Ok, so here we are. The first chapter to the sequel of 'stolen my heart'. I hope this story lives up to your expectations! Wish me luck!

Latisha Mickey was a beautiful planet. But at a time like this, the Doctor thought, a time full of death and despair, longing and loss, recovery and remembrance, it was hard to appreciate beauty quite as much as you usually would. Well, they wouldn't. But he could.

Sometimes terrible times made people seem more beautiful. He turned, and saw Martha framed in the doorway of the TARDIS, tired, pale, and thin. Not a drop of makeup on her face. He hair arranged in a simple ponytail, she hadn't had time to come up with anything else. Yet she was the most striking thing he had ever seen. She glowed like a beacon in the midst of the terror and turmoil on the dark, dark times. And he was deeply, and passionately in love with her.

She caught him looking and offered him a smile.

"It's amazing," she said. "Thank you. Tish and Mickey would have loved it. And I do now." He beamed at her, trying to control his emotion. The woman had just suffered an immense trauma, he reminded himself. Take it slow. You have all the time in the world. He wanted to tell her how much she was to him. How much he cared. What she meant to him. Instead he just said:

"Where is everyone?" Martha beckoned over her shoulder.

"Inside. Mums still recuperating from the funeral. I think it's just hit her that… that she's never coming back."

"Its hard," he said slowly. "So hard."

"Yeah," sighed Martha, wiping away the last of her tears. "It is." He crossed over to her and took her hands in his. He gazed into her eyes and was momentarily rendered speechless. She said nothing. The moment was too perfect, just them, surrounded by the incredible serenity of the new environment.

Finally, the Doctor spoke.

"It's warm outside, you won't need this." He unzipped her jacket and helped her out of it, smoothing the black leather and hanging it on the hook above the TARDIS door. "There. Perfect." She smiled her thanks and together they stepped out onto a brave new world.

Martha's jaw dropped as the view of the planet finally was completely revealed.

"Oh my God…" she gasped. "This is…"

"Like nothing you've ever seen before?" he asked. She nodded, awed.

"Look," she said, her finger tracing the silhouettes of the deep purple mountains. "I never thought… I can't speak!"

"There's nothing to be said," the Doctor whispered. She took another, shaky step forward, examining the placid waterfalls winding their way down the mountains, crashing into a gentle stream and the delicate, lush green grass. The wide, open forests spreading into the distance, the full bloom of deep red flowers littering the floor.

"It's like the most beautiful bits of earth…" she breathed.

"All jammed into one place," the Doctor finished.

"Exactly. I don't believe this."

"There's also a gentle atmosphere about the place," explained the Doctor. "Makes you feel passive, content. Not strong, mind you, but strong enough to keep the planet peaceful."

"And you gave this to Tish? And… and Mickey."

"I think they deserve it," he said honestly. "If I could change one thing about my timeline, I would be a hell of a lot nicer to Mickey."

"Really?" mused Martha. "I would of thought that scenario was reserved for 'taking better care of Rose?'"

"Uh… no. Being nicer to Mickey. Rose is… I think she's happy with a copy of me. But to tell the truth, I'm more worried about sorting out the future than dwelling on the past."

"Why?"

"I… uh…"

"Martha!" Martha turned and saw Leo and Shonara stepping out the door.

"Leo!" she went over to him a gripped his hand. "Where's Mum."

"Inside with Dad. She's coming out in a second… Oh my God!" Leo looked around in wonder at Latisha Mickey. "Shonara, look!" Shonara, one hand clasped over the gentle bulge in her stomach, gasped.

"It's a different planet," she breathed. "Oh God, I am standing on an alien planet. And it's beautiful. Oh, Leo!" He embraced his fiancé, stroking her hair gently. He murmured sweet things in her hair and she smiled tearfully. Weepy hormones, the Doctor realised, somewhat proudly. The more and more time he spent around humans, the more he seemed to understand them.

"Mum!" Martha rushed over to her trembling mother and embraced her tightly. "Alright?" Francine nodded faintly. She wrung her fingers together and wiped her eyes.

"Oh Martha… I made it darling… we made it… I got all the way through it… the funeral…"

"Well done Mum," Martha managed. "You did really well. Really brave."

"Not as brave as you were. God, you're always so strong, how the hell do you manage it honey? I know how much Tish relied on you darling… what are we going to do without her… oh Martha…" Martha hugged her again, a tear leaking from beneath her eyelid.

"Look, Mum. Look how beautiful it is. And it's for Tish. And Mickey. Look what the Doctor did for us." Francine nodded, her lip quivering. She turned blindly towards Clive who had just appeared.

"Clive… look what he gave to Tish. Look at it!" Clive pulled his ex-wife into a quiet hug.

"She sure as hell ought to have it, Franny." Martha bit her lip and met the Doctor's eyes. He watched as she visibly deflated with the two hugging couples on either side of her. The Doctor grabbed the moment, and Martha's wrist, pulling her away.

"Come with me," he said.

"Where?" He didn't answer, just laced his fingers through hers and led her towards the mountains. Martha gazed up into the sky, half admiringly, half frightened, at the rocky climb towards the peak.

"We're not going to climb up," the Doctor said. "Not now, anyway. In here." For the first time Martha noticed a black shape looming in the cliff face.

"A cave," she realised. As they entered the cavern they were hit by a blast of cool wind that sent Martha's hair whipping in the Doctor eyes. "Oops. Sorry."

"S'alright," he replied. Martha stepped forward and saw the remainder of the torchwood crew sitting around a gentle fire. Jack stood up, and opened his arms. Martha ran over to him and hugged him tightly.

"How was it?" asked Jack. "The funeral." Martha nodded.

"Ok. Ok I guess, yeah. What's this?" Martha was looking over his shoulder.

"Oh, photos. Of… of Mickey. Come and see." The Doctor followed Martha as she squatted around the glowing embers of the dying flames.

"You and your family can choose a place to put Tish's stuff as well," he murmured in her ear. She nodded, picking up a framed picture of Mickey and Gwen, with Jack in the background. She gestured to the church in the distance.

"Was that…"

"That was at your wedding," Jack confirmed. "You can just see you two coming out the doors."

"Oh," she said, her shoulders sagging slightly. Gwen smiled sympathetically at her across the blaze. The Doctor observed the way Martha couldn't bear to look at the memory of her and Tom's wedding. That was when he first accepted how long it was going to take for her to get over Tom taking advantage of her feelings for him as he did.

"Let's look at another picture," he said. "What's in this album?" Picking a book at random, he opened it on the first page. Mickey beamed up at them, and in his arms was a laughing blonde girl. He looked nervously at Martha, trying to predict her reaction, when he realised she was doing the same. They shared a slightly bewildered, very relieved grin.

"You don't feel all…" Martha waved her hands around in search of an appropriate word. "…about Rose?"

"No. Apparently I don't. And neither do you."

"Apparently not."

"Maybe," said Jack slowly. "Maybe you don't see her as a threat anymore." And he shrugged.

0

0

Leo and Martha sat outside the TARDIS, arms draped around each other, deep in thought.

"So," said Leo. "Are you and the Doctor like… together?"

"Not exactly," Martha answered. "Kind of… but not officially."

"Uh… what?"

"It's complicated," Martha sighed.

"Everything's complicated with you isn't it?" Leo said.

"Sometimes it seems that way." Leo allowed himself to chuckle a little. Then his tone became more serious.

"And Martha… you saw Damien k-kill her."

"Yes." Martha looked away. "Leo I really don't want to talk about it."

"I'm sorry but… I can't believe…"

"We're going to all suffer from her death the same Leo. I was just… unlucky I had to watch her."

"It was more than unlucky Martha. Tom made you."

"Leo please let's talk about something else," she begged him. "Listen, Mum's in this clearing, she's talking to Shonara about all that baby stuff and names and I think you should be there."

"Martha I…"

"Please, Leo. I need to… have a rest. I'm still recovering from the brain injury and I'm tired. So please just go and speak to Mum."

"Oh, God, yeah," said Leo, standing up quickly. "Err… sorry. I didn't think about that. Sorry."

"Of course you didn't. Why would you?" asked Martha. "I just…"

"I'll see you later," promised Leo, hugging her quickly. "Bye." He walked away into the forest. Martha felt tears boil in her eyes, but she forced them down. She's cried enough over the last few weeks, she told herself. Pushing the TARDIS open with slightly more force than was probably needed, she burst into the console room, blinded by tears.

She felt like a fraud. She had lied about being tired. Ok, so the Doctor had insisted she was still only in the stages of recovery and she did need rest, but she mostly ignored his advice. It had been a cheap dodge to avoid talking about witnessing Tish's murder. And now she felt terrible. She flopped onto the chair and closed her eyes.

Martha heard somebody come up behind her, but didn't bother to open her eyes. She already knew it was the Doctor. Only he could come into a room with so much unnecessary noise and speed.

"Martha?" she heard him say. "Martha are you asleep?"

"Yeah," she replied, raising her arm in a casual greeting. He smirked and came closer to her.

"That means you want to be left alone, doesn't it?" he asked. Martha opened her eyes and spun around in her seat.

"Not necessarily," she said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I just can't seem to face everyone asking about Tish's death and all that."

"Understandably," the Doctor added. "You all right then?"

"Sure," said Martha. "I'm always all right."

"On the surface," said the Doctor. "But you don't have to hide Martha. You don't have to be strong. Not in front of me."

"I think I'm trying to convince myself I'm fine more than anyone else. Makes me feel a bit better. Does than sound stupid?"

"Of course not," said the Doctor. "You couldn't sound stupid if you tried." And he took her thin between his thumb and forefinger. She looked into his eyes and he smiled softly. "I love you," he said simply. She didn't know how to react, she just kept staring forward. Wondering when she was going to wake up.

"I think I love you too," she whispered. His other hand roamed to the side of her face.

"Think?" he asked. "We better do something about that." She realised her hands were toying with the crease of his lapel. She wondered how that had happened.

"I think we better," she breathed. And suddenly they were leaning forward and his hand was knotting in her hair and they were so close their noses were rubbing gently along each other and all they had to do was tilt slightly forward and then their lips would meet. Her tongue slipped out and licked the gentle curves of her mouth getting ready because any moment now the moment would be complete and the world would freeze around them…

The TARDIS jolted forward and Martha fell from the chair was a yelp. The doors slammed shut and they were in flight.

"Doctor what the hell did you do!" she screamed, picking herself from the metal mesh floor. And the moment was gone.