Chapter 1:

The Vacation:

"And that, Rose is why you never offer an aboriginal lizard banana pudding!" said the Doctor as he ran hand in hand with Rose Tyler. The ends of his brown trench coat flapped behind him as angry natives chased them screaming curses. They jumped over logs and tramped their way through the dense jungle failing to notice a dark figure hiding just out of sight behind a towering tree.

"We have confirmed. It is the Doctor." He spoke out loud to no one before disappearing completely.

The Doctor and Rose continued to run unaware laughing as colorful lizards in war paint tossed spears at their heels. They broke through the TARDIS doors slamming them behind them while laughing hysterically. They paused only for a moment staring at each other all grins before the Doctor started to bound around the console room flipping switches and flooding Rose's ears with random facts about different planets and species.

"So where would you like to go next? The corodium carnival? A traveling space circus with big tops so huge you could fit a whole planet inside one! Well, I say planet but really probably more like a large moon… Or a large space rock…" The Doctor flipped a switch sending them into the vortex.

"Well, we have already saved a monarch from being overthrown by evil self-important maniacs, saved a species from going extinct, and insulted a race of aboriginal lizards by offering them pudding, have I missed anything?"

"Ice cream! We stopped for universe famous ice cream!"

"Right, ice cream. I don't really know, Doctor, sounds like a full day to me. I could very well do with a break in the library."

"Awe come on, Rose. Just one more stop." The Doctor slumped his shoulders and began to beg like a puppy.

"As long as that next stop is somewhere with a beach. You promised me a vacation don't forget that." Rose said pointing her finger accusingly.

"What do you think today was?"

"With the running and the people trying to kill us? I think we really need to work on your idea of a vacation."

"Well, we could always…" The Doctor began to drawl while tugging on his earlobe. He trailed off as the TARDIS began to emit a high pitched warning signal.

"What's that?"

"We're being traced, but no… It can't be… No…" The Doctor began his race around the console again. Flipping switches and pressing buttons. Rose couldn't help but notice that he had gone an unusually pale as he worked.

"Doctor, what is it? What's wrong? Who's trying to follow us?" Rose began to panic as she clung to the TARDIS console. It began to shake and twist as the Doctor forced it along faster through the vortex. With eyes wide he came up in front of Rose, "Before I met you, I did a lot of really dangerous things."

"And that has changed how?"

"Not the time, Rose, just listen to me. One of the things I did was to manage to piss off a cartel. They have been doing a lot of terrible things, and they planned to sell an entire planet into slavery, so I stopped them. Let's just say they didn't forget that."

"And so now they are trying to get us? For what revenge? I thought nothing could follow us into the time vortex?"

"I said that very few things could follow us into the time vortex. These are probably some of the few people who can."

"And it gets worse than that?"

"They can track the TARDIS. The can read and follow the time energy the TARDIS emits. I would have to land her and shut her down entirely for them to lose our trail, but I have to shake them off first." The Doctor then resumed his dance around the TARDIS console.

"And how bad would it be if these people found us."

"They bombed and killed an entire species because they refused to pay tribute to them. They're bad, Rose." The Doctor didn't look up from the console refusing to meet Rose's eye. Looking at him he seemed tense as if waiting for Rose to ask an unanswerable question. She knew he wasn't telling her something, but then again he always seemed to be withholding something from her. As much as Rose wanted to be closer to him, she also didn't want to pressure him into anything. So she decided to ignore the obvious tension and ask something else.

"And once we shut down the TARDIS, how long do we have to stay like that and stay hidden?"

"Well, the longer the better. They will be searching the section of space they lost our signal at, but as long as we stay hidden at least a week, than I think that should be enough time for them to give up their search."

"You think? And where do we go for a week? I mean obviously not Earth I rather not get my family involved in this, yeah?"

"No your right," The Doctor paused with his hands in his pockets. His brows were pulled together, and Rose resisted every urge her body felt to swoon before his fierce look. She jumped as he glanced quickly to her with a goofy grin, "How about I take you on that vacation?" He said cryptically before flinging them further and faster into the vortex.

After managing to elude the cartel, the Doctor landed them and began shutting down the TARDIS. As Rose stood waiting for the Doctor to finish, she couldn't help but feel a little lonely. Ever since she had looked into the heart of the TARDIS, the TARDIS had been a company to Rose in her mind. Rose could feel the subtle hum of the ship reassuring her that she wasn't leaving Rose, she was just going to sleep. Rose accepted this and began to play with the bottom of her too short tank top. Anything she could do to now distract her from the way the Doctor was bending over the console.

"Just finish powering down the TARDIS, and… Done! So Rose Tyler, shall we see our new accommodations?" The Doctor sauntered up to Rose waggling his fingers in her direction. For all his panic earlier, he seemed to be back to his cool level headiness now, but Rose was too pre-occupied thinking of all the other things she would like him to do with his fingers to notice his change in demeanor. He grinned at Rose, and her heart leaped into her throat, was it really that easy for him to get her? Either way she could hardly suppress a grin as she grabbed his hand and let him lead her out of the TARDIS. As the Doctor opened the door it bumped against a stack of boxes with an echoing thwack.

"Doctor, are we in a storage compartment?"

"Of course we are! Couldn't very well park the TARDIS in the middle of our room! What would the cleaning people think?" The Doctor squeezed his way out of the door quickly followed by Rose. As Rose pushed her way out from the door she tripped and with a yelp fell straight into the Doctor.

"You okay?" The Doctors voice said from above her, and Rose could feel his breath by her ear as hear heart rate speed up.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just clumsy is all," Rose said as she felt, or thought she felt, the Doctor's arms tighten around her. They came to rest at the small of her back, and the small pulling motion made her body, certain body parts specifically, grind pleasantly on his body. Rose swallowed a nervous breath hoping the Doctor couldn't feel her quick pulse. She straightened up tugging at the bottom of her shirt trying to think of anything to say to take the Doctor's attention off her. His eyes seemed to be stuck on her, and it made her nervous.

"So where are we?" Rose said looking around the nearly empty room. Piles of boxes and other various packages were stacked together in a plain warehouse room. As the Doctor didn't answer Rose glanced back to find him staring at her beaming like a little child.

"Come and see." He said playfully before bouncing away. Rose grinned before chasing after him. They played a mock game of tag as they poked and pulled and smacked each other around the sides of the boxes. Eventually, they found themselves bursting breathlessly through the storage room doors, but what lay on the other side made Rose even more breathless. The millions of stars held within hundreds of galaxies were on display right in front of her. Out before Rose stretched the tan wood of a ship deck. The tan was accented with the white walls and smooth silver railings of the luxury liner. She walked to the railings grabbing them in both hands as if to keep from falling over. The Doctor took her in for a moment. Her clothes seemed to cling to her body in just all the right places, and he clenched and un-clenched his fists as he remembered the feel of his body against his in the storage room. Everything in him had wanted to keep her there. He had wanted to push her up against the TARDIS door and snog her, but he resisted his instincts as normal letting her slip away from him, but the feel of her on his hands still left a burning impression. To him now, her standing there with galaxies outlining her body, and their light reflecting in her eyes was one of the most intoxicating sights he had seen. He moved up to her slowly resolving to keep his hands in his pockets to avoid touching her.

"Welcome, Rose Tyler, to the S.S. Jupiter."

"It's a ship?" Rose looked at him with her eyes shining.

"Yup. In fact," The Doctor began taking his hands out of his pockets and resting his arms on the railings, "It is the only six story luxury liner to sail through the stars. One of the most beautiful and relaxing vacations you will ever find, and plenty of activities to keep you as busy as you would like! They even have a full cinema, mall, and golf course on board!"

"I take it back. You really know how to treat a girl!" Rose chuckled, and the Doctor cursed himself under his breath that he was focusing on how her breasts bounced slightly as she did so. Trying to distract himself he pushed himself away from the rails quickly with a large intake of breath. He clapped his hands together and faced her again.

"So shall we go check out our rooms, and then browse the rest of the ship?" Said the Doctor offering Rose his arm.

"Sounds like a plan to me." They began to walk along the ship, and the Doctor started pointing out the various interesting sights along the way. Among the various objects of amusement was a rock climbing wall, a pool, and the entrance to an all inclusive spa titled Romantique.

"Rather interesting name don't ya think?"

"Well, I suppose it is probably advertising to couples but probably still no harm in two friends stopping by together." Answered the Doctor without missing a beat.

'Right,' Rose thought, 'Because friends is certainly what I want us to be.' But she decided to not let this spoil anything. She did get to spend a week with the Doctor just relaxing, and she was going to soak up every moment of it she could.

"Ah, the check in, here we are." Said the Doctor breaking Rose out of her thoughts. In front of them was a tacky tropical looking booth with a woman dressed in all blue with a heart embroidered on the right shoulder. She was grinning from ear to ear greeting couples in a perfectly too happy sing song voice. As Rose and the Doctor approached, Rose couldn't help but cringe as the woman addressed them with a high pitched squeal.

"O how wonderful! Another lovely couple coming to check in on the start of this romantic couple's voyage! I'm Sharla, and are you both ready to remember why you said 'aloha' to love?!"

"Excuse me did you say romantic couple's voyage?" The Doctor asked hesitantly tugging at his ear.

"Why of course. What other voyage would you be on, silly? The S.S. Jupiter has been proud to be a couple's only luxury liner for more than 15 years! In fact we are celebrating our anniversary this year which means lots of goodies and treats for all of you! O yea!" Said the woman clapping her hands and bouncing up and down all too excitedly, "So what is your reservation under?"

"Doctor, couple's voyage?" said Rose under her breath as she yanked on the Doctor's arm. It was only then that she noticed that there were no kids on board, only couples, and that all the couples she saw were being very romantic and touchy.

"I must have made the reservations for the wrong year. The S.S. Jupiter grows out of couples voyages but not until 5016 A.D.," He whispered back to Rose, "Uh yeah under John Smith." He then said out loud to the woman as he began rubbing the back of his neck.

"How could you make reservations for the wrong year?" Rose said nudging him with her elbow.

"Well, if you didn't notice, we were kind of in a hurry, and I had other things to focus on."

"O Mr. Smith and Mrs. Tyler! How fantastic. I see your reservations right here. I will take you on back to your room, so just follow me!" The woman interjected before Rose had a chance to react even further. Not seeing any other choice they followed the woman past a few corridors. They went by some doors all decorated with a pink heart. They finally stopped at one door, and the woman opened it ushering them inside. The room was, thankfully, less tacky than the rest of the decor. Some darker gray walls highlighted the medium size room. Throughout were splashes of a blue teal color bring some life and vibrancy to the dullness. The furniture was all dark wood. Rose walked further into the room. It was rather small in size with a bathroom of just a shower all see through glass, a toilet, and a sink which connected straight to the bedroom. The only separation between the bathroom and the bedroom was a thin wood door with gaps in the paneling large enough to just barely see figures through. In the bedroom was one twin sized bed with far too many pillows and, of course, rose petals scattered over the top.

"So here are your keys, supper is in three hours so enough time to get settled and explore a little bit. There are quite a few restaurants on board so definitely make sure to try them all! Again, I'm Sharla, and I'm sure I will be seeing more of you as we go through different activities. If every you need anything just feel free to ask!" The woman turned as if to leave, but was stopped by the Doctor.

"Wait, I thought I had booked two rooms..." The Doctor shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he tried not to show his embarrassment. The woman checked her clipboard before answering with what seemed genuine concern, "No, unfortunately, not sir. I see one standard room was booked."

"Would it be possible to rent another room now?" Rose popped in quickly.

"O again, I'm afraid not! This entire voyage has already been booked. We just don't have any open space. Sorry, but I hope you both enjoy your weekend!" The woman said quickly before shutting the door to leave Rose and the Doctor standing alone in there now very small room. They both stood in silence for a moment not really knowing what to say. Finally Rose shuffled over to sit on the rose petal covered bed.

"Rose, I am so sorry! This was supposed to be a relaxing weekend, and I ruined it!"

"Nothings been ruined. We are still on a ship cruising through the stars. What could be more beautiful? And about the room, well, we'll just make do alright?"

"Yeah, but Rose, we are going to have to act like a couple. This a cruise specifically for romance between couples. If they find out that we aren't, they just might kick us off the ship."

"They can do that?"

"It has happened before."

"So a week, of no TARDIS and having to act like a couple. This could be a little harder than I thought." Rose said falling back onto the bed. In her mind she was trying to think of all the different ways she knew of to stop her from acting on her arousal, and being cooped up with the Doctor for that long, she knew she was going to need to use every single one of them.

"Again I'm sorry, but we'll try to have fun and make the most of it, yeah?" The Doctor said coming to sit beside Rose, but in his head all he could think was that being in a confined space and romantic atmosphere with Rose for a week was going to strain all the self-control he had. 'This is how I die.' He thought as he began to think of all the time he had left till it was safe to power up the TARDIS again.

"Yeah." Rose agreed.