500 years later...

"...and this is one of our most popular exhibits; a homo sapien. This particular specimen is from the planet Earth, in the 21st century. There is no finer example of an 18-year-old human female preserved in this condition anywhere in the galaxy..."

As the tour guide monologued, the Doctor watched on in bemusement. It had taken him a long time to track Ruby down, and while he was glad to see that she was alive and well, he also wondered what she'd think if she knew she'd been on display in a museum for half a millennia.

"Oh, Ruby Sunday, you naughty girl," he remarked under his breath as he read the plaque detailing her sex life. He walked slowly around her, admiring her naked body along with the rest of the tour party.

"Do you think they'd mind if we take photos?" he overheard.

"It'll be fine," the Doctor interjected. "I think Ruby here would love it if she knew people were taking pictures of her. Make sure you get her boobs in there!"

As the tour party moved on, the Doctor began to formulate his plan. There was no chance of rescuing Ruby while the museum was full of guests; he would have to come back later. Much later...

xxx

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, and into the flickering gloom of the museum. It had changed a lot over the last 200 years. By his calculations, it had been abandoned nearly a century ago, and the self-sustaining power grid was the reason the cryo chambers were still working in the run-down facility.

He carefully stepped around fallen ceiling panels, avoided stagnant water dripping from pipes, and dodged past exposed sparking wires.

Ruby was still safely frozen within her chamber. Even after 700 years, she didn't look a day over 18; which, of course, she wasn't, biologically-speaking.

The Doctor soniced the chamber, and after a few moments, heard a faint hissing noise. It didn't take long before his companion had defrosted, and the chamber door retracted. The Doctor caught Ruby as she fell forward, her limp body sagging against him, and helped her find her bare feet on the cool tiles.

"W-what's going on?" she asked, groggily. "D-Doctor?"

"It's OK, Ruby, I've got you," he replied, rubbing warmth into her shivering body.

A high-pitched squeal broke the silence as Ruby wriggled away from him, throwing her arms across her torso, and turning away.

"W-where...why am I...why is it so c-c-cold?!"

The last thing Ruby remembered was sunbathing by the pool. So why was she now stark naked, in what looked like an alien spaceship, and at such a temperature that a glacier would have been jealous?

"I can explain later, babes, let's get out of here-"

"I want to know right now why I'm fucking naked! And can you please stop looking at me!"

Ruby's head was still scrambled, and consequently forgot that it was never a good idea to ask the Doctor for clarification if you wanted a short answer:

"You're in an alien museum. Well, you'd call it an alien museum, the people who ran it would just call it a museum. Or is it an alien museum because it's full of aliens? I went to one of those with Rose, a long time ago. Have I mentioned Rose? She was a bit like you; blonde, adventurous, always acting funny about being naked-"

"Doctor! Can you please get to the point?" Ruby interrupted, hoping from one bare foot to the other.

"Sorry! Anyway, they did a very good job covering their tracks when they snatched you, because it took me a LONG time to find you. Although a time machine does make traveling 500 years pretty easy, and obviously, being in cryo sleep means it won't seem like any time has passed?"

"Cryo sleep? L-like in Star Wars?" Ruby asked. At least that explained why she was so cold. "F-for 500 years?"

"Well, 700 actually. I had to jump forward a few centuries for an easier rescue."

Ruby pinched herself hard but didn't wake up. Had she really spent the last seven centuries in suspended animation?

"Wait...did you say m-museum?" she asked, her skin crawling. "But that means...oh, God, how many people have SEEN me like this?!"

"It's fine, babes! It's nothing I haven't seen before, and apparently, you were the reason they were so famous!"

Ruby opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water, too stunned to form words. Nothing he hadn't seen before? Had he...had he seen her that time she'd forgotten her towel after a shower, or that drunken night of dares with the TARDIS had resulted in her streaking through the time machine? Somehow, it felt much worse that the Doctor had seen her nude, than the fact that the entire GALAXY had.

"Can we PLEASE get out of here now?" Ruby pleaded; she didn't think he would have prattled on for so long! "And can you please stop looking at me?!"

A loud bang made the red-faced girl quiver with fear.

"Let's go before this entire place falls on us," the Doctor said, stepping towards her.

"Get off me!" Ruby squealed. "I can walk on my own!"

"You sure? You've not eaten for 700 years, your body will be weak when it realises that, you don't want to be falling onto anything in here."

"Well, let's get back to the TARDIS before that happens!"

The nude girl fell into step behind the Doctor, tightly clutching her bare torso, cringing at the coldness she experienced with every bare footstep.

In just a few minutes, she repeated to herself, she'd be back in the TARDIS and reunited with her clothes. She'd never take them for granted ever again!