Vitalis Metuo (1/2)
Who_Daily Link: < a href="http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/323282.html">Vitalis Metuo by < lj user=persiflage_1> (Characters: Martha/Jack, New TW team, Eleven, Amy, Tom Milligan | Rating: NC-17 | Spoilers: TW:S2, CoE; DW: S3, S4)
Title: Vitalis Metuo
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Martha/Jack, new Torchwood team, Eleven, Amy, Tom Milligan
Rating: NC-17 (for violence, language and sex)
Spoilers: TW:S2, CoE; DW: S3, S4
Summary: What should have been a routine round up of a nest of Weevils has startling consequences for Martha Jones.
Disclaimer: I occasionally wish that I did own it!
Author Notes: Rampageous plot bunnies are a curse, especially when they take over your brain - in this case I re-read some Martha/Jack ficlets that I wrote a couple of years ago , and a wascally wabbit attacked me!
Betas: the wonderful catholicphoton and abstruse_fangrl
~~~~~~
"Martha!" Jack's yell of horror and anger echoed around the alleyway as she gave a short, shrill cry, then collapsed to the ground; the two Weevils who'd been attacking her turned to join their fellows whom Jack had been trying to fend off. As the Captain found himself borne to the ground under their combined onslaught he had a final glimpse of his friend's lifeless body before he died.
* * * * * *
An hour ago
"This should be a straight forward round-up operation," Jack Harkness told his team as they gathered around him in the Torchwood Hub. "There's a nest of four or five Weevils in the vicinity of Cowbridge Road West, and they're starting to cause a lot of trouble to the locals, so we need to get them out of there before anyone gets badly injured or even killed. Gwen, you and Johnson can take one van, and Martha and I will take the other. Lois and Rhys, you're on back-up, but Rhys, you know the rule."
"Only one member of the Williams family on active duty on the streets," recited Rhys and Gwen together.
Martha smirked at their weary tone: neither one of them really objected to the rule, but they both pretended that they did, just to wind up Jack.
It had been a month since Jack had returned from his interstellar wanderings following the defeat of the 456, and the Torchwood team had welcomed him back with varying degrees of relief, with Martha and Gwen the most happy to see him back.
Martha had returned from her honeymoon with Tom to find Jack missing, Torchwood Three destroyed, and the government in disarray. She'd seen Tom off to Africa again, and then wasted no time in ringing Gwen to find out exactly what had happened. Once she had all the facts, Martha had insisted that she and Gwen go to see the Home Secretary to demand that the government help with the cost of rebuilding Torchwood Three.
Gwen had been startled by the ferocity of the young doctor's manner as she'd cajoled, argued, and finally threatened the Home Secretary until he'd capitulated and agreed to assist.
They'd set about rebuilding the Torchwood Three team at the same that workmen were building a new Hub. Lois Habiba had initially been a little reluctant to join the team, but Gwen had eventually managed to talk her round. However, former Government Agent Johnson (she refused to reveal her first name, which had led to some giggly speculation on Gwen's part as to what it might be), who'd resigned her post in the wake of the 456 debacle, leapt at the chance to join the team which she'd done her best to destroy.
"I can never repay you for what I did to you and your friends," she explained to Gwen, her normal self-possession overlaid with genuine sorrow at what had happened. "So the least I can do is come and work for you, and if it gets me killed, well then that's no more than I deserve."
"Death would be a cop-out," Martha observed, startling both Gwen and Johnson, both of whom had almost forgotten the young doctor was with them, so silent had she been.
"What do you mean?" demanded Johnson, some of her old fire returning.
"What I said," Martha answered. "I don't approve of the death penalty - it's too quick and easy. A life sentence, however, is long - it gives someone time to think about what they've done, to feel remorse, and to become rehabilitated, and maybe even become a more useful member of society." She lifted one eyebrow at the other woman. "Gwen, Jack and Alice, and Ianto's family will all have to live with the deaths of their loved ones and friends for the rest of their lives. Why should you get off any easier?"
"Fierce little thing, aren't you?" commented Johnson, who appeared amused by Martha's words.
The younger woman straightened up in her seat, crossed her arms over her chest and gave Johnson a forceful stare. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."
Johnson laughed. "Very well, I accept my life sentence, and I will endeavour to ensure it's not cut short too soon."
"Good," Martha answered with a quick nod.
Initially, Gwen hadn't been sure whether Martha intended to stay with the Torchwood team, or return to UNIT, once the Hub had been rebuilt and re-staffed.
"I'm staying," the young medic answered, when Gwen finally broached the subject. "Unless you'd rather I didn't?" She gave the mum-to-be a shrewd look, but Gwen smiled.
"I'm not going to turn you away," she answered. "Yeah, you and Jack have got some secrets, although not as many as you had before the Daleks' attempted invasion, but I'm not jealous of you if that's what you're worried about. We desperately need a medic, and having one who's also as experienced as you at dealing with aliens and stuff - well, I'd be mad if I sent you away."
Martha grinned. "Glad to hear it." She hugged her, then ran a hand lightly over Gwen's stomach. "We need to keep you safe. What do you say to Rhys joining the team too?"
"It's not up to me, is it? But he was bloody brilliant when the Hub was blown up."
"So you should ask him," Martha urged.
Gwen shook her head. "Not me. You ask him."
"But you're the leader of Torchwood Three."
"No, I'm not. You're in charge until Jack comes back." When Martha opened her mouth to object, Gwen forestalled her. "Look, I'll need at least a month of maternity leave after the baby comes," she pointed out. "not to mention the fact that I won't be working right up until the time the baby's born. So it makes more sense for you to lead the team, with me as your second-in-command until the baby comes. And when Jack comes back, you can be his second-in-command."
Martha didn't comment on Gwen's assertion that Jack would come back - she was almost as convinced as the Welsh woman that he would return eventually. "I didn't intend to come in and take over," she said ruefully.
"Which is another reason you should be in charge," Gwen said, smiling.
* * * * * *
The Torchwood team split up, Lois and Rhys heading to their workstations where they could monitor their colleagues, while the other four headed to the car park.
"We'd better take both of the vans," Jack said. "I don't really wanna try cramming five Weevils into the back of one vehicle."
His team nodded, and Gwen and Johnson climbed into one of the two vans they'd acquired in addition to their new base of operations.
"Do you want to drive?" Jack asked Martha as they crossed to the second van.
She shook her head. "No, thanks."
"So, when's Tom back?" asked Jack as he pulled out of the underground car park.
"Day after tomorrow," she answered with a soft sigh.
"Bet you're looking forward to having him back home?"
"Yes and no," she answered. Seeing his frown, she elaborated. "He's away so much that I'm used to being on my own, so it always take me a couple of days to adjust to him being around."
"Weren't you tempted to go with him after you got married?" Jack asked.
She shook her head. "Not for a second. That's not the kind of work that I want to do. I admire Tom for going out there, but it'd drive me crazy. After all I experienced with the Doctor, that kind of routine work would simply bore me."
He smiled. "Some people might have been glad of the routine work and see it as a welcome relief after what you experienced."
She gave him a rueful look. "I know."
"Do you regret it?" he asked curiously. "Travelling with the Doctor, I mean."
"No." Martha's answer was immediate and unequivocal. "He showed me so much, so many amazing places and people, and I learnt so much, too. Yeah, obviously, I could've done without the year on the run from the death and destruction caused by a mad Time Lord, but my experiences made me a stronger person." She gave a small laugh. "Even the way he treated me did me good because I learnt to be less of a doormat, and that it was okay to put my needs first at least occasionally."
She gave him a smile and he smiled back, but she saw the shadows in his eyes and reached over to clasp his wrist.
"Do you regret meeting the Doctor?" she asked softly.
"I have, once or twice," he admitted. "But then I always think of the things I wouldn't have done, the places I wouldn't have been, and the people I wouldn't have met." He turned his hand over and clasped hers, then lifted it to ghost a kiss over her knuckles.
Martha looked slightly embarrassed for a moment, then laughed softly. "Flirt," she said.
He laughed too. "Always, Dr Jones, you know that. But I mean it. I'm glad that we met, and I'm even more glad that you came to help Gwen while I was gone."
"I'm only sorry that I wasn't here when you needed me," she answered.
"Don't be," Jack answered. "You might have ended up like Yan, and I couldn't have coped with that." He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, then let it go. "I know I'll lose you one day, just like I lose everyone else, but hopefully that day's a long way off."
"Promise me that when it comes, you'll let me go," she asked. "I don't want to end up like Owen."
He gave her a solemn look, then nodded agreement. "Promise."
"Thank you."
Jack pulled over at the side of the road, and he and Martha got out of their van. A few moments later, Johnson pulled up behind, and she and Gwen got out to join them.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Ready," they agreed.
"Okay. Martha, you and I will take the left hand side of Wilson Road, Gwen and Johnson, you take the right. And stay in contact, okay?"
They nodded their agreement, and Martha followed Jack as they moved quietly along the left hand side of the road; she could see a scattering of shops further along the road and hoped desperately that the Weevils weren't too close - although there was no good spot on this road for the creatures to be located. She couldn't help wondering what they were doing this far out of the city centre, and was opening her mouth to ask Jack for his theory when a low growl came from the shadows on her left.
Jack turned quickly, his hand going to the holster where his Webley hung, while Martha pulled a stun gun from her belt. They moved quietly towards the spot where the growl had come from, both of them straining to see their quarry.
Then, suddenly, the growls multiplied and intensified, and the pair realised that they were surrounded.
Jack quickly flicked his earpiece into broadcast mode so that everyone would hear him. "Gwen, Johnson, we've found them. There are six Weevils here, and they're pretty ferocious. Get your asses over here damn quick!"
"Jack!" shouted Martha, sounding panicky.
He turned and realised that two of the Weevils had got between him and his friend, and were backing Martha into a corner. Her stun gun was on the ground by the Weevils' feet. He pulled out his gun just as the two creatures launched themselves at Martha, and he fired desperately, but that only seemed to spur them on to attack the young doctor.
Jack gave a cry of horror, before the Weevils turned on him.
* * * * * *
Now
Jack came back to life with a desperate gasp, bolting upright from his supine position on the ground. "Martha?" he gasped.
Gwen was straightening up after trying in vain to do CPR on the young doctor, while Johnson was hauling the first of the Weevils' bodies away. The former policewoman looked up, her eyes full of tears, as Jack scrambled towards her.
"It's too late, Jack, she's gone," Gwen told him gently.
"No!" He threw himself down beside Martha, placing a hand over her heart, then bent and kissed her.
Gwen watched in amazement as golden light flowed from Jack's mouth into Martha's, before he began CPR again. The light seemed to intensify, the glow almost blinding them both, and then it spread throughout Martha's body. The two friends blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the darkness after the light had dissipated, then stared as Martha sat up and looked at them both, a shocked expression on her face.
Gwen was also feeling shocked: the wounds that the Weevils had given her friend were healed - she couldn't even see scars underneath Martha's torn clothing.
"What the hell just happened?" she demanded, looking from Martha to Jack, whose expression also showed his amazement at the situation.
"I have no idea," Jack answered, "but at this moment, I don't care!" He got to his feet, then pulled Martha up and wrapped her in a hug. "Thank god you're okay," he said, relieved.
"What did you do to me?" asked the young medic, obviously as baffled as anyone else, as he held her at arms' length and looked her up and down.
"I gave you the kiss of life - and some of my Vortex energy with it," he answered.
Martha frowned and folded her arms over her chest. Gwen knew that stance well, and didn't envy Jack the scolding that she foresaw coming.
"I'm going to help Johnson shift the Weevils," she told them, then hurried away. Normally she didn't mind hearing Jack being told off, but she had a feeling this wasn't going to be like the usual scoldings that Martha gave him.
She met Johnson coming back from the van and helped her to pick up a second corpse; the pair had arrived just in time to see Jack go down under the Weevils, and they hadn't hesitated to kill the creatures, feeling it would be too dangerous to try to capture them with Jack already down. They hadn't even seen Martha, initially, because of her darker skin and dark clothing, and Gwen had been shocked to discover her as she almost tripped over the young medic's feet.
"Do all Torchwood team members get resurrection abilities eventually?" asked Johnson as they dropped the Weevil corpse in on top of its fellow.
Gwen shook her head. "I don't think so - although being killed while working for Torchwood isn't necessarily a guarantee that you won't come back." She thought of Owen, and before him, Suzie, and then of Ianto, who hadn't got even a half life after dying at the instigation of the 456.
"I knew he could come back to life, of course, but I didn't know he could bring others back as well," Johnson went on.
"Judging by Jack's reaction, I don't think he knew either, or he might have brought Steven and Ianto back."
"So what makes Dr Jones so special?" enquired Johnson, her tone curious, rather than antagonistic.
"Just luck, I think," Gwen answered, wondering if that was true.
They went back and fetched another corpse, both of them doing their best to ignore Martha and Jack's conversation, although Gwen noted that Martha's tone of voice wasn't as furious as she'd anticipated.
* * * * * *
"I swear, Martha, I had no idea this was going to happen," Jack said, pleadingly. "I was just giving you CPR, or trying to."
"But you deliberately transferred Vortex energy into me," she said bitingly.
"I was trying to save your life," he answered. "Is that really such a bad thing to do? You do that all the time."
"Yes, but I use the skills in which I've been trained, not an alien superpower," she retorted.
He moved closer and put his left hand on her shoulder, then used his right to tilt up her chin so he could look into her eyes. "Is what I've done such a bad thing, sweetheart?" he asked gently. "I told you earlier that I wasn't ready to lose you yet."
"Whether what you've done is a bad thing or not will depend on whether you've made me immortal," she answered. "I don't want that." She felt him flinch, and then felt a stab of guilt as she realised how that must sound. "I'm sorry," she said immediately. "I didn't mean to rub it in." She sighed heavily, then stepped into Jack's personal space to wrap her arms around him.
He hesitated for only a moment before responding in kind. "At least if you are immortal, I can be sure of having good company," he answered.
Martha gave a soft laugh. "Oh Jack! What am I going to do with you?"
"Well, I can think of a few things," he said, smirking when she rolled her eyes.
"I'm married, remember?"
He chuckled. "That's all right, Tom can join in."
"Oh you!" She pulled away from him, then swatted at his arm. "Come on, let's help Gwen and Johnson with the rest of the Weevils, and then get back to the Hub. I need to run some tests, and you can help me."
"Yes ma'am!" He saluted her smartly, and was rewarded with a peal of laughter.
They picked up a Weevil corpse between them, and carried it across to the van.
"Everything all right?" asked Gwen when she spotted them approaching.
"I hope so," Martha answered, smiling at her friend. "Sorry for the scare."
"Don't be," Gwen responded. "Glad that you're on your feet again."
They worked in silence as they finished loading the dead Weevils into the back of the two vans, then drove back to the Hub, where Lois and Rhys greeted them with relief. Rhys was less happy when he discovered that he'd be helping to unload the Weevil corpses while Martha went to run some tests on herself with Jack's help, but he didn't grumble too much because Gwen promised they'd have pizza afterwards.
* * * * * *
"You know what I was wondering?" Jack asked as Martha washed her hands, then gestured for him to do the same.
"What?" she asked.
"What if you healing like that was something to do with the Reset, as well as me giving you the Vortex energy? Isn't this the first time you've been badly injured since Copley injected you with the drug?"
She nodded thoughtfully. "I did wonder about that myself," she answered. "But I'd like to get some definitive proof of that, if possible."
"Of course. What do you want me to do?"
She gave him a pair of latex gloves to put on, then got out three syringes and vials. "First, you're going to take some blood from me," she answered. "Then I'll test it, and compare the results with those from your latest blood tests."
Jack pulled a face, but he drew the blood samples she wanted, carefully transferring the blood from each syringe into a separate vial. He gently swabbed Martha's arm afterwards, before pressing a small plaster over the injection site.
"Now what?" he asked.
"If you can use the computer to call up your most recent blood test results, please," she requested, taking a drop of blood from the first vial and putting it onto a microscope slide, before she peered into the eyepiece of the instrument.
He did as she'd asked, then tried to wait patiently while Martha scribbled some notes as she looked at her blood sample.
"I wouldn't say no to a cup of coffee," she observed, and Jack realised she was probably finding his fidgeting distracting.
"All right, I can take a hint, Dr Jones," he commented.
She lifted her head, giving him a puzzled look. "What?"
He stepped up behind her and slid an arm around her waist. "I thought you were asking for coffee to get me out of your hair," he explained.
"No, I really would like a cup of coffee, please."
"All right." He kissed the top of her head, then wandered out of the Medical Bay; one of the things that Martha had insisted on, when the Hub was being rebuilt, was that the Medical Bay should be separate from the autopsy area, and Gwen had agreed with her that it would be more practical and hygienic to separate the two.
When he returned several minutes later, Martha was sitting in front of the computer, her notes beside her, and a fancy graphic displayed on the screen.
"So," he asked, sitting down beside her. "What's the verdict?"
"Well, it doesn't look like my blood's been changed by what you did," she answered, slowly. "But, like Copley said, there's something funky about my immune system - and I think the Reset's made it funkier."
Jack smirked. "Is that a proper medical term, Dr Jones?"
"Definitely," she answered, flashing a grin at him which made his stomach do a flip-flop. Without thinking he leaned forward and kissed her.
Martha made a noise expressive of surprise, then pulled away. "Jack, I'm married."
"Yeah," he agreed, sighing heavily.
She raised an eyebrow at him, and he gave her an apologetic look. "Blame it on the fact that you died out there tonight," he said.
"So long as you're not going to make a habit of kissing me every time I have a near-death experience," she observed.
He shook his head. "Do you think the Doctor would be able to tell you anything about your funky immune system?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Maybe. I'll have to ask him, next time I see him, although goodness knows when that'll be."
Jack gave her a puzzled look. "Why don't you just ring him and ask him to pop by?" he suggested. "You have got his number, after all."
"I dunno," Martha said. "I'd feel a bit funny about ringing him when it's not an emergency."
"It may not be an emergency, but it could be important. What if something happened and you needed a blood transfusion? Would someone else's unfunky blood be compatible with yours?"
She shrugged again. "Theoretically, blood type O should still be okay for me."
"Theoretically," Jack said. "Do you want to risk your health on a theory? Why not ring him and ask him to pop by if he's not too busy, and run some tests with him. You know the TARDIS' medical bay is far better equipped than we are."
She sighed. "Yeah, you're right, of course."
"What's wrong?" he asked, sensing that Martha was more reluctant to see the Doctor than he'd expected.
"I don't know if he's going to be angry with me about the Osterhagen Key still," she admitted. "Plus, I chucked in the job which he recommended me for, to come and work for his least favourite organisation."
Jack slid his arm around her. "If he's got any sense in that old head of his, he'll realise that you working for Torchwood can only make us better. You've more integrity than anyone I know."
"Maybe." She leaned into his side, tucking her head under his chin, and Jack wondered if this was a delayed reaction to dying.
"Come on," he said. "Rhys was going out for pizzas, and I bet you're ravenous."
At that moment Martha's insides gave a quiet gurgle, making them both laugh. "Guess I am," she agreed, getting to her feet. She wrapped her arms around him. "Thanks for saving me earlier."
"Any time, sweetheart, you know that." He hugged her back, then kissed the top of her head, before leading her back into the main room, just as Rhys appeared from the street door with a large stack of square white boxes.
"Jack, Martha!" called Gwen, not realising they were about a foot behind her.
"No need to shout," Jack said, startling her.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there," she said.
"Obviously," laughed Jack.
"You all right, Martha?" Gwen asked, looking at the diminutive medic.
"Ravenous," she answered, grinning.
They settled around the big table in the board room, pizza boxes open in front of them, and with bottles of Coke, water and beer available for whoever wanted them.
"Who's on Rift duty tonight?" asked Johnson.
"I am," answered Jack, "with Lois."
"I want to stay and do some work," Martha told Lois. "So I'll swap with you, if you like?"
"Are you sure?" She wasn't going to say no to an unexpected night off, but on the other hand, she couldn't help wondering if Martha should be working after her run-in with the Weevils.
"Yeah." The young medic smiled at her. "Don't worry, I won't do anything too energetic. Just going to sit and do some tests, and stuff."
"All right, then, thanks." Lois gave her a grin, and Martha smiled back. She could feel Jack's eyes on her, but she didn't look around. She was fairly sure that he'd guessed that she was planning to ring the Doctor tonight to see if he could make a quick visit.
They talked about a variety of things, some work-related, some personal, as they ate, then Gwen and Rhys headed home to their baby, and the babysitter, while Johnson went off to her flat, and Lois went to meet up with some friends.
Martha helped Jack clear up, then they settled down by the Rift monitor; she pulled out her mobile phone and scrolled through the address book until she found her old number. She hit the dial button and waited, then pulled a face and disconnected.
"What's wrong?" asked Jack.
"I got the voicemail. I need to decide what to say before I leave him a message, because I don't want him to panic, but I don't want him to dismiss it either."
"I'll get some coffee while you work out what to say," Jack said.
She nodded distractedly, fiddling with a pen, then she hit the dial button again and waited for the beep to indicate she could leave her message. "Hi Doctor, it's Martha. There's no emergency, so don't panic, but if you aren't too busy, could you stop off in Cardiff some time soon, please? I need your help with something. Thanks."
"Sorted?" asked Jack, seeing Martha putting her phone in her pocket as he returned with the mugs of coffee.
"Yeah. Now we'll just have to wait for him to stop by." She accepted the mug he carried. "I'm going to go and do some of those tests I wanted to run."
"All right. I'll give you a shout if anything interesting happens."
She nodded, then wandered back to the Medical Bay, her mind already turning over various ideas with regard to her lymphatic system. She found herself wondering if there was anything in the Torchwood database from The Pharm's records of her - the servers had survived the explosion that had wiped out the original Hub, which meant the data might be there if Tosh had transferred the information from The Pharm's computers before putting them out of action. It would be worth checking, she decided, sitting down at the workstation in the Medical Bay to begin a search.
An hour later Martha was poring over the data from The Pharm, which Tosh had downloaded, just as she'd suspected, when she heard a very familiar groaning, wheezing noise, and Jack shouting her name.
She ran out into the main area of the Hub and found the TARDIS was actually materialising inside the base, which was a surprise. An even bigger surprise was the man who came out of the ship: he looked younger than Martha, and was dressed in black trousers, hefty boots, a frilled shirt, a bow tie and a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches. He flicked his fringe aside with long, slender fingers, then looked around with a rather diffident expression until he caught sight of Martha and Jack staring at him in shock.
"Martha, Jack, hello."
"Doctor?" asked Jack doubtfully.
"Yes," he answered.
"What happened?" asked Martha. "I mean, you've regenerated, obviously, but how and when, and -" She broke off when a red haired young woman stepped out of the door, someone who was considerably younger than Donna, and a good deal skinnier too.
"Hi," said the newcomer shyly.
"Oh, Martha, Jack, this is Amy Pond, my current companion. Amy, this Captain Jack Harkness and Dr Martha Jones, two of my former travelling companions who continue to defend Earth against aliens and whatnot."
Martha swallowed down a lump of emotion. "Hi," she said. She sensed Jack step closer and a moment later felt his hand on her shoulder.
The Doctor seemed to sense her discomfort because he shifted awkwardly from foot to foot before speaking again. "I got your message, Martha. Well, obviously, because I'm here. How can I help?"
"Something's come up, something medical, and I wondered if you could help me - if we could use the TARDIS Medical Bay since it's more advanced than anything we've got here?" She cursed herself for sounding so tentative, but she wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation.
"Of course," he said promptly. "Jack, would you mind keeping Amy company?"
The Captain raised his eyebrows in astonishment. He was so used to the previous incarnation constantly trying to fend him off if anyone caught his eye that he half wondered if he'd fallen asleep in front of the Rift monitor and was just dreaming that a new Doctor had shown up.
"I'd be delighted," he said quickly. "Why don't I give you a tour, while those two talk shop?" he suggested, offering Amy his arm.
The redhead flashed a glance at the Doctor who gave her a smile in response, then she walked away, leaving Martha alone with the Time Lord.
"Are you okay?" he asked, obviously aware that she was still trying to process his changed appearance.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I just - I knew about regeneration, obviously, I just never really thought about meeting a new you, if you know what I mean."
He nodded. "I know, it takes some getting used to." He gave her a gentle smile. "But you've always been a very quick study, Dr Jones, so I know you'll get your head round it soon enough. Now, what's the medical problem?"
"It's me," she answered. He looked alarmed, and she hastened to explain. "I'm not ill, it's just - I should start at the beginning," she said. "Would you come through to the Medical Bay with me, and I'll show you some data, and then maybe we can see what the TARDIS can tell us?"
"Of course," he answered, gesturing for her to lead the way.
Martha turned and headed back the way she had come, trying to sort out her feelings about the situation. She wondered why she'd never seriously considered the prospect of meeting a different incarnation of the Doctor, especially when she knew that Jack already had.
"Are you working for Torchwood now?" the Doctor asked, interrupting her confused reverie.
"Yes, I am." She turned and looked him squarely in the eye. "I'm sorry if that bothers you, but I was needed here."
He shook his head. "Dr Jones, you are the last person to whom I'm going to try to dictate what they do. You owe me nothing - quite the reverse in fact. If you feel that Jack needs you more than UNIT, then I respect your judgement."
She swallowed, relieved that he genuinely didn't seem to mind. "Jack wasn't here," she said. "I can't tell you the whole story because it's not mine to tell, but something happened that left the Hub destroyed and Jack's team down to two people, Jack and Gwen, and he left for a while. I wasn't here when it happened, but I came to help as soon as I could - and I chose to stay on since Jack needed a new medic anyway."
He nodded his understanding as Martha led the way over to her workstation. "About 18 months ago, when I was still working at UNIT, I came down to help Jack out with a spate of mysterious deaths. We uncovered a secret medical project that was using an alien that looked like a giant Mayfly to create a miracle cure for all sorts of medical conditions. The drug was dubbed Reset because it seemed to reset an individual patient's physiology to the norm for a healthy human. They gave it to a HIV patient and cured her, and the same thing happened with a diabetic patient. While we were investigating The Pharm, the organisation that was creating the cure, I went there posing as a Hepatitis sufferer so I could get in and get access to their computer systems."
She paused, remembering her terror when Copley had had her injected with the Reset drug. "Aaron Copley, the man in charge, suspected that I was working undercover for Torchwood, and when he examined my immune system he discovered that my blood cells had been mutated by the radiation found when travelling in Time and Space, so he gave me the Reset. Everyone else who took the drug ended up dead - the alien parasites in the drug ate the patient from the inside once they'd hatched."
The Doctor pulled a face, clearly revolted. "That is - well, it's gross," he commented.
Martha nodded. "I know. Anyway, as I said, Copley gave me the Reset drug and thanks to Dr Owen Harper, who was Torchwood's medic at the time, I survived the experience. The thing is, I was perfectly healthy at the time, so as far as anyone knew, the drug just sat dormant inside me from the time I was given it, up until today."
"What happened today?"
"I was attacked by two Weevils and died of my injuries - but Jack gave me CPR, and some of the Vortex energy that he carries inside himself, and I came back to life, but my wounds were healed - I don't have any scars, even." She looked at him, taking in the surprise in his eyes. "That's not normal for a human, obviously, but I've seen you heal yourself of injuries, not to mention the whole 'grew yourself another hand' thing you did. So I wondered if it was the combination of the Vortex energy from Jack and the Reset drug in my system that caused me to heal like that?"
"It could be," he answered. "May I?" He gestured at the workstation and Martha moved aside so he could sit down and look at the data.
She watched him, remembering the first day she'd met the Doctor, and watching him poring over the computer that the Judoon had locked down - he'd been a different man then, but then again, she'd been a different person too.
"I'm going to transfer this data over to the TARDIS' computer," he said, breaking her from her reverie. "Then we'll go and have a look at it properly."
"Thanks."
His long fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard for a few minutes, then he got to his feet. "Shall we?"
She nodded and they headed back to the main room of the Hub, then into the TARDIS; Martha noted that there was no sign of Jack and Amy as they went to the ship, but knew that didn't mean much, given how extensive the Hub was. She had been nearly as surprised as Jack that the Doctor hadn't batted an eyelid when sending Amy off with the Captain, and she wondered what else had changed about this man.
The Doctor led the way into the Medical Bay, heading straight to the computer workstation in the corner.
"Right, I'm going to call up the data on your physiology as it was when you first travelled with me - the TARDIS records that data automatically for everyone who comes aboard since she is programmed to automatically check for illness, harmful bacteria, etc. I can compare that data to the data that I've just taken from the Torchwood computer, and we'll see what changes have been made."
Martha nodded, then moved to stand behind the Doctor, watching the screen as his fingers flashed across the keyboard.
* * * * * *
When Jack and Amy found them an hour later, they were sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea in silence. Jack raised an eyebrow, wondering at the slight tension in the room.
"All right?" he asked, pulling a chair out then turning it around before sitting down with his arms resting along the back.
Amy headed straight to the kettle to make her own drink.
"It looks like I may have limited regenerative abilities," Martha answered.
"Oh!" Jack looked as startled by this information as she felt. "How limited?"
"There's no way of knowing exactly, short of practical experimentation," she answered dryly.
The Captain looked shocked by this idea. "You're not going to, are you?" His tone clearly implied he thought it was a bad idea.
"Hardly," the Doctor responded.
"So, is this my fault, for giving you the Vortex energy earlier?"
"No." The Doctor's answer was decisive. "It's nothing to do with anything you did, Jack. It's mostly my fault."
"Why?" asked Amy, as she sat down opposite Martha, between the Doctor and Jack, setting a cup of coffee in front of her place.
"On the day that Martha and I met, I gave her a genetic transfer to slow down the Judoon who were chasing us in search of a Plasmavore who was hiding in Martha's hospital. Normally that would have passed harmlessly through her system in a short while with no consequences to her at all. Unfortunately, though, we got involved with a scientist named Richard Lazarus a few days later. He was experimenting with a sonic microfield manipulation device, which fundamentally altered his genetic material and eventually killed him, but while he was in mutated form, he tried to kill Martha and I. We got into the manipulation capsule and he set it going, and it interfered with Martha's DNA, effectively combining the genetic material I'd transferred to her with her own."
Jack and Amy were both listening attentively, but Martha could see Jack's eyes flicking her way every now and again, and she wondered if he'd worked out what the Doctor was going to say next.
"Even that might not have affected Martha too much, but then she investigated The Pharm." The Doctor turned to Amy. "That's Pharm with a Ph, not an F," he explained. "And The Pharm were doing experiments on people using a drug that they'd created from alien DNA. When they gave the drug to Martha, it recognised the Time Lord DNA as being part of her own genetic make-up, and it made the Time Lord DNA more active. When she was injured earlier by the Weevils, the Reset drug went into action, and reset Martha's immune system with the Time Lord DNA working to heal her wounds. When Jack gave Martha CPR earlier, she wasn't brain dead, she'd just stopped breathing, so the Vortex energy that he gave her when he did CPR gave her system enough of a jolt for the Reset drug to kick in and heal her."
"So will Martha need the Vortex energy again to make the Reset drug kick in?" asked Amy, looking at the medic with curiosity.
"No. Now that she's had that one 'dose' from Jack, that's enough to keep it active in her body." The Doctor gave her a rueful look. "I'm sorry," he said. "I had no idea that one quick transfer of genetic material would have such consequences."
Martha shook her head, then reached over and put her hand on top of his. "We've been over this already," she said quietly. "It was just a weird combination of events and circumstances. I'm not blaming you."
He turned his hand over and clasped her hand in his. "You're much too forgiving of me, Dr Jones," he said softly.
"If I don't forgive you, who will?" she asked. "You don't seem to forgive yourself."
"But -" he began.
"No buts, Mr Smith," she said firmly.
"Best not to argue with her, Doc, you know how stubborn Martha can be." Jack flashed them both a grin, which the Doctor returned, but Martha wagged her finger at the Captain.
"Just watch it, mister, or next time you have a physical, I'll make your life hell."
Amy and the Doctor laughed at Jack's dismayed expression, while Martha smirked at him. He stood up and gave her a formal salute.
"Ma'am."
Martha laughed. "Sit down, you nut," she said.
"Do you two fancy going for a spin?" asked the Doctor as the Captain resumed his seat.
"We'd better not both go," Jack answered. "Someone needs to be here to keep an eye on the Rift monitor." He looked at Martha. "But if you want to go, I don't mind staying behind."
"I'm tempted," she answered. "But after the day I've had, I think I'd rather just go and get some sleep. Some other time, perhaps?" She looked at Amy. "I'm sorry we haven't had time to talk properly, and that I've monopolised the Doctor."
The younger woman smiled. "I don't mind," she said. "I'd have monopolised him too, in your shoes. Besides, I enjoyed looking around the Hub with Jack."
"I hope he didn't tell too many tales out of school," the Doctor said, looking from Amy to Jack, who was smirking at the Time Lord.
Amy grinned. "That would be telling."
"Oh dear," laughed Martha. "Perhaps a graceful retreat is in order?"
The Doctor pulled an exaggeratedly sad face. "It looks like it," he agreed. He got to his feet, and the others followed suit. Jack led the way back to the TARDIS doors, and gave the Doctor a quick hug, then kissed the back of Amy's hand, making her giggle and blush. The Doctor rolled his eyes, but he didn't comment on Jack's behaviour, and Martha marvelled again at how laid back he seemed about Jack in this incarnation.
Amy shook hands with Martha, then headed back into the ship, and as Jack had already gone out into the Hub, the young doctor found herself alone with the Time Lord.
"Amy seems nice," she said, "as far as I can tell on so brief an acquaintance. I'm glad that you found someone to travel with again."
"She does her best to keep me in order," he agreed, smiling. "And I can see you do the same for Jack."
Martha laughed. "I try."
"Well, take good care of yourself, Dr Jones, as well as of Jack. And try not to run afoul of any more Weevils, okay?"
"I'll do my best," she promised.
"Good. Now, do I get a goodbye hug before you go?" He held out his arms and she stepped into his embrace. She tried not to mind that he didn't pick her up as his previous incarnation used to do, reminding herself that this new version was shorter than his predecessor.
"Make sure you take care of yourself too, Mr Smith," she said as she let go and stepped back.
"I'll try, I promise." He kissed her forehead, then watched as she walked down the ramp, pausing to wave before she stepped out of the doors.
Martha found Jack leaning against the wall nearby and crossed to join him as the ship dematerialised with her customary wheezing, groaning noise.
"You going home then?" the Captain asked, sliding an arm around her shoulders.
She shook her head. "I said I'd do the night shift with you."
"At least have a nap, then," he said. "Because it has been a long day for you and you practically died earlier."
"All right." She shifted around, then stood up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for saving me, earlier."
"Any time, Martha Jones, you know that." He gave her a quick hug, then pushed her towards the staircase that led down to the staff rest area. "Go and nap. I'll wake you if anything interesting happens."
She smiled, then went downstairs.
* * * * * *
Part 2
Title: Vitalis Metuo
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Martha/Jack, new Torchwood team, Eleven, Amy, Tom Milligan
Rating: NC-17 (for violence, language and sex)
Spoilers: TW:S2, CoE; DW: S3, S4
Summary: What should have been a routine round up of a nest of Weevils has startling consequences for Martha Jones.
Disclaimer: I occasionally wish that I did own it!
Author Notes: Rampageous plot bunnies are a curse, especially when they take over your brain - in this case I re-read some Martha/Jack ficlets that I wrote a couple of years ago , and a wascally wabbit attacked me!
Betas: the wonderful catholicphoton and abstruse_fangrl
~~~~~~
"Martha!" Jack's yell of horror and anger echoed around the alleyway as she gave a short, shrill cry, then collapsed to the ground; the two Weevils who'd been attacking her turned to join their fellows whom Jack had been trying to fend off. As the Captain found himself borne to the ground under their combined onslaught he had a final glimpse of his friend's lifeless body before he died.
* * * * * *
An hour ago
"This should be a straight forward round-up operation," Jack Harkness told his team as they gathered around him in the Torchwood Hub. "There's a nest of four or five Weevils in the vicinity of Cowbridge Road West, and they're starting to cause a lot of trouble to the locals, so we need to get them out of there before anyone gets badly injured or even killed. Gwen, you and Johnson can take one van, and Martha and I will take the other. Lois and Rhys, you're on back-up, but Rhys, you know the rule."
"Only one member of the Williams family on active duty on the streets," recited Rhys and Gwen together.
Martha smirked at their weary tone: neither one of them really objected to the rule, but they both pretended that they did, just to wind up Jack.
It had been a month since Jack had returned from his interstellar wanderings following the defeat of the 456, and the Torchwood team had welcomed him back with varying degrees of relief, with Martha and Gwen the most happy to see him back.
Martha had returned from her honeymoon with Tom to find Jack missing, Torchwood Three destroyed, and the government in disarray. She'd seen Tom off to Africa again, and then wasted no time in ringing Gwen to find out exactly what had happened. Once she had all the facts, Martha had insisted that she and Gwen go to see the Home Secretary to demand that the government help with the cost of rebuilding Torchwood Three.
Gwen had been startled by the ferocity of the young doctor's manner as she'd cajoled, argued, and finally threatened the Home Secretary until he'd capitulated and agreed to assist.
They'd set about rebuilding the Torchwood Three team at the same that workmen were building a new Hub. Lois Habiba had initially been a little reluctant to join the team, but Gwen had eventually managed to talk her round. However, former Government Agent Johnson (she refused to reveal her first name, which had led to some giggly speculation on Gwen's part as to what it might be), who'd resigned her post in the wake of the 456 debacle, leapt at the chance to join the team which she'd done her best to destroy.
"I can never repay you for what I did to you and your friends," she explained to Gwen, her normal self-possession overlaid with genuine sorrow at what had happened. "So the least I can do is come and work for you, and if it gets me killed, well then that's no more than I deserve."
"Death would be a cop-out," Martha observed, startling both Gwen and Johnson, both of whom had almost forgotten the young doctor was with them, so silent had she been.
"What do you mean?" demanded Johnson, some of her old fire returning.
"What I said," Martha answered. "I don't approve of the death penalty - it's too quick and easy. A life sentence, however, is long - it gives someone time to think about what they've done, to feel remorse, and to become rehabilitated, and maybe even become a more useful member of society." She lifted one eyebrow at the other woman. "Gwen, Jack and Alice, and Ianto's family will all have to live with the deaths of their loved ones and friends for the rest of their lives. Why should you get off any easier?"
"Fierce little thing, aren't you?" commented Johnson, who appeared amused by Martha's words.
The younger woman straightened up in her seat, crossed her arms over her chest and gave Johnson a forceful stare. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."
Johnson laughed. "Very well, I accept my life sentence, and I will endeavour to ensure it's not cut short too soon."
"Good," Martha answered with a quick nod.
Initially, Gwen hadn't been sure whether Martha intended to stay with the Torchwood team, or return to UNIT, once the Hub had been rebuilt and re-staffed.
"I'm staying," the young medic answered, when Gwen finally broached the subject. "Unless you'd rather I didn't?" She gave the mum-to-be a shrewd look, but Gwen smiled.
"I'm not going to turn you away," she answered. "Yeah, you and Jack have got some secrets, although not as many as you had before the Daleks' attempted invasion, but I'm not jealous of you if that's what you're worried about. We desperately need a medic, and having one who's also as experienced as you at dealing with aliens and stuff - well, I'd be mad if I sent you away."
Martha grinned. "Glad to hear it." She hugged her, then ran a hand lightly over Gwen's stomach. "We need to keep you safe. What do you say to Rhys joining the team too?"
"It's not up to me, is it? But he was bloody brilliant when the Hub was blown up."
"So you should ask him," Martha urged.
Gwen shook her head. "Not me. You ask him."
"But you're the leader of Torchwood Three."
"No, I'm not. You're in charge until Jack comes back." When Martha opened her mouth to object, Gwen forestalled her. "Look, I'll need at least a month of maternity leave after the baby comes," she pointed out. "not to mention the fact that I won't be working right up until the time the baby's born. So it makes more sense for you to lead the team, with me as your second-in-command until the baby comes. And when Jack comes back, you can be his second-in-command."
Martha didn't comment on Gwen's assertion that Jack would come back - she was almost as convinced as the Welsh woman that he would return eventually. "I didn't intend to come in and take over," she said ruefully.
"Which is another reason you should be in charge," Gwen said, smiling.
* * * * * *
The Torchwood team split up, Lois and Rhys heading to their workstations where they could monitor their colleagues, while the other four headed to the car park.
"We'd better take both of the vans," Jack said. "I don't really wanna try cramming five Weevils into the back of one vehicle."
His team nodded, and Gwen and Johnson climbed into one of the two vans they'd acquired in addition to their new base of operations.
"Do you want to drive?" Jack asked Martha as they crossed to the second van.
She shook her head. "No, thanks."
"So, when's Tom back?" asked Jack as he pulled out of the underground car park.
"Day after tomorrow," she answered with a soft sigh.
"Bet you're looking forward to having him back home?"
"Yes and no," she answered. Seeing his frown, she elaborated. "He's away so much that I'm used to being on my own, so it always take me a couple of days to adjust to him being around."
"Weren't you tempted to go with him after you got married?" Jack asked.
She shook her head. "Not for a second. That's not the kind of work that I want to do. I admire Tom for going out there, but it'd drive me crazy. After all I experienced with the Doctor, that kind of routine work would simply bore me."
He smiled. "Some people might have been glad of the routine work and see it as a welcome relief after what you experienced."
She gave him a rueful look. "I know."
"Do you regret it?" he asked curiously. "Travelling with the Doctor, I mean."
"No." Martha's answer was immediate and unequivocal. "He showed me so much, so many amazing places and people, and I learnt so much, too. Yeah, obviously, I could've done without the year on the run from the death and destruction caused by a mad Time Lord, but my experiences made me a stronger person." She gave a small laugh. "Even the way he treated me did me good because I learnt to be less of a doormat, and that it was okay to put my needs first at least occasionally."
She gave him a smile and he smiled back, but she saw the shadows in his eyes and reached over to clasp his wrist.
"Do you regret meeting the Doctor?" she asked softly.
"I have, once or twice," he admitted. "But then I always think of the things I wouldn't have done, the places I wouldn't have been, and the people I wouldn't have met." He turned his hand over and clasped hers, then lifted it to ghost a kiss over her knuckles.
Martha looked slightly embarrassed for a moment, then laughed softly. "Flirt," she said.
He laughed too. "Always, Dr Jones, you know that. But I mean it. I'm glad that we met, and I'm even more glad that you came to help Gwen while I was gone."
"I'm only sorry that I wasn't here when you needed me," she answered.
"Don't be," Jack answered. "You might have ended up like Yan, and I couldn't have coped with that." He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, then let it go. "I know I'll lose you one day, just like I lose everyone else, but hopefully that day's a long way off."
"Promise me that when it comes, you'll let me go," she asked. "I don't want to end up like Owen."
He gave her a solemn look, then nodded agreement. "Promise."
"Thank you."
Jack pulled over at the side of the road, and he and Martha got out of their van. A few moments later, Johnson pulled up behind, and she and Gwen got out to join them.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Ready," they agreed.
"Okay. Martha, you and I will take the left hand side of Wilson Road, Gwen and Johnson, you take the right. And stay in contact, okay?"
They nodded their agreement, and Martha followed Jack as they moved quietly along the left hand side of the road; she could see a scattering of shops further along the road and hoped desperately that the Weevils weren't too close - although there was no good spot on this road for the creatures to be located. She couldn't help wondering what they were doing this far out of the city centre, and was opening her mouth to ask Jack for his theory when a low growl came from the shadows on her left.
Jack turned quickly, his hand going to the holster where his Webley hung, while Martha pulled a stun gun from her belt. They moved quietly towards the spot where the growl had come from, both of them straining to see their quarry.
Then, suddenly, the growls multiplied and intensified, and the pair realised that they were surrounded.
Jack quickly flicked his earpiece into broadcast mode so that everyone would hear him. "Gwen, Johnson, we've found them. There are six Weevils here, and they're pretty ferocious. Get your asses over here damn quick!"
"Jack!" shouted Martha, sounding panicky.
He turned and realised that two of the Weevils had got between him and his friend, and were backing Martha into a corner. Her stun gun was on the ground by the Weevils' feet. He pulled out his gun just as the two creatures launched themselves at Martha, and he fired desperately, but that only seemed to spur them on to attack the young doctor.
Jack gave a cry of horror, before the Weevils turned on him.
* * * * * *
Now
Jack came back to life with a desperate gasp, bolting upright from his supine position on the ground. "Martha?" he gasped.
Gwen was straightening up after trying in vain to do CPR on the young doctor, while Johnson was hauling the first of the Weevils' bodies away. The former policewoman looked up, her eyes full of tears, as Jack scrambled towards her.
"It's too late, Jack, she's gone," Gwen told him gently.
"No!" He threw himself down beside Martha, placing a hand over her heart, then bent and kissed her.
Gwen watched in amazement as golden light flowed from Jack's mouth into Martha's, before he began CPR again. The light seemed to intensify, the glow almost blinding them both, and then it spread throughout Martha's body. The two friends blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the darkness after the light had dissipated, then stared as Martha sat up and looked at them both, a shocked expression on her face.
Gwen was also feeling shocked: the wounds that the Weevils had given her friend were healed - she couldn't even see scars underneath Martha's torn clothing.
"What the hell just happened?" she demanded, looking from Martha to Jack, whose expression also showed his amazement at the situation.
"I have no idea," Jack answered, "but at this moment, I don't care!" He got to his feet, then pulled Martha up and wrapped her in a hug. "Thank god you're okay," he said, relieved.
"What did you do to me?" asked the young medic, obviously as baffled as anyone else, as he held her at arms' length and looked her up and down.
"I gave you the kiss of life - and some of my Vortex energy with it," he answered.
Martha frowned and folded her arms over her chest. Gwen knew that stance well, and didn't envy Jack the scolding that she foresaw coming.
"I'm going to help Johnson shift the Weevils," she told them, then hurried away. Normally she didn't mind hearing Jack being told off, but she had a feeling this wasn't going to be like the usual scoldings that Martha gave him.
She met Johnson coming back from the van and helped her to pick up a second corpse; the pair had arrived just in time to see Jack go down under the Weevils, and they hadn't hesitated to kill the creatures, feeling it would be too dangerous to try to capture them with Jack already down. They hadn't even seen Martha, initially, because of her darker skin and dark clothing, and Gwen had been shocked to discover her as she almost tripped over the young medic's feet.
"Do all Torchwood team members get resurrection abilities eventually?" asked Johnson as they dropped the Weevil corpse in on top of its fellow.
Gwen shook her head. "I don't think so - although being killed while working for Torchwood isn't necessarily a guarantee that you won't come back." She thought of Owen, and before him, Suzie, and then of Ianto, who hadn't got even a half life after dying at the instigation of the 456.
"I knew he could come back to life, of course, but I didn't know he could bring others back as well," Johnson went on.
"Judging by Jack's reaction, I don't think he knew either, or he might have brought Steven and Ianto back."
"So what makes Dr Jones so special?" enquired Johnson, her tone curious, rather than antagonistic.
"Just luck, I think," Gwen answered, wondering if that was true.
They went back and fetched another corpse, both of them doing their best to ignore Martha and Jack's conversation, although Gwen noted that Martha's tone of voice wasn't as furious as she'd anticipated.
* * * * * *
"I swear, Martha, I had no idea this was going to happen," Jack said, pleadingly. "I was just giving you CPR, or trying to."
"But you deliberately transferred Vortex energy into me," she said bitingly.
"I was trying to save your life," he answered. "Is that really such a bad thing to do? You do that all the time."
"Yes, but I use the skills in which I've been trained, not an alien superpower," she retorted.
He moved closer and put his left hand on her shoulder, then used his right to tilt up her chin so he could look into her eyes. "Is what I've done such a bad thing, sweetheart?" he asked gently. "I told you earlier that I wasn't ready to lose you yet."
"Whether what you've done is a bad thing or not will depend on whether you've made me immortal," she answered. "I don't want that." She felt him flinch, and then felt a stab of guilt as she realised how that must sound. "I'm sorry," she said immediately. "I didn't mean to rub it in." She sighed heavily, then stepped into Jack's personal space to wrap her arms around him.
He hesitated for only a moment before responding in kind. "At least if you are immortal, I can be sure of having good company," he answered.
Martha gave a soft laugh. "Oh Jack! What am I going to do with you?"
"Well, I can think of a few things," he said, smirking when she rolled her eyes.
"I'm married, remember?"
He chuckled. "That's all right, Tom can join in."
"Oh you!" She pulled away from him, then swatted at his arm. "Come on, let's help Gwen and Johnson with the rest of the Weevils, and then get back to the Hub. I need to run some tests, and you can help me."
"Yes ma'am!" He saluted her smartly, and was rewarded with a peal of laughter.
They picked up a Weevil corpse between them, and carried it across to the van.
"Everything all right?" asked Gwen when she spotted them approaching.
"I hope so," Martha answered, smiling at her friend. "Sorry for the scare."
"Don't be," Gwen responded. "Glad that you're on your feet again."
They worked in silence as they finished loading the dead Weevils into the back of the two vans, then drove back to the Hub, where Lois and Rhys greeted them with relief. Rhys was less happy when he discovered that he'd be helping to unload the Weevil corpses while Martha went to run some tests on herself with Jack's help, but he didn't grumble too much because Gwen promised they'd have pizza afterwards.
* * * * * *
"You know what I was wondering?" Jack asked as Martha washed her hands, then gestured for him to do the same.
"What?" she asked.
"What if you healing like that was something to do with the Reset, as well as me giving you the Vortex energy? Isn't this the first time you've been badly injured since Copley injected you with the drug?"
She nodded thoughtfully. "I did wonder about that myself," she answered. "But I'd like to get some definitive proof of that, if possible."
"Of course. What do you want me to do?"
She gave him a pair of latex gloves to put on, then got out three syringes and vials. "First, you're going to take some blood from me," she answered. "Then I'll test it, and compare the results with those from your latest blood tests."
Jack pulled a face, but he drew the blood samples she wanted, carefully transferring the blood from each syringe into a separate vial. He gently swabbed Martha's arm afterwards, before pressing a small plaster over the injection site.
"Now what?" he asked.
"If you can use the computer to call up your most recent blood test results, please," she requested, taking a drop of blood from the first vial and putting it onto a microscope slide, before she peered into the eyepiece of the instrument.
He did as she'd asked, then tried to wait patiently while Martha scribbled some notes as she looked at her blood sample.
"I wouldn't say no to a cup of coffee," she observed, and Jack realised she was probably finding his fidgeting distracting.
"All right, I can take a hint, Dr Jones," he commented.
She lifted her head, giving him a puzzled look. "What?"
He stepped up behind her and slid an arm around her waist. "I thought you were asking for coffee to get me out of your hair," he explained.
"No, I really would like a cup of coffee, please."
"All right." He kissed the top of her head, then wandered out of the Medical Bay; one of the things that Martha had insisted on, when the Hub was being rebuilt, was that the Medical Bay should be separate from the autopsy area, and Gwen had agreed with her that it would be more practical and hygienic to separate the two.
When he returned several minutes later, Martha was sitting in front of the computer, her notes beside her, and a fancy graphic displayed on the screen.
"So," he asked, sitting down beside her. "What's the verdict?"
"Well, it doesn't look like my blood's been changed by what you did," she answered, slowly. "But, like Copley said, there's something funky about my immune system - and I think the Reset's made it funkier."
Jack smirked. "Is that a proper medical term, Dr Jones?"
"Definitely," she answered, flashing a grin at him which made his stomach do a flip-flop. Without thinking he leaned forward and kissed her.
Martha made a noise expressive of surprise, then pulled away. "Jack, I'm married."
"Yeah," he agreed, sighing heavily.
She raised an eyebrow at him, and he gave her an apologetic look. "Blame it on the fact that you died out there tonight," he said.
"So long as you're not going to make a habit of kissing me every time I have a near-death experience," she observed.
He shook his head. "Do you think the Doctor would be able to tell you anything about your funky immune system?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Maybe. I'll have to ask him, next time I see him, although goodness knows when that'll be."
Jack gave her a puzzled look. "Why don't you just ring him and ask him to pop by?" he suggested. "You have got his number, after all."
"I dunno," Martha said. "I'd feel a bit funny about ringing him when it's not an emergency."
"It may not be an emergency, but it could be important. What if something happened and you needed a blood transfusion? Would someone else's unfunky blood be compatible with yours?"
She shrugged again. "Theoretically, blood type O should still be okay for me."
"Theoretically," Jack said. "Do you want to risk your health on a theory? Why not ring him and ask him to pop by if he's not too busy, and run some tests with him. You know the TARDIS' medical bay is far better equipped than we are."
She sighed. "Yeah, you're right, of course."
"What's wrong?" he asked, sensing that Martha was more reluctant to see the Doctor than he'd expected.
"I don't know if he's going to be angry with me about the Osterhagen Key still," she admitted. "Plus, I chucked in the job which he recommended me for, to come and work for his least favourite organisation."
Jack slid his arm around her. "If he's got any sense in that old head of his, he'll realise that you working for Torchwood can only make us better. You've more integrity than anyone I know."
"Maybe." She leaned into his side, tucking her head under his chin, and Jack wondered if this was a delayed reaction to dying.
"Come on," he said. "Rhys was going out for pizzas, and I bet you're ravenous."
At that moment Martha's insides gave a quiet gurgle, making them both laugh. "Guess I am," she agreed, getting to her feet. She wrapped her arms around him. "Thanks for saving me earlier."
"Any time, sweetheart, you know that." He hugged her back, then kissed the top of her head, before leading her back into the main room, just as Rhys appeared from the street door with a large stack of square white boxes.
"Jack, Martha!" called Gwen, not realising they were about a foot behind her.
"No need to shout," Jack said, startling her.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there," she said.
"Obviously," laughed Jack.
"You all right, Martha?" Gwen asked, looking at the diminutive medic.
"Ravenous," she answered, grinning.
They settled around the big table in the board room, pizza boxes open in front of them, and with bottles of Coke, water and beer available for whoever wanted them.
"Who's on Rift duty tonight?" asked Johnson.
"I am," answered Jack, "with Lois."
"I want to stay and do some work," Martha told Lois. "So I'll swap with you, if you like?"
"Are you sure?" She wasn't going to say no to an unexpected night off, but on the other hand, she couldn't help wondering if Martha should be working after her run-in with the Weevils.
"Yeah." The young medic smiled at her. "Don't worry, I won't do anything too energetic. Just going to sit and do some tests, and stuff."
"All right, then, thanks." Lois gave her a grin, and Martha smiled back. She could feel Jack's eyes on her, but she didn't look around. She was fairly sure that he'd guessed that she was planning to ring the Doctor tonight to see if he could make a quick visit.
They talked about a variety of things, some work-related, some personal, as they ate, then Gwen and Rhys headed home to their baby, and the babysitter, while Johnson went off to her flat, and Lois went to meet up with some friends.
Martha helped Jack clear up, then they settled down by the Rift monitor; she pulled out her mobile phone and scrolled through the address book until she found her old number. She hit the dial button and waited, then pulled a face and disconnected.
"What's wrong?" asked Jack.
"I got the voicemail. I need to decide what to say before I leave him a message, because I don't want him to panic, but I don't want him to dismiss it either."
"I'll get some coffee while you work out what to say," Jack said.
She nodded distractedly, fiddling with a pen, then she hit the dial button again and waited for the beep to indicate she could leave her message. "Hi Doctor, it's Martha. There's no emergency, so don't panic, but if you aren't too busy, could you stop off in Cardiff some time soon, please? I need your help with something. Thanks."
"Sorted?" asked Jack, seeing Martha putting her phone in her pocket as he returned with the mugs of coffee.
"Yeah. Now we'll just have to wait for him to stop by." She accepted the mug he carried. "I'm going to go and do some of those tests I wanted to run."
"All right. I'll give you a shout if anything interesting happens."
She nodded, then wandered back to the Medical Bay, her mind already turning over various ideas with regard to her lymphatic system. She found herself wondering if there was anything in the Torchwood database from The Pharm's records of her - the servers had survived the explosion that had wiped out the original Hub, which meant the data might be there if Tosh had transferred the information from The Pharm's computers before putting them out of action. It would be worth checking, she decided, sitting down at the workstation in the Medical Bay to begin a search.
An hour later Martha was poring over the data from The Pharm, which Tosh had downloaded, just as she'd suspected, when she heard a very familiar groaning, wheezing noise, and Jack shouting her name.
She ran out into the main area of the Hub and found the TARDIS was actually materialising inside the base, which was a surprise. An even bigger surprise was the man who came out of the ship: he looked younger than Martha, and was dressed in black trousers, hefty boots, a frilled shirt, a bow tie and a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches. He flicked his fringe aside with long, slender fingers, then looked around with a rather diffident expression until he caught sight of Martha and Jack staring at him in shock.
"Martha, Jack, hello."
"Doctor?" asked Jack doubtfully.
"Yes," he answered.
"What happened?" asked Martha. "I mean, you've regenerated, obviously, but how and when, and -" She broke off when a red haired young woman stepped out of the door, someone who was considerably younger than Donna, and a good deal skinnier too.
"Hi," said the newcomer shyly.
"Oh, Martha, Jack, this is Amy Pond, my current companion. Amy, this Captain Jack Harkness and Dr Martha Jones, two of my former travelling companions who continue to defend Earth against aliens and whatnot."
Martha swallowed down a lump of emotion. "Hi," she said. She sensed Jack step closer and a moment later felt his hand on her shoulder.
The Doctor seemed to sense her discomfort because he shifted awkwardly from foot to foot before speaking again. "I got your message, Martha. Well, obviously, because I'm here. How can I help?"
"Something's come up, something medical, and I wondered if you could help me - if we could use the TARDIS Medical Bay since it's more advanced than anything we've got here?" She cursed herself for sounding so tentative, but she wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation.
"Of course," he said promptly. "Jack, would you mind keeping Amy company?"
The Captain raised his eyebrows in astonishment. He was so used to the previous incarnation constantly trying to fend him off if anyone caught his eye that he half wondered if he'd fallen asleep in front of the Rift monitor and was just dreaming that a new Doctor had shown up.
"I'd be delighted," he said quickly. "Why don't I give you a tour, while those two talk shop?" he suggested, offering Amy his arm.
The redhead flashed a glance at the Doctor who gave her a smile in response, then she walked away, leaving Martha alone with the Time Lord.
"Are you okay?" he asked, obviously aware that she was still trying to process his changed appearance.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I just - I knew about regeneration, obviously, I just never really thought about meeting a new you, if you know what I mean."
He nodded. "I know, it takes some getting used to." He gave her a gentle smile. "But you've always been a very quick study, Dr Jones, so I know you'll get your head round it soon enough. Now, what's the medical problem?"
"It's me," she answered. He looked alarmed, and she hastened to explain. "I'm not ill, it's just - I should start at the beginning," she said. "Would you come through to the Medical Bay with me, and I'll show you some data, and then maybe we can see what the TARDIS can tell us?"
"Of course," he answered, gesturing for her to lead the way.
Martha turned and headed back the way she had come, trying to sort out her feelings about the situation. She wondered why she'd never seriously considered the prospect of meeting a different incarnation of the Doctor, especially when she knew that Jack already had.
"Are you working for Torchwood now?" the Doctor asked, interrupting her confused reverie.
"Yes, I am." She turned and looked him squarely in the eye. "I'm sorry if that bothers you, but I was needed here."
He shook his head. "Dr Jones, you are the last person to whom I'm going to try to dictate what they do. You owe me nothing - quite the reverse in fact. If you feel that Jack needs you more than UNIT, then I respect your judgement."
She swallowed, relieved that he genuinely didn't seem to mind. "Jack wasn't here," she said. "I can't tell you the whole story because it's not mine to tell, but something happened that left the Hub destroyed and Jack's team down to two people, Jack and Gwen, and he left for a while. I wasn't here when it happened, but I came to help as soon as I could - and I chose to stay on since Jack needed a new medic anyway."
He nodded his understanding as Martha led the way over to her workstation. "About 18 months ago, when I was still working at UNIT, I came down to help Jack out with a spate of mysterious deaths. We uncovered a secret medical project that was using an alien that looked like a giant Mayfly to create a miracle cure for all sorts of medical conditions. The drug was dubbed Reset because it seemed to reset an individual patient's physiology to the norm for a healthy human. They gave it to a HIV patient and cured her, and the same thing happened with a diabetic patient. While we were investigating The Pharm, the organisation that was creating the cure, I went there posing as a Hepatitis sufferer so I could get in and get access to their computer systems."
She paused, remembering her terror when Copley had had her injected with the Reset drug. "Aaron Copley, the man in charge, suspected that I was working undercover for Torchwood, and when he examined my immune system he discovered that my blood cells had been mutated by the radiation found when travelling in Time and Space, so he gave me the Reset. Everyone else who took the drug ended up dead - the alien parasites in the drug ate the patient from the inside once they'd hatched."
The Doctor pulled a face, clearly revolted. "That is - well, it's gross," he commented.
Martha nodded. "I know. Anyway, as I said, Copley gave me the Reset drug and thanks to Dr Owen Harper, who was Torchwood's medic at the time, I survived the experience. The thing is, I was perfectly healthy at the time, so as far as anyone knew, the drug just sat dormant inside me from the time I was given it, up until today."
"What happened today?"
"I was attacked by two Weevils and died of my injuries - but Jack gave me CPR, and some of the Vortex energy that he carries inside himself, and I came back to life, but my wounds were healed - I don't have any scars, even." She looked at him, taking in the surprise in his eyes. "That's not normal for a human, obviously, but I've seen you heal yourself of injuries, not to mention the whole 'grew yourself another hand' thing you did. So I wondered if it was the combination of the Vortex energy from Jack and the Reset drug in my system that caused me to heal like that?"
"It could be," he answered. "May I?" He gestured at the workstation and Martha moved aside so he could sit down and look at the data.
She watched him, remembering the first day she'd met the Doctor, and watching him poring over the computer that the Judoon had locked down - he'd been a different man then, but then again, she'd been a different person too.
"I'm going to transfer this data over to the TARDIS' computer," he said, breaking her from her reverie. "Then we'll go and have a look at it properly."
"Thanks."
His long fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard for a few minutes, then he got to his feet. "Shall we?"
She nodded and they headed back to the main room of the Hub, then into the TARDIS; Martha noted that there was no sign of Jack and Amy as they went to the ship, but knew that didn't mean much, given how extensive the Hub was. She had been nearly as surprised as Jack that the Doctor hadn't batted an eyelid when sending Amy off with the Captain, and she wondered what else had changed about this man.
The Doctor led the way into the Medical Bay, heading straight to the computer workstation in the corner.
"Right, I'm going to call up the data on your physiology as it was when you first travelled with me - the TARDIS records that data automatically for everyone who comes aboard since she is programmed to automatically check for illness, harmful bacteria, etc. I can compare that data to the data that I've just taken from the Torchwood computer, and we'll see what changes have been made."
Martha nodded, then moved to stand behind the Doctor, watching the screen as his fingers flashed across the keyboard.
* * * * * *
When Jack and Amy found them an hour later, they were sitting in the kitchen, drinking tea in silence. Jack raised an eyebrow, wondering at the slight tension in the room.
"All right?" he asked, pulling a chair out then turning it around before sitting down with his arms resting along the back.
Amy headed straight to the kettle to make her own drink.
"It looks like I may have limited regenerative abilities," Martha answered.
"Oh!" Jack looked as startled by this information as she felt. "How limited?"
"There's no way of knowing exactly, short of practical experimentation," she answered dryly.
The Captain looked shocked by this idea. "You're not going to, are you?" His tone clearly implied he thought it was a bad idea.
"Hardly," the Doctor responded.
"So, is this my fault, for giving you the Vortex energy earlier?"
"No." The Doctor's answer was decisive. "It's nothing to do with anything you did, Jack. It's mostly my fault."
"Why?" asked Amy, as she sat down opposite Martha, between the Doctor and Jack, setting a cup of coffee in front of her place.
"On the day that Martha and I met, I gave her a genetic transfer to slow down the Judoon who were chasing us in search of a Plasmavore who was hiding in Martha's hospital. Normally that would have passed harmlessly through her system in a short while with no consequences to her at all. Unfortunately, though, we got involved with a scientist named Richard Lazarus a few days later. He was experimenting with a sonic microfield manipulation device, which fundamentally altered his genetic material and eventually killed him, but while he was in mutated form, he tried to kill Martha and I. We got into the manipulation capsule and he set it going, and it interfered with Martha's DNA, effectively combining the genetic material I'd transferred to her with her own."
Jack and Amy were both listening attentively, but Martha could see Jack's eyes flicking her way every now and again, and she wondered if he'd worked out what the Doctor was going to say next.
"Even that might not have affected Martha too much, but then she investigated The Pharm." The Doctor turned to Amy. "That's Pharm with a Ph, not an F," he explained. "And The Pharm were doing experiments on people using a drug that they'd created from alien DNA. When they gave the drug to Martha, it recognised the Time Lord DNA as being part of her own genetic make-up, and it made the Time Lord DNA more active. When she was injured earlier by the Weevils, the Reset drug went into action, and reset Martha's immune system with the Time Lord DNA working to heal her wounds. When Jack gave Martha CPR earlier, she wasn't brain dead, she'd just stopped breathing, so the Vortex energy that he gave her when he did CPR gave her system enough of a jolt for the Reset drug to kick in and heal her."
"So will Martha need the Vortex energy again to make the Reset drug kick in?" asked Amy, looking at the medic with curiosity.
"No. Now that she's had that one 'dose' from Jack, that's enough to keep it active in her body." The Doctor gave her a rueful look. "I'm sorry," he said. "I had no idea that one quick transfer of genetic material would have such consequences."
Martha shook her head, then reached over and put her hand on top of his. "We've been over this already," she said quietly. "It was just a weird combination of events and circumstances. I'm not blaming you."
He turned his hand over and clasped her hand in his. "You're much too forgiving of me, Dr Jones," he said softly.
"If I don't forgive you, who will?" she asked. "You don't seem to forgive yourself."
"But -" he began.
"No buts, Mr Smith," she said firmly.
"Best not to argue with her, Doc, you know how stubborn Martha can be." Jack flashed them both a grin, which the Doctor returned, but Martha wagged her finger at the Captain.
"Just watch it, mister, or next time you have a physical, I'll make your life hell."
Amy and the Doctor laughed at Jack's dismayed expression, while Martha smirked at him. He stood up and gave her a formal salute.
"Ma'am."
Martha laughed. "Sit down, you nut," she said.
"Do you two fancy going for a spin?" asked the Doctor as the Captain resumed his seat.
"We'd better not both go," Jack answered. "Someone needs to be here to keep an eye on the Rift monitor." He looked at Martha. "But if you want to go, I don't mind staying behind."
"I'm tempted," she answered. "But after the day I've had, I think I'd rather just go and get some sleep. Some other time, perhaps?" She looked at Amy. "I'm sorry we haven't had time to talk properly, and that I've monopolised the Doctor."
The younger woman smiled. "I don't mind," she said. "I'd have monopolised him too, in your shoes. Besides, I enjoyed looking around the Hub with Jack."
"I hope he didn't tell too many tales out of school," the Doctor said, looking from Amy to Jack, who was smirking at the Time Lord.
Amy grinned. "That would be telling."
"Oh dear," laughed Martha. "Perhaps a graceful retreat is in order?"
The Doctor pulled an exaggeratedly sad face. "It looks like it," he agreed. He got to his feet, and the others followed suit. Jack led the way back to the TARDIS doors, and gave the Doctor a quick hug, then kissed the back of Amy's hand, making her giggle and blush. The Doctor rolled his eyes, but he didn't comment on Jack's behaviour, and Martha marvelled again at how laid back he seemed about Jack in this incarnation.
Amy shook hands with Martha, then headed back into the ship, and as Jack had already gone out into the Hub, the young doctor found herself alone with the Time Lord.
"Amy seems nice," she said, "as far as I can tell on so brief an acquaintance. I'm glad that you found someone to travel with again."
"She does her best to keep me in order," he agreed, smiling. "And I can see you do the same for Jack."
Martha laughed. "I try."
"Well, take good care of yourself, Dr Jones, as well as of Jack. And try not to run afoul of any more Weevils, okay?"
"I'll do my best," she promised.
"Good. Now, do I get a goodbye hug before you go?" He held out his arms and she stepped into his embrace. She tried not to mind that he didn't pick her up as his previous incarnation used to do, reminding herself that this new version was shorter than his predecessor.
"Make sure you take care of yourself too, Mr Smith," she said as she let go and stepped back.
"I'll try, I promise." He kissed her forehead, then watched as she walked down the ramp, pausing to wave before she stepped out of the doors.
Martha found Jack leaning against the wall nearby and crossed to join him as the ship dematerialised with her customary wheezing, groaning noise.
"You going home then?" the Captain asked, sliding an arm around her shoulders.
She shook her head. "I said I'd do the night shift with you."
"At least have a nap, then," he said. "Because it has been a long day for you and you practically died earlier."
"All right." She shifted around, then stood up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for saving me, earlier."
"Any time, Martha Jones, you know that." He gave her a quick hug, then pushed her towards the staircase that led down to the staff rest area. "Go and nap. I'll wake you if anything interesting happens."
She smiled, then went downstairs.
* * * * * *
Part 2