It's her debut performance. She flexes her fingers, holding them out to the fire to warm them a bit. She's been wearing gloves, but the winter wind is harsh and biting, and her hands are still a little numb. Now isn't the time to make clumsy mistakes, she knows. She's practised her songs, but not enough - never enough - and she's never performed ( Read more... )

For her fifth birthday, Martha asked for - and received - a miniature labcoat and a toy medical kit. When she was opening her presents, her gran asked her if she was going to be a nurse when she grew up. "No," she replied proudly, "I'm gonna be a doctorIt wasn't long before Tish learnt to run the other way when she saw her sister coming towards her ( Read more... )

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." - Albert Camus

Martha used to know what normal was like. She used to be normal - just another med student, virtually indistinguishable from every other student in London. And she'd liked her life - maybe keeping the peace among members of her family got a little ( Read more... )

"Don't you ever wear anything else?" Martha asks him as she watches him rummage through a dresser and pull out a pair of trousers and a jumper. Honestly, she's beginning to think the man has one set of clothes for each regeneration - and it's not like he's lacking for clothes, because she's seen the wardrobe. Not only that, but she's pretty sure ( Read more... )

"Does he make you happy?" The words keep echoing in Martha's head. Surely the Doctor would know the answer to that already - but timelines, Martha's learnt, are tricky things to deal with. She has to walk a thin line between the intertwining threads, trying to keep her present from changing her past. It's dangerous - there are so many times when ( Read more... )

"Tell me about your family," Dr Russell encourages Martha ( Read more... )

Martha sits in the waiting room, fidgeting with the strap of her handbag. She's still irritated that she's being sent to a therapist - she's not the one who needs help, after all. She's perfectly capable of performing her job; she knows that it's just because she won't tell the special investigators what happened on the Valiant. They say she shows ( Read more... )

She stands amid the rubble that used to be her flat. She's not sure why she's here; nothing can be salvaged from the mess, and the explosion itself seems like it was a lifetime ago. Martha's not sure how the Doctor's stopped the police from investigating - probably told them it was a leak in the gas or something. Nobody would ever believe that ( Read more... )