The Sum of His Parts Chapter 4
Title: The Sum of His Parts by gruaig_rua
Rating: PG-13
Series: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Characters: The Tenth Doctor (both of them), Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Rhys, PC Andy, Mickey, Martha.
Spoilers: Set post Journey's End, pre Children of Earth.
Summary: The Other Doctor achieves the supposedly impossible and returns... But why?
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
“You can come in.” the Doctor called as Martha rapped quietly on the door. She had two large mugs of coffee, a carrier bag full of Chinese food and a couple of bottles of water. She entered to find the Doctor fastening the last button on a white shirt with an ingrained pattern that she recognised as Owen’s. The jeans were a size too large and hung loosely on his slim hips. His hair was towel dried and fingered back from his face. Out of the familiar pinstripe suit, he looked decidedly normal, like any guy you’d see on the street… A good looking guy that you’d probably watch after until he walked out of view! Martha smiled to herself. A couple of years ago, seeing the Doctor again would have made her all giddy and lovelorn. Now? Not so much… not really!
“I’m not entirely convinced your first meal should consist wholly of microwaved MSG!” Martha said. “But bless the boys and their need for take aways! Ianto usually orders something in on the off chance that one of us will be working late, so it’s still good.”
“Ianto?” the Doctor vaguely recognised the name as he shovelled forkfuls of rice into his mouth.
“Ianto Jones - no relation. Remember when me, Jack, Sarah Jane and Torchwood all hooked up onscreen?”
“Outer Space Facebook.” the Doctor nodded, recalling a memory that technically wasn’t his.
“He was with Gwen Cooper, who’s currently in Egypt. Makes great coffee.” Martha explained.
“There’s lovely!” the Doctor laughed. “Good Welsh name, Ianto Jones!”
“Speaking of names, you’re Andrew Smith now?” Martha asked. “Why the change from John and I'm sure you have a perfectly good reason for Spartacus!”
“It just didn’t feel right anymore.” he shrugged. “While we were waiting to get transport from the beach, Rose told Jackie how I came to be and she started calling me Handy Andy and it just kind of stuck. I toyed briefly with the name Hugh Mann,” he smiled as Martha rolled her eyes. “but Rose wouldn’t let me!” The Doctor took one of her hands and held it tightly between his. “I missed this. I missed everyone so badly… Usually I can cut people out and move on - And I know that sounds terribly cold, but it’s a necessity of living so long. I suppose my human half decided otherwise.”
“How’s that being human thing working out for you?”
“I missed my other heartbeat for a long time.” his hand subconsciously wandered up to the right side of his chest. “I didn’t miss my appendix at all, though! Good riddance to it!”
“You had your appendix out?”
“Didn’t you see the scar earlier?” he stood up and lifted his shirt, showing off the small indentation near his right hip.
“I’m not the one who undressed you, mister!” Martha pointed her fork at him. “You were tucked up in bed when we rescued you from St David’s.”
“Rescued me? I thought I was found in the water and brought straight to hospital.”
“You were, but we decided it would be better to get you to the Hub. Last time we spoke, you were part human-part Time Lord and we didn’t want civilians finding out which part was which and calling in the wrong people.”
“Oh, my physiology is all human - I found that out when I was willing myself to regenerate with the pain from my appendix! - Blood, organs, fingers, toes, the works.” the Doctor explained, wiggling his fingers as he went along. “The Time Lord part is all brain.”
“And what about your Donna part?” Martha smiled.
“I blame her for the appendix” he said dryily. “and my addiction to chocolate orange, oh and I can’t pass a copy of Heat! Magazine.”
“They have Heat! over there?”
“It’s an all-pervading, cross-universe evil that not even I can defeat!” he sighed melodramatically before taking a drink from his coffee mug.
This was more like it, Martha thought as they continued eating. While he wasn’t quite the Doctor she knew, it was good to see him relax and not be so apprehensive towards her. “When we’re finished, do you want the guided tour, seeing as you’re staff, these days?”
“I’d like that. I’ve landed on the Plas many times, but I’ve never been underneath. I had no idea that this place was even here!”
Martha stood up, picking up the leftovers of their kung po chicken. “Guided tour it is then. I’ll just take care of these and be back to you in a minute.” She left the room feeling much better about the situation. The Doctor was starting to sound like his old self... which was a bit odd because he wasn't his old self. This Andrew Smith version of the Doctor was his new self. She sighed loudly bringing her hair back off her face. The lack of sleep was starting to get to her. Her stints in UNIT and Torchwood had her spoiled with the lack of shift rotations she'd had to do, unlike normal work in a normal hospital... Then again, Martha Jones' life hadn't been anything near normal for a few years now.
She updated the men, letting them know the Doctor was doing fine. “… And is it okay if I show him around?”
“Of course.” Jack said. “Just keep him away from the Weevils until I get back. The last thing we need is the Doctor deciding to free them all.”
“Okay. No Weevils.” Martha repeated. “And we need to tell Gwen everything’s alright. Knowing her, she’ll try to get the first plane back and…”
“And we don’t need Rhys going off on one...” Mickey interrupted.
“Again!” Jack continued to stifled laughter from the rest of the team.
“I’ll update Gwen.” Ianto said. “We’re nearly finished out here, so we should be back at the Hub soon.”
Martha smiled “Okay, guys… And just to let you know, we finished the kung po and it was delicious. Bye.” Before the others could register their protest, she broke the connection. She’d just have to make sure she made up for it by getting pizza tomorrow. Martha reentered to find the Doctor standing by the bed, waiting for her with a broad smile. "Well Dr Jones, care to give me the full tour?" he offered his elbow.
"Don't mind if I do." Martha linked her arm through his and brought him through to the main work area. "We don't have a little shop, but we do have a little garden and a resident pterodactyl." she pointed to the high ceiling overhead as Myfanwy swooped in silent grace.
"Oh, that is beautiful!" he laughed. his eyes absolutely sparkling with delight. "Been a while since anything truly surprised me."
"She likes dark chocolate and barbeque sauce, as well as the odd sheep and weevil."
"So no petting the pterodactyl." he deliberately mispronounced the p in pterodactyl, making her smile.
"Not unless you have no further use for your hand, no."
“I like it here.” the Doctor said, looking around the Hub. “It’s eclectic, not a sterile office full of officious stick in the muds! And your coffee is much better than ours.”
“So how did you do it?” Martha asked as they continued on the guided tour. “How did you cross back from the parallel world?”
“I figured out how to work the time cannon properly. You ‘woodies tend to press buttons and ask questions later!”
“Woodies?”
“Short for Torchwood Employees. Keep up!”
“Excuse me, Andrew John Spartacus Smith, Torchwood Employee!” Martha ribbed him. “Surely you mean we ‘woodies seeing as you’re one of us too! Anyway, Mickey and me aren’t even that. I'm on secondment from UNIT until Jack sorts out a permanent medical officer and Mickey is kind of at a loose end since coming back from the other universe. Jack has him looking over the computers."
"Well, it makes sense. The tech is more advanced over there." the Doctor smiled. "And according to many of the Torchwood files I read, Mickey turned out to be quite the boffin!”
"If he doesn't plan on staying at Torchwood, I think Jack knows people who will utilise Mickey's talents. In the meantime, he’s happy to temp."
“Speaking of temps,” he brightened. “How’s Donna getting on with Himself? Has she completely overhauled the TARDIS? Is she being worshipped as a Goddess in a galaxy far, far away?” Martha’s sad expression dismayed him. “What’s wrong?”
“The Doctor - other Doctor - had to suppress her memories or she’d have died. She’s back in Chiswick with no idea of what happened in the last couple of years.” she explained. “None of us can see her, in case we trigger her memories. The Doctor said the metacrisis was too much for her to handle”
“So he just mindwiped her?” the Doctor was horrified. “Just like that? No attempt to come up with a solution?”
“I’m sure he tried…”
“Oh I’m sure he did!” he sneered. “Still, could be worse, she could have been dumped on a beach in a parallel universe.” The moment he said it, the Doctor looked like he regretted it. “I’m sorry, I’m taking my headache out on you.” he fidgeted, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hands.
“A headache?” Martha switched back in to doctor mode and began examining him. She made him sit in a nearby chair while she took his pulse and flashed a penlight in his eyes. “How bad is it?”
“Annoying, rather than my head is about to explode!”
“So on a scale of one to ten that would be a three.”
“Martha Jones, you mock my pain!” the Doctor pouted. “It’s at least a three and a half!”
C’mon.” Martha took him by the hand. “I’ll get you something for it.” They went down to the main medical bay and Martha unlocked a cabinet full of assorted medication. The Doctor watched over her shoulder as she chose a painkiller for him.
"No aspirin, by the way. I'm allergic to it... or at least I think I am. I used to be when I was a Time Lord and I'm not too pushed to see if my human self can tolerate it." Martha turned around to see him standing with his hands in his pockets, leaning towards her, head tilted oh so slightly to one side. All he was missing was his brainy specs and she couldn’t help but smile as she remembered all the fun they’d had together. “That’s quite a stash you’ve got in there!” He was looking over her shoulder into the supply cabinet. “And from the looks of it, they’re not all local brew.”
“The mere sight of a medicine cabinet to fool around in and you’re feeling better.”
“I’m very easily distracted and anything that distracts me from the annoyance of this headache is a good thing.” While Martha sorted out something other than aspirin, he hovered over her for a closer view. “Now this certainly isn’t NHS approved, Dr Jones!” The Doctor reached over her shoulder and took out an ominous looking injector gun with a thick amber liquid in the chamber.
“Oh, you don’t want that.” Martha said. “Unless you fancy spending the next few hours on another planet.”
“Which planet? I hope it’s an interesting one. Haven’t been on another planet for ages.” he replied mischieviously, giving the contraption the once over.
“Planet Braindead! It’s a very strong tranquiliser that we keep on hand because it works on everyone - alien, human...”
“Jack?”
“Jack.” Martha confirmed, nodding her head.
The Doctor’s interest was piqued. “You’ll have to tell me that story.”
“Oh I don’t think it will be anywhere near as interesting as yours.” she smiled, handing him 2 small paracetemol tablets. “If they don’t work, we’ll consider Planet Braindead.” He left the injector down and swallowed the tablets back with some water. “Now Doctor, hows about you tell me how you got here?
Chapter 5