A/N: Last chapter now. Hope you enjoy x

PART 5

But it wasn't black for long. Almost immediately, another video began. And another after that. And so on. In one, the Doctor and Rose were on a beach, and they took turns in holding the camera. Martha watched as they appeared so carefree, building sandcastles, sunbathing, splashing each other in the purple – purple? – ocean..."Careful! Watch the camera!" she'd squealed as he grabbed her around her waist and pulled her into the water...the three suns in the sky beating down as he told her about the planet and all its wonders. Another showed them in London, walking through thick snow and throwing snowballs at each other, their cheeks flushed and their smiles happy.

In one video, the Doctor was behind the lens, waiting outside a door. When it opened to reveal Rose, dressed in a short towel but nothing else, Martha swallowed thickly and thought about looking away, but suddenly found she couldn't, because she was hooked on watching their every interaction with each other. They way they looked at each other. Everything about them. Martha wished she had something even half as lovely as that with a man as wonderful as him.

"Oi! What are you doing lurking outside the bathroom?" Rose exclaimed, jumping back in surprise.

"Looking for something," he replied cheekily.

"Oh really," she said dubiously.

"Yep! And I just found it," he told her, walking closer. The camera fell to the floor and Martha heard Rose say: "Hey, you'll break that one day; you keep doing that," and him reply: "Well, you shouldn't be so distracting then," before the screen fizzled out.

Ha! – so much for 'not like that,' Doctor, Martha thought.

More and more recordings flickered to life then faded out. Martha sat and watched them all in the TARDIS' TV room – for how many hours, she did not know. And then, eventually, she came to the last bit of DVD.

Rose's message.

The image of the blonde filled the screen, who attempted to adjust the zoom, ready to film herself. She appeared to set the camera down on what Martha assumed, from the position of her bed behind her, was her dressing table.

Rose cleared her throat and beamed at the lens happily. "Hello, only me!" she said cheerfully. "So, I made this DVD of all of the stuff we've filmed, so that you can have it all on one disk. I thought it'd be nice, you know. Like...well. You can keep it, after...after I'm gone. And...you know. Watch it. If you wanted? To remember all the fantastic, brilliant times we had," she continued, her eyes bright and her smile wide. "And I thought it'd be nice to leave you a message, too. In case I never get the chance to tell you some stuff before I..." Rose faltered then, her voice wavering, but her smile staying firm on her face. Martha could tell it was forced. "...go."

Martha clutched a cushion to her chest and waited, her heart going out to the poor girl on the screen who didn't yet know that she'd be gone so very soon.

"So..." Rose began again. "Um...well, I don't know where to start, really. I s'pose I just wanna say thanks. For everything. It's all wonderful and I love every second of this life with you. I know that I'd never leave you, so if you're watching this, it obviously means you've chucked me out," she paused, giggling a bit. Then her gaze shifted from the direction of the camera, and she swallowed visibly, her demeanour turning from cheerful to sombre. Then she appeared to check herself, as if realising that she had to keep this light-hearted, otherwise, when the Doctor saw it, he'd feel terrible. "Or I've been eaten by a Trefof or something," she finished, looking back at the camera, smiling again with a raised eyebrow and a subsequent wink.

Martha swallowed thickly. She had no idea what a Trefof was, but there was evidently a story or shared joke there somewhere between the Doctor and Rose. And from the look on Rose's teasing face, Martha thought she knew what it involved.

(It was easily predictable that they had been shagging like rabbits. Probably in all sorts of places, on all sorts of planets. Maybe an alien stumbled in on them once or twice. That was highly likely.)

"So yeah. Thank you," Rose continued. "And you know that I..." she faltered and took a deep breath. "You know that I love you. So much."

As Martha watched a tear roll down Rose's cheek, her own tears started to fall. This was more heartbreaking that flipping Titanic, Atonement, The Notebook and PS I Love You put together.

"So don't feel guilty. Please, Doctor, don't feel guilty if something happens to me. Because I've never been so happy as I've been with you, so even if I...well, even if die 'before my time' or whatever, don't feel it's your fault, or that you should've sacrificed yourself to save me or something, because I'd rather die than be without you," Rose said, and Martha let out a sob. Oh my god, she thought. When he watched this, he must've felt awful. What if...in her parallel world...if she can't live without him, then would she...?

"But don't worry," Rose laughed, as if realising how he might take that last sentence. "Cos if we're...I dunno, separated or whatever, I won't have time to do myself in because I'll be trying to get back to you. Forever. However impossible that may be. And don't feel bad about that, either – I know what you're like, but don't, because I'd rather 'waste' my life trying to get back to you and maybe failing – which I won't, by the way, because someone once told me that I'm fantastic - than pretend to be happy in a life I'm not supposed to live."

That answered Martha's question, and she let out a breath of relief. Surely that must've given the Doctor some hope, then? Her never giving up meant that he could never give up, right?

"Well. I think that's it, really," Rose said, and let out a giggle. "Um...ooh, I know. You're fantastic. And do you know what? So am I," she proclaimed with a decisive nod, and Martha got the impression that she was reusing his words or something. Rose's eyes lit up with mischief as she leant closer to the lens. "In more ways than one."

Martha rolled her eyes. Bloody hell, she thought. Inflate both their egos much...

Rose beamed into the camera, and then her smile disappeared. "Oh, I think you're coming. Right. Better go, then. Don't want you finding this before...or, if it's not necessary for you to...anyway. Bye, Doctor." She smiled gently. "I love you."

And then the screen went black. For good, this time. No more videos. No more Rose.

Martha stared silently at the blank screen for a good five minutes, biting her thumb and trying to control herself.

She stood up shakily, throwing the cushion to the floor in frustration. She understood, now. And she felt terrible for them both. And for herself.

Why was the universe so unfair? she thought.

Then she said it out loud. Well. Shouted it. "Why is the universe so unfair?"

"It just is," she heard the Doctor mumble behind her, and she swung around to look at him.

Then, she flung herself into his arms and held onto him as she cried. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her too, once again trying to swallow past the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry," she mumbled into his chest.

"Not your fault."

Martha pulled back, and hastily wiped at her eyes. "She's coming back, though. Right?"

"It's impossible."

"But she said. She said she'd never give up. She sounded pretty stubborn about that..."

"Yeah, that's her all over. Stubborn," chuckled the Doctor.

"Then she won't let a thing like parallel universes or whatever get in her way. She'll come back."

"Maybe," he shrugged.

"She will," persisted Martha.

"She'd better," agreed the Doctor at last, and he let out a laugh. "Yeah. Course she will. Can't get rid of Rose Tyler that easily."

Martha smiled. "She seems lovely, by the way. I'm sorry I was so..."she trailed off. "Do you think she'd like me?" asked Martha suddenly.

"Yeah, of course she would. You'd get along great. Although, I reckon I'd be at a disadvantage, if you two became friends, 'cos then everything would be two against one. And two women against one man, at that. And that is one battle I'm truly terrified of. It'd be all, 'let's go shopping' or 'let's have a pamper night' or 'let's watch a chick flick' or - "

" – yeah, get the picture, Doctor," giggled Martha.

He smiled at her. "Thanks."

"What for?"

"For just...keeping me on track," he mumbled, averting his eyes.

"No problem."

...

And Martha knew that as much as she loved him, she would never be more than just a good friend to him. And for the first time, she was actually perfectly content with that.

...

The end.

A/N: Hey! Hope you enjoyed the last chapter. I wanted to make a story where Martha would finally understand about Rose, and so make her less jealous and bitter whenever he mentioned her. I think that in the real show, if she'd really known about why Rose was so special to him, then she would've been more mature and sensitive about it, rather than seeming like a whining, lovestruck little girl as she did at times. She was a twenty-something medical student, after all, so I don't think for a moment that they got her characterisation quite right in the show, which is why a lot of Ten/Rose fans hate her unnecessarily, in my opinion.

Anyways, hope this was ok :D Thanks for all your alerts and comments so far, I really appreciate it :)

Please review and let me know what you think of the final chapter x