Author's Notes: I just bought the BBC, so I own it all. (And if you believe that, I've got a couple of nice bridges in Brooklyn and San Francisco for you.) Nope, I just own Kit and Madhukar.

Thanks to Aibhinn for being a great beta! And thanks also to a couple of readers who asked for a little more Doctor/Rose…this chapter ended up being so much better thanks to them.

Chapter Eight – The Colors of Joy

The Doctor leaned back in the captain's seat as he watched Madhukar carefully considering the console controls. Very carefully. He started impatiently tapping his fingers on the seat, then stopped and grinned when Madhukar looked over at him. "Nothing. I didn't say anything. Go on, you're doing fine," he said, clenching his hands onto the edge of his seat to keep himself from jumping off and taking over. He tilted his head back and watched the colors that were swirling along the walls, and felt the TARDIS' jovial mood at the back of his mind. He could almost hear her telling him that she wasn't worried and that he shouldn't be either. I'll take your word for it, old girl, he thought back.

Madhukar took in a breath, blew it out and then began flicking switches and pushing buttons. He pulled the final lever and smiled as the time rotor began to move once again. "Leaving the docking bay of the Free Enterprise…and we are back in the Vortex," he reported.

"Well done!" the Doctor congratulated him as he slid off the seat and looked at the monitor. They'd been practicing "touch and goes," quick landings and takeoffs around different points of space and time. Madhukar had finally managed the whole dematerialization sequence without any prompting. "You're better at technical things than you give yourself credit for," the Doctor went on, pleased at the Seeker's progress.

The TARDIS seemed pleased as well, signaling her happiness with a new shade of gold that joined the purples and blues already playing on the walls.

"Perhaps I am," Madhukar conceded with a smile. "Flying this is so much more difficult than flying my little ship was. Still…" he paused for a moment, seeming to consider his words as carefully as he had the console. Then he said, "Acarya, I appreciate that you trust me to pilot the TARDIS. But I get this feeling you're avoiding the real lessons about walking between the ages."

The Doctor froze and stared at him. Then he relaxed with a sheepish grin. "I suppose I am. After all, you don't need a TARDIS to travel through time. Even if you could live long enough to grow one of your own. But you came to me for ethical guidance." He let out a sigh. "I have to confess, right now I'm feeling more than a bit uncertain about playing the role of ethicist."

"Not even the Ekala have all the answers," Madhukar reminded him with a smile. "Don't tell me that you actually believed anything the Master was saying?"

"You seemed to," the Doctor pointed out. That little bit of doubt still stung.

Madhukar shrugged slightly in acquiescence. "I was under the influence of the discord at the time. Have you never made errors in judgment because of a clouded mind?"

The Doctor chuckled. "Nearly every time I regenerate," he admitted.

"What's this talk about regeneration?" Rose asked as she walked into the console room. She exclaimed in surprise as she say the glow on the walls. "Oh! That's lovely!"

"You haven't seen that before?" Madhukar asked curiously.

She shook her head as she watched, entranced. "Only when I first came back to the TARDIS, after Kit went back to the Vortex. We haven't had any angels dropping in, have we?"

Now we're in for it, old girl, the Doctor thought. Rose is not going to like this, you know.

"No, we haven't. The TARDIS has done this many times since I've been here," Madhukar said. "But, come to think of it, you and the Doctor never have been here in the console room when it's happened."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Really? So when have you seen this?"

Uh-oh. She's deducting.

Madhukar thought for a moment. "Last night, two nights before that…practically the whole day before that night…Rose, why are you looking like that?"

She had started to blush at "last night," and now was a bright red. Obviously she remembered just what she'd been doing with—and to—the Doctor at those times. She looked over at him with wide eyes. "You mean when we—Every time we—The TARDIS does that?"

"Well, not every time," the Doctor answered. "Just…."

"Just what?" Rose demanded.

I told you she wouldn't like it, old girl. He got a sense of laughter from the TARDIS. He took a deep breath and glanced upwards before answering. "Welllll…just…just… just every time since you got back," he told her. "Since I rebuilt the Eye of Harmony. The TARDIS now has access to limitless energy, so she has extra power to expend on things like this. Sort of like when you have mad money to spend on something frivolous." This very logical explanation was not doing a thing to mollify Rose. In fact, she was pinning him with a patented Tyler Female glare. He scrubbed at the back of his neck. "It's her reaction to very strong emotions. She does get into our heads, and she's happy when we're happy, so…" He waved his other hand at the walls.

The glare got just a bit fiercer. "And she's doing this now because…?"

He ran his hand up from the back of his neck and rubbed it through his hair. "Well, this is just an educated guess, and I can't be one hundred percent sure it's the right guess," and now the glare had taken on a deadly intensity, so the Doctor decided it was time to get to the point, "but I'd say it means Kit's finally awake." Don't ask me to elaborate. Please don't.

She didn't. Her eyes just narrowed. "I see. And you knew about all this?" Rose's voice was getting shrill. "Did you know, Madhukar? Does Jack know?"

"Rose— " the Doctor began, but was interrupted by Madhukar.

"I didn't know, Rose. Not until now. But there's nothing to be embarrassed about. I may not... indulge," he said with a smile and a wink, "but I do understand." A brilliant flare drew their attention back to the walls. "Hmm. Never saw that before."

The Doctor's eyebrows flew upward. "Really? Never? Well, then! I like a challenge!" He grabbed Rose's hand, pulling her toward the corridor. "Come on, Rose!"

She held back. "Doctor! We can't just—"

"Of course we can!" he interrupted with a wink. "Let's go talk about it, shall we?" With a sigh, Rose allowed herself to be pulled along. As they reached the corridor, the Doctor called out, "Madhukar, keep an eye on things here?"

Madhukar grinned. "Of course, Acarya."

The real challenge, he found, was placating Rose. But it was the kind of challenge he enjoyed, the kind that involved kissing and touching and licking and joining bodies and minds, and soon Rose was enjoying it too.

As they lay wrapped together afterwards, Rose asked him, "You were talking about regeneration before. Why?"

"Madhukar wanted to know if I'd ever made errors in judgment— " Rose started to giggle, and he continued sternly, "Because of a clouded mind, Miss Tyler! And you know very well what regeneration does to my mind."

"Well, we'll have to make sure you don't regenerate again any time soon. We've only just got you broken in. I'd hate to have to start all over again," Rose told him with a twinkle in her eye.

He grinned and drew her in for a long kiss. When they parted, he said, "You know, I've also made errors in judgment when my mind was perfectly clear."

Rose gave him a look of feigned shock. "You're kidding me!"

"Cheeky, Rose Tyler!" he laughed, rolling to hover over her. "And I was about to pay you a compliment!"

Rose schooled her face into a contrite expression, but her eyes were still dancing. "Forgive me for interrupting, Doctor. Compliment away!"

"I was going to say…ah, no smirking, Rose! I was going to say that it was an error in judgment to deny my feelings for you for so long. I love you, Rose." He kissed her again, and felt her smiling against his lips. He smiled as well when he pulled back. "Even when you're smirking at me."

"Don't like the smirk? Then do something about it," Rose dared him.

"Ooh, is that a challenge? I do love challenges," he said, and his mouth descended on a spot on her neck that always made her moan. This time wasn't any different. "Hmmm. Does that mean I win?" he asked, his lips brushing against her skin.

"I think we both do," Rose replied, and melded her mouth to his.

Madhukar smiled as he watched new colors flaring over the console room walls; brilliant pink and red, slightly more subdued purple and blue, with washes of gold over all. The Song reverberated through his mind with soaring new melodies. "Peace, wisdom and harmony," he said softly to the console. "At least for a little while. Athakara knows we've earned it."

He settled into the captain's chair to meditate as the TARDIS flew on to her future.

To be concluded…