CHAPTER TEN!

As a celebration for having gotten this far, I now name this chapter a NO-LURKER CHAPTER! Post those reviews! Do it!

And, as always, enjoy :)

Martha plucked absentmindedly at a loose thread on her comforter on her bed on the 24th floor of the TARDIS. Her head was spinning horribly, and she really had begun to believe that the heat was making her sick, and not some weird and mysterious alien phenomenon. She fell back on the bed, pressing her hands to her temple. She applied some pressure to find that it eased the pain. Maybe if she just pressed against her head, she could get the pain to go away. All she had to do was press...

She heard a door slam and removed her hands, allowing the headache to come back stronger than ever. Groaning, she stood, knowing she should probably find what the source of the slamming was – as far as she knew, she was the only one on this floor.

As Martha opened the door to the room she and Donna shared, she heard someone grumbling on the other side of the corridor. Hesitant, but determined, she walked forward to see Rory, glaring up at the ceiling and muttering to himself.

"Lost?" She asked.

He turned, stunned at being caught, and took a step back sheepishly. "Er, yeah, a bit."

"Where were you headed?" Martha hoped to be helpful, despite not knowing her way around the TARDIS very well either.

He looked away. "Nowhere, really. I was just walking and didn't pay attention."

She smiled. "Ah that's alright then. I'm pretty sure there's some stairs over there, and if you take them down you should end up in the console room."

"Right then," he nodded.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"Yes, well..." Martha finally said. "I think..."

"Yeah," Rory murmured. "I'll just..."

"Go back..."

"Take the stairs..."

Martha watched him walk away, but then called, "Wait!"

He turned back, looking uncertain. "Yeah?"

"You seem sort of troubled," she said slowly. "Can I help?"

Rory blinked. "I um, well..." He blinked again. "It's Amy, see. We had a little bit of a row."

"A little bit of one?"

He shrugged. "It was nothing extreme. She just seems really mad at me lately."

Martha softened. "She's probably stressed. There's been a lot going on lately, what with us showing up, and I'm sure she doesn't like it." Martha bit her lip and looked away. "I'll admit that, when I was traveling with the Doctor, I got so upset every time he mentioned Rose! I was so certain that he didn't care for me – every second was about her. I see now that I was overreacting. He was just worried about what was happening to her, and I was just... being silly."

Rory smiled slightly. "Good to know we're not the only ones with all the drama."

"If I can ask," she prayed that she wasn't being nosy. "What worries you so much about her?"

He looked down, a sad expression on his face. "She just always seems so focused on the Doctor. I really wonder if she still loves me or not."

Martha raised an eyebrow. "She acts like she loves him?"

He sighed. "She did. He told me that she tried to kiss her once. Now, she focuses more on me, but... she's so mad at me, all the time. I don't get it."

"I'm sure she cares," she said as she gave Rory a sympathetic look.

"I hope you're right." He looked back in the direction of the exit. "Well, I'm going to go. See you around."

Martha smiled. "Good luck." She turned back to her room hesitantly. Her head still throbbed, but after her conversation with Rory she felt like doing some snooping of her own.

Maybe it was time she had a chat with Amy.

Rose walked into the TARDIS, head heavy with thoughts. She was worried about both Martha and Rory, and was wondering where River had ran off to. She walked up the steps to the console and sat down in the chair there, rubbing her neck tiredly. She looked up to the console screen. Although most of the symbols and words were alien, she understood the screen's meaning easily enough – it said that they still had 69 hours left until the TARDIS would be able to track the signal.

"Not that long of a wait," a voice murmured behind her, and she turned to see the Doctor, who was focused on a small device in his hands. Rose recognized it from past adventures – it was a hand-held version of the TARDIS console screen that could operate separately.

"Didn't see you come up," she said.

He shrugged, still staring at the screen. "I try to be quiet." He weaved around the chair behind her so he could sit next to her.

She nodded. "Yeah. So what's on the screen, then?"

"Hmm?" he looked up, then back at the hand-held. "Oh, nothing really. Just checking up on something." He closed it quickly and stuck it in his jacket pocket.

She stared at him in curiosity, but didn't say anything. The Doctor looked up at the bigger console in front of them. "Two days..."

"Don't you mean three?"

He started, blinking, and looked at her. "Right, yes, of course."

They were both quiet for a while, and Rose was considering how she might be able to get away when the Doctor spoke again. "So how have things been back in the other universe?"

"Fine," she hesitated. "I suppose."

He raised both eyebrows, studying her. "What do you mean?"

"Just... some troubles with the Doctor. The other one, I mean."

"Like?"

She felt uncomfortable, talking to him about it, but couldn't say no. "He... well, everything was going fine – smashing, really – after you left, and it stayed that way for the longest time. We really were happy together. And then one morning... he just woke up different. He was all... sad-looking, and it seemed to hurt him when he looked at me, and... he was just... hollow."

She looked up at the Doctor and saw his expression. It was like he'd been told the worst news possible then, the way he looked. It reminded Rose of what her Doctor had looked like. "What happened next?" he asked, almost reluctantly.

Rose couldn't stop herself from snorting. "He... oh it's ridiculous... he broke up with me."

"And?"

"I've only seen him on occasion now, like at Torchwood, since we both work there."

She looked at him again to find him staring at the floor. It seemed to her like the life had been sucked from him – he looked devastated. "That's a shame, Rose," he said, without much conviction.

Unable to find something to say, Rose stood and stalked out of the TARDIS, cursing herself for her own stupidity. The Doctor had wanted her to tell him everything was going great and perfect, so he wouldn't feel guilty about not loving her anymore. Instead, she'd given him the truth, exactly what he didn't want, and made their relationship even worse. About fifty feet from the TARDIS she stopped walking and pressed a hand to her forehead, groaning. How much worse could things get?

Donna, walking along the caverns alone, was experiencing a new feeling. She had nothing to do.

Donna led a busy life and didn't have downtime often, and such a thing while with the Doctor was unheard of. But sure enough, as she studied the dark red landscape around her, she found herself bored and with nothing really important to do.

She couldn't see anyone else in the nearby area – she knew Rose, Martha, Rory and probably the Doctor were at the TARDIS, so that just left Amy and River. She had diligently kept her eyes peeled for them as she walked, but no one was nearby. She was on the other side of the three abysses, and was sad to find that no one else had ventured this far.

Finding no real reason to keep going, Donna figured she should head back. She turned and frowned.

Which way was the TARDIS?

More coming soon!

Also, I'd like to congratulate myself on having found common ground with Martha. I now like her.