I am so sorry this has taken so long. My real life coupled with writer's block really got in the way with this one. I will finish this, i promise. Thanks for all the love and reviews you guys, seriously it really brightens up my day to hear how you love, or hate or whatever, this little fic.

The rotor began to move in its ancient motion and Martha could not help but watch its steady undulation. It was one of her favorite places on the TARDIS, the clm and serenity juxtaposed against the heightened mania that often erupts in the console room.

The day had been saved, once again, and all had been put back to it's rightful and judicious place. The flies were decimated, sent again to their planet. Jack had done his magic; the team of miscreants known as Torchwood had come in and cleaned the hospital.

"Gas main break." Jack had assured the staff as Mickey through her knowing glances. She was certain he had more to say, but his silence was more verbosity than she could stand.

After leaving the hospital, Martha, Jenny and the Doctor made their way back to Sarah Jane's. She again declined a trip in the ancient ship, and promised that when Luke was old enough, he would see the wonders of the universe.

All of it was null and void noise in her ears as she held Addy in her arms, his sweet scent filled her nostrils and pushed aside all of the pain and anxiety of the last forty eight hours.

The Doctor stood behind her, making faces at the sall child in her arms. Addy's responses were different now that his essence was returned. The faces that John Bowman once made at his son elicited fits of giggles, smiles and wild wriggling.

The baby now fixed an odd glare at the man behind her, he seemed quieter, less active, more focused.

Less human.

The ship was mostly empty now. Jack had returned to TORCHWOOD and Sarah Jane's goodbye left a hole in the ancient ship. The two parents stood close, enjoying the moment of bliss in the happy and serene small sounds that the infant made.

"So, where to now?" jenny's voice came form across the room; having laid claim to her own room, she burst into the console room all blond he=air and accusatory looks at the scene in front of the rotor.

The Doctor moved away from Martha as if caught by a watchful parent. Martha sighed at his reaction and painted on a smile. "Well," the Doctor began, leaning against the console and folding his arms. "We could put it up for a vote."

The two women eyed each other, though Martha noted Jenny's glare was far more dissapproving against Martha's own look of curiosity. "I vote somewhere exotic." the young blond gushed as she moved to stand beside her father.

The Doctor, as if repentant for his earlier actions looked to Martha for her opinion. "It doesn't matter to me," she smiled, snuggling Addy closer to her chest. "I think I am going to beg off any grand adventures for a bit in lieu of a good rest."

"Oh, come on, I think a good adventure is what we need, get the juices pumping and the blood going..." he stopped suddenly as if only just realizing the baby in her arms. "Right, rest. Good idea."

Martha shook her head but smiled. "I think a little Daddy-daughter tie would be good for the both of you." she said, glancing between the two Time Lords. "You've nly just found each other, you should get to know one another."

Jenny nodded as if it had been her idea all along. "I thought we three could go to the Hurous system. There was a slave revolt there that seemed like it needed an extra boost to get going."

"AHHH" the Doctor smiled. "A good ole fashioned slave revolt. Can;t pass that up." He moved over to the console, but his hands stilled at the switches. "Martha." he said quietly, not raising his eyes from the machines in front of him.

She moved closer to his side, Jenny on his right, she moved to the left of him and placed a single hand on his back. She nodded for him to go on.

He sighed then, a long and plaintive sound foreign from him. "Jenny," he began/ "Martha needs a rest, and I would imagine I do too."

Jenny did not respond right away she cast a momentary angry glare at the dark skinned woman. "Okay," she nodded. "Can we go to a resort, or something?"

He sighed again. "I think, we should take a few hours..." he looked at Martha then amended, "...days rest. The lot of us have been through quite a bit in the last few days...months."

She folded her arms then, a move that reminded Martha both of the Doctor and Rose. "So we are on hiatus?" she asked with a pout.

The Doctor spoke slowly as if talking to a petulant child, and Martha supposed in a lot of ways, he was. "Jenny, it's been a long time since the TARDIS has been operational. We took a bit of a vacation on Earth for a while. "

It was Martha's turn to sigh, she knew the Doctor was giving a plausible out, a way to say no without actually saying it to his only daughter and worse et, he was doing it for her. She didn't want to be the reason he stayed in, but another, more irrational part of the young doctor was grateful for it.

For her part, Jenny stomped her foot before heading back into the halls of the ancient ship without another word. "Well," the Doctor acknowledged.

"This will be fun." Martha smirked.

He nodded but said nothing. They were floating in the Vortex, Martha could feel the gentle undulation under her feet. "You don't have to stick around, you know. I mean, you should go out and have some fun with Jenny."

"Who said anything about an excuse?" the Doctor asked flippantly. "She really does need an overhaul before we get back on the road, well unless you don;t like oxygen or gravity."

Martha shrugged and sat on the jump seat. Addy fell into a silent but urgent pattern of nursing and his small had lulled against her. "So how long before she is ready for a trip?"

"It depends," he shrugged.

"On what?"

"On how long of a rest you need." he answered, his eyes falling upon her.

"Doctor," Martha said with a shake of her head. "It's not necessary. Look, you need to go and do what it is you do, and you have help now. I think you should take some time with her."

"And I agree." he answered. "As soon as you are rested enough to join us." He came to sit next to her, his hand rested upon Addy's head as he nursed. John Bowman would do that often enough, and the gesture was oddly discomforting for her. "We've had a rough time of it, haven't we?" he asked quietly.

She had to nod, he was right and the things they had made it through were difficult but she had to admit that in some way it had made them stronger, more solid.

"We need to work on things." he began. "And I don;t mean the ship, although..." he looked around at the glowing console room. "I suppose she could use a thorough re haul."

"You mean us, don;t you?" Martha asked with a sudden burst or strength.

""Yeah, yeah I mean us." he sighed. "We had all that time, and in that time it w=really wasn't us, was it? Because it really wasn't me."

"There are parts of him I miss.:" she admitted.

"Couldn't say that about John Smith, could you?" he asked. "See I told you it would not be like the last time."

Martha didn't answer, the wounds were still too fresh to answer his words. The Doctor accepted her silence as assurance and went on. "We were close then, nearly got it right." he sighed. "I didn't want to go...don;t want to go anywhere without you, Martha. I meant what I said about this being anything you want it to be."

She opened her mouth to answer him, to affirm his intentions, but the yawn got hold of her and she tried to cover it with her free hand.

"You should sleep." he smiled, rising from the seat and taking her hand.

"Yeah, guess all that adventure really did wear me out." she said. Addy had long fallen asleep, tucked into the crook of her arm. "He's different, you know?"

"We'll figure it out." The Doctor answered as he lead her down the hall to her room.

"Or die trying," she smiled as he leaned into her to place a kiss on her lips and another feather brush on the sleeping baby's head.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The gradual lightening of her room alerted Martha to the dawn of a new day She had long appreciated the ancient ship's method of awakening her, soft and natural like a new day's sunrise. The crib at her side was empty, a sign that she had slept far longer than she had planned. Sure of her son's safety aboard the TARDIS, she stretched long and slow and allowed herself to awaken slowly.

The kitchen was her first stop once she emerged from her shower. Martha had spent six months as an earth bound mother, half of that time spent as a single mum. She welcomed the change of knowing that there was at least one other person to share the responsibility of his care.

The Cocoa Puffs were in the same place he always hid them, even in the flat in Manchester. The Doctor had a secret sugar addiction that was not so secret, and Martha had developed a love for the brown cereal.

When she turned from the cabinet above the refrigerator, she found Jenny and Addy at the table. Addy sat in a high chair that was an antique one hundred years before the American Civil War. "Is that safe?" she asked as she sat at the table across form the pair.

Jenny grabbed hold of the box and placed a few kernels of cereal in front of Addy who grabbed for them in his chubby pincered grasp. "It's perfectly safe." she announced without looking at the older woman.

Martha nodded and dug into her own cereal, watching the two across from her. Jenny really did seem to be completely enthralled in the baby next to her. She played small games with him, soon their game turned to mimicking sounds.

"He said it!" Jenny gushed suddenly, clapping her hands wildly and lifting the baby out of his seat.

Martha heard nothing, "Said what?" She asked the now retreating woman who had gathered the child in her arms and was off toward the door. She left her bowl of cereal on the table and followed the blond woman. "I didn't hear anything."

"You wouldn't," the young woman tossed back over her shoulder, her ponytail bobbed as Martha followed her through the hallway and into the massive library "Dad," Jenny called over to the Doctor who was stretched out over the large mahogany desk.

He raised his head from over the stack of books, and smiled at the entrants into his realm. "Well, that is still new. Never will get used to that one...again. " he rose from his seat and folded his arms, his eyes met Martha's and she returned a shrug of confusion.

"He said his first word." jenny asserted with a nod of her blond head. She hoisted the baby in her arms again and cooed at him followed by a word in a language Martha could not recognize.

Adric laid his head on Jenny's shoulder and repeated the word to the young woman.

The Doctor's reaction was instantaneous, a smile of sheer joy spread across his face and he leapt over the desk. "Well, that is just brilliant, innit it?" he purred, taking the baby from Jenny.

There were few times in her life that Martha had ever felt the Dodo. A smart woman from the moment she learned how to talk, Martha never felt left out of the punchline of a joke, nor was she the last student in the class to figure out the Algebraic equation. This time, however, this one time, she felt as if the entire universe was in on the joke, and she was left gob smacked in the slow lane.

The Doctor and Jenny fussed over Adric first attempting to get him to repeat the word, then prompting him to say even more words in repetition.

The Doctor must have noticed her confuson. His smile turned on her and he angled the baby nearer. "Say it again, Addy." he cooed.

Addy turned his brown eyes onto his mother and held out his arms to her. A sound that must have been a word escaped his small mouth and he smiled at his own brilliance.

"What is he saying?" Martha asked finally, taking him into her arms.

The Doctor placed a hand on her arm and smiled. "He's saying, Mother. In Gallifreyian."

"How does he know Gallifreyian?" Martha asked, then felt stupid at her own question. "Oh, I guess you would have been speaking it to him."

The Doctor shook his head. "No time, Martha. I haven't been," he looked at Jenny who shook her head as well.

"The TARDIS?" Martha asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "As far as I can tell, Martha, and you have to understand that the TARDIS, her language is Gallifreyian, she does not translate from it."

"Ok," Martha nodded her head for him to continue.

"When he came back onto the ship." The Doctor went on. "He, that is to say Addy, had only heard English for the last six months of his life."

"So, then his first words should have been in English, or Welsh, hell even Aabic. I don;t know, something Earthen...ish. Not a language that he has never herd before."

"But he has heard it." Jenny piped in with a broad smile. "Its what we hear, well mostly." Jenny finished her words with a knowing nod to Martha.

In the light of nothing else to do, Martha sighed and bowed to the absurd, after all, wasn't she the anomaly here? " Well, that is something." She said finally.

"He'll speak other languages as well, Martha." The Doctor added. Martha could see an attempt at mending fences, but she could not quite muster the energy to do more than nod and slink off.

It was hard for her to place a logical finger upon what made her feel at odds with the situation. Adric was a special child, loved and cared for. But, since their return to the ship a day ago, she had begun to feel the alieness of both her situation, and her son.

In Manchester, he had been a fussy and fitful baby, but now his cadence of quiet observation ignored her. She had never tried to fool herself as to where he came from, that Adric was a child of differing parentage was a fact that lay next to her in bed each night.

The Doctor came behind her, and Martha noted he was alone this time. "What is it?" he asked

She shook her head as they moved through the seemingly endless halls of the TARDIS. "Nothing is always something, Martha. At least, when it comes to you humans."

"You humans? God, there really was some of you in that John Smith, wasn't there?" The words came out far more acidic than she had intended.

"Wait, what?" No…wait….What?" He sputtered.

"Doctor," Martha posed, "Do you recall what you said to me? About Galifreyian, when we were standing in his room the first day I came back?"

HE nodded, "I said, that I hoped he would learn it, that he would be another person to speak it to. "

"Martha nodded. "Why? Why did you hope he would speak your original language? I mean, there are hundreds, thousand…"

"...trillions of them, yeah I know, I speak most of them." he answered with a nod.

"But, why?" she asked, hoping to drive her point home.

He shrugged, "Why does anyone expect their child to speak their language? I suppose if we were all born speaking a different language than our parents...Hang on, we do, don;t we?"

"I'm ot going to get into a discussion about developmental psychology with you, Doctor." Martha said as a headache began to form behhind her eyes. "What I mean is, we want our children to be just like us; expect it, actually. At least until they grow up and develop little personalities of their own and leave home. Then, then we shake our heads and wonder where we went wrong. At least, that is my Mum's assertion."

The Doctor said nothing at first, he cocked his head a bit and offered her a sidelong glance before speaking. "That's what this is about, isn't it?" he asked finally. "It's not a language, or his first word in another language. It's about that look you gave him earlier; that look."

Martha squirmed a bit under his glare, "He's so different." she whispered.

The Doctor nodded again, "Yeah, yeah he is different. He isn;t as he was as a human, but." he placed his arms around her middle and drew Martha to him. "He still loves you. Whatever he may be, you were his first word, even if it was in a different language."

Martha nodded wetly, only just realizing the teas in her eyes.

"It all bled through, didn't it?" The Doctor whispered into her ear, the sleeping infant between them ow. "It bled through, Martha. Whatever he was, and whatever he is, he still loves you." He finished with a kiss on her forehead.

She was sure of the message wrapped within his words, Martha didn't need a cryptographer to explain them to her. "Jenny hates me." she giggled slightly.

He laughed back then, "Yeah, more than likely. But, she does';t really know you yet. Then, I am sure she will really hate you."

The two of them shared a laugh then, an honest one that reverberated through the long corridors of the ancient ship. His hand raised to hold her free one, and he gave it a sincere and firm squeeze. "I have an idea." he began.

"Oh, that is never a good start to any conversation with you." she giggled quietly.

"Oi!" he smiled, then spoke to her quietly. "Can you meet me, in an hour?"

"We're here now." She answered, but fet her heart race.

"Cheeky," he said, "but I was thinking you could put him down, and maybe we could spend a bit of time, just you and I."

"Are we ready for that?" she whispered.

The Doctor brought his hands up in surrender but kept the same conspiritoy smile dangling on his lips. "Just an afternoon, or evening, or whatever it is. Oh, you know what I mean. Please?"

"One hour?" she mentally began to figure out how much time she would need to prepare for an afternoon or evening with him. "Sure, but I can't guarantee he'll cooperate." she nodded to the baby.

He smiled and moved away. "You let me worry about that." he grinned.

"Ok," she nodded unable to keep the smile from her lips. "Where? I mean, it is a big ship." They stopped in front of the door that lead to Addy's nursery.

The Doctor leaned into her again and whispered into her ear. "Just follow the breadcrumbs, just like the last time." His eyes flashed up toward the ceiling. "She'll help."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour later, as if on cue, the lights in her room flashed as Martha had finished checking her makeup for the tenth time. She was as nervous as she had been on her first grown up date when she was seventeen.

The lights flickered along the corridors, leading her to a part of the ship she had never been before. The gentle nudge in her mind did remind her of that first night she had met Addy, held in suspension, between existence and nothingness. This time, however, she was going to a different destiny.

The lights dimmed when she made the wrong turn, and brightened as she twisted and turned. Along the right path. Five minutes past anything recognizable and she heard it, the soft strains of a familiar sound. Mozart poured through thhe halls and as she advanced through the turns, she recognized the piano playing was no recorded playback; she would have recognized it in her sleep.

He was seated at one of the largest pianos she had ever seen, in a room large enough to hold a football match. He played as he had as John Bowman, with the passion and intensity that always left her breathless. Dressed much the same way as John did, the Doctor had even worn glasses, and as she slid into the bench next to him and slid one arm around him, Martha noted he was even barefoot.

"You're overdressed." he spoke as the strains of the concerto died into an intermezzo.

"I hope that is not some sort of cheap come on." she smiled with false indignation.

The Doctor stood and took her hand in his. "No, no." he shook his head and lead her to the other end of the hall. "Its just, I wanted to have a picnic." he answered pushing open the double doors. "In the garden."