AN: This story is a continuation of my stories "Attack of the Ladurians" and "By Your Side" but you don't need to have read them to understand this story.

A big thank you to Persiflage for beta-reading.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Chapter 1

When Martha woke up it was still early in the morning, as far as she could tell. It was very hard to keep track of time while one was on the TARDIS. But she was sure that she couldn't have slept longer than six hours.

She turned around to lie on her side and was a bit surprised to see a sleeping Time Lord lying next to her. The Doctor needed less sleep than she did and he was usually already up when she awoke. She wasn't even sure if he actually slept every night or just got up as soon as she'd fallen asleep. That was a shame since she really liked waking up next to him but he usually made it up to her by making breakfast.

But as she thought of it she realised that it wasn't really surprising that he slept longer than usual. They had spent the last week on a planet where he'd helped the inhabitants to repair an old computer which ran the entire capital city almost on its own and she wasn't sure if he'd got any sleep at all while they had been on the planet. Even a Time Lord needed to catch up on sleep after a week like that. Not to mention that they hadn't had much time for each other while they'd been on the planet so they'd done a lot of other "catching up" before going to sleep, which had also added to his exhaustion.

Martha propped her head up on her hand and looked down at her lover. He looked kind of cute when he was asleep. Much more peaceful than when he was awake. She liked watching him but she didn't often get the chance to do so even though they shared a bedroom.

They had been in a relationship for a bit more than a year. And they were closer than she'd ever been with anyone else. It had taken them a long time to get there. She'd spent two years thinking he didn't see her and feeling second best. It had taken her walking away from him to make the Doctor realise his feelings for her. And it took even longer for him to fully open up to her, to talk about the Time War and a lot of other things he'd never shared with anyone else before. And now they'd finally got past all this and could just enjoy being together.

While Martha lay there on her side watching his features the Doctor started to stir.

"Good morning," Martha whispered as he slowly opened his eyes.

He turned to lie on his side, facing her and put his left arm around her body while he supported his head with his other arm. "Good morning," he said.

"Do you know that you look really cute when you're asleep?" she asked.

"As a fact, I didn't," he replied. She grinned at him and reached out with her hand to touch his cheek.

"What do you think about going on holiday?" he asked her out of the blue. "We could go to Durelia and relax a bit."

Martha remembered the last time she'd been on Durelia a year ago. The Doctor had taken her there on a date just after he'd first told her about his feelings for her. It was a very beautiful planet with three suns. Most of the planet's surface was covered with ocean except for lots of big and small islands. The Doctor had told her that the people on the planet lived mostly from tourism.

She had only seen one very small island while they'd been there the last time. The only building on the island had been the restaurant they'd been to. And she would love to see more of the planet.

"Sounds good," she said. "But since when do you want to relax?"

His hand stroked her naked back absent mindedly "We've been through a lot lately and I just thought it would be nice to have a bit of time for each other without having to run for our lives."

Martha smiled at him. "That's a brilliant idea. But with our luck some aliens are going to invade Durelia while we're there."

"Hopefully not," he replied. He pulled her closer to him so he could kiss her.

...

A few hours later the TARDIS landed on a hill under a large tree. Martha opened the door and stepped outside. The view was breath-taking. They had landed on one of the larger islands on Durelia, just outside a small town. A narrow path led down the hill towards the town, and to her left she could see a long, deserted beach and the ocean bathed in golden sunlight. It was still early in the morning and only two of the three suns had risen so far.

The Doctor emerged from the TARDIS with two bags over his shoulder. "What do you think?" he asked her as he pulled the door shut behind him.

"It's beautiful," she said. He grinned at her.

"Do you see that building over there?" he asked, indicating a big, white house that was the closest to where they stood right now.

"Is that the hotel?" Martha asked. The Doctor had contacted the hotel earlier to book a room for them.

"Yes. Let's go there first, then we can go and explore the town."

"Alright. But this afternoon we will go to the beach," Martha said. The Doctor gripped her hand with his free hand while somehow managing to carry both bags with one arm and led her down the path towards the hotel.

...

As soon as they entered the reception hall of the small hotel they were greeted by a woman with light blue skin and long white hair. She was wearing a long white dress and had a broad smile on her face. Martha remembered that the waiters of the restaurant they'd been to a year ago had had the same blue skin and white hair. She assumed that this was what the native species of this planet looked like.

"Welcome to Durelia," she said. "My name is Firala, I'm the owner of this hotel."

"Hello," the Doctor grinned at her. "I'm the Doctor and this is Martha."

"Ah, yes. I remember you called earlier. Let me show you to your room." Firala turned around and led them to a door at the end of the hall.

The hotel wasn't very big so they reached their room in a short time. Firala handed Martha the key.

"If you have any questions feel free to ask me. Or you can also use one of our computer terminals," Firala said, indicating a screen on the wall in their room.

"Thank you," the Doctor said and smiled at her. Firala gave them both a broad smiles and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Why were we greeted by the owner?" Martha asked.

"This is only a small hotel. And it's the only hotel on this island. I wanted to go somewhere there are not so many other tourists."

"Good idea," Martha said. She looked around the room. It wasn't very big but very nicely furnished with a large bed and a couch. There was also a balcony attached to the room with chairs and a table on it.

The Doctor put their bags down next to the bed. "What do you think?" he asked her.

"I like it," Martha said. She noticed that this was the second time he'd asked her that since they'd landed here and she realised that he must have planned this holiday mostly for her. He wasn't the kind of person who liked to relax, let alone for a whole week. The only reason he would consider staying on a holiday planet for seven days and spending hours on a beach doing nothing was to make her happy. And that thought made her smile.

She walked up to him and put her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she said and kissed him softly.

He smiled. "Anything for you, Dr. Jones."

...

Firala returned to the empty reception hall. She didn't expect any new guests for the day so she went into her office to do the paper work she'd been supposed to finish a week ago.

"Was it him?" a voice asked behind her. Firala jumped slightly and wheeled around to face the man who stood next to the door.

"Couldn't you have waited outside? You gave me a fright."

"I didn't want them to see me," he said. "So, was it him?"

"He looked like the man in the picture you showed me. They will stay for a week."

"Thank you. I'll let you know when I know more," he turned around.

"What does your boss want from this man," Firala asked him before he could leave.

The man turned around again. "Don't worry about that. Just keep to our agreement and let us know when he leaves the hotel and where he's going. We will see to everything else." With that he left the room and made his way towards the back door.

Firala looked after him uneasily. She wasn't sure anymore if she'd done the right thing by agreeing to the arrangement with this man. But he'd offered her a lot of money and her hotel wasn't doing so well.

She let out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and turned around to her desk. Before she started doing the paperwork she made sure to keep an eye on the reception hall through the open door so she would know as soon as her new guests left their room.

AN: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

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