Martha started as a voice issued from the door way behind her.

'Going somewhere?'

Martha spun around to face the Doctor. His expression was stony and in his hand he held the journal she had earlier left by the scanner in the Console Room. Martha crossed her arms in an attempt to stop herself from shaking. Then much to her surprise the Doctor smiled, it was a sad smile, but a smile nonetheless.

Eventually, he spoke, leaning against the door. 'I suppose you think I'm going to shout at you for this,' he held up the journal, 'tell you it was wrong and you shouldn't have read it, but what would be the point?' He sighed heavily before continuing, 'you already know that.'

She was somewhat taken aback, but he wasn't done yet.

'A wise man once said "Curiosity is not a sin... But we should exercise caution with our curiosity"'

Martha sniggered despite herself. 'That was Professor Dumbledore from the Harry Potter books.'

The Doctor's eyes twinkled. 'Like I said; wise man.' The Doctor walked into the room and crossed to the bed, the journal still in his hand, he sat down. 'Of course, you were bound to read it, you humans can be so nosy, always want to know about things, people. Everyone does it, you buy magazines and autobiographies just to find out a bit of truth about someone you'll never know.'

He fell silent and Martha took her opportunity to speak. 'You were a different person with her. I noticed that, especially, towards the end.'

He smiled. 'Quiet literally at one stage, she didn't take it too well at first.'

A sheepish smile crept across Martha's terrified features. 'Yeah,' she said, causally indicting the book, 'I could tell, she mentioned it a couple of times.'

'I'll take your word for that,' said the Doctor flatly.

Feeling a little braver than she ought to at this point, Martha decided to asked the one question that had been playing on her lips for a while. 'Did you love her back, in the way she loved you?'

The Doctor looked at Martha for a long time, tapping his fingers on cardboard cover of the book. 'Yes,' he said eventually, his voice sounded slightly broken and there were a million unspoken words in his eyes, 'but I never got the chance to tell her.' He smiled suddenly; but it wasn't his usual bright smile. 'I sent her away twice, to stop her from being killed or something worse and both times she came back. Couldn't keep her away - sometimes she was brave to the point of recklessness.'

Martha allowed herself to laugh as she marvelled at the Doctor's sudden willingness to open up. 'We human's, we tend to form attachments like that to the ones we love. There isn't much I wouldn't do to save my family or my friends, and including you.' Martha sighed and leant against the chest of drawers she had been stood by. 'What happened, in the end? The journal just stops. Did she die?'

'You remember the Battle of Canary Wharf?'

Martha blinked. 'Not going to forget it in a hurry,' she said recalling the grief of losing her cousin during the conflict.

'To stop the Daleks and the Cybermen, I decided to open the Void, from where they came from. Rose was holding on to one of the levers that opened the Void, but she lost her grip, however before she was sucked in her father, from the parallel dimension, reappeared, caught her and transported her across the Void into his dimension,' the Doctor shook his head, 'she's trapped there now, can't bring her home.' Then he looked at the packed bags around Martha's feet, he sighed looking at his companion. 'You don't have to leave, just, er, promise me if you find any more books like this you won't read them.'

Martha nodded, pinching the bridge of her nose.

The Doctor got off her bed and headed towards the door.

'Doctor,' Martha called to his retreating back, 'maybe you'll still get a third time lucky, with Rose I mean.'

The Time Lord turned to face Martha, again his expression was stony. 'No, the door to her reality is long closed.'

'Well, an even wiser man than Dumbledore once said,' started Martha, '"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." Perhaps it's time you stopped looking at that closed door and find an open one before its too late.'

A/N -And so it ends for now - until the sequel gets started!!