Fic Rec: Miss Osterhagen Regrets
I'm sure some of my flist will have read and loved this story a long time ago, but many may not have, because it's a Martha-centric fic. Now, I know a lot of my friends know I'm not Martha's biggest fan, though admittedly I like her a lot more in fic than in the episodes. Well, in the course of reviewing for cot_reviews. I've just read a fic that has made me declare that Martha Jones rocks. It's Miss Osterhagen Regrets, by paperclipbitch.
Martha, in Journey's End, had the task of - if necessary - using the Osterhagen Key. In the end, Davros prevented her, but for Martha the point is that she was prepared to. And ever since that realisation has been on her mind, in her dreams and affecting her ability to live a normal life. She can't even tell her fiancé the whole truth:
“Something’s broken you,” Tom replies determinedly, though his hand on hers is still so gentle, and his voice is soft, not accusing. “You don’t go to work half the time, you’re not sleeping, you’re having nightmares so bad you wake up crying. Please, Martha, talk to me.”
[...]
He can’t know about her willingness to sacrifice the Earth and everyone on it; and he can’t know that she was even capable of ripping the world apart.
Yes, she was following orders. She didn’t want to do it. She believed that it was the only option, the last resort, and she was following the command of her superior officer. (Yes, we all know how well ‘following orders’ went down at the Nuremberg Trial, and how the Doctor reacted to that as an excuse on Satellite Five). She even called the Crucible before actually going through with it, as the Doctor would. But this is how Martha sees it: she was prepared to do it. Like the Doctor in the Time War, she was willing to be the instrument of a dreadful sacrifice in the interests of a perceived greater good: saving the rest of the universe. How do you recover from that knowledge, even if you didn't actually go through with it?
That's the main theme of the story, but it's only part of what makes it brilliant. Look out for sparkling, witty Mickey and Jack repartee - and any fic that contains the line “I need to be around someone who’s not trying to sleep with Captain Smartarse” automatically rocks. There's also a running theme of walking away from - or being forced away from - something or someone you love, and having to learn to live in the world you now inhabit, a world that doesn't include the thing you love.
paperclipbitch gives Sarah Jane such a perfect line, a brilliant insight, here:
“This isn’t the anti-climax,” Sarah Jane tells her firmly. “We’ve got what the Doctor can’t have, and we’re still right here, saving the planet a piece at a time. It really isn’t second best.”
She's so right. Torchwood, UNIT, living a life in Ealing, in Chiswick, even in a parallel universe or our own daily lives, is far from second-best, and in the end this is what Martha - and Mickey, and Sarah Jane, and Jack - has realised.
My review for cot_reviews is much more detailed than this, and it'll appear on the comm some time in the next couple of weeks, but I loved this story so much that I had to post a recommendation now. If you haven't already read it: do. As an added incentive, for Rose-fans on my flist, there's even a very sweet Rose conversation between Martha and Mickey, containing this brilliant exchange:
“But I met [Rose],” Martha continues after a moment of reshuffling her emotions, “And we didn’t have this huge bitch fight, which is kind of what I expected would happen.”
“I was holding out for naked mud wrestling,” Jack calls, as he heads past.
That and a red UNIT beret for Ianto, of course ;)
Thoroughly recommended! And, if you enjoy the story, do post feedback for the author.
Martha, in Journey's End, had the task of - if necessary - using the Osterhagen Key. In the end, Davros prevented her, but for Martha the point is that she was prepared to. And ever since that realisation has been on her mind, in her dreams and affecting her ability to live a normal life. She can't even tell her fiancé the whole truth:
“Something’s broken you,” Tom replies determinedly, though his hand on hers is still so gentle, and his voice is soft, not accusing. “You don’t go to work half the time, you’re not sleeping, you’re having nightmares so bad you wake up crying. Please, Martha, talk to me.”
[...]
He can’t know about her willingness to sacrifice the Earth and everyone on it; and he can’t know that she was even capable of ripping the world apart.
Yes, she was following orders. She didn’t want to do it. She believed that it was the only option, the last resort, and she was following the command of her superior officer. (Yes, we all know how well ‘following orders’ went down at the Nuremberg Trial, and how the Doctor reacted to that as an excuse on Satellite Five). She even called the Crucible before actually going through with it, as the Doctor would. But this is how Martha sees it: she was prepared to do it. Like the Doctor in the Time War, she was willing to be the instrument of a dreadful sacrifice in the interests of a perceived greater good: saving the rest of the universe. How do you recover from that knowledge, even if you didn't actually go through with it?
That's the main theme of the story, but it's only part of what makes it brilliant. Look out for sparkling, witty Mickey and Jack repartee - and any fic that contains the line “I need to be around someone who’s not trying to sleep with Captain Smartarse” automatically rocks. There's also a running theme of walking away from - or being forced away from - something or someone you love, and having to learn to live in the world you now inhabit, a world that doesn't include the thing you love.
paperclipbitch gives Sarah Jane such a perfect line, a brilliant insight, here:
“This isn’t the anti-climax,” Sarah Jane tells her firmly. “We’ve got what the Doctor can’t have, and we’re still right here, saving the planet a piece at a time. It really isn’t second best.”
She's so right. Torchwood, UNIT, living a life in Ealing, in Chiswick, even in a parallel universe or our own daily lives, is far from second-best, and in the end this is what Martha - and Mickey, and Sarah Jane, and Jack - has realised.
My review for cot_reviews is much more detailed than this, and it'll appear on the comm some time in the next couple of weeks, but I loved this story so much that I had to post a recommendation now. If you haven't already read it: do. As an added incentive, for Rose-fans on my flist, there's even a very sweet Rose conversation between Martha and Mickey, containing this brilliant exchange:
“But I met [Rose],” Martha continues after a moment of reshuffling her emotions, “And we didn’t have this huge bitch fight, which is kind of what I expected would happen.”
“I was holding out for naked mud wrestling,” Jack calls, as he heads past.
That and a red UNIT beret for Ianto, of course ;)
Thoroughly recommended! And, if you enjoy the story, do post feedback for the author.