The Doctor leaned against the counter, smiling as he watched Rebecca bustling around the kitchen, doing tasks that really didn't need doing. It reminded him of old times, when she used to get nervous. It was the same sort of things: anything that kept her hands busy and distracted her.

"Tell me, Rebecca, how've you been?"

"I'm fine. Not getting any younger, but I'm fine."

"You're not that old. Especially when you compare yourself to me," he joked.

She smiled softly. "No, I suppose not." She continued doing little tasks, arranging the fruit in the bowl, folding towels, wiping down counters.

The Doctor pushed his weight off of the counter, walked forward, and closed his hands gently around her wrists. "Leave it."

"But-"

"Leave it. The kitchen's clean enough, and even if it wasn't, I'm sure it could wait until later. I want to talk to you."

She hesitated, and then nodded. "Alright, sure. Why not." She stood, facing him. "You and I, talking. Brings back memories. We've talked so many times. About important things, about little nothings." She was babbling, another sure sign she was nervous.

The Doctor smiled. "I think all of it was important, because talking is important."

"You always did like talking."

"And they always say it's the women who talk too much," he laughed.

"Well, Doctor, you're one of a kind." She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Tell me honestly, Rebecca. How've you been?"

"I'm fine! Honestly, I'm fine. Why, how am I supposed to be?" she asked a bit exasperatedly.

The Doctor sighed and smiled. "Fine then. How's Lily?"

"What, you mean that ray of sunshine?" she laughed. "You know her, almost nothing gets her down." She paused a moment before adding, "She misses you, though."

"I miss her as well." He hesitated. "Do you miss me?"

She looked at him, eyes melting. "You know I do. I've missed you since the first time I left."

"You could always come back, you know."

She shook her head. "The reasons I left still stand, Doctor. Besides, I have a life here now. Lily's no longer a child, but she still needs her mother around. And we're in charge around here, in a way, so we couldn't both leave."

"What do you mean, in charge?" the Doctor asked suspiciously.

"Well, I told you about the aliens."

"I think that would be a loose definition of told. So please," he leaned back against the counter again, spreading his arms, "elaborate."

Rebecca examined her hands, searching for the words to begin. "It's... it's really not as serious as it sounds. Mostly non-hostiles, but we get enough traffic for it to be practical to have at least a semi-organized team to handle it. It wasn't as if Lily and I planned to be in command, but of all the people we got together, we had the most knowledge of extra-terrestrials. Thanks to you, I might add," she said, smiling.

"Yes, but why would you let her carry a gun around?"

"The gun you saw her with today is the only one I let her carry with her at all times. Here, I have one just like it," she said, reaching into a drawer and pulling it out. She handed it to the Doctor, who began examining it as she went on. "It's not a gun for killing, simply a tranquilizer. I don't like to let her have lethal weapons, but neither is it prudent to let her go completely defenseless seeing as what shows up around here. The tranquilizer allows her enough time to get away if she encounters anything hostile. It's been enhanced with rapid fire and easy reload, in case of a large number."

He handed the gun back to her. "Adapted from alien tech. I'd almost forgotten how brilliant you are." He smiled. "Glad to know that you don't let her walk around with a deadly weapon."

"She's smarter than that too, you know."

"Of course I know. She got good genes. Like I said, you're brilliant."

"She didn't get too many bad genes from her father either." She said softly.

He shook his head. "Let's not get into that."

Rebecca looked at him for a moment without saying anything, and then put the gun back in the drawer. "Fine then." Another moment of silence passed before she continued. "But anyway, we have a small stock of weapons here at home, in case for some reason we can't get to the base to arm ourselves, and a larger, more public arsenal at the base. But I try to enforce the general rule of only tranquilizers when out on runs unless we know for certain it's hostile. At the very most, usually, I let one person in a group carry a gun that could kill someone."

"Such cheerful topics," he laughed quietly. "So, you still haven't found anyone to replace Lily's father?"

"You know there's never been anyone else. It wouldn't feel right."

"You've never thought that maybe it's time to move on?" His voice was strained.

"Maybe I thought that I should, but I know that, rationally, it's doubtful that I ever will."

The Doctor finally took the initiative to do what he had wanted to do since he entered the house. He leaned forward, cupped Rebecca's face in his hand, and gently kissed her on the mouth. It was so sweet, so gentle, so… familiar. He leaned back, smiling, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"I think that's what I've missed most." Rebecca whispered, staring into his eyes.

They gently embraced, totally oblivious of Amy watching them, thoughts whirling in her head as the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

A/N: yeah, this chapter could have been done a while ago, and I still don't really like how it turned out, but... *shrug* what're you going to do? Now I know this ended with a lot of unresolved questions, and i'll answer any that I know that I came up with, and if there's a question you didn't have answered in the next few chapters (I really don't know how much longer this is going to be...) then please ask in the review and i'll make sure I answer it, whether in the review or in the story. I think that's it. Until next time! Oh, wait. If you don't know the secret yet – you should, hints aren't so subtle anymore, but if you don't – it will be said explicitly in either the next chapter or the one after. Cheers!