AN: This story is a continuation of my first Doctor Who story "Attack of the Ladurians" but you don't need to have read it to understand this story.

It takes place between "Attack of the Ladurians" and the sequel and will show how the Doctor and Martha's relationship is going to develop. There won't be much action in this but a lot of Ten/Martha moments. I hope you enjoy.

A big thank you to Persiflage for beta reading.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Chapter 1

Martha put her two suitcases down on the floor of her room in the TARDIS. Just an hour ago she had been in here to pack the few things she had taken with her when she'd come back for a few trips with the Doctor only a week before. Back then she'd only wanted to stay for a few days and now she was going to stay. So much had changed in the last hour.

She bent down to open her suitcases and started to unpack her belongings. Her mind drifted back to that moment in front of her house an hour ago when everything had changed. She still wasn't sure if she'd made the right decision by travelling with the Doctor again. He had kissed her and told her that he loved her, but what if he'd just wanted her to come with him again because he was lonely? If he really returned her feelings why hadn't he told her before? Why hadn't he told her after the Year That Never Was when she had told him why she was going to leave him? Why had he treated her like he did back when they'd first travelled together?

But she knew that he could find someone else to come with him if he was just lonely. He wanted her specifically. And as long as there was a chance that he did return her feelings she couldn't go home. It would be hard enough to try to get over him when she was sure that he didn't return her feelings. But as long as she wasn't certain it would be almost impossible. She would always wonder. She had to know the truth.

She was just putting a few of her books on the shelves when she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," she called out and turned around towards the door.

The door opened and the Doctor walked into the room. "Hi," he said, smiling at her. "Do you need help with unpacking your things?" he asked, indicating towards the open suitcases on the floor.

"No, I'm almost finished," Martha said. She watched him as he walked around the suitcases and stopped in front of her. He was rubbing the back of his neck with his hand like he often did when he wasn't sure what to say.

Martha smiled at that gesture. "Is there something you want to ask me?" she said.

"I was wondering if you're hungry. I know this restaurant, it's on a planet called Durelia. They make the best food I've ever tasted there."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Martha asked, smiling at him in a flirty manner.

"Yes," he said, leaning closer towards her. "What's your answer?"

His face was now so close to hers, she could feel his breath on her skin. Her heart was pounding inside her chest and the butterflies inside her stomach were fluttering wildly around.

"I could eat," she whispered.

"Good," he said. He turned around and walked back towards the door. Just in front of the door he stopped and turned around again to look at her. "Oh, I almost forgot: It's usually very warm on the planet. It has three suns. So you'd better dress lightly." With that he turned around and left the room.

Martha shot an angry look at the closed door. It was so typical of him to make her feel like that and then just walk away.

...

Martha walked into the console room dressed in a purple sundress that hugged her body in all the right places. Her hair was pulled back from her face with a purple headband.

The Doctor looked up when she walked into the room. Martha smiled when she saw that his mouth was hanging open slightly. "You look stunning," he complimented her after a few seconds of silence.

Her smile broadened. "Thank you," she said. He walked towards her and put his arms around her waist and kissed her.

Martha let herself relax into his embrace. In moments like this it was so easy to believe that he really returned her feelings for him. They still had a lot to talk about if they wanted their relationship to work, but that could wait.

Martha moved her hands up his back to his neck to pull his head closer and deepened the kiss. They stayed like this for a long while until they both had to come up for air. But instead of moving away from her the Doctor leaned his forehead against hers. They stayed in each other's embrace till they'd caught their breaths.

"Let's go and have dinner," the Doctor said a few minutes later.

...

The restaurant was built on top of a cliff. The waiter brought them to a table on a terrace close to the edge of the cliff. They could watch the first sun setting during dinner.

Martha had to admit that the food on the planet was some of the best she had ever tasted. They didn't talk about anything important during dinner; they just enjoyed being together and eating the food.

When they finished dinner the second sun was already setting over the ocean, bathing the water in a golden light. The Doctor took her hand and led her down a set of stairs to the beach. The stairs were carved into the rock. They took off their shoes and walked over the soft sand. After a while they reached a few flat rocks near the water and sat down.

They sat there for a couple of minutes in companionable silence and watched the planet's third sun descending over the ocean.

"We still have a lot to talk about," Martha broke the silence. She needed some clarity if she wanted to have this new sort of relationship with the Doctor, and she figured that now was a good moment for the talk.

"I know," the Doctor answered. He fell silent again. Just as Martha was starting to believe that he wasn't going to say more he began talking again.

"When I first met you I had just lost Rose. She had helped me through a really rough time after the Time War. She made me forget my pain over losing my homeworld. And I thought I loved her. By now I think I was just loving the way I could forget my pain when she was there. She never worried about anything. She just lived her life like she wanted to and enjoyed it, and after some time with her I did the same. And when she was gone the reality kind of came back. There was pain again and I thought it was because I loved her. When I met you I was afraid of getting to close to you. And I felt guilty because I was feeling attracted to you so soon after losing Rose."

"You were feeling attracted to me when we first met in the hospital?" Martha asked sceptically.

"There were at least a dozen other ways to stop the Judoon that wouldn't include a 'genetic transfer'. I didn't even admit it to myself at the time but the truth is I just wanted to kiss you and it was a good excuse." The Doctor smiled sheepishly at her.

"And I thought you didn't see me back then," Martha said.

"Oh, I did. How couldn't I? Like I said, you are brilliant. You saved my life so many times, you saved the Earth almost on your own, defeated the Master. You are one of the strongest and most intelligent persons I know. You are selfless, compassionate and so beautiful. And I was afraid I would fall in love with you. I have lost everyone who was ever close to me. I was afraid I couldn't stand loving and losing someone else. So I tried to keep you at arm's length. I tried to cling to the memory of Rose to keep myself from thinking about you."

"So what is different now?"

"After you walked away from me after the Year That Never Was I started to realise that beside all my efforts not to see you I had fallen in love with you. And it was a much stronger feeling than I had felt when I lost Rose. At first I felt guilty as if I would dishonour the memory of Rose. Like I somehow owed it to her to cling to my feelings for her and not to fall in love again. But then I realised that you'd done so much more for me and all I did was to treat you badly and make you feel second best." He smiled sadly at her. "You never were second best. Never."

Martha smiled at him. "I know," she said.

He smiled back at her. "I'm so sorry," he said.

"It's okay. It's in the past. All that matters is the here and now."

He reached out and wiped a single tear from her cheek. "Martha Jones, I don't deserve you."

"I think you're probably right," she said, grinning at him, more tears forming in her eyes.

"I promise you I will never again take you for granted. I'll never again let you doubt how I feel about you. I know we can't be together forever. Someday I'm going to lose you but I want to make the best of the time we have." He took her face in his hands and kissed her long and softly.

"I love you, Martha Jones," he whispered.

"I love you too, Doctor," Martha said. She leaned against him and laid her head against his shoulder. They stayed that way for a long while. The third sun had set and it was getting dark. Now that the suns weren't heating everything up it was getting rapidly colder. Martha shivered a little. The Doctor put his arms around her to keep her warm. "Let's go back to the TARDIS," he whispered into her hair.

"Good idea," Martha responded. They got up and walked back along the beach toward where the TARDIS was parked on top of the cliff.

AN: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter will hopefully be up in a couple of days.

Please leave a little review to let me know how you liked it.