Down and Out at Christmas
Who_Daily Link: < a href="http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/200775.html">Down and Out at Christmas by < lj user=persiflage_1> (Characters: Martha, Human!Doctor, Ten, Jones family, Sarah Jane Smith | Rating: NC-17 | Spoilers: 4.13)
Title: Down and Out at Christmas
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Martha, Human!Doctor, Ten, Jones family, Sarah Jane Smith
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Journey's End (AU)
Summary: Martha gets an unexpected visitor at Christmas.
Disclaimer: I occasionally wish that I did own it!
Author Notes: This fic was written for csg1 for the dreambythefire Winter Holiday ficathon. The prompt was "AU where Ten and Handy are travelling together. After an argument, Ten kicks Handy out and leaves him in 21st century London, Christmas Eve. With nowhere to go, Handy calls on Martha, who takes him in. When Ten comes back to apologise, Handy doesn't want to leave." Note: Martha is not in a relationship in this AU.
Beta: The awesome fourzoas
~~~~~~
It was 10 pm on Christmas Eve and Martha was looking forward to a few quiet days at home; she was hoping that any passing aliens would decide to give the Earth a miss this year, or that UNIT wouldn't need her help in dealing with them, should any show up. Since she'd been run off her feet the last few weeks, Martha had arranged that she would go over to her mum's in the middle of the afternoon the next day, which meant that she could have a nice lie in just for once.
She was just contemplating whether or not to have half a glass of wine before she went to bed when her doorbell rang. Surprised, she uncurled herself from her armchair and went out to the hall, reaching the door just as the bell rang a second time.
Martha opened the door and stared in surprise at the man on her doorstep: he was dressed in jeans and a shirt with a t-shirt just visible at the open neck. He was soaking wet from the snow that was still falling, and his arms were wrapped around his body as he shivered violently.
"Doctor?" she asked, uncertainly.
"N-n-not the D-D-Doctor," he answered through chattering teeth. "Human D-D-Doctor."
"You'd better come in," she answered, reaching out to grab his arm and pull him inside, deciding that explanations could wait.
"Th-th-thanks."
"Stand there," Martha told him, "I'll get some towels." She ran down the hall and into her bedroom where she grabbed her thick bathrobe from the end of her bed, then she pulled open the bottom drawer of her wardrobe unit and got out two large towels.
When she returned he was standing in exactly the same spot and he was shivering even more violently than before.
"Dry your hair and start getting out of those wet clothes," she told him, "while I fetch something to put them in."
She hung the bathrobe from one of the coat hooks near the door, then handed him the towels, before dashing back down the hall to the kitchen where she grabbed her empty laundry basket.
When she returned he was fumbling with his shirt buttons, the towels draped around his neck.
"You dry your hair," Martha told him, "I'll get your clothes off." She knelt and unfastened his shoes which were so sodden that she wrestled to get the laces undone.
When she looked up he was struggling to grasp the towel and she realised abruptly that his fingers and lips were turning blue.
"Doctor, you're suffering from hypothermia."
He tried to nod, but couldn't muster the energy to do more than jerk his head slightly.
"Come on," she said. She tugged on his arm, and got him to walk with her down the hall, although he was stumbling by now. "We need to get you dry and warm."
She got him to stand by the bed while she stripped off his sodden clothes, although getting his jeans off wasn't an easy task; they were so wet, and the heavy material clung to his legs. Then she wrapped the towels around his naked body to soak up the worst of the wet, and felt glad that she'd had plenty of practise at maintaining a professional demeanour.
"Let's get you into bed," she said, throwing back the duvet before she helped him to lie down. Then she delved into her drawers again and pulled out some blankets, which she bundled around him.
"I'm going to make you some tea, okay? You need warmth inside you as well. I'll be as quick as I can." She leant down and kissed his forehead, and she saw tears in the corners of his eyes.
Martha hurried into the kitchen, wondering what on Earth he was doing here; she had thought that Donna, the Doctor, and his human counterpart were going to travel together after she, Jack, and the others had left them. She considered ringing the Doctor, but decided that could wait: the most important thing was to get the human Doctor's core temperature back up to normal, otherwise he'd die. She filled two thermos flasks with hot, sweet tea, and then a large mug as well, and put them all onto a tray which she carried into her bedroom.
He was lying very still with his eyes closed and she had a brief moment of panic, thinking he'd slipped into unconsciousness, but then his eyes fluttered open as she approached the bed, and relief swept through her. She set the tray down carefully, then climbed onto the bed beside him and lifted him up, wrapping an arm around him. Then she picked up the mug of tea and brought it to his lips.
"Carefully, now," she said, "it's hot, so just sip it for the moment, okay?"
He mumbled an agreement indistinctly, and opened his mouth a little way. It took them five minutes to get just half the tea inside him and then Martha put it aside for the time being.
"I'm going to lock up and then I'll be back," she told him, helping him to lie down again.
He gave that odd jerk of the head again, and she brushed his damp hair off his forehead with a gentle hand.
Martha went back to the kitchen, put his clothes in the washing machine and programmed it to start the next morning, then she switched off the kitchen and sitting room lights, and locked the front door, before nipping into the bathroom to change into her pyjamas.
The human Doctor opened his eyes again when she climbed into the bed beside him; his expression took on a deer-caught-in-the-headlights quality when she unwrapped the blankets and snuggled up close to his side before pulling the blankets back around them both.
"It's okay," she told him, "sharing body warmth with someone is a good way to deal with hypothermia."
He grunted, which she took to mean he understood, and his eyes closed again. She made a mental note to wake up and give him some more tea in 45 minutes, then fell asleep.
* * * * * *
It was a long night for both of them, but by six on Christmas morning there was a fair bit of colour in his cheeks and he was able to speak clearly, and to hold the fresh mug of tea that she brought for him.
"Thank you," he said, accepting the mug, "for last night, too."
"What happened?" she asked as she got back into bed beside him.
"The Doctor and I had a row, and he kicked me out," he said, "dumped me here on Earth with no money, nor my coat, and buggered off who knows where."
"What did you row about?" Martha asked, curiously.
"Donna."
She gave him a surprised look. "Donna? Why?"
"You know he wiped her memories of their travels?"
"What?" she asked, jerking upright and splashing tea on herself. "Damn." She set down the mug and grabbed a tissue to rub at the wet spots on her pyjama top. "No, I didn't know about that."
He looked away, clearly upset. "I'm sorry, I thought you knew. The human-Time Lord metacrisis was in danger of burning her mind out, so the Doctor wiped all her memories. I wanted him to transfer her Time Lord consciousness into a fob watch, like when he became John Smith to escape from the Family, and like - well, you know." He didn't finish the sentence, not wanting to remind Martha of the Master. He swallowed hard, and she patted his arm.
"It's okay," she said softly.
"He didn't want to try that, said he wasn't convinced it would work, so he wiped her memories, even though she begged him not to, and took her back to her mum and Wilf." He paused to rub a hand over his eyes. "Anyway, if she's ever reminded of anything about her time with the Doctor, she'll die."
"God!" Martha felt angry with herself for not keeping in contact with Donna, and with the Doctor for treating her friend so casually. She felt the human Doctor put a hand on her arm and forced her anger down, rubbing her wet eyes.
"Go on with your story," she said.
He squeezed her arm before continuing, explaining that he'd asked the Doctor if they could try to find some way of helping Donna. "I wanted to check out a couple of scientific institutes where they specialise in neurology. He told me I had to give up the idea of helping Donna because there was nothing that could be done, and I insisted that we should explore as many avenues as possible. We had an almighty row, and then he said I needed time to cool down. I don't know if he even knew where he was dumping me; I do know he didn't care though."
"I'll be giving him an earful when I speak to him," Martha growled.
He opened his mouth to tell her not to bother, but then caught sight of the fierce expression on her face, and closed his mouth again. "Thank you."
She shook her head and found a smile from somewhere. "Right, I suggest we think as little about him as possible," she said, "or my goodwill will go right out of the window. Since it's Christmas day, that would be uncomfortable."
"It's Christmas?" he asked, sounding surprised.
"Yes. Couldn't you tell?"
"Well, I saw the decorations, but I didn't know the exact date," he answered, "and I was too preoccupied with trying to find you last night to worry about which day it was."
"How did you find me?" Martha asked curiously.
"I remembered the street from when the Doctor and Donna dropped you off after the trip to Messaline," he answered, "but I didn't know the name of it, or where exactly in London you were, so I just walked until I found it."
"Why didn't you look for me in the phone book?"
"What phone book?" he retorted, sounding irritated. "Telephone boxes, if you can find one in this age of mobile phones, don't carry them these days. And the libraries were already closed by the time I got to Earth."
"Sorry, I wasn't thinking. How long were you walking?"
"Six hours."
"No wonder you were developing hypothermia," Martha said sympathetically.
He nodded. "Thanks for looking after me last night. I think I would have died otherwise." He looked away, a sheepish expression on his face. "I keep forgetting that a human's physiology is less sturdy than a Time Lord's."
"How long has it been for you?"
"Three months."
"Well it's not surprising you haven't got used to being human then," she said. "not when you've got centuries' worth of memories of being a Time Lord in your head." She rubbed his arm and was neither surprised nor displeased when he promptly lifted it up and put it around her shoulders.
"Do you know what?"
"What?"
"You are good."
Martha laughed a little at him echoing her words to his other self. "By the way, what name are you going by? I've been calling you 'the human Doctor' in my head, but it seems a bit long-winded."
He shrugged. "I call myself that too."
"Seriously?" she asked, peering up at his face.
"Yeah."
"Well you should have a proper name. What about John Smith, the name the Doctor's used before?"
He shook his head. "No, I don't want that one. If I'm going to have a name of my own, I want it to be something he hasn't used already."
"So what do you fancy then?"
"You," he answered very quietly.
"Eh?" asked Martha, thinking she had misheard him.
"What about Handy?" He didn't repeat his previous remark, and she decided she must have imagined it.
"Handy? What sort of name's that?"
"Well I was created from a hand," he said, sounding a little defensive.
"I know," she said soothingly, "but it's a bit odd. It's fine as a nickname, like 'Handy Andy' or something."
"Okay, okay. I'll stick with John then."
She thought he sounded a bit impatient. "What about a last name then if you don't want Smith again?"
"Jones, Jones is a good name." He looked at her expression. "Okay, not Jones."
"What about Noble?" Martha suggested.
His face lit up in a big grin, and he tugged her closer to plant a smacking kiss on her forehead. "I bloody love you!" he exclaimed, unconsciously echoing something Donna had once said to the Doctor.
"Thanks," she answered, laughing with pleasure at his obvious delight.
"I'm serious, you know," John told her with a quicksilver change of mood.
"I don't doubt you are. Pleased to meet you, John Noble."
He shook his head, looking impatient. "No, I meant I'm serious when I say I love you."
Martha opened her mouth to answer, but he rushed on before she could speak.
"He loves you, too, but he'll never tell you, he's too scared." She didn't have to ask who 'he' was. "But I'm not. I think you're smart, caring and beautiful. You put up with a lot of crap when you were travelling with him and he's never even thanked you properly, so I'm going to."
Before she could ask what he meant, he ducked his head and kissed her firmly on the mouth; she gasped, surprised, and pulled back.
"What's wrong?" John asked, looking hurt. "Don't I kiss well?"
"You kiss very well," she answered, "but this is a bit sudden, don't you think?"
He frowned. "How can it be sudden? I've known you for two years."
"The Doctor has known me for two years," she said gently. "You're not the Doctor, even if you do look like him and have all his memories. We've only met once before, remember."
"Don't you like me then?" He looked down at the blankets and fiddled with a loose thread.
"I hardly know you," she answered, "although I admit I'm predisposed to like you in the circumstances."
She reached up and held his face, stroking a finger down his sideburn. "Don't take this the wrong way, okay? I just don't want to rush into anything one or both of us might regret later."
He looked sulky, but after a few minutes he nodded. "Okay."
"Good. Since we're both awake why don't we get some breakfast and I'll ring my mum in a bit to let her know there'll be one extra for dinner."
"No, you don't have to do that," he said hastily.
"Not scared of my mum, are you?" she teased gently.
"Certainly not," he answered immediately. "I just don't want her to have to go to any trouble for me. Besides, you know me, I'm rubbish at Christmases: something always goes wrong."
Martha folded her arms across her chest and looked at him. "You have never experienced Christmas," she said. "The Doctor's the one who's had trouble with Christmases, not you. Besides, I'm not leaving you here on your own, not after the Doctor ditched you."
He opened his mouth to object.
"John, don't," she said.
He sighed heavily. "You're a determined little woman, aren't you?"
"And don't you forget it, mister," she told him. "Now, do you want to have a shower before breakfast?"
"I'll wait until my clothes are ready to wear, unless you think I stink?" he asked anxiously.
"You don't," she assured him. She climbed out of bed and delved into a drawer, then carried the items she'd pulled out over to the bed.
"Here, I don't want you getting cold again, after last night. The trousers are going to be too short in the leg, I know, but they're better than nothing, and since they've got a drawstring waist, you should be able to keep them up. And the jumper's going to be a bit short in the arms, but at least you'll have something on your chest. I don't want you developing pneumonia," she told him. "And the ski socks will probably fit you since I bought them to wear over my boots in winter, so they're several sizes too big for my feet."
"I haven't got any underwear, I'm afraid, but I, uh, noticed you weren't wearing any last night." She could feel her cheeks heating up and hoped he wouldn't notice the blush on her darker skin. Then she looked up and saw that he was blushing too, which made her feel less embarrassed.
"Thanks for the clothes." His voice sounded a little husky.
"You're welcome. I'm going to have a shower before I get dressed, but feel free to make yourself at home."
He nodded and Martha gathered up her own clothes and headed into the bathroom, leaving John to get dressed in the borrowed clothes.
* * * * * *
They spent half the morning talking about Martha's work and John's travels with the Doctor, then they watched "It's a Wonderful Life" on television and had a light lunch, before Martha drove them both over to her mum's. He fretted a bit about not having any presents to give to anyone, but she assured him that it didn't matter because no one would be expecting gifts from him.
"Just try to relax, okay?" she said as they stood on the doorstep waiting for Francine to let them in.
He nodded, then clasped her hand, entwining his fingers with hers and she promptly squeezed his fingers. He dropped her hand hastily when Francine's front door was opened and a young man stood in the doorway.
"Hi Martha."
"Hi Leo. This is John Noble. John, my brother Leo."
"Hi John."
The two men shook hands, and then Leo stepped aside to allow them into the house which was full of warmth, pleasant smells and the sound of Christmas music playing not too loudly.
Francine came bustling out of the kitchen and hugged Martha, then turned to John, who offered his hand.
"Don't be silly," she said, and hugged him too. "Welcome to the Jones family Christmas."
Martha could see a startled expression on his face over her mum's shoulder and she smiled up at him, wondering if he was remembering the way Francine had slapped the Doctor the first time they met.
"Thank you," he said once Francine let go of him. "I'm sorry, I don't - "
She cut him off. "Don't apologise for anything," she said, "just come in and say hello to everyone else."
Martha slipped her hand into his and led him into the large sitting room, where she performed the introductions. She noticed that Clive and Tish both started a little, even though she'd asked her mum to explain to them both that John was the Doctor's clone, for want of a better word. But they were both friendly and welcoming, Tish persuading him to sit on the sofa between her and Leo's girlfriend, Shonara.
Martha left him there and joined her mum in the kitchen. "Do you need a hand?" she asked.
"You could open some wine for me, please," Francine said. She went back to the stove, checking the state of the vegetables, as Martha got the corkscrew from the drawer and began pulling the first cork.
"How many of these am I opening?" asked Martha.
"Just two for now. Does John drink?"
"No idea," admitted her daughter, "it's not something we've discussed as yet. The Doctor drank very occasionally, but I don't know about John."
"Is it weird, having him around?" asked Francine curiously.
"It felt a bit weird first thing this morning, but I've got used to it now. His personality's a kind of mixture of Donna's and the Doctor's, and he seems quite vulnerable somehow. I think he's got used to defining himself almost entirely in relation to the Doctor, and now he feels a bit lost, as if he's no longer sure who he is."
"Is he going to stay with you until the Doctor comes to fetch him again?"
Martha looked over at her mum. "Do you think he shouldn't?" she asked, her tone a little sharp.
Francine shrugged. "It's nothing to do with me," she answered. "You're a grown woman now, Martha, and you know your own mind. Just be careful, that's all I ask. I don't want to lose you."
"I'm not going anywhere," Martha answered. "I'm Earth-bound now. I might take the occasional trip to help the Doctor out, but I'm not going travelling with him again any time soon. I thought you knew that my work with UNIT was too important to me?"
"I do know," Francine assured her. She shook her head. "Don't mind me, I'm probably just being a foolish old woman."
Martha crossed to her mum's side. "You are neither foolish nor old," she said, hugging her mum from behind, resting her cheek against her back. "You are, however, a mother, and everyone knows that mothers always worry about their children, even when they're quite grown up."
Francine turned around and hugged her daughter back. "How did you get to be so wise, so young?" she asked lightly.
"I had good teachers," Martha answered. "You and Gran taught me a lot."
The kitchen door opened behind them and they both turned to see Leo in the doorway. "I was going to get some pre-dinner drinks for everyone," he explained.
"I'll give you a hand," Martha said, and moved away from her mum.
* * * * * *
Three hours later, after a very enjoyable dinner, lots of conversation and some laughter, John helped Martha into a taxi; she had decided that she'd had a bit too much to drink to risk driving them back to her flat.
"I'll walk over and pick up my car tomorrow," she told Francine, who nodded agreement and waved them off.
"How's your head?" Martha asked John.
"Fine," he answered, "but then I didn't drink that much."
"Well, I didn't either," Martha said. "I just thought it best to be a responsible person."
"I wasn't criticising," he said hastily,
"I know." She snuggled up against him and he put an arm around her, smiling unseen as she slid her own arm across his chest and under the jacket she'd loaned him.
Martha groaned a bit when she realised she'd have to move once they reached her flat, but they disentangled themselves and went inside together, their arms wrapped around each other.
"Thank you for taking me to your family's Christmas dinner," John said as Martha hung up their coats.
"You're welcome." She slid her arm through his and led them into the kitchen. "Coffee?"
"Yes please." He perched on a chair and watched as she moved around the room, thinking how beautiful she looked.
"I can feel you staring at me," she said, without turning around.
He chuckled. "Of course I'm staring: you're a beautiful woman."
Martha turned, eyebrows raised in a quizzical look, and he slipped off the chair and moved across to her side.
"You know you look adorable when you do that," he said, sliding his arms around her waist.
"Oh really?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Definitely," he asserted, then dipped his head to kiss her. To his delight she didn't pull away as she had that morning; instead she wrapped her arms around his skinny waist and returned the kiss fervently.
When they broke apart for air, John rested his forehead against Martha's, breathing heavily. "I forgot I don't have a respiratory bypass any more," he said.
"The perils of being human," she murmured, before kissing him again.
After a couple of minutes John pulled away again. "Can we skip the coffee and go to bed?"
"I can live with that," she answered, grabbing his hand and tugging him across the kitchen. She turned out the kitchen and hall lights as they passed, then pushed him towards the bed.
They undressed each other quickly, desire coursing through their veins, and then John pulled Martha down onto the bed and began kissing her again. As he began to kiss a path down her body, Martha reached across to the bedside table and fumbled in the drawer. It had been a while since she'd been in a relationship, but she was fairly sure there were still some condoms in there.
"Oh!" She felt dizzy with desire when John's mouth reached her centre, and when he slipped two fingers inside her while nibbling on her clit, she thought she might pass out. As she came, he hummed with satisfaction and Martha cried out in pleasure.
After her third climax, she tugged at his head to persuade him to move back up her body, so he kissed a path back up to her throat, and she reached down between their bodies to put on the condom.
"Please John," she said, her voice low and husky as she began to guide his length inside herself.
"So beautiful," he murmured, kissing and nipping at her neck and ear. He pushed his hips forward and pinned her to the bed with a growl, then began to thrust at a steady pace. When he came, he growled her name, while she repeated his breathlessly.
Afterwards he pulled the bedding up over them, spooning up against Martha's back, then wrapped his arms around her middle before they both fell asleep.
* * * * * *
New Year's Eve
The Doctor hadn't turned up looking for John, and Martha finally rang him on New Year's Eve. John was in the bedroom, finishing changing, but he could hear Martha's side of the conversation and he wondered if the Time Lord would regret keeping her old mobile.
"Hello Doctor."
"Hello Martha."
"Did you know that your travelling companion is currently staying with me, and has been since Christmas Eve when you abandoned him? And do you care that he almost died of hypothermia thanks to your callous behaviour?"
"I - "
"You're lucky he managed to find me, or he'd been six foot under by now," she said, not allowing him to speak.
"I'm sorry, Martha, but it's not entirely my fault. After I left him on Earth, I got caught in a storm in the Time winds of the Vortex and I had to make a forced emergency landing. I've been making repairs on the TARDIS ever since, and I've only just finished them."
"And you couldn't ring and let me or John know that?" she demanded angrily.
The Doctor winced on the other end of the line. "You're right, I should have rung you, but I got caught up in doing the repair work. I'm sorry."
"I'm not the one you should be apologising to," Martha said crossly.
"I'll be there shortly," he told her, "and I'll apologise to you both in person."
"Well you'd better make it quick," she retorted, "because John and I are going out in twenty minutes to a New Year's Eve party."
"I'll be there," he promised.
"Good." She hung up and went to find John. He was just fastening his bow tie on his borrowed tux and Martha felt as if she might melt at the sight of him.
In the time since he'd turned up she and John had spent a lot of time talking about her time with the Doctor, and about some of the Doctor's earlier travels. They had also spent a fair bit of time making love, learning about each other's bodies and what they each enjoyed the most. A couple of times Martha found herself wondering where this was all going, and whether she was going to end up miserable when John rejoined the Doctor on his travels, but she didn't mention it to John. It wasn't that she was burying her head in the sand, so much as that she didn't want to spoil the time they had together; in the end she decided to treat it as a holiday romance: intense and pleasurable while it lasted, and something to be remembered with affection once he was gone.
"The Doctor's on his way," Martha told John, crossing the room to tweak his bow tie straight, and then smooth down his lapels.
"Whatever," he answered. "I'm still taking you to this party. He can either come with us or he can sit in the TARDIS, moaning about how lonely he is, but we are going to this party."
Martha raised an eyebrow at him.
"I may be channelling my Donna side," he admitted. "But she was right to call him a 'space dumbo'. He's got so many friends here on Earth still, but he avoids seeing them, and it's completely stupid. He cares about them, they care about him, so why does he deny himself their friendship?"
He threw up his hands. "I just hope he gets here soon, so I can tell him just what I think of him."
As if the Doctor had heard John's words, they both heard a familiar groaning, wheezing sound from the hall, and John followed Martha out of her bedroom just as the Doctor opened the TARDIS door. The Time Lord looked wary, they noticed, as if he thought he might get yelled at, or possibly slapped (one thing John had definitely inherited from Donna was her habit of slapping the Doctor when he was being extra annoying).
"Hello Martha, John."
"Hello Doctor." They spoke in unison, and the Time Lord's eyes narrowed slightly.
"John, I'm sorry I didn't come back for you sooner. As I told Martha, I - "
"I don't want to hear it," John interrupted. "Martha and I are going to a party at Sarah Jane's, and I daresay she wouldn't mind if you came too. We can talk about this later."
The Doctor stood, mouth hanging foolishly open, staring at his other self and his former companion. Then he closed his mouth and swallowed audibly. "Party, right."
John arched an eyebrow at the Time Lord, who nodded. "Okay, we'll talk later," he said, "and yes, I'll come to Sarah Jane's party."
He waited while Martha put on her coat. "Do you want your coat?" she asked John.
"Yes please."
A few minutes later, they climbed into the taxi Martha had booked and headed off to Bannerman Road. No one spoke in the car, but it didn't escape the Doctor's notice that his human counterpart was discreetly holding hands with Martha, and he felt his spirits sink just a little.
* * * * * *
Sarah Jane was surprised, but not displeased, when she opened her front door to find that Martha had brought both the Doctor and his human counterpart with her to the party. Martha spent much of it in ensuring that the Doctor and John were never alone together as she wasn't convinced that John wouldn't slap the Doctor or give him an earful.
Although she was trying to be discreet, Martha knew that Sarah Jane and the Doctor had spotted her kissing John at one point when they'd been talking in a corner; she'd looked up and seen the Time Lord's hurt expression, and felt both guilty and annoyed, but as she watched she saw Sarah Jane was talking intently to the Doctor.
"They look like they're having a good time," Sarah Jane commented to the Doctor as they watched John and Martha.
"Yes," he answered, feeling happy for Martha, but envious of John.
"What about you?" asked Sarah Jane.
"What about me?" he asked, feigning ignorance of her meaning.
"Are you having a good time? I must admit, I didn't expect to find you on my doorstep as well tonight."
"I'm fine," the Doctor answered.
Sarah Jane looked up at him, then over at Martha and John. "Come on," she said, taking his hand in hers and leading him through the house to the kitchen.
He looked around, taking in the peach décor and the big blue Aga. "Are you having trouble with that?" he asked, nodding at it and reaching into his pocket for his glasses.
"No, silly," she said, "sit down." Sarah Jane poured them both a drink. "Here, I haven't seen you drinking anything yet tonight, and one glass won't hurt."
The Doctor sat down, wondering what was going on.
"I wanted to talk to you," she said.
"What about?" he asked warily.
"You, and your companions. Don't go," she said, putting a hand on his wrist as he began to push back his chair. "Just for once, will you sit still and listen, please?"
He raised a quizzical eyebrow. "I can tell you're a mother now," he commented, then smirked.
"Don't try to change the subject," Sarah Jane said sternly.
He picked up his glass and buried his face in it, wondering why she'd dragged him out here; not that he really wanted to watch his human self with Martha: it was too painful a reminder of what he might have had and had lost.
"I meant what I said to you before," Sarah Jane said, "about you having a big family on Earth. You've got a lot of former travelling companions scattered around, all of whom, so far as I know, care very much about you. I know that you care about us, however much you might try to hide it."
She slipped her free hand into his and squeezed his fingers. "You don't have to be alone, unless you want to be. I know we're only humans, and therefore it's not the same as having your own family or people, but we are here, and I think most of us would gladly spend time with you, sharing our family lives in whatever ways we can. You've given us all so much, would it really hurt to let us give you something back, however small?"
He shook his head, unable to speak past the lump in his throat, and Sarah Jane leaned forward to kiss his forehead. "Think about it," she said softly, in his ear, then she went back to the party.
The Doctor blinked back tears and swallowed the lump in his throat, thinking about John's longing for Donna to be DoctorDonna again, and how he'd heard John refer to Donna as his sister a couple of times. He thought about the family he'd run away from; the granddaughter whom he'd left to find her own happiness, even though shutting her out of the TARDIS had been the hardest thing he'd had to do up to that point; the friends he'd lost when he'd destroyed his planet. He thought about John's 'birth', and how much Donna was a part of him, and he realised that losing Donna that way, rather than through death, was actually more painful for John because the human Doctor felt that she was still within reach.
He sighed heavily and resolved to talk to John and Martha: he owed it to both of them to explain why he was resisting trying to find a way to restore Donna's memories again.
* * * * * *
A taxi got Martha, John and the Doctor back to her place by half past twelve, and Martha let them in.
"If you two are going to have a big argument, go into the TARDIS," she said as she unlocked the door of her flat. "I don't want you disturbing my neighbours."
She dropped her keys onto the hall table, shed her coat, and then headed straight to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. After a moment she became aware that she was not alone and looked up to see John and the Doctor both watching her warily.
"Well?" she asked as she filled the kettle.
"We're not going to row," John said, "I promise."
"Good. Tea?"
She got two nods, so she took out the teapot and grabbed three mugs.
"When are you two leaving?" she asked, without turning around.
"I'm not," answered John.
Martha looked up, startled. "What?" She saw a look of surprise on the Doctor's face too, and realised he hadn't expected this answer either.
"I'm not leaving," he answered. "I want to stay on Earth for a bit." He paused and swallowed hard before speaking again. "With you, if you'll have me."
"What will you do? How will you live?" asked the Doctor. "You can't sponge off Martha."
"I won't!" snapped John, sparks in his eyes. He saw Martha's expression and softened his own manner. "I'll find a job, with UNIT if they'll have me, or doing something else if they won't: I can teach, draw, build gadgets, use computers. I'll find some way of earning money."
The Doctor looked at Martha, and saw she was looking dazed, as if she hadn't allowed herself to consider the possibility that John would want to stay on Earth.
"What do you think?" asked the Time Lord.
"I think I need to sit down," she answered, pulling out a chair and dropping into it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spring this on you," John said, moving to kneel beside the chair and taking her hands in his. "If you don't want me to stay with you, I'll find a place of my own. I - "
"Silly fool," she whispered. "I do want you to stay. She reached up and ran a finger down his sideburn. "I've grown accustomed to your face."
He gave a choked laugh, recalling the long conversation about identity and selfhood that they'd had after watching 'My Fair Lady' on the television the other afternoon.
"Me too," he answered softly. He looked up at the Doctor, who was still standing by the kitchen door, watching them with a mixture of emotions.
"Right, well, I'll be off then," he said suddenly, obviously trying to hide his feelings behind his usual manic manner. "You don't want me getting in the way of - "
"Don't," Martha said quickly, getting up and going to the Doctor. "Don't mock, and don't try to pretend you don't mind, because we all know you do."
She wrapped her arms around him. "You don't have to rush away, either," she said. "Even if you and John aren't going to have a row, I do think you should talk about the reasons for the one you had before John arrived here."
He looked down at her upturned face, then at John, who'd moved to join them.
"Martha's right," John said softly. "We should talk before you go. I don't want us to part company without us being friends."
"All right," the Doctor answered.
Martha moved away to make the tea. "Why don't you go and sit down in the other room," she suggested. "I'll be there in a minute."
She heard them go and blew out a breath: John had taken her completely by surprise in saying that he wanted to stay; she knew he'd enjoyed being with her over the last few days, but she had expected him to go off again with the Doctor. She made the tea, then carried the tray carefully into the other room.
* * * * * *
It was 3 am before the Doctor finally left, and John carried Martha to bed; she'd fallen asleep about fifteen minutes earlier and hadn't woken when the TARDIS dematerialised. He carefully set her down on the bed, then went to lock up and turn out the lights; he changed into his pyjamas (bought in the December 26 sale, along with various other items of clothing), then began undressing Martha, at which point she woke up again.
"Sorry, love," he said softly.
"It's okay," she answered sleepily. They got her into her pyjamas between them, then she snuggled up against him, one arm sliding across his chest to rest over his heart.
"I'm glad you're staying," she told him, sounding as if she was more asleep than awake.
"Thank you. I'm glad too." He kissed her hair. "Go back to sleep."
"G'night John."
"Goodnight Martha." He heard her sigh contentedly, and smiled, then allowed sleep to claim him too.
Title: Down and Out at Christmas
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Martha, Human!Doctor, Ten, Jones family, Sarah Jane Smith
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Journey's End (AU)
Summary: Martha gets an unexpected visitor at Christmas.
Disclaimer: I occasionally wish that I did own it!
Author Notes: This fic was written for csg1 for the dreambythefire Winter Holiday ficathon. The prompt was "AU where Ten and Handy are travelling together. After an argument, Ten kicks Handy out and leaves him in 21st century London, Christmas Eve. With nowhere to go, Handy calls on Martha, who takes him in. When Ten comes back to apologise, Handy doesn't want to leave." Note: Martha is not in a relationship in this AU.
Beta: The awesome fourzoas
~~~~~~
It was 10 pm on Christmas Eve and Martha was looking forward to a few quiet days at home; she was hoping that any passing aliens would decide to give the Earth a miss this year, or that UNIT wouldn't need her help in dealing with them, should any show up. Since she'd been run off her feet the last few weeks, Martha had arranged that she would go over to her mum's in the middle of the afternoon the next day, which meant that she could have a nice lie in just for once.
She was just contemplating whether or not to have half a glass of wine before she went to bed when her doorbell rang. Surprised, she uncurled herself from her armchair and went out to the hall, reaching the door just as the bell rang a second time.
Martha opened the door and stared in surprise at the man on her doorstep: he was dressed in jeans and a shirt with a t-shirt just visible at the open neck. He was soaking wet from the snow that was still falling, and his arms were wrapped around his body as he shivered violently.
"Doctor?" she asked, uncertainly.
"N-n-not the D-D-Doctor," he answered through chattering teeth. "Human D-D-Doctor."
"You'd better come in," she answered, reaching out to grab his arm and pull him inside, deciding that explanations could wait.
"Th-th-thanks."
"Stand there," Martha told him, "I'll get some towels." She ran down the hall and into her bedroom where she grabbed her thick bathrobe from the end of her bed, then she pulled open the bottom drawer of her wardrobe unit and got out two large towels.
When she returned he was standing in exactly the same spot and he was shivering even more violently than before.
"Dry your hair and start getting out of those wet clothes," she told him, "while I fetch something to put them in."
She hung the bathrobe from one of the coat hooks near the door, then handed him the towels, before dashing back down the hall to the kitchen where she grabbed her empty laundry basket.
When she returned he was fumbling with his shirt buttons, the towels draped around his neck.
"You dry your hair," Martha told him, "I'll get your clothes off." She knelt and unfastened his shoes which were so sodden that she wrestled to get the laces undone.
When she looked up he was struggling to grasp the towel and she realised abruptly that his fingers and lips were turning blue.
"Doctor, you're suffering from hypothermia."
He tried to nod, but couldn't muster the energy to do more than jerk his head slightly.
"Come on," she said. She tugged on his arm, and got him to walk with her down the hall, although he was stumbling by now. "We need to get you dry and warm."
She got him to stand by the bed while she stripped off his sodden clothes, although getting his jeans off wasn't an easy task; they were so wet, and the heavy material clung to his legs. Then she wrapped the towels around his naked body to soak up the worst of the wet, and felt glad that she'd had plenty of practise at maintaining a professional demeanour.
"Let's get you into bed," she said, throwing back the duvet before she helped him to lie down. Then she delved into her drawers again and pulled out some blankets, which she bundled around him.
"I'm going to make you some tea, okay? You need warmth inside you as well. I'll be as quick as I can." She leant down and kissed his forehead, and she saw tears in the corners of his eyes.
Martha hurried into the kitchen, wondering what on Earth he was doing here; she had thought that Donna, the Doctor, and his human counterpart were going to travel together after she, Jack, and the others had left them. She considered ringing the Doctor, but decided that could wait: the most important thing was to get the human Doctor's core temperature back up to normal, otherwise he'd die. She filled two thermos flasks with hot, sweet tea, and then a large mug as well, and put them all onto a tray which she carried into her bedroom.
He was lying very still with his eyes closed and she had a brief moment of panic, thinking he'd slipped into unconsciousness, but then his eyes fluttered open as she approached the bed, and relief swept through her. She set the tray down carefully, then climbed onto the bed beside him and lifted him up, wrapping an arm around him. Then she picked up the mug of tea and brought it to his lips.
"Carefully, now," she said, "it's hot, so just sip it for the moment, okay?"
He mumbled an agreement indistinctly, and opened his mouth a little way. It took them five minutes to get just half the tea inside him and then Martha put it aside for the time being.
"I'm going to lock up and then I'll be back," she told him, helping him to lie down again.
He gave that odd jerk of the head again, and she brushed his damp hair off his forehead with a gentle hand.
Martha went back to the kitchen, put his clothes in the washing machine and programmed it to start the next morning, then she switched off the kitchen and sitting room lights, and locked the front door, before nipping into the bathroom to change into her pyjamas.
The human Doctor opened his eyes again when she climbed into the bed beside him; his expression took on a deer-caught-in-the-headlights quality when she unwrapped the blankets and snuggled up close to his side before pulling the blankets back around them both.
"It's okay," she told him, "sharing body warmth with someone is a good way to deal with hypothermia."
He grunted, which she took to mean he understood, and his eyes closed again. She made a mental note to wake up and give him some more tea in 45 minutes, then fell asleep.
* * * * * *
It was a long night for both of them, but by six on Christmas morning there was a fair bit of colour in his cheeks and he was able to speak clearly, and to hold the fresh mug of tea that she brought for him.
"Thank you," he said, accepting the mug, "for last night, too."
"What happened?" she asked as she got back into bed beside him.
"The Doctor and I had a row, and he kicked me out," he said, "dumped me here on Earth with no money, nor my coat, and buggered off who knows where."
"What did you row about?" Martha asked, curiously.
"Donna."
She gave him a surprised look. "Donna? Why?"
"You know he wiped her memories of their travels?"
"What?" she asked, jerking upright and splashing tea on herself. "Damn." She set down the mug and grabbed a tissue to rub at the wet spots on her pyjama top. "No, I didn't know about that."
He looked away, clearly upset. "I'm sorry, I thought you knew. The human-Time Lord metacrisis was in danger of burning her mind out, so the Doctor wiped all her memories. I wanted him to transfer her Time Lord consciousness into a fob watch, like when he became John Smith to escape from the Family, and like - well, you know." He didn't finish the sentence, not wanting to remind Martha of the Master. He swallowed hard, and she patted his arm.
"It's okay," she said softly.
"He didn't want to try that, said he wasn't convinced it would work, so he wiped her memories, even though she begged him not to, and took her back to her mum and Wilf." He paused to rub a hand over his eyes. "Anyway, if she's ever reminded of anything about her time with the Doctor, she'll die."
"God!" Martha felt angry with herself for not keeping in contact with Donna, and with the Doctor for treating her friend so casually. She felt the human Doctor put a hand on her arm and forced her anger down, rubbing her wet eyes.
"Go on with your story," she said.
He squeezed her arm before continuing, explaining that he'd asked the Doctor if they could try to find some way of helping Donna. "I wanted to check out a couple of scientific institutes where they specialise in neurology. He told me I had to give up the idea of helping Donna because there was nothing that could be done, and I insisted that we should explore as many avenues as possible. We had an almighty row, and then he said I needed time to cool down. I don't know if he even knew where he was dumping me; I do know he didn't care though."
"I'll be giving him an earful when I speak to him," Martha growled.
He opened his mouth to tell her not to bother, but then caught sight of the fierce expression on her face, and closed his mouth again. "Thank you."
She shook her head and found a smile from somewhere. "Right, I suggest we think as little about him as possible," she said, "or my goodwill will go right out of the window. Since it's Christmas day, that would be uncomfortable."
"It's Christmas?" he asked, sounding surprised.
"Yes. Couldn't you tell?"
"Well, I saw the decorations, but I didn't know the exact date," he answered, "and I was too preoccupied with trying to find you last night to worry about which day it was."
"How did you find me?" Martha asked curiously.
"I remembered the street from when the Doctor and Donna dropped you off after the trip to Messaline," he answered, "but I didn't know the name of it, or where exactly in London you were, so I just walked until I found it."
"Why didn't you look for me in the phone book?"
"What phone book?" he retorted, sounding irritated. "Telephone boxes, if you can find one in this age of mobile phones, don't carry them these days. And the libraries were already closed by the time I got to Earth."
"Sorry, I wasn't thinking. How long were you walking?"
"Six hours."
"No wonder you were developing hypothermia," Martha said sympathetically.
He nodded. "Thanks for looking after me last night. I think I would have died otherwise." He looked away, a sheepish expression on his face. "I keep forgetting that a human's physiology is less sturdy than a Time Lord's."
"How long has it been for you?"
"Three months."
"Well it's not surprising you haven't got used to being human then," she said. "not when you've got centuries' worth of memories of being a Time Lord in your head." She rubbed his arm and was neither surprised nor displeased when he promptly lifted it up and put it around her shoulders.
"Do you know what?"
"What?"
"You are good."
Martha laughed a little at him echoing her words to his other self. "By the way, what name are you going by? I've been calling you 'the human Doctor' in my head, but it seems a bit long-winded."
He shrugged. "I call myself that too."
"Seriously?" she asked, peering up at his face.
"Yeah."
"Well you should have a proper name. What about John Smith, the name the Doctor's used before?"
He shook his head. "No, I don't want that one. If I'm going to have a name of my own, I want it to be something he hasn't used already."
"So what do you fancy then?"
"You," he answered very quietly.
"Eh?" asked Martha, thinking she had misheard him.
"What about Handy?" He didn't repeat his previous remark, and she decided she must have imagined it.
"Handy? What sort of name's that?"
"Well I was created from a hand," he said, sounding a little defensive.
"I know," she said soothingly, "but it's a bit odd. It's fine as a nickname, like 'Handy Andy' or something."
"Okay, okay. I'll stick with John then."
She thought he sounded a bit impatient. "What about a last name then if you don't want Smith again?"
"Jones, Jones is a good name." He looked at her expression. "Okay, not Jones."
"What about Noble?" Martha suggested.
His face lit up in a big grin, and he tugged her closer to plant a smacking kiss on her forehead. "I bloody love you!" he exclaimed, unconsciously echoing something Donna had once said to the Doctor.
"Thanks," she answered, laughing with pleasure at his obvious delight.
"I'm serious, you know," John told her with a quicksilver change of mood.
"I don't doubt you are. Pleased to meet you, John Noble."
He shook his head, looking impatient. "No, I meant I'm serious when I say I love you."
Martha opened her mouth to answer, but he rushed on before she could speak.
"He loves you, too, but he'll never tell you, he's too scared." She didn't have to ask who 'he' was. "But I'm not. I think you're smart, caring and beautiful. You put up with a lot of crap when you were travelling with him and he's never even thanked you properly, so I'm going to."
Before she could ask what he meant, he ducked his head and kissed her firmly on the mouth; she gasped, surprised, and pulled back.
"What's wrong?" John asked, looking hurt. "Don't I kiss well?"
"You kiss very well," she answered, "but this is a bit sudden, don't you think?"
He frowned. "How can it be sudden? I've known you for two years."
"The Doctor has known me for two years," she said gently. "You're not the Doctor, even if you do look like him and have all his memories. We've only met once before, remember."
"Don't you like me then?" He looked down at the blankets and fiddled with a loose thread.
"I hardly know you," she answered, "although I admit I'm predisposed to like you in the circumstances."
She reached up and held his face, stroking a finger down his sideburn. "Don't take this the wrong way, okay? I just don't want to rush into anything one or both of us might regret later."
He looked sulky, but after a few minutes he nodded. "Okay."
"Good. Since we're both awake why don't we get some breakfast and I'll ring my mum in a bit to let her know there'll be one extra for dinner."
"No, you don't have to do that," he said hastily.
"Not scared of my mum, are you?" she teased gently.
"Certainly not," he answered immediately. "I just don't want her to have to go to any trouble for me. Besides, you know me, I'm rubbish at Christmases: something always goes wrong."
Martha folded her arms across her chest and looked at him. "You have never experienced Christmas," she said. "The Doctor's the one who's had trouble with Christmases, not you. Besides, I'm not leaving you here on your own, not after the Doctor ditched you."
He opened his mouth to object.
"John, don't," she said.
He sighed heavily. "You're a determined little woman, aren't you?"
"And don't you forget it, mister," she told him. "Now, do you want to have a shower before breakfast?"
"I'll wait until my clothes are ready to wear, unless you think I stink?" he asked anxiously.
"You don't," she assured him. She climbed out of bed and delved into a drawer, then carried the items she'd pulled out over to the bed.
"Here, I don't want you getting cold again, after last night. The trousers are going to be too short in the leg, I know, but they're better than nothing, and since they've got a drawstring waist, you should be able to keep them up. And the jumper's going to be a bit short in the arms, but at least you'll have something on your chest. I don't want you developing pneumonia," she told him. "And the ski socks will probably fit you since I bought them to wear over my boots in winter, so they're several sizes too big for my feet."
"I haven't got any underwear, I'm afraid, but I, uh, noticed you weren't wearing any last night." She could feel her cheeks heating up and hoped he wouldn't notice the blush on her darker skin. Then she looked up and saw that he was blushing too, which made her feel less embarrassed.
"Thanks for the clothes." His voice sounded a little husky.
"You're welcome. I'm going to have a shower before I get dressed, but feel free to make yourself at home."
He nodded and Martha gathered up her own clothes and headed into the bathroom, leaving John to get dressed in the borrowed clothes.
* * * * * *
They spent half the morning talking about Martha's work and John's travels with the Doctor, then they watched "It's a Wonderful Life" on television and had a light lunch, before Martha drove them both over to her mum's. He fretted a bit about not having any presents to give to anyone, but she assured him that it didn't matter because no one would be expecting gifts from him.
"Just try to relax, okay?" she said as they stood on the doorstep waiting for Francine to let them in.
He nodded, then clasped her hand, entwining his fingers with hers and she promptly squeezed his fingers. He dropped her hand hastily when Francine's front door was opened and a young man stood in the doorway.
"Hi Martha."
"Hi Leo. This is John Noble. John, my brother Leo."
"Hi John."
The two men shook hands, and then Leo stepped aside to allow them into the house which was full of warmth, pleasant smells and the sound of Christmas music playing not too loudly.
Francine came bustling out of the kitchen and hugged Martha, then turned to John, who offered his hand.
"Don't be silly," she said, and hugged him too. "Welcome to the Jones family Christmas."
Martha could see a startled expression on his face over her mum's shoulder and she smiled up at him, wondering if he was remembering the way Francine had slapped the Doctor the first time they met.
"Thank you," he said once Francine let go of him. "I'm sorry, I don't - "
She cut him off. "Don't apologise for anything," she said, "just come in and say hello to everyone else."
Martha slipped her hand into his and led him into the large sitting room, where she performed the introductions. She noticed that Clive and Tish both started a little, even though she'd asked her mum to explain to them both that John was the Doctor's clone, for want of a better word. But they were both friendly and welcoming, Tish persuading him to sit on the sofa between her and Leo's girlfriend, Shonara.
Martha left him there and joined her mum in the kitchen. "Do you need a hand?" she asked.
"You could open some wine for me, please," Francine said. She went back to the stove, checking the state of the vegetables, as Martha got the corkscrew from the drawer and began pulling the first cork.
"How many of these am I opening?" asked Martha.
"Just two for now. Does John drink?"
"No idea," admitted her daughter, "it's not something we've discussed as yet. The Doctor drank very occasionally, but I don't know about John."
"Is it weird, having him around?" asked Francine curiously.
"It felt a bit weird first thing this morning, but I've got used to it now. His personality's a kind of mixture of Donna's and the Doctor's, and he seems quite vulnerable somehow. I think he's got used to defining himself almost entirely in relation to the Doctor, and now he feels a bit lost, as if he's no longer sure who he is."
"Is he going to stay with you until the Doctor comes to fetch him again?"
Martha looked over at her mum. "Do you think he shouldn't?" she asked, her tone a little sharp.
Francine shrugged. "It's nothing to do with me," she answered. "You're a grown woman now, Martha, and you know your own mind. Just be careful, that's all I ask. I don't want to lose you."
"I'm not going anywhere," Martha answered. "I'm Earth-bound now. I might take the occasional trip to help the Doctor out, but I'm not going travelling with him again any time soon. I thought you knew that my work with UNIT was too important to me?"
"I do know," Francine assured her. She shook her head. "Don't mind me, I'm probably just being a foolish old woman."
Martha crossed to her mum's side. "You are neither foolish nor old," she said, hugging her mum from behind, resting her cheek against her back. "You are, however, a mother, and everyone knows that mothers always worry about their children, even when they're quite grown up."
Francine turned around and hugged her daughter back. "How did you get to be so wise, so young?" she asked lightly.
"I had good teachers," Martha answered. "You and Gran taught me a lot."
The kitchen door opened behind them and they both turned to see Leo in the doorway. "I was going to get some pre-dinner drinks for everyone," he explained.
"I'll give you a hand," Martha said, and moved away from her mum.
* * * * * *
Three hours later, after a very enjoyable dinner, lots of conversation and some laughter, John helped Martha into a taxi; she had decided that she'd had a bit too much to drink to risk driving them back to her flat.
"I'll walk over and pick up my car tomorrow," she told Francine, who nodded agreement and waved them off.
"How's your head?" Martha asked John.
"Fine," he answered, "but then I didn't drink that much."
"Well, I didn't either," Martha said. "I just thought it best to be a responsible person."
"I wasn't criticising," he said hastily,
"I know." She snuggled up against him and he put an arm around her, smiling unseen as she slid her own arm across his chest and under the jacket she'd loaned him.
Martha groaned a bit when she realised she'd have to move once they reached her flat, but they disentangled themselves and went inside together, their arms wrapped around each other.
"Thank you for taking me to your family's Christmas dinner," John said as Martha hung up their coats.
"You're welcome." She slid her arm through his and led them into the kitchen. "Coffee?"
"Yes please." He perched on a chair and watched as she moved around the room, thinking how beautiful she looked.
"I can feel you staring at me," she said, without turning around.
He chuckled. "Of course I'm staring: you're a beautiful woman."
Martha turned, eyebrows raised in a quizzical look, and he slipped off the chair and moved across to her side.
"You know you look adorable when you do that," he said, sliding his arms around her waist.
"Oh really?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Definitely," he asserted, then dipped his head to kiss her. To his delight she didn't pull away as she had that morning; instead she wrapped her arms around his skinny waist and returned the kiss fervently.
When they broke apart for air, John rested his forehead against Martha's, breathing heavily. "I forgot I don't have a respiratory bypass any more," he said.
"The perils of being human," she murmured, before kissing him again.
After a couple of minutes John pulled away again. "Can we skip the coffee and go to bed?"
"I can live with that," she answered, grabbing his hand and tugging him across the kitchen. She turned out the kitchen and hall lights as they passed, then pushed him towards the bed.
They undressed each other quickly, desire coursing through their veins, and then John pulled Martha down onto the bed and began kissing her again. As he began to kiss a path down her body, Martha reached across to the bedside table and fumbled in the drawer. It had been a while since she'd been in a relationship, but she was fairly sure there were still some condoms in there.
"Oh!" She felt dizzy with desire when John's mouth reached her centre, and when he slipped two fingers inside her while nibbling on her clit, she thought she might pass out. As she came, he hummed with satisfaction and Martha cried out in pleasure.
After her third climax, she tugged at his head to persuade him to move back up her body, so he kissed a path back up to her throat, and she reached down between their bodies to put on the condom.
"Please John," she said, her voice low and husky as she began to guide his length inside herself.
"So beautiful," he murmured, kissing and nipping at her neck and ear. He pushed his hips forward and pinned her to the bed with a growl, then began to thrust at a steady pace. When he came, he growled her name, while she repeated his breathlessly.
Afterwards he pulled the bedding up over them, spooning up against Martha's back, then wrapped his arms around her middle before they both fell asleep.
* * * * * *
New Year's Eve
The Doctor hadn't turned up looking for John, and Martha finally rang him on New Year's Eve. John was in the bedroom, finishing changing, but he could hear Martha's side of the conversation and he wondered if the Time Lord would regret keeping her old mobile.
"Hello Doctor."
"Hello Martha."
"Did you know that your travelling companion is currently staying with me, and has been since Christmas Eve when you abandoned him? And do you care that he almost died of hypothermia thanks to your callous behaviour?"
"I - "
"You're lucky he managed to find me, or he'd been six foot under by now," she said, not allowing him to speak.
"I'm sorry, Martha, but it's not entirely my fault. After I left him on Earth, I got caught in a storm in the Time winds of the Vortex and I had to make a forced emergency landing. I've been making repairs on the TARDIS ever since, and I've only just finished them."
"And you couldn't ring and let me or John know that?" she demanded angrily.
The Doctor winced on the other end of the line. "You're right, I should have rung you, but I got caught up in doing the repair work. I'm sorry."
"I'm not the one you should be apologising to," Martha said crossly.
"I'll be there shortly," he told her, "and I'll apologise to you both in person."
"Well you'd better make it quick," she retorted, "because John and I are going out in twenty minutes to a New Year's Eve party."
"I'll be there," he promised.
"Good." She hung up and went to find John. He was just fastening his bow tie on his borrowed tux and Martha felt as if she might melt at the sight of him.
In the time since he'd turned up she and John had spent a lot of time talking about her time with the Doctor, and about some of the Doctor's earlier travels. They had also spent a fair bit of time making love, learning about each other's bodies and what they each enjoyed the most. A couple of times Martha found herself wondering where this was all going, and whether she was going to end up miserable when John rejoined the Doctor on his travels, but she didn't mention it to John. It wasn't that she was burying her head in the sand, so much as that she didn't want to spoil the time they had together; in the end she decided to treat it as a holiday romance: intense and pleasurable while it lasted, and something to be remembered with affection once he was gone.
"The Doctor's on his way," Martha told John, crossing the room to tweak his bow tie straight, and then smooth down his lapels.
"Whatever," he answered. "I'm still taking you to this party. He can either come with us or he can sit in the TARDIS, moaning about how lonely he is, but we are going to this party."
Martha raised an eyebrow at him.
"I may be channelling my Donna side," he admitted. "But she was right to call him a 'space dumbo'. He's got so many friends here on Earth still, but he avoids seeing them, and it's completely stupid. He cares about them, they care about him, so why does he deny himself their friendship?"
He threw up his hands. "I just hope he gets here soon, so I can tell him just what I think of him."
As if the Doctor had heard John's words, they both heard a familiar groaning, wheezing sound from the hall, and John followed Martha out of her bedroom just as the Doctor opened the TARDIS door. The Time Lord looked wary, they noticed, as if he thought he might get yelled at, or possibly slapped (one thing John had definitely inherited from Donna was her habit of slapping the Doctor when he was being extra annoying).
"Hello Martha, John."
"Hello Doctor." They spoke in unison, and the Time Lord's eyes narrowed slightly.
"John, I'm sorry I didn't come back for you sooner. As I told Martha, I - "
"I don't want to hear it," John interrupted. "Martha and I are going to a party at Sarah Jane's, and I daresay she wouldn't mind if you came too. We can talk about this later."
The Doctor stood, mouth hanging foolishly open, staring at his other self and his former companion. Then he closed his mouth and swallowed audibly. "Party, right."
John arched an eyebrow at the Time Lord, who nodded. "Okay, we'll talk later," he said, "and yes, I'll come to Sarah Jane's party."
He waited while Martha put on her coat. "Do you want your coat?" she asked John.
"Yes please."
A few minutes later, they climbed into the taxi Martha had booked and headed off to Bannerman Road. No one spoke in the car, but it didn't escape the Doctor's notice that his human counterpart was discreetly holding hands with Martha, and he felt his spirits sink just a little.
* * * * * *
Sarah Jane was surprised, but not displeased, when she opened her front door to find that Martha had brought both the Doctor and his human counterpart with her to the party. Martha spent much of it in ensuring that the Doctor and John were never alone together as she wasn't convinced that John wouldn't slap the Doctor or give him an earful.
Although she was trying to be discreet, Martha knew that Sarah Jane and the Doctor had spotted her kissing John at one point when they'd been talking in a corner; she'd looked up and seen the Time Lord's hurt expression, and felt both guilty and annoyed, but as she watched she saw Sarah Jane was talking intently to the Doctor.
"They look like they're having a good time," Sarah Jane commented to the Doctor as they watched John and Martha.
"Yes," he answered, feeling happy for Martha, but envious of John.
"What about you?" asked Sarah Jane.
"What about me?" he asked, feigning ignorance of her meaning.
"Are you having a good time? I must admit, I didn't expect to find you on my doorstep as well tonight."
"I'm fine," the Doctor answered.
Sarah Jane looked up at him, then over at Martha and John. "Come on," she said, taking his hand in hers and leading him through the house to the kitchen.
He looked around, taking in the peach décor and the big blue Aga. "Are you having trouble with that?" he asked, nodding at it and reaching into his pocket for his glasses.
"No, silly," she said, "sit down." Sarah Jane poured them both a drink. "Here, I haven't seen you drinking anything yet tonight, and one glass won't hurt."
The Doctor sat down, wondering what was going on.
"I wanted to talk to you," she said.
"What about?" he asked warily.
"You, and your companions. Don't go," she said, putting a hand on his wrist as he began to push back his chair. "Just for once, will you sit still and listen, please?"
He raised a quizzical eyebrow. "I can tell you're a mother now," he commented, then smirked.
"Don't try to change the subject," Sarah Jane said sternly.
He picked up his glass and buried his face in it, wondering why she'd dragged him out here; not that he really wanted to watch his human self with Martha: it was too painful a reminder of what he might have had and had lost.
"I meant what I said to you before," Sarah Jane said, "about you having a big family on Earth. You've got a lot of former travelling companions scattered around, all of whom, so far as I know, care very much about you. I know that you care about us, however much you might try to hide it."
She slipped her free hand into his and squeezed his fingers. "You don't have to be alone, unless you want to be. I know we're only humans, and therefore it's not the same as having your own family or people, but we are here, and I think most of us would gladly spend time with you, sharing our family lives in whatever ways we can. You've given us all so much, would it really hurt to let us give you something back, however small?"
He shook his head, unable to speak past the lump in his throat, and Sarah Jane leaned forward to kiss his forehead. "Think about it," she said softly, in his ear, then she went back to the party.
The Doctor blinked back tears and swallowed the lump in his throat, thinking about John's longing for Donna to be DoctorDonna again, and how he'd heard John refer to Donna as his sister a couple of times. He thought about the family he'd run away from; the granddaughter whom he'd left to find her own happiness, even though shutting her out of the TARDIS had been the hardest thing he'd had to do up to that point; the friends he'd lost when he'd destroyed his planet. He thought about John's 'birth', and how much Donna was a part of him, and he realised that losing Donna that way, rather than through death, was actually more painful for John because the human Doctor felt that she was still within reach.
He sighed heavily and resolved to talk to John and Martha: he owed it to both of them to explain why he was resisting trying to find a way to restore Donna's memories again.
* * * * * *
A taxi got Martha, John and the Doctor back to her place by half past twelve, and Martha let them in.
"If you two are going to have a big argument, go into the TARDIS," she said as she unlocked the door of her flat. "I don't want you disturbing my neighbours."
She dropped her keys onto the hall table, shed her coat, and then headed straight to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. After a moment she became aware that she was not alone and looked up to see John and the Doctor both watching her warily.
"Well?" she asked as she filled the kettle.
"We're not going to row," John said, "I promise."
"Good. Tea?"
She got two nods, so she took out the teapot and grabbed three mugs.
"When are you two leaving?" she asked, without turning around.
"I'm not," answered John.
Martha looked up, startled. "What?" She saw a look of surprise on the Doctor's face too, and realised he hadn't expected this answer either.
"I'm not leaving," he answered. "I want to stay on Earth for a bit." He paused and swallowed hard before speaking again. "With you, if you'll have me."
"What will you do? How will you live?" asked the Doctor. "You can't sponge off Martha."
"I won't!" snapped John, sparks in his eyes. He saw Martha's expression and softened his own manner. "I'll find a job, with UNIT if they'll have me, or doing something else if they won't: I can teach, draw, build gadgets, use computers. I'll find some way of earning money."
The Doctor looked at Martha, and saw she was looking dazed, as if she hadn't allowed herself to consider the possibility that John would want to stay on Earth.
"What do you think?" asked the Time Lord.
"I think I need to sit down," she answered, pulling out a chair and dropping into it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spring this on you," John said, moving to kneel beside the chair and taking her hands in his. "If you don't want me to stay with you, I'll find a place of my own. I - "
"Silly fool," she whispered. "I do want you to stay. She reached up and ran a finger down his sideburn. "I've grown accustomed to your face."
He gave a choked laugh, recalling the long conversation about identity and selfhood that they'd had after watching 'My Fair Lady' on the television the other afternoon.
"Me too," he answered softly. He looked up at the Doctor, who was still standing by the kitchen door, watching them with a mixture of emotions.
"Right, well, I'll be off then," he said suddenly, obviously trying to hide his feelings behind his usual manic manner. "You don't want me getting in the way of - "
"Don't," Martha said quickly, getting up and going to the Doctor. "Don't mock, and don't try to pretend you don't mind, because we all know you do."
She wrapped her arms around him. "You don't have to rush away, either," she said. "Even if you and John aren't going to have a row, I do think you should talk about the reasons for the one you had before John arrived here."
He looked down at her upturned face, then at John, who'd moved to join them.
"Martha's right," John said softly. "We should talk before you go. I don't want us to part company without us being friends."
"All right," the Doctor answered.
Martha moved away to make the tea. "Why don't you go and sit down in the other room," she suggested. "I'll be there in a minute."
She heard them go and blew out a breath: John had taken her completely by surprise in saying that he wanted to stay; she knew he'd enjoyed being with her over the last few days, but she had expected him to go off again with the Doctor. She made the tea, then carried the tray carefully into the other room.
* * * * * *
It was 3 am before the Doctor finally left, and John carried Martha to bed; she'd fallen asleep about fifteen minutes earlier and hadn't woken when the TARDIS dematerialised. He carefully set her down on the bed, then went to lock up and turn out the lights; he changed into his pyjamas (bought in the December 26 sale, along with various other items of clothing), then began undressing Martha, at which point she woke up again.
"Sorry, love," he said softly.
"It's okay," she answered sleepily. They got her into her pyjamas between them, then she snuggled up against him, one arm sliding across his chest to rest over his heart.
"I'm glad you're staying," she told him, sounding as if she was more asleep than awake.
"Thank you. I'm glad too." He kissed her hair. "Go back to sleep."
"G'night John."
"Goodnight Martha." He heard her sigh contentedly, and smiled, then allowed sleep to claim him too.