Oh my goodness, hello my darlings! I am so, so sorry. I haven't had access to a computer since I updated last. D: I'm so sorry. Bananas for all. -hands them out to all my lovely readers- :)

But yes. :) But, I do have a computer for at least a couple weeks (many, many thanks to my brother in law and sister for borrowing me a laptop, HOORAY for them! :D), so, next update should be within the next couple weeks, so look forward to that, my lovelies. :)

So, lots and lots, and lots of notes at the end. I hope this chapter is worth the cliff hanger wait. :)

And I must say, thank you all SO MUCH for the continued favs, alerts, and reviews! I'm so glad people are enjoying my little fic. :) But I digress. On with the chapter.

Don't own Doctor Who. If I did, I would keep one of the daleks in my living room. ;)


The silence surronding them rolls on for what seems ages, the Doctor's mind actually feeling terribly blank at Carla's answer.

"No?" he asks carefully, softly as his eyebrows slowly knit together in confusion, his hand still outstretched for her to take.

"No." She whispers, her eyes looking so sad, the Doctor seeing her hand twitch in her pocket as if she were going to change her mind any second and grab on for dear life, not wanting to let go. How he wishes she would.

"But why?" is all he can think to ask.

"How long do these trips ultimately last?" she asks softly, eyes focused on his as his hand drops to his side in realization of her 'no' sticking.

"Well, that all depends, really-"

"Can you have me back in a day? In two?" She interrupts, not showing any signs of stopping, "Are you gone for days, weeks, months at a time? I-I mean, you were gone for three weeks this time around."

"Well, to you, maybe. It was three months for me and Martha. . . And it's not just timing, we ran into the Family of Blood this time around. . . Not to mention things like that happen a bit more than I care to admit. . ." he says thoughtfully, giving his ear a tug at the thought.

"See? !" she exclaims, making the Doctor slightly jump at the unexpected outburst, she suddenly overly animated, hands out of her pockets as she gestures about, "How can I travel with you when your timing can be that much off? ! When, when you're running into aliens, pets, a-and probably monsters? !," She stops abruptly, biting her lip as her cheeks turn pink, looking as if she just realized she very nearly was yelling,

"Doctor," her tone softens after a deep breath out, "I want to go. God, every fiber of my being is screaming at me to not look back and ride off into the sunset with you," That old saying makes him smile slightly, "But how can I when I'm a dialysis patient? When you can have such a wonky schedule?" his feeling of confusion sweeps into one of saddening understanding.

"The . . . Setbacks," He puts nicely for the unknown, "Aren't a problem, they can easily be solved. And I know my timing can be off, but. . . I could try and get it better." He offers in a bit of a lame attempt.

"Yes, you could try. Try is the keyword there, Doctor. But what happens when it doesn't work?"

"Carla. . ." Is all he can offer, he feeling his sadness blooming more fully.

"I may want to do great things and have a grand adventure. But like we discussed; I don't have a death wish. I can't take that chance of becoming immensely ill if you can't work out the time to get me back for a dialysis run," She pauses, her eyes shining a suspiciously wet sheen as she utters a terribly soft, "I'm so sorry."

"Me too," He says gently, a small smile coming to his face, "It would have been fun. Me, you, Martha. Amazing, really."

"I know," She smiles a small smile herself, "Would have been a blast. Though, maybe, maybe Martha can join you on one of your visits? I still have yet to meet her. . . She sounds fantastic."

"I'll think of something, Carla," He goes on, interrupting her request, his mind already weeding through things that could possibly prolong days between her treatment runs, "I'll think of something so you can travel aboard the TARDIS, so you can have that brilliant adventure."

"I'd like that. . . I'd like that a whole lot." She says softly, the small smile still across her face as she looks down at her trainers, a small bout of silence following after the Doctor's proclamation, he watching her as she fiddles with the hem of her jacket.

"If you don't have anything planned for the afternoon," He starts, hands going into his pockets as she looks up at his speaking, he rocking slightly on his feet, trying to come across as nonchalant as he possibly could, "You could, I dunno, hang about with me for a while, at least. Could show you around the console. Around much of the whole ship, really. . . The library has a swimming pool, you know." His eyebrows raise expectantly, so wanting for her to say yes to that at least, make them both feel a tad better with the situation at hand.

She smiles wide, an unexpected soft giggling sound jingling from her lips.

"A pool? In a library? Wouldn't the books get wet?" He grins back, his hand sliding from his pocket, holding it out to her once again.

"Only one way to find out if they would." Biting her bottom lip with that smile still on her face; she gently takes his hand, he leading her over to the console straight away.

"Now this," He lets go of her hand, gesturing toward all the levers and gadgets and whistles and bobbles and bits, "Is the control panel of the console. Interestingly enough, it's isomorphic, meaning only I can operate them."

"Really? You operate this whole thing on your own?" She asks, amazement spreading across her face.

"Well, yes and no. It all depends, really."

"What depends exactly?"

"If I switch it off and allow someone to help me man her. For example, once you're traveling with me, I'll let you do so." He grins at the absolute look of surprise that's taken over her features, not helping but wonder how her features will look when she actually does travel with him.

"You, you would let me help you . . . fly a-a spaceship? !"

"Oh yes!" he proclaims excitedly, bouncing about excitedly, going on to describe some of the controls and how they work.

That was how the afternoon, and a small part of the evening went. The Doctor showing Carla around the TARDIS, he finishing up the tour of the console room, going on to the library from there, she finding out that the pool and shelves upon shelves of books were well separated, the chances of the books becoming water logged exceptionally slim, this surprisingly making Carla slightly disappointed ("Really? I thought maybe there was a type of invisible force field on each book that prevented them from getting wet." The Doctor's reply, "I did actually have a bit of a force field prototype up for a while, but it was too much for the old girl to handle all the time. Good thinking, though.")

She also tried to get a peek at a book from the year 2257, the Doctor putting a stop to it right off the bat, "But what if I'm supposed to read it?" She protested with a bit of a laugh, the Doctor keeping it out of her reach with a small mischievous grin as she tried to snatch it back, "If I do travel with you, what if I meet the author, and he didn't know to write it? What if I'm supposed to give him the idea?"

"Nice try, but, I've met him, and there was no such mention of a woman from the great north! He got the idea from a previous wife." He smiles a bit smugly.

"Aha! But what if you meet him again with me in tow and I become his wife for a brief time? Is that a possibility?" He pauses in thought, his hand still high above her as she tries another swipe of her hand to grab it.

"Oh, you're good. But you're still not reading it." They both have a good giggle at that, she muttering 'spoilsport' as he places it on a high shelf out of reach for the remainder of her time.

The rest of the time was spent exploring his spacious ship, the Doctor fully enjoying the continuous look of awe she held in her eyes. He especially got a good giggle at the look of shock when they entered the zoo.

"You have a dodo!"

"His name's Filbert." By the time the first syllable of the bird's name was spoken; she already had her sketchbook out, her pencil already furiously working away on the paper.

From there, they went through the art gallery (by how much she dawdled about, he guessed it was one of her favourite rooms of the day), the cricket club, the croquet court, followed by a quick jaunt through the wardrobe, which found the Doctor seeing Carla highly enamored by his past self's scarf, and of all things. . . a bow tie.

"I like bow ties. I think they're. . . neat. And look handsomely smart." She beams, he rolling his eyes slightly, having not worn a bow tie in a long time.

After that (with Carla wanting to stay in there longer, she trying on a jaunty hat, no less; the Doctor telling her there would be plenty of time next visit to thoroughly investigate the larger than life wardrobe), they had a relaxing afternoon tea in one of the several gardens that occupied the TARDIS.

Soon, they were making their way back, passing the sun room, the drawing room ("It's my private study." The Doctor said), and the garage, the Doctor grinning at hearing Carla's exclamation of spotting a Volkswagen, until they were back where they started, trotting along into the console room with silly grins on their faces from their exploration.

"Well," She starts carefully, a tad of a sad sigh escaping her lips, "It's getting a bit late, and I have a run tomorrow. . . I should get going."

"Are you sure?" He says a tad more casually than necessary as he slid his hands into his jacket pockets, rocking back and forth on his feet slightly, "You know, we could take a quick trip, just for a few hours. Maybe go off to a fair planet, get some candy floss, possibly some popcorn. There is a show we could catch that's more than brilliant. The universes' tiniest giraffe, does magnificent stunts right in front of your eyes." he says, a grin spreading across his face as his idea of a trip comes forth

Shaking her head the slightest bit in amusement, she gives him a bit of a sad smile, "That sounds. . . Amazingly brilliant. . . And extraordinarily tempting," She bites her lip in thought, her eyes studying the Doctor closely,

"How tiny?" She asks, amusement alight in her tone, that shine he saw in her eyes that first time he met her on the patient balcony starting to flicker to life.

"Smaller than a house cat!" He whispers excitedly. A wide smile forms on her face, she biting her lip once more.

"Tempting. Very, very tempting. . . But," She looks down a moment, fingers brushing her hair behind her ear in a nervous gesture, "I can't. . . I want to, but I really can't. . ." Her words fade out to a low hum, that shine from her eyes flitting away as quickly as it came, the Doctor realizing that he shouldn't have tried to persuade her with such an outlandish offer of an outing.

"I know," he says softly, quickly, running a nervous hand through his hair, "Just a trip we could take when it's possible." He gives her a smile, offering her his hand, "May I walk you to your door, Ms. Snow?"

"I'd love it if you did, Doctor." She responds after a moment, reaching for his hand, he taking her's into his gently, placing that hand on his arm to escort her, a tiny grin coming forth on her lips.

"Ms. Snow, Woman of the land of the ten-thousand lakes, it'll be my absolute pleasure to escort you to your door." She chuckles that low, deep laugh, looking up at him with such mirth in her eyes.

"Sir Doctor, I'd be delighted if you escorted me to my door." Making their way to the door of the TARDIS, the Doctor adds as an afterthought,

"You know, I was knighted."

"Oh course you were." was her reply, they laughing as they exited the big blue box, finding that the sun had set, leaving behind a very cool evening. They make their way across the quiet street carefully, he walking her right up to her front door. She lets go of his arm, looking up at him with a grin.

"Thank you, Doctor, for escorting me home, and," she blushes lightly, fingers wandering up to her hair, brushing her fringe away from her green eyes, that hand moving to push her glasses up her nose in a nervous twitch, "And for today. It was amazing. And, and an absolute pleasure to, to tour your ship." She blushes a little more, her cheeks looking so very rosy in the dim, yellow light of her stoop.

He smiles wide, giving her a small, playful bow, this making her chuckle that deep laugh once again.

"Believe me, Carla Snow, the pleasure was all mine." She smiles shyly, her cheeks reddening further as she pulls out a key, unlocking the door to her home as he takes a backward step down, this making him eye level with her.

"Tomorrow?" She looks back, the door swinging inward, "Cards, yeah? I believe I have to defend my title of cheat champion?" he smirks as she turns around, standing in the doorway, the warm light of the entrance way bathing her in it's glow. A teasing grin comes to her lips, she raising an eyebrow at him.

"I think you're mistaken, sir, for I won the last two matches. Your little three month jaunt must have scrambled your brain."

"You've no idea," Was his response, they both having a chuckle, smiling nicely at one another, "Tomorrow? Usual place? Usual time?"

"I'll be there," She smiles a small smile, "I should get in. . . Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are probably wondering what on earth happened to me." he nods in understanding, she starting to close the door, "Thank you again for this afternoon. I really did have a fantastic time."

"No trouble at all, as I had a brilliant time as well. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow. Goodnight, Doctor."

"Goodnight, Carla." With a final smile, and a small wave, the door closes with a soft click, leaving the Doctor in the cool night, leaving him contemplating if he should travel right into tomorrow as he makes his way back into the TARDIS.

Before making that decision, however; a call comes in from Martha, the phone cutting out before she's able to say what's wrong. Well, there's that decision made for him then before he can even really fully decide. So he'll go and see what the trouble is, get it under control, and actually get back in time for his card match with Carla, no matter how long he's gone. Oh yes, nothing to it. . .

He just didn't especially think it'd be more than a year until he saw Carla Snow again. . .


I know, I know! Another cliff hanger. But, as I said, next update should be within a couple weeks. :) Couple notes for you, my dears:

I know the pool doesn't show up in the library until the Eleventh Doctor, but I couldn't resist. How could you when the Doctor's giving a tour of the TARDIS? ;)

And I did look up some of the rooms. I couldn't help but include the endangered animal zoo. ;) Also, I'm sure you know the Second Doctor did wear a bow tie, so there's that reference. :D

Disney-Princess-In-Disguise - I hope that was a good reason for her to say no. -bites finger nails in nervousness- :O So, even if he could have her home in time for dinner, sometimes he just doesn't get his timing right, not to mention getting distracted saving the day, so, even though she wants to go terribly much, she sees that she can't right now. :) I'm glad you enjoyed her reaction. :D Was fun to write. :D

sieni1 - Oh my, I hope you didn't explode. O.o

Theta-McBride - Thank you, my dear, glad you liked it! :D Hee, yes, I've wondered a few times why no one's mentioned the outside being small. ;D

Deathcab4kimmie - -checks off being the reason for source of procrastination of things to accomplish- ;D Thanks so much! I'm terribly glad you're enjoying my little fic. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. :3 Hope it was worth the wait for the cliffhanger end. . . and hope you (and everyone) can endure another cliffhanger. :)

Again, thanks so much everyone! Glad you're all enjoying it so far. :D