(Untitled)

[smithnjones]

Martha Jones doesn't eat.

She doesn't sleep.

She runs.

And when she finds people she tells them the story. His story. She tells them about The Doctor.

But mostly, she runs.

Four months in. Malnutrition has long since set in, but it makes running walking the earth easier. She doesn't get hungry much and when she does she can handle it. Her

Comments

[impossible_thng]

Jack's shifted in his own personal timeline yet again. This time, he's in from only a few years later, in his usual World War II-style dress. However, these days, his style of dress fits the time period.

His uniform is bloody and dirty as usual, and he looks a little tired - but when the door bursts open and Martha falls into the Inn, he rockets to his feet and starts toward her immediately.

"Martha!"

[smithnjones]

Martha gasps at the sound of the familiar voice and that she's still alive and that it's warm here.

And she thinks maybe she died when she was running and didn't realize it.

It takes her a moment to find breath and to look up at him. It is him, but it can't be. Unless they're both dead.

"Jack?"

[impossible_thng]

He reaches her and wraps his arms around her, able to see immediately that she needs it. He pulls her to his chest, just to prove to her that he's real, smiling a little and smoothing her hair with one hand.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's me. You're in the Inn, it's okay."

He has to wonder, with Martha in this state, where the Doctor is. He has to be around, right? The Doctor's always there.

Unless you're Jack, but... he wouldn't abandon Martha.

[smithnjones]

It sinks in quickly when he pulls her to his chest. That he is real. And that her body is in too much pain for this to be death or heaven.

Martha wraps her shaking arms around his neck and presses her face there, breathing him in. And yes, it is Jack. It smells just like him and his arms are warm and tight and...

"You're all right. You're all right. Thank God. Thank God, you're all right." She hasn't quite realized that this Jack isn't from her time-line yet.

It's just she thought it unlikely she'd ever see him again. Or her family. Or the Doctor. She'd assumed the Master'd found a way to kill Jack. Went ahead and did away with them all.

[impossible_thng]

"Of course I'm alright," he says softly, one hand resting comfortingly on the back of her neck. God, she's so thin, it's frightening. He wants to ask where she's been, what the hell she's been doing, and where the Doctor is so that he can yell at him, but... he's not sure that's the best idea just now. Not with her shaking the way she is, the state of her just now...

So instead, he just asks gently, "Why wouldn't I be? I mean, it's not like anyone's gonna kill me. Not for long, at least."

[smithnjones]

"But Saxon... the Master, he kidnapped-" Martha cuts herself off.

Head spinning. Legs burning.

She pulls her face away from his neck long enough to see the clothes that Jack's wearing. "Oh. Bloody- You're not... there yet."

And she hopes this doesn't somehow cosmically mess up the future, but she doesn't care really, because she needs him. Even if this doesn't show her that he's all right. Not in her world. At least she can have him for now and pretend.

[impossible_thng]

He gets it almost immediately. He's had to learn how to recognize these things pretty quickly, or things get very screwed up very fast.

"It's alright," he murmurs, kissing the top of her head, breathing the words into her hair. "You don't have to tell me. I'll be okay not knowing for a century or... however long it is. But right now..."

He pulls back a little to look at her. "Do you need anything? Food or water, for instance? You look like you're starving."

[smithnjones]

Martha nods against his neck at the murmurs, heart still beating wildly as though she were still running. Always running. Her heart's forgotten how to calm down.

"Water." The croak in her voice and the spin of her head. Dehydration, she diagnosis. Walking the Earth has given her opportunity to put to use some of that medical training. When she'd rather not think about other things.

[impossible_thng]

The hand on the back of her neck slides down a little to rub at her shoulders, all knotted and tense. He's a little glad that he shouldn't ask just what's going on, because knowing and not being able to do anything would just tear him apart.

All he can do now is be here for her. Until she has to go back out again. He thinks up a glass of water and shifts back a little so he can offer it to her. "Drink it slowly," he says softly. "Little sips at a time. Don't want to make it worse."

[smithnjones]

Martha takes the glass from him, closes her eyes, and does as he says. Just a little bit. It's cool and wet.

For a second she jumps when his hands go to her shoulders and she realizes there's no back pack there. Her back pack is her lifeline. It carries as much as she can of whatever she needs. And then she remembers she left it there in that Russian city. It's probably all burnt up... along with all of the people.

She presses that from her mind and tries to relax in his touch. It's been so long since she's been allowed to relax.

[impossible_thng]

"Shhh," he says softly as she jumps, still rubbing her shoulders comfortingly. "It's alright. You're here, and you're safe for now. Just breathe... You look like you could use some sleep too."

He's wracking his brain for anything else to do for her. She's just so tired and thin and... Well, there is one thing he can do for her. With a subtle thought, a slight golden glow appears in the air around Martha. Nanogenes. He'd missed having his ship, full of them... They won't deal with the exhaustion, or the malnutrition or the dehydration, but all the little scrapes and burns and bruises, they should be able to mend almost immediately.

It's the least he could do.

[smithnjones]

It's easier to relax when she hears his voice, too. It's like she needs both just to remind herself that this is real, that she hasn't passed out some where dangerous and this is just a dream.

Martha blinks at the glow, head resting against him.

"What's that?"

[impossible_thng]

He smiles a little, shifting a bit, and then decides to just pull her into his lap. It'll make things easier, especially when he inevitably carries her to bed - he can tell already it's going to be necessary, and not in the usual way they end up doing that.

"Nanogenes. Microscopic robots from my time. My original time, I mean. They find out what's wrong with you and repair it. And by the way, if the Doctor mentions any trouble with me and nanogenes to you... don't listen to him, because it wasn't my fault, and it got sorted out anyway."

[smithnjones]

Martha leans her head back against him, listening to his voice and focusing on the soft vibration of him talking against her back.

"...trouble? With you? Why am I not surprised?" There's a faint smile.

She wants to watch the nanogenes do their work, but it happens so quick... or maybe she'd had her eyes closed for longer than she thought.

It was hard concentrating. She can't remember the last time she felt this comfortable and warm.

[impossible_thng]

"Oh, please. I never get into any trouble at all," he says lightly, managing a smile at her. "Ever."

He tightens his arms around her a little, and his voice softens as he asks, "You want to go to bed? My room, or yours... You look tired."

Understatement of the century.

[smithnjones]

"That's the biggest lie, I think I've ever heard, Jack."

Martha presses back against him when he tightens his arms around her. "Yes, please. Your room. ...if you don't mind."

She needs to be surrounded with his things, with his smell. She's had more than enough of everything being just herself to last the rest of her life.