4.
The Doctor and I stayed up most of the night running various tests on the samples the Government had provided for me while Martha slept upstairs. It was nice to spend time with him when being sober and he was in a better mood. We managed to segregate a couple of potential ores that might prove successful with some species of insect, but nothing that could possibly mold itself to that of Human DNA, no matter how diluted it was. I finally turned my computer off when Martha came downstairs.
"I don't know how you can survive in these conditions," She said. "It's always so dark outside, you never know what time it is. Do you ever suffer from vitamin D deficiency?"
"We have supplements," I explained, taking a pill bottle from my lab coat pocket and shaking it as if to reiterate the point. "Living in twilight isn't as bad as it seems. I've been here all my life, and I'm fine."
There was a knock on the door. The Doctor looked at me inquisitively.
"It's my partner." I advised, opening the door. Sure enough, standing in the doorway was Topher, my lab partner. He barely managed to hide his disappointment in seeing another man in my lab, standing there in complete shock. I ushered him inside before he ran the real and dangerous risk of rooting himself to the ground beneath him. "Topher, I'd like you to meet..."
"John Smith," The Doctor interrupted, outstretching his hand. A glance in my direction and an imperceptible shake of the head put rest to any objections I may have considered to raise. Topher took his hand. "This is my colleague Martha Jones, we're with the laboratory inspection committee." He raised an unmistakably blank sheet of paper to Topher who appeared to accept it, and sat down at the microscope, casting me a furtive glance as he went. We'd put so much work into this project, it seemed unlikely that he would want to go down without a fight.
"We we're just going..." The Doctor said, gesturing a thumb towards the door. "Many more labs on the list."
I felt a terrible wave of sadness wash over me as I watched him make his way over to the door. "Doctor... Smith," I rescued my speech, after receiving a pointed look. "Would you know when you'll next be... inspecting my lab."
"Ooh," He replied, letting out a long sigh and looking into the distance for a few beats. "I'd like to think sooner than later." He flashed me another grin as he took off his glasses and stuck out his hand, casting a small glance at Topher as he did so. "Lovely to see you Doctor Carter."
I wanted to take him into an embrace and plant a kiss on his cheek, but for the sake of keeping up appearences took his hand and sqeezed it tightly.
"You better mean that." I said, swallowing the lump in my throat.
The Doctor and Martha left my lab, and I was only reminded that I was not left alone when Topher spoke up.
"Bella, you look awful. Have you been up all night again?"
Wow. I keep seeing that people are reading this, and it's really lovely. Thanks.