Yay another chapter! Anyways, short and to the point right now. Thank you to my reviewers, readers, and anyone who has put this story on their favorite or follow list. You guys make my day and are the reason this story has continued! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who but oh how I wish I did. I do however own Addie and anyone else you do not recognize. I also own this plot since it's AU as of right now.

Enjoy!

Chapter Three

After Addie had left him for the final time that night, the Doctor allowed himself to wander around her flat. He poked at some of her belongings, some of which he knew probably belonged to Lilly. He studied the pictures hanging on the walls, the figurines dotting dusted shelves, and the copious amount of books overflowing from the two bookshelves in the room.

The pictures where what drew him in. They told a story much better than any book could ever do. They weren't arranged in any kind of order but the Doctor could figure out which ones were older just by looking at Addie. He found the ones where she was fifteen, just starting a life on Earth away from the hectic life of the TARDIS. Though those pictures, populated with friends and family, Addie looked anything but ecstatic to be there. She had a smile, yes, but it was as if that smile had to be forced. As the pictures moved on in the years he saw that her family became less and less, her friends more and more. Her smile was less forced, her eyes shining brightly with happiness and laughter. That was what he had truly wanted for her, a happy life with little risk of danger.

He spotted a few recent pictures scattered in standing frames on the highest shelf of one of the book cases. They were of Addie and Lilly, standing in front of a grand old castle with their arms wrapped around one another mid-laugh as if someone off camera had said something funny. She looked radiant, like when she had a rush of adrenaline from the dangers they had once faced together. She was older in that picture, more mature than in the others, leading him to believe it hadn't been taken too long ago.

Just as he was about to move on from those photos he caught the glint of a silver frame behind one of the ones he had just been looking at. Out of curiosity, and the fact that it had been hidden yet free of dust, he carefully reached up and removed the frame and picture for a better look. What he saw before him, rather held in his hands, made his hearts skip a beat.

Inside that old silver frame, which gleamed and glittered showing it was well cared for, was an older picture of Addie. Her hair was a mass of thick darkness around a pale face with sparkling gray eyes. This picture was taken around the same time he had dropped her on Earth, maybe a couple of months following it. What got his attention the most, however, was not the black haired girl he had watched grow up but rather the blond standing beside her with a long slender arm thrown over Addie's shoulder. Addie's arm was around the girl's waist. They both held a bemused look, a bit impish as if they were planning something that would never be spoken of if it could be helped. The girls looked to be around the age of fifteen, possibly sixteen.

He knew that girl. It was Rose Tyler. His Rose had known his Addie. They had been friends. Friends for at least four years before he had taken Rose away to travel through time and space with him. Four years before he lost her to another universe. Four years of doing god knows what and causing trouble no doubt. While this fact made him smile it also made him sad. Remembering the loss of Rose, and realizing that he had ripped the one person Addie was probably the closest to away, made him feel like a bad guy even though he knew it wasn't rational to think that way.

With a heavy sigh he went to place the photo and frame back where he had found it. Instead it noted that the back holding the picture inside the glass was bulging as if the picture was thicker than it should have been. Even more curious than before he carefully removed the back only to be assaulted with a torrential rain fall of over a dozen or more pictures.

With them now scattered across the floor, the Doctor set about retrieving them and placing them, hopefully, in their proper order. While doing so he took a look at each one he gently picked up off the hardwood flooring. The pictures were more of Addie and Rose, a couple of them had Lilly in them, even a few had a smiling Micky and Jackie. In all of these pictures they all looked so happy, so complete. In that one fleeting second the Doctor knew that leaving Addie on Earth had been the best thing for her and for Rose, and all those who had known either of them.

He continued to shift through the photos coming to the very last one. To his shock and amazement this picture was actually taken during the time Rose had been off running around with him. He didn't know when, or how this picture was taken, but it had been. It must had been snapped by someone close to them because there was shock written on both girl's faces. From the angle it was taken at he could see Addie's eyes vibrant and Rose's eyes sparkling. He wondered what had happened after the photo because there wasn't anything else. He wondered what they had done, had they embraced or yelled, talked or cried. It brought up so many questions and so many thoughts that he couldn't even being to sort everything out. So he simply did what he should have done in the first place. He placed the pictures back inside their frame, put them back on the best he could, and set the frame back behind the ones where he found it.

The Doctor tried desperately to get the thought of Addie and Rose together out of his mind. He'd never had this happen before, at least not that he could remember. Two companions, at different times in their lives having known one another and been close friends. How odd it must have been for Addie to have to keep such a large part of her life to herself and poor Rose, not being able to tell her best friend what she was doing while she disappeared for weeks, if not months, on end? He couldn't imagine what it had been like for the two of them but he felt happy knowing that at one point they had had one another to lean on.

Knowing this fact now, however, made him wonder what Addie thought had become of her dear Rose. But did he dare ask her knowing what questions he would bring about let alone the emotional distress he could cause to both of them? The subject would be broached eventually, like all of their history would, yet for right now he just wanted to think about the here and now, to make sure Addie was okay and that maybe, just maybe she would like once more to fly away with him even if it was only for one last trip.

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Eleven in the morning, that was the time Addie found herself rolling out of bed to land on her feet. When she put pressure on her sore ankle she felt only the slightest of twinges of pain shot up through her leg. It was more than bearable, nothing at all like it had been several hours ago when she had her midnight encounter with the Doctor. In fact her whole body felt more rested, relaxed almost. She not only had to thank her physiology but the fact that the TARDIS was somewhere near by. She'd always had a connection with that big living mass of machinery.

Giving a large stretch she reached her arms skyward and gave her body a little wiggle feeling pops and snaps of her bones. She stifled a yawn as she ran a hand through her messy hair before making her way out of her room and down the hall. Thankfully, unlike last night, she didn't trip over her cat nor fall on her backside. She easily walked into the living room finding it completely empty of life, which she supposed shouldn't have been much of a surprise. She did, however, find it more than mildly depressing that the Doctor had run off without so much as a goodbye or any indication of when he would be back.

"'Tis the life of a wandering space man," she chuckled more to herself than for anyone else.

Padding her way to the kitchen she found her teapot sitting beneath it's cozy, still warm as if it had just been made minutes ago. In fact a cup, half empty, sat on the counter as if it was meant to be there. She thought for a moment that it belonged to Lilly only to hear the distinct sound of her flatmate waking for the day. Thuds and curses, that was how Lilly had been greeting the mid-morning sun since she was sixteen, which was five years ago.

It hit Addie then that the cup belonged to the Doctor. He had stayed the night and even made tea! It upset her though that he had taken off and was nowhere to be found in the flat. He could have been half way across the universe and she wouldn't known any better.

With a quick shake of her head she simply grabbed the cup, dumping the contents down the drain and setting it gently in the sink even though she felt the urge to hurl it at a wall. She went about making her own cup of tea trying to calm the anger dwelling in her stomach. Now that the shock and happiness of seeing the Doctor had warn off all she felt was hurt and anger bubbling in her stomach and heart. She knew that it wasn't proper to think like that but she had waited far to long for the Doctor to show. She had waited and waited until she finally just gave up, giving into the fact that her life was now on Earth and not in the stars. Her anger dissipated as she thought about what she would have done if in his shoes. Would she have dropped herself on Earth to live a regular and less dangerous life? The answer was yes, she would have done it in a heartbeat. She couldn't stay mad at him. Yet the hurt of being abandoned without hearing from him stilled burned inside her.

She was just pouring the hot tea from her clear glass pot when she heard Lilly scream and the distinct whirring of the TARDIS being landed somewhere inside the flat. Of course Lilly's girlish scream had caught Addie off guard causing her hand to slip off the cup and pot sending both shattering to the ground below.

Cursing up a blue streak, Addie raced for the sink, barely missing stepping on a piece of broken glass as she hopped herself up onto the counter, flicking on the ice cold water only to stuff her now partially burned feet and ankles into the basin. "Stupid bint, couldn't have given me a bit of warning before screaming like a nancy!"

"Oi, I'd like some warning before your martin man lands his ship in the middle of our bloody living room!" Lilly shouted back, her voice a little thready with surprised and shame for having screamed like a sixteen year old at a horror film.

"Oh bugger off," Addie shouted back. "You're not the one with burns and cuts on her legs now are you?"

"What were you doing, playing with fire?" Lilly growled as she raced into the kitchen. While her voice said she was angry, her face said she was worried. She looked around the kitchen seeing the shattered remains of the glass pot and cup. "Addie, seriously? You broke the bloody pot again."

"If you didn't scream at the first sign of something startling we wouldn't have this problem now would we?" Addie mumbled finally as she began to take off the wrap that had still been wrapped around her injured ankle. It had protected that leg from much of the scolding water but her toes and mid-calf had still be splashed. She noted some of the small scraps, none of which were bad. She'd done worse while shaving her legs. "He's not mine and he's not a martin either. I wouldn't be calling him that if I were you. He gets a tad bit offended."

Lilly sighed while weaving through the mess. She reached for some towels to clean tea and glass off the floor. "Whatever he is, he's got bad timing."

Addie gave a weak smile. "I'm sure it wouldn't have mattered what time of day he made another appearance. I would have simply dropped something else at that scream of yours. If I hadn't known any better I would have thought an ax-murderer was in the flat trying to stab you." She tossed the balled up wet wrap at her adopted sister's head getting a laugh in response.

"Well it wouldn't have cost us thirty quid. This pot was a gift from mum."

"That little thing cost thirty quid?! Could have saved some money and went to the grocery and bought one for half that." Addie reached back for the paper towels before turning off the water and drying her legs. "Didn't do too much damage I suppose. Just a couple of tender spots."

"You're lucky you hadn't just made that pot. Other wise I'd be taking you to the ER."

"What's going on in here? Did I miss a party?" The Doctor came gallivanting in, oblivious to the fact had by accident caused the commotion.

Addie finished drying her legs and slipped them out of the sink to hang off the counter she still sat on. Several spots on her legs were still stinging and burning but it wasn't as bad as it first had felt. She leveled a heated gaze on the skinny man watching Lilly mop up the floor. "You're what happened. You and your unannounced visits and lack of flying skills. Bloody near sent me to the hospital with burns."

"What?" In confusion he looked around the kitchen. "How'd I do this if I was landing the TARDIS in the other room?"

Rolling her gray eyes she made sure that where she hopped down was free of debris, it wouldn't do for her to need stitches to the bottom of her foot, not again anyways. "The noise, which I usually love, scared a just woken up Lilly who in-turn screamed which caused me to jump and drop both my fresh cup of tea and the glass pot!"

"It's not like I intended for it to happen. I assumed I'd be back before either of you woke up." He stretched at the back of his head in shame. "You alright?" He looked at Addie.

"Quite. I've had worse."

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Lilly snapped as she tossed the last soiled rag into the sink. "I need the broom," she said while pointing to the closet right next to the Doctor. He just stood there. "Get it." She ordered.

Shocked at being ordered about by a human he didn't even know, he opened the door and grabbed the green handled broom in question while Addie just stood there laughing. She wasn't mad anymore. She never could properly stay mad at the Doctor. He had always done something to make her smile and laugh. He had been, and still was, the bright spot in her world.

She finally settled down and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Don't looked so shocked. I've told her stories about you, what you are and myself as well. She doesn't know everything but she knows enough."

"You've told a human about what you did before you landed here?" Utterly astonished he just sort of stared at her as if she had grown a second head on her shoulders.

With another eye roll she grabbed the dustpan to help Lilly finish cleaning up the remnants of her morning tea. "I had needed someone to confide in when I first got here. I know that her parents knew about you, sort of seeing as her dad worked for the government at the time, but I didn't want to talk with them. Lilly was the closest to my age and after a month or so of me living with them I opened up to her."

"Like Adds said, I don't know much but I know just enough. So please, for all that is holy, somehow send a message or something to let Addie know you're going to land that infernal thing. Or at least, as Addie said, learn how to fly it properly." With that Lilly stalked off.

Addie chuckle while dumping the glass. "Don't mind her. Not much of a morning person, that one." She tightened everything realizing that she didn't have a way to make tea. "Got a good pot in the TARDIS?" When he nodded she simply smiled and said, "Mind going to fetch it seeing as you helped break mine?"

"I believe that was all your fault." He grinned and ducked the flying dustpan before disappearing for several minutes coming back with a ceramic pot in his hands. She smiled briefly at that pot, remembering the Doctor, the old Doctor, teaching her how to make a proper cup of tea when she was seven. She had burned much of the tea, and wasted more water than she could drink but that lesson had been a fun one. A life lesson she still used today. "I see some things don't change," she whispered as she rubbed the pad of her thumb across the engraving of her initials into the earthenware.

With a deep sigh and a bright smile she went about gathering her kettle, pouring water inside only to set it on the burner. She and the Doctor sat in a slight uncomfortable silence while they waited for the water to come to a boil.

"So," she murmured lightly while leaning against the counter. She used her heel to scratch at the stinging flesh on her calf trying to be rather discreet about the movement.

"How bad are your legs?" Addie sighed at his question having realized that her subtle movement, or what she had thought was a subtle, had been noticed after all. "You've never been subtle with pain," he said as if having read her mind.

Simply raising a brow she chuckled. "Stay out of my head." She shoved at him just as the kettle whistled. "My legs are fine no thanks to Lilly and you. Just a few red stinging patches which will, with some lotion, go away. It's not the first time I've been burned, you know that well."

"More than I care to actually. Nothing else bothering you? Nothing from last night?"

She pondered for a moment while she made her tea. She mentally went though her body as she tried to find anything that was overly sore or in a tremendous amount of pain. She found nothing but the dull throb in the back of her head from falling as well as the sting of weight on her ankle. "Nothing really. Just a few aches and pains, nothing I haven't dealt with before. I am female after all. I suffer monthly." He simply gave her a look which made her laugh brightly before taking a sip of the still hot tea. She burned her lips and mouth but kept that little fact to herself not wanting to alarm the man in front of her.

"Lilly, she doesn't like me much does she?"

"Doesn't know you I suppose." Addie shrugged motioning to the pot. The Doctor shook his head in response. "She thinks I'm going to leave, you know. You're all I've talked about when speaking of my past. She is well aware of the fact I miss my old life."

He looked at her for a long moment which had her shifting from foot to foot in discomfort. She was about to speak when he did. "You are going to leave though? Come back and join me in the TARDIS?"

Her smile was soft this time, reassuring almost. She could feel his hope, his guilt in asking her to give up a life she had been living for a large part of her life. What he didn't know was that he was offering her the life she knew, the life she craved, back. It was the life she had sat and thought about, the life she had wished to have once more. "I'm going to leave, yes. There is no doubt about that Doctor. This is going to be hard on Lilly. She's lost so much in her young life."

"I don't understand."

Hopping back up onto the counter, Addie set her cup down and looked back over her shoulder making sure that Lilly wasn't within ear shot. "Lilly lost her grandparents when she was sixteen. It was a drunk driving accident. Her grandparents, her aunt, and cousin were in the vehicle as well. No one survived except the driver who hit them. Last year her boyfriend died. Right out of the blue, didn't even know he was ill. Apparently he had an aneurism, dropped right in the middle of the grocery. I was with them and even with a nursing degree I could do nothing but call for an ambulance. She wouldn't talk for a month, wouldn't go to her classes, and wouldn't even paint. I thought I had lost her to her own mind but suddenly she just talked to me."

They sat there for a moment, quiet, yet this time it wasn't uncomfortable. Addie's thoughts played through her mind and without much thought she showed them to the Doctor. The mental link they shared flared and she was glad she was sitting down as the painful images of watching her sister fall apart flashed behind her eyes in bright color.

"She doesn't want to lose me. I know nothing I say can make her believe that I'm not leaving for good and she wouldn't survive traveling with us. She's a timid soul, not that there is anything wrong with that. She's just not cut out for adventure like I am. Suppose it's my race." She rocked her feet back and forth, staring at her painted toe nails and the large bruise that seemed to engulf her damaged ankle.

"You don't need to feel as if you need to come with me. It is up to you." He was sad now which caused Addie to frown.

She slide of the counter to stand in front of him, gray eyes glittering. "I need to go away Doctor. You know as well as I do that this isn't my home. My home burned long ago, well it will have in a couple hundred years," she chuckled morbidly at her own joke. "I'm as wrong for this place as you are."

"Hey now I'm not wrong for anywhere." He tried to put a trace of hurt in his voice but couldn't help the childish grin on his face.

She raised a dark brow. "Yes, of course. Nowhere is wrong for the Doctor, even when the natives are running him out with fire and pitchforks."

"That was one time and it wasn't even my fault. It's the last time I'll ever bring you to Salem."

Shaking her head she just shoved at him while giving a little laugh. "Get, I've things to tend to if I plan on leaving this blue marble behind, if only for a little while."

"Blue marble." The Doctor mulled it over as if tasting the term on his tongue and in his mind. "I like that. I just might—"

"Don't even think it Doctor," she called out from deeper in the flat, her voice bouncing off the walls. "That belongs to me."

"Oi, you can't claim that," he shouted not bothering to follow her to wherever she was going to do whatever it was she had to do.

He watched her pop her head back in, her smile bright and showing her teeth. Her eyes were alight with fire. "Of course I can! I'm a Time Lord!" And then she was gone, a rush of black hair and pale skin. He couldn't do anything but grin and remember all those times she had shouted that as a child. He was happy to hear it again.

Suggestions? Comments? Concerns? Review please!

A/N: I know this was rather short and didn't seem to really be much more than a filler chapter. It'll be picking up soon, trust me. Expect semi-regular updates. I'm trying to get in a schedule where all of my stories are being updated at least once a week but I think they all might be kind of wonky with updating until I get into a grove.

Also, fans of this story, if you go to my bio and scroll down you will find a couple of links related to this story! Again thanks for reading and sorry for the long note. I usually don't leave these as you know!