The Sands of Time Lord Trouble

After several unsuccessful attempts at finding a suitably "relaxing" destination for his companion Martha, the Doctor deferred the decision to her. She told him to take them to any nice seaside town that was not in the UK and preferably during her own time period. He nodded and selected a nice beach in the Caribbean. When Martha stuck her head out the door of the TARDIS and saw no aliens or monsters but only a long sandy beach just a little ways away, she nodded in satisfaction.

"That's more like it, Doctor," she said, coming back inside. "Now, do we have any suitable swimwear?"

About twenty minutes later, Martha re-emerged from the TARDIS, carrying a towel in one arm and wearing a teal bikini and white flip flops. She arranged a stylish hat on her head and pretended not to notice as the Doctor stumbled out of the TARDIS after her, carrying a beach blanket, picnic basket, umbrella, beach chairs, and more towels. He was dressed in a simple gray t-shirt and loud Bermuda shorts-style swim trunks.

"Little help?" he whimpered, trying to lock the TARDIS and not drop anything.

"What's that? I can't hear you over the sound of your previous FAILURES to find a relaxing destination!" Martha shot back, not looking at him.

The Doctor grumbled to himself as he finally managed to get the TARDIS locked and followed his companion towards the beach, trying not to trip as sand sunk into his lime green crocs. "I really don't understand how this is supposed to be relaxing."

Martha smirked over her shoulder at him. "Well, maybe not for you. But after everything we've been through in the past few days, I'm going to enjoy every minute of this."

The Doctor followed her to a suitable spot on the sand and plunked down the beach umbrella and spread out the blanket. Martha took one of the chairs from him, unfolded it, and sat down with a great sigh of contentment. She pulled her hat over her eyes and tried not to giggle at the sounds of the Doctor setting down the other beach accoutrements and still grumbling to himself.

"I never asked, where are we?" she queried.

"Puerto Rico," the Doctor said with great enthusiasm, rolling the second r dramatically. "Well, not really the main island itself, just a little island called Vieques. Used to belong to United States Navy until –"

"Got it," Martha cut him off. "I'll skip the history lesson today." She tipped her hat up and drank in the sun, the gently lapping green waves, and fine sand. "This time, you got it right, Doctor."

"Glad to be of service," he said, at last sinking into a beach chair himself. He was still only for a moment before rummaging around in the picnic basket he'd brought. A minute later, he offered Martha an icy cold glass of some frozen tropical concoction, complete with a little umbrella and straw. "Drink, Madame?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Martha looked up in surprise and grinned back, accepting the drink. "Ooh, that looks lovely. Thank you."

"You see, I thought of a clever way to keep everything in here cold. I lined the basket with –"

"Yes, Doctor, you're very clever. Now let me enjoy my drink."

"Right," the Doctor said, closing the picnic basket and adjusting the beach umbrella.

Martha kicked off her flip flops and sipped more of her drink. Whatever the Doctor had come up with, it was delicious and refreshing. She closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the waves. She heard the Doctor get up from his beach chair, which didn't surprise her. The man could hardly stay still for thirty seconds.

Martha had nearly drifted off into a light dose, when the Doctor's voice was suddenly very close.

"Martha, meet my new friend!"

Martha's eyes shot open of their own accord, and she squealed in horror as the Doctor held a crab in front of her face.

"Where did you get that thing?!" she cried, trying not drop her drink.

"Oh, I coaxed him out of his hole over there," he said, pointing over his shoulder. "There's loads of them on this beach, and this one seems to like me!" He brought the small crab close to his face. "Isn't that right?"

"Doctor, I don't like things with more than four legs. Please go put that – adorable – thing back where you got it. I'm trying to relax! Why don't you go have a splash in the ocean?"

"Nah, never been much of one for swimming. Could give snorkeling a go, maybe. This is an excellent area for it, some of the best snorkeling—"

"Sounds fantastic," Martha said, settling back into her chair. "Let me know how that goes."

"But all my sonic snorkeling gear is in the TARDIS. Can't really go without that—"

Martha sat up. "Doctor. I am trying to relax. Find something to occupy yourself that is quiet and does not involve me in any way."

"Right," he said, retreating back to where he had picked up the crab.

Martha allowed herself to relax more and more as minutes went by. The Doctor had gone down closer to the water and had found something to busy himself with. Martha gulped down the rest of her drink, pulled her hat back over her eyes, and soaked up the sun.

About thirty minutes later, Martha decided to take a dip in the ocean to cool off; the sun was quite hot, and she wasn't sure she wanted to reach into the Doctor's high tech picnic basket for another drink.

She waved as she walked past the Doctor and into the ocean, smiling to herself. He'd decided to build a sandcastle. The ocean was just cool enough to be refreshing. Perfect, Martha sighed happily to herself. Why did it take him three tries to come up with this place? We'll need to come back here again.

Ten or so minutes later, she emerged from the water and told the Doctor that, yes, she'd back in a moment to see his brilliant sand sculpture.

Martha grabbed a towel from their beach supplies and patted herself dry before returning to the water's edge to see what the Doctor had come up with.

She smiled. "Using your little friend as inspiration?"

The Doctor had sculpted a rather impressive and detailed crab-like creature in the sand. It was the size of a small dog.

"Exactly! Made a few improvements, of course. What do you think?"

She grinned. "It's brilliant. I never knew you were an artist."

"Well, that depends on your definition of art now, doesn't it? It just needs one final touch." He whipped on the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and, before Martha could stop him, he chose a setting and zapped his sculpture with it. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the "crab" opened its eyes, which where made of small shells.

Martha gasped and backed up into the lapping waves. "What did you do?!"

The Doctor stood up, clearly pleased with himself. "Oh, nothing really. Just activated the silicon, so he can go and have a look around."

Martha was trying to process that information when the "crab" got to its feet and began scuttling around the beach.

"Doctor, this is not going to end well," Martha announced, backing up into ankle-deep water.

The Doctor's creation took off down the beach, terrifying the other beach goers. Some grabbed their cameras, but most ran off in a screaming panic. The "crab" finally stopped as it reached another sand castle that a small child was working on. The child was frozen in fear until the "crab" lunged at the castle and destroyed it with its claws. The child immediately burst into tears. The "crab" moved on to the next sand sculpture it could find.

"Doctor, what's it doing?!"

The Doctor scratched the back of his head. "Now, it shouldn't be doing that."

"Then I suggest you go and stop it!"

"Right!" The Doctor ran down the beach after his creation. "Come back! Heel … er … uh … Sandy! No, stop that! Leave that sand castle alone!"

Martha sighed in exasperation and ran after him, picking up a plastic bucket on the way down the beach. As they closed in on the "crab," Martha filled the bucket with ocean water and dumped it on top of the "crab."

The "crab" instantly dissolved and blended in with the rest of the beach.

"Now, what'd you have to that for?!" the Doctor cried.

"It was terrorizing the entire beach!" Martha shouted.

"Well, it's hardly my fault if – OI!"

Martha had refilled the bucket and dumped it all over the Doctor.

"I came here to relax!"

The Doctor pushed his sopping hair out of his face and looked around. "Yes, and now we have the whole beach to ourselves!"

Martha had to laugh at that. "I suppose until the authorities come to investigate the case of the Vicious Sand Crab, you're right."

"Well, we are on island time," the Doctor pointed out, as they walked in the surf back towards their blanket. "Who knows how long that could be?"

"You just had to, didn't you? Had to cause some kind of trouble."

"That wasn't me! It was Sandy!"

"Right." Martha turned, hooked a foot behind the Doctor's leg and gave him a hard shove, sending him into the shallow water. She stayed just long enough to see him come back up, sputtering with his t-shirt stuck to his chest and then took off running down the beach.

The Doctor grinned, kicked off his crocs and chased after her. And here he thought she'd wanted a break from all the running.