The Master sat fidgeting in the control room, no matter how hard he tried the image of Zoey's face when she had seen him and the doctor bring Reinette through that fireplace was forever burned into his memory, he didn't think he had ever seen her look at him like that, and it cut through him, he would rather face millions of Daleks on his own than see her look at him like that again. He tried to drag up pictures of their previous adventures, anything that had her looking at him as though he was the best thing in the universe. Not what he had seen before, betrayal, disgust, anger, loss, the latter hit him the hardest, that was a constant kick in the gut, she felt like she had lost him. He heard a pair of footsteps enter the control room and he flicked his eyes up thinking it was Mickey and the Doctor coming back from the kitchen, but he saw Zoey and Rose. Oh and there was that look again, he sighed and got up to leave, but was stopped by a hand on his arm, he followed the offending limb and saw Reinette holding him in place, hearing Zoey suck in a breath he sighed.

"Don't leave on her account" Reinette said politely, her eyes narrowing at Zoey.

"I'm not" the Master replied, voice soft

"Looks like it" Zoey taunted, her hands on her hips and eyebrow raised, moving towards the master so that she was inches away from him

"Oh don't start" Rose groaned, she really wasn't ready for a fight "Just talk like adults for once will you please"

"Fine" they both replied, storming from the control room, and into the corridor.

Deathly silence followed as they both stared at each other, neither knowing what exactly to say. Anger surged through Zoey sending her blood boiling and her hearts hammering dangerously fast in her chest, she knew that going to the control room was a bad idea, she just couldn't face it, seeing him sitting next to Reinette, it was enough to send her spiralling into insanity. They continued to stare, the only sounds coming from their heavy breathing, the tension crackling between them as they each challenged each other silently to crack and be the first to speak.

"What do you want from me Zoey?" The Master half shouted, his ego getting a serious beating as he cracked first.

The anger surging through Zoey finally reached boiling point and she shouted back "WHY WOULD I WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU?!?!"

The Master simply blinked, he didn't think he had seen her this mad before, and his body's natural reaction in this situation was to retaliate and hit back twice as hard "You tell me Zoey? You tell me? Why is it so wrong bringing Reinette on board? Are you jealous because she is everything you aren't?" as soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them, and the hard slap she delivered on the side of his face was everything he deserved, his cheek burned as he stared at her through apologetic eyes.

"You bastard! Why would I be jealous of her" Zoey shouted fighting back the tears that were making her eyes sting, she wasn't going to let him see that this was getting to her, she couldn't, self preservation just wouldn't let her.

"Well she's kissed me" he replied smugly, his brain not daring to register the consequences of that statement.

Zoey narrowed her eyes and mumbled something that was almost inaudible but the Master caught it "I've kissed you twice", he couldn't help the ghost of a smile that appeared on his lips at the memory of those kisses, however short would always be the best he had ever had, nothing had sent his senses afire like Zoey did when she kissed him.

The master was about to launch into the next part of his argument when Mickey stormed past him, his fists clenched and his face contorted into rage, the master raised an eyebrow, no one could pull off angry like he could, the human should just give up before he got ahead. As Mickey cleared the corridor without even acknowledging their presence, the master again turned on Zoey.

"And here's another thing Reinette saved me! I'd be stuck there if it wasn't for her!"

"You ungrateful bastard"

"UNGRATEFUL??"

"Yeah, you heard me, ungrateful, I've saved you more times than I care to remember, but you don't give a shit do you?!?! No, but when St. Reinette saves you, well that's a different story"

"It's not like that at all!"

"Oh really, well enlighten me, what is it like?"

"I"

"See you don't even have an answer do you?" Zoey sighed, her hearts constricting painfully in her chest.

The master hung his head in shame, she was right as always, he really didn't have an answer for her, but he desperately wanted to, he didn't want to fall out with her, that was the one thing he never wanted to do, so mustering up all the courage he had he uttered the words he never though he would hear himself say.

"I'm sorry"

Zoey's eyes widened at his words and she felt the same need to apologise to him too, she could never stay mad at him, no matter what he did "I'm sorry too" she replied trying to force a smile.

The master ginned and held his arms out and beckoned her into a hug, one that she readily agreed to, rushing into his arms and wrapping hers securely around him. He squeezed her tightly, that familiar feeling of contentment washed over him as she hummed into his chest, rubbing her back gently he shut his eyes, savouring the moment.

Zoey inhaled sharply, taking in the scent that was just purely the Master, the faint time lord smell of honey, that musky man smell, aftershave that he didn't need to wear but did anyway because she had told him it smelt nice, her cocoa body wash that he always stole and the Doctors shampoo all of this was a smell that was just uniquely him, she could smell traces of her perfume on his jacket and she grinned into his chest before she pulled away and looked at him softly.

This time when he looked at her the Master truly saw her, her brown hair was messed up and out of place from lying on her bed, her make-up was smudged around her eyes where she had fiercely wiped away tears, her sparkling blue eyes showed him everything he wanted to be, they were bright and enthusiastic if only a little dark and war hardened, he noticed the silver circle that dominated the outer edge of the iris, and he held back a chuckle, Zoey had to be different. All other Time Lords had golden circles around their eyes, his gaze moved to her cheeks which were covered by a light spattering of freckles even though her skin was quite tanned, if she were human people would assume she was or had some Italian heritage. A faint blush tinged her cheeks as he gazed intently at her and he didn't think she had ever looked so beautiful.

"Come on, let's go to the kitchen" he said grabbing her hand and tugging her in the right direction

"Why?" Zoey asked frowning

"Comfort food"

"When do you ever eat comfort food?"

"Never"

"Well then"

"It's for you, I know where the Doctor keeps the really expensive chocolates and I'm going to steal them"

Zoey's echoing laughter could be heard throughout the ship as she and the Master ran full pelt toward the kitchen.

The Doctor silently made his way to the living room, wondering what exactly was coming over the Tardis occupants, everyone seemed to be on edge, snapping at the simplest thing, he understood Mickey snapping at him in the kitchen, that was reasonable, the Doctor and Rose had just moved their relationship to the next level and hadn't told Mickey, Zoey and the Master he vaguely understood but he didn't want to get dragged into whatever it was that was going on between those two, he had long given up trying to fathom them out, all he had worked out was the glaringly obvious, they were both super geniuses even by Time Lord standards, there was some kind of mutual attraction, the Master was from a middle class Time Lord family, though he hated it and to remind him of such roots was in itself a death sentence, Zoey was even further up the social scale being Rassilon's somewhat impossible daughter, as an upper class citizen she was considered the most important Time Lord in existence, and Zoey too disliked her social background, she rarely ever mentioned it, she had been separated from all the other children when she was at the academy, and she graduated well before everyone else her age. Zoey and Reinette, he dared not even try to work out what women fought about and he decided he was best kept out of it, he reached the living room and poked his head around the open door, upon seeing Rose with her arms crossed over her chest a scowl on her face aimed at Reinette, who was sitting looking a mixture of shocked and annoyed. More to add to his list, Rose and Reinette, oh this was going to be perfect.

"Hello" he grinned as he walked into the room, sitting himself down next to Rose, who was incredibly tense, he snaked his arm around her shoulders and his hearts seemed to hum to themselves when she snuggled into him.

"Hello" she said back, giving him that adorable smile that he loved, she moved her body up to him so that she could press a kiss on his lips before snuggling back against him, at that point he really didn't care about the fights on the Tardis, he had Rose, and if he was quite frank, that's all he needed...well maybe not all he needed, the expensive chocolate and the bananas were a god send.