Just got through my busiest term of school, so stuff should be a bit clearer now, even with end of year exams looming. Have an earlier than planned update because I decided to cut this chapter short.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!

Enjoy this very Daliya heavy chapter! :D

The Doctor bustled back into the bedroom that had been given to them the day before. He was already fully dressed and carrying a rough wooden tray with bread, eggs and milk on it. He'd made it downstairs for Aliya so that they could get off to the earliest start possible.

Aliya was sitting up in bed, combing her short hair with her fingers and looking at him with drowsy eyes. She was making not entirely effective efforts to tame the bed hair he so readily enjoyed beholding whenever possible.

"Ah, good, you're up," he said brightly. "I made this, we've got lots to do so you're going to need your energy." He put it down on her lap and she gave him a sleepy smile.

"Thanks," she said, apparently rather surprised he'd gone to all the trouble. He just shrugged.

"Cecily was going to do something, but I know how you like your eggs, so...yeah." He wrung his hands together, hoping he was actually better at her eggs than Cecily, but became distracted by the very wide grin on Aliya's face and the matching sparkle in her eye. "What?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, shoving some bread with egg into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed. "This is very good, by the way."

"Brilliant." He beamed. "So, quick as you can, I'll be downstairs."

"I'll need your help with the hair thing," Aliya said through a mouthful of egg, though with the aristocratic manners to at least cover her mouth. "You know I'm hopeless."

"Yeah, but I've accepted it as one of your many flaws, it's fine." The Doctor waved his hand to show its unimportance.

"Oi!"

He just grinned at her, making her glare as she shovelled down the last bits of her breakfast and got out of bed. She pulled her outer dress on as quickly as possible but got caught on the lacings at the front. The Doctor took that as a good time to fasten the piece of cloth back over her hair, and once he was done with that, knelt in front of her to put her shoes on for her. The joint effort had them out of the room and down the stairs in a manner of minutes.

"Your bed hair was particularly impressive this morning," he finally took the chance to say, making her whack him on the arm.

"Shut up. Now what are we actually doing?"

"I was thinking we could head out to where Robert and the others got attacked last night and have a look around."

She snorted. "That doesn't sound potentially dangerous at all." Before he could say anything, she slapped her hand over his mouth and added with a smile, "It's still the only good plan. Not actually saying we shouldn't."

"Good," he said, voice very muffled by her hand which she then dropped. "This arguing less thing is nice."

"Operative word of that being less as opposed to not," Aliya said, laughing. "But I have to agree."

They had almost made it to the front door when Laura caught them. "Where are you going?"

The Doctor smiled innocently and just shrugged. "For a walk. It's a nice day."

"For a walk to where Father got attacked, I heard you talking," Laura said, crossing her arms. "I want to come if you think something strange is going on, I know this area well, you might need me."

"Yes, they might," Cecily said as she too entered the hallway, "But they're not getting your assistance, Laura, you're needed here. And given what happened to your father, I am not sending you right into the midst of danger."

"But-"

"That's final. Now go and feed the chickens." Cecily watched until her daughter had sulked out of the room before she turned to the two Time Lords. "I do hope you find something that might tell us what did that to Robert and whether it can be stopped for the safety of the village."

"So do we," the Doctor replied, smiling genuinely, "Also, we would quite like to stay for another night, if you don't mind."

"Of course. Do you know where to go?"

"Fellow last night gave me some directions, it should be fine. We'll be back...at some point later."

With that they set off out of the village opposite to the direction where the TARDIS lay an hour's walk away. The rain from the day before left a warmth in the air but a multitude of puddles and a muddy road beneath them.

"So, to clarify, we're looking for something that resembles a bear but is not a bear."

"Exactly."

"How long is this walk going to take?"

"Potentially a little while. Do you want to play I Spy?"

"Sure, but I'm not familiar with it, how do you play?"

They played all the way to the site of the attack, which despite the incredibly long walk was surprisingly easy to find due to slashes on trees, dried blood, and prints in the ground. The Doctor crouched by the prints, bobbing on his ankles as his fingers traced the outline that was bigger than his head. His back chose that moment to twinge and his hand flew toward it, but he brought it back to the ground and ignored the pain now settling at the base of his spine. Aliya's eyes noticed it, but she said nothing and turned her attention back to the print.

"Wow," she said quietly, eyeing it. "That's a big animal. Is it a bear print?"

"No, actually," the Doctor answered. "Very close, and most would think it was, but there's a few tiny differences - other than the obvious size issues, it's slightly narrower. But it doesn't match any kind of animal from this planet, present, past or future."

"No chance of a random mutation?"

He made a face. "I suppose, but there would have to be bears in these parts for that to make any sense."

Aliya nodded her head and stepped widely around a mud puddle to bask in a spot of sunlight coming through the tree layer. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her approach a nearby tree and study it or something on it, but he decided to leave her be.

"This is going to answer a few questions but raise even more...morphic residue," she announced, making him get to his feet and hurry over to peer over her shoulder at the dark and sticky substance now residing on her finger. "Shapeshifter. That explains why it doesn't fit a natural bear."

"Except it should have just copied, so it should have been the same, and there's still the issue of no actual bears, so nothing to copy!" He said. The whole thing was rather frustrating. She wiped the residue back onto the tree and shook her head.

"Not if it wasn't a copycat shapeshifter," she said reasonably. "Could be it's a natural shapeshifter, and that its alternate form, or one of them if it has multiple, happens to resemble a giant bear."

The Doctor clicked his fingers towards her. "Good point. Very good point, actually."

Aliya smiled. "Thank you." As an apparent afterthought, she added with a frown, "No need to sound so surprised."

"I didn't!" He protested indignantly. She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at him. "I mean, maybe I did, a bit, but it wasn't surprise that you came up with it, more that...I didn't, I suppose."

Aliya simply rolled her eyes. "Your ego, honestly. I wish I could find that surprising or even funny, but it's just not. Would this be a good time to remind you that I graduated with a first and you got 51% on the second attempt?"

He made an accusing noise in his throat. "We don't talk about that," he said firmly.

"No, because you're the boss."

At her mocking tone, he straightened his posture and bowtie simultaneously. "Actually, yeah, I am."

Aliya laughed, but in a humourless way. "How can we have had this argument so many times, yet the urge to punch you in the face never lessens in intensity?"

He frowned and lifted a hand to his cheek for a moment, worried she was going to actually try it. "You like this face."

"Not right now I don't, your nose is too wide and your chin is too big and your lack of eyebrows makes you look frankly rather ridiculous," she said abruptly, only to frown herself when he let himself look affronted. "Okay, that was overly harsh. I guess something about you just gets under my skin." She gave him a playful shove. "No doubt it's the same for you."

"Yeah, you have a stupid nose too, it should be straight but then it bumps at the end," he replied. "And you've been under my skin for centuries." He shoved her back, and his considerable strength advantage sent her toppling over into mud.

"Hey!" She spluttered through a mouthful of the dark slush. "I'm filthy now!" She grabbed a handful of mud and hurled it at him, giving his jacket an array of mud to decorate it. Within ten seconds it had dissolved into an all out mud fight, and ten minutes later, they were both coated from head to toe.

Aliya and the Doctor suddenly noted just how far out of hand it had all gotten and erupted into helpless laughter that went on for several minutes and had them doubling over.

"Great show of maturity from the millennials," the blonde said ironically, though she no longer appeared to be blonde with the amount of wet dirt caked in her hair. "Good thing none of your humans were around to see this, we'd never hear the end of it."

"My humans? I don't own them!"

"Doesn't make them any less yours."

He gave her a once over and smirked. "We should probably get back to the inn and wash up. It will take us the better half of the afternoon to get back."

She just nodded, an odd expression having crossed her face. Her head whipped around in an attempt to probe the forest around them for something, but nothing was there.

"You okay?"

Aliya frowned and crossed her arms nervously. "You know that weird feeling you get when it feels like there is someone watching you? I've got it right now."

The Doctor paused to consider it, and after a moment of opening his mind to his surroundings and letting himself respond to it, the same feeling of eerie paranoia settled under his skin. "You know what, I think I know what you mean. All the more reason to be getting back, probably. We're in no state for any sort of conflict."

When they arrived back at the inn, Cecily took one look at them and burst out laughing.

"Good lord, what did you two get up to?"

"Well," the Doctor said embarrassedly, and Cecily's eyes lit up.

"Oh to be that young and lively again," the woman said with a wink, "I'll get a bath ready in your room. There's a wash bucket out back if you want to get some of the surface mud off your faces."

The two Time Lords blushed at her assumption but figured it was best to let it lie for their cover to remain in place. They hurried out back to clean themselves up a little, but most of the mud had dried in the afternoon sun and wouldn't come off easily. By the time they got back inside Cecily was coming down the stairs and drying her hands on her apron.

"It's all ready along with some cloths to help you wash and dry," she told them cheerfully. "Don't think the tub will fit both of you, though, might have to go one at a time."

"That's fine," Aliya said quickly, smiling in a way that didn't look sincere to the Doctor's trained eye. "I don't suppose you've got some spare clothes we could borrow?"

"I've got a nightgown that will do fine for you, dear, and I'm sure Robert has some spare hose your husband can make use of. I'll have your things cleaned by tomorrow for you," Cecily said, and they thanked her profusely before she hurried off and returned a minute later with the nightgown and hose.

A new fire was roaring in their room when they stepped into it, and a small tin tub of steaming water near it, barely big enough to fit one person, let alone two.

"So, who first?" Aliya asked.

"You can."

"Thanks. So...will you just wait downstairs?" The Doctor turned to frown at her when she said that.

"Aliya...don't you realise how strange they would find that? We're married, we're not supposed to be embarrassed by...you know…" He faltered when she crossed her arms. "Nakedness."

"Well I'm not having a bath while you're in here!" She said hotly.

"I'll turn my back!" He told her with great exasperation. "But we don't have a choice."

For several moments she just glared at him to make it completely clear how against the whole thing she was. Then she crossed to the bathtub and took off her mud caked shoes before starting on the corset.

"Get over by the bed, then, and turn around," she muttered. "Won't have you peeking."

He squeaked indignantly. "I would never!" He stationed himself in front of the bed facing away from the tub and tried to let his mind focus on thoughts about the shapeshifter they now had to deal with instead of the rustling sound of her dress hitting the floor.

"No, that's true, you've got a bit more decency than Jack at least," Aliya's voice admitted. "Though to his credit when I offered in a less than sober state, he said no."

"Hang on-" The Doctor, in shock from her statement, turned around without thinking, just in time to catch the underdress falling to the floor. A perfect picture of bare skin lay before his eyes, the smooth line of her spine and the dim light on the curve of her back and...slightly lower areas that were also very pleasantly curved and proportioned no matter how narrow her hips were.

He abruptly twisted his head back, and covered his eyes with his hands as if that would erase the image from his mind. Unfortunately, he didn't think it was a visual he was going to forget for a long time to come.

"What? Was that sentence going somewhere? I'd have thought you would have been much quicker to jump on that one," Aliya said with audible confusion. He could feel her eyes on the back of his head. Thank goodness she was facing away, for more than one reason, he thought with a small gulp.

"Oh, er, yeah, of course," he replied, vaguely hoping that he was imagining the very slight change in the tightness of his trousers. When his thoughts homed back in on the statement about Jack, it finally distracted him as much as it should have. "What do you mean 'you offered'?"

Aliya made a noncommittal noise from behind him. When she spoke, it sounded like she was trying to make light of it but knew it was going to come across badly. "I mean...when you evicted me, I was in a bad place. Jack was a friend, an attractive friend, and he was there, and I was drunk. So...I tried to get him to...sleep with me."

He wanted to scold her, but she was an adult who made her own decisions and when she had been in that state of mind due to him, what could he say? Besides, she didn't sound proud. Quite the opposite.

"I...see," he eventually said.

"I just wanted you to know. Not entirely sure why. Secrets of any kind are a bad idea for us at this point, I think."

"Probably, yeah."

"Also I thought you should know about Jack saying no. He's a good friend, and he did it because he knew I wouldn't do it when I was good in a good state of mind. Due to how I value physical intimacy. But I know he also did it out of loyalty to you, that he'd never do that with someone who was...well, something to you." Her voice was quiet and uncertain, so much so that he could hear her scrubbing at her skin.

"Something?"

"Well, I don't know, friend didn't seem to quite cover it."

"If you're a something, you're a...very good something, a Something with a capital S," the Doctor said thoughtfully, wanting to reassure her. The way she spoke made it sound like she didn't much rate her value in his eyes, which was ridiculous. More than ridiculous.

She let out a tiny giggle. "Thanks. Stars know what you are to me." He chuckled at that, but she had fallen silent, or at least he thought she had until he caught something that sounded like "-capital E."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," she said, hastily enough that he was almost suspicious. "You know, for all my complaining, this is strangely nice. Being in a nice little bath, talking to you at the same time. Not as awkward as I thought it would be."

The Doctor shrugged. "Only awkward if you make it. I could turn around if that would-"

"No!" She all but shrieked, and when he started laughing, she joined him. They laughed and laughed until it hurt, and until he could hear her stepping out of the tub and drying herself with the cloth. Finally she said, "Alright, you can look now." He turned to see her in the nightgown, vigorously trying to dry her hair on the cloth but not making much progress. "Damn Cecily, this nightgown is even thinner than my underdress," she grumbled.

This wasn't lost on the Doctor, and the fact was only made worse by how the thin material clung to her mostly damp body. Pull yourself together, man, you're not three hundred anymore.

"My turn?" He asked. The question came out rather squeaky due to his troublesome nerves, but she just nodded, not paying enough attention to notice the tension in him. She climbed onto the bed so that she was sitting in the middle with her back facing the tub. He immediately dropped his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt at lightning speed in his eagerness for the hot bath.

"So…" Aliya began, but her voice cut off into giggles at the same time he had dropped his trousers and pants. "Oh god, sorry, I didn't realise you'd be so quick!" The laughter worsened.

"You hypocrite, did you peek?" He asked indignantly as he lowered himself into the tub. His eyes were on her shaking body and he could see that her hand was over her mouth.

"It was an accident! Besides, I only saw your bum."

"Then why are you laughing? Is there something wrong with my bum?" River had never given him any reason to think that there was something was wrong with his bum, she'd always seemed to like it well enough.

"No, of course not," Aliya said, still giggling, "It's lovely." The giggling paused for a moment. "I mean - well - you know what I mean. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. Look, I'm sorry I accidentally got a peek."

"Don't worry about it, what's a little bum peeking among friends?" His question made her start laughing again. "Who's the five year old now? Look at you, giggling about bums."

"I don't know why it's so funny," she said helplessly, "I really don't. It just is." The Doctor would have given his left leg to be able to see her face in that moment. He loved watching her laugh, and seeing her in this kind of uncontrollable giggling would be fantastic, but there was no conceivable way for it to work out. Instead, he went about washing himself and getting rid of all the dried mud all over his body and through his hair.

Eventually he was done and he dried himself with the cloth before pulling the hose on over his legs and scooping up their dirty clothes to put them outside the door for Cecily to wash.

"You can turn around now," he said to Aliya, who rotated to look at him. The moment she did so, the giggling restarted. There was that view I was hoping for, he thought with satisfaction, watching her lips stretch to show her teeth and how her eyes lit up with mirth. It changed her from rather comely to, in his opinion, downright beautiful.

He chuckled at her inability to stop giggling and got onto the bed so that he was sitting cross legged in front of her.

"Sorry," she said, snorting, "I'm pathetic."

"Utterly ridiculous, yeah," he agreed, bopping her on the nose. Her grin only widened. "Luckily, I rather like ridiculous."

"You'd have to, or else you'd get annoyed at yourself," Aliya pointed out, and he pretended to be offended.

"The cheek! I give you a compliment and what do I get?"

"An ungrateful Time Lady?"

"Exactly."

His best friend leaned in closer, so much so that he could have counted her freckles had he wanted to tear his gaze from hers. "Luckily for you, I rather like ridiculous too," she said quietly, smirking at him. He just grinned back at her, unsure how she could always make him feel so at ease even when he was simultaneously having to fight down certain instincts that were telling him to do the opposite of relax (and he was fairly sure that her eyes were only darting down to his bare chest in his imagination).

That was when his back twinged again, this time all along his spine and not just near the base of it. He cringed and let out a low hiss through his teeth.

"What? What's wrong?" Aliya asked him urgently. Her hands planted themselves on the tops of his bare shoulders. "Is it your back?"

"Yeah, not sure why though, I'm sure it will be alright," he muttered, but unlike in the forest, the pain didn't fade and instead chose to linger in the form of an excruciating ache.

Aliya's brow furrowed. "Lie down," she instructed, "On your front."

The Doctor couldn't be sure why she wanted him to do that, but didn't have any reason to argue, so did as he was told. "What's your plan?"

"Do you think a massage would help?" She asked. "I was alright at biology and our physiology was my best area of it, so I should be able to do you some good."

It actually wasn't a bad idea, and they weren't exactly ladden with other options. "Suppose it couldn't hurt to try. You don't have to, though."

"I'm not going to do nothing, what kind of friend or Something with a capital S do you think I am?"

He didn't have much of an answer for that, so kept quiet. He could hear her settling herself next to him, and then her hands planted themselves across the top of his shoulders and began to press down very gently on his skin. After spending so much time with humans, River especially, it always still surprised the Doctor to feel the touch of someone like him, someone without the human heat whose skin actually felt cool and only a tiny bit warm to the touch.

Not that he was averse to the heat of humans, not at all, but sometimes one just wanted something a bit more...familiar.

Aliya's hands were feather light on his skin initially as they swept up and down the length of his back. It was probably her being conscious of him being in pain, and wanting to not be too rough with him. Eventually she began to apply more pressure, and while it brought some more aches, the kneading motions of her fingers gradually began to ease the discomfort.

Her hands were soft, not callused like her first two bodies' hands had often been due to their intensive mechanic work. The sensation of them so deliberately pressing into the skin of his back was bliss and he found himself wishing there was some way that she could continue doing so forever.

It was impossible to stop the contented sigh that passed his lips. Aliya chuckled.

"I take it that I'm doing an alright job then?"

"Feel free to continue into next century."

But of course, that wasn't entirely plausible. Her hands eventually lifted from his skin and did not return. The Doctor rolled over and smiled at his best friend, who was pushing her damp hair out of her eyes.

"Thanks," he said, and she smiled back at him, looking pleased with herself. "You know, I have been told, by a very appreciative Donna Noble, that I do excellent head massages."

"Yeah?" Aliya's face had lit up with intrigue, but he watched it fall a moment later, with something in her eyes he couldn't comprehend. "Um, thanks, but maybe another time."

"Sure?"

She nodded firmly. "Yes. Thank you, though, for the offer. Now, what the hell are we going to do all night? I'm not sleeping again, and you certainly aren't." She sat up against the headboard of the bed, her shoulder against his.

"What about Twenty Questions? We haven't played in centuries."

She laughed at that. "Yes, alright. You go first."

They played into the night and then the morning, often getting into arguments about questioned features of the things they were guessing, or simply giving each other a hard time for their choices ("Jakaxian Amble, Aliya, really? Are you trying to lose?").

The moment dawn finally began to peek in from outside, the pair were dressed and downstairs, ready to start the next day of investigations.

I really really hope that this helped some of you Daliya shippers out there cope. I had WAY too much fun writing this chapter. We're actually getting surprisingly close to where Daliya actually happens, or at least it feels like that to me. Roughly 7-9 chapters away maybe? :)

Love you all, and your feedback is always appreciated and cherished,

-MayFairy :)

p.s. I'm on holiday for two weeks now so I am planning some intensive writing, for this story and others so hopefully expect another update soon! :D