I just want to apologize for how long this has taken. Long story short, I'm an aspiring actor and I just finished filming a movie, so it's all really exciting BUT it was a ton of night time shooting and I work during the day so yeah, no time whatsoever. BUT ANYWAYS here you go! Please review, it would mean a lot. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Enjoy!


Athena woke up feeling warm and safe, a combination of feelings she hadn't had the pleasure of experiencing in far too long. She stared at the ceiling as the simulated images of stars and planets danced before her. After several minutes she sat herself up and examined the room. The Doctor had never come back that night. He had kept his word. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, grabbed the blanket that was resting on the Doctor's chair, wrapped herself in it and made her way towards the galley.

The Doctor had just finished setting down several plates of food for him and Athena. He had been cooking for the past two hours. When he helped her walk back to the TARDIS last night he calculated that she had lost roughly three and a half kilograms since he had last seen her. He had made up a fake goal in his mind to get her to gain half a kilogram back with just this meal alone. He laughed a little at the thought.

Athena walked into the galley and stopped when she realized the Doctor was there. She didn't say anything, she just stared at him. He stared back. It didn't take him long before he realized she wasn't going to say anything, so he broke the silence, "How did you sleep?" She nodded and then shrugged. "Come eat." She didn't move. "Athena, please, come eat. You need to eat." He looked at the table and then back at her. She had followed his movements and now was looking back at him. The Doctor sighed and picked up a plate of toast. "Humor me, please." He slowly walked towards her. "It's not like you came in here looking for the telly or something." Athena smiled a little at his joke, causing him to smile widely. He held out the plate for her and she took a piece of toast off. She hesitated for a moment, but then took a bite. "There we go!" The Doctor's manic energy surged through him and before Athena could blink the Doctor had put the plate of toast down, poured a glass of orange juice for her, and then jumped behind her to push her towards her usual chair. Before she had registered what had just happened, the Doctor pushed her chair towards the table and sat down across from her. "We've got toast, eggs, pancakes, beans, sausage, tomatoes, potatoes, and of course, bananas! Along with your choice of orange juice, milk, apple juice, coffee, or hot chocolate. Oh…I already poured you orange juice. Well, when you finish that you have your choice of orange juice, milk, apple juice, coffee, or hot chocolate. Eat as much as you want."

Athena shook her head and let out a small chuckle, "I'm not going to eat while you just sit there."

The Doctor held up the empty plate that was resting in front of him. "That's what this is for. But this plate is going to stay clean until you get yours dirty." He bargained, setting the plate back down. "Besides, you need your energy! We've got a long day of doing whatever it is you want to do." He beamed at her. She gave him a slight smile back. After a few moments of the two of them just smiling at each other, and subconsciously trying to out do each other, Athena picked up the plate of eggs and tried to shovel some onto the Doctor's plate.

The Doctor yelped and picked his plate up, causing Athena to spill the eggs onto the table. "No no no, what did I say, Athena?"

"But you need to—" She started, only to be cut off. "I don't want to hear it! You first!" Athena remained unmoving. The Doctor groaned and picked up the plate of beans and tried to dump some onto Athena's plate, but she countered him, causing him to spill them onto the table.

"You are being so stubborn." He mock chided. She smiled at him. "Oh, are you challenging me?" She shrugged. "I think you are." The Doctor took another spoonful of the baked beans, "The problem with challenging me, sweetheart, is that I always win." He flicked the spoonful at her, hitting her in the chest. Athena mocked gasped at him, filled her spoon with eggs, and flung them at his hair. "Oh," he groaned, "this means war."

The two of them jumped up, ditched the spoons, and begun throwing food at each other. Athena used the Doctor's blanket as a shield against the flying sauce and beans while the Doctor took to simply darting out of the way of scrambled eggs. The TARDIS emitted a low hum every time one of them missed the other and splattered her walls, but neither of them listened to her. Both of them had several stains on their clothing and the blanket, but it wasn't anything the TARDIS's laundry room couldn't take care of.

Neither of them noticed that the Doctor had spilled some of the sauce onto the floor. The Doctor stepped on the sauce, and since he was barefoot, he slipped and begun to fall. Athena tried to catch him, but she didn't have the strength and so she went down with him. They both landed on the ground, groaning when they made contact. It didn't take long before they started laughing at the precarious situation. The Doctor had landed on top of Athena. At this point, he was supporting himself by his elbows as to not crush her, but Athena couldn't stop laughing at the bits of egg in his hair and the Doctor was going into hysterics over the sauce in her hair. After a minute of laughing they calmed down. The Doctor wiped away some of the sauce that was a little too close to her eye. "You okay?" He breathed out.

"Yeah, you?"

"I think my hair will live." He joked slightly. He smiled down at her. Without either of them realizing it, they had closed the distance between them. Athena wrapped her arms around his neck and the Doctor tried to keep himself up by supporting himself on one arm and running his other hand up and down her side.

The Doctor pried himself from her, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I don't know what—"

"You're fine." Athena assured. The Doctor smiled before kissing her forehead and climbing off of her. He helped her up onto her feet and then back into her chair. The Doctor sat across from her and laughed a little at the sight of her. "Shall we try this again?" He asked.

"Why not?" She laughed. The two of them began to laugh again. After several minutes, the two of them were enjoying their food while trying to decide what to do with their day. They decided to relax this first day and just wander about the Moanalua Gardens.

Once they finished their breakfast, they both went back to their room to shower and get dressed for the day. After making a quick stop to the laundry room to drop off the blanket and their food stained clothing, they stepped out of the TARDIS and onto one of the lawns of the Moanalua Gardens. Neither of them really knew where to go, so they just started walking.

They stumbled upon a koi pond and Athena sat down near the edge of it. The Doctor noticed a fish food dispenser not too far away and went to go grab a cupful for the two of them. The Doctor joined Athena and held the cup out for her. She took a handful and threw it into the water. The two of them smiled as they watched the koi come to the surface and start feasting. It didn't take long before they were down to just a couple more pellets. The Doctor spilled them into his hand and scrutinized them. "Curious…" The Doctor mumbled to himself. Athena opened her mouth to protest, "No, no, don't." The Doctor put a piece of the fish food in his mouth and began chewing. His features quickly contorted in disgust as he spit out the offensive food. "I warned you." Athena laughed.

"That is foul. How do the fish put up with that?"

"It probably tastes just fine to them." She continued to laugh.

"Why did you let me do that?" He asked, spitting onto the ground again. Athena sighed, rolled her eyes, and shoved the Doctor into the pond. He surfaced and gasped for air. "What was that for?" He shouted, laughing at the same time.

"For being an idiot, that's what." She laughed again before going solemn, "Plus, you deserve it."

The Doctor's face fell. "You're right…I do." He stood up and shook his hair. "Athena, I'm—"

"Don't." She cut him off. The Doctor nodded and stepped out of the pond and reclaimed his seat next to her. They sat in silence, watching the fish swim around.

After twenty-eight minutes of silence, Athena stood up and brushed her legs off. "I need to be alone."

"Right, of course. I'll be here if you need me."

"Thanks." Athena muttered before turning around and walking away. The Doctor noticed she wasn't going the direction they came. He desperately hoped she didn't get lost, but he knew he needed to respect her decision. He thought he was doing so well the past day, but he understood that this could take months. He laid down in the grass and stared up at the clouds. He hated himself. He hated himself with every fiber of his being. How he ever let anything like that happen, he had no idea. What had he become?

He remembered Ood Sigma. He remembered Carmen telling him that his song was ending. His song should have ended a long time ago. He was ready to die. It was time. When that time came, he would do his best to not fight it. Knowing him, he would fight it until he couldn't fight anymore, but right now he told himself he wasn't going to fight it when it came.

Athena found a tree with branches low to the ground. She climbed up into the tree and sat there. Once she felt safe, she began crying. In the past, when these things had happened, she had always given it a day and had moved on. But those were usually people, or in that one case Kleops, that she didn't know. It was still brutal, but it was easier to deal with. Easier to forget. But now, with the Doctor, it was a nightmare. And she was terrified. Part of her felt like she had to leave, go back to London and try to forget about the Doctor. But another part, a bigger part, wanted to stay. She had seen that her time with the Doctor could still be as it once was. But she didn't know how long it would take her to get over everything that had happened. She felt as though if things continued as they had been the past day, which was the Doctor being patient and kind and his old, fun and curious self, then one day it would all seem like a bad dream from long ago.

When Athena looked around at her surroundings again, she realized the sky was a brilliant combination of pink and orange due to the setting sun. She carefully maneuvered her way back down and onto the ground. She believed she remembered her way back to the koi pond so she started walking.

She was only walking for several minutes before she heard a loud, echoing, "Athena!" pierce the quiet. She stopped in her tracks, unsure of what to do. The Doctor ran out from behind a row of tall bushes. She could see him looking around the lawn frantically. He located her and ran towards her. "Oh thank the gods, there you are. It's still the Kaloa nights, we need to get back to the TARDIS." He wrapped his hand around hers and they took off running back towards the TARDIS.

They reached the TARDIS just as the sun sank below the horizon. Once they got inside, the Doctor locked the door and ran towards the console and powered the TARDIS down. "Just don't want them to see us, that's all." The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and turned it on, using it as a torch. "Come on, let's go find somewhere to rest." The Doctor held his hand out for Athena and she took it. He led them into their bedroom. The Doctor locked the door and turned his screwdriver off. The only light came from the simulated image of the Milky Way on their ceiling.

"Aren't we safe in the TARDIS?" Athena asked, worry evident in her voice.

"Just want to be sure, that's all." The Doctor responded, seemingly nervous. "Don't want anything to happen to you."

"Come sit then." Athena beckoned. She sat down on the couch and the Doctor joined her. "You're doing a wonderful job." She cooed.

"No, no I'm not."

"You are, don't—"

"If I was then I wouldn't have hurt you like I did." He retorted immediately. He buried his face in his hands. "I just…I can't live with myself knowing I did that to you. I don't deserve your forgiveness." He turned to face you. "Always so full of love, you are. I don't deserve any of it. I don't deserve you." He sighed, "You'd be so much better off without me. I'm so sorry."

"I'm not leaving." She replied.

Despite the Doctor's smile, he continued, "You have no idea how happy that makes me. But I don't think you should stay. After what I did, you deserve a decent life away from me. You can't…I don't…I don't want to hurt you again, Stephanie."

"Would I really be better anywhere else?" The Doctor didn't respond. "Besides, look at you. How you are right now. This is the Doctor I know and trust. This is the Doctor I feel safe with. You. Not that other Time Lord that showed up, this one, sitting right in front of me."

"Athena, I—"

A horrible noise made it's way throughout the TARDIS. The Doctor wrapped his arms around Athena and pulled her towards him. He pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his suit pocket and pointed it towards the door. "We're safe, aren't we?" The Doctor shushed her. Athena whispered, "Aren't we?" The Doctor couldn't hear anything. He couldn't hear any drumming. "They must have just been knocking on the outside of it." The Doctor let out a sigh of relief and put his sonic screwdriver away. He leaned back into the couch and pulled Athena with him. "What do you want to do tomorrow, Athena?"

"Why don't we just wait and see where the day takes us, yeah? Just like old times."

"Yeah…just like old times."

They didn't move the rest of the night. They laid back on the couch until they both slipped into unconsciousness.

The next day was the same as the one before. They woke up, everything was happy and energetic and just as it had been before Mars. The two of them walked hand in hand for an hour towards the ocean and spent the day on the beach. And then, mid afternoon, Athena walked away, leaving the Doctor standing alone on the beach. But she wasn't gone nearly as long. Instead of the Doctor having to go find her, she came back on her own, almost exactly one hour after she left. The Doctor noticed that her shoulders were starting to get pink, so he helped her into her shirt. And then she gave him a hug. To him, the world, the universe, stopped moving. They were all there was. Nothing else.

By the third day stuck on the island, Athena was ready to do something a little more adventurous. Athena managed to convince a couple of American soldiers stationed at Pearl Harbor to give her and the Doctor a lift to Mount Ka'ala. They rode in the back of a pickup truck, enjoying how the wind completely ruined their hair. When they got to the base of the mountain, the soldiers dropped them off and the Doctor could've sworn he saw one of them hand Athena a slip of paper, no doubt with his number. It made him possessive, but at the same time he laughed at the human's attempts.

They took their time climbing the mountain, especially since Athena still didn't have all of her strength back. The Doctor had tried to convince her to rest for the day, but she was not taking no for an answer. Then he did what he always did, he caved and let her climb the highest mountain on the island. Normally, the Doctor would have normally been telling her about the island and it's military history, but he was finding himself winded by the journey as well.

They reached an outcrop about halfway up the mountain just as the sun was beginning to set.

"Okay, we're stopping." The Doctor demanded. He sat down on a log and Athena sat next to him. He felt a jolt of electricity surge through him. "TARDIS is off of lockdown. We can leave now, if you want. Well, once we get off of the mountain, that is."

"We can leave in the morning." Athena replied. She leaned against the Doctor. "We should probably head down, it's getting dark."

"Yeah…" the Doctor pulled a canteen out of his suit pocket, "Drink some water first." Athena obeyed and then handed the canteen back to the Doctor, who helped himself. He put the canteen back in his pocket and pulled out a bag of macadamia nuts. He dumped a few into his hand before giving the bag to Athena. They watched as the sky slowly darkened and the stars begun to shine through.

The temperature quickly dropped. Athena became chilled and the Doctor became unsettled. The temperature should not be dropping this quickly.

Suddenly, a flurry of snow surrounded them, temporarily blinding them. The rest of the mountain withheld their tropic flora, except for the one little outcrop they were on. It was as if someone picked up a chuck of the Canadian tundra and stuck it in Hawai'i. The Doctor wiped his eyes and then stood up, face to face with a creature that Athena had never seen before. It was shorter than the Doctor, but taller than her. It was bald, it's eyes were almost vertical, it had tentacles coming from it's mouth and it held a plastic sphere in it's hand.

"Leave us alone." The Doctor growled.

"You should not delay." The creature responded in a monotone voice. The sphere lit up with its words. That terrified Athena the most.

"I'm taking the long way around, what's wrong with that?" The Doctor questioned, stepping closer towards the creature.

"The dreams, Doctor. They are getting worse."

"Dreams? What dreams?" The creature vanished into thin air before the Doctor got an answer. The atmosphere quickly returned to the warm, humid air it had been before.

"Doctor," Athena breathed out, "What the hell was that?"

"Ood Sigma."

"What the—"

"We need to go."

"It'll take us hours to get back to the TARDIS, let alone back to the base of the mountain!"

"Time Lord trick." The Doctor pulled a TARDIS key out of his pocket and jabbed it into the air. Athena heard a metallic click. The Doctor let go of the key and the TARDIS materialized around it. Athena was too flabbergasted to do anything. "You could've done that this…all those times we…how come you've never done that before?" She shouted at him.

"There's the old Athena." The Doctor replied, smiling slightly.

"What was that thing?" Athena asked, changing the subject.

"My last song." The Doctor responded.

Athena watched as he slowly made his way around the console, hitting buttons and pulling levers without the energetic fervor he usually has. It didn't take long before they were hurtling through the Time Vortex. The Doctor glanced at the monitor, "We'll be there in twenty four hours, give or take. Leave me alone for a bit. I need to come to terms with everything." The Doctor walked out of the console room and towards the corridor, leaving Athena alone.