Rose was not abandoned

Chapter 4

They finished breakfast and walked down to the beach, Alec insisting on walking further down away from the 'screaming kids' he said but Rose just thought he'd wanted some privacy after yesterday when he'd chased after her and kissed her in front of a crowd of holidaymakers and locals alike and by now was sure to be the subject of small town gossip. They walked a fair way and found a remote spot where families dare to tread and Rose got their towels out and Alec lay them by the water's edge, then changing his mind and walking back to the cliff face. Rose was waiting for him to finally decide where he was going to put the towels, just as long as it was still in the sun, which lucky for him, it was.

Rose took her sundress off and Alec stared at her in just her bikini top and her shorts as she put her sunglasses on and sat down on her towel, taking the shorts off. She held out the sun cream and asked him to put some on her back and shoulders which he was only too happy to do. She told him not to forget under the fastener but she needn't have worried about that, he didn't. He handed her the tube, asking if she needed help putting the cream on any other part of her and offered to put some on her legs but she declined and she sat up and put some on his back and shoulders, saying he looked cute with all his freckles on his back, then she noticed. He had a mole right where The Doctor had one, she'd seen him a few times when they went swimming on an alien planet, wishing now she'd done something other than think about snogging him at the time, one of the rare occasions he was seen without his suit.

She was sure most men had a mole somewhere on their back but one exactly in the same place? She erased it from her mind and savoured rubbing the sun cream on his shoulders, that's if he was enjoying it as much as she was. She put the cream away and lay on her front, closing her eyes. "Alec, you won't let me get too burned will you?" she asked, turning her head slightly to see he was laid on his towel, his sunglasses on and he'd bunched up his t-shirt as a cushion.

She turned on her side and prodded him when he didn't answer and he retaliated by grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him so she was almost on top of him and sneaked a quick kiss. "Ah, that's why he wanted to sit back here," she smiled to herself.

Suddenly, he got up and pulled her up with him and dragged her into the water, bending down and splashing her as she splashed back. Alec finally got tired of just splashing her, he wanted to do far more so he ran back out of the water and asked if she was finished trying to drench him. She said she wasn't and ran after him so he scooped her up and carried her back to where they were sitting. He laid her down on the towel and began drying her legs, kneeling down in front of her. When he'd finished, she lay down, putting her sunglasses back on and he dried himself, laying down next to her and taking her hand. Rose smiled, she'd never had someone to take care of her, even The Doctor was never this attentive on a more personal level and she really shouldn't be liking it so much. She had to keep reminding herself she wasn't staying.

Alec found he wasn't one for lying down and doing nothing. Sunbathing was not something he'd ever entertained, even on the few holidays he'd taken, he had to find something to do. Rose looked like she'd settled for a while and he didn't know what he was going to do. He could get his phone out and see if there was anything interesting on the news headlines or he could turn on his side and watch Rose again, she was so beautiful, he couldn't remember meeting anyone like her before, not who was actually interested in him that is.

So he turned on his side, Rose was now on her front and without him noticing had unfastened her bikini top and he was so tempted to just touch her but if she had fallen asleep he didn't want to disturb her. He thought back to that morning when he was watching her, wishing now every morning could be like that. Maybe it could for the next few days at least. Maybe he could convince her to stay. She was certainly troubled by something, she didn't even want to talk about her life and he wasn't going to push her away. He'd already nearly done that once and he wasn't about to do it again. He would wait and see if she talked to him.