Reconciliation
Who_Daily Link: < a href="http://persiflage-1.livejournal.com/176843.html">Reconciliation by < lj user=persiflage_1> (Characters: Martha, Nine, Jackie, Mickey, Rose | Rating: PG | Spoilers: S1)
Title: Reconciliation
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Martha, Nine, Jackie, Mickey, Rose
Rating: PG
Spoilers: S1
Summary: The Ninth Doctor comes back to see Martha in need of her help.
Disclaimer: I occasionally wish that I did own it!
Author Notes: This is the fifth in my occasional Martha/Nine series of fics. It picks up at the end of "Parting of the Ways", but takes the story in an AU direction from there.
Beta: The patient and helpful fourzoas
~~~~~~
Aboard the Game Station in the year 200,100
"The Time War ends." Rose was glowing with the power of the TARDIS.
"I will not die. I cannot die!" cried the Dalek Emperor, his voice rising. But Rose ignored him as she stood with her arms raised, staring straight ahead of her, shaking with the power that was flowing through her.
"Rose, you've done it," the Doctor told her. "Now stop. Just let go."
"How can I let go of this?" she asked. "I bring life."
"But this is wrong!" the Doctor cried, terrified as he felt Jack come back to life again. "You can't control life and death!"
"But I can," Rose told him, looking at him now. "The sun and the moon. The day and night. But why do they hurt?" she asked, her voice shaking now.
"The power's gonna kill you and it's my fault." The Doctor lowered his head, anguished.
"I can see everything," Rose told him and he looked up again. "All that is, all that was, all that ever could be."
The Doctor stood up abruptly, looking down at her in sudden understanding. "That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?"
"My head, it's killing me."
He moved towards her. "Now, let me help you, 'cos what you need is a Doctor."
"No." Rose raised her hand and 'pushed' at him, knocking him out, then she turned and destroyed the rest of the Daleks with a gesture, each one seeming to dissolve in on itself in a haze of golden light. After that she bent down and scooped up the Doctor, the power of the TARDIS giving her more than her usual strength so that she easily lifted him. She turned and carried him carefully into the ship, and the doors slammed shut behind her. She didn't see Jack racing in from the corridor, and before he could reach it, the TARDIS dematerialised, leaving him stranded on the Game Station.
The TARDIS headed towards London at Rose's bidding, but the ship didn't recognise that the power and energy inside Rose was starting to burn her up. With most of the energy and power inside a human vessel, the TARDIS didn't have enough awareness of the damage that was being done to Rose, and the young woman collapsed onto the metal grating of the Control Room floor.
The Doctor came to abruptly, as if he'd been doused in water, and he sat up, groaning and clutching at his head. Once he could focus, he saw Rose sprawled in an ungainly heap on the floor, brilliant golden light filling her body.
"Rose! No, you've got to let go of the power!" He scrambled across the room to her side and scooping her up, he staggered with her into the Med Bay.
"Oh Rose, what have you done?" He bent over her, intending to draw the TARDIS' energy from her, even though he knew the dangers of doing so, but Rose struck out at him, her eyes flying open and her weirdly distorted voice spoke.
"I must keep you safe, my Doctor. I must protect you from false gods."
"You can let the power go, now, Rose. I'm safe. The Daleks are gone." He picked himself up from the floor and found a bottle of sedative and a needle, knowing now that he had to knock Rose out if he was draw the power from her and return it to the heart of the TARDIS.
Once again Rose lashed out at him, and he wondered if she was perceiving him as a threat to her self-appointed role as his guardian. He backed away and set down the needle and sedative; he needed help and there was only one person he could think of who could help him, who wouldn't ask too many difficult questions. He just hoped there was enough of the TARDIS left in his ship for him to reprogram her to take him to his destination.
On Earth, 2007
Martha had just walked into her kitchen carrying an empty plate in one hand and an empty wine glass in the other, when a peculiar groaning, wheezing noise began in her hallway. Baffled, she set down the things she carried and went to investigate. In the hall she discovered that the peculiar noise was accompanied by a small, freak whirlwind that blew her hair around her face and flapped the jackets hanging on the pegs in the hall. As she watched a tall blue box appeared, fading into existence until a solid wooden Police Public Call box had materialised.
As she stared in disbelief at the thing now blocking her route out of her home, the door opened and out leapt the man she'd known as John Smith, the man who had later revealed himself to be a time-travelling alien.
"Martha! Thank god you're here! You've got to help me please, Rose is dying." He spoke hastily, reaching towards her with an imploring expression.
"Why haven't you taken her to a hospital?" she demanded, feeling it was a bit too much for him to suddenly come bursting back into her life, demanding that she save his friend's life.
"I can't," he answered, stepping closer and catching her hands in his. "Please Martha. She came back to save my life. I have to try to save hers, and you're the only person I can ask."
He tugged gently at her hands, willing her to follow him, hoping that she would have compassion for a fellow human being, despite the way he'd previously behaved.
Martha went with him, her curiosity aroused in spite of herself. She let him lead her into the blue box which she now remembered he had told her was called a TARDIS, and through the cathedral-like room with a glowing column in the centre and what looked like tree branches growing out of the floor. They entered a rather more ordinary corridor and then he led her into what was recognisably a sick bay, albeit one with a lot of advanced equipment which she did not recognise.
She pushed past him when she caught sight of the blonde girl lying on the bed; the girl, Rose, was glowing, literally, with a yellow-gold light that recalled the light in the first room she'd come through.
"What happened to her?" she asked, washing her hands and quickly pulling on a pair of latex gloves.
"She looked into the heart of the TARDIS and now she's got the whole of the Time Vortex running through her head."
Martha looked up at him, clearly puzzled. "What on earth does that mean?" she asked, before turning back to Rose, who was now whimpering.
"She opened up the heart of the TARDIS, and she's got the power and the energy that the TARDIS normally uses to fly and function, filling her body. She must have released some of the energy for the TARDIS to get us here, but she has to release it all otherwise it's going to destroy her, burn up her insides and kill her."
Martha stopped and turned back to him, a look of incredulous dismay on her face. "Wait. You're telling me that Rose is full of some kind of weird energy and you want me to save her? How exactly? I'm a medical student, not a miracle worker. Why can't you help her?"
"I've tried," he said, sounding anguished. "She knocked me out and brought us back to Earth. I managed to bring the ship to you, but whenever I try to get close to her, she just fights me."
Now that she looked more closely, Martha could see he did look rather dishevelled, and there was a bruise blooming on one cheek. "Have you tried sedating her?" she asked.
He nodded, his expression bleak. "I couldn't even get close enough to do that."
Martha turned back to Rose and spoke quietly to her, as if she was a scared child she had to treat at the hospital. "Now try," she said to him, her voice low and soothing.
The Doctor picked up a needle filled with sedative and approached the bed cautiously as Martha held her steady, but before he could get close enough to inject the drug, Rose lashed out with her arms and legs, sending both Martha and the Doctor flying across the room.
"Martha! Martha!" He crawled across the floor to where she lay sprawled against the wall. As he reached her she opened her eyes and gave him a slightly bleary look.
"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.
She groaned, then pulled herself into a sitting position, one hand gently feeling the lump on the back of her head.
"I'll live," she said, rather grumpily, "but I'm not sure the same is true of Rose. We need help, preferably someone strong enough to hold her down while I give her the sedative, and it needs to be done soon."
The Doctor looked over at the bed and saw that the glow of the TARDIS energy filling Rose's body had intensified so that it was becoming hard to look at her.
"I'd better take her home, then," he said. "Ricky and her mum can help us: Jackie's as strong as an ox."
"Get going then," Martha said, her tone harsh again. He nodded, then hurried out, limping slightly, and Martha made a mental note to check him for injuries. She suppressed her memories of the first occasion on which she'd met 'John Smith' when she'd treated him for his injuries, and what that meeting had led to.
Not now, she chided herself. She got up, then grabbed the edge of a cupboard as the room seemed to lurch sideways and she almost lost her balance. She approached Rose cautiously, very aware of the lump on the back of her head.
"Why don't you let us help you?" Martha asked her. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Rose's eyes opened, golden light streaming out, and then she spoke, her voice sounding oddly distorted and alien.
"I wanted my Doctor safe. I wanted an end to the Time War. No more sorrow or despair for my Doctor. Time for him to be happy again."
Martha, one hand shielding her eyes, could only gape in astonishment; she had no idea what Rose's words meant, but she felt a prickle of fear on the back of her neck.
A moment later she heard cries and running footsteps, then a woman who looked like an older version of Rose burst into the room, with a good-looking young black man close on her heels.
"Rose! Rose!" cried the woman, rushing to her daughter's bedside. "Oh god! What has he done to you?" Her eyes grew large and her hands flew to cover her mouth as she choked back a sob at the sight of the golden light which was filling her daughter's body and had been growing in intensity moment by moment.
"Jackie, it is Jackie, isn't it?" Martha asked. "Can you hold her down? And you," she said, turning quickly to the young man, "and I'll give her a sedative, and then the Doctor can help her."
"An' oo are you?" demanded Jackie, her tone aggressive and her expression so fierce that Martha almost backed away from her.
"That's Martha, she's a doctor," answered the Time Lord from the doorway.
"A doctor? Sure she ain't your floozy?" asked Jackie, her voice becoming strident. "Is that why you 'aven't done nothin' to save my Rose?"
Martha bristled, but the Doctor spoke again before she could respond. "She's a friend," he said emphatically. "I asked her to help me because Rose won't let me get near her to help her."
He stepped into the room. "Ricky - "
"It's Mickey," interrupted the young man in exasperation.
"I need you and Jackie to hold Rose down while Martha gives her a sedative." The Time Lord ignored Mickey's interruption and Martha saw Mickey rolling his eyes, and felt herself warming to him.
"Mickey, can you hold Rose's shoulders, and Jackie, could you hold her legs, and then I can give her the injection?" she asked.
Mickey gave her a quick nod, then moved past her to do as she'd asked. Jackie glowered before she moved into position, but Martha ignored the glower and picked up the needle again. Before she could approach close enough to administer the drug, Rose's body arched up off the bed, the golden light flaring so intensely that they were all briefly blinded. They all blinked hard several times, and when Martha could see again it was obvious that Rose was dead.
Jackie gave an anguished cry and turned towards the Doctor with murder in her eyes, but Mickey and Martha both grabbed her, holding her back as she began to scream and yell at him. She soon wrenched herself free of them, and collapsed beside the bed, weeping and wailing as she clutched Rose's body to herself.
"You bastard!" Mickey said, intense anger in his voice as he turned and punched the Time Lord, sending him crashing back against the half open door.
"Stop it!" yelled Martha, grabbing his arm as he pulled back for another punch. "This won't help anyone."
"Shut up, bitch!" snarled Mickey, all the warmth gone from his eyes now. "You're little better than he is." He shoved Martha aside and turned back to the Doctor, but she wasn't going to see him punching the Time Lord a second time and she rugby tackled him around the knees. Once he was down she sat on the small of his back, pinning him down.
"Help Jackie," she said in his ear. "If you cared about Rose at all, then help her mum now, because she needs someone." She got up, then helped him to his feet.
"You fight dirty," he commented, grudging respect in his eyes.
"Younger brother," she answered softly. "Get Jackie back to her place, and we'll bring Rose."
He nodded, then knelt beside the sobbing woman on the floor, speaking softly to her. Martha turned to the Doctor who was clutching a blood-stained handkerchief to his nose, an expression of mingled gratitude and grief just visible in his eyes.
"Thank you, I - "
"Not now," she said curtly, pushing him backwards out into the corridor so that Mickey could guide Jackie past.
* * * * * *
An hour later the TARDIS was once again parked in Martha's hallway. They had left Jackie and Mickey grieving for Rose, with Jackie threatening to report the Doctor for murder if he ever dared to show his face there again. Martha had given Mickey her phone number just in case he or Jackie needed any medical help, although she'd gained the impression that Jackie never wanted to see her again either. Mickey had rung Rose's GP to come out and see her, so that he could issue a death certificate and arrange for the undertakers to collect her body.
Martha and the Doctor were sitting at opposite ends of her sofa nursing large mugs of sweet tea.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save her," she said, breaking the long silence in which they'd been wrapped.
"It's not your fault," he said fiercely. "Don't you dare blame yourself for this Martha."
She looked across at him, remembering how she'd thought she might be falling in love with him, before she'd found out that he'd lied to her. He looked devastated now, a livid bruise darkening on his cheek, and his nose still swollen from where Mickey had hit him.
"Did you love her?" she asked, curious despite herself.
He shook his head. "No. I cared about her, just like I care about all my travelling companions, and I hate the fact that I've lost her, but I didn't feel the same way about her that I do about you."
Martha gave him a sharp look. "What?"
He looked, she thought, a little sheepish. "I didn't love Rose," he told her. "I couldn't, because you'd got under my skin and filled my head so that I could only think of you: the way your lips felt so soft on mine when we kissed; the warmth of your body against mine when we made love; your insatiable curiosity and deep compassion." He bit his bottom lip. "I wanted you with me. I've missed you so much. I - "
"Stop. Just, don't, please." She set down her empty mug on the coffee table. "Tell me about Rose Tyler."
He gave her a puzzled look. "Why?"
"You told me that she saved your life - 'she came to save me', you said. What did she save you from? Why did she risk her life to save yours?"
He sighed seeing the determination in Martha's eyes, and knowing she didn't want to talk about how he felt for her, he began to tell her about his travels with Rose. He explained about the Autons, and how he'd been injured blowing up the relay device controlling them (not in coming off a motorcycle as he'd told her at the hospital), then how Rose had helped him to stop the Nestene Consciousness. Then he told her of their trip to Platform One, and the end of planet Earth.
"Afterwards I bought her chips and took her to see her mum," he said, and Martha remembered how he'd turned up with fish and chips for her, and guessed he'd come to see her after dropping off Rose.
Then he told Martha about taking Rose to Cardiff where they'd met Dickens, although he'd intended to take her to Venice instead. "Told you my ship's not always reliable," he said, and she nodded, remembering his explanation for disappearing for a year.
She'd sent him packing after that, angry that he'd lied to her, and although she'd been fully occupied with studying and trying to keep her family from imploding after Leo got his girlfriend pregnant and her dad started seeing Annalise, she had (once or twice) wished she hadn't lost her temper with him and sent him away. At least when she'd been with him, he'd made her feel that he wanted her simply for who she was: with him she'd been Martha Jones the medical student, not a sister, or a daughter, or an ally in the constant friction of her family's life.
She looked up and saw that he was watching her, sorrow and guilt clouding his expression. "Do you want some more tea?" she asked, getting up.
He nodded mutely and she gave his fingers a squeeze before taking his mug from him.
When she returned with their mugs of tea, Martha sat down beside him, not quite touching him. "Go on with your story," she said.
So he told her about the Dalek in Van Statten's museum, the trip to see the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire, the lost boy in the Blitz, and meeting Captain Jack Harkness. He wondered what Martha would have made of Captain Jack, with his brilliant smile and devil-may-care attitude, and winced as he remembered feeling Jack come back to life at Rose's instigation, and how wrong Jack had felt because Rose, with the power of the TARDIS in her limited human brain, had made him a fixed point in Time and unable to remain dead. He forced himself to focus on his narrative: now was not the time to think of Jack.
The Doctor talked more of the Slitheen, about whom Martha knew little since the whole event had been passed off as a hoax, despite the fact that was clearly nonsensical; with the Royal Hope so close to Downing Street, she had known full well that something major had happened there since she'd treated survivors of the explosion, as well as people who'd been injured when the spaceship had crashed into Big Ben. He told her of how the sole surviving Slitheen, who called herself Margaret Blaine, had become Mayor of Cardiff, and how he'd discovered her there. Then he told her about the Daleks and the battle to stop them, and how he'd sent Rose away only for her to return to save him.
"So, that earthquake in central Cardiff was actually alien in origin?" Martha asked once he'd finished. The Doctor nodded. "Somehow, I'm not surprised," she commented.
He managed a half smile. "I get the impression that it'd take a lot to surprise you."
"Well it would since I met you," she agreed.
"Come with me?" he asked suddenly. "Please?"
"I can't, not yet anyway," she answered.
"Why not?" He was hurt that she was turning him down, but he did notice that she had said 'not yet', rather than 'never'.
"I want to finish my studies. You've said yourself that the TARDIS isn't always accurate and I don't want you promising to bring me back in 12 hours, only to discover a year's passed and I'm unable to complete my studies."
"How long is it until you finish your course?"
"Nine months." Martha saw the way his face fell and felt a slight pang of guilt, but she was determined to be firm about not going anywhere until she'd finished her studies. After seeing what had happened to Rose, she didn't want to end up dead before she'd achieved the one thing she'd most strived for during the last few years. She wasn't planning on travelling with him for long; just to take a trip somewhere to unwind after her exams, and then she would come back and start building her career.
The Doctor sighed heavily. "I'll come back in nine months then."
Martha laughed. "Don't be a martyr about it," she told him. When he gaped at her, she went on "You've got a time machine, you can easily hop in it and come back nine months from now from my point of view, and only 30 seconds from now from your point of view."
"Don't miss much, do you?" he asked, respect and amusement in his eyes.
"I'm trained to be observant and analytical," she said. "I'm not supposed to miss anything."
He nodded. "Okay, so I'll come back in nine months time, from your point of view. When do you get your results?"
She told him and he nodded again. "I'll come back then and take you out for a meal to celebrate," he said.
"You're assuming I'm going to pass then?" she asked.
The Doctor gave her a funny look. "Of course you'll pass," he said. "Surely you don't doubt that?"
Martha shrugged a shoulder. "I'll work hard, of course, but I don't assume that I'll pass."
He shook his head. "You'll do very well, I'm sure." He looked so confident that Martha almost believed him.
"Time will tell. And talking of time, I need to get ready for work. I've got a shift in an hour."
He stood up. "I'll see you on results day, then."
Martha got up and followed him out into the hallway. "Take care of yourself in the meantime," she said, "assuming you don't just jump forward."
"I'm not going to do that," he said. "I need time to get over losing Rose."
She nodded, then stood up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, one hand against his chest to hold herself steady. He put his arms around her and after a moment she returned the gesture.
"Thank you," he murmured against her hair.
She pulled back and looked up at him. "For what?"
"For doing your best to help Rose, for stopping Mickey from punching me again, and for listening to me."
"You're welcome."
He brushed a kiss over her lips, then turned away and let himself into the TARDIS before she could react. A few moments later the TARDIS was gone.
Title: Reconciliation
Author: Persiflage_1
Characters/Pairings: Martha, Nine, Jackie, Mickey, Rose
Rating: PG
Spoilers: S1
Summary: The Ninth Doctor comes back to see Martha in need of her help.
Disclaimer: I occasionally wish that I did own it!
Author Notes: This is the fifth in my occasional Martha/Nine series of fics. It picks up at the end of "Parting of the Ways", but takes the story in an AU direction from there.
Beta: The patient and helpful fourzoas
~~~~~~
Aboard the Game Station in the year 200,100
"The Time War ends." Rose was glowing with the power of the TARDIS.
"I will not die. I cannot die!" cried the Dalek Emperor, his voice rising. But Rose ignored him as she stood with her arms raised, staring straight ahead of her, shaking with the power that was flowing through her.
"Rose, you've done it," the Doctor told her. "Now stop. Just let go."
"How can I let go of this?" she asked. "I bring life."
"But this is wrong!" the Doctor cried, terrified as he felt Jack come back to life again. "You can't control life and death!"
"But I can," Rose told him, looking at him now. "The sun and the moon. The day and night. But why do they hurt?" she asked, her voice shaking now.
"The power's gonna kill you and it's my fault." The Doctor lowered his head, anguished.
"I can see everything," Rose told him and he looked up again. "All that is, all that was, all that ever could be."
The Doctor stood up abruptly, looking down at her in sudden understanding. "That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?"
"My head, it's killing me."
He moved towards her. "Now, let me help you, 'cos what you need is a Doctor."
"No." Rose raised her hand and 'pushed' at him, knocking him out, then she turned and destroyed the rest of the Daleks with a gesture, each one seeming to dissolve in on itself in a haze of golden light. After that she bent down and scooped up the Doctor, the power of the TARDIS giving her more than her usual strength so that she easily lifted him. She turned and carried him carefully into the ship, and the doors slammed shut behind her. She didn't see Jack racing in from the corridor, and before he could reach it, the TARDIS dematerialised, leaving him stranded on the Game Station.
The TARDIS headed towards London at Rose's bidding, but the ship didn't recognise that the power and energy inside Rose was starting to burn her up. With most of the energy and power inside a human vessel, the TARDIS didn't have enough awareness of the damage that was being done to Rose, and the young woman collapsed onto the metal grating of the Control Room floor.
The Doctor came to abruptly, as if he'd been doused in water, and he sat up, groaning and clutching at his head. Once he could focus, he saw Rose sprawled in an ungainly heap on the floor, brilliant golden light filling her body.
"Rose! No, you've got to let go of the power!" He scrambled across the room to her side and scooping her up, he staggered with her into the Med Bay.
"Oh Rose, what have you done?" He bent over her, intending to draw the TARDIS' energy from her, even though he knew the dangers of doing so, but Rose struck out at him, her eyes flying open and her weirdly distorted voice spoke.
"I must keep you safe, my Doctor. I must protect you from false gods."
"You can let the power go, now, Rose. I'm safe. The Daleks are gone." He picked himself up from the floor and found a bottle of sedative and a needle, knowing now that he had to knock Rose out if he was draw the power from her and return it to the heart of the TARDIS.
Once again Rose lashed out at him, and he wondered if she was perceiving him as a threat to her self-appointed role as his guardian. He backed away and set down the needle and sedative; he needed help and there was only one person he could think of who could help him, who wouldn't ask too many difficult questions. He just hoped there was enough of the TARDIS left in his ship for him to reprogram her to take him to his destination.
On Earth, 2007
Martha had just walked into her kitchen carrying an empty plate in one hand and an empty wine glass in the other, when a peculiar groaning, wheezing noise began in her hallway. Baffled, she set down the things she carried and went to investigate. In the hall she discovered that the peculiar noise was accompanied by a small, freak whirlwind that blew her hair around her face and flapped the jackets hanging on the pegs in the hall. As she watched a tall blue box appeared, fading into existence until a solid wooden Police Public Call box had materialised.
As she stared in disbelief at the thing now blocking her route out of her home, the door opened and out leapt the man she'd known as John Smith, the man who had later revealed himself to be a time-travelling alien.
"Martha! Thank god you're here! You've got to help me please, Rose is dying." He spoke hastily, reaching towards her with an imploring expression.
"Why haven't you taken her to a hospital?" she demanded, feeling it was a bit too much for him to suddenly come bursting back into her life, demanding that she save his friend's life.
"I can't," he answered, stepping closer and catching her hands in his. "Please Martha. She came back to save my life. I have to try to save hers, and you're the only person I can ask."
He tugged gently at her hands, willing her to follow him, hoping that she would have compassion for a fellow human being, despite the way he'd previously behaved.
Martha went with him, her curiosity aroused in spite of herself. She let him lead her into the blue box which she now remembered he had told her was called a TARDIS, and through the cathedral-like room with a glowing column in the centre and what looked like tree branches growing out of the floor. They entered a rather more ordinary corridor and then he led her into what was recognisably a sick bay, albeit one with a lot of advanced equipment which she did not recognise.
She pushed past him when she caught sight of the blonde girl lying on the bed; the girl, Rose, was glowing, literally, with a yellow-gold light that recalled the light in the first room she'd come through.
"What happened to her?" she asked, washing her hands and quickly pulling on a pair of latex gloves.
"She looked into the heart of the TARDIS and now she's got the whole of the Time Vortex running through her head."
Martha looked up at him, clearly puzzled. "What on earth does that mean?" she asked, before turning back to Rose, who was now whimpering.
"She opened up the heart of the TARDIS, and she's got the power and the energy that the TARDIS normally uses to fly and function, filling her body. She must have released some of the energy for the TARDIS to get us here, but she has to release it all otherwise it's going to destroy her, burn up her insides and kill her."
Martha stopped and turned back to him, a look of incredulous dismay on her face. "Wait. You're telling me that Rose is full of some kind of weird energy and you want me to save her? How exactly? I'm a medical student, not a miracle worker. Why can't you help her?"
"I've tried," he said, sounding anguished. "She knocked me out and brought us back to Earth. I managed to bring the ship to you, but whenever I try to get close to her, she just fights me."
Now that she looked more closely, Martha could see he did look rather dishevelled, and there was a bruise blooming on one cheek. "Have you tried sedating her?" she asked.
He nodded, his expression bleak. "I couldn't even get close enough to do that."
Martha turned back to Rose and spoke quietly to her, as if she was a scared child she had to treat at the hospital. "Now try," she said to him, her voice low and soothing.
The Doctor picked up a needle filled with sedative and approached the bed cautiously as Martha held her steady, but before he could get close enough to inject the drug, Rose lashed out with her arms and legs, sending both Martha and the Doctor flying across the room.
"Martha! Martha!" He crawled across the floor to where she lay sprawled against the wall. As he reached her she opened her eyes and gave him a slightly bleary look.
"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.
She groaned, then pulled herself into a sitting position, one hand gently feeling the lump on the back of her head.
"I'll live," she said, rather grumpily, "but I'm not sure the same is true of Rose. We need help, preferably someone strong enough to hold her down while I give her the sedative, and it needs to be done soon."
The Doctor looked over at the bed and saw that the glow of the TARDIS energy filling Rose's body had intensified so that it was becoming hard to look at her.
"I'd better take her home, then," he said. "Ricky and her mum can help us: Jackie's as strong as an ox."
"Get going then," Martha said, her tone harsh again. He nodded, then hurried out, limping slightly, and Martha made a mental note to check him for injuries. She suppressed her memories of the first occasion on which she'd met 'John Smith' when she'd treated him for his injuries, and what that meeting had led to.
Not now, she chided herself. She got up, then grabbed the edge of a cupboard as the room seemed to lurch sideways and she almost lost her balance. She approached Rose cautiously, very aware of the lump on the back of her head.
"Why don't you let us help you?" Martha asked her. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Rose's eyes opened, golden light streaming out, and then she spoke, her voice sounding oddly distorted and alien.
"I wanted my Doctor safe. I wanted an end to the Time War. No more sorrow or despair for my Doctor. Time for him to be happy again."
Martha, one hand shielding her eyes, could only gape in astonishment; she had no idea what Rose's words meant, but she felt a prickle of fear on the back of her neck.
A moment later she heard cries and running footsteps, then a woman who looked like an older version of Rose burst into the room, with a good-looking young black man close on her heels.
"Rose! Rose!" cried the woman, rushing to her daughter's bedside. "Oh god! What has he done to you?" Her eyes grew large and her hands flew to cover her mouth as she choked back a sob at the sight of the golden light which was filling her daughter's body and had been growing in intensity moment by moment.
"Jackie, it is Jackie, isn't it?" Martha asked. "Can you hold her down? And you," she said, turning quickly to the young man, "and I'll give her a sedative, and then the Doctor can help her."
"An' oo are you?" demanded Jackie, her tone aggressive and her expression so fierce that Martha almost backed away from her.
"That's Martha, she's a doctor," answered the Time Lord from the doorway.
"A doctor? Sure she ain't your floozy?" asked Jackie, her voice becoming strident. "Is that why you 'aven't done nothin' to save my Rose?"
Martha bristled, but the Doctor spoke again before she could respond. "She's a friend," he said emphatically. "I asked her to help me because Rose won't let me get near her to help her."
He stepped into the room. "Ricky - "
"It's Mickey," interrupted the young man in exasperation.
"I need you and Jackie to hold Rose down while Martha gives her a sedative." The Time Lord ignored Mickey's interruption and Martha saw Mickey rolling his eyes, and felt herself warming to him.
"Mickey, can you hold Rose's shoulders, and Jackie, could you hold her legs, and then I can give her the injection?" she asked.
Mickey gave her a quick nod, then moved past her to do as she'd asked. Jackie glowered before she moved into position, but Martha ignored the glower and picked up the needle again. Before she could approach close enough to administer the drug, Rose's body arched up off the bed, the golden light flaring so intensely that they were all briefly blinded. They all blinked hard several times, and when Martha could see again it was obvious that Rose was dead.
Jackie gave an anguished cry and turned towards the Doctor with murder in her eyes, but Mickey and Martha both grabbed her, holding her back as she began to scream and yell at him. She soon wrenched herself free of them, and collapsed beside the bed, weeping and wailing as she clutched Rose's body to herself.
"You bastard!" Mickey said, intense anger in his voice as he turned and punched the Time Lord, sending him crashing back against the half open door.
"Stop it!" yelled Martha, grabbing his arm as he pulled back for another punch. "This won't help anyone."
"Shut up, bitch!" snarled Mickey, all the warmth gone from his eyes now. "You're little better than he is." He shoved Martha aside and turned back to the Doctor, but she wasn't going to see him punching the Time Lord a second time and she rugby tackled him around the knees. Once he was down she sat on the small of his back, pinning him down.
"Help Jackie," she said in his ear. "If you cared about Rose at all, then help her mum now, because she needs someone." She got up, then helped him to his feet.
"You fight dirty," he commented, grudging respect in his eyes.
"Younger brother," she answered softly. "Get Jackie back to her place, and we'll bring Rose."
He nodded, then knelt beside the sobbing woman on the floor, speaking softly to her. Martha turned to the Doctor who was clutching a blood-stained handkerchief to his nose, an expression of mingled gratitude and grief just visible in his eyes.
"Thank you, I - "
"Not now," she said curtly, pushing him backwards out into the corridor so that Mickey could guide Jackie past.
* * * * * *
An hour later the TARDIS was once again parked in Martha's hallway. They had left Jackie and Mickey grieving for Rose, with Jackie threatening to report the Doctor for murder if he ever dared to show his face there again. Martha had given Mickey her phone number just in case he or Jackie needed any medical help, although she'd gained the impression that Jackie never wanted to see her again either. Mickey had rung Rose's GP to come out and see her, so that he could issue a death certificate and arrange for the undertakers to collect her body.
Martha and the Doctor were sitting at opposite ends of her sofa nursing large mugs of sweet tea.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save her," she said, breaking the long silence in which they'd been wrapped.
"It's not your fault," he said fiercely. "Don't you dare blame yourself for this Martha."
She looked across at him, remembering how she'd thought she might be falling in love with him, before she'd found out that he'd lied to her. He looked devastated now, a livid bruise darkening on his cheek, and his nose still swollen from where Mickey had hit him.
"Did you love her?" she asked, curious despite herself.
He shook his head. "No. I cared about her, just like I care about all my travelling companions, and I hate the fact that I've lost her, but I didn't feel the same way about her that I do about you."
Martha gave him a sharp look. "What?"
He looked, she thought, a little sheepish. "I didn't love Rose," he told her. "I couldn't, because you'd got under my skin and filled my head so that I could only think of you: the way your lips felt so soft on mine when we kissed; the warmth of your body against mine when we made love; your insatiable curiosity and deep compassion." He bit his bottom lip. "I wanted you with me. I've missed you so much. I - "
"Stop. Just, don't, please." She set down her empty mug on the coffee table. "Tell me about Rose Tyler."
He gave her a puzzled look. "Why?"
"You told me that she saved your life - 'she came to save me', you said. What did she save you from? Why did she risk her life to save yours?"
He sighed seeing the determination in Martha's eyes, and knowing she didn't want to talk about how he felt for her, he began to tell her about his travels with Rose. He explained about the Autons, and how he'd been injured blowing up the relay device controlling them (not in coming off a motorcycle as he'd told her at the hospital), then how Rose had helped him to stop the Nestene Consciousness. Then he told her of their trip to Platform One, and the end of planet Earth.
"Afterwards I bought her chips and took her to see her mum," he said, and Martha remembered how he'd turned up with fish and chips for her, and guessed he'd come to see her after dropping off Rose.
Then he told Martha about taking Rose to Cardiff where they'd met Dickens, although he'd intended to take her to Venice instead. "Told you my ship's not always reliable," he said, and she nodded, remembering his explanation for disappearing for a year.
She'd sent him packing after that, angry that he'd lied to her, and although she'd been fully occupied with studying and trying to keep her family from imploding after Leo got his girlfriend pregnant and her dad started seeing Annalise, she had (once or twice) wished she hadn't lost her temper with him and sent him away. At least when she'd been with him, he'd made her feel that he wanted her simply for who she was: with him she'd been Martha Jones the medical student, not a sister, or a daughter, or an ally in the constant friction of her family's life.
She looked up and saw that he was watching her, sorrow and guilt clouding his expression. "Do you want some more tea?" she asked, getting up.
He nodded mutely and she gave his fingers a squeeze before taking his mug from him.
When she returned with their mugs of tea, Martha sat down beside him, not quite touching him. "Go on with your story," she said.
So he told her about the Dalek in Van Statten's museum, the trip to see the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire, the lost boy in the Blitz, and meeting Captain Jack Harkness. He wondered what Martha would have made of Captain Jack, with his brilliant smile and devil-may-care attitude, and winced as he remembered feeling Jack come back to life at Rose's instigation, and how wrong Jack had felt because Rose, with the power of the TARDIS in her limited human brain, had made him a fixed point in Time and unable to remain dead. He forced himself to focus on his narrative: now was not the time to think of Jack.
The Doctor talked more of the Slitheen, about whom Martha knew little since the whole event had been passed off as a hoax, despite the fact that was clearly nonsensical; with the Royal Hope so close to Downing Street, she had known full well that something major had happened there since she'd treated survivors of the explosion, as well as people who'd been injured when the spaceship had crashed into Big Ben. He told her of how the sole surviving Slitheen, who called herself Margaret Blaine, had become Mayor of Cardiff, and how he'd discovered her there. Then he told her about the Daleks and the battle to stop them, and how he'd sent Rose away only for her to return to save him.
"So, that earthquake in central Cardiff was actually alien in origin?" Martha asked once he'd finished. The Doctor nodded. "Somehow, I'm not surprised," she commented.
He managed a half smile. "I get the impression that it'd take a lot to surprise you."
"Well it would since I met you," she agreed.
"Come with me?" he asked suddenly. "Please?"
"I can't, not yet anyway," she answered.
"Why not?" He was hurt that she was turning him down, but he did notice that she had said 'not yet', rather than 'never'.
"I want to finish my studies. You've said yourself that the TARDIS isn't always accurate and I don't want you promising to bring me back in 12 hours, only to discover a year's passed and I'm unable to complete my studies."
"How long is it until you finish your course?"
"Nine months." Martha saw the way his face fell and felt a slight pang of guilt, but she was determined to be firm about not going anywhere until she'd finished her studies. After seeing what had happened to Rose, she didn't want to end up dead before she'd achieved the one thing she'd most strived for during the last few years. She wasn't planning on travelling with him for long; just to take a trip somewhere to unwind after her exams, and then she would come back and start building her career.
The Doctor sighed heavily. "I'll come back in nine months then."
Martha laughed. "Don't be a martyr about it," she told him. When he gaped at her, she went on "You've got a time machine, you can easily hop in it and come back nine months from now from my point of view, and only 30 seconds from now from your point of view."
"Don't miss much, do you?" he asked, respect and amusement in his eyes.
"I'm trained to be observant and analytical," she said. "I'm not supposed to miss anything."
He nodded. "Okay, so I'll come back in nine months time, from your point of view. When do you get your results?"
She told him and he nodded again. "I'll come back then and take you out for a meal to celebrate," he said.
"You're assuming I'm going to pass then?" she asked.
The Doctor gave her a funny look. "Of course you'll pass," he said. "Surely you don't doubt that?"
Martha shrugged a shoulder. "I'll work hard, of course, but I don't assume that I'll pass."
He shook his head. "You'll do very well, I'm sure." He looked so confident that Martha almost believed him.
"Time will tell. And talking of time, I need to get ready for work. I've got a shift in an hour."
He stood up. "I'll see you on results day, then."
Martha got up and followed him out into the hallway. "Take care of yourself in the meantime," she said, "assuming you don't just jump forward."
"I'm not going to do that," he said. "I need time to get over losing Rose."
She nodded, then stood up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, one hand against his chest to hold herself steady. He put his arms around her and after a moment she returned the gesture.
"Thank you," he murmured against her hair.
She pulled back and looked up at him. "For what?"
"For doing your best to help Rose, for stopping Mickey from punching me again, and for listening to me."
"You're welcome."
He brushed a kiss over her lips, then turned away and let himself into the TARDIS before she could react. A few moments later the TARDIS was gone.