The Doctor glanced at her as he hesitantly put his free hand on the doorknob. Then, taking a deep breath, he slowly pushed it open and cautiously stepped inside the room. His brow furrowed as he looked around before slowly stepping further inside.

"What are you up to, old girl?" he murmured to the ship.

Hand still in his, Lyssa followed him inside and sucked in a breath when she realized that they were inside the Gallifrey Room. The two suns hung low in the darkening blue sky, turning the clouds on the horizon into a variety of gorgeous pinks, purples, and golds that softly blended together into a natural masterpiece. The fading light glimmered on the silver and green leaves on the trees in the distance, though the red grass looked more like a rusty brown in the shadows.

"Why'd she bring us here?" Lyssa asked curiously as she looked around, letting the familiar scent of the room soak into her after months of being away and relaxing a little further. "I mean, not that I'm mad about it, or anything. I love being here." The soft snick of the door closing behind them distracted her, and she looked back in surprise.

The Doctor followed her gaze, then looked down and frowned. "Why is there a stack of apples in front of the door?" he asked incredulously, staring at a pile of ripe red apples stacked neatly in front of the now-closed door, temporarily barring their exit.

"Are you serious?" Lyssa demanded, throwing up her free hand in exasperation as the TARDIS gave her a pointed nudge through their bond. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She knew exactly why they were there, and the TARDIS was not as funny as she thought she was.

She'd used them back with Eleven when they'd needed to have an important talk after the events on Atrellian. Both of them had had to be uncomfortably honest with the other, and it had culminated in their friendship growing even deeper as they'd also both talked about how much they cared for each other.

Although recent events seemed to indicate that Eleven had likely meant it in an entirely different meaning than she'd thought at the time.

"I know what she wants," Lyssa muttered, keeping her flaming face hidden by her hand.

The Doctor waited a moment before asking, "And... are you going to share that with the class?"

She sighed, avoiding his gaze. "She wants us to talk. Like, actually talk."

He paused, and she could feel his searching eyes on her. "Is that something you're ready for?" he asked gently, his grip loosening on her hand. "Because if you're not, this can wait."

She couldn't help a soft smile, touched by his kindness, but sighed again, reluctantly lowering her hand and looking up at him. "I don't know if I'll ever be ready for something like this," she admitted shyly. "But," she continued, gathering her courage and reminded once more of her talk with Eleven, "we do need to talk. If I put it off too long, I'll jump, and excuse addressing it, and who knows when or if it'll ever happen?" She shook her head, avoiding his gaze once more. "No, it's best we address it right away." She glanced up at him, giving him a crooked smile. "I hear communication is kind of important."

"It is," he agreed quietly. "It's very important." He paused. "But that doesn't mean it has to happen this instant." She furrowed her brow and he gave her a gentle smile. "Taking time to let yourself think and process is also important. Rushing things rarely helps. Particularly if it's about something important. And it's been a stressful day - and I'm assuming a rather stressful three months." He grimaced in mild guilt and glanced around, changing the subject. "Have you ever gone exploring in here? Like, actual exploring?"

Confused, but going along with his lead, she shook her head. "I've only ever been as far as the river over there," she gestured at the familiar clearing where she and the Doctor had always gone. "We've never really gone further than that."

"Well, then." He raised his eyebrows and waggled them invitingly. "I daresay we've just found out what we need to do next. It's a matter of the highest importance. Shall we?" He jerked his head at the tree line.

"But..." she hesitated, though she followed willingly when he set off, tightening her grip on his hand so it didn't slip free. It wasn't that she minded not dealing with things, but her already flimsy courage would only last so long - and she had no idea if she'd actually be able to bring it up at all.

He shot her a comforting smile. "We can walk and talk at the same time," he reminded her as they approached the river, the quiet splashes of the water as it rippled around protruding stones providing a subtle background noise. "And I'm fairly certain you have questions."

"Actually... I do, yeah," she realized in surprise, even as her heart warmed a little more at his kindness at her unease. "We talked about it a little bit earlier, but didn't get the chance to finish it. The damaged fixed point I felt earlier, it went away while Lucy was talking." She glanced up at him curiously. "What was that? I didn't think there were any fixed points there."

"Welllll, technically there weren't," he drawled.

Lyssa furrowed her brow. "But, then why did I feel anything?"

The Doctor shrugged. "My best guess would be that it's not directly them, but rather something from them. Or perhaps someone," he shrugged again. He looked down, expression growing somber. "It was likely related in some way to one of the people who was killed. Them dying strained the fixed point. But because Time tries to repair itself, it worked around it. Whatever Lucy decided, Time is using that as a replacement. It's switched its flow from the other person to her." He glanced down at her. "I could always look further into it, if you want?" he offered.

"Actually..." Lyssa contemplated, "I think I know who - or what - it was." The only major differences from the original events that she could remember were that Jack had taken the place of Mr. Clarke, leaving him alive - which meant it couldn't be him if it were related to someone's death - and Matron Redfern dying in the place of Jenny.

"Matron Redfern died," she said slowly as they reached the riverbank and turned to follow it downstream towards what looked like a bridge further down. "She didn't originally. She survived, and eventually remarried. One of her descendants - a great-granddaughter, maybe? - wrote a book about what happened here. Because she died, that won't happen now."

"But Lucy mentioned she might tell stories about us one day," the Doctor realized, eyes lighting up with excitement. "And that's when Time began to heal." He beamed down at her. "Have I ever mentioned how brilliant you are?"

She scoffed, though she couldn't hide a pleased smile at his obvious pride in her. "It was more from what I knew than from any clever deductions."

He shook his head. "Nope. I'm a Time Lord. We're specially trained to recognize brilliance, and everything's pointing to you being properly brilliant."

"Right." She gave him a disbelieving smile, but switched her attention to their surroundings as they approached the small cobblestone bridge that raised into a soft arch over the water below. "Oh, that's pretty!" she exclaimed as they turned onto it. "I've never seen this before!" She ran one hand lightly over the ivy that twined around the railings, periodically interspersed with globes that glowed with a soft golden light that lit up the path.

"It does look rather nice," the Doctor admitted, stepping up beside her, his arm brushing against hers and sending a trail of sparks up her skin at the contact. "I have to say, it's probably for the best that we didn't go with my idea for a bridge." He scrunched up his nose at her curious look. "I wanted a swinging rope bridge, but both you and the TARDIS vetoed that," he complained. "Apparently the chances of me injuring myself and/or getting stuck were considered so high as to be virtually guaranteed."

Lyssa pressed her lips together firmly and looked away in an attempt to hide her smile, having no doubts that those exact circumstances would have occurred likely on the first day. And if it were Eleven... "Your next self probably would've fallen off straightaway," she informed him, biting back a laugh at the mental image. "Balance issues and all, you know."

His jaw dropped. "Are you telling me I lose all my natural grace?" he whined as she began to tug him further along, curious to explore further. "That I become some clumsy fellow who can't even walk in a straight line?"

"Of course not," she assured him as he reluctantly followed her across the bridge. "You're surprisingly graceful when you want to be," she said, thinking fondly of their dances together, which had consisted of more mistakes on her part than his. "Just... not most of the time," she completed with a giggle.

The Doctor sniffed disdainfully, not in the least comforted. "I bet he doesn't even have proper hair," he complained, raising a hand protectively to his hair - once more properly raised as if defying gravity. "Probably all floppy-haired, and ridiculous dress sense," he mumbled.

Lyssa gave him a narrow-eyed glance, not admitting how accurate his description had been. "You say that as if it doesn't describe all your regenerations to some degree, except for perhaps your last one," she pointed out dryly.

"That is properly offensive," he told her in a wounded tone. "My hair is not floppy!"

She made a disbelieving sound as they stepped off the bridge and back onto the red grass. "Just because you don't like the truth doesn't mean it's no longer true, Doctor," she reminded him dryly.

"What are you implying about my hair?"

"I'm not implying anything, I'm outright saying it."

They continued their squabble through another clearing, a grove of trees that had one growing some sort of red blobs on it, though the Doctor hastily pulled her forward before she could look closer, yet another clearing, and deeper into the actual forest. By now it should've been dark enough that it was difficult to see, but the trail they were walking on glowed with a silver sheen, illuminating their path and enough of their surroundings for her to be continuously awed by how beautiful everything was.

Not enough to distract her completely, though.

"Speaking of glowing," she broke in as he paused in his explanation of glowing paths - because apparently he couldn't just call it magic and be done with it, it was an affront to his inner scientist, or something. "Why were my hands glowing?"

"Sorry?" He blinked, thrown off, then looked down at her. "When were your hands glowing?"

"Back when you were, um..." Her eyes dropped. "Back when you were John. They started glowing a couple times towards the end, and then again when you... turned back." She turned red at the memory.

"Turned back," he repeated thoughtfully, then his eyes went wide and darted away as one hand raised up to rub at the back of his neck. "Oh! Right! Right. Er, I'd say that it's likely due to the watch being opened. You know how sometimes your hands glow when the TARDIS is in flight?" he asked, and continued at her nod. "Well, that's because the Time in you reaches out to the Time in her, and the way it reacts in you is in a golden glow. Kind of like how regeneration energy looks in Time Lords."

He paused, gathering his thoughts. "Now, the Time in you is also connected to me. But with the TARDIS powered off, and myself being human, the Time didn't have anything to connect to, because it was all buried in the watch. When Timothy found it, we know he opened it at least three times, and then obviously I opened it when I changed back."

"So... the Time in me reached out when it felt you, which made my hands glow," Lyssa summed up.

"Yep!" He nodded. "And I'd say that's probably related to why your hands started to shake so often." He glanced down at their joined hands with the faintest echo of the concern John had so often felt. "The Time reached out to try and connect, but there wasn't anything there, leaving it trapped, so to speak. It's basically just a build-up of energy that had nowhere to go, so your body got rid of it the only way it could. It's like..."

He paused, clearly trying to find a way to explain it. "From what I've figured out so far, the Time Stream builds up in you like the tributary of a river might fill up a reservoir. When the levels get too high, you jump to keep it from overflowing. The connection between us is a bit like… the floodgates of the reservoir. When we're together, the gates open to keep things balanced between the two of us. It's what keeps you

"Except you were gone, which meant the gates were closed, and the energy built up a lot faster," Lyssa finished, trying to follow along. "But didn't you say that my body jumped to keep the levels from getting too high? If the levels had gotten too high, why didn't I just jump?" She frowned. "Not to mention I've stayed over six months with you before without having any sort of reaction. I know you were technically gone or whatever, but shouldn't I have had more than a few months?"

He grimaced. "You should've, but because I was gone, what you were able to hold was a lot lower than it typically is. Not enough to jump, but enough to create the shaking. And... I don't think you can jump without me." He swallowed hard, eyes distant and heavy. "I don't know how or why, but I've seen it before. When the connection is blocked, the Time has nothing to connect to, so it simply builds up because it can't feel another version of me for you to jump to."

Which is probably why she would die if the Doctor did, she realized. It would build up too high, and there would be nowhere for it to go. And if the look in his eyes was any indication, he'd likely seen some variation of it happen in his past at some point before he was able to fix it. Or... if he had even been able to fix it, she corrected herself as a chill ran down her spine, recalling how certain the Ninth Doctor had been that she was dead.

Still, it was no use borrowing trouble when she couldn't ask and he couldn't tell, and what she could do was offer some small form of comfort. So she gave his hand a light squeeze, laughing a little at the irony when she felt the gentle warmth spread out into her hand.

He startled and looked down at their joined hands in surprise, then chuckled before shooting her a small smile in gratitude, tightening his own in turn before once more absently rubbing his thumb over the ring.

"How come the Family only had three months?" she asked a few minutes later, glancing up at him. "Like, I get that they did originally, but once they stole the human bodies shouldn't their lifespan have changed to match? 'Cause like, isn't that what they wanted with you?"

He shook his head. "Did you see how sickly they all were? Pale, sweaty, maybe a little unsteady? Human bodies aren't designed to have anything else shoved in, which is partly why what Cassandra did with the psychograft on New Earth was so reprehensible, and why they're illegal virtually everywhere. Their minds, so to speak, were too much for the humans to handle. Most species wouldn't have been able to hold up to it for very long, particularly as they got closer to dying. But a Time Lord?" He looked troubled. "We're built to be able to withstand a lot, particularly with the ability to regenerate. With access to the right technology... they would have been able to extend the lifespan of all of them for... a very long time."

"Even Jack?" she frowned, reaching up a hand to try and adjust some of the pins in her hair. She'd left it in after her shower, not wanting to deal with it, and was paying for it now as the weight of her hair piled high began to make her head ache.

"Jack's still human," he reminded her. "Just... stuck. When he dies, he comes back to how he was. He's still just as vulnerable as he ever was."

"I suppose that makes sense," she sighed, giving up for now and lowering her hand. "Do you really think he'll be all right?" she asked, biting her lip as she glanced up at him. "He still looked pale when we saw him after you freed him."

"He'll be all right, love," the Doctor promised her, looking around for something and not noticing the way she sucked in a breath at the name. "I did a proper scan, and he's just a bit malnourished. Bit of sleep, some good food, and he'll be fine. Well, fine for Jack. Ah! Here we are!" he exclaimed before she could say anything else. "This way!" He tugged her down a side trail that was lined with softly glowing white flowers, leading to what looked like a rock face covered in ivy.

"Is that... water?" she asked curiously, glancing around but seeing no source for the low rumbling she heard.

The Doctor only smiled mysteriously, reaching out to the ivy and brushing it aside to reveal a short tunnel carved into the rock. The luminescent trail continued through it, leading to the slight curve presumably just before the other side.

"I'm getting Tangled vibes," she joked, not bothering to cover up her awe as she stepped into the tunnel. "You're not gonna lock me up in a tunnel until my hair grows long enough to reach the ground, are you?" she teased. "My hair's curly, it'll take twice as long. You'd be waiting a while."

He let the ivy curtain fall closed, leaving them in the dark lit only by the trail and the soft blue light coming around the bend. "If I was going to imitate a Disney movie it certainly wouldn't be that one," he scoffed, leading her forward with a gentle tug on her hand. "Eugene gets stabbed. That's not really something I'm keen to imitate."

"So which one would you pick, then?" she raised an eyebrow, feeling giddy despite herself as they made their way slowly through the tunnel.

He hummed thoughtfully. "I always felt like Beauty and the Beast was rather relatable." He cast her a sidelong glance as they began to round the bend. "Someone with a bad past that makes him act rather beastly at times, with a seemingly magic home," his voice softened as he pulled her out into the light, "and the beautiful girl who loves him anyway."

Lyssa gasped, only partially registering his words as they stepped out into the open and she could see her surroundings. They were on a grassy overlook rimmed on two sides with overhanging willow trees, and the third side ended in smooth rock that led to a steep drop. On the other side of the canyon was what looked to be part of the mountain base, with a crystal clear river spilling over it down the sides to form a beautiful waterfall that fell hundreds of feet to the ground below.

While the two suns had sunk low enough that they could no longer be seen as constellations began to twinkle in the darkening sky, the large moon that hung in the sky cast a soft light that easily illuminated the area. To add to the grandeur of the place, streams of green, purple, blue, and pink light danced together high in the sky, forming a beautiful picture that took her breath away.

"The northern lights?" she whispered, turning to the Doctor with wide eyes.

He gave her a soft smile. "I told you. This room incorporates both Gallifrey and Earth. It's a place for both of us. Come on." He tugged gently at her hand, leading her to a simple stone bench she hadn't noticed before a few feet from the edge and letting her sit before taking a seat beside her.

"It's so pretty," she breathed, looking around with starry eyes at everything. She tilted her head back to see some of the stars better and winced as the weight of her hair pulled at it.

"Is your hair bothering you?" the Doctor asked in concern. "That hairstyle looks pretty tight."

"Yeah, I should probably have taken it down earlier," she admitted. "I just didn't want to deal with it yet, especially because it's such a complicated hairstyle. I think I've got like, a hundred pins in it."

"Want me to take it down?" he offered. "I've got pockets to put the pins in, and I don't want you to needlessly give yourself a headache," he continued when she hesitated.

She ducked her head with a smile. "All right, you've convinced me," she laughed, turning slightly on the bench to give him a better view of her hair. "But good luck finding all of them, it's like hide-and-seek trying to find them sometimes, I swear." She rolled her eyes in good humor before holding herself steady to make it easier for him to work as he began pulling out the pins, trying not to blush as she felt his presence so close behind her.

He laughed, keeping his touch gentle as he worked to free them. "It's all right, I've got a setting on my sonic to detect metal, I'll just resort to that if need be."

She snorted, relaxing more and more the further he got as the tight pull on her hair began to disappear. "That'd be handy, I swear I lose about five pins each time I put them in."

"I think that's unavoidable. Just one of the laws of nature, unfortunately," he mused, gently running his fingers through her hair, inadvertently helping to soothe the remnants of her headache as he looked for any remaining pins. "All done," he pronounced at last, removing his hands much to her silent regret and letting her curls tumble down her back in their usual chaotic order.

"Thank you," she sighed in relief as she turned to face him once more. "It feels so much better." And it really did, even if she wasn't going to admit how much she missed his hand in her hair, or how much her heart rate had increased just from the simple touch.

He smiled, one hand coming up to tuck a loose curl behind her ear. "Anytime," he promised in a low voice, gently twining the curl around his finger before releasing it. His gaze fell to her ear and he laughed a little. "You were quite the tease, you know," he mockingly remonstrated her. "All those inside jokes."

She blinked. "Sorry?"

"Your earrings." One finger traced the curve of her ear before tapping lightly at the sapphire stud. "You told me you didn't know the name of the person who'd given these to you. But I know for a fact that I'm the one who gave them to you." He paused. "Well, a version of me did. And I will, someday."

She couldn't help the giggle that slipped out as the memories came back. "That's right! You were so confused about it." He pouted at her without removing his hand and she tried in vain to keep a straight face. "Well, I couldn't just tell you that it was you! And technically I wasn't lying," she protested.

He scoffed. "You know my name! You call me by it every day!"

She scrunched up her nose, not convinced. "I call you by your title, but your real name is a secret," she reminded him. "Besides, what was I supposed to say? How would it look if I told my - fiancé," she only briefly stumbled over the word, "that the earrings were a gift from a gentleman friend?"

He choked on air, turning aside for a moment to cough before desperately clearing his throat and turning back to her with a pink face. "Sorry," he wheezed as she watched with concern. "Something in my throat. You're right, you could not have said that as an explanation, and for my own sake I'm very glad you didn't. Would not have ended well."

She snorted. "Maybe I should have told you that Jack gave it to me, just to see the look on your face."

He shuddered dramatically. "I would've cried. Many manly tears would've been shed." He shook his head. "Thank you for not saying that to me. And thank you again for not suggesting that where Jack could hear."

She laughed. "Of course."

He gave her a gentle smile, taking her hand in his once more before turning to look out at the waterfall. They sat in a companionable silence for a few minutes as the atmosphere settled into something quiet and peaceful, before Lyssa realized that the Doctor was once more automatically rubbing his thumb over the ring the same way John always did.

"Oh," she realized with a blush and a slight pang. "I suppose that can come off now," she said reluctantly, looking away. "It's not needed anymore."

He turned to her in confusion before glancing at their joined hands in realization. "That's right," he said quietly. "It doesn't belong there." Then, before her face could fall any further - despite her best efforts - he continued. "It's on the wrong finger."

"I - sorry?" she asked, startled, as she frowned up at him in confusion. "Wrong... finger?"

He nodded, untwining their hands to cup hers and lift it up in the space between them as he angled his body closer to hers. "I've seen its proper placement. Would you," he lifted his eyes to meet hers as his voice deepened slightly, "allow me the honor of placing it on the right finger? For the sake of the timeline, of course," he added, eyes dancing.

She blinked, wide eyes switching between him and the ring that represented so much. "I... wouldn't have to get rid of it?" she asked quietly, subconsciously pulling her hand a little closer to her chest and hardly daring to hope. "And... and would it even fit?"

The humor left his gaze to be replaced by something much softer, the hand not lifting hers coming to cup her cheek, gently stroking his thumb along her cheekbone. "Fairy-girl, I would love for you to keep it," he promised her in a low voice. "It will resize to fit whatever finger it's on."

She swallowed hard as her heart began to pound and gave him a nod, not certain she was capable of speaking at the moment. Her breath caught in her throat as he slowly traced the curve of her face before lowering his hand to hers, firm and steady even as hers shook, carefully sliding it off her ring finger and leaving only a faint white line to indicate it had ever been there.

He paused, eyes flickering up to hers, and she was startled by the depth of the emotion she saw there before he returned his gaze to her hand, raising the middle finger of her left hand ever so slightly before sliding the ring down it to rest comfortably at the bottom, as perfectly as if it had been designed specifically for that finger.

"Thank you," she whispered, voice so quiet it could hardly be heard.

But as always, he heard her anyway, finally taking his eyes off the ring to meet her gaze once more. "Always," he promised in the same low tone. He glanced down at her hand, still resting on his, then back up at her. "You deserve to be happy," he told her. "If there's anything the past three months have shown me, it's just how good of a person you are. You're my best friend, my protector, " he continued despite her blushing protest and confusion.

"You've done so much for me, more than I could ever hope to repay. You mean so much to me." One hand lifted to tuck her errant curls once more behind her ear. "More than I can ever say. It's no wonder even my human self, with only the emotions and none of the memories, wanted you always by his side."

Lyssa sucked in a shaky breath as butterflies filled her stomach. "What are you saying?" she asked him quietly; wanting -needing - him to be clear.

He looked her steadily in the eyes, voice clear. "I'm saying, Lyssa Devons, that I want you always by my side. Both as my friend and as something more. As my partner in all things, to go through life together with me."

She let out a shaky, disbelieving laugh, eyes filling with tears as he continued saying everything she'd never even dreamed of hearing. Everything her mother had done her best to make her believe she'd never hear.

"Lyssa." His hand slid down to cup her cheek and she instinctively leaned into it despite her shock. "I love you. Both as my friend and as something more. Whatever you decide - if you want to, if you don't want to, if you're not ready yet - that will not affect our friendship. I've spent centuries being your friend, and that's not going to change, no matter what happens today."

"You... you want me?" she whispered as a tear finally spilled down her cheek, only to be tenderly wiped away by his hand before it could fall. "You... love me? Even though I'm just... me?"

"Oh, Lyssa, can't you see?" he asked compassionately. "I love you because you're you. For your kindness. For your endless compassion. For your innate goodness. For your steadfast friendship. For every little thing you've gone out of your way to do to help me or someone else. For the way you treasure all the gifts you receive, no matter how small they may be." His hand trailed down to lift her necklace, letting the little charms rest in his palm for a moment before releasing them to fall back against her sweater as he shot her a dangerous smirk. "For the way you blush when I look at you in a certain way."

She blushed.

His smirk grew wider.

She shook her head, unable to help a little laugh despite herself, though she sobered quickly. "You're willing to wait however long it takes for me to be ready?" she asked, eyes searching his even though she knew he would never lie about something like this.

He nodded solemnly. "I swear it."

She blinked back fresh tears. "Even if I make you wait for a century?" she tried to tease, though it was too choked with tears to really carry the joke.

He softened. "Fairy-girl, I would wait for the rest of my regenerations if that's what you needed. Is leatsa mo chroí," he told her.

She sniffed. "What does that mean?" The language sounded familiar - one she'd only ever heard in this universe, if her guess was right.

He gave her a small smile. "It doesn't fully translate to English, but the closest translation would be, 'My hearts are yours.'"

She swallowed hard. He meant this. He really, truly, meant this. He wanted this. And if she was being honest with herself, so did she.

She was just scared.

She glanced down at her hand, still held securely in his, the ring he'd given her placed on her hand with the same care he treated her with, and dug deep for what little courage she could find, wanting to be honest with him as he had been with her.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," she started tremulously, forcing herself to meet his patient gaze. "And I'm a little scared of changing things, of risking losing what we have, but you knew that already because you know me." She could see the shimmer in his eyes now, too, and hurried to finish before she lost the courage to speak. "Ever since I came here you have been nothing but kind and patient with me, my steadfast friend, my knight in a blue box," she laughed tearily.

She looked down. "I'm scared, but..." She slowly raised her gaze back to his. "You give me the courage to try. I trust you." She gave him a shaky smile. "If- if you really want this... I'd be willing to try. For you."

She didn't know how she expected him to react - she hadn't really expected anything that had happened tonight - but it wasn't him simply giving her a brilliant smile that reached his eyes and warmed her heart more than anything he'd said that night.

"Thank you for being honest with me," he told her gently. "I know how hard it is to make yourself vulnerable, particularly when your mother did her best to take advantage every time you did." He squeezed her hand. "I would love nothing more than to try this together with you."

And just like that, it was settled.

Lyssa and the Doctor were together.

She laughed, still a little disbelieving and nervous, but also eager and happy.

Very happy.

"So... what do we do now?" she asked shyly, struggling to meet his gaze. Want this, yes. Know what she was doing, no.

He smiled, but in a comforting way rather than in amusement. "Whatever we want to. There's no rush, so we go as slow as we want, do what's comfortable for us both. All you have to do is ask."

"Oh." She sat quietly for a moment, fidgeting with her hands before flicking her eyes nervously up to him. "All I have to do is ask?" she checked.

"As easy as that," he promised, eyes crinkling up at the corners as he grinned.

"Then..." She glanced up, biting her lip. "Could I have a hug?" she asked hesitantly.

He just lifted his arm up with a smile and she hastily scooted over until she was right next to him on the bench and leaned into him, resting her head on his chest and relaxing into him as the soothing sound of his double heartbeats reached her ears after months of hearing only one. She'd known John only had one - only needed one - but it had been one of the hardest things to adjust to in 1913.

He lowered his left arm to curl around her lower back, tucking her further into him as her left hand came up to rest on his shirt, just over his hearts and his right reached across her upper back until his hand cupped the back of her head, surrounding her in his protective warmth.

"I missed this," she said quietly. "Can we just... stay here like this for a while?"

"Take as long as you like," he whispered, his right hand gently stroking her curls and causing her eyes to instinctively flutter shut at the soothing sensation. "We've got all the time in the world."

Lyssa smiled softly, curling further into him. She still didn't know how this would change things, or change them, or when she'd stop being nervous, but... she was beginning to believe that it would be okay.

As long as she had him by her side, she realized as a door softly clicked open in the distance, she would be willing to try.

A/N: So. Worth the wait, lol? Or at least, start to make up for it? ;D

So! They're finally, actually dating! What could possibly happen next?

Me writing this chapter: Dread it, run from it, destiny still arrives.
My brain: Are you talking about Lyssa and her feelings or you having to finally write it?
Me: Yes

For reference, 'gentleman friend' refers to a male with whom one is in a romantic relationship. The Doctor, who reads dictionaries for fun, would absolutely know this. Lyssa, however, is an innocent bean with a devious streak, so it's anyone's guess if she knows what it means ;D

Also, several of you guessed the mysterious fixed point being the book written by Matron Redfern's descendant (or more correctly in this fic, a descendant of someone who was there), so congratulations for that!

I spent at least half an hour looking up bridges for like, a one paragraph scene. That I ended up only vaguely describing. Why do I do this to myself?

'Is leatsa mo chroí,' is Gaelic for "my heart is yours" and apparently works the same way for the plural, at least according to Google Translate. If someone knows a more accurate translation please let me know - otherwise we'll just pretend it's the proper Gallifreyan.

Special thanks to everyone who's favorited and followed, and shout-out to all my wonderful reviewers! You guys are amazing!

To Alikai, who left a wonderful review that I couldn't PM back, first of all thank you for taking the time to leave a review! Second of all, you are absolutely right! That was a bit out of character for Martha, so I went back and did some editing, so hopefully she feels a bit more like herself now. Thank you for bringing that to my attention! Sometimes I spend so long on the writing I miss what I've actually written, if that makes sense lol.

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! :)

Ominous Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who much the same as I don't rule the universe... yet.