I told my roommate a bit about this chapter a few weeks ago.
Her: Bow chicka wow wow.
Me: XDDD Nooo...
Her: *wags eyebrows*
An hour, three very good games of hide-and-seek with Martha, and several encounters with marine life later, the three time travellers tramped through the shallows, exhausted from playing among the reefs. They pulled their goggles and masks off, wiggling their mouths and scrunching their noses.
Even the Doctor seemed to be worn out and that was saying something. Granted he had spent a good amount of time searching the reef for his companions who'd both honed their skills at wandering off to elude him. Still, he at least had enough dignity and strength left to not flop down on the blankets like they did. He shook the water out of his hair, ignoring Martha's mutters about no puppies allowed on the TARDIS, and dropped down next to Rose.
"So, what did you think?" he asked them, grinning.
Rose paused, lowering the towel from her hair. "Do you even have to ask?"
"Well, sometimes it's nice to hear something even if you already know the answer." Martha said pointedly as she dried her arms with the towel. The Doctor suddenly found the blanket very fascinating and Rose went back to squeezing the water out of her hair. Martha smashed her lips together to stop herself from laughing at them.
As the sun started to set, they pulled on clothes over their suits and got to work making dinner. A fire pit was dug, the portable campfire kit was unpacked and lit, and food was pulled from the cooler to be cooked. It'd been Martha's idea to have dinner on the beach so it'd been up to her to decide what they'd be eating.
Watching her pull supplies from the bag, they tried to discern exactly what she was planning on making. She unfolded a grate from the portable campfire kit and set it over the fire. Then she pulled out several sealed bags containing one ingredient each: chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, and potatoes. She sat with her legs crossed, a small cutting board on her lap, and the bags in the sand along the front of her legs. Last, she pulled a handful of skewers from the bag. Brushing her hands off on her lap, she pulled the bags open and started sticking pieces from each onto a skewer.
Rose had absolutely no idea what she was making. She and Jackie hadn't had the money to go out to dinner often and her mum hadn't ever made anything resembling that. The only thing that came to mind was s'mores but that definitely was not what was on the menu.
The Doctor watched, captivated, his eyes tracking each slice of food from its bag to the skewer. Martha kept glancing up at him, a smile tugging at her lips, and Rose was chuckling quietly.
"Doctor, are you alright?" Martha lightly jabbed the half loaded stick towards his face. He didn't even flinch.
"I've never had a shish kabob before," he explained, watching her skewer another piece of chicken. "I've heard of them, but I've never actually gotten around to trying one."
"Never?" she asked in surprise. "I would've figured by now you've had everything there is to eat on Earth."
"Nah, that'll never happen. Every day new recipes are being invented and forgotten. There's no way I could ever keep up. Besides, plenty of places I can go to eat in the universe."
"Well, first time for everything." Martha said, handing him the first one. "No! It's still raw. Put it on the grill." She nodded to the metal grate over the fire and picked up another stick.
He lowered it from his mouth and gingerly set it on the grill.
"I've never had them before, either." Rose admitted.
Martha nodded. "You I can understand. Don't worry; I think you'll like it."
After she placed three more on the grill, Martha rotated the first one, showing them how one side was nice and brown. She left them with the task of minding the grill while she continued to prepare the rest. As she'd predicted, the Doctor was able to adequately judge when the kabobs were done and he removed them from the grill, placing them on the plate Rose held. Though she half expected him to try to sneak one early or fidget impatiently, he was always on the move and in a hurry, the Doctor seemed content to simply let time pass and enjoy it.
She was glad. The rhythmic rolling of the waves, the chirping of nighttime insects that were starting to come out, the crackling of the campfire, and the nearly inaudible hum of the TARDIS behind them. She was more relaxed right then, sitting on an alien beach with two of her best friends in the universe, sliding pieces of meat and vegetables onto the skewers, than she had been in would've been even better if she hadn't felt like a third wheel all day, but that was unavoidable with them, and she didn't mind much these days. She was getting an experience that few others ever would and if she had to feel like the odd one out and excuse herself to let them be alone sometimes, well, she'd do it.
And there was something satisfying about watching the two of them grow closer together and knowing she'd helped. Martha, if nothing else, was practical. She knew that this life—the travelling and running—wasn't permanent. Soon she'd have to go back to Earth. 2008, May. She had a life there that she couldn't just drop. Maybe once she finished med school she'd go back to travelling with them, but eventually she'd stop. Rose would stay with the Doctor and the two of them would keep on travelling. Maybe they'd come to visit—no, there was no maybe about it, they would be coming to visit her—and maybe she'd go with them a few times, but she would be able to happily wave goodbye each time if she knew they were happy together.
Feeling like a mother, she watched the two of them eat shish kabobs for the first time. Rose seemed unsure what to do at first, but then she held the point in one hand and the handle in the other and went about biting pieces off like corn on the cob. The Doctor tried different ways to pry the pieces off without poking himself or dropping them in the sand. Rose was laughing at his antics, his eyes kept flickering between her and his food, and Martha decided he was probably being silly just for her.
Once more she was struck with a pang of regret. The Doctor had, without meaning to, ruined everyone else for her.
The woman with silver hands had told her she'd meet her love in the "darkest time." Whatever that was supposed to mean. She couldn't help but wonder sometimes what he'd be like. A human, probably—she wished Rose nothing but the best, but she didn't think she herself could honestly love anyone who wasn't her own species. Even if he did look like one and could offer her the universe from start to finish. Would he be short or tall? Black, white, or something else—it didn't matter to her, not really. He'd have to be intelligent and brave. She wasn't expecting him to be able to look a Dalek in the eyestalk, but he would have to be able to accept the fact she was a time traveller and they would occasionally have a pandimensional ship landing in their front room. And he'd have to be willing to come with them to an alien planet. Or two.
After dinner, the Doctor cleaned off the skewers and grate with the sonic and Rose helped Martha repack the supplies. Rose carried the bag over to the TARDIS, unlocking the door, and set it just inside the door. The TARDIS hummed, the touch in her mind warm, but brief. Shutting the door behind her, Rose fixed the knot on her long, sky blue sarong and slipped the key around her neck. She treaded carefully back across the sand to the blankets where the Doctor and Martha waited.
The sand glimmered in the firelight, reminding her once more that it was made entirely of precious stones. This beach, she decided, was one of her favorite places in the universe.
She sat down next to the Doctor, hip pressed against his, and curled her legs out to the side, leaning on him for support. Three of the four moons were well up into the sky by the time the last light of the distant blue star faded, leaving the sky inky black, peppered with the light of countless stars.
The Doctor had kept one of the skewers and he used it as a pointer. Martha joined them on their blanket, resting her head against his shoulder, and followed the line of the thin metal pole as he explained the sky above him. They could see nebulas burning millions of miles away, nurseries as colorful as the planet they sat on, cradling baby stars, several of which would be visible from earth one day. He indicated which clusters of stars were galaxies and which ones looked like they were close but were actually light years apart. He indicated which lights were Kataa Flo Ko's sisters—those were fairly easy to distinguish, as they each gave off light tinged with color. The nearest one was mostly green.
He pointed to a small one, almost purple in color, and said, "That's the Xtonic star I was telling you about earlier. It gives of galvanic radiation. Just one touch on your skin and you'd turn to dust."
He indicated several big balls of light and said they were, in fact, not galaxies or neighboring planets, but individual stars. Some were the size of the Earth's solar system. One was bigger. Then he started tracing constellations that they named on the spot.
"—and see that one there? That's the tip of the tail."
Martha squinted for another few seconds. She'd never been good with constellations. "Yeah, I think so."
"What should we call it?"
"Bob."
Martha and the Doctor looked over at Rose with their eyebrows raised. She stared up at the sky resolutely.
"Bob," she repeated.
"You know," the Doctor said slowly. "When humans started inhabiting other planets, it became a general rule that if the indigenous life had pre-existing constellations, they would be honored. But if the people there never bothered to name patterns in the sky, astronomers would do it, and they usually became official. So, technically, here and now, we're deciding the official constellations for Kataa Flo Ko."
"Then Kataa Flo Ko has a constellation called Bob," Rose said firmly.
They stayed out there for a while longer, occasionally lapsing into silence. Rose felt tranquil, a far cry from how she'd felt this time yesterday. Tranquil, happy, safe, and with the Doctor's fingers tracing patterns idly on her side, loved. She never wanted it to end.
Eventually, though, Martha yawned. "Well, I'm going inside. It's getting a bit to chilly out here for me. You guys gonna stay out here a bit longer?"
The Doctor glanced down at Rose and they both nodded.
Martha picked up her clothes from earlier and her towel, heading for the TARDIS. Calling over her shoulder, "Don't you stay out too late!" she unlocked the door and stepped inside.
The moment the door shut, Rose sighed, shifting closer to the Doctor. She felt him smile against her head. His skin was cool and the night air was little better, she couldn't help but shiver even with the fire. She fisted her hands around the loose sleeves of her chemise, holding the fabric closer to her skin to block the breeze. The Doctor pulled away and returned a moment later with one of the smaller blankets that he wrapped around her shoulders.
It was her turn to smile. "Thank you." She fidgeted before he could put his arm around her again, her back was getting a bit stiff from sitting in the same position for so long, and she decided to stretch out on her back.
The Doctor blinked once slowly, then joined her. Instead of putting his arm around her, he laced his fingers with hers, their clasped hands resting in the space between them. She smiled, closing her eyes contently.
"This has been nice," she said quietly. "How come we didn't come sooner?"
He shrugged. "There're lots of places I'd like to take you. But places like this seem even nicer when you're not visiting them every day. You've got to have variety. Besides, this way we've always got something to look forward to. Always one more place we can go."
"Hmm. All the same, I really loved today. Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me."
"Well I'm gonna."
He smiled, looking at her properly now. Her cheeks were lit by the firelight but her eyes were cast in shadow and he could see the stars reflecting off the brown orbs. He turned onto his side, propping himself up on his arm and curling his other hand around hers at once.
"I think I'm the one who should be thanking you," he admitted quietly. Blinking, she turned her head towards his, and arched her eyebrows. "Because you stay. Every time I'm sure I've finally gone and done something that'll make you leave, you don't even flinch."
The corners of her lips turned upwards. "I don't want to."
He lifted their joined hands, brushing his knuckles across her cheek. "Even if this is all I can give you?"
Her eyes closed at his touch. "It's enough," she whispered.
"Is it? Is it really?" he pressed. "You're young, Rose. You might be happy now, but what about in five years? There are things I can never give you. Things you might want one day."
Rose snapped her eyes open and glared at him fiercely. "Don't you dare. This has been one of the nicest days I've had in ages. Don't spoil it."
"Rose."
"Doctor."
"Please."
She sighed. "I told you before: I'm never gonna leave you. I thought you'd have gotten that through your head by now. I want this life, here, with you."
"And what about a house, a job, children, and things like that?"
"Doctor, I don't care about any of that. I don't want that life."
"You could, one day."
"Yeah and I'm also old enough to decide what I want for myself, thanks." she replied tersely. "I don't need you or anyone telling me what I need or don't need in my life. And I say for now, this—" she held up their joined hands "—is enough."
He smiled at her, his eyes proud and yet resigned, like he'd expected this answer all along. He squeezed her hand tighter.
"You're such an idiot sometimes," she told him, then she and scooted closer. "But you're my idiot."
The Doctor chuckled, brushing her cheek again, but quickly sobered. "I meant it, though."
"So did I."
"No, before that. Thank you. And I…I'm sorry for yesterday. I was worried about you the whole time I was with them."
Her eyes flitted downwards, studying the blanket covering her arm. "Half the time I was sure you'd turn up any second, the other half, all I could think about was finding your dead body."
A tremor ran through her body and he felt a tear land on his hand. He immediately let go of her hand and put his arm around her waist, pulling her against him. She rolled onto her side and pressed her face into his t-shirt, fisting her hands in the material and she shuddered. Her voice was muffled but he understood every word she said. "The way you kissed me—I thought you were telling me goodbye. I thought you knew they were gonna kill you and I wouldn't have been able to save you this time."
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "It was the only way. There wasn't time to—"
"I know." She lifted her head. "Just…shut up for a bit."
He closed his mouth obediently and spent the next few minutes tracing words in Gallifreyan on her back. He wondered if she'd noticed yet that he always wrote the same thing, over and over, every time he did this. When they were curled up in bed as he tried to help her fall asleep, after she was asleep, when they were lounging together on the couch. He didn't expect her to know what it meant, just that he'd been telling her for months. He'd even written it near the bottom of her door one night when he was bored and waiting for her sleep cycle to be over. The words he wanted to say to her.
He could smile when others said it, he could think it, he could admit it to Martha, but saying it to Rose herself was another matter entirely. But she knew. She had to.
The Doctor lifted his eyes to the stars and almost smiled when he found a specific cluster again. Their shape was unclear from this part of space and incomplete, but he knew them just as he always did. He'd noticed them earlier but he hadn't wanted to explain so he hadn't called attention to them then. He wanted to show her now. He wanted someone other than him to look up at the sky and know, if only for a few minutes, the importance of that ravaged bit of space.
"Rose, I want to show you something."
He sat up and reached for the skewer, which lay forgotten above the blanket, and pointed it at the cluster. "That cluster I'm pointing to—bit difficult to see since we're so far. Looks like a wonky five-point. Do you see it?"
She sat up and squinted, trying to locate the cluster among the dozens of stars in the area he was pointing out. Finally she nodded.
"That's what's left of the constellation of Kasterborous," he told her softly. "It used to also be known as the Seven Systems."
Her question was soft, gentle, "What happened?"
"The Time War happened." He paused and slid his arm around her back. "There were five planets, two suns, and about a dozen moons, but when the war was time locked, most of what was left got trapped inside. And since effects of the war ripple across time itself, the system will never look as it should. I went back once; right around the time I met you, just to see if I could find out what had survived. But the TARDIS couldn't get any proper readings and we couldn't get any closer without risking the lock."
"Why'd you even go back?"
He hesitated again, swallowed, and murmured, "It's where I'm from."
Rose's eyes widened and she inhaled sharply. She studied the weird little constellation with new intensity. With this knowledge in mind she realized that it looked rather…alone. There was ring of darkness around those few lights that no other light quite breached. Those five little lights, the last remains of what must've been a mighty syste, broken and alone in the dark with only each other for company. Much like the man beside her back when they'd first met.
"G-Gallifrey?" she whispered.
"I'm not even sure exactly what those five are since I can't risk getting close." the Doctor went on quickly. "Though, I'm pretty sure at least one of the suns made it or else we wouldn't be able to see them at all. But as for the rest, no one knows. No one will ever know."
There were so many things she could say, but none of them seemed appropriate. I'm sorry just wouldn't do, not for that. So she opted not to say anything, reaching for his cheek and turning his face towards hers. His eyes met hers, so dark and sad, that she didn't hesitate, stretching up to press her lips tenderly against his. He wavered for only a moment, then his arm was tightening around her as he kissed her back.
It wasn't like any kiss they had shared before. Usually they were brushes on cheeks and foreheads, occasionally pecks on the lips and sometimes not as chaste, plus yesterday's brief, but fierce kiss in Hooverville. But this one was slow and tender, full of unspoken words, sorrow, and love. He dropped the skewer and curled his hand around the nape of her neck, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss. She made a tiny sound in the back of her throat and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She caressed the back of his head with one hand, running her fingers through his hair.
When her lungs felt like they would burst if she didn't breathe, Rose drew back. The Doctor placed a few more kisses to her lips, slowing them each time, then opened his eyes, just a few inches from hers. He smiled a bit and rubbed her cheekbone with his thumb.
I love you, she thought.
"Thank you," she said. "For showing me."
A scream startled Rose out of her sleep the next morning and she jerked awake with a gasp. The first thing she realized was that she was still outside. The second was that she was using the Doctor's chest as a pillow. And third: there was a very strange clicking noise right above her. She looked up, catching the Doctor's eye, and then the both of them looked at the creatures standing over them.
There were three of them. Rusty-brown crabs the size of giant dogs, with four black eyes, oversized mouths, four pincers, and over half a dozen legs. They stared down at the two humanoids on the blankets. Their mouths opened and closed, revealing four rows of teeth, and clicked their pincers at them.
Rose stared at them for a second and then she let out a shrill scream. She leaped off the blanket, reaching for the cooler with the chicken legs in it, ripping the lid off, and she chucked the entire thing at them. She didn't wait to see if it hit, floundering through the said towards the TARDIS. Martha was standing in the doorway watching the scene in horror. She only just managed to jump out of the way as Rose barreled through.
Throwing the entire cooler, as it turned out, wasn't exactly an effective method. Thankfully the Doctor wasn't as alarmed by their appearance. After Rose threw the cooler he was able to actually get the chicken legs out and started pelting the crabs with them. When they got far enough away, he made a grab for his sonic screwdriver and chased them up the beach with the right setting. When he got back to their campsite, Rose and Martha were peeking out from behind the TARDIS doors.
He shook his head at them. "You can come out now. Honestly, they won't be back anytime soon."
After a moment, they slowly emerged from the TARDIS, Martha checking around the back of the ship for any sign of more crabs. When she was satisfied they were alone again, she joined the two of them by the extinguished campfire.
"I've been looking all over for you two," she said. "The kitchen, the library, both your rooms. I didn't think you'd stay out all night."
"Didn't mean to," the Doctor admitted. His sleep cycle had been interrupted earlier and after their day he'd been completely knackered. So when Rose fell asleep in his arms he didn't really have the heart to move her and ended up dozing off with her. Though waking up with her on his chest had been quite a pleasant surprise.
Martha looked between the two of them contemplatively then shrugged.
The Doctor was eager to move on after a day of sitting still, relatively speaking, so they packed up camp and went on their way, after securing a promise from the Doctor that they would come back one day.
After that, life in the TARDIS went on the way it always did. Well mostly.
They still gallivanted around, stirring up trouble, taking in the wonders of the universe, and occasionally saving people. They pretended to be nobility when it suited them and laid low when it didn't. They visited theme parks, went back to the holo-film theater, went to a restaurant in New York City and ate pork. They sat in the door of the TARDIS and hovered over nebulae and planets. They played with random coordinates.
Martha finally got her curling iron and hairdryer from the 80th century. She also received her TARDIS key around the same time, the Doctor exclaiming that he couldn't believe he'd forgotten to give her one sooner, after all he'd thought to upgrade her phone weeks ago. She wore the key around her neck proudly. She even made her first call home since departing, speaking to her mum and Tish briefly. She figured it was best they didn't speak for long after Tish mentioned that it had only been a day since the whole incident with Lazarus.
But she'd noticed a few changes in the weeks following their vacation on Kataa Flo Ko. The Doctor and Rose had already been acting like a couple long before she'd come onboard the TARDIS, so the fact that the dynamics in the ship had shifted somewhat wasn't glaringly obvious. But sometimes their playful banter was punctuated by kisses. Sometimes she'd find them curled up somewhere and Rose would be massaging his temples or playing with his hair, or vice versa. And sometimes she'd be looking for one or both of them and couldn't seem to find them.
The Doctor took them to the year 2011 and they went to the Harry Potter theme park in Florida. There would be dozens of Harry Potter themed parks and funlands over the next few centuries, better than this, but he insisted that this small section of the larger theme park would always have a certain charm that none of the others did, simply because it was the first.
They went everywhere at least twice. While they were in the queue for the castle ride, the Doctor pulled The Philosopher's Stone out of his coat and read aloud in the way only he could to entertain them. He earned the attention of everyone nearby and the usual chatter died down so they could hear him talking over the hum of the ride and the talking pictures. When they got to the front, there were a few empty cars sent along as even the attendants wanted to hear for just a few more seconds.
After the ride, they rooted around the shop. Rose bought a Fawkes plushy, Martha got Crookshanks, and the Doctor got Hedwig. They went into Zonkos and Honeydukes, they had lunch at The Three Broomsticks, went to Ollivander's to watch the wand selecting ceremony (the Doctor spent their time in the queue reading from The Philosopher's Stone again), and next door to Dervish and Bangles where they each bought a house scarf—Ravenclaw for the Doctor, Gryffindor for Rose, and Hufflepuff for Martha. Then they jumped ahead a few weeks and went to the midnight premier of the final movie.
Martha and Rose collaborated with the TARDIS one time when the Doctor was actually asleep, using what little piloting skills she had, and got her to take them to 2009 so Martha could finally see the latest Terminator movie. She went on her own and came back a few hours later having seen and been disappointed in the movie. They returned the TARDIS to the vortex with the Doctor completely unaware the trip ever occurred.
They went to visit Sarah Jane in 2008 and introduce her to Martha. The medical student was delighted to finally meet her. After scolding the Doctor for landing in the middle of her living room, Sarah Jane seemed equally pleased to have them and greeted Martha warmly. Her delight only increased further when Martha mentioned she'd heard a lot about her from the Doctor and Rose.
She invited them to stay for lunch and the three of them offered to help prepare sandwiches in the kitchen. As she was getting the bread out of the fridge, she gave them a shrewd look. "I don't suppose you know anything about Christmas. The spaceship and the Thames being drained?"
Rose snickered and the Doctor plastered on an innocent expression. "Maybe."
She elbowed him but his innocent smile did not falter. She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we were there. It's a long story. An' before you ask, we were in the hospital, too."
Sarah Jane raised her eyebrows. "What hospital?"
"Royal Hope," Martha explained. "That's how the three of us met. I was working there and they were investigating when it got taken up to the moon."
"A hospital's going to get taken to the moon?" she asked sharply.
"Yeah, didn't you—uh oh. What date is it?"
"March 2nd, 2008."
As one, the girls turned to glare at the Doctor. He ignored them, sipping casually at his tea.
Sarah Jane sighed. "What date was he aiming for?"
"May or June."
"Not as bad as it could have been, then."
So they explained what they could about Royal Hope and warned Sarah Jane to stay away that day. Then they started telling her what they'd been up to over the past four months. As they spoke, Sarah Jane listened but she also took note of the way they were seated. Martha sat next to Rose, straight up in her chair, with her arms folded on the table. Rose and the Doctor's chairs were as close together as possible and based on the positions of their arms, she guessed they were holding hands under the table. Last time she'd seen them together, Rose had been by the Doctor's side almost constantly but to her it had looked like it was mostly for support. Like she would fall over without him there to hold her up.
Now they sat close together, holding hands, smiling and laughing and finishing each other's sentences as they told a story. Sarah Jane took a sip of her tea and caught Martha's eye briefly, lifting one eyebrow. The younger woman nodded once, accompanied by a roll of her eyes and a fond smile. So their relationship was progressing nicely, then. There was comfort in seeing that. She would never have to worry about Rose turning up on her door for help. Well, not again, anyway.
Hey, if this keeps up, I'll be at 500 reviews by this chapter or next.
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If anyone needs me, I'll be watching Ben 10 on Netflix.