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Andred wasn’t in bed with her when she woke up. That wasn’t surprising, he needed far less sleep than she did. It was often that she would fall asleep with him, and he would already be up and awake by the time she woke.
Leela found him in the front room, sitting at the computer terminal. She stepped up behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “Good Morning.:
Andred glanced up at her before returning to the screen. “Morning. How did you sleep?”
“Fine,” Leela rested her chin on his head, staring at the lines of text on screen that she couldn’t understand. “What are you doing?”
“I’m just looking over some of the guard reports,” Andred said. “I can always get them done later if you want.”
“Andred,” Leela straightened up, her hands on his shoulders. “Can you teach me Gallifreyan?”
Andred stopped, turning to face her. “You want me to what?”
“I want you to each me to speak Gallifreyan,” Leela repeated. She had been thinking about it for a while, although so far the only person she had mentioned it to was K9. He hadn’t been as supportive as she would have liked.
“Leela, I can’t each you Gallifreyan-”
Leela stepped back, crossing her arms. “Why not? Are there rules saying I cannot learn it?”
“Well… no,” Andred admitted. Although that was probably only because it hadn’t ever occurred to anyone that an alien would ever need, let alone want, to learn it. “But- it’s a very complex language, especially compared to yours.”
“Are you saying my language is stupid?” Leela asked, although she was smiling as she said it. She knew Andred wasn’t really speaking her language even though it sounded like it. It was just the Tardis in her head that made it sound like he was. She wondered if that would ever wear off. Probably not as long as she stayed on Gallifrey.
“I’m serious, Leela,” Andred stood up. “It’s one of the most complicated languages in the universe.”
“Then I will practice until it is not,” Leela insisted. “I am tired of not knowing what is being said around me. I am tired of it being used to insult me because they know I cannot understand them.”
“Oh.”
“Remember when we visited your house?” Leela asked. It had only been a couple months after they were married, and it hadn’t gone very well. “They were insulting me,” Leela continued. “And they did it in front of me because they knew I could not know what they were saying about me.”
“They weren’t insulting you-”
Leela raised an eyebrow. “I may not speak it yet, but I do know the word for ‘savage’.”
“Okay, they were insulting you. To be fair, they were insulting me quite a bit too.” Andred hadn’t properly spoken to them since. They hadn’t tried to speak to him much either.
“I am living on this planet,” Leela sat on the couch. “I should know it’s language. It will not stop me from being insulted, but at least I will know what is being said.”
Andred sat next to her. Leela instantly curled against him. It was still odd just how tactical she was. He wrapped an arm around her. “You’ll learn no matter what I say, won’t you?”
“Yes,” Leela said. “If you do not each me, I will make Rodan do it.”
“And if she refuses too?”
“I will make K9 do it.”
Andred laughed. “Alright,” He relented. “I’ll teach you.” He brushed some of her hair from her, saying something in Gallifreyan.
Leela smiled. “What does that mean?”
Andred kissed her. “I love you.”