Torchwood/Doctor Who - fic - Rhythm of Life
Title - Rhythm of Life
Author - laurab1
Characters - Martha, Jack, Ten, TARDISes
Rating - PG
Length - 585 words
Spoilers - TW: general for S1 and casting for S2, DW: 1.9 The Empty Child to 1.13 Parting of the Ways, all of S3
Summary - It had taken Martha a little while to get used to the TARDIS being alive, and nearly always in her head.
Disclaimer - alas, none of these people are mine
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy!
Rhythm of Life
by Laura
It had taken Martha a little while to get used to the TARDIS being alive, and nearly always in her head.
When they were in 1913, hiding from the Family of Blood, she’d greet the ship, but she was still thinking of it as a machine, rather than her as a sentient time/space ship.
It wasn’t until the Master took the TARDIS from the Doctor, her and Jack and turned the ship into something else that she kind of understood. In the red gloom, the Doctor had instructed them to touch nothing, and she could hear a bell ringing sadly. “She sounds sick,” Martha had said.
The ship was now a paradox machine, according to the Doctor. Jack knew just what that was.
“She’s practically been cannibalised, Martha,” her new friend explained. “She’s ill, and she’s hurting.”
“And there’s nothing we can do for her, is there?” She could see the Doctor was also in pain.
“No, not without risking a hell of a lot. C’mon, help me get him out of here, before he does something really stupid.”
***
When it was all over, when the three of them had put most of the ship back together, a presence gently nudged at her mind. She was stood by Jack, and watched an enormous smile appear on his face. “Hello,” she said.
And at the same time, Jack said, “Hi, sweetheart.”
They both ran a hand over the console. The TARDIS was healing, and back in their heads.
***
When Jack shows her his office, the item in pride of place on his desk is the first thing Martha notices. “Hello, little one,” she says happily, taking a seat, and beginning to stroke the coral.
“How did you know?” Jack asks, smiling down at them.
“She started singing to me, Jack.”
“Yes and no, Martha.” He takes a seat next to her, and also starts stroking the baby TARDIS. “She’s been singing to me for thirty years, since she first washed through the Rift. You worked out how to listen, to her, and the old girl. Y’know, it took me quite a while to get my head around sentient ships, as well. I was an expert by the time I met her, though. In several ways.” Then he winks at her.
Did he…? Of course he bloody did, it’s him, for God’s sake. But she has to ask, just to see how filthy he wants to be about it. “Jack Harkness, did you have telepathic sex with the TARDIS?”
“Oh, yeah. Annoyed the hell out of him, that did.” She gets an extremely wicked grin, and just rolls her eyes at him in reply.
Reassured, and sobering, Martha looks Jack straight in the eye and asks, “When’s this TARDIS going to be like...his?”
“In five hundred years’ time,” he whispers. “Shall I bring her back and show you?”
Crossing your own time line’s bad, she remembers.
Except for cheap tricks.
“Will she look like the old girl?”
“Until I ask him to help me shape her, I’ve got absolutely no idea, honey. Would you like her to look like that?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll make sure she does, and you’ll be the second person I’ll let see her.”
Jack briefly takes her hand in his, placing a kiss on her knuckles. Separating, they then resume stroking the coral, and listening to her song. Before they know it, they’ve started their own song; a soft humming, a kind of lullaby.
Martha’s looking forward to seeing this baby fully grown.
-end-
crosspost:
dwfiction
galactic_conman
jackmartha
lifeonmartha
new_who
tenmarthajack
torch_wood
torchwood_fic
torchwood_genfic
Teaspoon
Author - laurab1
Characters - Martha, Jack, Ten, TARDISes
Rating - PG
Length - 585 words
Spoilers - TW: general for S1 and casting for S2, DW: 1.9 The Empty Child to 1.13 Parting of the Ways, all of S3
Summary - It had taken Martha a little while to get used to the TARDIS being alive, and nearly always in her head.
Disclaimer - alas, none of these people are mine
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy!
Rhythm of Life
by Laura
It had taken Martha a little while to get used to the TARDIS being alive, and nearly always in her head.
When they were in 1913, hiding from the Family of Blood, she’d greet the ship, but she was still thinking of it as a machine, rather than her as a sentient time/space ship.
It wasn’t until the Master took the TARDIS from the Doctor, her and Jack and turned the ship into something else that she kind of understood. In the red gloom, the Doctor had instructed them to touch nothing, and she could hear a bell ringing sadly. “She sounds sick,” Martha had said.
The ship was now a paradox machine, according to the Doctor. Jack knew just what that was.
“She’s practically been cannibalised, Martha,” her new friend explained. “She’s ill, and she’s hurting.”
“And there’s nothing we can do for her, is there?” She could see the Doctor was also in pain.
“No, not without risking a hell of a lot. C’mon, help me get him out of here, before he does something really stupid.”
***
When it was all over, when the three of them had put most of the ship back together, a presence gently nudged at her mind. She was stood by Jack, and watched an enormous smile appear on his face. “Hello,” she said.
And at the same time, Jack said, “Hi, sweetheart.”
They both ran a hand over the console. The TARDIS was healing, and back in their heads.
***
When Jack shows her his office, the item in pride of place on his desk is the first thing Martha notices. “Hello, little one,” she says happily, taking a seat, and beginning to stroke the coral.
“How did you know?” Jack asks, smiling down at them.
“She started singing to me, Jack.”
“Yes and no, Martha.” He takes a seat next to her, and also starts stroking the baby TARDIS. “She’s been singing to me for thirty years, since she first washed through the Rift. You worked out how to listen, to her, and the old girl. Y’know, it took me quite a while to get my head around sentient ships, as well. I was an expert by the time I met her, though. In several ways.” Then he winks at her.
Did he…? Of course he bloody did, it’s him, for God’s sake. But she has to ask, just to see how filthy he wants to be about it. “Jack Harkness, did you have telepathic sex with the TARDIS?”
“Oh, yeah. Annoyed the hell out of him, that did.” She gets an extremely wicked grin, and just rolls her eyes at him in reply.
Reassured, and sobering, Martha looks Jack straight in the eye and asks, “When’s this TARDIS going to be like...his?”
“In five hundred years’ time,” he whispers. “Shall I bring her back and show you?”
Crossing your own time line’s bad, she remembers.
Except for cheap tricks.
“Will she look like the old girl?”
“Until I ask him to help me shape her, I’ve got absolutely no idea, honey. Would you like her to look like that?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll make sure she does, and you’ll be the second person I’ll let see her.”
Jack briefly takes her hand in his, placing a kiss on her knuckles. Separating, they then resume stroking the coral, and listening to her song. Before they know it, they’ve started their own song; a soft humming, a kind of lullaby.
Martha’s looking forward to seeing this baby fully grown.
-end-
crosspost:
dwfiction
galactic_conman
jackmartha
lifeonmartha
new_who
tenmarthajack
torch_wood
torchwood_fic
torchwood_genfic
Teaspoon