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They sat next to one another, legs dangling as the coldness of the Tardis floor reached through their clothes. They learned against the few thin bars that separated the layers near the control panel as they stewed in their silence. The long fabrics of each of their outfits dangled next to their legs as the air around them was gently kicked. No sound came from either of them, just the smallest amounts of noise which came from the touching of fabric against their limbs.
Just hours before, which was technically thousands of years in the future but who's really counting, the Doctor decided to allow Novice Hame to join him. He didn't really know why his mind had told him to do this, but watching the woman's feline features light up and her tears from the face of boe's death disappear, the Doctor knew he had made the right choice.
As soon as Martha was home safely, a smile on her face as she had a twinkle in her eyes waving goodbye to the two of them, the Doctor launched his Tardis back into space and opened the doors.
That was where the two of them were now, thousands of miles away from Earth, thousands of years away from the newest of Yorks, the two of them as each other's only company, staring outside the open Tardis door and their eyes locked on the beautiful swirling colours of the galaxy they laid planted inside. A multitude of colours filled their eyes, dazzling blue mixing itself with the most gorgeous of purple, pink and even orange. The most amazing display of space that refused to ever stop existing.
Novice Hame looked over at the Doctor, a soft smile laying on her face.
"Doctor," she began, causing the timelord to turn his head and arch one of his eyebrows in a questioning way. "I would just like to thank you, I know I wasn't exactly the best version of myself when we first met."
The Doctor let out a short huff of air and waved one of his hands around.
"What? Oh nonsense, we don't need to bring all that stuff up now. In fact, I've forgotten all about it." He gave her a cheeky smile as she stared back at him bewildered.
"Oh really now?"
He nodded.
"Of course, time lord you know? Too much time for me." He let out a short laugh. "Although I did meet someone today that I don't think I will forget."
She turned her head in a wondering motion.
"And who may that be?"
"Thomas Kincade Brannigan," He beamed, "And his wife Valerie. Very lovely couple, he was catfolk as well."
Hame nodded,
"Yes, well I don't think I know the name but I'm sure he's lovely if he's got your approval, him and his wife,"
"And his children."
Hame smiled.
"And his children, of course."
"You know their children just looked like normal kittens, is that always the case or just Catfolk and human offspring?" He questioned and Hame smiled gently,
"It is always like that, Cat, no matter how much human there is, will always be the dominant gene, Doctor."
The Doctor nodded.
"Good to know, so you looked like a kitten when you were, well, a kitten?"
She let a soft exhale of breath.
"Doctor, I was the youngest in a litter of Sixteen, and yes we all looked like the kittens that appear in the time perood your friend Martha is currently living in."
He nodded,
"Sixteen, huh? Your parents had their hands full then?"
She shrugged.
"I suppose so, I did not know them for long enough."
"What happened?" He asked, his eyes staying locked on her features.
"They sold me, I was worth ten shillings to them, and that was enough to afford a shuttle and to leave me behind."
The Doctor's voice grew serious at her words.
"And they never tried to get you back?"
She shook her head.
"As you said, they had their hands full."
Silence placed itself in the space her words left,
The Doctor looked back over at the swirling star dust before his head rapidly turned to look at Hame once more,
"Novice Hame, I hope you don't mind me saying but what are you exactly going to do now? I mean, do you want to go back or not?"
Hame sighed, her grip on the thin bars becoming tighter,
"To be completely honest, Doctor, I do not know. I have felt alone for so long, even with the Face of Boe for company. I imagine I just want to, I don't know, explore?"
The Doctor smiled wider, beaming brightly at her as he moved his hand closer to her tightly gripping limb, reaching it and curling his hairless digits against hers.
"Then explore we shall!"
"But what about your friend, Martha?"
The Doctor let out a snort.
"Timelord here, we could visit planets for the next ten years and for Martha? Less than a minute could have passed. We have all the time and more in the universe."
And to that, Novice Hame beamed back at him.
Getting up onto his feet, he reached an outstretched arm to her, looking down at her with an expression Hame had not seen since leaving her parents.
Absolute adoration and Tenderness.
Grabbing onto his hand, she was brought back up to her feet, dusting herself off and smiling at the Doctor as he grinned back.
"So where to first, Novice Hame?"
Hame looked up at the many screens and she nodded,
"Surprise me."
And that did cause the Doctor to laugh, as his laugh caused her own broken chuckles, the first in a long time.
The first since the last time she saw those she shared milk with as just a kitten, those in the same litter as her,
Hame smiled warmly at the Doctor as she knew she was becoming flushed under her fur and let her mind speak freely inside herself as she knew exactly what was happening to her and her mind,
She was falling in love.