Kayla sat with Martha at the kitchen in the TARDIS. She had respectfully asked the Doctor to leave and he had. She had then gotten the TARDIS to make the room soundproof and she had blocked off her mind. Perhaps it was overkill, but she didn't want the Doctor hearing her talk to Martha, because she knew the black woman would get angry and if Martha said some hurtful things then the Doctor would be angry at her for saying that, even if Kayla deserved it as she knew she did. From her past experiences, Time Lords seemed to not taking insults to their Bonded well. Since that wasn't fair to Martha at all, she was going to make sure the Doctor would have no way of knowing what was going on in the kitchen.

Martha, for her part, seemed relatively calm, though the tea she was sipping in a very control manner gave away the tension she was feeling. Her legs were crossed, one over the other. Her foot was tapping up and down in the air and due to the flip flops she was wearing there was slight sound as the heel of the shoe moved from the heel of her foot and then went back.

They sat like that, Martha drinking her tea in an almost robotic way and Kayla staring down at the table, one hand absentmindedly rubbing her stomach. It was an uncomfortable silence that neither woman wanted to break but, at the same time, they both wanted it to be gone.

Finally, Kayla spoke. "Martha I'm so incredibly sorry."

Martha arched an eyebrow. "For what?" she asked in an icy voice.

Kayla swallowed hard. She had hoped so badly that this would go well, that Martha would forgive her. She had so easily forgiven the Doctor, or at least it seemed that way. They had had an equally private conversation that had lasted all of ten minutes. Kayla had asked to just know how it went generally, and the Doctor had said that it "Went well."

Though when Kayla had asked if she had come up, the Doctor went silent. He changed the subject quickly and the brunette had enough brain to not bring it up again. Despite being a Time Lady, she still didn't know much about Time Lord culture or how they acted with their Bonded. She knew that when she had been insulted by Rose the Doctor wasn't able to forgive her, no matter how many times the blonde had apologized to him or her, though maybe that was because Rose usually hadn't meant those many apologizes. Perhaps Martha, who the Doctor also liked quite a bit and was a far more sensible person, it would be different. She hoped so.

Still, Martha was sitting across from Kayla and whatever the brunette hoped or wanted, she still had to answer. No musings would save her from the present.

"For everything," she breathed, and Martha's foot stilled for the first time since they had sat down. "For convincing the Doctor to lie to you about Shakespeare, for going at such lengths to hide it from you, for going along with the Doctor's lie…for just being a complete and utter idiot." Kayla sighed and looked down at the table in front of her as she tried to control her emotions. "Can you ever forgive me, Martha?" she asked in a thicker voice than usual.

Martha seemed to just look at Kayla for a long time. Another long, tense, and very uncomfortable silence filled the TARDIS kitchen. The black woman seemed deep in thought. Her tea cup, which was now completely empty, was resting on the table in front of her, forgotten. Once again, her foot was moving. Kayla had started to fiddle with her dress as rubbing her stomach stopped being soothing enough.

Finally, Martha sighed. "When I was growing up, my parent fought a lot. They still fight a lot," she shook her head and smiled bitterly. "After every fight, my dad would bring my mom some flowers and take her out to dinner and they would forget all their troubles, until the next fight that is." Martha shook her head. "It took me a while to realize that apologizes only meant something when the person changed their behavior or at least tried to show that they were changing. Otherwise, the apology was just words that were flowered to make both parties feel nice.

"What I'm trying to say, Kayla, is that I want to forgive you, and I most likely will, but I'm withholding my forgiveness until I see that you're changing, that you are no longer lying."

Kayla stared at Martha, her eyes wide. This was not what she had been expecting at all. She had hoped that Martha would just forgive her. That hadn't happen. Part of her felt stupid, part of her felt angry, but for the most part, she just felt completely out of control. Martha had been in control of the conversation since Kayla had closed her mouth, and the brunette wasn't going to get that control back for quite a while.

Swallowing hard, Kayla nodded. She honestly had no choice at this point because she wanted the relationship with Martha to work. She wanted to be friends with her. "I'll do my best to earn your forgiveness, Martha Jones," she vowed in a firm voice.

Martha smiled slightly. "That is all I ask."

Later that night, the Doctor found Kayla sitting on the edge of the TARDIS. Her legs were dangling out into space and her eyes were looking at the sky. Not saying a word, the Time Lord sat down next to her and took her hand. Kayla turned her head slightly and gave him a smile that was a clear 'thank you.' They stayed like that for a long time. Finally, Kayla fell to sleep with her head on the Doctor's shoulder. He carefully picked her up and carried her to bed.

Sorry this is so short, but I kind of like it at this length all the same. To me, Martha seems like the person who would realize, "oh wow, the people around me suck. I should not copy them," and then not copy them at all. Therefore, she'll actually make people work for forgiveness instead of just going, "okay, I forgive you."

So yeah, for the next few chapters, things should be tense between the two women. However, a few exciting episodes are coming up that will shift the dynamic entirely for this series! I can't wait!

And review time:

NicoleR85: Thank you!

grapejuice101: Thank you! I'm excited to be back!