what Rose had given back to him.

The Doctor looked up at the phoenix who was no longer circling the sun, finally allowing it to take its natural path towards the horizon once more. He smiled as his song filed his ears and he was no longer sad.

He was happy.

And now he knew that the phoenix knew that the Doctor could’ve been happy.

All he needed was a different tune but he himself had to make it happen cause the music was coming from him…the phoenix just turns that silent music into a reality.

“Thankyou.” The Doctor said as he gazed up at the phoenix that looked back down at the pair on the ground.

The phoenix acknowledged the Doctor by releasing a cry that wasn’t loud or piercing, but the Doctor heard it and he couldn’t believe what it was…

It was Rose’s song…

It was showing her love for him.

While comprehending this new knowledge, the phoenix raised its mighty wings and in one powerful flap, it disappeared in a bright flash of fire and turned into ash.

* * *

The Doctor could still hear his songs, and Rose’s, in his head as she searched the sky for the bird but a part of him knew that his search was in vain. He knew it had gone.

He smiled as the songs started to lull him under its sleep spell and soon he was lying down with his head on his jacket, body facing Rose, asleep.

Except now foreheads and noses where touching as they slept for they still needed to know that the other person was still there.

They cuddled, asleep on the beach, they somehow managed to find and hold each other’s hand s to connect them to each other.

Their songs still played and in their dreams they played to the sound of their songs as they conjoined into the most beautiful song that was ever created.

As they slept on the sand that always stayed warm, the sun set and the waves kept on breaking on the shore.

* * *

On one rare day happiness, hope and love can be found.

All you have to do is sing the right tune and you will find it

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