Tegan wandered through the corridors, trying to ease his mind so he could get to sleep. He'd been having this problem a lot lately, and it was no mystery why. As much as he tried to deny it, he had a major crush on the Doctor, and it was starting to drive him insane.

He just couldn't stand having other men getting too close to her. Besides the fact that most of them wanted to hurt her in some way, it was the simple fact that he and the Doctor argued way too often for a 'healthy' relationship. She had left him on Earth after Adria died, maybe she didn't want him around after all… Then there was Turlough.

Tegan really didn't like her. She'd tried to kill the Doctor several times, and despite what she and the Doctor said, he wasn't sure she wasn't still planning some way to kill the Doctor. He wasn't even sure the Doctor was sure. And if that was the case...

Maybe the reason she kept Turlough around was because they were romantically involved! The realization hit Tegan like a brick. After all, Gallifrey was 90% female, and most males found it beneath them to be romantically involved. If all those guys opted out, then there might still be a bunch of women with nowhere to turn for romance except each other.

Tegan sagged against the wall and buried his face in his hands. 'Wouldn't that be perfect?' he thought miserably.

"Tegan?"

Tegan's head shot up and he saw the Doctor staring down at him, looking criminally cute as usual. Tegan stood up and cleared his throat.

"I was just... thinking," he said, glancing to the side.

"About what?" asked the Doctor. Tegan's mind reeled for a moment as he tried to come up with something that wasn't a complete lie.

"Adria," he blurted out. The Doctor's face darkened slightly, like it always did when the young Alzarian was mentioned. She thought he didn't notice, but Tegan knew full well that Adria's death had taken its toll on her. It had just taken a while to figure it out.

"Ah yes," the Doctor said. She wrung her hands and cleared her throat. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that, actually." Tegan leaned against the wall and waited. "I know you blame me for her death, so I'd like you to go ahead and get it all out of your system."

"Wha-"

"Yell at me, even slap me if you feel the need to, but I can't take it anymore," the Doctor's breathing was becoming ragged, "and if you'd like, I'll take you home, as soon as I can. You don't even have to talk to me if you don't want to, but I'm tired of all the tension. I'm SICK of it!" Tegan watched in a mixture of befuddlement and horror as the Doctor's voice began to crack. "It is my fault that she died, and I could have gone back to save her, but the same stupid laws I flaunted when I took the TARDIS kept me in check and I couldn't even save the life of one little girl who just wanted to go back… home." The Doctor's eyes started to overflow with tears. "And I'm sorry."

Tegan grabbed the Doctor and pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back in soothing circles as she began to shake with sobs.

"Oh Doc," Tegan sighed. "Were you stewing about that all this time?" The Doctor nodded into his shoulder. "I never really blamed you, ya know. I was just… mad. I never meant for you to think I hated you."

"R-really?"

"Yeah," said Tegan. Then, since he was feeling extremely daring, he kissed her on her head, then quickly turned his attention forward again as his face heated up. She continued to cry into his shoulder until finally it seemed like her tears were exhausted, and so was she. Tegan practically carried her along the lighted path the TARDIS used to guide him to her room, which seemed fairly close to his, actually. He felt like a parent as he pulled off her shoes and coat and tucked her into bed.

He was about to leave when the Doctor's hand caught his and she tugged him back toward her.

"Thank you," she murmured as she pulled him down and planted a soft kiss on his cheek.

Hence the reason Turlough saw him wandering back to his room with a stupid grin on his face.

BloodLily: I've also posted this on my DeviantART account. Please go over and check it out and maybe pop a comment on some of my art.

Unicorn: Guess who doesn't own Doctor Who?

BloodLily: Also, the characters in here are genderswapped/genderbent. It's hard to tell because A) Tegan is a gender-neutral name, B) the Doctor is a gender-neutral title, and C) Turlough goes by his last name on the show. Ta!