Hope
Who_Daily Link: < a href="http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/265000.html">Hope by < lj user=persiflage_1> (Characters: Martha/Nighy!Eleven | Rating: G | Spoilers: None - AU Post-S4)
Title: Hope
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Martha/Nighy!Eleven
Rating: G
Spoilers: None (AU Post-S4)
Summary: The newly regenerated Eleventh Doctor seeks out an old friend to help him.
Disclaimer: I occasionally wish that I did own it!
Author Notes: Chronologically, this is the first story of my Whoniverse fics for 20_est_relships. The prompt was 10. Hope. (Prompt table here and timeline here.)
Beta: the kindly fourzoas
~~~~~~
Fic banner by mischief89
The Doctor gingerly picked himself up from the floor of the Control Room, feeling slightly disorientated: regeneration tended to leave him feeling rough anyway, but regenerating without a companion around to support him felt even worse. It reminded him too much of his regeneration from his eighth to his ninth incarnation when he'd woken to find himself the last of his people. He held onto the edge of the console and felt a wave of longing for a friendly face, so he set the coordinates for Earth, asking the TARDIS to find Martha Jones for him. He just hoped the young medic wouldn't mind him turning up out of the blue in a new body, especially as he hadn't seen her since Davros had tried to destroy the universe.
As soon as the TARDIS was on her way he set off unsteadily towards the wardrobe to find some new clothes - his suit was hanging off his new body, and the bits that weren't torn had been burnt by the acid of the Dykräk which had been responsible for his death and regeneration. He winced at the memory of crawling three hundred yards across the broken terrain between its lair and the safety of the TARDIS - only the knowledge that the explosives he'd planted outside the Dykräk's lair were due to go off shortly had kept him from simply lying down and dying - he hadn't fancied his chances for regeneration after being blown to bits.
He could vaguely recall crawling inside the TARDIS just moments before the explosives had gone off: the shockwave had slammed into his ship, causing her to shake violently, and he had a feeling he'd died soon after that, the regeneration transforming his body into a stockier one than his previous incarnation. As he clambered up the spiral staircase to the wardrobe level he wanted, the Doctor wondered if he was ginger this time around.
* * * * * *
Martha Jones sat in her office, reading through the final report on Project Indigo which she was due to present to UNIT's senior staff after lunch. As Medical Director for the Project and the device's first ever user, she'd had a good deal of involvement in all aspects of its development after the business with Davros had brought the Project's handful of surviving staff back to England.
It had been almost eighteen months since Davros had moved the Earth, and during that time she'd tried only to think about her work, particularly what it would mean for UNIT staff to have access to a functioning teleportation device, and not think too much about what had happened that day. Those who'd died, including General Sanchez and most of the staff at UNIT's Manhattan HQ, were a painful memory, but the most personal loss had been Tom Milligan. When the director of his Doctors Without Borders project had rung her the next day to tell her that Tom had been killed protecting a number of sick children from the Daleks, she'd immediately told Mrs Santender that she'd always known Tom Milligan was a hero.
Eighteen months ago
Francine stayed with Martha for a week after she officially returned to London from New York, roughly 24 hours after the Doctor had dropped off her, Jack, Mickey and Sarah Jane in a London park. She'd spent the intervening time in dealing with the necessary paperwork, then packing her few belongings to bring them back to her London flat.
"I'm sorry about Tom," Francine said that night as she and Martha sat drinking hot chocolate before they went to bed. "He seemed like a good man."
"He was. One of the best," Martha answered simply, her voice full of pain, but her eyes dry. She still hadn't wept for Tom, and she wondered if that meant she hadn't loved him as much as she'd thought when they'd become engaged. "This makes twice that he's died to save other people's lives." She turned the empty mug around in her hands, staring blindly at it. "Of course, there was no rewind button this time around, so he won't be coming back again."
Francine put her arm around Martha's shoulders. She didn't know what to say; she knew her daughter had experienced a living hell for the year that she'd been walking the earth while she and her family had been imprisoned aboard the Valiant, but at the same time Martha had known that if the Doctor's desperately mad plan worked, then all those people whom she'd seen dying would be alive again. She knew, from the few things Martha had told her, that it had been a small comfort to her daughter to know this, and that the knowledge had kept her going during her trek.
Martha looked down at her engagement ring and Francine looked too, remembering how amazed her daughter had sounded when she'd rung to tell her that Tom had proposed. She tightened her clasp on Martha's shoulder as she drew off her ring.
"What are you going to do with it?" asked Francine curiously.
"I thought I would sell it, and then give the proceeds to Mrs Santender to use: the village where Tom was killed needs a new well. I could put some of my own money to it too, and maybe they could call it Milligan's Well or something." She clenched her hand tightly around the ring.
"How much does it cost to put in a new well?" asked her mother.
"£100, I think."
"Why don't you find out and let me know, and I'll make a donation too. You could ask Tom's colleagues at the hospital, too," she suggested. "Maybe between us can raise enough for more than just a new well."
Martha nodded, then picked up her mother's empty mug. "Think I'm going to bed," she said, sounding exhausted.
Francine nodded. "Me too." She hugged Martha, then kissed her brow. "Goodnight love."
"Night mum."
Now
Martha thought briefly of the well that now existed in the village where Tom had worked and died: she'd been sent photos of it, including one of the plaque that had been put on it to commemorate Tom's sacrifice. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the memory, determined to finish reading her report.
* * * * * *
Only a few minutes after returning to her office after presenting the Project Indigo final report, Martha was startled by a familiar yet unexpected noise from the lab that adjoined her office: the wheezing, groaning sound of the TARDIS materialising. She hurried next door and was just in time to see the door open and a stranger step out of the ship.
"Hello Martha Jones."
"Doctor?" she asked, doubtfully, taking in an older looking man with grey hair and piercing blue eyes, who wore a black suit and black leather shoes.
"The same," he agreed.
"What happened?" she asked. "I mean, I can see you've regenerated, but how and why?" She stepped closer. "And are you okay? You look a bit - well, washed out."
"I feel it," he said. "I - uh - I admit I'm here for purely selfish reasons."
She cocked her head to one side, looking up at him. Had he got taller in this incarnation, she wondered. "What reasons?" she asked softly.
He flushed and looked down at the floor before he answered. "I wanted your company," he said. "It's only a few hours since my regeneration and I still feel a bit wobbly, and I felt the need for a friendly face."
It was Martha's turn to flush. "Why me, though? Why not Jack or Sarah Jane? You've known both of them longer than you've known me."
He looked up at that and smiled gently. "I wanted my doctor," he answered.
"You're daft," she said, but she smiled back at him and stepped close enough to give him a hug.
The Doctor sighed with relief as he wrapped his arms around her familiar form. "Hello."
"Hello yourself," she responded with a slight laugh. "Do you want a cup of tea?"
"I'd love one," he said promptly.
"Come through into my office, then, and we can have a cup and catch up." She tightened her arms around him for a moment before letting go and leading the way to her office.
"Take a seat." Martha gestured at the chair facing her desk, then stepped over to the corner and checked the water level in her kettle before switching it on. Then she found another mug before turning to the Time Lord. "How do you take it now?" she asked.
"Um, no idea." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, and she was slightly amused to see he'd retained that habit.
"Then I'll make it black, and you can add milk and sugar as you choose."
"Thank you." He looked around her office while she made the tea, taking in the full bookcases ranged along the longest wall, the skeleton hanging on a stand in the corner behind the door, two large filing cabinets alongside the window, and the large desk on which a laptop was sitting connected to a flat screen monitor.
"Here you go." Martha set a large mug of tea in front of him, then put down some sugar sachets and individual milk cartons as well. "Sorry it's a bit make-do," she said. "It just saves me having to trek down to the canteen if I'm working late."
"This is fine, thank you." He smiled at her briefly, then turned his attention back to the tea.
"So, what happened?" she asked, settling into her seat on the other side of the desk.
He took a cautious sip of the tea, scowled, added some milk and sugar, tasted again, then added more milk.
"I killed a Dykräk, and it killed me," he said.
"A Dykräk? What's that?"
"It looks a lot like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but it's yellow and green, and slimy." He pulled a face. "The literal translation of its name is 'Slime beast'. The slime of a Dykräk is highly acidic, and therefore very destructive. This one was threatening to destroy all life on Pelycosaur because it was killing the crops and cattle, and making the land infertile and the water undrinkable. If left to itself, the planet would have become a barren wasteland within a few weeks."
"So you killed it?" she asked doubtfully.
"Eventually, yes," he said, scowling down at his tea. "I tried to lure it away from its lair. I was going to take it somewhere else in the TARDIS - although she'd have probably been very cranky with me for taking it on board. But I couldn't get it out so I had to destroy it." He glanced up at Martha's intent face, then looked away quickly. "I used a lot explosive to blow up half the mountain in which it had its lair. There's no way it would have survived."
"So how did you come to die?" she asked.
"It attacked me while I was setting up the last of the explosives, and I got rather a lot of its slime on me." He shuddered involuntarily at the memory, and Martha reached across the desk to clasp his wrist.
"I'm sorry," she said gently. "Were you on your own?"
He nodded. "I haven't had a full time companion since Donna."
"That must have been lonely, just you and the TARDIS. Why haven't you come to see me?"
He glanced away, slightly ashamed by the sympathy and affection in her expression. "I felt like I'd caused enough trouble for you, one way and another," he said. "I reckoned you'd be better off without me, you and Jack and Sarah Jane. I knew the Captain and Sarah Jane had their friends, and you had Tom and your family so I figured you wouldn't want me hanging around, causing trouble."
"Oh Doctor, you are a silly man," she chided him gently. "Did you forget what Sarah Jane told you? That we're your family now."
He shrugged one shoulder. "Not exactly," he mumbled.
"So what, exactly?" He fiddled with one of the sachets of sugar, and she had a sudden flash of insight. "You didn't really believe her, did you?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Not really. I mean, I know you three care about me," he said, "but I'm not called 'The Oncoming Storm' for nothing." He pulled a face at the mug in front of him. "I've been called 'Master Stormcrow' and 'Old Man Trouble', and other similar names, often enough to have accepted that I'm bad news."
Martha sighed. "Not always, you're not," she said. He opened his mouth to speak, but she forestalled him. "Let's not argue about it. What are you going to do now?"
The Doctor glanced up at her. "I was just hoping to spend a bit of time with you," he said, looking as if he was embarrassed to make this admission. "I've still got 12 hours of my post-regenerative cycle left, and I'm not feeling too energetic just yet."
"Do you want to come back to my flat, then? Or were you hoping to go somewhere else?"
"I did wonder about going to the Eye of Orion," he admitted. "If you would be willing to go with me. I'll understand if you'd rather not, though."
"I'd love to," she said gently. "I've got the rest of the day free and no plans for this evening."
"Thank you," he said gratefully.
She flashed him a smile, then turned to her computer and closed the file she had opened before he arrived, signed out of her email, then shut it down. She picked up her phone handset, pressed some keys to activate the voicemail, and then put it down again. Finally she reached into the bottom drawer of her desk and took out her shoulder bag.
"Let's go then, Mr Smith." She came around the desk and held out her hand to him, and he got up quickly to take it.
"Thank you, Dr Jones." He waited while she locked her outer office door, then the outer door to the lab, and then let her into the TARDIS.
The ship's hum increased audibly as Martha stepped over the threshold, and she couldn't help smiling in response.
"Hello again," she said softly, rubbing her hand over the nearest coral strut before she followed the Doctor up the ramp to console.
"Would you like to help fly her?" he asked, almost shyly.
She grinned. "I'd love to."
He smiled back, obviously pleased, then told her which buttons, levers, and switches to use, and they were soon on their way.
* * * * * *
To Martha's surprise, the Eye of Orion wasn't misty as it had been the last time she and the Doctor had visited, back before they had spent two months in Farringham. She let him lead the way, glancing across at the memorial to the Time War as they walked, until he settled on a spot that overlooked a lush green valley.
She helped him unfold the large tartan picnic blanket he'd brought for them to sit on, and then sat down beside him as he stretched out on his back.
"How long is it since we last met?" asked the Doctor.
"Eighteen months."
He looked surprised. "I hadn't realised it was so long. I'm sorry." He shifted so he could look up at Martha's profile. "What have you been doing? How's Colonel Mace, and everyone else at UNIT?"
"The Colonel's okay, and we've all been pretty busy, one way and another. I've just come to the end of Project Indigo."
"What's that?"
"You remember the Sontaran teleport technology Luke Rattigan had in his rooms at the Academy?" she asked and he nodded. "Well, UNIT confiscated it - we couldn't leave it lying around, obviously. Anyway, some of the scientists worked on it and eventually reverse-engineered it to create a personal teleport device. We've been testing it in the field after its first field test under emergency conditions proved that it did work, and I was Medical Director on the project. Initially it was based in New York, but after the HQ there was almost entirely destroyed by the Daleks, the project was brought back to London."
The Doctor sat up, staring at Martha. "Wait! You're telling me that someone field tested a prototype teleport device in the middle of an emergency? What kind of idiot does that?"
She glowered at him, folding her arms across her chest, and he looked stunned as he realised that she had been the one who'd used it.
"Martha, why? Were you completely insane?"
"Why? Because UNIT HQ in Manhattan was being invaded by Daleks, and I was ordered by General Sanchez to use the prototype and take the Osterhagen Key to Germany in the hope that I could delay the Daleks' plans long enough for you to do something useful."
He winced at her implacable tone, remembering how angry he'd been when he'd learnt about the existence of the Key, and especially that she had been threatening to use it.
"Would you really have used the Key?" he asked, his tone softer.
She stared out across the valley, her body stiff and radiating hurt. "Only if it was absolutely necessary," she answered. "Do you think I liked the idea of destroying my own planet, after I was responsible for saving it from the Master? Because if you do think that, then you don't know me very well."
He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I just - I suppose I never expected that you would be the person threatening to blow up the Earth."
"I never expected to be in that position either," she answered. "I hate the idea of the Key, but I also hate the idea of someone holding everyone on Earth hostage to their insane plans. And if destroying the Earth meant saving the rest of the universe, well then I'd do it. Not easily or lightly, I assure you." She turned and looked at him, a fierce expression on her face. "I'm a doctor, remember? I've taken the Hippocratic oath, so my first rule is 'Do no harm', but I also know that sometimes in order to make a patient better, you have to temporarily harm them: cut them open for an operation to remove a tumour, for example. So I'd rather the Earth was destroyed than the whole of reality."
She turned away again, but not before the Doctor had seen that her eyes were bright with moisture, and he shifted closer.
"I'm sorry, Martha." He tentatively put an arm around her shoulders, wondering if she was too angry for a hug, but she turned towards him and they held each other without speaking for several minutes.
"It's like I said to you in the ATMOS factory," she said. "You can just come and go, but some of us have got to stay behind and do our best to protect our planet with the tools we have at hand. And while I understand your disappointment, and even your disapproval, you can't dictate to us what we can or cannot do. It's our planet and our lives, so they’re our decisions."
"I know." He pulled back and looked her in the face. "And I do trust you, Dr Jones - you, and Jack and Sarah Jane are the ones I trust most to do what's right." He pulled a face. "You humans are growing up fast, and it's not easy for me."
Martha laughed. "You make it sound like you're our father," she said.
He looked rueful. "I feel more like a disapproving grandfather." She smirked, then ruffled his hair. "Oi!" he protested.
"Oh, still vain about the hair, then?" she teased.
"Not at all," he said, "I'm just trying to maintain some dignity here."
She laughed again and hugged him a second time, glad that they’d reached an understanding over the Key.
“Tell me about your family, and Tom - how is he, still working overseas?”
At his words Martha stiffened, then pulled away carefully and turned to look back across the valley.
“Martha, what’s - Oh!” the Doctor cut himself off abruptly as he suddenly realised what he’d seen but not registered before: the lack of either an engagement or a wedding ring on her left hand. “You and Tom didn’t split up, did you?” he asked, somehow not believing this interpretation of the situation.
“Not exactly,” she answered expressionlessly.
“He’s dead?” She nodded, still not looking round. “Oh Martha, I am sorry.” He put his arms back around her and after a moment her posture relaxed again. “Will you tell me about it?”
“There’s not much to tell,” she said. “He died protecting some of the children with whom he was working when the Daleks attacked the village.” The Doctor swore under his breath and imperceptibly tightened his arms around her. “We, that is me, mum and some of his co-workers from the hospital, raised money for a well to be dug in the village because they didn’t have one, and for sanitation training as well.” She paused and swallowed hard before continuing. “And one of the children Tom saved came over here for surgery on her leg: it had been broken and reset badly, so she was lame. I knew Tom had wanted her to come over here for the operation, so I got things organised.”
“I’m very proud of you,” he said quietly. “It can’t have been easy, losing Tom like that.”
“It seemed pretty ironic,” she answered. “I helped save the Earth again, and lost Tom again, but there was no coming back for him this time. No big reset button to save his life.”
“Do you wish there was?” he asked, curiosity evident in his voice.
Martha pulled away from him, looking at him in surprise. “What do you mean?” she asked, clearly puzzled.
“Haven’t you wished that you could rewind time again, so you could bring Tom back?”
“No.” She spoke so decisively that he was startled.
“But you loved Tom. Why wouldn’t you want him back?”
“Why would I want to deny him the sacrifice he chose to make?” she asked, starting to sound angry. “He knew what he was doing on both the occasions that he sacrificed himself. It was his decision to die to save the lives of people he cared about - he wasn’t forced into it. He knew full well what he was doing, but he valued other people’s lives more highly than his own. Tom believed in me, in what you sent me to do, so he sacrificed himself to save me so I could save the world. Equally, he considered those children deserved as great a chance to survive as he could give them, so he protected them from the Daleks. He was one of the most unselfish people I’ve ever met and he loved life, but he didn’t think his own needs or wants outweighed anyone else’s.”
The Doctor nodded. “I understand,” he said softly. “Have you thought about going back to see him one last time before he died, so you could say goodbye?”
Martha frowned. “What’s this about?” she asked. “You very specifically told me that very first day we met that crossing your own timeline was ‘strictly forbidden’. I’ve been around you and UNIT long enough to know that going back to see Tom before he died would be an incredibly foolhardy, not to mention dangerous, thing to do. I wouldn’t dream of risking messing up the Web of Time you’ve told me about just for the sake of my selfish wants.“
She rubbed a hand across her face and the Doctor realised abruptly that she was crying. “Christ, Doctor! Of course I’ve wished to go back and see him one last time, to spend some time making love to him so that I could make his last day a special one. But who’s to say that wouldn’t have made losing him that much harder and more painful? And it would be staggeringly difficult to spend time with him and not interfere.”
She got to her feet, rubbing at her tears again. “Tom’s gone and he’s not coming back, and I’ve had to live with that knowledge every day for the last eighteen months, knowing that there was nothing I or anyone else, including you, could do about it.”
The Doctor watched as she strode away, anger and sorrow obvious in her expression. He rubbed at his own eyes, which were prickling with tears, and thought, not for the first time, how wise and brave Martha was. He wondered if he’d ever dare to tell her how tempted he’d been to go back and spend time with her or with Donna before either woman had left him alone. He shook his head, then got to his feet and folded up the picnic blanket, draping it around his shoulders before he set off after Martha.
He found her sitting on top of a bit of ruined wall, her shoulders hunched and her gaze distant. He stopped a few feet away, wishing he had the courage to simply walk up to her and put his arms around her, but he was worried that he’d hurt her too much.
“I’m sorry if I upset you,” he said softly. “My regeneration has brought some things to the forefront of my mind that I’ve been struggling with since we last met.”
She brought her gaze back to focus on him and saw that he looked tense and unhappy. She had just been reminding herself that he was a Time Lord and therefore he looked at everything in a different way to a short-lived human. She patted the wall beside her, and his face lit up in a joyful smile.
“It’s okay,” she told him as he perched beside her. “Your questions weren’t unreasonable, I just overreacted to them.”
“You didn’t overreact at all,” he assured her. “My questions were intrusive.”
She leant her shoulder against his. “Let’s not argue over it,” she said quietly. “Let’s just enjoy the peace and tranquillity.”
He slipped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side. “Very well, Dr Jones.”
After a while the sun came out so they spread the blanket on the grass again, then lay on their backs, enjoying the warmth and talking about Martha’s family.
“I - Oh.” The Doctor broke off whatever he was going to say to stifle a huge yawn, and Martha laughed softly.
“I think you could do with a nap,” she said. “You said it’s only been a few hours since your regeneration, so you must be tired.”
“A bit,” he agreed.
“Go to sleep then,” she urged. “I won’t be offended.”
“Thank you.”
* * * * * *
He woke up a few hours later feeling refreshed and discovered that Martha was curled up asleep against his side, his left around her. It was a pleasant way to wake up, and he felt a sudden longing for more of her company: he wondered if he could persuade her to travel with him again for a little while. He watched her sleeping face, noticing how it looked softer than when she was awake - Martha had developed an occasionally fierce expression, no doubt as a result of her experiences with him and with UNIT. There had always been strength and determination in her face before, but she’d now developed an unconscious air of authority as well.
When she woke a few minutes later, Martha blinked in surprise at the Doctor before she remembered where she was. “Sorry,” she mumbled, sitting up. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep too.”
“It’s okay,” he assured her. He sat up too. “I probably ought to be getting you back to Earth.”
“I suppose so,” she answered, and he wondered if he was imagining the reluctance in her voice.
“I don’t have to take you back yet, if you don’t want to go right now,” he said quickly. “In fact - “
“In fact what?” she asked when he didn’t immediately finish the sentence.
“I wondered whether you’d consider travelling with me again for a bit,” he said, the words coming out in a rush. “I know you’ve got your job at UNIT and your family, so it won’t be forever, but I’ve been on my own for quite a while now, and I’d be glad of a friend to keep me company for a bit.”
He stopped, his expression a mixture of hope and fear as he gazed at her.
“Okay,” she said simply.
“Really?” he asked, as if he didn’t quite believe she was agreeing.
“Yes.” She held out her arms and he wrapped his own around her, hugging her tightly.
“Thank you, Martha Jones,” he said, his face pressed against her hair.
“My pleasure, Mr Smith,” she answered. She pulled away and kissed his cheek. “We’ll have to go back to Earth so I can pick up some clothes, and I’ll have to ring my mum and let her know the situation. I’m not just going off without warning her, like I did last time.”
“No,” agreed the Doctor soberly. “Things are going to be much different this time around.” He smiled slightly. “They’ll have to be, since I’m a different man, and you’re not exactly the same woman either.” He got to his feet and helped Martha up, then he folded up the blanket before offering her his hand to walk back to the TARDIS. She took it, squeezing his fingers and smiling at him; she wasn’t sure what her mum was going to make of the news, but she didn’t much care - Martha knew the break would do her good. She had a feeling she was going to find it interesting to get to know this new incarnation of the Doctor, and she was quite certain that things would be different this time around - she hoped they’d also be fun.
Title: Hope
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Martha/Nighy!Eleven
Rating: G
Spoilers: None (AU Post-S4)
Summary: The newly regenerated Eleventh Doctor seeks out an old friend to help him.
Disclaimer: I occasionally wish that I did own it!
Author Notes: Chronologically, this is the first story of my Whoniverse fics for 20_est_relships. The prompt was 10. Hope. (Prompt table here and timeline here.)
Beta: the kindly fourzoas
~~~~~~
Fic banner by mischief89
The Doctor gingerly picked himself up from the floor of the Control Room, feeling slightly disorientated: regeneration tended to leave him feeling rough anyway, but regenerating without a companion around to support him felt even worse. It reminded him too much of his regeneration from his eighth to his ninth incarnation when he'd woken to find himself the last of his people. He held onto the edge of the console and felt a wave of longing for a friendly face, so he set the coordinates for Earth, asking the TARDIS to find Martha Jones for him. He just hoped the young medic wouldn't mind him turning up out of the blue in a new body, especially as he hadn't seen her since Davros had tried to destroy the universe.
As soon as the TARDIS was on her way he set off unsteadily towards the wardrobe to find some new clothes - his suit was hanging off his new body, and the bits that weren't torn had been burnt by the acid of the Dykräk which had been responsible for his death and regeneration. He winced at the memory of crawling three hundred yards across the broken terrain between its lair and the safety of the TARDIS - only the knowledge that the explosives he'd planted outside the Dykräk's lair were due to go off shortly had kept him from simply lying down and dying - he hadn't fancied his chances for regeneration after being blown to bits.
He could vaguely recall crawling inside the TARDIS just moments before the explosives had gone off: the shockwave had slammed into his ship, causing her to shake violently, and he had a feeling he'd died soon after that, the regeneration transforming his body into a stockier one than his previous incarnation. As he clambered up the spiral staircase to the wardrobe level he wanted, the Doctor wondered if he was ginger this time around.
* * * * * *
Martha Jones sat in her office, reading through the final report on Project Indigo which she was due to present to UNIT's senior staff after lunch. As Medical Director for the Project and the device's first ever user, she'd had a good deal of involvement in all aspects of its development after the business with Davros had brought the Project's handful of surviving staff back to England.
It had been almost eighteen months since Davros had moved the Earth, and during that time she'd tried only to think about her work, particularly what it would mean for UNIT staff to have access to a functioning teleportation device, and not think too much about what had happened that day. Those who'd died, including General Sanchez and most of the staff at UNIT's Manhattan HQ, were a painful memory, but the most personal loss had been Tom Milligan. When the director of his Doctors Without Borders project had rung her the next day to tell her that Tom had been killed protecting a number of sick children from the Daleks, she'd immediately told Mrs Santender that she'd always known Tom Milligan was a hero.
Eighteen months ago
Francine stayed with Martha for a week after she officially returned to London from New York, roughly 24 hours after the Doctor had dropped off her, Jack, Mickey and Sarah Jane in a London park. She'd spent the intervening time in dealing with the necessary paperwork, then packing her few belongings to bring them back to her London flat.
"I'm sorry about Tom," Francine said that night as she and Martha sat drinking hot chocolate before they went to bed. "He seemed like a good man."
"He was. One of the best," Martha answered simply, her voice full of pain, but her eyes dry. She still hadn't wept for Tom, and she wondered if that meant she hadn't loved him as much as she'd thought when they'd become engaged. "This makes twice that he's died to save other people's lives." She turned the empty mug around in her hands, staring blindly at it. "Of course, there was no rewind button this time around, so he won't be coming back again."
Francine put her arm around Martha's shoulders. She didn't know what to say; she knew her daughter had experienced a living hell for the year that she'd been walking the earth while she and her family had been imprisoned aboard the Valiant, but at the same time Martha had known that if the Doctor's desperately mad plan worked, then all those people whom she'd seen dying would be alive again. She knew, from the few things Martha had told her, that it had been a small comfort to her daughter to know this, and that the knowledge had kept her going during her trek.
Martha looked down at her engagement ring and Francine looked too, remembering how amazed her daughter had sounded when she'd rung to tell her that Tom had proposed. She tightened her clasp on Martha's shoulder as she drew off her ring.
"What are you going to do with it?" asked Francine curiously.
"I thought I would sell it, and then give the proceeds to Mrs Santender to use: the village where Tom was killed needs a new well. I could put some of my own money to it too, and maybe they could call it Milligan's Well or something." She clenched her hand tightly around the ring.
"How much does it cost to put in a new well?" asked her mother.
"£100, I think."
"Why don't you find out and let me know, and I'll make a donation too. You could ask Tom's colleagues at the hospital, too," she suggested. "Maybe between us can raise enough for more than just a new well."
Martha nodded, then picked up her mother's empty mug. "Think I'm going to bed," she said, sounding exhausted.
Francine nodded. "Me too." She hugged Martha, then kissed her brow. "Goodnight love."
"Night mum."
Now
Martha thought briefly of the well that now existed in the village where Tom had worked and died: she'd been sent photos of it, including one of the plaque that had been put on it to commemorate Tom's sacrifice. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the memory, determined to finish reading her report.
* * * * * *
Only a few minutes after returning to her office after presenting the Project Indigo final report, Martha was startled by a familiar yet unexpected noise from the lab that adjoined her office: the wheezing, groaning sound of the TARDIS materialising. She hurried next door and was just in time to see the door open and a stranger step out of the ship.
"Hello Martha Jones."
"Doctor?" she asked, doubtfully, taking in an older looking man with grey hair and piercing blue eyes, who wore a black suit and black leather shoes.
"The same," he agreed.
"What happened?" she asked. "I mean, I can see you've regenerated, but how and why?" She stepped closer. "And are you okay? You look a bit - well, washed out."
"I feel it," he said. "I - uh - I admit I'm here for purely selfish reasons."
She cocked her head to one side, looking up at him. Had he got taller in this incarnation, she wondered. "What reasons?" she asked softly.
He flushed and looked down at the floor before he answered. "I wanted your company," he said. "It's only a few hours since my regeneration and I still feel a bit wobbly, and I felt the need for a friendly face."
It was Martha's turn to flush. "Why me, though? Why not Jack or Sarah Jane? You've known both of them longer than you've known me."
He looked up at that and smiled gently. "I wanted my doctor," he answered.
"You're daft," she said, but she smiled back at him and stepped close enough to give him a hug.
The Doctor sighed with relief as he wrapped his arms around her familiar form. "Hello."
"Hello yourself," she responded with a slight laugh. "Do you want a cup of tea?"
"I'd love one," he said promptly.
"Come through into my office, then, and we can have a cup and catch up." She tightened her arms around him for a moment before letting go and leading the way to her office.
"Take a seat." Martha gestured at the chair facing her desk, then stepped over to the corner and checked the water level in her kettle before switching it on. Then she found another mug before turning to the Time Lord. "How do you take it now?" she asked.
"Um, no idea." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, and she was slightly amused to see he'd retained that habit.
"Then I'll make it black, and you can add milk and sugar as you choose."
"Thank you." He looked around her office while she made the tea, taking in the full bookcases ranged along the longest wall, the skeleton hanging on a stand in the corner behind the door, two large filing cabinets alongside the window, and the large desk on which a laptop was sitting connected to a flat screen monitor.
"Here you go." Martha set a large mug of tea in front of him, then put down some sugar sachets and individual milk cartons as well. "Sorry it's a bit make-do," she said. "It just saves me having to trek down to the canteen if I'm working late."
"This is fine, thank you." He smiled at her briefly, then turned his attention back to the tea.
"So, what happened?" she asked, settling into her seat on the other side of the desk.
He took a cautious sip of the tea, scowled, added some milk and sugar, tasted again, then added more milk.
"I killed a Dykräk, and it killed me," he said.
"A Dykräk? What's that?"
"It looks a lot like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but it's yellow and green, and slimy." He pulled a face. "The literal translation of its name is 'Slime beast'. The slime of a Dykräk is highly acidic, and therefore very destructive. This one was threatening to destroy all life on Pelycosaur because it was killing the crops and cattle, and making the land infertile and the water undrinkable. If left to itself, the planet would have become a barren wasteland within a few weeks."
"So you killed it?" she asked doubtfully.
"Eventually, yes," he said, scowling down at his tea. "I tried to lure it away from its lair. I was going to take it somewhere else in the TARDIS - although she'd have probably been very cranky with me for taking it on board. But I couldn't get it out so I had to destroy it." He glanced up at Martha's intent face, then looked away quickly. "I used a lot explosive to blow up half the mountain in which it had its lair. There's no way it would have survived."
"So how did you come to die?" she asked.
"It attacked me while I was setting up the last of the explosives, and I got rather a lot of its slime on me." He shuddered involuntarily at the memory, and Martha reached across the desk to clasp his wrist.
"I'm sorry," she said gently. "Were you on your own?"
He nodded. "I haven't had a full time companion since Donna."
"That must have been lonely, just you and the TARDIS. Why haven't you come to see me?"
He glanced away, slightly ashamed by the sympathy and affection in her expression. "I felt like I'd caused enough trouble for you, one way and another," he said. "I reckoned you'd be better off without me, you and Jack and Sarah Jane. I knew the Captain and Sarah Jane had their friends, and you had Tom and your family so I figured you wouldn't want me hanging around, causing trouble."
"Oh Doctor, you are a silly man," she chided him gently. "Did you forget what Sarah Jane told you? That we're your family now."
He shrugged one shoulder. "Not exactly," he mumbled.
"So what, exactly?" He fiddled with one of the sachets of sugar, and she had a sudden flash of insight. "You didn't really believe her, did you?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Not really. I mean, I know you three care about me," he said, "but I'm not called 'The Oncoming Storm' for nothing." He pulled a face at the mug in front of him. "I've been called 'Master Stormcrow' and 'Old Man Trouble', and other similar names, often enough to have accepted that I'm bad news."
Martha sighed. "Not always, you're not," she said. He opened his mouth to speak, but she forestalled him. "Let's not argue about it. What are you going to do now?"
The Doctor glanced up at her. "I was just hoping to spend a bit of time with you," he said, looking as if he was embarrassed to make this admission. "I've still got 12 hours of my post-regenerative cycle left, and I'm not feeling too energetic just yet."
"Do you want to come back to my flat, then? Or were you hoping to go somewhere else?"
"I did wonder about going to the Eye of Orion," he admitted. "If you would be willing to go with me. I'll understand if you'd rather not, though."
"I'd love to," she said gently. "I've got the rest of the day free and no plans for this evening."
"Thank you," he said gratefully.
She flashed him a smile, then turned to her computer and closed the file she had opened before he arrived, signed out of her email, then shut it down. She picked up her phone handset, pressed some keys to activate the voicemail, and then put it down again. Finally she reached into the bottom drawer of her desk and took out her shoulder bag.
"Let's go then, Mr Smith." She came around the desk and held out her hand to him, and he got up quickly to take it.
"Thank you, Dr Jones." He waited while she locked her outer office door, then the outer door to the lab, and then let her into the TARDIS.
The ship's hum increased audibly as Martha stepped over the threshold, and she couldn't help smiling in response.
"Hello again," she said softly, rubbing her hand over the nearest coral strut before she followed the Doctor up the ramp to console.
"Would you like to help fly her?" he asked, almost shyly.
She grinned. "I'd love to."
He smiled back, obviously pleased, then told her which buttons, levers, and switches to use, and they were soon on their way.
* * * * * *
To Martha's surprise, the Eye of Orion wasn't misty as it had been the last time she and the Doctor had visited, back before they had spent two months in Farringham. She let him lead the way, glancing across at the memorial to the Time War as they walked, until he settled on a spot that overlooked a lush green valley.
She helped him unfold the large tartan picnic blanket he'd brought for them to sit on, and then sat down beside him as he stretched out on his back.
"How long is it since we last met?" asked the Doctor.
"Eighteen months."
He looked surprised. "I hadn't realised it was so long. I'm sorry." He shifted so he could look up at Martha's profile. "What have you been doing? How's Colonel Mace, and everyone else at UNIT?"
"The Colonel's okay, and we've all been pretty busy, one way and another. I've just come to the end of Project Indigo."
"What's that?"
"You remember the Sontaran teleport technology Luke Rattigan had in his rooms at the Academy?" she asked and he nodded. "Well, UNIT confiscated it - we couldn't leave it lying around, obviously. Anyway, some of the scientists worked on it and eventually reverse-engineered it to create a personal teleport device. We've been testing it in the field after its first field test under emergency conditions proved that it did work, and I was Medical Director on the project. Initially it was based in New York, but after the HQ there was almost entirely destroyed by the Daleks, the project was brought back to London."
The Doctor sat up, staring at Martha. "Wait! You're telling me that someone field tested a prototype teleport device in the middle of an emergency? What kind of idiot does that?"
She glowered at him, folding her arms across her chest, and he looked stunned as he realised that she had been the one who'd used it.
"Martha, why? Were you completely insane?"
"Why? Because UNIT HQ in Manhattan was being invaded by Daleks, and I was ordered by General Sanchez to use the prototype and take the Osterhagen Key to Germany in the hope that I could delay the Daleks' plans long enough for you to do something useful."
He winced at her implacable tone, remembering how angry he'd been when he'd learnt about the existence of the Key, and especially that she had been threatening to use it.
"Would you really have used the Key?" he asked, his tone softer.
She stared out across the valley, her body stiff and radiating hurt. "Only if it was absolutely necessary," she answered. "Do you think I liked the idea of destroying my own planet, after I was responsible for saving it from the Master? Because if you do think that, then you don't know me very well."
He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I just - I suppose I never expected that you would be the person threatening to blow up the Earth."
"I never expected to be in that position either," she answered. "I hate the idea of the Key, but I also hate the idea of someone holding everyone on Earth hostage to their insane plans. And if destroying the Earth meant saving the rest of the universe, well then I'd do it. Not easily or lightly, I assure you." She turned and looked at him, a fierce expression on her face. "I'm a doctor, remember? I've taken the Hippocratic oath, so my first rule is 'Do no harm', but I also know that sometimes in order to make a patient better, you have to temporarily harm them: cut them open for an operation to remove a tumour, for example. So I'd rather the Earth was destroyed than the whole of reality."
She turned away again, but not before the Doctor had seen that her eyes were bright with moisture, and he shifted closer.
"I'm sorry, Martha." He tentatively put an arm around her shoulders, wondering if she was too angry for a hug, but she turned towards him and they held each other without speaking for several minutes.
"It's like I said to you in the ATMOS factory," she said. "You can just come and go, but some of us have got to stay behind and do our best to protect our planet with the tools we have at hand. And while I understand your disappointment, and even your disapproval, you can't dictate to us what we can or cannot do. It's our planet and our lives, so they’re our decisions."
"I know." He pulled back and looked her in the face. "And I do trust you, Dr Jones - you, and Jack and Sarah Jane are the ones I trust most to do what's right." He pulled a face. "You humans are growing up fast, and it's not easy for me."
Martha laughed. "You make it sound like you're our father," she said.
He looked rueful. "I feel more like a disapproving grandfather." She smirked, then ruffled his hair. "Oi!" he protested.
"Oh, still vain about the hair, then?" she teased.
"Not at all," he said, "I'm just trying to maintain some dignity here."
She laughed again and hugged him a second time, glad that they’d reached an understanding over the Key.
“Tell me about your family, and Tom - how is he, still working overseas?”
At his words Martha stiffened, then pulled away carefully and turned to look back across the valley.
“Martha, what’s - Oh!” the Doctor cut himself off abruptly as he suddenly realised what he’d seen but not registered before: the lack of either an engagement or a wedding ring on her left hand. “You and Tom didn’t split up, did you?” he asked, somehow not believing this interpretation of the situation.
“Not exactly,” she answered expressionlessly.
“He’s dead?” She nodded, still not looking round. “Oh Martha, I am sorry.” He put his arms back around her and after a moment her posture relaxed again. “Will you tell me about it?”
“There’s not much to tell,” she said. “He died protecting some of the children with whom he was working when the Daleks attacked the village.” The Doctor swore under his breath and imperceptibly tightened his arms around her. “We, that is me, mum and some of his co-workers from the hospital, raised money for a well to be dug in the village because they didn’t have one, and for sanitation training as well.” She paused and swallowed hard before continuing. “And one of the children Tom saved came over here for surgery on her leg: it had been broken and reset badly, so she was lame. I knew Tom had wanted her to come over here for the operation, so I got things organised.”
“I’m very proud of you,” he said quietly. “It can’t have been easy, losing Tom like that.”
“It seemed pretty ironic,” she answered. “I helped save the Earth again, and lost Tom again, but there was no coming back for him this time. No big reset button to save his life.”
“Do you wish there was?” he asked, curiosity evident in his voice.
Martha pulled away from him, looking at him in surprise. “What do you mean?” she asked, clearly puzzled.
“Haven’t you wished that you could rewind time again, so you could bring Tom back?”
“No.” She spoke so decisively that he was startled.
“But you loved Tom. Why wouldn’t you want him back?”
“Why would I want to deny him the sacrifice he chose to make?” she asked, starting to sound angry. “He knew what he was doing on both the occasions that he sacrificed himself. It was his decision to die to save the lives of people he cared about - he wasn’t forced into it. He knew full well what he was doing, but he valued other people’s lives more highly than his own. Tom believed in me, in what you sent me to do, so he sacrificed himself to save me so I could save the world. Equally, he considered those children deserved as great a chance to survive as he could give them, so he protected them from the Daleks. He was one of the most unselfish people I’ve ever met and he loved life, but he didn’t think his own needs or wants outweighed anyone else’s.”
The Doctor nodded. “I understand,” he said softly. “Have you thought about going back to see him one last time before he died, so you could say goodbye?”
Martha frowned. “What’s this about?” she asked. “You very specifically told me that very first day we met that crossing your own timeline was ‘strictly forbidden’. I’ve been around you and UNIT long enough to know that going back to see Tom before he died would be an incredibly foolhardy, not to mention dangerous, thing to do. I wouldn’t dream of risking messing up the Web of Time you’ve told me about just for the sake of my selfish wants.“
She rubbed a hand across her face and the Doctor realised abruptly that she was crying. “Christ, Doctor! Of course I’ve wished to go back and see him one last time, to spend some time making love to him so that I could make his last day a special one. But who’s to say that wouldn’t have made losing him that much harder and more painful? And it would be staggeringly difficult to spend time with him and not interfere.”
She got to her feet, rubbing at her tears again. “Tom’s gone and he’s not coming back, and I’ve had to live with that knowledge every day for the last eighteen months, knowing that there was nothing I or anyone else, including you, could do about it.”
The Doctor watched as she strode away, anger and sorrow obvious in her expression. He rubbed at his own eyes, which were prickling with tears, and thought, not for the first time, how wise and brave Martha was. He wondered if he’d ever dare to tell her how tempted he’d been to go back and spend time with her or with Donna before either woman had left him alone. He shook his head, then got to his feet and folded up the picnic blanket, draping it around his shoulders before he set off after Martha.
He found her sitting on top of a bit of ruined wall, her shoulders hunched and her gaze distant. He stopped a few feet away, wishing he had the courage to simply walk up to her and put his arms around her, but he was worried that he’d hurt her too much.
“I’m sorry if I upset you,” he said softly. “My regeneration has brought some things to the forefront of my mind that I’ve been struggling with since we last met.”
She brought her gaze back to focus on him and saw that he looked tense and unhappy. She had just been reminding herself that he was a Time Lord and therefore he looked at everything in a different way to a short-lived human. She patted the wall beside her, and his face lit up in a joyful smile.
“It’s okay,” she told him as he perched beside her. “Your questions weren’t unreasonable, I just overreacted to them.”
“You didn’t overreact at all,” he assured her. “My questions were intrusive.”
She leant her shoulder against his. “Let’s not argue over it,” she said quietly. “Let’s just enjoy the peace and tranquillity.”
He slipped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side. “Very well, Dr Jones.”
After a while the sun came out so they spread the blanket on the grass again, then lay on their backs, enjoying the warmth and talking about Martha’s family.
“I - Oh.” The Doctor broke off whatever he was going to say to stifle a huge yawn, and Martha laughed softly.
“I think you could do with a nap,” she said. “You said it’s only been a few hours since your regeneration, so you must be tired.”
“A bit,” he agreed.
“Go to sleep then,” she urged. “I won’t be offended.”
“Thank you.”
* * * * * *
He woke up a few hours later feeling refreshed and discovered that Martha was curled up asleep against his side, his left around her. It was a pleasant way to wake up, and he felt a sudden longing for more of her company: he wondered if he could persuade her to travel with him again for a little while. He watched her sleeping face, noticing how it looked softer than when she was awake - Martha had developed an occasionally fierce expression, no doubt as a result of her experiences with him and with UNIT. There had always been strength and determination in her face before, but she’d now developed an unconscious air of authority as well.
When she woke a few minutes later, Martha blinked in surprise at the Doctor before she remembered where she was. “Sorry,” she mumbled, sitting up. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep too.”
“It’s okay,” he assured her. He sat up too. “I probably ought to be getting you back to Earth.”
“I suppose so,” she answered, and he wondered if he was imagining the reluctance in her voice.
“I don’t have to take you back yet, if you don’t want to go right now,” he said quickly. “In fact - “
“In fact what?” she asked when he didn’t immediately finish the sentence.
“I wondered whether you’d consider travelling with me again for a bit,” he said, the words coming out in a rush. “I know you’ve got your job at UNIT and your family, so it won’t be forever, but I’ve been on my own for quite a while now, and I’d be glad of a friend to keep me company for a bit.”
He stopped, his expression a mixture of hope and fear as he gazed at her.
“Okay,” she said simply.
“Really?” he asked, as if he didn’t quite believe she was agreeing.
“Yes.” She held out her arms and he wrapped his own around her, hugging her tightly.
“Thank you, Martha Jones,” he said, his face pressed against her hair.
“My pleasure, Mr Smith,” she answered. She pulled away and kissed his cheek. “We’ll have to go back to Earth so I can pick up some clothes, and I’ll have to ring my mum and let her know the situation. I’m not just going off without warning her, like I did last time.”
“No,” agreed the Doctor soberly. “Things are going to be much different this time around.” He smiled slightly. “They’ll have to be, since I’m a different man, and you’re not exactly the same woman either.” He got to his feet and helped Martha up, then he folded up the blanket before offering her his hand to walk back to the TARDIS. She took it, squeezing his fingers and smiling at him; she wasn’t sure what her mum was going to make of the news, but she didn’t much care - Martha knew the break would do her good. She had a feeling she was going to find it interesting to get to know this new incarnation of the Doctor, and she was quite certain that things would be different this time around - she hoped they’d also be fun.