"Doctor?" Rose said as she walked into the console room and noticed he was standing by his console. "Any plans for today?"
"Yes, a game I've just invented."
"And that game would be?" Rose said, walking up to him.
"I call it, I'm Curious. I set the controls to random and damn it, I'm curious. So let's see what we can see when we step outside those doors."
"What if there's a big slime monster that eats us," Rose said.
"Well, that's something, isn't it?" the Doctor said.
"Your funeral," Rose said as she followed him to the door.
The Doctor paused with his hand on the door and Rose giggled when he made it tremble.
"Cyberman out there?" Rose said sweetly.
"Dunno, shall we take that chance?" the Doctor said with wide eyes.
"Yes, let's live dangerously."
"Living dangerously, coming right up!" the Doctor yelled before he flung the door open.
He and Rose stepped outside and Rose laughed when she noticed they were in an alleyway across from a Greyhound Bus Station.
"Wow, that's terrifying alright," Rose noted as she shut the doors.
"I'm curious!" the Doctor said as he walked out of the alleyway.
"About a bus station?" Rose said, following him.
"I'm curious," the Doctor said over his shoulder as he quickly crossed the street.
Rose followed him and noticed the bus station seemed to be in a seedy part of town. In the distance the skyscrapers of downtown rose majestically into the air but so far Rose had no idea where they landed. The Greyhound bus station was rectangular in appearance with a car park in front of it and a chain link fence that surrounded it on all sides with a wide opening for the cars and people to come through. Near the building was a pole with a large Greyhound sign that had the Greyhound logo on it but still no clue as to where they were. As they walked towards the glass doors, they heard a speaker announce that a bus was leaving for Las Vegas and everyone should start boarding. When they walked through the front entrance, Rose finally lettering on the wall that said WELCOME TO LOS ANGELES.
"We're in LA," Rose said to the Doctor as they walked down a narrow corridor.
"Hollywoooood," the Doctor sang as he walked into a huge lobby. There were steel chairs that were linked together and put in rows of five and six. Some people were sitting in them, reading or watching TVs mounted on the walls. There was a couple of arcade games and a crane game in the counter and a counter beside it where people could charge up their cell phones. A long queue of people was standing at one door and above the door was a plaque that said Los Vegas. Off to the right was the ticket counter and another long line waited to get their tickets. Rose took it all in with a bored expression on his face but the Doctor was beaming. He walked over to a chair and sat down.
"I'm a passenger heading across the US," he said to Rose. "My bus is late."
Rose chuckled and sat down beside him.
"There, there, dear, we'll make it to Delaware," she said, patting his leg.
"Why Delaware?" the Doctor said with a frown.
"Beeecaaaause, I chose it?" Rose said hesitantly.
The Doctor beamed at that.
"Yes, Delaware, our home," he said while Rose giggled. "We are…um…a banker and a plumber."
"Who's the banker then?" Rose said.
"Oh, that's me. Hate getting dirty. Have to stay clean, clean, clean!"
"Really, you coulda fooled me, Doctor. I've seen you filthy before."
"Not the Doctor. My name is….hmmm, human name, dearest?" he said, looking at Rose.
"Um…Cyril?"
"Cyril from Delaware?"
"Okay…Bubba then."
The Doctor gave her a withering look.
"I am not a hillbilly. I'm a banker and I deserve a banker name," he said.
"Okay, you're Dan from Delaware," Rose said.
"Dan from Delaware, I like it. And you are my wife, Hortense."
"Ewww, no," Rose said, making a face while the Doctor sniggered. "I want to be…Victoria."
"Victoria the plumber?"
"Yes, Victoria the plumber and since when am I your wife?"
"Okay, you could be…my live in lover who…is a junkie prostitute who has a heart of gold?"
"I think I'd rather be your wife," Rose said dryly while the Doctor grinned.
"Lots of people riding buses today, Vicki," the Doctor said, looking around.
"Yes, there are, Dan," Rose said.
"I wonder how many busted pipes there are to plumb now since you've been gone," the Doctor said, looking at her.
"I don't know, dear. I wonder how many banks have been robbed?" Rose said.
"Oh, tons, I'm very careless," the Doctor said airily.
"Mm, that you are, dear," Rose said.
The Doctor frowned.
"Why are the seats so uncomfortable?" he said to her.
"Because…they don't want you getting comfy here?" Rose said. "They don't want tramps setting up house here."
"Why not? Tramps are people too. Or has being a plumber made you indifferent to the plight of your fellow humans?"
"No, being a plumper has made me millions and I'm rich beyond belief."
"So am I, I'm a banker."
"Not with a bunch of robbed banks."
"Well, you have a bunch of leaky taps so how are you rich and not me?"
"I have these," Rose said, pointing to her breasts.
She laughed when the Doctor raised his eyebrow.
"And…" he said as Rose laughed harder. "I fail to see the connection between your breasts and the plumbing."
"I do it in the nude, hence my popularity and tons of cash."
"I do banking in the nude."
"That's why no one wants you."
"Wait a moment," the Doctor said while Rose laughed harder. "Just what are you implying, Victoria?"
"That you're white and pasty and you scare people?"
She hunkered down and covered her head when the Doctor raised his hand to smack her, a good natured look on his face. He lowered his hand and Rose took her hands away from her head.
"I wouldn't be talking about scaring people, Chavette," the Doctor said. "Oh, sorry, Vicki the Chavette."
Now it was Rose's turn to raise her hand and the Doctor mocked her by hunkering down, covering his head with his hands and whimpering. Rose smiled and lightly patted him on the head before she put her hand in her lap. The Doctor lowered his hands and straightened up.
"That's abuse, you know," he said to her. "I could get that security guard and let him give you a sound thrashing," he said, pointing to a man standing near the ticket counter that was dressed in a brown policeman's uniform.
"Mm…so, is the game finished yet?" Rose said to him.
"I thought you wanted to go back home to Delaware," the Doctor said with wide eyed innocence.
"No, I leave that to you. I'm going over the road and back to the TARDIS. Cheers," Rose said, patting his leg before getting up.
The Doctor grinned and sprang up.
"Yeah, Delaware's overrated," he said, walking with her. "Let's go find something else that's far more interesting than this."
"Really? What's next then, a public toilet?" Rose teased as they walked back down the corridor.
"Well, there are many interesting things about the loo, perhaps we could find out what they are."
"Or…I could turn around and go back to Delaware," Rose said.
"Nah, you don't wanna do that, Vicki. Where's your sense of adventure?"
"It's not in a Greyhound bus station, that's for bloody sure," Rose said.
"No swearing. I, as a banker, am cultured and object to such things," he said as they left the building.
"No, you as a wanker are a wanker and you'll always be a wanker."
She laughed when the Doctor roared and tried to grab at her before Rose ran towards the opening in the fence. The Doctor laughed and gave chase, ignoring the stunned looks of people coming inside the fence and the loiterers outside the bus station. Rose ran to the sidewalk in front of the bus station and cursed when she looked both ways and noticed cars were coming. She squealed when the Doctor seized her from behind and held her tight.
"Too bad, Vicki, you got trapped by the cars," he said in her ear.
Rose chuckled and leaned back into his embrace.
"So…are we staying like this then? You're not making any move to cross the street," the Doctor said when the cars cleared up.
"I don't know. Delaware might be exciting as long as I'm with you."
"Nah, TARDIS is better," the Doctor said, letting go.
He took her hand and squeezed it before they ran across the street towards the TARDIS.
THE END.