If anyone needs me, I'll be up here on this ledge contemplating all the parallels from this newest episode of DW and watching all of you lose your shit at this chapter.

The next morning Rose was already seated at the table, still in her pyjamas and a pair of purple fuzzy slippers, when Martha walked into the kitchen. She looked up from her cereal.

"Morning—I think."

"Yeah, it's morning. Relatively speaking."

Martha walked over to the fridge and pulled out the carton of milk. She pilfered through the cereal selection and decided to go with what Rose was having: Cookie Crisp. She poured the cereal and milk in her bowl, returning them both to their proper places, grabbed a spoon from the drawer, and sat down at the table. Rose was staring into space, chewing slowly and stirring the remaining cereal pieces around the bowl absentmindedly. There were dark circles under her eyes, which meant she probably didn't get a lot of sleep.

Martha took a bite and chewed slowly, savoring the cookies and the processed chocolate that would never match to the stuff from the Dancing Moons in its dizziest daydreams.

"Sooo," Martha asked, drawing the word out. "How'd it go?"

"Hmm? How'd what go?"

"Last night with the Doctor."

Rose scooped another bit of cereal into her mouth. "Fine," she mumbled.

Martha arched her eyebrow. "Fine? That's it? Blimey, for all he goes on about how impressive he is…"

"Well, it could've gone worse."

"Ah."

Rose shrugged. "We didn't get to sleep for a while, though. Too worked up. I'm surprised you were able to sleep. But when I woke up he was gone and I couldn't get back to sleep."

Martha nodded and she took another bite of cereal to hide the smirk she felt pulling at her muscles. "So, um, you two have done this before?"

"Oh, yeah, loads of times. Usually after a pretty stressful day, but most of the time he doesn't say much."

"Ah," Martha repeated awkwardly. "Good to know. Uh, you could've fooled me, though. …You did, actually. I thought there was nothing going on around here."

"What do you m—hang on." Rose made a face. "What exactly do you think I'm talking about?"

"You and the Doctor. Didn't you two…?" she trailed off and wagged her eyebrows.

"No!" She put her forehead in her hand and realized exactly how all of that must've sounded to Martha. "No, we didn't. We just talked. I mean it."

Martha resisted the urge to bang her head against the wall again. Really, she had to stop doing that or she was going to give herself a concussion or brain damage. Though considering the number of times she'd abused her skull in frustration, it was a miracle she hadn't done either already. "You're kidding me. But the way you two were looking at each other…"

"Yeah, well, happens all the time."

"I noticed that."

"Look, Martha, I've been around the Doctor for a long time. There've been plenty of opportunities. He's never even really kissed me properly just because he can. For all I know, Time Lords don't even do stuff like that. Not like we do, anyway."

This time she did hit her head against the wall. Yeah, I'm definitely going to get a concussion. She ignored the throbbing in her skull and sighed loudly. "You don't think he's leading you on?"

"No."

"Good. Otherwise I'd spike his tea with aspirin."

"Martha, stop it."

She huffed. "Fine. …Of course there's also the possibility that Time Lords do fraternize with us lowly apes and he's just being a bloke."

"We'll then he's the biggest bloke of them all. If you're this tetchy after seeing us two months, just remember that we've been together for two years. We've never…danced. The kissing only started up just before you came."

"Oh yeah? How'd that happen?" she asked interestedly.

"We…we were visiting a market. He must've seen me looking at this rock on the vendor's table. The vendor said it was rare, only found on some planet that didn't exist anymore. It was shiny and blue, like the color of shallow water in the sunlight, about the size of my palm and shaped like a star. I thought it was beautiful, but I didn't want to waste that much on a rock, not when we could go to the planet ourselves one day, you know before it exploded or whatever, and get one there. It was more than we had on us anyway and there weren't any cash machines around.

"I'd already moved onto the next few stalls, didn't notice he'd stayed behind until he pressed the rock in my hand." she smiled. "The Doctor had called the vendor's bluff, told him he'd been to that planet only last week, and that it was fine, turning around it's sun as usual, and threatened to report him for tryin' to rip us off. He persuaded the guy to lowered the price."

Martha raised her eyebrows. "But why'd he do that if he could just take you there himself?"

She shook her head. "I have no idea—maybe because we wouldn't be able to get that particular rock or something. Anyway, after that I kissed him, just to say thanks, and he really didn't seem to mind. After that it was just little kisses here and there for whatever reason, but for the most part it's just the usual hugging. But like I said, plenty of chances."

Rose pushed away from the table, closing the conversation as effectively as slamming a door in the medical student's face.

After that, Martha was a woman on a mission. If the Doctor was just leading Rose on, she might just actually shove aspirin—okay, maybe not aspirin because she didn't want to actually kill him—but she'd probably deck him to start. But finding one errant Time Lord in a pandimensional ship proved harder than she'd hoped. She tried every door she came to and found the pool, the antigravity room, various sports courts, two rooms that must've belonged to former companions, the infirmary, and her room. That's when she started to get annoyed. Keeping on, she found the garden, the Zero Room, a butterfly garden, a karaoke bar, the console room, and finally arrived back at the kitchen.

That's enough! Come on, I know you're smart and I know you can hear me, she thought with all her might. And if you care about either at them at all then you'll help me out her! This has got to be driving you mad, too.

Evidently the TARDIS decided that she agreed with her because Martha only had to open two more doors—the pool again, and another random cupboard—before she found herself looking at into the library, the Earth History section, to be specific. Out of all the places she'd found so far, this was the most likely place he'd be. She navigated the rows of books and had to double back twice because she swore the TARDIS enjoyed moving things around to confuse her, even when they were supposed to be working together. She found the Doctor fast asleep on the couch.

The sight was odd.

She knew he didn't sleep often, and while she hadn't ever seen him sleep in all the time she'd been on board, she knew that when he did, it was usually near Rose. He must've accidentally nodded off. He looked peaceful there and about a hundred years younger without old eyes looking out from a young face.

She was tempted to just leave him be and approach him later, but she knew that if wasn't okay to wake him up then the TARDIS wouldn't have allowed her to find him. So she slipped back behind the nearest bookshelf and grabbed three of the thickets books she could find and stacked them on top of each other.

Martha carried them over to the coffee table in front of the couch and she dropped them.

The books hit the table with a very loud THUD that resonated through the silent room and caused the slumbering Time Lord to literally jump awake. He let out a very unmanly yelp and leaped off the couch. Looking around wildly, his eyes locked onto her and there was a split, horrifying second when she saw absolutely no recognition in them whatsoever. Then he scowled.

"Martha Jones, what the hell is wrong with you!? Don't you know better than to scare a sleeping Time Lord awake?"

"No, actually, I didn't." she replied, trying to keep her bravado going, but seeing him look at her that way was a bit unsettling. "You learn something new everyday."

Growling something that didn't translate, he sank back onto the couch and rubbed his face in his hands. "I'm assuming that you have a perfectly good, very important reason for giving me a hearts attack."

"Yes, I do, as a matter of fact." Martha folded her arms. "You, Doctor whatever-your-real-name-is, you are either the biggest prat or the biggest bastard that ever lived."

He looked so utterly lost that at any other time it would've been funny. "What did I do?"

Martha shoved the books off the table and sat down primly on the smooth surface. "I'm hoping that you're just being a prat, because otherwise you're going to march your skinny arse into that control room and take me home."

"What?"

"What exactly is your relationship with Rose?" she demanded.

"I—I don't see how that's any of your business."

Martha glared at the Time Lord and she knew she wasn't imagining it when she saw him shrink back a little. "Do you love her?"

"Martha, I don't see—"

"Oh, just shut up, you bloody alien, and answer the question."

He sighed, "Isn't it obvious?"

"Doctor," she warned.

He sighed, staring at her for a moment, and then nodded wordlessly.

"Finally!" she shouted and he flinched. "Now get off your rump and go tell that to her."

"What, now?"

"Yes, now!"

"Just like that? Good morning, Rose. I love you. Fancy a cuppa?" He shook his head derisively.

"What's wrong with that? That's what most couples do every morning. That's what my Mum and Dad used to do."

"And look how they ended up."

She surged to her feet and tried to decide if she was just going to storm off or hit him first.

"I'm sorry!" he apologized quickly. "I didn't mean that."

"Yes you did," she snapped. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly and sat back down. "But you're right. Look where they ended up. While Mum was still crying at night, Dad had already had himself a girlfriend: Annaliese. It hurt all of us, but Mum most of all."

He sighed irritably, unaware how close she was to testing. "Is there a point to this?"

"I'm getting there, keep your pants on." She folded her arms again. "Mom told us one time—me, Tish, and Leo—that her biggest regret was that she and Dad didn't try harder and she wishes she'd realized that when she had the chance. Now it's too late. It's been too long, they've both done so may things, said so many things, and they're to proud to admit that there still might be anything there. Is that what you want to happen with you and Rose?"

"She won't leave," he said, as confident as a teenager in love for the first time. "She promised forever."

"So do humans at weddings. 'Till death us do part.'" Martha quoted. "I'm not blind, Doctor. I've been with you nearly three months and I've seen it. I know you love her, and I know she loves you. But one day you might do something or say something—or maybe you won't say the right thing—and you'll have to watch her walk out those doors for the last time."

"Or I'll have to watch her age and die," he reminded her.

"That's life."

"Not for me." The Doctor rested his elbows on his knees. "I don't age, not like you do, and when this body dies, it will regenerate into another one. Rose can't do that."

"But I thought she had some weird energy inside her. It's been helping her heal faster. You've said so yourself."

"No, I didn't." He shook his head and put his chin on his knuckles. "I said she's been healing a bit faster than she used to, but Huons don't do that. It's a miracle that the particles in her are benign and aren't killingher. My people didn't destroy them because they were helpful."

"Well, still—"

"What more is there to say? It doesn't matter what I do, I'm still going to lose her. She'll leave me eventually, one way or another."

"Exactly!" Martha reached out and seized his wrists. "Oh, you stupid idiot. You are going to lose her one day. Life isn't like The Notebook where couples die together in their sleep. So you two haven't got forever, but you have got now. Why are you wasting time worrying about the future? Do you honestly think that if you keep your distance that it'll hurt less when she's gone?"

He said nothing and Martha resisted the urge to sigh. Rose was right. When you really wanted him to talk the Doctor was like a shy three year old. And she wasn't in the mood to deal with his stubbornness or wait for him to finish brooding.

"Because I'm tellin' you, it won't. I've never been in love. Fancied a few guys, me, but never loved them so I'm not speaking from personal experience or anything." She shook his wrists lightly. "But if I'm just a stupid ape, then how come I can see what you can't?"

"Because you're human," the Doctor told her. "And for all your faults, humankind has always been and will always be one of the most clever species in the universe."

Martha sighed and let go of him. "Look, Doctor, I know feelings aren't exactly your strong point, but you should tell her how you feel."

"She knows."

"So? That doesn't mean she wouldn't like to hear you say it. It doesn't have to be some big event with flower petals and candlelight. Just…tell her. Oh, and you should definitely give her a proper kiss, too."

"Martha Jones, has it ever occurred to you that my people had different customs than yours? Hmm? That commitment wasn't shown with rings and that love wasn't expressed with kissing and sex?"

She sat up straighter, interested. Yes, it had occurred to her on multiple occasions, but she'd also assumed that he would understand he'd have to follow some human courting customs considering the woman of his affections was human. Then again, it was the Doctor.

"Time Lords thought themselves above emotions like love. Marriages were almost always arranged based on political usefulness and genetics. Love was a novel emotion for children, whispered behind hands when the instructors weren't looking, sometimes fantasized about, but eventually our children were taught that such things were beneath them. Most Gallifreyans, however, refused to let their lives be dictated for them in such a way.

"Is there a difference?" she asked. "You said 'Time Lords' and 'Gallifreyans' like they're separate."

"I never told you this? No, I told Rose," he said to himself. "All Time Lords were Gallifreyans, but not all Gallifreyans were Time Lords. 'Time Lord' is a title, a rank if you'd like, earned through decades of study." He stopped talking abruptly and swallowed, continuing after a moment. "But those Gallifreyans who chose to find love, developed their own courting rituals, their own ways of showing affection. Time Lords frowned upon such, of course, and so the gestures were discreet, especially in public. Over time, these gestures became the standard."

"Such as…?"

"Grasping each other's hands, not as a gesture of greeting, is comparable to humans embracing. A hug in public would be like two humans snogging in public."

"So, hugging is like kissing to you?" she asked, not quite following. "But you've hugged me. You've hugged a lot of people."

The Doctor smiled. "Well, I've always been something of a rebel. When I hug you, Martha, the intended gesture is the one you perceive. But you must understand: our society was strict. Stuffy. Touch was permitted, but usually reserved for kin unless entirely formal. If two people were to touch it was usually a sign affection in some form. Not just romantic. Two people shaking hands in greeting would be like two humans hugging in greeting. To see two people holding hands was not entirely scandalous, but it was a sign that they were comfortably familiar. If they were not of the same house then it could be assumed their relationship was something like romantic. But if they were to ever openly embrace in public, it would be like two humans kissing in the middle of Trafalgar Square, surrounded by children."

Martha couldn't help but giggle at the mental image, but she also felt a pang of sadness. One thing she had noticed about the Doctor was that he loved to touch things. He would run his fingers along walls, fiddle with random objects (sometimes licking them, but that was something in itself), and his hands always sought out Rose when she was near. Had he always been this way or was this a trait of this particular body? How painful would it have been for him to be on Gallifrey when he had to keep his hands firmly to himself?

"So, if two people were to hug, it would be a surefire sign that they were in love. I saw a couple hugging once," he added quietly. "I was very little. I'd never seen anyone do it before. It was strange to me. They just seemed so happy, though, so from then on I associated hugging with happiness, even after I learned that it was taboo amongst Time Lords and why. When I hug you, Martha, I do it because I am happy. When I hug Rose…I do it because I know what it represented on my planet and because I know what that couple felt when they were hugging."

"And kissing?"

The Doctor glanced down at her. "The first time I saw what you'd consider proper kissing was well into my first life, after I'd run away from Gallifrey, and had landed on planet Earth. Married couples did kiss, but it was always in private, and it was very chaste by human standards." He looked over her head at something. "There were other things, too. Telepathy, for example, played a part, and words. We had so many words, Martha, and so many tenses. So many ways to tell someone how you felt—dozens of ways to express one emotion and each one is entirely unique.

"You humans say 'I love you.' It is a wonderful, if terrifying phrase when spoken with the emotion behind it. But it is also very…lacking. You're stating that you love them at that particular moment. Did you love them the moment before? Will you love them in the next? We had ways of saying 'I loved you once, but no longer and never again.' Or 'I loved you once, but no longer, though I could possibly do so again in my future.' Or 'I love you this moment and will do so in the next.'"

He smiled to himself and when he spoke again, his voice was quiet. Revenant. "And there was one, so complex and deep that there is no way I could ever explain it adequately. But the simplest translation is: 'I love you for eternity, my hearts.' Saying this word to someone would mean that you had begun falling in love the moment you met, you loved them in your present state of being, and would continue to do so across all of your loves and theirs, anywhere in time and space, for as long as you existed, and that when their hearts stopped beating, so too would yours.

"It was never said when others could hear. At weddings, if the couple would say it, they would have to whisper it to each other, because just to hear the word even if it wasn't said to you would be…" he shook his head, at a loss of how to explain it. "I read about it once and I felt like I was tarnishing it but just working out how to pronounce it in my head. Words have power, Martha, and this one has more than you'll ever understand. I don't even understand it fully yet."

"Is that why you've never told her you love her?"

He didn't respond. At closer inspection she wasn't entirely sure he was even breathing.

But she finally understood. She had been waiting for him to do something that would make sense to her as a human. Looking back with this new information, she realized he'd been telling Rose how he felt for as long as she'd been around and long before. Every time he so much as brushed his hand across her back he was telling her. And she understood why nothing was going on behind closed doors. For a man who'd grown up in a society where a simple hug was as powerful as a good snog, sex would be like exchanging marriage vows.

"I think you should tell her exactly what you told me, Doctor, because if I didn't understand then you shouldn't expect her to, either. And I think you should learn how powerful that word is. But in your own time," she added. He still didn't respond verbally, but his smile was enough.

She gave him a smile in return and patted his arm, standing up. "You can go back to sleep now if you want. There's a butterfly garden around here somewhere that I want to get lost in."

"Butterfly garden, really?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Haven't seen that room in a hundred years or so. I thought for sure it must've been jettisoned."

"Guess she really does like me then. She helped me find you in here, after all." With that she strode out of the library to let the Doctor get back to sleep.

But of course he couldn't fall asleep after that. He hadn't meant to nod off to begin with. Hadn't even realized he was tired or he would've gone back to Rose's room to sleep. He left the library to wander the halls, unable to sit still with thoughts buzzing around his head. Martha's words, Shakespeare's words, Jackie's, Mickey's, Shareen Costello's, that Dalek's, the Beast's, Donna's, Jack's words, and the rules of his people. The people he'd destroyed and whose legacy now rested solely upon his shoulders.

For a Time Lord to love a human, never mind actually be in a relationship with one was almost taboo. Leela and Andred's relationship had been almost entirely unique, as had the circumstances of her remaining on Gallifrey. He heard that she'd conceived and had given birth to a child at one point. That, perhaps, had made the people more open to her.

In the end there were dozens of reasons he shouldn't attempt a deeper relationship with Rose, and only one reason why he should, but that one reason was more than enough.

But how was he supposed to do that? He was somewhat familiar with human courting customs, but he was completely at a loss at how they really began. Did they officially declare it to each other like on Gallifrey, or did they just slide right on into it without really saying anything? Or was that something that depended on the couple?

Were he and Rose already in that kind of relationship without him realizing it? What did humans do in relationships again? They held hands, hugged, went on dates to fun and/or romantic places, spent a lot of time together, gave gifts, joked around, smiled, laughed, kissed…

Oh, well then. That explained a lot. Like why people always assumed they were a couple. How long had that been going on? A while, he realized when he actually thought about it. She'd once said that watching the world end had been their first date.

The Doctor exhaled loudly, puffing out his cheeks. Bugger.

He couldn't just waltz up to Rose out of the blue and tell her he loved her. Or, well, he supposed he could, but it didn't just seem right. Not after all they'd been through. He'd considered telling her a few times before. After she'd gotten her face back, before he fell into the Pit, several times as she mourned for her mother, before he was led away by the Daleks in the park…

Declarations could wait, he decided. Right now, he just wanted to see Rose Tyler smile.

He headed for the control room and went through a list of places they could go that they'd never been to before. Peaceful places, beautiful places, with things that would make her eyes light up with wonder and smile and laugh. Some place warm with no pigs or sewer systems involved. A theme park, perhaps—no, too crowded. Somewhere remote, then, or at least a popular place beforeit became popular. Peaceful, beautiful, remote, and guaranteed to make Rose Tyler smile…and why not make her the first person to smile at it?

Five minutes later he was moving around the controls and silently pleading with TARDIS to fly true. After facing Daleks and what nearly happened to Rose (and since his sleep had been interrupted), they deserved—no, needed—a day where the most dangerous thing they had to worry about were the crabs the size of golden retrievers. But they were very sensitive and could be scared away with the right setting on a sonic screwdriver or chicken legs, both of which he had. He hoped to land somewhere far from their nesting grounds, but you could never be too sure.

The ship lurched and he grabbed on to the console to avoid falling and bashing his head into the seat. Behind him he heart a feminine yelp and he craned his head to see. Rose was in the doorway, holding onto one of the corals for dear life.

"Sorry!" he called over the noise of the rotor. She nodded, smiling meagerly.

The TARDIS shuddered to a halt and he pulled himself up right. Rose let go of the coral and rubbed her wrist gingerly. From further within the ship they heard Martha shout, "A little warning next time!"

He laughed to himself and felt that justice had been served.

"So, where are we?" Rose asked.

"The planet of Kataa Flo Ko, in the year 8900 BC." He beamed at her. "No alien invasions, no Daleks, no running for our lives…"

"Sounds great," she agreed. "Let's go out, then."

"No, hold on," he looked her up and down. Standard dress: jeans, trainers, and a t-shirt. "I think you'll be a bit too hot in that." Glancing over her shoulder, he added, "And you definitely will be."

"Why?" Martha asked and Rose jumped, startled. "What's out there?"

"Well…if I'm right, and I hope I am…" the girls watched him stride over to the doors and look outside. "Yes! We are on Kataa Flo Ko, a planet where almost everything is made of gemstones." He shut the door and walked back to his companions, hands clasped behind him. "Well, except for the bit of vegetation, but it still has some crystalline properties. I've been here a few times before. This is the planet closest to the nearest sun that you can survive on, so it's pretty hot, and to answer your question, Martha, we are at a beach."

"What's the sand made of?" Rose asked interestedly.

"Weathered and crushed gems, of course," he said, smiling when he saw their eyes light up.

Fifteen minutes later the three of them were piling out of the TARDIS with swimsuits on under shorts and sleeveless shirts, clothes for later, towels, two blankets, a basket of food, three bottles of appropriate type of sunscreen, several glass bottles and vials with corks to take some of the sand in, a box of chicken legs to throw at any giant crabs, a camera, and the Doctor had a small pack slung over his shoulder with mysterious contents he refused to divulge until later.

He wished he'd had the foresight to turn the camera on before letting them see the planet he'd landed them on, because Kataa Flo Ko was definitely one of the wonders of the galaxy, and, technically, Martha and Rose were the first humans to ever see it, and both were completely stunned into silence.

The TARDIS had landed on the edge of a plain of green grass that swayed in the breeze, shimmering in the light. The sky was a mix of light blue and lavender and one sun shined brightly in the sky. Another sun, brilliantly blue, was further away but it was enough to give the sky its purplish tinge. The sand was pale like on Earth, but it shined and shimmered with color and stretched for miles and miles in either direction, while the ocean was clear and blue, throwing off a million rainbows as it crashed onto shore.

Rose broke the silence first, a wondrous smile on her face. "It's beautiful!"

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed, eyes for her and only her. "Well, come on. It takes only eighteen hours for this planet to rotate once. Time's a-wasting!" He made a face. "Ooh, remind me never to say that again."

He chose them a spot far enough from the water that they wouldn't be hit when the tide came in and then they set up camp. While they worked and applied sunscreen, the Doctor talked.

"This system is about twice the size of Earth's, and it's got around fifteen planets in it. They're all heated by a blue star—relatively small considering how big they can potentially be—and a yellow star that's about twice the size of your sun. Unfortunately, the blue sun only has about ten thousand years left to live. By the time humans make it to this system, it'll have long since vaporized, leaving the surrounding planets to be heated by the yellow star. It's big enough to keep some of them going, just not as hot as they used to be. But many of them are going to become icy and cold. Like Pluto."

"Oh, didn't you hear? Pluto isn't a planet anymore." Martha said.

"Says who?"

"Astronomers…NASA…that lot."

The Doctor snorted, "Yes, because humans have the right to determine what is and isn't considered a planet. If it's a ball and it has a stable orbit around a star, it's a planet, simple as that."

"I know that." Martha rolled her eyes. "It's just not considered a proper planet anymore. It's a dwarf planet."

"Compared to what? Earth or all the other planets in your solar system? That's a horrible scale, complete rubbish. When you consider all the planets in your galaxy alone, Earth is a dwarf planet."

"Hey, don't get cross with me! I'm just telling you what I heard on the telly."

"Right, because if it's on television it has to be—"

Rose cleared her throat, arching her eyebrows, and they both looked at her guiltily. "If you can't play nice, you're gonna have to play on opposite ends of the beach."

"No ta."

Martha craned her neck. "That might be a bit difficult, anyway. I can't even see the end."

Rose rolled her eyes. "So what's gonna happen to this place, Doctor?"

"Well, Kataa Flo Ko and her sisters will escape that icy fate due to their proximity to the yellow sun, but the winters will be just a bit longer. Plus this place doesn't have soil right for farming anything alien so humanity will, for the most part, just pass this whole system by. All the planets here are made the same way, except for Kataa Nu Kan, but it's entirely gaseous. Its name literally means 'No Ground Planet' in the language of the people that named it! Clever, eh?"

"What's Kataa Flo Ko mean?"

"'Second Rainbow Planet' because it's twin, Kataa Fi Ko—that's 'First Rainbow Planet'—is closer to the sun. Each land mass looks like the gem it's primarily composed of, so from space the whole planet looks like one giant messy rainbow! I should show you when we leave." he added as an afterthought.

"All the planets in this system are made of gemtones, but usually only one or two types. In fact, all three of the systems in this area are mostly made up of crystalline planets. Two are safe to inhabit, but the other one has an Xtonic star. The rays it produces are pure poison; the light would vaporize a human on contact. Nothing can survive in that entire system," he added grimly. "But, if I'm not mistaken, some of the planets get leisure palace chains on them far in the future. Hmm. Always wanted to go there. Maybe later."

Martha and Rose glance at each other worriedly. "Are we safe here?" Martha asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, don't worry. We could probably see that star from here, but we're too far away for its rays to hurt us." he assured them.

By the Doctor's calculations, they still had five hours of daylight left to enjoy, and enjoy it they did.

Rose got a vial of the shimmering sand for herself and started to make one up for her mum. She found an area of sand that had a particularly golden shimmer filled the little spherical container. Just as she was about to pop the cork in, she froze. Oh, right. Jackie Tyler wasn't waiting for her to come back to Earth for a visit. Not the Earth in this universe, anyway. For a just a moment she sank down into that dark part of her mind where the pain and grief at the loss of her mother always lurked and tilted the vial to empty it. She decided against it, however, and pressed the stopper firmly into place. She helped Martha fill ones for her family, darting along the beaches to places with higher concentrations of a specific type of shimmer. As an afterthought, she decided to make one up for Shareen that she'd deliver whenever they took Martha home.

The Doctor watched them with a smile on his face. Martha had once accused him of being able to enjoy anything—which he could, almost—but in reality, it was human beings that had that gift. His brain was analyzing everything about this place as it always did. Why the sky was blue in the mornings, lavender in the late afternoon, and a mixture of both at noon; how much of the heat was supplied by each sun; what the sand around them was likely composed of; why the vegetation sparkled, why the water threw off rainbows; what direction the wind was blowing from. It was all cycling through his brain, being calculated and reasoned, and filed away with all the other information he had about this planet. But his companions, they saw the beauty and nothing more. He didn't doubt that they wondered about all of that, but their brains didn't automatically work out why the things around them were the way they were. They could take it at face value and just enjoy it.

And he was glad they were enjoying how beautiful it was here. There were enough precious metals in ten feet any direction them to make them richer than Martha would ever be on a doctor's salary. In fourteen thousand years, human beings would find the three sister systems, and they would discover the riches they beheld. They would see the beauty, and they would see the profit to be made. The Xtonic system would remain untouched until leisure companies moved in, but the other two, the ones without poisonous suns, would be divided up. The ones with sentient species would be left alone for the most part, and some of the uninhabited ones would be set aside as "nature reserves" to make people feel better about what would happen to the rest. They would be mined, and by the year one million, most of the planets would have been picked clean, left to die in space.

He watched Rose kick the sand as she walked, sending up a flurry of silver into the air with each step. She looked up and caught his eye, smiling, and he smiled right back at her automatically. She didn't need to know what would become of Kataa Flo Ko and he would stop thinking about it.

The five hours of daylight passed in bliss, the kind that seemed to last forever, but never quite long enough.

The Doctor was wearing only a sleeveless shirt and swim trunks. Martha, having never been to the beach before with them, was unaccustomed to seeing the Doctor in anything less than one of his dress shirts and occasionally an undershirt. She was honestly surprised to see how human he looked underneath all those layers. When he caught her staring, she admitted to wondering if he'd secretly had spots or stripes or something else really alien on his skin that he always chose to keep hidden. He laughed merrily and turned his arms over to further affirm that there were no such marks.

They went up the beach with tiny buckets to hunt for seashells. Both humans were surprised to see that some of the shells were shaped similarly to ones on Earth, while others were completely bizarre, but they all sparkled in some way. Some were small enough to be made into jewelry and Martha found a conch shell that was bigger than the Doctor's hands. Some of them were like one big gem; others were more like Earth shells but with flakes of shining stone within, scattered randomly or arranged in a pattern.

They waded knee-deep in the water, kicking and splashing, sending up rainbows of color into the air. At first it was just for the sake of feeling the water and enjoying the colors…and then the Doctor shoved a wave of water in the direction of his companions. They both yelped as the wave made contact with their backs. Martha whirled around immediately and glared. Rose, still tense in surprise with her hair plastered to her neck and shoulders, slowly turned to face the Time Lord. She arched her eyebrows, he grinned shamelessly, and then it was war.

The girls splashed water at him and he backed away, one hand up to ward off their attack while the other returned fire. He started to inch around them towards the deeper water and they turned with him, moving closer even as he tried to flee. When he was waist-deep in the water, he ducked under and shot off. Martha and Rose stilled so they could see where he'd gone. The water was clear, the sand underneath it a pale cerulean—surely a tan humanoid would stick out like a sore thumb, right?

Wrong.

Martha was just wondering aloud if the Doctor's 'superior Time Lord physiology' allowed him to be invisible underwater, when he popped up in front of her and splashed water at her face. Shrieking, she swiped her hands at the surface of the water to splash him but he was already ducking back below the surface.

"Okay, he's not gonna sneak up on us again." Martha growled. "We should stand back to back so we can cover all sides."

Rose nodded, turning so she was facing away from her friend, and scanned the water intently. She saw a flash of brown out of the corner of her eye and turned, drawing her hand through the water so that when he popped out of the water a few seconds later he was greeted with a wave of water to the face. While Martha turned to attack, Rose lunged at him. His arms were busy deflecting the water so he didn't notice her until she'd latched onto his side. She twisted around to his back and clung to him like the ape she was, with her legs wrapped around his and her arms around his shoulders in an attempt to lower his defenses and keep him in place.

"Let 'im have it!" she shrieked, ducking her head behind his shoulder to avoid most of the onslaught.

He tried to back away but she tightened her legs around him and put a stop to that. She was sure he could break free of her grip if he really wanted to or just rop down into the water to get her to let go but he did neither.

"Oi! You're cheating!" the Doctor howled over the water being flung at him.

She stretched her head up to whisper in his ear. "'All's fair in love and war.'"

He turned his head, eyes glinting in a playfully dangerous sort of way. "Oh, is that so?"

Quick as a flash, he twisted in her grip so they were pressed chest to chest and kissed her. He slid his hands around her waist, his fingers cool against her wet skin and she shivered, though not from the cold. One of her hands went up to cup the back of his neck and she pulled up her legs so they were around his waist instead of his legs. She felt him smile against her lips and then he spun them around. Martha apparently had yet to notice what was occurring because she kept up her relentless assault. When the water hit her back, she broke the kiss with a startled gasp. Water hit her again, pushing her hair forward so some of it stuck to the Doctor's face.

The Time Lord was grinning wickedly.

"Cease fire!" she shouted. "Martha! Quit it!"

The attack halted abruptly and Martha straightened up, taking in the positions of her friends, and she laughed. "How'd that happen?"

Rose turned her head. "He cheated."

"'All's fair in love and war,'" he repeated cheekily.

"Hmph."

While the girls waited where they were, the Doctor ran to the beach to get something out of the backpack he'd brought. Rose curiously tested her buoyancy in the alien water and found she didn't quite float as easily as she normally did. That wasn't unusual. On one planet she'd found it impossible to stay below the surface for more than a few seconds, and on another she'd had to wear a special buoyant bodysuit so she wouldn't sink right to the bottom. The Doctor came back with three pairs of goggles—even though the water here had less salt than the oceans on Earth, there were still properties in it that would hurt even his eyes—and two things that resembled oxygen masks. Breathers, he called them, and explained that they drew in the air and oxygen from the water around them so they could breathe underwater.

"Try to keep your breathing even and normal," he continued as he help them fit the masks around their faces. "Breathe too deep and you might not have enough air available."

"Why do we need these?" Rose asked.

The Doctor grinned. "Because we're going scuba diving, but with these as the scubas. I was hoping there would be some around here; I saw them when I was underwater earlier, not too far out. Kataa Flo Ko has some beautiful diamond coral reefs. You're going to love them. They're literally made of diamonds! Look out there, see?" he pointed further out in the water. "See how the water is lighter over there? There's a reef right under there."

After being asked where his breather was, the Doctor said that he only had two and then had to explain that his respiratory bypass made it possible for him to stay underwater for several minutes without air. Martha found this medically fascinating and questioned him about it. Rose, meanwhile, bobbed up and down in the water, testing the breather, and found for the most part that she could breathe as easily beneath the surface as above. Finally, the Doctor sighed impatiently and reminded the medical student that they were wasting daylight with questions that could be asked later.

Rose and Martha found it difficult to keep up with the Doctor on the swim out to the reefs, enough that he finally circled back and grabbed their hands to tow them. It was strange feeling, breathing underwater, since it's been ingrained in her for as long as she could remember to not inhale water. She caught herself holding her breath several times and had to remind herself that, yes, she could inhale and nothing bad would happen.

It was like nothing they'd ever seen before. The water at the shallowest part of the reef was about ten feet deep and stretching from the bottom to about four feet below the surface for about a dozen yards out to sea, was a huge, layered diamond coral reef. They very much resembled an Earth coral reef, except for the whole made of white diamond thing, from flat mushroom-like bits, to pieces that looked like little trees, and there were even some of the squiggly ones that always had reminded Rose of brains. The sunlight reflected off the pristine surfaces and threw rainbows towards the surface.

The Doctor let go of their hands so they could dive down deeper while he popped to the surface for air.

Rose floated about a foot above the highest point of the coral reef, lighting kicking her feet to keep herself from sinking any further, and peered at the crystalline coral. She reached out and rubbed the surface with the pads of her fingers. It was slippery and smooth but not slimy, and she tapped on it to affirm that it was hard like an Earth diamond. She arched her back, flipping herself over, and swam down further into the reef.

She spotted Martha trying to use the lesser buoyancy to her advantage so she could stand on a more flat area. She looked up at Rose and widened her eyes, lips pressed together behind the mask as if to say, "I'm going to get this." Rose found a branch of coral that seemed sturdy enough and held on to it so she could watch. By pushing upward with her arms, Martha managed to keep her feet on the surface for a few seconds, but then she always drifted upwards. Then a shadow appeared over her and the Doctor put his hand on her head, holding her down.

Martha nearly jumped out of her skin, knocking the Doctor's hand away. She looked up at him in alarm. He gave her a quick thumbs up and gestured towards the coral with his head. Martha nodded and pushed herself back down. The Doctor put his hand on her head again and she was standing on the diamond coral reef. Rose saw her grinning through the mask. She lifted her foot and took a step forward, then another. The Doctor kicked his feet so he could follow her.

Her foot slipped and the other followed and she ended up floating back-first towards the surface. The Doctor got out of her away and watched her rise with her arms folded and a grumpy expression on her face. He laughed, the sound muffled and faint through the water, with bubbles bursting from his mouth. Rose giggled.

He had to surface again but then he joined Rose down at the branch she was hanging from. Not for the first time today, her eyes roamed up and down his body. It was not often she saw him in less than his trousers and at least a t-shirt and she was not one to let such opportunities pass unappreciated. Besides, he was looking too and she knew it.

The Doctor held out his hand, wiggling his fingers invitingly. She shook her head and kicked upwards, weaving through two large tree-like corals and through a round tunnel. She glanced back to make sure he was following her, winked once, then took off. Rose dove down through the levels, twisting and turning, slipping through tiny tunnels and propelling herself up and over the larger of the flat areas. Sometimes she'd pause to catch her breath, hiding behind stalks of coral, on a level or two below him, or on a layer above him.

She knew he was letting her keep ahead, purposefully not looking too hard (at least not right away, though she always gave him an opportunity to glimpse her when she emerged from her hiding space) but it only added a bit of suspense to the fun and left her wondering when he'd stop letting her get away from him.

Rose made sure she didn't wander too far out to sea, or too far down into the reef itself. She didn't want to get lost or make Martha worry, and plus she wasn't quite sure what was down there with them. The sunlight shown down and the reefs gleamed brilliantly, but there were still shadows, areas thick with darkness that could be hiding anything. So far most of the life forms seemed to be avoiding them or had been docile, but where there were gentle things there were also those that were not, and she didn't fancy finding out what the Kataa Flo Ko version of a shark was.

She nearly swam right into Martha, yelping out an apology that she wasn't sure if she even understood, then dove down another few levels and grabbed onto a branch to hold herself in place and catch her breath. Martha stared down at her, then looked the way she'd come. A moment later the Doctor appeared. He paused next to Martha, turning this way and that, then he looked at Martha for help. Martha shook her head and pointed downwards. The Doctor followed her finger and Rose shot off again.

Martha watched them go, feeling smug like someone who'd been watching her friends pine after each other for years and finally got them to notice each other. She'd known from the moment the Doctor told them where they'd landed that he'd done it for Rose (not that him doing things for Rose was anything new) but the timing of this trip was no coincidence. Of all the places he could've taken them after the conversation she'd had with him earlier, he'd chosen a beautiful beach on a beautiful planet.

Any excuse to get Rose in a swimsuit.

Rose whizzed upwards about five yards to the right and the Doctor followed seconds behind her. Martha thought that their game did seem like fun, but she was used to being a third wheel by now, so she left them to it. She'd ask later, and maybe they could turn it into a game of hide-and-seek.

This little game had been going on for at least ten minutes by now and Rose was beginning to wonder when he'd get tired of letting her slip past him. She'd been expecting him to catch her, but it still came as a surprise when she felt a hand seize her bicep. She jerked, startled, and turned her head. The Doctor was floating right beside her. He pulled her to him, locking his arms around her waist, her back pressed to his front, and propelled them to the surface. She felt a bit of sadness at their game having ended, but she was tired and she wanted to get that mask off her face and have a breath of fresh air.

When they broke the surface, she tried to reach up and pull her mask off but his arms were still firmly around her.

He kissed her cheek, murmuring slightly breathless into her ear, "Got you."

Just so you know, I am fully expecting to laugh at over half of these reviews.

If anyone's interested, I painted a picture a few weeks ago for this chapter. You can see it at my tumblr (wintermoth) /post/47310031110/

GUYS I GOT OVER 400 REVIEWS NOW :D IT ONLY TOOK 3 CHAPTERS. Next up: 500.