A/N: Another chapter with romace and emotions and stuff, something I don't always do particularly well at. So extra big thanks go out to DrWhoFan71, who I recruited in as a last minute beta reader after their reviews a couple chapters back revealed things I had failed to consider. Your kind but necessary criticisms on the upcoming chapters are, I think, helping tremendously and I hope this chapter feels like an improvement over the alpha version when you read it. Part of my problem, I'm discovering, is that I tend to write the stories out of order, skipping back and between the beginning, middle, and end, and as a result I have a tendancy to slip and let characters have knowledge that the haven't actually acquired yet in the linear course of the story. Whoops! So I've made some tweaks and adjustments, added new dialogue, and hopefully made everything better than it was before I started. At least, I hope so!

Thanks, all, and once again reviews are appreciated tremendously! They're the primary way I grow as an author, so bring it on... both your praise and your criticism. Thanks!


Once the heavy politics had started up, Quinn and Daniel had made a polite exit out the back of the Capitol building, walking together down a moonlit path.

"C'mon, this way," he said. "The path goes down by the river. When it catches the starlight it looks like the whole river turns to a flow of diamonds." He took he hand and led her on.

"Ooh, not so fast," she said, laughing. "My poor feet."

"You'd do better if you wore shoes with some arch supports," he said.

"I'd do better if my ankles weren't swollen to the size of grapefruit," she replied. They had come to a sort of park along the banks of the river. Trees, flowers, and manicured grass looked out over a wide spot in the water. He motioned for her to take a seat with her back against one of the trees, and then put her feet in his lap, unstrapping her heels and putting them next to the tree. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Foot massage," he replied, already rubbing small circles. "Unless you'd rather I didn't."

"Don't you dare stop," she said.

"That's what I thought."

She leaned back against the tree, enjoying the, quite frankly, magical work he was doing on her sore feet. "Where'd you learn this?" she asked, and she noticed that her voice was a little breathier than she might have liked.

"One of my mom's friends was pregnant when I was fifteen, and she basically moved in with us towards the end. I got roped into doing it almost every night."

"Well you're a natural."

"How far along are you, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Somewhere around four, four-and-a-half months."

"Hey, halfway there. Congrats."

"Urgh. I cannot wait for it to be over."

"I thought this was supposed to be the most magical time of your life," he teased.

"I've heard women say that all my life. I'm pretty sure they're crazy or lying. I wouldn't put it past them. It's probably just a big conspiracy to make sure the species doesn't go extinct."

"Really? That miserable?"

"I can't eat without puking, I can't sleep without my back aching in the morning. Sometimes she even wakes me up in the middle of the night."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Two in the morning is a perfect time for gymnastics, or so she seems to think."

"So there's nothing pleasant about it?"

"I'm an unwed teenage mother," she said. "I'm not really supposed to be enjoying this pregnancy. Maybe the kids I'll have later, when I'm married and ready for them, will be different, but..."

"Yes?" he prompted.

She sighed. "Well, sometimes, when she isn't waking me up to do it... I like feeling her kicking. It's like, despite everything that's happened, I can take a step back and realize that this whole thing is kind of a miracle. I'm creating a brand new person. A whole human being who'll grow up, have friends, get married, have kids of her own... and I did that. It's my job to make sure she's strong and healthy, and when she feels like she's going to punch her way out, well, I feel like I accomplished that." He was smiling to himself, like he was trying to hold back laughter. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, just listening to you. You became quite the philosopher just there."

"Oh, shut up."

"No, you did! Not that it's a bad thing, you just got kind of deep on me."

"If you're going to poke fun at my paradigm altering experiences, I'm going to change the subject. So, you're a stormchaser, hm?"

"Yes ma'am. We wanted to know how storm systems form, and the easiest way was to get a close look."

"I'd have thought mankind would know everything there was to know about weather by now."

"Why do you say that?"

Because we seemed to almost know everything centuries ago in my time, was the first thought, but she shoved it down. "No reason. So, aren't you a little young to be doing that? You can't be older than twenty one."

"Nineteen," he replied.

"How do you end up doing that at nineteen?"

"My parents started the research. I'm just carrying on."

"So, they do the bulk of the work and you assist?"

"Uh, no," he said. His rubbing slowed but didn't stop. "They, uh... passed away. Last year. It was an accident. They flew too close to one of the nastier storm systems and..."

She covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, Daniel, I'm so sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," he said, looking her right in the eyes.

"What for?"

"I shouldn't have taken you up there with me. It wasn't safe. I thought that..." he took a deep breath, trying not to let the emotions get the better of him. "I thought that if we kept our distance we'd be okay. That's how my parents got in trouble. I was only thinking of the wind and the shearing forces on the hull, not the lightning or..."

She put her hand on his arm. "It's okay," she said.

"No it isn't! I should have learned my lesson from what happened to them. If just one more circuit breaker had been tripped we wouldn't have just been hovering there for a while... we'd have fallen into the ocean. I'm just sorry I was so wreckless with you. With both of you."

Neither said anything for a minute. Finally Quinn asked, "So you've been here all alone for almost a year?"

He nodded. "My godparents live back on Earth, and they wanted me to come back there, but I was over eighteen, so I declared myself nondependant and hired a team to continue my parents' research with me."

"How do you make a living?"

"Oh, you know, odds and ends. I trade antiques on the net and with Pete, my parents had a grant for the research, and they both had life insurance. So, I get by. Hopefully if I can map out the weather patterns completely then I can be the meteorologist in charge of arrivals and departures at the spaceport. And of course there'll be mining if the Siborean talks pan out."

He said it sarcastically, and she looked at him questioningly. "You don't think they will?"

"Nah. Nobody's holding out any hope."

"Well the president seemed pretty hopeful this morning."

He scoffed. "Yeah, if you're fool enough to believe him."

"Oh. I was, actually," she said quietly.

"Oh, Quinn, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I forgot you're not from around here. No, but, the government's been promising opportunities for offworld commerce for decades now, but they always sabotage it at the last moment. First they were going to let local merchants sell their goods to other planets, but then the environmental committee said we'd be giving away too many of the planet's raw resources and they got the bill held up in legislative hell until it died. Then there was the plan to let offworlders set up shops here, but the local businesses said they'd lose too big a share of the business from the spaceport and they shut that down. It's been an endless stream of promises that never come to fruition, and by this point very few people are holding out any hope for change anymore." He inclined his head forward, getting closer to her, and smiled. "Forgive me?"

She smiled back. "If you continue that foot massage," she said.

"Deal." He started rubbing again.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, then she said, "So you forgot I wasn't a local?"

"Yeah, actually, I did. I know it's kinda crazy, but I feel like I've known you forever."

"Very interesting," She said, rolling her eyes behind her closed eyelids. This guy was a smooth talker, certainly. Puck might even have been able to learn a thing or two from him.

"Yeah. In fact... well... I was thinking that tomorrow night, if you're not too busy or anything... well, maybe you'd like to do something. Or something. Dinner. Dinner would be good. I like... dinner."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Are you asking me on a date?" she asked, resting her hands around the bump absentmindedly.

His eyes followed. "I'm... sorry, I'm stupid," he said, shaking his head. "I should have known that you'd be involved with the... uh... father. I mean, of course you are. Stupid of me." He stood up, faced away from her to keep the red from showing in his cheeks. "I should... go. I'll just go."

"No, no, it's not that!" She said quickly. "Don't go!" She tried to stand up to stop him but had trouble leveraging herself up against the tree. But he had stopped, and without turning to face her, he held his hand out to her in order to help her up.

"I'm sorry. I was way out of line."

"You weren't. The baby's father and I..."

"You don't have to tell me this. You don't owe me anything."

She walked around him, facing him now, and put her hand on his chest. "You were honest with me, about your parents and all... let me do the same. The baby's father and I aren't together, and we can't be. Not ever. Maybe if things were different, we might have given it a shot, but trust me; that is absolutely not, nor will it ever be, a possibility. But as far as us... hey, I just met you."

"And this is crazy?" He held out a red, transparent piece of plastic to her. She looked at him like he was insane. "Oh, come on, you never heard that one?" She shook her head. "I thought you were into the oldies," he replied. He tried to smile, but it didn't really come through.

The truth was, if this had just been some other planet, she would have taken him up on it. But on the chain around her neck, she could feel the Doctor's fobwatch against her heart, ticking away the seconds of this planet. Ticking away the seconds of his life. And she couldn't bear it, couldn't bear to get attached just to know she was going to lose him just as she'd lost everyone else.

"Daniel I... I'm leaving in just a couple days. The Doctor and I have a... schedule to keep."

"You don't have to go."

"What?"

"You could... I dunno... you could stay here. We're always looking for more people on the colony, there are a lot of jobs that need filling if we're going to be viable as a larger civilization, and it's not uncommon for travelers to decide to stay. At least for a bit. You could try, anyway. If it doesn't work out then the Doctor could pick you up in a week, or a month or so. Just, take it for a test drive. A trial run."

"I can't. I just... can't."

"Why not? Isn't it even worth considering?"

And it was. Oh, was it ever. If it'd been a planet that wasn't doomed to start with then she could easily see herself settling down in a place just like it. Wasn't that what she was looking for anyway? A place to make a new start? "It, uh... wouldn't be fair to you," she said, grasping for any excuse. "I mean, you've got things to do, dreams of your own. You don't want to be shackled with a family so young."

"I'm not asking you to marry me," he said, chuckling nervously. "I'd just like to get to know you a bit better. Maybe it'd work out, maybe we'd just be friends but... I like you, Quinn, and I feel like I get you and you get me more than I feel connected to anyone else here since my family just... evaporated."

"But I can't afford to think like that, Daniel," she said. "I can't just take chances anymore. I've got the future to think about, carefully. I can't afford to be carefree and wreckless and just... just try things out to see how they go," she continued, even though in the back of her mind a little voice was asking, 'Isn't that exactly what you're doing, traveling with the Doctor?'

"I understand that. I do. But I also know, better than most people, what it's like to feel like you're alone." She was looking away now, not meeting his gaze, blinking back tears. He took her hands in his. "Look, I don't know your whole story but I'm guessing you didn't exactly choose this - that this isn't where you saw your life going a few months ago. Are you really telling me you'd rather go it alone than have someone to stand by you, whether that person is just a friend or... or something more?"

Now it was her turn to face away from him, to keep him from seeing the tears welling up. "I can't, Daniel, I just... I can't. I can't. I can't!" And without letting him say another word, without even picking up her shoes, she ran for the TARDIS.