So here we are, moving right along...
You guys are so nice with the comments, really i cannot say enough about how wonderful they all are. Sorry this took so long to get out, but this chapter is...pivitol And, we're off!
To say that the mood in the house improved after Martha and Amy cleared the air, well it was an understatement. Amy seemed to if not be ok with the arrangement, at least she was reconciled to the idea that the Doctor was not her property. She still considered him the best friend she had ever been in possession of, and it was that bit that made it harder for her to learn to share the Doctor with Martha.
The close quarters did little for their state of mind, though the house was big enough, far bigger than necessary in fact, the land offered i=endless treks to and fro for supplies and the odd Veterinary duty that Martha and the Doctor would share. Though, no more dragons.
In fact, Martha learned of animals great and small, on the rock they were trapped on. Five legged giant rodents who gave milk. Ten inch cows that seemed to infest buildings like cockroaches. But, made for great eating if one could get past the smell.
For three months, the inhabitants of The Alien Estates enjoyed the company of each other. At least for the most part. The tension in the air was beginning to build between two of them. Enough to raise the eye of the other two inhabitants.
"I don't see how they have not jumped each other by now." Rory shook his head one night as he caught a glimpse of theDoctor and Martha out on the stone bench in the tri-moonlight. The Three moons were not the only ones on the planet, but this time of their year, it was the three that were visible in their hemisphere. The moons loomed rather large in the distance, Rory and Amy being used to one small moon at first found the sight disconcerting.
"They are taking their time Rory.' Amy smiled trying to get comfortable on the couch. "Leave them be and come and watch this movie with me."
"Its just that, how long do you think he has gone without...you know." He turned to look at his wife. "And boy, you have evolved."
Amy shrugged from her perch. "Are you forgetting that week Marilyn Monroe spent on the TARDIS?"
"Oh sorry. Right. It's the reason I wear ear plugs on the TARDIS." He studied the pair as they made out under the night sky. "Its getting colder." He noted
"And they will keep each other warm.' She sighed, patting the seat next to her. "Come on, let's watch a movie."
"This is far more interesting. It's like our own version of wild kingdom." He snickered.
Amy waved another of Martha's movies in front of his face. "Come on, I haven't watched Starman in ages!" she grinned.
"Oo! Alien sex!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Martha!" He breathed.
She brought her hands to his waist and intensified her kisses.
"Martha!" he insisted again breathlessly.
"What?" she crooned softly as she nibbled at his ear.
"I am trying to have a serious conversation with you." The Doctor whined.
"So am I, but I think we are speaking in two totally different languages.' She giggled and brought her mouth to his again.
The Doctor gave into her lashing his mouth with hers for longer than he knew he should before moving himself away from her. "Martha." He rose and began pacing." We need to keep our wits about us."
Martha pouted prettily before letting his words absorb into her mind. "Are you saying we need to slow things down a bit?"
"Yes, no." The Doctor stopped pacing and came to Martha on his knees. "Yes. Martha, I don't think you understand what this relationship really is."
Martha placed her hands on either side of his face and pulled his eyes to meet hers. "I understand that I want to be here, with you, that there is nowhere else in all of time and space that I would rather be than here with you."
He smiled and leaned into her touch. "Thank you for that." He breathed. "But I think you and I need to have a serious discussion about how this is all leading…" he hummed as she began to gently stroke his cheek.
"I know, I know in the three months since we have been here, you and I have grown closer, and I know that there is a logical next step in our relationship. Is that what this is all about?" she asked still stroking his face, moving her fingers to his ears.
"Yesssssssssssss…." He grabbed her hands and moved them away from his ears. "Not fair Martha, we really need to talk. "
"So," she softened. "Talk."
The Doctor groaned as he rose and moved away from her. He could feel the physical loss of her proximity, felt it in his heightened senses and knew things were near the point of no return. "Martha, I wonder if I should have ever pursued this. This is dangerous territory Martha Jones."
Her face crinkled into a mask of utter confusion. They had been seated in their favorite spot, along the small lake at the concrete bench that she usually sat at with Gleep for his morning flight. She scooted her legs under herself and folded her arms around them. "I sort of realized there would be some weird alien thing to all this. It's not as if you are some bloke from Devonshire."
"What you don't understand is that this." He made a sawing motion with his hand between the two of them. "Has far reaching repercussions. "
"So, what? sex is out of the question then?" she asked with a wry smile.
"Well, sort of." He nodded. "I mean it is possible, we are compatible, in fact, you would be surprised how many species are actually compatible. The Golarian Sprorzentaks are in fact the most easily mated species in the universe. Do you know they have seven different-"
"Doctor,"
"Right. So as I was saying, it's a very detailed thing. " He settled himself at a safe distance from her on the bench. A cool breeze had fixed in the air, and Martha wondered if this planet's winter was anything like the brutal winters of London. Or worse.
"Detailed, how? Doctor you are talking in riddles again and I thought we agreed that everything between us would be straight forward and to the point."
"Yes, right." He nodded. "But biological discussions are a bit more…hairy." He sighed. "So, we are capable of the act, and if I weren't from an infertile people we are compatible biologically.'
"So what is the issue then? What do you have penal spikes or something?""
"Penal spikes? Really why would anyone have penal spikes? Honestly Martha I think you read far too much Science Fiction for your own good." He shook his head for effect "The issue is psychic Martha. The fact is, sex is something my people don't normally do. There is good reason for it too. Back during the time of Rassilon and Pythia, we reproduced in the same way as you. But, there were extra side effects. Side effects that led to wars, political uprisings, revolutions…"
"In other words, very human actions."
"Right, yes all out chaos. Anyway, the end result was a people secure enough in their bodies to not need sex any longer.'
"Well that is boring." She frowned.
"Well, from a human standpoint I would suppose it is quite boring. But from a Gallifreyian perspective, it's completely logical." He nodded. "AS I was raised, sex was something you did to …" he made closure motions with his hands, interlocking the fingers together to bring his point home."
"Ahhhh!" Martha smiled, slapping her knee. "So sex is a deal sealer then!"
The Doctor wrinkled his nose at her simplified summation. "Well," he sniffed. "I would not have put it in such garish terms, but all right. That is a way to put it for your human mind to understand it, then yes. It's a deal sealer."
Martha giggled at the little shudder she watched play over his feature as he resoluted to her simplification. "All right then, so this is a fairly serious thing, I mean if we can't have sex—"
"Not can't," he cleared. "We don't just jump into bed with someone Martha."
She could tell he was uncomfortable with the situation. They had been dancing around this for weeks. Often, she would find herself in her room at the end of the day, trying to figure out how to turn the sonic showers in the house to cold. "So, are you telling me we can't be intimate because my brain isn't big enough?"
He patted her on the head as if to say 'silly human.' "No, quite the opposite in fact. I am trying to tell you that our becoming intimate would render this relationship with a sense of finality."
Martha let out a shocked sound before she even realized it, "You mean you lot mate for life?" she asked
"Something like that, yes. "he nodded.
"Oh no! No way mister. You are not just going to gloss over the facts. Up front and honest, remember? We were going to attack this relationships like two adults—"
"One and a half adults…"
But at Martha's serious glare, he quickly sobered and cleared his throat. "Ok, so you know that we are compatible, I mean for the most part. Handy was evidence of that."
"Didn't do much for his mum did it?" Martha muttered.
"Well, no it didn't really. But as I said before nothing like that had ever happened before."
"Had there ever been hybrids? I mean human and Gallifreyian children?" she asked
The Doctor nodded. "Oh yes. My former companion ,Leela."
"Oh, wait a minute—"
"Not me Martha. She left me for one of the other\Time Lords. I was happy for her, for them. He was a distant cousin of mine. She fell in love with him, and he her. It does happen, I mean when my planet was in existence."
"But, I thought your people were infertile?" she asked gently. "You said that they had gotten rid of the need for sexual reproduction thousands of years ago."
The Doctor nodded. "Yes, but the fact is in marriage, the bond must be made. In my culture we use the physical act to seal the two in marriage."
Martha glared at him unblinking. "So you don't have sex until you are married? Oh the Queen, I should have known."
The doctor smiled. "Yes, well being the Queen's consort was not supposed to happen.'
"It's not in any of the history books I have read."
"Do you think Queen Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Tudor, would admit to having been ditched?" he grinned.
"Doctor," Martha winked as she folding her arms. "Are you hinting at a cover up?"
They shared a laugh before he went on. "I am glad you realize that I am not coming into this as having never been with anyone before Martha. Even in this body I have been with others."
Martha nodded. "I realize that. I am just glad to be the most recent user of the current model..er will be that is." She grinned.
He slid closer to her and enfolded her into his arms. "The thing is Martha; I need to have something a little more, definitive with you." He looked across the lake and held her hand tighter. "With others, I could hold back. I did hold back. I had to. None of them..."
She placed her arm around his back and nodded for him to go on.
"None of them have affected me as you have. I don't know why that is, or if this is some great cosmic joke on me—"
"Oi!" she smiled
"I have no way to hold back with you Martha; you strip me of my reason, my good sense, and my resistances. I fear I go a little crazy around you." The Doctor turned to her and kissed her softly on the lips, a quick gentle reminder of what he really meant. "You are supposed to throw yourself at my feet with that admission.' He grinned.
"And you are supposed to say it with a little more humility than that.' She countered.
"I do love you Martha Jones. But, I think before we go any further. And believe me I want to go further. I believe there is a greater need for us to be sure that this is what we both want."
Martha let the realization of what he said sink into her "So you want forever then? Is that what you are saying?" she squeaked.
"I would like to see if the possibility of a 'forever' exists Martha." He grinned.
"But, you once said that Rose through that term around not understanding what it meant. How can you sit here and throw it at me and you know. " She took a deep breath to gather her strength to mention the large white elephant. . "You know that I am limited in my life span. Any sort of bonding we would have would be cruel on both of us. I would die centuries before you, leaving you alone without me. And you, I would have to watch you pretend not to notice that my age will wither my body."
The Doctor glared at her and then nodded. "I suppose now would be a good time to tell you of a few things."