Unusual Temporal Occurrences (1/?)
Title: Unusual Temporal Occurrences
Fandoms: Doctor Who, Primeval, Torchwood
Characters: Martha Jones, Captain Becker, Rose Tyler, Stephen Hart, Jess Parker, Mickey Smith, Abby Maitland, Connor Temple, Emily Merchant, Matt Anderson, James Lester, Jack Harkness (later in the fic), Gwen Cooper (later in the fic), appearances of: Ethan Dobrowski/Patrick Quinn, Philip Burton, Danny Quinn, the Doctor, Amy & Rory Pond, Jenny Lewis
Pairings: Martha/Becker, Rose/Stephen, Abby/Connor, Jess/Mickey, Emily/Matt, Jack/Gwen (later), a bit of Rose/Doctor
Rating: M
Genre: crossover, mainly het, adventure, romance, sci-fi
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters or fandoms. I wish I did… *g* I don’t make any money with this! I’m just writing the story for fun and hope someone else will enjoy it, too.
Summary: Martha, Mickey and Rose join the ARC.
Timeline: after 4.02 for Primeval; after 4.13 (Journey's End) for Rose, Martha & Mickey (AU after that); some time after 6.02 (Day of the moon) for the rest of Doctor Who; after Children of Earth for Torchwood
Warnings: some character deaths (not the main characters)
The story will be written from different points of view. This way thoughts can be included for several characters and a better inside into the characters is possible.
I’m German and my English isn’t and probably never will be perfect. I hope I don’t make too many mistakes. Feel free to point out mistakes so I can learn and improve.
Here comes the first chapter of my new fanfic that goes along with my picspam (which contains spoilers for the fic - so, don't look at it unless you don't mind being spoiled ;-))
Thank you to my wonderful beta a1cmustangpilot, who helped me a lot. :-)
Any remaining mistakes are my own. ;-)
Since people liked it when I added icons throughout my other fics I'm going to do this here as well. This will make it easier for people who might not know all characters to see what they look like.
All icons and other fanart is made by me unless otherwise stated.
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Martha Jones glanced at her wristband with a frown. There were some unusual temporal readings in this area. A small smile tugged at her lips as she scanned for a location and then started to run in that direction. She knew that quitting her job at UNIT had been the right decision after they had ordered her to use the Osterhagen Key and destroy the whole planet. But life had been pretty boring since then. She was just a doctor now. It had always been her dream to become a doctor, but things were different now. She had changed after meeting the Doctor and travelling the universe. She still liked being a doctor, but it just didn’t seem to be enough anymore. She would have joined Torchwood, but since the incident with the 456 there wasn’t really much left of it. She was on her own now. But that didn’t mean she would settle for a normal life; there were more than enough strange things happening on Earth, and by the looks of it, something was going on right in her neighbourhood. She would be damned if she missed out on whatever it was.
Turning around a corner Martha’s eyes then widened. She stopped and quickly took a step backwards as a dinosaur rushed past her. Well, she hadn’t expected that. However, she knew that the rift could take anything out of time and space and drop it wherever it pleased. Usually things tended to end up in Cardiff, but apparently this dinosaur was in the middle of London.
Martha was about to run after the dinosaur when she heard a voice from her right.
“Just hold on, Stevens…. We need a medic. Now!”
Martha’s eyes widened once more as her eyes fell on two men. One of them was on the ground, bleeding. But it wasn’t the wounded soldier or the blood that surprised her, it was the man pressing a hand on the bleeding wound. Memories came rushing back to her, memories of him kissing her in a passionate way before he… No, she wasn’t thinking about that now! Pushing away the thoughts, she rushed over to the two men. She was a doctor after all and had a job to do.
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Captain Becker pressed his hand on the gaping wound in Sergeant Steven’s leg, trying to stop the bleeding until the medics arrived. Part of him wanted to run after the dinosaur and make sure that it wouldn’t kill any innocent bystanders, but he couldn’t leave Stevens now. He had lost too many of his people already. He wouldn’t risk losing another one.
“The medics are three minutes out. Matt, Abby and Connor are on the way,” came Jess’ voice over the radio.
“Tell them to hurry,” Becker answered. Then he glanced to his right a little startled, as someone kneeled down beside him.
“Let me have a look at that. I’m a doctor.”
Becker stared at the woman, his eyes widening. It was Martha. They had met at a bar about a month ago. Both of them had been in a bad mood and drank a lot. Then, after talking a little, he walked her home, just to make sure that she would get there safely. At least that had been the plan. But things had gotten a little out of hand. It had started with a good-bye kiss… and ended with him waking up next to her in bed.
“Martha,” he said silently. When he said her name Martha glanced at him, her expression unreadable. Then she turned to Stevens and started to inspect his wound. While doing so Martha’s hand briefly touched Becker’s, making him shiver slightly as he remembered where else she had touched him before…
“You got a knife?”
Becker looked at her startled and tried to push away the memories. He had to focus!
“… To cut off some cloth and use it as a bandage.”
“Sure,” he answered and quickly pulled out a pocket knife.
Taking it from him Martha cut off some of Stevens already ruined trousers and started bandaging the wound.
“Give me your belt.”
Becker blinked and stared at her, remembering how she had removed his belt, before opening his trousers…
“Becker. Your belt.”
Right, the belt. She needed it for Stevens to stop the blood flow! He really had to focus! He quickly complied and handed her the belt. Then he watched as she worked.
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Martha had just finished patching up the man’s leg as best she could when the medics arrived. Good, she had other things to worry about anyway. There was a dinosaur on the loose after all and someone had to take care of it. She would have to call in UNIT. There was no way she could deal with this on her own. Stepping away from the wounded man and all the medics, she pulled out her mobile and started to head in the direction the dinosaur had run off.
“Where are you going?” Becker asked falling into step next to her.
Martha looked up at him and tried to repress a sigh. She really couldn’t deal with him right now. Being so close to him made her feel all kinds of emotions she really didn’t need. They had had sex - amazing sex! But it had been a mistake. She didn’t do one-night stands. She just wasn’t cut out for it. She wanted more than that, had hoped for more than that, but he hadn’t called. She had waited for days until she finally admitted to herself that he never wanted more than sex from her. How could she have expected anything else anyway? Having sex with someone mere hours after meeting him didn’t lead to a relationship.
“I’m going after the dinosaur,” she stated, pushing away the emotional mess she was feeling.
“You what?” he asked, grabbing her arm, which pulled her to a halt.
Martha frowned and glanced at him. “In case you haven’t noticed, the thing that bit your friend is still out there. Someone has to stop it.”
Becker stared at her, unwilling to believe what he just heard. Was she crazy or just plain stupid? She couldn’t seriously want to go after a dinosaur! Well, he wanted to go after it, too… But that was his job. It was what he did.
“I know. It will be stopped, but not by you. You’re not going anywhere.”
“Excuse me?” Martha asked in disbelief.
“I’m taking care of it,” he stated and headed to his car. “You stay here.”
Martha stared at him with a frown. What the hell was he thinking? She didn’t take orders from him. And besides, what was he planning to do anyway? Yes, he was a soldier, she had known this already. But this was a dinosaur! He wasn’t used to dealing with things like that. Or was he? What did she really know about him? They hadn’t talked that much after all. For all she knew he could be working for UNIT. Infact, that would actually make sense. Why else would he be here?
“No, I won’t,” Martha called as she caught up with him. “If you’re going after it I’m coming with you.”
Becker spun around, facing her.
“No you’re not!” he exclaimed. He’d be damned if he let her get anywhere near that dinosaur. He might not know her well, but she meant way too much to him to put her in danger like that. She was the first woman in a long time that made him feel… well, anything. She had broken through all the shields that he put up around him to protect himself, and it had only taken her mere hours to do it. Being with her had been amazing, and frightening. He couldn’t let himself get even closer to her. People he cared about tended to get killed, which was why he hadn’t called her. He couldn’t risk seeing her again. But now here she was, standing right in front of him, despite all his efforts not to see her again, wanting to go after a bloody dinosaur! What better way of getting yourself killed was there?
He sighed, trying to calm himself down.
“Listen, I’m going to deal with this. It’s what I do. You just stay here and wait. It’s all going to be fine.” Maybe a more reasonable approach would work better than ordering her around. She was probably worried about other people getting hurt; she was a doctor after all. It was in their nature to worry, wasn’t it?
Martha smirked slightly. He so didn’t know her at all. As if she’d ever stay behind in a situation like this.
“So, you’re UNIT then,” she said. It was more a statement than a question. He said that dealing with situations like this was what he did, so who else could he be working for?
“And I’m coming. End of discussion.” That said, she went to the other side of the car he had been about to get into, and sat in the passenger seat.
Becker looked at Martha quizzically. But before he could ask what UNIT was, he heard Jess over his radio:
“Matt, Abby and Connor are following the dinosaur, but it’s fast... And it’s heading towards Oxford street!”
Becker cursed. Oxford Street would be packed with people. They had to stop it before it got there!
“I’m on my way, Jess.”
Becker quickly went into the car and glared at Martha.
“Get out. I have to go.”
Martha glared right back. “No! I used to work for UNIT, too, and trust me, this is not my first dinosaur!”
Becker frowned, frustrated. He still had no idea what UNIT was, nor did he have time to continue trying to get Martha out of his car.
“Besides, you might need me. I’m a doctor after all.”
Becker sighed in irritation, but then hit the gas pedal.
“Jess, where is it?” he asked over the radio.
After following Jess’ instructions, Becker turned to Martha again.
“If you’re a doctor, how the hell was that not the first dinosaur you saw? And what’s UNIT?”
Martha stared at Becker surprised. He didn’t know what UNIT was? Who was he working for then?
“I’ve seen things you wouldn’t even dare dream of,” she said.
“Like what?” Becker asked before Martha had a chance to answer his second question.
“The past, the future,…” Martha stopped and looked at him again. Why was she telling him this? Yes, they were trying to catch a dinosaur, but he didn’t work for UNIT. She had no idea who he really was or who he worked for. Her usual answer to a question like that would have been that that was classified, but she had started to answer him without even thinking about it. What the hell was wrong with her?
Hearing her answer Becker grimaced. “So you’ve travelled through anomalies,” he stated. How else would she have been able to see the past and future?
“Anomalies?” Martha asked.
“That’s what we call them… the gateways through time.”
Martha simply looked at him puzzled. Becker frowned. That did not look like she knew what he was talking about.
“You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”
“Not really.”
Becker cursed. The anomalies and the ARC were classified. No one was supposed to know about them. Yes, Martha had seen the dinosaur already, but that didn’t mean that he was allowed to tell her everything he knew. Why the hell did he tell her anything in the first place? He usually didn’t act like this, but Martha had said that she had travelled through time. It was reasonable to think that she already knew about anomalies, wasn’t it?
“How did you see the past and future, if you didn’t go through anomalies?”
Martha thought for a moment. Should she tell him? Everything about aliens was classified. But she no longer worked for UNIT nor had she worked for them when she travelled with the Doctor. She wouldn’t exactly have to tell any UNIT secrets, just her own. The only question was, did she want to tell Becker about her life? The fact that he never called her didn’t exactly speak of a trustworthy character. On the other hand, he never had made any promises before she invited him into her flat.
Martha sighed silently and watched Becker as he drove the car, following instructions he got over his radio. She couldn’t judge him simply on their personal encounter. The fact alone that he went after a dinosaur to stop it from hurting people said something for him, didn’t it? And the look on his face when he tried to help his wounded friend had spoken volumes as well. He did care about others and probably was a good person.
Besides that, Martha was really curious about these anomalies. He had called them “gateways through time”. That didn’t sound like the rift, which couldn’t actually be seen. Had that dinosaur come through one of these anomalies? And if yes, where did they come from? The Doctor had never mentioned anything like that, neither had Jack. She hadn’t heard about anomalies whilst working for UNIT either. She needed to find out more about them. Time travel was dangerous after all. Certain events in time were fixed and should not be changed under any circumstances. The consequences could be devastating.
Deciding that she would more likely get information if she volunteered some she finally said,
“I travelled through time with a friend. He kind of has a time machine.” Putting it like that it did sound a little crazy, Martha thought, but it was the truth, and at least she had left out the alien part.
Martha had been silent so long that Becker had started to wonder if she was going to answer him at all. When she did his head snapped towards her.
“A time machine?” he asked. “Are you serious?”
Martha couldn’t help but grin at the expression on his face.
“Yes.”
Becker turned his gaze back to the street as his mind started to race. A time machine… Did that mean…
“And you can go anywhere in time with it? To any point in time you chose?”
“Yes, as long as you can operate it.” Which no one but the Doctor could, Martha added in thoughts. Well, there had been one other person who knew how to fly the TARDIS, but luckily the Master was dead now.
“Which I can’t. And besides, it’s not mine anyway,” Martha quickly added. She did not want him to think that he would be able to gain access to the TARDIS through her.
“Wow,” Becker thought. Having a time machine that could actually take someone wherever, or better, whenever he wanted to, was a whole new realm of crazy and amazing… if it was true. But it would also be dangerous. He knew that there were people who surely would want to use it to their own advantage.
Thoughts and questions were rushing through Becker’s head, but he didn’t have time to voice them as he spotted the dinosaur ahead of them.
“You know how to shoot? There’s an EMD gun on the back seat.”
Martha turned to look at him, a little surprised by the change in subject, but also glad for it. Apparently the dinosaur was more important to him than asking more questions about the TARDIS. She liked his priorities.
“Yes.” She didn’t really like using guns - which she blamed the Doctor for - but she had learned how to use them whilst working for UNIT.
Turning around in her seat Martha spotted the EMD, leaned back, and grabbed it.
“Switch it to the highest setting there,” Becker instructed gesturing at the gun.
Martha did what she was told, then lowered the window.
“Don’t miss,” Becker muttered, already dreading his report to Lester if he had to explain why he took along a civilian and let her shoot an EMD, especially if she missed and damaged cars or something in the process. He was contemplating if he could manage to drive and shoot at the same time when Martha fired and hit the dinosaur.
“It’s big enough to make a nice target,” Martha replied.
Becker smirked, but unfortunately the dinosaur wasn’t down yet. Martha fired again. Then a car suddenly came towards them and the dinosaur. Two EMD’s were fired from it. Between the three shooters the dinosaur eventually went down… its head almost touching the front of Matt’s SUV.
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Becker glanced at Lester’s office for what felt like the hundredth time. Martha was in there for over an hour now. He wished he knew what was going on. About thirty minutes ago Lester had ordered Jess to set up a live feed conference to UNIT. All he had found out about this UNIT so far was that it was highly classified and American.
“You got any idea what’s going on?” Connor asked showing up next to him.
“No,” Becker muttered. Martha had told him a few things, but he wasn’t willing to share them unless he had the full picture. Besides, she might have told him all that in confidence. He wouldn’t tell anyone about that time machine before talking to her again.
“I’ve got a theory…” Connor stated in that conspiring voice of his. Becker glanced at him, bracing himself for whatever Connor might have come up with this time, but then the door of Lester’s office opened.
Lester waved over one of the soldiers and gave him instructions, then he and Martha left. Becker thought he heard the word ‘infirmary’. Concerned he quickly went over to Lester, hoping for some answers.
“Well, this time you’ve really outdone yourself, Becker,” Lester stated. Becker had the feeling that that wasn’t a compliment.
“As if knowing about anomalies wasn’t bad enough… Now I have even more things to give me bloody nightmares,” Lester muttered. He then turned to the room at large, where the team had been gathering, all curious to find out what was going on.
“You lot, get in there.” He gestured at his office.
Everyone hurried to comply and one after the other entered Lester’s office.
“What about Martha?” Becker asked Lester, not able to restrain his curiosity and concern for her. “Is she alright?” He couldn’t remember her getting hurt, but why else would she be sent to the infirmary?
Lester stared at him. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
“You sent her to the infirmary…”
“To look around. I offered her a job.”
Becker’s mouth almost dropped open.
“You what?”
Lester ignored his question. “About bloody time we got a doctor to work for us anyway, with all the injuries you guys manage to get…” That said, Lester turned and walked back into his office.
Becker stared after him, his face paling. Martha had been offered a job at the ARC. She was going to work here. He would see her every day… and she would be in constant danger. He really, really didn’t like the thought of that. It felt like his worst nightmare had come true. Apparently his efforts to stay away from her to keep her safe had been completely wasted.
“You need a special invitation?”
Lester’s voice pulled Becker out of his thoughts and he quickly joined the others in Lester’s office.
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“I knew it,” Connor exclaimed once they left Lester’s office.
“You knew what?” Abby asked.
“That aliens are real of course. I wrote my dissertation about aliens. Cutter threw it in the trash. I bet he’d regret that now…” he stopped, his face going from excited to sad. Abby put a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sure he would,” she said reassuringly, then took his hand and squeezed it slightly.
“Wow, aliens,” Jess muttered. “I did not see that one coming.”
“Neither did I,” Becker admitted, looking down at her. Then he sighed. As if their lives hadn’t been crazy enough. But at least they wouldn’t have to deal with any alien threats. Nothing would change. They’d still deal with anomalies. All they would do was keep an eye out for things that didn’t look like they were from Earth, and contact UNIT if they did. UNIT in exchange offered them assistance if they ever detected an anomaly overseas. It was a pretty straight forward cooperation.
“I can’t wait to talk to Martha about some of the theories I had,” Connor exclaimed suddenly, a smile returning to his face.
Becker frowned. Apparently the others didn’t share his opinion about Martha joining the ARC. They all seemed curious and excited to meet her, especially Connor. He didn’t like it, but Lester had ignored all of his feeble attempts at making him change his mind. Apparently Martha was highly recommended and well liked by UNIT. He wondered why she left them at all, but if he was being honest he didn’t really mind. The thought of her chasing aliens was almost worse than her working for the ARC. At least here he could try and protect her, and he was hoping that she’d stay inside the ARC as often as possible anyway. She was a doctor after all, not a soldier. She’d probably work in the infirmary most of the time. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. One could hope, right?
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book cover art for this chapter:
chapter 2
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