Healing and Recovery
Title: Healing and Recovery
Author: tardis_mafia
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: They're mine - all mine! I don't own them, sadly, but I'd like to.
Characters: Martha Jones/James Watson, Helen Magnus, Nikola Tesla, John Druitt, Kate Freelander; mentions of Henry Foss and Declan Macrae.
Summary: Martha and Watson...what more is there to say? ;)
Beta: The fantabulous persiflage_1!! And thanks for the title. :)
“He’s looking much better at least,” James Watson heard a female voice say as he started to rouse; his eyes opened slowly. His body was quite stiff, but at least he was resting on a soft bed with an equally soft pillow; at least, he was sure he was on a bed. “Do you think the source blood will keep him alive without the exoskeleton?”
“It’s hard to say,” another female voice replied. “The blood only increased his genius the first time, but now that we’ve injected him again, it’s making his appearance as youthful as it was before his exoskeleton failed him, and his biology is being…restored. But we still need to keep an eye on him to find out what more the source blood may do to him.”
Martha Jones nodded at Helen Magnus and turned back to James’ recent test results.
“You love him, don’t you?” Helen asked out of the blue with a smirk and a gleam in her eye. Martha turned her head in shock, as the question caught Martha off guard. She turned away blushing and smiling. “I’ve suspected it for the past two years - when you started working with him,” Martha was still smiling and blushing, and cleared her throat.
“And here I thought I was hiding my feelings.” Martha turned back to Helen.
“I do admit that I didn’t notice until the day his exoskeleton nearly failed the first time. You hardly left his bedside for a week and you did everything you could to improve it, with the help of Nikola.” Helen continued to smile at the younger woman. “He loves you as well, though I don’t think he’d openly admit it. He hasn’t been in love for quite some time.”
James listened to their conversation. He hadn’t realized how much he’d grown to care for her over the past two years. They had their share of problems, but when he saw the way she worked, he was willing to overlook his ‘issues’. In fact, he’d grown closer to her than his own second in command, Declan Macrae.
When Martha couldn’t sleep, James would make them a pot of tea and they’d talk for hours in the kitchen until Martha was finally ready for bed. James still went to his second in command for the usual abnormal case or a problem that needed to be worked out, but most of the time he went to Martha for ideas and suggestions. Every now and then they’d sit in the library together and enjoy each other’s quiet company.
“Even if he doesn’t return my feelings, it’s still an honor to work with him.” Martha said proudly; James could hear the sincerity in her voice. “I don’t know where I’d be if he hadn’t approached me about the Sanctuary - still working with UNIT I suppose.”
“Well, the important thing is, you’re with us now, and you’ve always been an excellent addition to the network.”
“Thank you,” Martha smiled. She turned towards the bed James was resting in and noticed his eyes were open.
“He’s awake,” she said, rushing to his side, checking the monitors beeping by his bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Stiff and old,” he replied. “But other than that, quite good.” His eyes scanned over Martha’s face briefly. He could tell she’d been working hard and hardly sleeping. “I thought my exoskeleton stopped working again - I should be dead. Not that I’m not grateful to be here…”
“John teleported you and Martha back here, where she could start on the new treatment she and I had been working on when the exoskeleton stopped working the first time,” Helen answered. “We’ve used some of the source blood in hopes it would rewind the aging process and keep you stable, which it has, but we still have a lot more tests to run. Nikola got the exoskeleton working properly again, in case you need it, and we don’t know yet if you can survive without it.”
“You two have been working on a treatment designed for me?” Watson asked, looking back and forth between the two women.
“It was Martha’s idea to start one,” said Helen, putting Martha on the spot.
“Well, I know you were worried that the suit would one day fail and I thought it would be best if we had a backup plan in case something happened, so both Helen and I started on one.” Martha quickly gave an excuse. It was the truth, but she also didn’t want the spotlight kept on her. She knew Helen’s agenda. Helen wanted to make it clear to James just how much he meant to Martha.
“I’m touched,” he smiled at Martha, causing her stomach to do somersaults, then turned to Helen. “So how long do I have to be your test subject?”
“At least until we can determine whether or not you can live without the exoskeleton, and for how long, if possible. And I’d also like to know what else the source blood will change about your biology.” Helen said. “Whatever the results will show, Martha, Nikola, and I will work on a more suitable plan.
“Nikola?” Watson frowned. “Why would he want to help me?”
“He doesn’t, necessarily.” John Druitt answered from across the room, sipping on a glass of wine he’d stolen from Tesla. “As long as you’re in that bed, you’re his lab rat, and god only knows what he’ll do to you…”
“Wonderful,” James mumbled. “For all I know he’ll turn me into a vampire, I’ll sprout bat wings, and start craving blood.”
“Vampires do not sprout bat wings, Wise Ass; or butterfly wings, or angel wings, and as long as you keep talking like that-” Nikola rambled in his most irritated voice before Helen raised her hand to stop him from talking.
“You’ve trained him like a dog, Helen.” James smiled at the silent command. “I’m impressed.”
“I am this close to turning you into a kumquat.” Tesla threatened before heading back to the lab, where he started to read through Watson’ blood work in order to find out if James would be able to survive without the exoskeleton.
“There are way too many strong personalities in this room.” Kate said as she passed by Nikola, who gave her a snarl when she ruffled his unruly hair. “How you doin’, Jimmy?”
“I’ve been worse, but all in all, I think I’m fine; as fine as a 162 year old man can be.” James replied and looked up at Martha, watching her rub her tired eyes. She had been working long nights - he knew it.
“Sweet,” she said. “Well, now that I know you’re okay, I’m headed back upstairs…Henry and I are gonna feast on junk food and watch a marathon of werewolf movies. I’ll let Declan know you’re awake.” Kate patted James’ arm, then trotted back upstairs to meet with Henry for their movie night. “And by the way, can you tell Edward Cullen over there,” she pointed her thumb in Tesla’s direction, “to stop staring at my neck? I am not the Bella to his Edward.”
Druitt chuckled and raised his glass to her.
“Speaking of going upstairs, I really think you both should get some rest. I think you’ve taken care of me long enough,” James said softly, trying to sound commanding, but he was too weak to even sit up straight, let alone give orders. “And you go upstairs as well,” he pointed at John. “I have no desire to get into a deep conversation with you, at least not yet.”
“Of course…but when everyone leaves, I’ll be back down to keep you company.” John drank what was left of his wine, and headed back upstairs.
“Heaven forbid,” he mumbled under his breath. “All right, Dr. Jones, off to bed with you.” Watson turned to his young companion.
“I haven’t been up long,” Martha said, shrugging her heavy shoulders. “Besides I’m still waiting on more tests results before I head to sleep, and I need to talk to Nikola about the exoskeleton and your blood work. You, on the other hand, need to get some rest; I’m the doctor, you’re the patient.” Martha gave a slight smile, then turned back to the lab where she met up with Nikola.
“Yes, doctor.” James gave a weak salute to Martha as she walked away, then looked up at Helen, who was staring at him with twinkling eyes.
“So, exactly how much of our conversation did you hear?” she asked when she knew Martha was gone. Watson’s mouth dropped before he quickly picked it up again.
“I-I wasn’t…what conversation?” he stammered. Usually he was a much better liar but with all the drugs in his system, not to mention he’d just woken up, his brain hadn’t completely caught up with him yet.
“Do I really have to ask?”
“I think I heard most of it,” he admitted. “How did you know?”
“I’m old, James, not blind.”
“You’ve been spending too much time with young William.” James rolled his eyes. “You’ve always been a keen observer, but he’s taught you far more in his years here. Remind me to thank him.”
“I’ll do just that,” Helen chuckled. “But Martha is right, you really should get your rest.”
“Why is it that all the women in the Sanctuary like to tell me what to do, whether or not my defenses are down?” James frowned. “Martha usually sends me off to bed when she knows I’m working too late, Kate isn’t any better, and now that I’m here, you and Ashley join in on the fun.”
“It’s because we care,” Helen smirked. “So…are you going to tell her?”
“Tell who about what?” asked James, closing his eyes to get some rest as he was told.
“Martha, about your feelings for her,” Helen stood with her hands on her hips.
“Perhaps, but what would a young, beautiful woman want with an old man like me?” he opened his eyes again.
“She has good taste, I give her that, but maybe her taste in men is a little lax.” Nikola answered, walking back into the room with a computer tablet in his hands. “After all, she is interested in you.”
“You’re just angry because she’s shot you down every time you asked her to dinner,” James sighed.
“Have you got the test results?” asked Helen, changing the subject.
“No, I just figured I’d walk back in here with a lab coat and a tablet to make myself look important,” Nikola snapped.
“You’re not suffering from PMS are you, Nikola?” asked James. “They have medicine for that I believe…”
“How would you know?” Nikola snarled.
“That’s enough from both of you,” Helen said, going through the results, then turned to Nikola. “Are you sure this is accurate?”
Nikola frowned and gave her a look that told her she should know better than to question him.
“Well, James, guess you won’t be needing that life exoskeleton after all.”
“What do you mean?” asked James, doing his best to sit up, but failing when he realized he was still too weak.
“When Martha injected you with more of the source blood and started you on the new treatment, the two combined managed to repair you, inside and out. Not only do you not need the exoskeleton, but you might not ever grow old, which is a shame, because I thought I’d outlive you,” Nikola said.
“Looks like you might be living forever, Jimmy.” Helen said, flashing a smile.
“Who wants to live forever?” Watson joked; Helen and Tesla exchanged looks, then turned back to James. “It’s a joke…”
“I didn’t know you had a sense of humor,” Nikola replied before heading back to the lab area.
*2 hours later*
Martha was just settling into bed, after Helen had spent an hour convincing her to actually leave, when there was a knock on her guest room door.
Putting aside the idea to kill whoever was behind the door, she sighed, got up, and opened the door to see James Watson tiredly standing at her door; well, he was leaning against the door frame, looking like an abandoned puppy.
“James!” she exclaimed. Rushing to his side and wrapping her arm around his waist to support his weight. “I told you to rest, not get up and walk around.” Martha scolded him, but James’ hand gave her left shoulder a gentle squeeze. “What are you doing up?”
“I can assure you, I’m fine - Helen said so herself, though she wasn’t happy to have me up and around either.” He gave her a smile and another squeeze on the shoulder before letting her set him down on the bed, since she had no chair or couch he could sit on. “And obviously I’ve interrupted you,” James looked at her bed, then her pajamas. “I’m sorry if I woke you.”
“You didn’t.”
“Ah, then you were just headed to bed before I decided to disturb you.”
“You’re not disturbing me, but if you don’t want me to lie, then yes, I was headed to bed, which is where you should be right now.” She poked him in the chest, trying to be angry with him. It was always hard to stay mad at him, though. He had a certain charm that could get him out of any situation.
“I know, Martha, but I’m better at being a doctor than a patient.”
“They do say doctors make the worst patients.” Martha smiled tiredly. “So what was so important you had to make your way out of bed to see me?”
“You,” he said simply. “I don’t believe I’ve thanked you for saving me, again. I don’t know if I should hug you, kiss you, or give you an award.”
Martha blushed at the idea of kissing him. Suddenly her thoughts were drawn back to her recent conversation with Helen Magnus.
James noticed the blush despite her dark skin and the dim lighting in the room. Her mouth opened to say something, but the words didn’t come.
Using what was left of his strength, he pushed himself up to stand on his feet where he could face Martha properly and pulled her towards him. At first he thought he needed to say something to fill the silence, but instead, he bent down to kiss the petite doctor. His beard tickled at first, but when his tongue ran over her bottom lip, the tickling went away, and her cheeks grew hot.
Martha daringly put her hands on his chest, feeling the muscles flex underneath them.
After a minute or two, they finally pulled apart with James feeling slightly dizzy. Martha caught his swaying body and held him close.
“Not that I minded the kiss, but you really should rest, James,” Martha said as she caught her breath.
“I suppose I can only handle so much excitement at my age.” He smiled, his arms still wrapped around the small woman.
Before he could pull away to go back to his bed, Martha gently grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the bed.
“At least this way I can keep an eye on you when I tell you that you have to rest.”
“Martha, are you sure?” he asked, surprised yet amused by Martha’s sudden forwardness. First she was blushing and now she was inviting him to her bed.
“You’ll be sleeping, not…doing other things.” She shifted from foot to foot nervously, wondering if she made a mistake in asking James to sleep in her bed. She'd nearly lost him twice and all she wanted now was to be near him. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed-”
“No, it’s not that…I was just surprised,” he said, making his way to the far side of the bed slowly. Watson held his hand up in protest when Martha tried to help him into bed, so she just slid into her side of the bed, and nervously lay on her side with her back to him as he spooned up behind her.
His right arm wrapped around her waist with his hand resting on her stomach, while his head rested against hers. Martha reached for the lamp and turned off the light, leaving them both in the dark with their own thoughts.
Neither of them was sure what they’d do after tonight; James hadn’t been with a woman in years and Martha hadn’t had much time for dating after traveling with the Doctor.
“Goodnight, Martha,” he mumbled against her dark hair.
“Goodnight, James.”
*One Year Later*
“Bloody machine!” James pounded his fist on the desk in aggravation.
“Are you sure it’s the computer and not the person operating it?” asked Martha from the bed, where she sat up against the headboard, her laptop resting on her outstretched legs. James frowned at Martha, then turned back to the monitor.
“How on earth do you young people stay on these machines all day?”
“It’s really not that difficult to work on once you get used to it…what are you doing?”
“Trying to send this electronic message to Helen, but the blasted thing won’t send.” James said, letting out a deep sigh. “My telegram would have made it to Old City by now, had I not wasted time on this stupid thing.”
“Sometimes you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” Martha said, putting aside her laptop and headed over to James’ desk. She peered over his shoulder to see what he was doing wrong, then tried not to laugh why the message wouldn’t send. “You do know that you have to input an e-mail address before you can send it, right? Computers aren’t telepathic, at least ours aren’t. That’s if Henry hasn’t developed that kind of machine already…”
James looked closer at the e-mail and realized Helen’s e-mail address wasn’t listed at the top.
“It was there a minute ago,” he pouted.
James Watson may have been a brilliant man, but sometimes he was useless with technology, depending on what it was. Leave him with a microscope or the exoskeleton he still held on to, and he was fine, but put him in front of a computer with the newest features and he was completely lost.
“Don’t pout,” Martha kissed his cheek. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Don’t patronize me, Martha Jones,” he said, typing Helen’s e-mail address with his left hand while pointing at her with his right. “It’s not all my fault - I just always let Declan handle these kinds of things and now you’re making me do them.”
It wasn’t until recently Martha thought he should use the computer more often, rather than making someone else do it for him.
“And you don’t have to type the address every time,” she added, dismissing his last comment.
“You can show me the basics tomorrow, but right now, I just want to get this bloody thing sent.” As soon as he sent the e-mail and knew it had gone successfully, James clapped his hands in success, causing Martha smile in amusement.
‘He gets so easily amused.’
“Now what do I do?”
“It’s eleven o’clock, so now you shut off the computer and come to bed,” Martha said, closing her laptop and putting it on her bedside table. She tucked herself under the covers and waited for her lover to join her.
“As you wish,” he gave a tired sigh and turned off the computer. James rubbed his eyes and looked at Martha, who was half-asleep already. She curled against his body and rested her head on his chest while James wrapped his arms around her. He traced the tattoo on her arm with his index finger and with a kiss to her forehead, he fell asleep as well.
Author: tardis_mafia
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: They're mine - all mine! I don't own them, sadly, but I'd like to.
Characters: Martha Jones/James Watson, Helen Magnus, Nikola Tesla, John Druitt, Kate Freelander; mentions of Henry Foss and Declan Macrae.
Summary: Martha and Watson...what more is there to say? ;)
Beta: The fantabulous persiflage_1!! And thanks for the title. :)
“He’s looking much better at least,” James Watson heard a female voice say as he started to rouse; his eyes opened slowly. His body was quite stiff, but at least he was resting on a soft bed with an equally soft pillow; at least, he was sure he was on a bed. “Do you think the source blood will keep him alive without the exoskeleton?”
“It’s hard to say,” another female voice replied. “The blood only increased his genius the first time, but now that we’ve injected him again, it’s making his appearance as youthful as it was before his exoskeleton failed him, and his biology is being…restored. But we still need to keep an eye on him to find out what more the source blood may do to him.”
Martha Jones nodded at Helen Magnus and turned back to James’ recent test results.
“You love him, don’t you?” Helen asked out of the blue with a smirk and a gleam in her eye. Martha turned her head in shock, as the question caught Martha off guard. She turned away blushing and smiling. “I’ve suspected it for the past two years - when you started working with him,” Martha was still smiling and blushing, and cleared her throat.
“And here I thought I was hiding my feelings.” Martha turned back to Helen.
“I do admit that I didn’t notice until the day his exoskeleton nearly failed the first time. You hardly left his bedside for a week and you did everything you could to improve it, with the help of Nikola.” Helen continued to smile at the younger woman. “He loves you as well, though I don’t think he’d openly admit it. He hasn’t been in love for quite some time.”
James listened to their conversation. He hadn’t realized how much he’d grown to care for her over the past two years. They had their share of problems, but when he saw the way she worked, he was willing to overlook his ‘issues’. In fact, he’d grown closer to her than his own second in command, Declan Macrae.
When Martha couldn’t sleep, James would make them a pot of tea and they’d talk for hours in the kitchen until Martha was finally ready for bed. James still went to his second in command for the usual abnormal case or a problem that needed to be worked out, but most of the time he went to Martha for ideas and suggestions. Every now and then they’d sit in the library together and enjoy each other’s quiet company.
“Even if he doesn’t return my feelings, it’s still an honor to work with him.” Martha said proudly; James could hear the sincerity in her voice. “I don’t know where I’d be if he hadn’t approached me about the Sanctuary - still working with UNIT I suppose.”
“Well, the important thing is, you’re with us now, and you’ve always been an excellent addition to the network.”
“Thank you,” Martha smiled. She turned towards the bed James was resting in and noticed his eyes were open.
“He’s awake,” she said, rushing to his side, checking the monitors beeping by his bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Stiff and old,” he replied. “But other than that, quite good.” His eyes scanned over Martha’s face briefly. He could tell she’d been working hard and hardly sleeping. “I thought my exoskeleton stopped working again - I should be dead. Not that I’m not grateful to be here…”
“John teleported you and Martha back here, where she could start on the new treatment she and I had been working on when the exoskeleton stopped working the first time,” Helen answered. “We’ve used some of the source blood in hopes it would rewind the aging process and keep you stable, which it has, but we still have a lot more tests to run. Nikola got the exoskeleton working properly again, in case you need it, and we don’t know yet if you can survive without it.”
“You two have been working on a treatment designed for me?” Watson asked, looking back and forth between the two women.
“It was Martha’s idea to start one,” said Helen, putting Martha on the spot.
“Well, I know you were worried that the suit would one day fail and I thought it would be best if we had a backup plan in case something happened, so both Helen and I started on one.” Martha quickly gave an excuse. It was the truth, but she also didn’t want the spotlight kept on her. She knew Helen’s agenda. Helen wanted to make it clear to James just how much he meant to Martha.
“I’m touched,” he smiled at Martha, causing her stomach to do somersaults, then turned to Helen. “So how long do I have to be your test subject?”
“At least until we can determine whether or not you can live without the exoskeleton, and for how long, if possible. And I’d also like to know what else the source blood will change about your biology.” Helen said. “Whatever the results will show, Martha, Nikola, and I will work on a more suitable plan.
“Nikola?” Watson frowned. “Why would he want to help me?”
“He doesn’t, necessarily.” John Druitt answered from across the room, sipping on a glass of wine he’d stolen from Tesla. “As long as you’re in that bed, you’re his lab rat, and god only knows what he’ll do to you…”
“Wonderful,” James mumbled. “For all I know he’ll turn me into a vampire, I’ll sprout bat wings, and start craving blood.”
“Vampires do not sprout bat wings, Wise Ass; or butterfly wings, or angel wings, and as long as you keep talking like that-” Nikola rambled in his most irritated voice before Helen raised her hand to stop him from talking.
“You’ve trained him like a dog, Helen.” James smiled at the silent command. “I’m impressed.”
“I am this close to turning you into a kumquat.” Tesla threatened before heading back to the lab, where he started to read through Watson’ blood work in order to find out if James would be able to survive without the exoskeleton.
“There are way too many strong personalities in this room.” Kate said as she passed by Nikola, who gave her a snarl when she ruffled his unruly hair. “How you doin’, Jimmy?”
“I’ve been worse, but all in all, I think I’m fine; as fine as a 162 year old man can be.” James replied and looked up at Martha, watching her rub her tired eyes. She had been working long nights - he knew it.
“Sweet,” she said. “Well, now that I know you’re okay, I’m headed back upstairs…Henry and I are gonna feast on junk food and watch a marathon of werewolf movies. I’ll let Declan know you’re awake.” Kate patted James’ arm, then trotted back upstairs to meet with Henry for their movie night. “And by the way, can you tell Edward Cullen over there,” she pointed her thumb in Tesla’s direction, “to stop staring at my neck? I am not the Bella to his Edward.”
Druitt chuckled and raised his glass to her.
“Speaking of going upstairs, I really think you both should get some rest. I think you’ve taken care of me long enough,” James said softly, trying to sound commanding, but he was too weak to even sit up straight, let alone give orders. “And you go upstairs as well,” he pointed at John. “I have no desire to get into a deep conversation with you, at least not yet.”
“Of course…but when everyone leaves, I’ll be back down to keep you company.” John drank what was left of his wine, and headed back upstairs.
“Heaven forbid,” he mumbled under his breath. “All right, Dr. Jones, off to bed with you.” Watson turned to his young companion.
“I haven’t been up long,” Martha said, shrugging her heavy shoulders. “Besides I’m still waiting on more tests results before I head to sleep, and I need to talk to Nikola about the exoskeleton and your blood work. You, on the other hand, need to get some rest; I’m the doctor, you’re the patient.” Martha gave a slight smile, then turned back to the lab where she met up with Nikola.
“Yes, doctor.” James gave a weak salute to Martha as she walked away, then looked up at Helen, who was staring at him with twinkling eyes.
“So, exactly how much of our conversation did you hear?” she asked when she knew Martha was gone. Watson’s mouth dropped before he quickly picked it up again.
“I-I wasn’t…what conversation?” he stammered. Usually he was a much better liar but with all the drugs in his system, not to mention he’d just woken up, his brain hadn’t completely caught up with him yet.
“Do I really have to ask?”
“I think I heard most of it,” he admitted. “How did you know?”
“I’m old, James, not blind.”
“You’ve been spending too much time with young William.” James rolled his eyes. “You’ve always been a keen observer, but he’s taught you far more in his years here. Remind me to thank him.”
“I’ll do just that,” Helen chuckled. “But Martha is right, you really should get your rest.”
“Why is it that all the women in the Sanctuary like to tell me what to do, whether or not my defenses are down?” James frowned. “Martha usually sends me off to bed when she knows I’m working too late, Kate isn’t any better, and now that I’m here, you and Ashley join in on the fun.”
“It’s because we care,” Helen smirked. “So…are you going to tell her?”
“Tell who about what?” asked James, closing his eyes to get some rest as he was told.
“Martha, about your feelings for her,” Helen stood with her hands on her hips.
“Perhaps, but what would a young, beautiful woman want with an old man like me?” he opened his eyes again.
“She has good taste, I give her that, but maybe her taste in men is a little lax.” Nikola answered, walking back into the room with a computer tablet in his hands. “After all, she is interested in you.”
“You’re just angry because she’s shot you down every time you asked her to dinner,” James sighed.
“Have you got the test results?” asked Helen, changing the subject.
“No, I just figured I’d walk back in here with a lab coat and a tablet to make myself look important,” Nikola snapped.
“You’re not suffering from PMS are you, Nikola?” asked James. “They have medicine for that I believe…”
“How would you know?” Nikola snarled.
“That’s enough from both of you,” Helen said, going through the results, then turned to Nikola. “Are you sure this is accurate?”
Nikola frowned and gave her a look that told her she should know better than to question him.
“Well, James, guess you won’t be needing that life exoskeleton after all.”
“What do you mean?” asked James, doing his best to sit up, but failing when he realized he was still too weak.
“When Martha injected you with more of the source blood and started you on the new treatment, the two combined managed to repair you, inside and out. Not only do you not need the exoskeleton, but you might not ever grow old, which is a shame, because I thought I’d outlive you,” Nikola said.
“Looks like you might be living forever, Jimmy.” Helen said, flashing a smile.
“Who wants to live forever?” Watson joked; Helen and Tesla exchanged looks, then turned back to James. “It’s a joke…”
“I didn’t know you had a sense of humor,” Nikola replied before heading back to the lab area.
*2 hours later*
Martha was just settling into bed, after Helen had spent an hour convincing her to actually leave, when there was a knock on her guest room door.
Putting aside the idea to kill whoever was behind the door, she sighed, got up, and opened the door to see James Watson tiredly standing at her door; well, he was leaning against the door frame, looking like an abandoned puppy.
“James!” she exclaimed. Rushing to his side and wrapping her arm around his waist to support his weight. “I told you to rest, not get up and walk around.” Martha scolded him, but James’ hand gave her left shoulder a gentle squeeze. “What are you doing up?”
“I can assure you, I’m fine - Helen said so herself, though she wasn’t happy to have me up and around either.” He gave her a smile and another squeeze on the shoulder before letting her set him down on the bed, since she had no chair or couch he could sit on. “And obviously I’ve interrupted you,” James looked at her bed, then her pajamas. “I’m sorry if I woke you.”
“You didn’t.”
“Ah, then you were just headed to bed before I decided to disturb you.”
“You’re not disturbing me, but if you don’t want me to lie, then yes, I was headed to bed, which is where you should be right now.” She poked him in the chest, trying to be angry with him. It was always hard to stay mad at him, though. He had a certain charm that could get him out of any situation.
“I know, Martha, but I’m better at being a doctor than a patient.”
“They do say doctors make the worst patients.” Martha smiled tiredly. “So what was so important you had to make your way out of bed to see me?”
“You,” he said simply. “I don’t believe I’ve thanked you for saving me, again. I don’t know if I should hug you, kiss you, or give you an award.”
Martha blushed at the idea of kissing him. Suddenly her thoughts were drawn back to her recent conversation with Helen Magnus.
James noticed the blush despite her dark skin and the dim lighting in the room. Her mouth opened to say something, but the words didn’t come.
Using what was left of his strength, he pushed himself up to stand on his feet where he could face Martha properly and pulled her towards him. At first he thought he needed to say something to fill the silence, but instead, he bent down to kiss the petite doctor. His beard tickled at first, but when his tongue ran over her bottom lip, the tickling went away, and her cheeks grew hot.
Martha daringly put her hands on his chest, feeling the muscles flex underneath them.
After a minute or two, they finally pulled apart with James feeling slightly dizzy. Martha caught his swaying body and held him close.
“Not that I minded the kiss, but you really should rest, James,” Martha said as she caught her breath.
“I suppose I can only handle so much excitement at my age.” He smiled, his arms still wrapped around the small woman.
Before he could pull away to go back to his bed, Martha gently grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the bed.
“At least this way I can keep an eye on you when I tell you that you have to rest.”
“Martha, are you sure?” he asked, surprised yet amused by Martha’s sudden forwardness. First she was blushing and now she was inviting him to her bed.
“You’ll be sleeping, not…doing other things.” She shifted from foot to foot nervously, wondering if she made a mistake in asking James to sleep in her bed. She'd nearly lost him twice and all she wanted now was to be near him. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed-”
“No, it’s not that…I was just surprised,” he said, making his way to the far side of the bed slowly. Watson held his hand up in protest when Martha tried to help him into bed, so she just slid into her side of the bed, and nervously lay on her side with her back to him as he spooned up behind her.
His right arm wrapped around her waist with his hand resting on her stomach, while his head rested against hers. Martha reached for the lamp and turned off the light, leaving them both in the dark with their own thoughts.
Neither of them was sure what they’d do after tonight; James hadn’t been with a woman in years and Martha hadn’t had much time for dating after traveling with the Doctor.
“Goodnight, Martha,” he mumbled against her dark hair.
“Goodnight, James.”
*One Year Later*
“Bloody machine!” James pounded his fist on the desk in aggravation.
“Are you sure it’s the computer and not the person operating it?” asked Martha from the bed, where she sat up against the headboard, her laptop resting on her outstretched legs. James frowned at Martha, then turned back to the monitor.
“How on earth do you young people stay on these machines all day?”
“It’s really not that difficult to work on once you get used to it…what are you doing?”
“Trying to send this electronic message to Helen, but the blasted thing won’t send.” James said, letting out a deep sigh. “My telegram would have made it to Old City by now, had I not wasted time on this stupid thing.”
“Sometimes you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” Martha said, putting aside her laptop and headed over to James’ desk. She peered over his shoulder to see what he was doing wrong, then tried not to laugh why the message wouldn’t send. “You do know that you have to input an e-mail address before you can send it, right? Computers aren’t telepathic, at least ours aren’t. That’s if Henry hasn’t developed that kind of machine already…”
James looked closer at the e-mail and realized Helen’s e-mail address wasn’t listed at the top.
“It was there a minute ago,” he pouted.
James Watson may have been a brilliant man, but sometimes he was useless with technology, depending on what it was. Leave him with a microscope or the exoskeleton he still held on to, and he was fine, but put him in front of a computer with the newest features and he was completely lost.
“Don’t pout,” Martha kissed his cheek. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Don’t patronize me, Martha Jones,” he said, typing Helen’s e-mail address with his left hand while pointing at her with his right. “It’s not all my fault - I just always let Declan handle these kinds of things and now you’re making me do them.”
It wasn’t until recently Martha thought he should use the computer more often, rather than making someone else do it for him.
“And you don’t have to type the address every time,” she added, dismissing his last comment.
“You can show me the basics tomorrow, but right now, I just want to get this bloody thing sent.” As soon as he sent the e-mail and knew it had gone successfully, James clapped his hands in success, causing Martha smile in amusement.
‘He gets so easily amused.’
“Now what do I do?”
“It’s eleven o’clock, so now you shut off the computer and come to bed,” Martha said, closing her laptop and putting it on her bedside table. She tucked herself under the covers and waited for her lover to join her.
“As you wish,” he gave a tired sigh and turned off the computer. James rubbed his eyes and looked at Martha, who was half-asleep already. She curled against his body and rested her head on his chest while James wrapped his arms around her. He traced the tattoo on her arm with his index finger and with a kiss to her forehead, he fell asleep as well.