The Doctor sat dangling his legs over the pier as he watched the sea swirl underneath him. He wasn't really thinking about anything; he didn't want to think. He closed his eyes and saw the master dying in his arms; now he really was the last of the Time Lords. He sighed and wondered what Martha was up to; he took the phone she had given him out of his pocket and stared at it as if looking at it would make it ring. He had heard whispers that she was working with Captain Jack. He hoped she was happy.
He smiled sadly and turned to go back to the Tardis when he sensed it; sensed her; but it was impossible that it was her; she was dead.
"Doctor?" she sighed in a light Irish accent. She was about five foot four with long black hair with the hint of a curl and deep hazel green eyes; she wore a skirt that suited the early twentieth century with a Sex Pistols T-shirt and a pair of white Nikes poking out from underneath her skirt. He looked at her and wondered how he knew this young woman, she looked familiar but he knew he had never seen her face before; then he knew her; she had to be a dream; he had seen her so many times in his dreams and there she stood.
"You can not be here." He gasped tears catching in his throat; as he came closer to her, but he knew she was her; she was a Time Lord; the one Time Lord he dreamt about each night; the one he missed most.
"Neither should you. Maybe we should go into the Tardis and I shall explain. I have been looking for you for quite some time. You are a hard man to pin down." She said smiling slightly. This perplexed the Doctor even more.
"I'll explain everything, you wouldn't have some tea. I have travelled such a very long way." She said as he slowly led the way to the Tardis keeping an eye on the woman as if he even blinked she would vanish and he would be alone again.
"You are dead!" he gasped as he led her into the Tardis. She had a new face but he knew it was her.
"Funny that isn't it; but I'm not all that dead." She smiled; it was the same smile he hadn't seen in too many long years; but saw every night in his dreams.
"How?" he asked as he handed her a cup and saucer. She stirred the amber tea and smiled he had remembered the lemon; even after all this time such an insignificant detail was remembered.
"Do you remember when we were oh twenty or so; and we got into the high councillors Titan rum. Still the worst hangover I've ever had." She laughed.
"How?" he asked again as he knelt before her; his eyes still fixed on her.
"I was the guardian in the Genesis Ark; so like those Daeleks I survived, when they escaped so did I; but I got stuck in the Cardiff rift. There my Tardis got me out when you came back to top up. When I got out I put myself under a perception block because the Master was well you know; he found me though and I was toast; then puff I was back. Your work I guess. Nice by the way; but the dramatics were always your style." She smiled; he continued to look at her in awe.
"I had a hand in it but it was really my companion; she did all the work." He mused, thinking of that lost year where it had all been up to Martha, and she had excelled.
"And Susan did she survive?" She asked her head bowed wanting an answer but afraid of it too. He rocked back on his feet and sighed; he had tried not to think about Susan and her family in a long time.
"Gone; like all the others." He sighed sadly.
"I had hoped she would survive her father was human; I thought that would save her. Oh my god; so it's true; we have lost them all." He voice dipped and tears swam in her eyes. He took her gently into his arms and felt her hearts beating, her breath on his neck. This wasn't a dream; she was really here in his arms. He never dreamt of such a thing happening
Suddenly as the sad silence descended upon them; a key turned in the door of the Tardis. Both heads shot up and she wiped her eyes as he stood alert. Without knowing it they had taken hold of each others hands and he had step in front of her protectively. They looked at the door as Martha poked her head around it.
"Oh I didn't think you had company." Martha said looking at the woman who stood next to the Doctor; 'she's pretty I suppose' she thought to herself trying to bury the tinge of jealousy.
"Martha! Oh my god it's great to see you." He gushed with genuine joy; he rushed to her and took her in a rib crunching embrace.
"Martha I would like you to met The Guardian, my mate." He said 'My Mate' he never thought he would say those words again; nor had he thought he would sense her near him again. But the words rolled so easily of his tongue as if he'd said them a thousand times a day.
"When you say mate, are we using slang, like this is my mate Dave?" Martha said softly okay she had Matt now but this was The Doctor.
"Well back on Gallifrey she and I were; I suppose by your concept married." The Doctor sighed looking back at the young woman. She was pretty; she looked a bit like a young Mae West; same bee sting lips and sultry Bette Davis eyes.
"You must be the saviour of the world; The Doctor here has been telling me some amazing things about you. I owe my life to you. And you can call me Dia; the Guardian, is too formal." Dia said shaking Martha's hand softly. As much as Martha hated to admit it; there was something about the woman she liked; her eyes were old and kind like the Doctor's.
"Married!" Martha gasped. He had never mentioned that; but then he never really spoke about his life before the Time War.
"Oh we, The Doctor and I we were literally mated at the age of eight when we entered the academy. Then I had to teach him everything I knew; it's a hard job but you know that we girls are always smarter." Dia smiled as she linked Martha's arm. Yes as much as she wanted to dislike the woman Martha was starting to like the new Time Lord.
"You didn't teach me everything! Just to think outside the box." The doctor sighed being to love the sound of the Irish lilt in her voice.
"All you do is think outside the box!" Martha smiled as Dia chuckled and looked back at the Doctor.
'My wife; the only woman in the entire universe that knows my name and I the only one that knows hers. Our children are dead our grandchildren too. Of all the time lords to have been the guardian I should have known it would have been her but I never thought. She is mine and I am hers. My Dia. I am not alone.' He thought softly as he watched the two women talking softly over cups of tea. He smiled at them his tiny new family Jack could be there too the arrogant but sweet son in law. Sons and Daughters he had had them once the real biological kind; so had Dia; their loss had hurt her and he saw it in her eyes; was their loss evident in his. He watched Dia slowly playing with the long dark strands that fell around her shoulders. How many times had she regenerated? What was life like on the Genesis Arc; her alone for all that time with the Darleks? He shuddered to think what was she had gone through.
'I can still hear you. You know.' He had nearly forgotten the fact that their link was so strong that they could read each others mind.
'I'm sorry darling; but you knew I would worry about what you went through?' He turned and looked at her and she turned slowly and smiled at him. 'I always loved that about you; you missed me.' She telepathically said. 'You missed me too.' He sighed; a smile which barely reached his eyes now blazed in them. Martha looked at them and couldn't help but smile. He looked so happy; the last time he looked this happy he had been John Smith, human and in love.
'Oh still as egotistical.' He felt the laughter in her voice that soft teasing he had always loved was back.
"I take it you two can talk other ways?" Martha smiled knowingly as she watched the two Time Lords lock eyes.